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Hello there. This is my first attempt at a story on these boards - be kind to me
Having read a few of the various stories in this forum, I decided to establish a brand new team in the Scottish third division, totally devoid of players, coaches, officials, and try (however audacious the task may seem) to take them to the top of the tree in Scottish football).
I'm using FM2005, slightly edited of course to fit my new team in. The only luxury I've allowed myself is a 6,000 seat stadium and $750,000.
Note - I'm an Australian, and throughout the game I'll be referring to money in Australian dollars. Despite having a bit of Scots blood somewhere in my heritage, my geographical knowledge of Scotland is, ahem, limited....Feel free to jump in at any stage and correct me!
One last note - due to the nature of my employment (teacher in remote Aus. communities) the number of updates on this particular game will probably be few and far in between. It probably won't be uncommon for me to be without net access for up to six weeks at a time. At first I'll be posting in real-time, but I guess in future I'll have a bit of back-log to get through. That's if this database saves properly first!
The Scottish Football Association has today announced that Elgin City has resigned from the Scottish Third Division, effective immediately.
Applications to fill the vacancy are expected to be called for shortly.
June 9 2004
A group representing Australia's largest producer of cardboard boxes has won the right to join the Scottish Football Association as the newest Third Division team.
Bowmans Packages, a business worth in excess of $A300,000,000, has paid a total of $750,000 for the right to form a completely new entity to compete in the SFL. No current non-league teams will be invited into the Third Division as a consequence.
Almost nothing is known about the chairman of Bowmans Packages, James Lindsay, except that his great-grandfather was Scottish, and he has not travelled outside of Australia since 1954.
It is rumoured that Lindsay's grandson will be the first manager of the new club, which will be named in a 'matter of weeks', according to a spokesman for the new club.
So this is it? I thought to myself as I looked around the field. This is our field of dreams?
The place resembled a building site. The noise of jackhammers spoiled any serenity there was. Over in the far corner of the field, a pedestrian was walking his dog, oblivious to the mess that his pet had left in its travels.
On one side of the field, a 3000-seat grandstand was being erected with unprecedented haste. Opposite it, a carbon copy was already finished with yellow seats installed. Underneath, the dressing sheds were receiving their final coat of paint, whilst behind the goalposts at each end, two large mounds of earth were being covered with turf.
The team had no identity, no strip, no staff, no players, no supporters - but at least it had a home ground.
I looked at my watch - midday. I had been in Edinburgh, in Scotland, for barely two hours. Just three days ago, I resigned from my position at Bowmans Packages, and all my salary and entitlements, in order to head one of their 'expansion projects', as the CEO had termed it. A bloody soccer team on the other side of the world!
It was just an hour until the press conference, which would be held just outside the new stadium. I gathered my notes, and both of my bags, and walked away from the pitch - dodging a pile of dog excretement on my way out.
40 minutes later...
The club's facilities were hardly impressive. A fax machine, a phone, and a coffee machine that didn't work. I tipped out my mug of cold coffee in disgust and made a mental note to buy a new one on my way home that night.
"Excuse me? Are you David?"
I turned around. "Yes, David O'Connor. And you are?"
"My name is Peter Morgan, director of the football club. Welcome to Scotland!"
Finally, someone else I could talk to! "Thanks! I must say, this is certainly a work in progress in every sense."
"Sheeesh, you're not wrong. Thanks though to the money from Bowmans, the state of facilities around here should improve dramatically in a few days or so. Are you ready for the press conference?"
"Well, sort of, but not really," I admitted. "For starters, what do I bloody say?"
"Oh, the usual. Great to be in Edinburgh, hope to do well this year, that kind of thing."
"No, really Peter, I mean, I don't know a bloody thing about the club. The name, the strip, my transfer budget, who's available, who I'll be working with, etcetera!"
"Okay sonnie, sit down....I have to be honest, we're not expecting a great deal of press coverage this afternoon. We're a small, tiny, little tadpole swimming in the pool of Scottish football. 99% of the public expect us to quickly fade out of the limelight. In short, that's exactly why you're hired as manager...everyone expects us to lose, so why not lose with an inexperienced manager?"
"An Australian manager, 29 years old, with no managerial experience in football whatsoever?"
"Precisely. Now, we have this little press release ready to run, I doubt we're going to get any press here today, so why not pull up a seat, and lets toast our future and the future of this fine football club?"
Why not, I thought? After all, if it doesn't work out, I could easily land a job back in the company in Australia.
"So, Peter, who shall we make this toast to?"
Peter handed me the glass of scotch whiskey with a glint in his eye.
"To David O'Connor, the manager of the Edinburgh Thistle Football Club."
**** Press Release
The Edinburgh Thistle Football Club is pleased to announce that David O'Connor has accepted the position as manager.
O'Connor, 29, brings a wealth of experience in business and will no doubt look forward to his latest challenge.
The Edinburgh Thistle Football Club can also confirm that their home ground will be known as the Bowman Road Stadium. The stadium, due to be finished before the beginning of the 2004/05 season, will eventually have a seated capacity of 6,000.
It is expected that O'Connor will be able to announce the bulk of the Edinburgh Thistle playing squad for the 2004/05 Scottish Third Division season shortly.
The club cordially invites all interested supporters to be present for the launch of the squad and the playing strip at a date to be announced in the future.
Cheers Axeman - recruiting a team was/is very tough indeed, as you'll find out. Thanks mate :thup:
****
July 2004
My first full month in the job.
Thousands of dollars were spent on phone calls home, most of them to my darling wife Sheena. The tyranny of distance hasn't been kind, with both of us wishing we could be with the other. She'll be resigning from her position as a teacher in Queensland at the end of the year and making the big step of moving over to Edinburgh to be with me. I just hope that I'm still in a job by the time she comes over, otherwise it would be one expensive holiday.
Thistle has been pretty kind to me, giving me a car and a house. I'll have to wait until Sheena comes over before I can start thinking about decorating the house however, as all I have at the moment is a television, fridge, oven and bed. I suspect I'll have to purchase a washing machine and drier sometime soon, but for now the club's laundromat seems to work out just fine.
Interest in the new Edinburgh team seems to be pretty low at the moment, and who can blame the supporters when they have two fine Premier League teams right in their city? It seems that we will have to work doubly hard to accomplish anything at Thistle, although strangely enough I'm looking forward to the challenge.
I officially started work on July 10, and started to arrange my office in the club complex at Bowmans Road. My first official duty as manager was to observe the draw for the first round of the Challenge Cup and League Cup the very next day. We drew two Second Division teams - Stirling for the League Cup, and Ayr for the Challenge Cup. Fortunately for us, both games are at home. Later that night I was able to get Phillip Yeates to join the club as a physio - my first signing!
Unfortunately, with no players on the books we were forced to cancel all but one of our friendly games - a less than ideal lead-in to our first season. My first major task was to sign an assistant manager to help share the burden. The main objective was to sign a cohesive squad before our first official game against Ayr on the 31st.
Alas, we failed miserably in our objective. Despite sending out in excess of thirty requests for player loans, in almost ever case we were rebuffed by the player in question. However, it was not all doom and gloom. The players we were able to sign, in order of signing:
July 14 - Jamie Dolan - 35 year old defender, veteran of the Premier League, with 305 games to his credit. Jamie will also serve as a coach.
July 15 - David Farrell - 34 year old defender, former Hibs player, which should get the supporters up the street excited.
July 26 - Connor Gethins - 20 year old forward from Ross County, a fiery Irish player who cost us $20,000.
July 28 - Andy Paterson - 32 year old defender, played all his career with lower division teams. Will also act as a coach.
July 30 - Paul Harvey - 35 year old attacking midfielder, a veteran of no less than nine clubs. Thistle will be his tenth.
July 31 - Andrew Reid - 18 year old forward on loan from Ayr. A little bit raw, but has a stack of potential
July 31 - Kieran McAnespie - 24 year old defensive midfielder from St Johnstone ($4,000). Former Scottish U21 rep.
July 31 - David Hagen - 31 year old attacking midfielder from Peterhead ($10,000). Former Rangers player
July 31 - Paul Gaughan - 23 year old defender from Straenaer ($4,000).
July 31 - Robbie Horn- 26 year old defender from Berwick ($4,000)
July 31 - Alan Mahood - 31 year old midfielder from Morton ($10,000)
On July 27th I finally landed my assistant manager - John Docherty. Together, we were able to send out around twenty offers for players late on the 28th, but I was growing increasingly worried that we would not be able to fill out our twenty positions due to bureaucratic red tape. Forfeiting our Challenge Cup match against Ayr was never seriously an option - we would instead use a combination of kids from the various secondary colleges around Edinburgh, a novel if somewhat dubious scheme. We would sign twenty boys, all between the ages of 16 and 19, to a one-day contract. Their 'payment' would be season tickets to Thistle games, and a yarn to tell their grandchildren in future years - they played in the first ever game for the Edinburgh Thistle Football Club. The Scottish FA and Ayr agreed to the scheme so we could field a team, although it would strictly be a one-off affair.
Challenge Cup vs Ayr, Bowmans Road Stadium
July 31 2004
The first team: John Scott* (GK), Andy Patterson (DR), Kieran McAnespie (DL), Paul Gaughan (DC), Robbie Horn (DC), David Farrell (MR), David Hagen (ML), Jamie Dolan (MC, captain), Paul Harvey (MC), Connor Gethins (F), Scott Fraser* (F).
* denotes youth player signed for one-day contract
The final scoreline was simply staggering. Edinburgh Thistle 4, Ayr 1. We nearly sang the team victory song at the halftime break, such was our dominance. Connor Gethins was simply outstanding with a hattrick of goals, whilst the other Thistle goal was courtesy of the Ayr defense tipping the ball into their own net. Gethins and Dolan both scored perfect ten ratings, whilst John Scott and Scott Fraser, the only two 'youth' players that we ended up using, were outstanding given the rawness and statuss of their football careers. Personally, I can't believe we've just beaten a second division team - flogged them off the park. I hope this isn't a mirage.
Gave all the players two days off training.
After the game, we received confirmation of five new signings via the fax machine:
David McClune is a young midfielder from Forfar and should add some youth to our squad, the majority of which is over the age of 30.
The memory is a bit hazy writing now after all the celebrations, but I remember we also signed the following characters:
Paul McHale (22 year midfielder from Cowdenbeath, $5,000) Paul McManus (21 year old striker from Stranraer, $24,000) Dean Walker (22 year old striker from East Fife, $5,000).
The final confirmed signing of the night was Keith McMullan (21 year old defender from Arbroath, $12,000). Handwritten on the faxed contract was a personal note from Keith, specifically asking - demanding, more like - that he be placed immediately in the top squad and that I recruit 'better' players to help further his career. I was sorely tempted to right 'up yours' on the paper and fax it back, but decided against it.
All in all, a good month, highlighted by a magnificent debut performance. Here's hoping that August can be just as good.
The month started with the draw for the second round of the League Challenge Cup. We're facing a trip to Stirling to play them in the Round of 16, exactly a week before we play them again in the first round of the League Cup.
13 days from our first assignment in the league, and we still have no goalkeeper! Tony McParland joins the squad from the Celtic Reserves and adds more steel to our defense.
On the 2nd, the betting odds for our division were released. As expected, Gretna were made favourites (1-5), with Peterhead, Cowdenbeath and Queens Park heading up an impressive list of other teams looking for promotion this season. We were given the unflattering odds of 50-1 to win the title. Implusively, I immediately placed $500 on with the local bookies - a possible payout of $25,000 should we win the big kahuna.
The signings continued to pile up:
Michael Hall - 29 year old defender from East Fife - $10,000 David Hay - 24 year old goalkeeper - finally! - from Brechin - $4,000 Allan McGregor - 22 year old goalkeeper - another! - from Rangers (reserves) - $35,000 Ross O'Donaghue - 21 year old midfielder from Bellshill - free
Our depth would be tested in our first game against Queens Park after Kieran McAnespie and Andy Paterson were injured in training mishaps, largely attributed to the state of our training grounds. I put in a formal complaint with the board about the terrible state of our training facilities, and to my surprise they agreed to generally upgrade all facilities.
Our first league game v Queens Park
Hampden Park Stadium, August 14 2004
And so it has come to this. A mad dash of signing players (up to $200,000 spent in signing players alone - a credible performance, I reckon), and appointing coaches, and just one other game to gauge our collective form.
On the bus to Glasgow, I took the opportunity to address the players.
"Gentlemen, not many people will take notice of the score today when they read their newspapers tomorrow.
"It's possible that in a few months time, some of us may not be here any longer. I may not be here. Nobody knows for certain. However, there is good reason to be absolutely focused on today. We are a very young club, a mere two months old. Almost without exception, all the other clubs in the entire association have over a hundred years of history to draw upon. Thousands of games in their collective histories. Hundreds of ghosts in their closets. Whatever the case may be, at Edinburgh Thistle, we have bugger-all.
"However, many years into the future, when Thistle is competiting on the world stage for higher honours, there may come a time when your children - or your children - and in any case thousands of Thistle supporters around the globe - will ask you, 'Dad, did you ever play for the Thistles?' And you will be able to look them in the eye and state - with great pride, I should add - that you were there when it all started. You were there on day one.
"One of you gentlemen in this bus right now will have the honour of scoring the first goal. Another will be able to say 'I got the first red card' - hopefully, not today, but you get my point. The supporters of Rangers and Celtic have their history, and all their titles and cups, but they're merely repeating history. We are making history, and it starts this afternoon against Queens ****ing Park!
The historic first team was:
GK - Allan McGregor - 22 years old, 6 career games
DR - Michael Hall - 29, 88
DL - Paul Gaughan - 23, 115
DC - Jamie Dolan (c) - 35, 307
DC - Robbie Horn - 27, 116
MR - David McClune - 21, 43
ML - David Hagen - 31, 229
MC - Paul McHale - 22, 1
MC - Ross O'Donoghue - 21, 8
FC - Connor Gethins - 20, 60
FC - Dean Walker - 22, 7
In front of 280 spectators, the Edinburgh Thistle saga got off to a great start, leading 1-0 against Queens Park at halftime. Despite having half as many chances as our opposition, the Thistle defense was able to maintain the lead and earn our first points in club history.
<UL TYPE=SQUARE>
14/8Queens Park (A)1-0Harvey 375th</UL>
Absolutely nothing went right for East Fife in our home opener in front of 350 fans. A saved penalty, playing with ten men for the majority of the second half, and another resounding Thistle victory.
During the week we made a play for two more defenders, including Gretna's Gavin Skelton and Forfar's David Dunn. Whilst Skelton was reluctant to move to Edinburgh, the salary package was too tempting and he promptly signed on the dotted line, with $30,000 going to Gretna. The signing was very popular with our fans, considering we were to play Gretna the very next weekend. Dunn signed in a $9,000 deal but would not play due to paperwork not being filed in time for the Gretna game. With Jamie Dolan on the bench, Paul Gaughan became our second captain.
I had a novel experience at the end of the month - a phone call from the media! The reporter from the Scotsman and I had a 15-minute discussion mainly centered around the signing of Gavin Skelton to the Thistle squad until the end of the 2006/07 season. Whilst I expressed my admiration for Gavin's skills, I stressed that Skelton was just one player in a club of team players, and that I would only assess his position in the team on his performances and not his reputation.
The month ended with the second round League Challenge Cup match at Stirling. Gavin Skelton was injured early (a media curse?), and later tests revealed he would be lost for two weeks.
<UL TYPE=SQUARE>31/8Stirling (A) 0-1(McLean 23)League Challenge Cup 2nd Round</UL>
Hmmm, looks like I'll have to fiddle a bit more with the formatting. Never fear....
--------
September 2004
Robbie Horn and Ross O'Donaghue were the recipients of the Third Division players of the month awards, with Ross showing great maturity as one of our 'young guns'. I was a runner-up to Rowan Alexander of Gretna in the Manager of the Month awards, a nice recognition of the work that's been achieved thus far at the club.
A brief overview of our games, then.
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">7/9Stirling (H)1-2Hall 72 (Glancy 67, Hutchinson 80)League Cup 1st Round11/9Montrose (H)0-02nd18/9Cowdenbeath (A)2-0Walker 5, Skelton 482nd25/9Stenhousemuir (H)3-0Gethins 43, McHale 53, McManus 842nd[CODE}Third Division Table at the end of the month:[CODE]PPtsDif1. Gretna614+62. Edinburgh Thistle613+103. East Fife610-14. Cowdenbeath68-15. East Stirling68-26. Peterhead6707. Montrose66-18. Queens Park66-29. Stenhousemuir65-510. Albion64-4</pre>
Thistle is a very happy camp at the moment, with the club still undefeated in the Third Division and punching well above its weight. I wonder if those bookies are starting to have any doubts given our form at the moment.
The defense has been tight as a duck's bum, which I'm very happy about. To only concede one goal in six league games is a credible achievement, and I haven't stopped praising Allan McGregor in the media. David Hay got his chance to debut against Stirling in the League Cup game and didn't do too badly either, although I fear the lad has itchy feet and longs for more game time.
Still, there is another 30 games to go in our season, and anything could happen. Touch wood, we'll be up there still at the end of the season, and promotion can be achieved much, much quicker than anticipated.
In the Premier League, things are going to script, with Celtic and Rangers already enjoying a seven-point break on the rest of the competition after seven games. The Old Firm is not enjoying as much success in the Champions League, with just one win from four games between them.
Our Edinburgh bretheren Hearts are through to the group stage of the UEFA Cup after an aggregrate victory against Maccabi Petach-Tikva of Israel. Dunfermline were scuttled from the competition in the Second Qualifying Round by the pride of Iceland, FH.
Scotland began their quest to qualify for the 2006 World Cup on a poor note with a 1-0 loss to Slovenia at Hampden. They face Norway and Moldova in October.
The reason for the brief update? I'm off to the airport to pick up Sheena....
Having Sheena around has put a real kick into my step, as the saying goes. It seems that she was able to arrange long service leave from her school, and was on the first available flight to London straight after the term ended. The rest of our furniture arrives in November, so for now we'll be roughing it on the couch. Luckily for Sheena, the British education system is screaming out for teachers, and she'll be able to start at a school near Murrayfield in the new year.
And onwards we go, further into the season.
The East Stirling match was a brutal affair, with two red cards shown by the referee, who did a good job under trying circumstances. Connor Gethins got his marching orders in the 26th minute after an earlier yellow card, whilst Grieg Denham was shown a straight red after a blantant trip on one of our players. David Dunn scored the only goal of the game which keeps our run intact. Meanwhile, Gretna lost to the Blue Brazil, pushing us up to the top of the pile. I gave the boys a week off training due to the FIFA internationals week wiping out our schedule, and escaped to Italy for a long weekend with Sheena.
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">2/10Thistle 1, East Stirling 0Dunn 321st</pre>
Losing Dean Walker early against Peterhead, our attacking options were severely limited, and we gave up just our second goal - and loss - of the season. After the game, our physio Steven McCulloch confirmed that Dean would be out for a minimum of three weeks. Soon after the game, I gave the managers of Hearts and Hibs a call to discuss loaning forwards to Thistle, as our back-up option, Andrew Reid, would be out for around a month with a damaged tendon.
Alas for us, we are unable to loan any players for the time being. We'll just have to soldier on with what we have currently at the club. Once the transfer window opens, I'll have to investigate the option of signing at least another forward, and perhaps a more attacking-orientated midfielder. Gethins does return after a one-match suspension, so it's not all doom and gloom.
Bottom of the heap - a Scottish epic 
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