shannon2007

It was important that we got off to a good start in the League, as we didn't want to get left behind early doors and then have to play catch up for the rest of the season. An opening day 2-0 loss away to Airdrie was probably expected but nevertheless dissapointing. Our second game was also away, and with our first home game against title favourites Dundee United, we were staring nil points right in the face. Fortunately, a Paul Tosh goal on 50 minutes gave us all three points in Kircaldy. Fortunately, because we got murdered 2-0 at Station Park against United.

Dundee United would also end our Challenge Cup hopes and League Cup hopes, both at the second round stage. We did take them to penalties in the Challenge Cup match at Tannadice, and only lost 1-0 at home in the League Cup. These were little signs of encouragement for us against the team who would prove to be clearly the best in the Division by some margin. Wins over Partick, Montrose, Queen of the South and Clyde, as well as five draws in other matches, left us in a decent position as we travelled to Tannadice again, this time on League duty. Once again though our more illustrious neighbours were to prove to too strong for us as we went down bravely by 2-0.

We would play United for the fifth time on the 7th of January 2006, and we would lose yet again to the freaks, this time by 2-1. In between those meetings though we had hit a bad slump, losing five of our eight matches and although we still had our heads above water, we were slipping further and further into the relegation quagmuire.

Money was still tight, but if we wanted survive in the League it was clear we needed new faces. A host of fringe players were either released to free up wages or moved on for a nominal fee. Halfway through January greedy Gretna offered us £50,000 for Barry Roche and we happily accepted. That, coupled with a guaranteed £50,000 from the Scottish Cup helped ease our finances a little bit.

As one of the players to leave on a nominal fee was our other keeper Michael Brown - leaving us with just the teenage Bradley - we needed cover in that department as priority. We managed to locate two keepers who could do a job for us, and would cost only £5,000 for the pair. Former Arbroath keeper Mark Peat signed on from Albion Rovers, and then we took the back-page headlines as we signed former Rangers and Scotland keeper, the legendary Andy Goram, now an amazing 41 years old. Goram would also take on the role of assistant manager.

Another golden oldie to join the ranks was 38 year old Irish defender Alan Kernaghan who would also join the coaching team. We still needed cover at the back, and former Hibs defender Mark Dempie joined from Dumbarton for £4,000. Needed striking cover for the ailing Tosh and Shields, we managed to nab Jim Hamilton from Motherwell and went back to Dumbarton with another £14,000 to bring in Andy Rogers. The final signing for January was also from Dumbarton as we attempted to decimate their team, midfielder Joe Gold coming in for £7,000.

Hopefully these new faces, and especially the experience of the older players, would help us survive and pull free from our ever increasing relegation nightmare.

shannon2007

I feel I should appologize to those people who expected this story to be about a dog. It isn't. This story contains no dogs, unless you count the mention of that bitch who used to work at Smiths. If you have come here, being a dog lover then really, you need to get out more. Dogs smell.

But back to the football. Having met Dundee United twice already in cup ties this season, I swore I would kill the person who drew us out the hat if we drew them again. Thankfully we didn't. We drew Hearts.

The match with Hearts turned out to be Andy Gorams first in goals for us, and we got murdered 3-0. This wasn't entirely unexpected. A 2-1 defeat at Airdrie and then two successive 0-0 home draws saw us slip ever further back towards the Second Division. It was just a matter of the new faces fitting in though, and four wins from five before meeting Dundee United for the final time this season, eased the pressure somewhat.

Our last chance to take something for our derby for this season was to turn to heartache as we again lost by 1-0. United went all 36 league matches unbeaten, steamrollering their way back to the SPL and were very much a class above everyone else. After the defeat at Tannadice, we had seven matches left to play, and managed to win six. A draw with Queen of the South was our only slip up, as we hauled ourselves up the table and ended in a very respectable 3rd place in the table.

Although we have a squad that on the whole seems to be on the wrong side of 30, I am sure that - based on the way we have ended this season - we can put in a decent challenge next season and mibbe even have a shout of promotion. The bookies dont think so, as they have as ay 16/1 but yet even that is a much, much lower price and shows perhaps the strides we have made.

Finishing 3rd awarded us £175,000 and there was even more good news financially as we struck a new sponsorship deal worth just over £100,000 a year - a vast improvement on the insulting £12.5k deal we had previously. Things are looking good, and lets hope we can deliver our promise on the park.

Elsewhere in Scotland, the Old Firm again failed to lift the SPL title as Dundee were this seasons shock troops. Motherwell beat Hamilton in the League Cup Final, but Celtic managed to beat Aberdeen on penalties to win the Scottish. Which was a farce.

shannon2007

Scottish Football League Division One - 2005-2006

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Dundee Utd | | 36 | 28 | 8 | 0 | 65 | 13 | +52 | 92 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Airdrie Utd | | 36 | 16 | 10 | 10 | 49 | 42 | +7 | 58 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Forfar | | 36 | 16 | 8 | 12 | 50 | 42 | +8 | 56 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Morton | | 36 | 13 | 11 | 12 | 51 | 49 | +2 | 50 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | St. Mirren | | 36 | 12 | 9 | 15 | 39 | 41 | -2 | 45 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Partick | | 36 | 9 | 14 | 13 | 34 | 38 | -4 | 41 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Raith | | 36 | 8 | 15 | 13 | 41 | 49 | -8 | 39 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Clyde | | 36 | 10 | 7 | 19 | 39 | 57 | -18 | 37 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | R | Ross County | | 36 | 9 | 9 | 18 | 45 | 61 | -16 | 36 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | R | Queen of Sth | | 36 | 9 | 9 | 18 | 48 | 69 | -21 | 36 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

shannon2007

Every couple of years or so we will round up the squad, just in case those of you with alzheimers have forgotten who it is I've bought and sold. Only one new player turned up at Station Park during the summer of 2006, that being former Motherwell and Aberdeen midfielder Derek Adams. The reason for this was partly because I felt that the team had played well enough towards the end of last season, and also that we were still only just about breaking even financially.

Andy Goram would remain our number one choice keeper. He had been playing reasonably well, although obviously at 42 years of age was well past his prime. I hoped he would last another season.

Mark Peat and teenager Adam Bradley remained as back ups. Peat was a decent enough keeper but I didnt have 100% confidence in him. Plus he had played for Arbroath. Bradley had made a handful of first team appearances and had done well enough, but there was no way I was pitting him into the starting line up on a regular basis. One bad game and it could ruin his career.

Speaking of youths - which we weren't - a lot of people were rabbiting on about our youth system and how it would be cheaper and easier to raise our own players. The fact is though that right now we cannot afford to run that much of a youth team. Most of the young players we get through our doors turn out to be utter pish and we end up wasting a fair few thousands on them. At the moment we have two players who came through our own youth set up that might, just might make a breakthrough someday or at least be good enough to be sold and claw back some of the money we have invested.

Gary Robertson is an 19 year old left back who can hit a good free kick. Averagely pacey, his big problem is his passing tend to let him down. He has a chance to make it, but not much of one. Steven Johnston is also 19, and plays as a central defender. He is an ok player, who tries his best but I can't even see him play for us unless we get relegated to the Highland League Division Five.

Back to the main squad then, and we find that Kieran McAnespie and Steve Florence still comprise the full back pairing. They have both been solid without being brilliant, and at 27 McAnespie can be with us a while longer and I'm happy for him to be so. Florence though is hitting 35 and is probably starting to think about retiring. His contract is up at the end of this season, and so far we haven't spoken about renewing it.

In the centre of the defence Alan Kernaghan, now almost 40, has done a good job in captaining the side, but has announced that he will be retiring at the end of this season. Eddie Forrest is still with us, and 28 he is another who can be around for a few more years yet. Ryan McGuffie, a 26 year old we signed from Gretna, can play in the defence or the midfield which is handy.

shannon2007

Appologies, I had to take a very important phone call. I can't tell you what it was about, or who it was from - but a certain Palace in a big English town. wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

So where were we? Ah yes just rounding up the remains of the defence. Mark Dempsie has struggled to make the breakthrough, appearing only a few times for us and although he hasn't really done that badly he just isn't holding down his place. Wimp.

Derek Adams arrival is a boost to the midfield. He is a good solid player, and will help us a lot. Paul Bernard, another who, approaching 34, is at the latter end of his career and who probably won't be with us next season, continues to keep the midfield holding role in front of the back two. Young McGuffie can play here too if needed, and we also have young Joe Gold. Scott Bannerman can also be utilised here or at right back. Although he mainly operates on the bench. Or the stand.

Ian Morris, now 25, is doing a fine job in the attacking midfield role behind the strikers. He contributed 8 goals and 11 assists last season in his 40 appearance, not brilliant but its something. Alongside Adams, you will pro bably find Welshman [/b]Mike Flynn[/b] who is 25, going on 26. He has done very well for us since his arrival from Wigan and is a key part of the team now.

Other midfielders are ex-Rangers youngster Alex Walker (22) who has to be honest, failed to make that much of an impact. Barry Sellars is of course still very much a key member of the squad and it gives us a good bit of competition for places. Philip Creaney has kind of fallen out of favour and we are trying to offload him, but so far no-one wants him.

Up front, Jim Hamilton has come in and scored 10 goals in 15 starts which is pretty impressive. Paul Tosh generally partners Hamilton, 12 goals in 35 matches last season though isn't the most prolific of strike rates. With only six goals from 23 starts, Paul Shields has found himself fallen from grace with the arrival of Hamilton and has his work cut out to regain his place.

It is not a massive squad so we will have to hope we steer clear of too many injuries and suspensions. After a good third place finish, we won't be the unknown team that everyone expects to thrash this season, and so that will provide us with a different a challenge.

Which is nice.

shannon2007

The Portuguese were back for more Bridies. After Porto had feasted on Forfar hospitality last season, Benfica decided they would like a wee shot also. AEK Larnaca of Cyprus, Atletico Madrid's B team and Dundee made up the rest of the pre season line up. A rusty performance against rhe Cypriots, Paul Tosh grabbed the only goal after 42 minutes. It wasn't great, but then we didn't need to be great at this stage did we.

The B side of Madrids second team arrived and after 2 minutes stunned the crowd with a goal. Six minutes later Ian Morris pulled us level and then late goals from Jim Hamilton and Paul Shields saw us ease to a comfortable win, and it was good to see a few varied names on the score sheet. The bigger matches offered more of a challenge, but things were looking good as we raced to an 2-0 lead over Dundee inside 10 minutes - Hamilton and Morris the scorers. Dundee though were not here to be beaten and goals from Steve Lovell in both halfs pulled them level. Just after the hour Tosh sent us ahead, but we were denied a good win eight minutes from time as Dundee gained a draw. Nevertheless and encouraging work out and more encouragement was to come as we squared up to Portuguese legends Benfica. After a goalless first half, Mantorras sent Benfica into the lead two minutes after half time, but just before the hour Paul Bernard was the many who grabbed us another moral boosting draw.

The season for real got underway with a Challenge Cup match at home to Montrose which we won comfortably enough by 2-0 to set up a meeting with Queen's Park at Hampden. Just over 1500 people were crammed into the 50,000 seater and just three minutes had gone when Ian Morris sent us into the lead. Mike Flynn added a second just before halftime, and six minutes from the end of a game we had easily controlled Paul Shields wrapped it all up.

For the first time under my command we had progressed to the 3rd round of the Challenge cup and were starting to believe might win this. Kilmarnock at home, and a boring and frustrating 0-0 draw after extra time and the dirty Killie went through on penalties. Its a crap competition anyway.

In the League Cup, Ayr were our first round opponents, and they were easily seen off by 3-0. High flying, money laden, ambitious Gretna were in round 2, but an Ian Morris goal on the hour put paid to those wide boys. The 3rd round gave us a tough trip to SPL side Inverness, and although Eddie Forest was the only player to score, he did so in the wrong net and we tumbled out after a brave performance. Another stupid cup out of the way.

And so once again, we could give the league our full attention until the new year.

shannon2007

With the minor, meaningless cups gone to clubs that didn't deserve them, our league campaign continued apace. Last season, Dundee United had stormed Division One, not giving anyone much of a chance. This season though, things were a lot tighter. There was no real outstanding team, and as such the league was extremely tight. By the end of the year we found ourselves sitting proudly at the top of the Division. Not that we hadn't had our moments of despair. A 5-2 loss at Falkirk had been a bit of a blow at the time, and we had also been gubbed 3-0 in Kilmarnock. Defeats against Morton and St Mirren were also most unwelcome.

Yet of course we also had our highs, especially a magnificent 5-1 annihilation of Partick Thistle, the first time we had scored five goals under my charge. In the Scottish Cup, we finally managed to get a 3rd round draw that wasn't against SPL oppostition, and duly beat Queen of the South by 2-1 to progess past the 3rd round for the the first time under my charge. Seems like this was a season for firsts.

The draw for the 4th round set us up with the dream tie against Celtic. The problem was, it was at Station Park. A capacity crowd of 4600 watched our game of the season, and there was an air of inevitability when Stephen Pearson sent the holders ahead after just 12 minutes. We settled down though, and gave Celtic more than a fight for their money and with just over a minute till the interval, Derek Adams hit a quite wonderful 30 yard drive to level the match. The home fans were still celebrating when from the kick off Stillian Petrov sent Celtic back into the lead, where they stayed. Overall, a decent show from us and a nice reward of £75,000.

January was another busy time for us in the transfer market. Andy Goram and Alan Kernaghan both decided that they would retire from playing forthwith, rather than wait till the end of the season. Which was bloody nice of them. Mark Dempsie went to Falkirk for £10,000. Andy Rogers, who had been rather hot and cold, was sent to Kilmarnock for £8,000 and we finally got rid of Philip Creaney to Arbroath for no fee. Greedy Gretna struck again as they made a £100,000 offer for Barry Sellars which we couldn't refuse.

With Goram now not playing, that meant we had a bit of a minor keeping crises. £3,000 secured the services of 26 year old Slovenian Dino Seremet from Luton as a replacement. Finish international prospect, Toni Koskela (24) came in from Cardiff for £30,000. Koskela can play up front or in the midfield. Three youngsters also arrived at the club as we looked to bring down the average age of the squad.

Central defender Graeme Watson (20), arrived from Rangers for £4,000, Welsh U-21 attacker Peter Ferris (17) came in from Morton for £3,000 and 19 year old English striker Ryan Barnes was brought in from Bolton for £35,000. Barnes was a decent prospect, but despite his higher price tag, his place was in the youth side for now.

Whether it was the excitment/anti climax of playing Celtic, whether it was the new face or whether it was just the reality that we were actually crap but after the Cup tie with Celtic we started to stutter. A draw with Clyde and losses to Airdrie and Falkirk allowed the later to move to the top of the table, where they were to stay. Draws with Partick and Clyde seemed to have totally blown our hopes, but with Falkirk also drawing, we were still in touch as the other sides in what had once been a six team race fell away.

With four games left to play, we travelled to Kircaldy and could only draw with struggling Raith Rovers. The result became worse when the news came through that Falkirk had lost at Clyde. The gap with three to play was four points. This was a title we could have won and lost over and over, but we were still just about in the race and when Falkirk lost in Airdrie on the penultimate weekend, the First Division race was going to the wire.

Whilst Falkirk were hosting St Mirren on the final day, we were also at home - ironically enough against Airdrie. All we could do was win and pray....

shannon2007

Of course, we didn't just have to hope and pray. There so much more we could do. So much more I could do. Ok, well one thing I could do.

In the cupboard under the stairs, in a tattered olc box, was the lamp in which had lived the Genie who brought me here. Excitedly, I extracted it from where it had lain, and rubber it hard. Immediately, a puff of smoke arose, and there before me stood the Genie.

'I am the Genie of the.... oh it's you again, what d'you want?'

'Erm what about, your wish is my command?'

'Well thats a very kind offer' The Genie smiled, 'But I wasn't aware you could grant wishes. I wish to be free from this Lamp for one thing.'

'No, no, no. I'm not offering you a wish. I've come to ask you to grant me another one'

'Well I must say, that's very selfish of you.'

'Yeah whatever. Look I'll make a promise to you. Grant me the wish that we win the League, and I'll never bother you again.'

'Very well' the Genie sighed, and once more dissapeared with a poof - who looked remarkably like Julian Clarey.

I was therefore quite confident that we would sipping champagne by the time the final whistle went. After all, teams had blown titles before on last days, so it wasn't really that difficult a wish. It wasn't as if we were 100 points behind. Twenty five minutes gone, and as we struggled to break down a stubborn Airdrie, news filtered through that Falkirk had taken the lead against St Mirren. The groan around the ground was audible. Airdrie continued to frustrate us and we went in at half time goalless, to the news that Falkirk had scored a second in injury time.

Four minutes into the second half, we finally got the goal we needed if we were going to cash in on Falkirk slipping up, youngster Peter Ferris with his 8th goal in 16 matches. There was no further news seeping through from Falkirk as we finished the season with a flurry. Goals in 83 and 89 minutes from Derek Adams and Ian Morris finally wrapped up a fine win, and we had done our part. Now, all we needed to hear was that St Mirren had scored three times, and we were Champions.

Finally we got news from Falkirk. The home side had won 2-0, and we had failed. I simply couldn't believe it. The Genie had lied to me. I vowed that as soon as I got home, I would build a bonfire and burn that damn lamp. That would teach the lying git.

shannon2007

Scottish First Division - 2006-2007

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Falkirk | | 36 | 19 | 11 | 6 | 54 | 31 | +23 | 68 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Forfar | | 36 | 20 | 7 | 9 | 59 | 34 | +25 | 67 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Airdrie Utd | | 36 | 15 | 11 | 10 | 37 | 37 | 0 | 56 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Partick | | 36 | 15 | 9 | 12 | 66 | 55 | +11 | 54 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Kilmarnock | | 36 | 14 | 10 | 12 | 45 | 36 | +9 | 52 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Morton | | 36 | 13 | 8 | 15 | 56 | 61 | -5 | 47 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Clyde | | 36 | 12 | 10 | 14 | 49 | 56 | -7 | 46 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | St. Mirren | | 36 | 9 | 12 | 15 | 39 | 50 | -11 | 39 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | R | Hamilton | | 36 | 8 | 11 | 17 | 28 | 45 | -17 | 35 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | R | Raith | | 36 | 6 | 9 | 21 | 34 | 62 | -28 | 27 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

BarryLFC

bloody genies, not worth the lamps they come in.