retired_bxterror29

Thursday 13th July 2006

Have you ever had one of those days where you wish you hadn’t bothered and should have stayed in bed? Well this was one for me. Being down to three interviews from five was bad enough but when my two morning appointments both didn’t want to join Montrose any good humour I had was fast disappearing.

Even lunch was not the normal cordial event. I didn’t enjoy the food at all. “Must be the stand by shift today,” I grumbled.

Allison’s protestations that there was nothing wrong with the food it was me being bad tempered did nothing to lighten my mood.

Fortunately Allison elected to keep her own council from then on and allowed me to stew in my own juices for the rest of the day.

My mood did not improve one iota when my solitary afternoon appointment decided not to join us.

During the training session that evening I sensibly decided to keep my mouth shut and stay out of everybody’s way. I must have been successful as I managed to get through the session without upsetting anybody. I suspect that Looney had something to do with this as, recognising the signs from my facial expression, body language, or whatever, he probably passed the word to stay away from the boss he’s got one on him.

Back at the hotel I was sorely tempted to go and drown my sorrows in the bar. Sensibly I decided not to.



Friday 14th July 2006.

“Good morning Allison, morning Looney.” “Let’s hope today is better than yesterday.”

“Morning Boss.” “Well it can’t be much worse,” said Looney.

“Good Morning Jim,” from Allison “I didn’t know whether to give you a cuddle or blow your nose yesterday.”

“I think the cuddle might have got you into trouble and you would have been better off punching me on the nose.”

That earned smiles all round and what little atmosphere had been hanging around disappeared. Things were back to normal.

“Right Allison what have you got for me today?”

“This morning it is the two potential new staff with the last three players this afternoon.” “No cancellations so far, and if you want to clear the red list we are down to the last six.” “Jim Smyth is due at 9.00 and Carl Radcliffe at 10.30.”

“OK it’s a bit early for the red list so leave me in peace until Jim gets here and from then on I’ll attack the list until it is clear.”

With that I went to my office and scoured the updates to my programmes. Nothing significant in the players’ world.

We enjoyed our coffee while just generally social chatting. Jim said that he had fished ‘hereabouts’ some time ago and thought it a pleasant area convenient for either sea or fresh water fishing. I knew better than to give Jim free reign on his favourite topic so quickly confirmed my job offer with his specific purpose being ‘to find players of proven ability that would improve our squad’.

Handing Jim over to Looney for the tour I began to attack the red list. I had only managed two calls when Jim returned.

Straight away Jim said that, provided we could negotiate an acceptable contract, he would be delighted to work for us.

Things really were looking up

“Good Jim, welcome to the club.” “Dave McMillan negotiates all our football contracts and I know that the club is pretty fair in that area so I don’t anticipate any contract problems.” “Here is his number and he will have all your details and be expecting your call before you even leave the premises.

“One last thing Jim, I know it’s a bit cheeky as you haven’t joined us officially, but we have a friendly game against Blackburn Rovers Reserves tonight and you’re welcome to join me in the dugout. That will give you an opportunity to run the rule over our strongest squad under League Rules.

Promising to see me that evening Jim left. Passing his details to Allison for Dave I got back to my list.

I was just finishing my first call when Allison’s beep went off in my ear.

“Yes Allison?”

“The Links Hotel on 2.”

“Good Morning Mr Thomson, Reception at the Links Hotel.” “We have a gentleman from Dell Computers who wants access to your suite to install some equipment.”

“By all means allow him access.” “Can I speak to him please?”

“Good Morning Mr Thomson, John Arnold Dell Computers Engineer.”

“Good Morning Mr Arnold, what’s the plan of action and is my presence required?”

“My instructions are to install your new equipment, it has been preloaded with the Operating System and whatever Microsoft Software you ordered and the whole thing has passed our 24 hour run test at the factory, so I anticipate no problems there. I will then load your additional software requirements, test that they are running correctly, and then load the contents of your old hard drive on to the new machine. Depending on the speed of transfer rate of your old machine I should be complete in about three to four hours.” “At that point I will clear out any debris, including your old machine, then head for your office to set up the machines there. That should only take about twenty or thirty minutes.” “I will then update your machine from your office and once that is complete I will require you to accompany me back to the hotel to check that the transfer is complete and correct before you sign off on my work.”

“Sounds good to me Mr Arnold, I’ll see you later on then.”

To be honest I had completely forgotten about Dell and my computing needs. At least they were on the job now and hopefully I could tick another box later today.

By now it was almost time for Carl to appear so I walked through to Allison and told her about Dell and that they would be adding some software to her machine.

Carl’s interview went pretty much the same way as Jim’s, less the fishing talk, and after his session with Looney he too expressed a desire to work for the club. I extended the same invitation to him that I had Jim regarding tonight’s game, which he accepted.

I escorted Carl into Allison’s office on his way out then slumping in a chair punching the air in delight.

“A very good mornings work Allison even if I say so myself.”

“Yes Jim, let’s hope this afternoon goes just as well.”

“That would be nice Allison but I will settle for any two from three provided one of them is a Goalkeeper and still consider it a good days work.”

At that point a knock on the door heralded a stranger carrying two Aluminium backed cases. Even before he introduced himself I guessed, correctly, that he was John Arnold of Dell Computers.

Enquiring as to the locations of the two machines he had to work on he delved into the smaller of the two cases and produced two packs of shrink wrapped software which he proceeded to install on Allison’s machine. He was finished in about three minutes flat. Restarting her machine he invited her to enter her passwords when prompted then asked if everything was OK when she had finished.

“Yes it looks as though you hadn’t touched it at all.”

“It is supposed to look like that.” “The protection software I have installed will, as long as you are on line, self repair, self maintain, and self update.” “Your machine is now as safe as any in the country.” “Now Sir, let’s get yours done.”

He switched off my machine and started pulling all the wires off the back of the box before turning it on its side and removing the uppermost panel. He removed a green card like thing covered with multi-coloured gubbins and replaced it with two similarly clad cards extracted from boxes retrieved from the larger case. He then put everything back together again, inserted the wires, including a new one from a clear plastic bag one end in the back of the box the other disappearing somewhere up into the loom of wires.

Restarting the machine but hitting some key or other he seemed to get where he wanted to be and after a few scrolls and clicks restarted the machine inviting me to enter my passwords when prompted. When I got to the Desktop he excused me and installed three discs on to the machine. Restarting with the same invitation he asked if everything looked OK.

“Same reply as Allison,” I said as I checked different programmes.

“Good you are now just as safe as your PA.”

“Same instructions to you as to her keep these discs safely with the ones that came with the machine.

“Now I want you to go to the last page you have worked on today.”

“At the bottom of that page type in absolutely anything, a word or even just jumbled letters and/or numbers – and you do not need to remember it.”

“Now if you would go back to the Desktop and double click on My Computer you should see under Hard Drives a Drive Z – that is your home computer.” “Right click on the icon, left click Properties and on the General page you should see two boxes, one marked Manual the other Auto.” “Check the Auto box, click Apply, and then close down until you are back on the Desktop.

“See that flickering green light on the top right of the unit?” “The flicker, as opposed to a steady light, tells you that the machine is working on something and as we have nothing running on any programmes it must be transferring your updates from here to your home machine.” “We need to check that at the hotel.”

At the hotel my ‘code’ was clearly visible on the Staff Availability programme. We deleted that and upon retuning to me office saw that it had also been removed from my office machine. Thus we established that two-way updating was working properly.

Having refused my offer of lunch I signed off on Arnold’s work and wished him well.

Lunch with Allison was a much happier event than yesterdays. The food was good, the company was good, and the conversation light hearted and entertaining. Things really were back to normal.

The afternoon started badly with a refusal to join from the first interviewee. This disappointment was more than compensated for by both Goalkeeper Steve West and MLC Dave Moran both wishing to join the club and accepting my invitation to appear as a trialist in tonight’s game. One interesting piece of information supplied by Moran was his stated preference to play on the left of midfield rather than the centre. A ready made back up for Doyle?

Not a bad day all round – I even managed to clear the red list.

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retired_gabachitalinda

Is that in Oz or the UK. I'm doing a Sports Journalism degree & in UK law, you should be able to protect your sources.

retired_bxterror29

Evening Friday 14th July 2006. Montrose v Blackburn Rovers Reserves, Friendly

The only additional instruction I gave Gary that evening was to use Moran as Doyle’s replacement as I wanted to see him in his declared best position, but, apart from that, once again he was in charge.

I joined Ian, Carl and Jim in what was becoming a very crowded dugout and settled down in observe mode.

From the kick off we made our intentions very clear. Without giving Blackburn any time to settle we were all over them, tackling hard and quickly, with our midfield supporting our Strikers in their forages into their box. After five minutes during which we had three good, but missed, chances you could almost feel the confidence oozing out of our players.

This can’t last I thought. We were after all playing an English Premier club and, although no First Team players were on the field, any one of their Reserve or Youth players would walk straight into our team. I wish.

Blackburn slowly began to pull themselves back into the game and the half developed into an exciting slogging match between us playing out of our skins and Blackburn not quite wired up yet.

West and Doyle were replaced on the 30 minute mark with both earning a well deserved ovation from an appreciative crowd. With Paul Irving now in goal and Dave Moran on the left wing we saw out the half pretty much in the same manner as the preceding 20 minutes or so. As the players trudged off the crowd signalled their appreciation of a good first half as they applauded both teams off the pitch.

As Ian supplied four mugs of tea I discussed the half with Jim and Carl. Both were of the opinion, as I was that our best players had been Doyle and West. Moran had shown some nice touches on the wing without really threatening but he was a Midfielder not an Attacking Midfielder which our tactics called for. Of the others it was all potential really with Gk Irving, MC McMullan, DM Ferguson and MC Cameron playing as an AMR showing the most.

They thought the defence was ‘adequate’ but up to the job so far. Burrell they liked, not for his skills but an uncanny ability to get into scoring positions anticipating the flight of the ball. For the want of a bit of luck he could have had a couple of goals.

After 15 minutes of the second half Moran, as expected was substituted with Jon MacLeod, but I was surprised when he was substituted in turn by young Brian Kelly again. I made a mental note to query this with Gary.

After the first substitution Blackburn’s superior skill and fitness began to assert itself and it the 62nd minute they scored direct from a dubious free kick just outside the box via a vicious strike that cannoned through our wall and being deflected just enough to put it out of Irving’s reach.

Instead of flagging as you might have expected our team carried on attacking the opposition and three minutes later the ball found Burrell standing on the penalty spot. A quick swivel and one thunderbolt later and we were level.

The game continued at the previous pace with no quarter being given or asked. Those boys are really trying I thought.

With 15 minutes to go the team reached the limits of their physical endurance and, particularly our defence, began to slow down and drag their heels a bit. Taking advantage of our lack of fitness Blackburn began to dominate the play playing pretty much as they pleased. Almost inevitably Blackburn scored a further two goals in the last ten minutes making the final result 1-3.

As I shook hands with Brian Blain Blackburn’s Manager he complimented me and my team for giving them a good game. “You certainly woke up one or two of my guys and for that I thank you Jim.”

Standing in the Tunnel outside our dressing room I said my goodbyes to Jim and Carl thanking them for their input. We went our separate ways with ‘hope to see you soon’ as we parted.

Entering a quiet exhausted dressing room I found the team slumped on the benches with many having their legs rubbed down by the Physio’s and coaches trying to inject some life into very tired legs.

I decided to speak.

“OK listen up lads.” “I know that you are all tired but I won’t keep you long.” “I just wanted to congratulate you all on a very good display tonight.” “I’ve just spoken to Blackburn’s Manager and he agrees that you gave them a very good game.” “Alright I know it was a loss but what most of you haven’t thought of yet is that we were a part time team playing a full time professional English Premiership club – and at one point we really frightened them.” “They did not give us a drubbing, it was not a massacre, and they had to work hard for their win.” “With a bit more luck on our side the final score could have been very different.” “I’m very proud of you all.”

“Finally if any of you wake up feeling particularly sore and stiff then come in tomorrow for treatment by the Physio’s and the same goes for Sunday afternoon when all the staff will be available.”

With a few ‘thanks Boss’ ringing in my ears I mentioned to Gary and found a quiet corner. He answered my query regarding the Brian Kelly substitution by simply saying that he thought the kid had a lot of potential and he wanted him as fit as possible for the start of the Under 19’s season. I accepted that and said that the reason I wanted the staff on Sunday was to discuss the trialists we had seen this week and would he pass that on please.

I hung around for a while talking to whoever seemed inclined to do so.

Eventually I headed for home well satisfied with my days work.

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retired_bxterror29

Saturday 15th July 2006.

“Good Morning Allison.”

“Morning Jim.”

“Unless you have anything for me it looks as though we are in for a quiet day.”

“That could be the perfect end to a busy week,” she replied.

“Not quite the end I’m afraid Allison, I’ll need you tomorrow at a Coaches Meeting to discuss our trialists but not before Midday so you can enjoy a bit of a lie in.”

“Well I can’t say you didn’t warn me when I took the job.”

From there on our conversation reverted to purely social chat as I enjoyed my coffee.

In my office once again scrolling through my Availability lists nobody leapt out at me. While I didn’t doubt that somewhere in the list there was somebody suitable the one drawback of the programme was that it only listed appearances and grading for competitive games. This early no leagues had started anywhere in the UK so that information was missing. In order to see an assessment of players non-competitive games you had to inspect each player in detail. With a several hundred players on the list that was an impossible task.

Sitting there just staring at the screen the brain got to wondering who graded the players? As a coach with Irvine and in my short time as a manager at Montrose nobody had ever asked me to grade a single player. I suppose that somebody must supply the information and that somebody would have to be scrupulously fair in the grade and not boost his team at the expense of the opposition. Such people were not easy to find. As there were a few hundred clubs associated with the four Football Associations in the UK then there must be a few hundred of such supporters in the organisation. The things some people do for the love of the game was marvellous.

About midday I gave Allison the option of calling it a day or joining me for lunch before she left. I was pleasantly surprised when she elected to join me. With no appointments and no pressure I found myself talking during a leisurely lunch about life in general and my life in particular.

By the time we got to coffee I had dried up and it was Allison’s turn.

“Have you ever had any regrets about leaving the army and taking up football as a career?” she asked.

“Regret is too strong a word.” “There were times of doubt particularly when it dawned on me that I wasn’t good enough to play professional for a league club but that apart I think that overall I made the right choice.”

“I can’t comment on your football playing days but you must have done something right as here you are managing a League Club.”

“Thanks for that but it could be a bit of a poison chalice.” “Failure here could finish me completely in football as it is very rare for any club to employ an ex-manager in any staff capacity other than being the boss.”

“You’ll just have to succeed then.”

“One thing Allison it won’t be for the want of trying.”

Finishing our coffee we left the lounge and went our separate ways Allison off to do ‘girlie things’ and I to the treatment room.

As is normal the room reeked of the smell of liniment and the sound of flesh hitting flesh as both Physio’s worked on a couple of players on the treatment tables. Another couple of players were sweating as they exercised their legs on exercise machines.

Alan Marshall came to me when he had finished working on his player.

“Afternoon Boss.”

“Afternoon Alan, what’s the butcher’s bill?”

“Nothing serious boss, apart from Cheyne whose thigh is still a bit tight there is nothing to stop anybody else playing on Tuesday.” “It’s all tiredness with the odd bruise here and there.”

“How long will Cheyne be out?”

“He should be able to start training again by Tuesday or Wednesday and could be available for Friday.”

“OK Alan thanks for that.”

I wandered out to the pitch and saw about half a dozen or so players mainly doing circuits and static exercises on their own. Nobody seemed inclined to talk so I left them to it with a ‘keep it up lads’ and returned to my office.

I sat there for about an hour thinking about the club, thinking about the staff, thinking about the players, thinking about team tactics. I realised I was not getting anywhere so left for the hotel.

At the hotel I saw Looney sitting in the bar so I joined him and over a few beers relaxed from then until dinner.

After dinner I stayed in the suite initially staring at the computer screen but, giving up on that, swapped to the TV screen. Unfortunately the brain was in football mode and I don’t even know what I was watching.



Sunday 16th July 2006.

By 12.30 everybody was comfortably seated in my office complete with coffee. Allison as usual sat in the rear armed with notepad and pen.

“Ok gents the object of today’s meeting is to bring you up to date with what I have been up to as it effects you and to get your feedback on the seven trialists we all saw on the pitch last week.”

“Firstly, forewarned is forearmed, I want you all in again next Sunday to discuss our existing squad.” “Thanks to Gary I have seen them all under match conditions and I have seen them all on the training field.” “I’ll keep my own council on whom for the moment but I believe that a few won’t make the grade and I see no point in continuing to keep them on our books.” “I would ask you then to bear that in mind when working with the squad this week.”

A chorus of “OK Boss” was the response to that one.

“Staff changes.” “As you will all be aware I have offered Dean Jones the position of Assistant Manage.” “An offer he has accepted.” “I have no idea how far down the line his contract negotiations are but I am hopeful of him joining us sometime this week.”

“I have also offered a job to Jim Smyth and Carl Radcliffe to act as Scouts for the club.”

Most seemed to know at least one of them and the general consensus was that they would be good additions to the staff. At least I seemed to have got that right I thought. Not that I needed or was seeking their approval but it was good to know that there were no strong objections and therefore no potential personality clashes.

“Right then on to our trialists.” “Any contract offered will of course be part time and will be no longer than one year.” “The players are aware of this and while a couple of the agents might want a longer term it is not going to happen.” “A year is long enough to judge whether they will benefit us next season and, who knows, by then their understudy may well be ready to step up into the first team.”

“So give me your thoughts.”

After a few moments silence Carl spoke first.

Referring to a note book he said “I only have doubts about two players and they are Gk West and MC Moran.” “I think all the others are better players than we currently have in their positions and should slot right in increasing our strength.”

“What are your doubts with West and Moran Gary?”

“West didn’t show me anything that I can’t see already in Irving.” “Alright he kept a clean sheet for half an hour during which Blackburn were pressing as much as we were but apart from a couple of saves that he barely reached due to his lack of height I did not see a significantly better keeper than Irving.”

“Looney you are our resident goalkeeping expert any thoughts on this?”

“Yes Boss, while I agree to a certain extent with what Gary saw in West I have to say that he can play a lot better than he did on Friday.” “I suspect he is just suffering from a loss of form but even then put in a display to match that of Irving.”

I allowed everyone to gather their thoughts before continuing.

“Gary given Looney’s assessment and our need for another keeper of at least the standard of Irving are your doubts strong enough to object strongly to us signing West?”

“No Boss.”

“OK then now for Moran.” “Before you begin Gary I would point out that he is an MLC not MC and his stated preference is to play on the left of midfield.”

Gary was silent for a while.

“Well under those circumstances any objections I might have had over Moran are removed.” “I don’t suppose I did the guy any favours either by persevering with a tactic requiring the presence of Attacking Wingers.”

“I’m as much to blame as you Gary.” “I didn’t pass on sufficient information about the player.”

“OK Boss we’ll share the blame on that one.”

After the laughter died down I enquired if anyone had any further comment regarding Moran. No response was the loud reply.

“Fair enough.” “Any comment on any of the others then?”

“Only to say that they will all probably do a good job for us,” This from Ian.

With no other comments forthcoming I wrapped it up.

“Right then that settles it.” “We will offer them all a contract and hope they get here in time for the beginning of the season.” “Right off you go and ease the aches and pains of any that require it.”

I gave Allison a hand clearing up the debris and putting chairs back in there proper place then sat in her office while she prepared the coffee.

Sipping my brew I was well satisfied with the number of boxes that had been ticked.

“Allison when you finish your coffee I want you to contact all the agents of those we hope to sign and give them David’s number.” “Pass on their details to David and see if you can get a progress report on the contracts he is currently negotiating.” “After that you can call it a day.”

“Any problems just leave a message on my screen.” “I’ll check that before I leave.”

With that I went down to the treatment room and the pitch and mixed with the staff and players for about an hour.

Returning to the office I checked the message on my screen.

Agents contacted. David informed of their names and your request. Allison.

What no love and kisses!

retired_Shevtjenko

Fantastic read! I am enjoying it immensely. :thup:

retired_bxterror29

Wegason: Thanks for the good wishes

Panpardus: Same to you. I finally decided, somewhat reluctently, to register the story

retired_bxterror29

Monday 17th July 2006.

Starting work around 8 a.m. normally meant that Allison and I had the complex to ourselves for a while unless the cleaning staff were running late. Most of the Admin Staff were contracted to start at 8.30 and the Directors, if they showed up at all, usually drifted in from about 9.00 on.

We tended to use this time to socialise over coffee for about half an hour before I went to my computer screen to browse the latest football news and gossip as well as the lists of available staff and players.

I was quite pleased with Allison’s work and the manner in which she handled visitors to my office. She was slowly but surely developing into a very good Personal Assistant. I gave myself a pat on the back for making what was proving to be an excellent choice, ignoring the fact that it was more by accident than design.

This morning was no different. I refrained from chastising her over the lack of love and kisses deciding that we were not that close yet. I also remember her reaction to my ‘mothering skills’ statement.

Being well ‘staffed up’ I concentrated on the players listing but again with no obvious candidates leaping out at me.

I was thinking that it must be close to coffee time when Allison buzzed me saying that Dave McMillan was on his way to see me.

Once he was settled in a chair and we had sipped at our coffee he made social chat for a while. He was mainly concerned that I was comfortable at the hotel and if I had any work problems he could help with. He was also anxious to know if there had been any adverse reaction to my ‘bust up’ with Stevie at the Board Meeting.

I assured him that I was well satisfied with my accommodation and, as far as work was concerned, jokingly said that if he could ‘magic’ a couple of world class players into the club I would not complain. With regard to Stevie I hadn’t seen hide or hair of him since the meeting. I didn’t even know if he had been in the building at all over the past week.

“I can’t help with the players but one thing I do know is that Stevie has definitely been present all week.” “He has been spending a fair amount of time with Ryan, sometimes two or three visits in one day.” “A bit more than was necessary to negotiate a new contract I would have thought.” “If I were you I’d expect some trouble from that direction Jim.”

“Thanks for your concern Dave but I think I can handle anything that Stevie chucks in my direction.”

Dave then got down to the main reason for his visit – the contract negotiations. The good news was that Dean Jones had committed himself to the club and, via a very quick response, Carl Radcliffe was also signed. Both would appear on Friday 21st July.

As to the others negotiations were proceeding smoothly enough with no quibbles about the status or length of the contract. The only problem was in the wages being offered which were necessarily low with us being a part time club but Dave was confident that everybody would see sense and sign up reasonably quickly.

“One big advantage we have is the ability to offer free food and accommodation as part of the package.” “I reckon that could be the clincher in a lot of cases.”

“Thanks for your efforts Dave.” “I admit to feeling a lot happier knowing that by Friday I will have an assistant assessing the squad before the league proper starts and, more importantly, have access to a good scout that I can get out there searching for fresh talent.”

We chatted for a few more minutes then Dave returned to his domain promising to keep me informed.

Dave’s pleasing report seemed to speed the morning along and before I knew it I was working my way through a very good lunch with the amiable Allison providing some excellent company as usual.

An uneventful afternoon passed very quickly as did two hours on the pitch watching the players train.

I went to bed that night a very contented man.



Tuesday 18th July 2006.

The day proved to be just as uneventful as yesterday afternoon. Apart from a few emails, letters and telephone calls, none of which would do anything to improve my lot at Montrose, I was pretty much free all day.

The one redeeming feature of the day was the prospect of our friendly against English League Two Rochdale that evening. Although a lot further down the pecking order than Blackburn they were a Full Time Professional outfit and I expected them to give us a good work out.

I was also very aware that with no reinforcements signed up so far and no trialists available Gary was limited to the squad that had performed so poorly last season. I fully expected us to be beaten that evening but provided we could contain them to one or two goals I would be content.



Tuesday 18th July 2006. Montrose v Rochdale. Friendly.

With Jon MacLeod again occupying the left wing berth and no AMR on the field Gary had made a slight adjustment to his starting tactics. As expected Burrell and Thomas were our striking force, Ferguson and McMullen in the centre of midfield and they flanked by an out of position MC Cameron on the right. Cairns and Wardlaw occupied the centre of defence with Donald at left back and Walker, wearing the Captain’s armband, in the right back position. As you would expect Irving appeared between the sticks. I did note that young Brian Kelly hadn’t even made the bench for this match.

From the kick off it quickly developed into a pretty even match with us giving as good as we got. Burrell had a couple of good early chances but skied the ball on each occasion. I was pleased to see us defending well by clean tackling and regaining the ball when Rochdale attacked – which was just as often as we did. We managed to keep them well out of our area which reduced them to long range, largely ineffective, shots.

In the 18th minute there occurred one of those bizarre incidents that sometimes determine the outcome of many games. A long clearance by Rochdale’s keeper was descending into our penalty area. Easy meat for any defender worth his salt, he could either head it clear or trap and pass. Both of our central defenders did nothing. They just stood there ball watching each expecting the other to clear. When it dawned on them that no such thing was happening they belatedly moved towards the ball. They were both far too late. Piers Burgess, one of Rochdale’s two strikers, beat them too it, trapped the ball, took two paces forward, sidestepped the onrushing Irving, and tapped the ball into an empty net.

There were a few recriminations on field, mainly from Captain Walker, but not enough to destroy Cairns and Wardlaw. I’m afraid some of the crowd were not so lenient with their condemnation of the pair.

We took a few minutes to settle back into our game after that but before long it was pretty much as before – two evenly matched teams battling it out.

So it remained until half time when we went off the field still trailing by that one stupid goal.

As usual I remained in the dugout during the interval enjoying Ian’s tea and discussing the half with him.

We had been there a few minutes when I heard someone bellow my name from the enclosure behind the dugout.

“Hey Thomson.” “When are you going to get off your butt and start working for us?”

Turning I saw an angry looking fan wearing Montrose colours being escorted away from the area by two stewards.

“What the hell was all that about?” I said to Ian.

“Don’t know Boss.” “Either somebody has wound him up or he doesn’t like you sitting in the dugout.” “Either way he knows nothing about club management.”

Dismissing the incident from our minds we got back to our discussion.

From the kick off we dominated Rochdale with some fine attacking football. They just couldn’t break out of their own half. Unfortunately we couldn’t convert our dominance into goals. I decided that this was a night when neither of our strikers could hit a cow on the backside with a sack of rice. The finishing was woeful.

On the 70th minute Gary made his customary relief of MacLeod this time using 15 year old Scott Colquhoun from the Under 19’s who was actually an AML. Another ineligible player was my initial thought and with the few chances he got during his time on the pitch I could see little potential in the lad.

From that point on Rochdale’s professional fitness began to tell and, as we tired, they began to exert some authority on the game.

Somehow or other we managed to contain them until the 90th minute when Darren Murphy, a right winger playing as a striker, easily outdistanced a very tired defence, and lobbed Irving to make the final result 0-2.

Shaking hands afterwards with Mick Simpson he thanked us for ‘a good game’ and wished us luck in the forthcoming League campaign.

Although it had been a loss I was pleased with the efforts of my team and the manner in which they had conducted themselves on the pitch.

Saying so later to a bunch of very tired players I believe that most appreciated my words.

retired_bxterror29

Wednesday 19th July 2006.

If I had expected another humdrum day my expectations were shattered by Allison handing me a copy of the Montrose Today with my coffee suggesting that I might want to read the sports page.

Taking both coffee and newspaper into my office I opened up the appropriate page and found myself looking at predominately two stories each above Anderson’s by-line.

The first was a report on last night’s game under the headline “Montrose Slump Again” and the other announced that “Fans Barrack Thomson”.

The first report was not exactly a fair description of the game that I had seen. The team was slated for ‘a lack of effort’ and a thinly veiled accusation that we had rolled over just waiting to be beaten by ‘a lowly ED2 club’. Cairns and Wardlaw were chastised for ‘playing statues’ on the field leading to the first goal , and Burrell and Thomas, quite rightly as it happened, treated similarly for their poor finishing. There was no mention of our dominance at the beginning of the second half nor the fact that we had given as good as we got during the first period.

Not exactly supportive of his local club, I thought.

The second story described a ‘group of fans’ barracking me during the half time period as I ‘left the team to stew in their own juices’ while I drank tea in the dugout.

How can one fan be a group? I thought.

The article went on to describe my lack of attention to club matters, my not being involved with team affairs, the total lack of transfer activity ‘apart from a few trialists only fit to play for half an hour’, and I even had the audacity to ‘take a few days off’ before I had even warmed my seat.

While there may have been a glimmer of truth in some of the statements I thought that collectively they displayed a total lack of understanding of what a manager had to do in the first weeks at a new club. I decided that Anderson just did not like me and left it at that.

Depositing the rag in the bin I decided that I should pay a bit more attention to the press than I had up until now. I buzzed Allison and asked her to order the Today, Globe and Scotsman for me every day from now on.

As nobody saw fit to mention the articles to me throughout the day I reckoned that they, like me, considered them unimportant.

With no depressing news from the Physio department my day degenerated into a normal routine.



Thursday 20th July 2006.

With three newspapers to read in addition to trawling through my lists my self inflicted solitary confinement start to my working day was stretched more than a little. I have to admit that reading a newspaper made a welcome change to staring at a computer screen.

This morning The Scotsman had joined the rest of the nationals and denied the existence of my club, well you can’t have everything, can you?

The Montrose Today had a two paragraph follow up to yesterdays Thomson is no good story but contained nothing new.

The Globe ran a story that was somewhat critical of Today’s match report and further commented that they had seen no signs of any fan unrest at any time during the game. They were quite supportive of me saying that I should be given the chance to show my worth before accusing me of any imagined crimes.

It felt nice to have someone in my corner.

At the end of an uneventful day I watched training that evening. There were still some tired legs in evidence which did not bode well for our last friendly tomorrow night against EL2 Bury. The only good news was that they would then have a clear thirteen days to recover.



Friday 21st July 2006.

Towards the end of my solitary confinement Allison buzzed me with the welcome news that our targets were slowly but surely signing up for the club.

Jim Smyth was due to report on the 25th.. With Dean and Carl joining today we would soon have a complete staff.

On the player front Tom Doyle was due on the 30th, Tony O’Doherty and Steve West on the 3rd August. With still no insurmountable problems the others were expected to follow suit shortly afterwards.

I decided there and then that whether they were match fit or not I would introduce the three players into my starting eleven for our first League game on the 5th August. I figured that the sooner we got some quality into the team the better.

I was also aware that whereas a team could assimilate two or three new players into the squad quite easily an introduction of seven new faces in one hit could be disastrous. I would have to carefully blood the new arrivals as and when they joined us.

With nothing of note in the newspapers or on screen I settled down to await the new arrivals.

Dean Jones arrived about 1030 and after welcoming him and catching up with the latest news from his perspective I outlined my expectations of him.

“Gary Watt is in charge tonight for our last friendly Dean so all you need do today is familiarise yourself with the complex and get to know the staff and as many players as you can.” “On Sunday we have a staff meeting to weed out any chaff we are carrying and I want you there even if you are unable to contribute much to the decision making process.”

“From Monday on I want your full participation in all training sessions.” “With only three coaching staff until now they have hard pressed to give our players the attention they deserve.”

“Also from Monday on I will be fully involved in the training session which is something I haven’t done until now, I have been concentrating on beefing up the staff and the squad. I’m happy with our staff levels now you have arrived and I think I have gone as far as I can with the squad just by perusing availability lists.

“Later on today Carl Radcliff arrives as the first of two scouts. Jim Smyth should be here on Tuesday as the second. Once I’ve got them out hunting I’ll feel a bit happier about further strengthening the squad.” “As things stand at the moment what you see is what we have to work with.” “I’m expecting seven new players to arrive over the next couple of weeks or so but I’ll have to ease them into the team carefully.

I’m also giving you total responsibility for our reserve squad and their matches.” “At the moment we don’t have any recognised reserve players.” "The squad is split totally according to age into First and Under 19 squads.” “That will change during Sunday’s meeting and as we progress with recruiting. Even then you will have to select from non-playing squad members plus any amateurs that are training with us.” “Who knows you might turn up with the odd gem or two.”

After discussing tactics which basically amounted to ‘do what the first team does’ I went down to the engine room with Dean, and finding Ian there grabbed the opportunity to brief him as I had Dean but this time in regard to the Under 19 players. Gary joined us as I neared the end of my brief and I left the three of them chatting amicably.

Back in the office I socialised with Allison until lunch.

During lunch Sandra interrupted us with a message from Ryan enquiring that if I had no objections he would like to attend Sunday’s meeting. I replied in the affirmative but asked her to stress to Ryan that it was a purely football meeting and he should not interfere. This raised her eyebrows somewhat and with surprised ‘Oh!’ sped off to her master.

“I don’t think that is quite the way you should speak to our Chairman,” said Allison.

“It’s no more or less than we agreed when he offered me the job.” “I don’t think for a minute that he would interfere but it does no harm to let him know and others via Sandra, that there is a line in the sand over which nobody crosses.”

“What would you do if somebody did cross the line?”

“A lot would depend upon the extent of the infringement but if it was serious enough I would at least create a hell of a stink and might even threaten or actually resign.”

“You wouldn’t leave the club would you?” said Allison with some alarm in her voice.

“Probably not initially but I would almost certainly instruct my agent to find me a suitable position elsewhere.” “It would be difficult for me to leave Montrose as, even although I have only been here a short time, I like the club and the townspeople and those I work with.” “It would be a big wrench to leave.” “Alright there are a couple of people around that I could easily live without but nowhere is perfect.”

“Anyway we are nowhere near that scenario so cheer up.” “I’ll be around for a while yet.”

Before long she had dispelled her dark thoughts and we were chatting away as normal. While she seemed to have put the conversation out of her mind it was still very much in mine.

Back in the office the brain ran through the events of lunchtime again. While it would be a wrench to leave Montrose it was inevitable that I would do so in the future. Either I would fail to improve the squad significantly in which case I might not earn a renewal of my contract or I could conceivably be sacked before my term was up. Alternatively if I was successful enough to climb up the Leagues then somebody would head hunt me with an offer to be manager at a bigger club.

It was then that I had my first outrageous thought about Allison. Instructing the brain to file the thought in the box marked ‘Only to be opened when I leave Montrose’ I managed to start thinking about football again.

It was not too long before Allison buzzed me to announce Carl Radcliffe.

Once we had dispensed with the opening chit chat I informed Carl of our game that night, the meeting on Sunday, and Monday’s training session, telling him I wanted him at all three to give him an insight into what we needed.

“From Tuesday on I want you to do what you do best Carl.” “Find me some young talent with prospects higher than our current levels and I mean attainable targets.” “I see no point in a club like Montrose approaching Manchester United’s under age players.” “They will never come here as we are.”

Promising to do his best and to see me that evening Carl wandered off to do whatever Scouts do when they are not actually watching a game.

As for me I headed for the dressing room and stayed there until match time.

retired_bxterror29

jayare35: A somewhat belated thanks to you too.

retired_bxterror29

Friday 21st July 2006. Montrose v Bury. Friendly.

Gary’s team that evening showed a couple of changes from his previous ‘best eleven’. Irving was still first choice goalkeeper but at DR sixteen year old Simon Kidd was preferred to Mark Walker who was on the bench. The remainder of the defence was the usual Mark Donald at DL and Cairns and Wardlaw occupying the central berths.

The midfield had MC Bryan Cameron once again starting as an out of position MR, with young Scott Colquhoun starting as AML. With MacLeod, the normal occupant of this position not even on the bench I guessed that he was just too tired to risk. Alex McMullen and Ross Ferguson made up the centre of the midfield. As usual Dave Burrell and Marlon Thomas were our two strikers.

Looking at the team I decided that with the possible exception of replacing Cameron with a bench sitting AMR Allan McMillan Gary had fielded the best that was available to him.

From the outset Bury made their intentions very clear. Playing an aggressive attacking 4-4-2 formation the objective was to create a clear gap between us in terms of goals which, when achieved, would allow them to ease off the gas a bit and save themselves for their next game.

Our defence found themselves under constant pressure and being pushed further and further back towards our goal. I thought that Irving did particularly well in stopping the shots that came his way while, when our defenders did manage to get the ball up field, our midfield found their defence to be solid and very difficult to get through.

On the only two occasions that we did manage to get the ball to our strikers both chances were squandered by Burrell and Thomas demonstrating that they were still carting sacks of rice about.

This continual pressure had to bear results and in the 12th minute Dominic Haigh Bury’s DL buried an excellent corner straight into our net.

Three minutes later an outrageously long shot by AMR Gold was deflected into our goal by Wardlaw and Bury had their gap. 0-2 down with no obvious prospects of a recovery.

Bury quickly reverted to a neutral 4-4-2 and we managed to come more into the game without troubling them unduly. Our better showing was purely down to Bury allowing us to play than to any injecting of skill on our part.

Drinking our tea at half time we were initially very quiet.

Carl broke the silence first. “God Boss I’m not looking for a few gems I’m looking for a whole team!”

“I’m afraid I agree Boss,” said Dean, “while you can’t fault them for effort and a willingness to try the necessary skills are just not in their lockers.” “As they are now they are about two degrees above the standard of my local pub team.”

“While I agree with what you are both saying the hard truth is that what you have seen is the best we have and that is what we have to work with in the short term.” “I never said it would be easy.”

At that we each became immersed in our own thoughts.

The second half took up where we had left off. We were able to make progress into their half but on the few occasions when we did really threaten them either a more than capable defence stopped us or our strikers demonstrated yet again that their shooting boots were still in the dressing room.

On 51 minutes Cairns tried to stop an attack via a sliding tackle on a forward. Unfortunately he missed the ball completely and took out the man instead. As this happened to be in our Penalty area there was only one decision for the referee to make. A penalty to them and a Yellow Card for Cairns. I thought Cairns was fortunate as I had seen many a Red given in similar circumstances.

In spite of getting a fingertip to the resultant shot Irving was unable to deflect the ball enough and we were three down.

That effectively ended the game as a contest. Although both teams played on pretty much as before we, particularly, began to show signs of extreme tiredness, with a couple of players going down with cramped legs.

Congratulating Rick Newton on a well deserved victory I was too wrapped up in my own thoughts to catch his sympathetic reply.

When I entered a hushed dressing room most of the staff were already working on some very tired legs. Bryan Cameron was on the treatment table having his chest probed by Alan Marshall who came over and said “Probably just bad bruising but I’ll have a precautionary X-Ray taken just in case it’s anything more.”

I reckoned that some encouraging words were in order. “Ok lads listen up, I won’t keep you too long.” “Tonight we met a more skilful good team who more than deserved their win.” “We were, if you like, playing out of our league, punching above our weight, or whatever phrase you choose to describe it.” “Nobody can fault us for lack of effort and you all gave of your best.” “Nobody could ask for more than that.” “Well done all of you.”

As I turned away I noticed some signs of appreciation of my words on a few faces. At least that went down well I thought.

I hung around until just about everybody had left then joined Dean, Carl and Ian in a pint or two at a local bar.

As we talked over what had been a dismal night I was glad that either there were no fans in the bar or that we were not recognisable enough to warrant any ‘free’ advice. As we were not solving any of our immediate problems I left them to it and headed home.

Driving the short distance I thought right then Thomson, now the real work begins its pay back time.



Saturday 22nd July 2006.

After a far from satisfactory nights sleep Allison’s coffee was more than a welcome start to my day.

“While you were doing your football things yesterday afternoon I got some good, bad and indifferent news,” she said “what do you want first?”

“Just give it to me as you got it.”

“Ryan wants to talk with you after tomorrows meeting.” “Apparently he is having difficulty with Stevie’s contract talks and wants to discuss the situation as it affects you.”

“OK” “Next?”

“Stuart Foley and Nigel Maher are joining us on the 6th August with Declan Hogan and Dave Moran appearing the following day.”

“That is good news.” “Next”

“The Montrose Globe rang requesting a one to one interview with one of their reporters.”

“Any names?”

“No.” “I don’t think they have a dedicated Sports Reporter as they are a much smaller organisation than Today.” “They have probably guessed that Anderson is persona non gratis here and want to score a few points over their rivals.”

“Not to mention a bit of a scoop.” “If they ring back today then delay them until Monday I’ll have to clear this with Ryan.”

“That’s the lot.”

“Well that wasn’t too bad.” “Nothing earth shattering with the possible exception of getting all the players on board that I wanted.”

Collecting the newspapers from Allison I headed for my solitary confinement. Purely out of curiosity I checked the individual ratings given to our players after last nights match. I was not surprised to see that Irving and McMullen had both been given a seven. They had been the best of our players. The rest were rated at five or six and I reckoned they were lucky to get that.

The Scotsman apart from reporting us as part of last night’s scores had a couple of lines on our new staff appointments.

Both Today and The Globe contained coverage of the game but only the Globe reported our new appointments beefed out a bit by the inclusion of a brief CV on both men.

It looked as though our ‘late press release’ tactic was working. Even if Today reported the event in Monday’s edition it would be old news. I wondered how long it would take Anderson to get the message.

Later on in the treatment room Alan told me that Cameron had severely bruised ribs and would be out for a week apart from that it was all stiff and sore leg muscles.

Wandering out to the pitch it was pleasing to note that some guys were actually training under the guidance of staff. You couldn’t fault them for effort.