shannon2007

The following season was a bit of a crazy one in many ways. Scoring, for instance, seemed virtually impossible at one point - after 10 games we had just seven goals, even though we were 2nd in the table. Our performances for a long spell were far from consistant, but on reflection that may be down to a bigger than usual player turn over. Out the way went Alex Walker to St Mirren, Paul Bernard to Alloa, Steve Florence on a free, Joe Gold to Kilmarnock and the one that probably upset us the most in terms of goalscoring as Paul Shields was nabbed by Hibs.

A whole host of new players arrived through the Station Park doors, but that was more to do with our decision to try and run a fully augmented youth team, after last seasons success in lifting the U-19 title with only 2 actual (semi) professional players. The players we brought in were mainly discards from other clubs, and we would only be having them on a part time basis, paying them 30-50 quid a week, but it was an experiment we hoped would bear, and one that indeed did so in a quite spectacular way.

Cups don't seem to be my forte as a manager, and as we crashed out of the Challenge Cup 1st round on penalties to St Mirren, and then were humiliated in the League Cup 1st round 2-0 at Third Division Cowdenbeath, there was a part of me that wondered if we shouldn't just give up these silly competitions as a bad joke. We were blowing hot and cold in the league, winning one week and the losing the next. Yet we still maintained a title challenge, because the truth was, no-one was really taking charge of the league. Amazingly, by the time the New Year came again, we were once more on top of the table. Exactly how we got there was a mystery to me, becuase there had been times when I wondered just what the hell we were playing at - it certainly wasn't football.

But the story of how we got there, the player who was largely responsible and the tale of what happened to him will have to wait for another time.......

shannon2007

Apart from the teenagers who were brought in for slave wages, one or two other players arrives who would have a significant part to play in the first team. Midfielder Danny Boshell (26) arrived from Margate for £4,000 and we picked up young Italian Starlet Michael Bacher (18), from Alto Adige for £24,000. Both these players would become key members of the starting eleven this season. Another young midfielder, Simon Baker (19), came in from Blackburn for £16,000 but although he made a handful of first team appearances, he was a player for the future.

Leon Clarke was signed from Lincoln for £14,000 but just three goals in 15 matches from the striker simply wasn't good enough and we cut our losses and sold him to Plymouth for just £5000. In an attempt to solve our scoring problems, teenager Ryan Barnes who had been scoring well with the youth team, found himself promoted to the first team a bit earlier than expected. Yet perhaps the step up was just a bit too much, or perhaps he was just rubbish after all as he managed only 2 goals in 16 matches and was eventually sold to Bournemouth for a 3rd of the price we had bought him for.

Back in the youth team, another young player was banging in the goals for fun, and so 18 year old Graeme Ritchie, who had come in on a free after being released by Charlton, was given his chance to shine with the big boys. A hattrick on he debut at home to Queen of the South showed that this boy did indeed have promise. Nine goals in eight matches helped push us to the top of the table ahead of Gretna and St Johnstone. And then disaster struck.

A weeek to go until the January transfer window closed, I got a call from Blackburn manager Terry Gennoe.

'Hi its Terry Gennoe here, manager of Blackburn Rovers. We'd like to buy your young striker Graeme Ritchie.'

'Would you indeed, well you see thing is, he's not for sale.'

'We're offering £250,000'

'Erm bugger, well, erm ok we'll have to think about it.'

But really there was nothing to think about. We simply could not afford to turn down such a lucicrous bid. I was nearly in tears as we kissed our promotion goodbye with the sale of the only player who seemed to be able to score goals. We did bring in Gary Wales for £2,000 from Dundee United but he failed to make much impact with just one goal in 15 matches. In the end, we once more had to settle for 2nd place as Gretna pipped us to the title and we destined for another season in the First Division.

There was some success though, as the under 19 team reached the final of the Youth Cup, repaying our faith in having a fully fledged youth system. On the day though, despite opening the scoring through Peter Ferris, who was a first team regular, it just proved too much as we ended up losing 2-1 to Aberdeen. But a brave try from the kids.

shannon2007

Scottish First Division 2007-2008

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Gretna | | 36 | 19 | 9 | 8 | 47 | 21 | +26 | 66 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Forfar | | 36 | 18 | 9 | 9 | 46 | 26 | +20 | 63 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | St. Johnstone | | 36 | 17 | 10 | 9 | 64 | 47 | +17 | 61 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Kilmarnock | | 36 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 42 | 42 | 0 | 51 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Partick | | 36 | 14 | 8 | 14 | 40 | 37 | +3 | 50 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Clyde | | 36 | 13 | 10 | 13 | 56 | 59 | -3 | 49 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | St. Mirren | | 36 | 12 | 11 | 13 | 39 | 45 | -6 | 47 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Airdrie Utd | | 36 | 11 | 9 | 16 | 36 | 48 | -12 | 42 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | R | Morton | | 36 | 11 | 6 | 19 | 45 | 55 | -10 | 39 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | R | Queen of Sth | | 36 | 6 | 8 | 22 | 31 | 66 | -35 | 26 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

shannon2007

Although the new season came around with me having more money to spend than ever before - around £150,000 - there wasn't an awful lot of activity on the transfer market for us, mainly because no-one want to come who would improve our squad. Well, almost no-one.

There were two big talking points of the summer of 2008 that got Forfar a bit more coverage in the press than usual. Firstly the arrival of former Nigerian international, Jay Jay Okocha. Jay Jay was retiring from football at the end of the year, but we hoped to persuade the 34 year old to stay on until at least the end of the season. The other big talking point was my sacking of assistant manager, Andy Goram. Quite frankly, when you find your assistant manager conducting a training session wearing only womens underwear and stoned out his brain, its time for him to go. So Andy went, and I told him he could keep my bra and panties, I didn't want them back.

The squad then looked like this:

In goal would be Slovenian Dino Seremet (27). In his two seasons at the club so far, he had played 57 matches and made 27 shut outs, which is a decent enough record. Although he was only signed as a stop gap to replace Goram, Seremet has become a popular and vital player at the club. Back up keepers Callum Reidford (21) and Neil Inglis (33) have both still to make their debuts with the Slovenian being so impressive.

At right back, twenty eight year old Englishman Stephen Purches came in last season from Wrexham for £4,000. A good solid season in which he made 35 appearance and was captain of the side. Deputy at right back is Dean Keenan (22), who also made 35 appearance after signing from Morton for £14,000. He can play in the centre as well, which has helped him get so much play time.

The left back slot is still occupied by one of my first signing, 28 year old Kieran McAnespie. Now in his fifth season at the club, Kieran has racked up 133 appearances and is a big favourite with the fans. Deputy left back Gary Robertson (21), is a product of the youth system. He has managed only four appearances in the first team so far, and is starting to get restless. He is a decent player who should be able to make a living from the game, but he will never make it at the highest level.

In the centre of the defence is the only player who remains from the squad from before I arrived that being 29 year old Eddie Forest. He will make his 150th appearance for the club in the opening match of the season. Partnering Eddie will be new signing Scott
Wilson (26), formerly of Motherwell, Airdrie, Clyde and Livingston from whom we signed him for £40,000. With such a relatively high price tag in terms of this club, a lot is expected from him.

Cover at the back comes from 23 year old English man Chris Seeby, 21 year old Chris Robertson both of whom arrived this summer, and 22 year old former Rangers youth Graeme Watson. Graeme has flitted in and out the team and has made just 23 appearances in his two seasons at the club.

Ninteen year old Italian starlet Michael Bacher takes up the holding role in front of the defence. He has a devastating free kick, but probably needs to control it more to benefit from it. Five goals in 31 appearances last year, but it could be more. Back up here comes from 28 year Ryan McGuffie, who can also slot into the centre of the defence if needed. Starting his 4th season at the club, McGuffie has made 31 appearances in total.

Jay Jay Okocha will slot into the midfield beside young Englishman Simon Baker (20) who arrived after being released by Blackburn last season, which he spent most of in the youth team, although he did manage six first team appearances. Ninteen year old Peter Ferris will play in the 'hole' behind the front two in the midfield diamond. Ferris has made 56 appearances over three season, claiming 24 goals. His contract though is up at the end of the season, and as he is unwilling to sign a new one, chances are he will be on the move sooner rather than later.

Other midfielders at the club are Danny Boshell (27), who played 37 times last season, Derek Adams (33) who has played 48 times in his two seasons, Welshman Mike Flynn (27) who had appeared 90 times in his four season, and Ian Morris (26) who has 143 appearances in four years, and has bagged 49 goals.

Up front, Gary Wales (29), who was once a promising player at Hearts, came in last season in January but only 1 goal in 15 appearances if far from impressive. New signing Colin Boylan (25), comes in from Peterhead for £35,000. In four years there, he scored 69 goals in 146 appearances, and hopefully he can do a similiar or better job here.

Clearly we still need depth up front, but all round the team is certainly looking good and we would expect once more to challenge for promotion. In pre season wins over Brighton (3-0) and Arsenal Reserves (4-0), Jay Jay Okocha in particular has looked impressive and he sure to have a big impact on the First Division.

BarryLFC

Nice signing

shannon2007

Who, Gary Wales

shannon2007

Cups are something that until now we have had little success in under my management. Partly due to getting tough draws, and partly due to not caring. A 4-0 win over Peterhead, Colin Boylan bagging a brace against his former club and other goals from Peter Ferris, and quite amazingly, Gary Wales, didn't alert us to the possibility of any kind of success. After all, Peterhead are pish.

Boylan was on target again in the second round at Stenhousemuir, Ferris grabbing a brace this time in an easy 3-0 win and we had gotten as far as we ever had in the last five years. Things were starting to look a tad interesting, and a home draw with Dumbarton in the last eight held no fears for us.

Part of the reason that such a tie would hold no fears, was the scintillating start we had made to the season. There were two reasons for this. Firstly, there is no doubt Jay Jay Okocha was having an immense influence on the side, and also and perhaps not unrelated - we were scoring goals. Colin Boylan was providing them, but so were other players such as Jay Jay and astonishingly even Gary Wales seemed to remember where the goal was as we won our first four matches with comparative ease.

Right on the verge of the transfer deadline though, we were to lose Peter Ferris - a £250,000 bid from Livingston too good to turn down and off he went. This left us with a bit of a crises as we prepared for our League Cup 2nd round match with Stirling. An injury to Gary Wales meant we only had two forward players, and we needed new blood. On the very last day of the transfer window, as time ran out, we finally located two forwards who we thought would help our push for success. The problem was, one was injured for a few days and one was suspended which meant neither could play in the Cup tie anyway - a match we still won 2-0 thanks to a Colin Boylan brace.

There was probably only a slight ripple of excitement amongst the Forfar support when we announced the capture of former Rangers and Hibs striker Stephen Dobbie (26) from Gretna for the fee of £8,000. Dobbie though would go on to have a significant impact in the season ahead, as would our other signing on the last day. That name though probably caused a few fans to cum in their pants, and possibly even a few had heart attacks and died as we announced the capture of Totti.

shannon2007

Sadly, for the people who died and those who needed to wash their underpants, Totti wasn't of Italian origin. He was in fact, Artistoteles de Carvalho a 20 year old Portuguese. He was though, still a half decent player and would do well for us in the season ahead before being stolen by Hibs. Bastards.

The Challenge Cup run didn't come to an end against Dumbarton as Jay Jay and Dobbie fired us to a 2-0 win and a Semi Final appearance against Airdrie United. A 5-0 thrashing of Raith, followed by a 2-0 win in Falkirk meant we had won our first seven games, losing only one goal in the process. Totti was the man in the Semi, two late strikes sending us to a Final against Partick Thistle. Airdrie though were to get their revenge in the very next match as they ended our winning streak with a 2-1. They and Falkirk would be our main rivals this season, although by the time we met Celtic in an FA Cup 4th round tie at Celtic Park, we were 20 points clear at the top of the First Division.

A 3-0 win over Queen's Park in the League Cup set us up with a tough few days. The 3rd round draw paired us with Rangers at home, and then we had the Challenge Cup Final with Partick at East End Park, Dunfermline. A brilliant Colin Boylan solo effort after just five minutes stunned the then Premier League leaders Rangers, but they were level just before the half hour. Nevertheless, we put in an excellent shift, and the match ended 1-1 after extra time. A dissapointing penalty shoot out though saw us miss three from five and Rangers it was who went through.

Seventeen minutes into the Challenge Cup Final, we fell behind to a Panther goal. It wasn't looking like our day as we went in at half time that goal down. Ten minutes after the break though, Jay Jay equalised and as we grew in domination, Eddie Forest of all people sent us into the lead with 20 minutes left. Into stoppage time, it looked like the cup was ours until stupid defending let Partick score with the final kick of the ball. Extra time produced nothing and for the second time in a week we had a penalty shoot out - and for the second time in a week we lost. Bugger.

We didn't lose another game though for the rest of the year, although we did lose Jay Jay Okocha who decided he'd had enough and hung up his boots. We also lost Simon Baker, after Everton offered us half of one million pounds for him. At Celtic Park, without our star duo, we went behing after 19 minutes. The Celtic support though were silenced on the half hour as Stephen Dobbie danced through their defence to pull us level. For 30 minutes, it seemed like we might just managed to get a result, but as tiredness set in the home side and now league leaders, scored three times and our cup dream was over.

Whether it was the loss of the match to Celtic so heavily, or whether it was the impact of losing such quality in our midfield - the capture of youngster Steven Lennon from Rangers hardly made up for the two we had lost - but suddenly we hit the skids. A 1-1 home draw with Raith folled by defeats at St Mirren and Falkirk and there were minor panick stations. A superb 5-1 win over Airdrie in what was billed as the title decider settled our nerves and after disposing of Partick, we went into a home match with bottom side Queen's Park just needing to win to reach the SPL. A poor draw wasn't enough to keep Queen's up as they were officially relegated, but a draw between Falkirk and Airdrie meant the title was ours after all.

Our end of season form was far from impressive, and meant we had a fair bit to worry about regards survival in the SPL, but we would worry about that later. Right now was time to celebrate as Forfar Athletic had arrived in the top flight for the first time ever.

shannon2007

Scottish First Division - 2008/2009

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Forfar | | 36 | 25 | 7 | 4 | 75 | 24 | +51 | 82 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Airdrie Utd | | 36 | 16 | 10 | 10 | 52 | 50 | +2 | 58 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Falkirk | | 36 | 16 | 9 | 11 | 49 | 33 | +16 | 57 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Partick | | 36 | 16 | 6 | 14 | 50 | 45 | +5 | 54 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Kilmarnock | | 36 | 16 | 5 | 15 | 50 | 46 | +4 | 53 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Clyde | | 36 | 13 | 13 | 10 | 44 | 44 | 0 | 52 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | St. Johnstone | | 36 | 12 | 9 | 15 | 39 | 44 | -5 | 45 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Raith | | 36 | 8 | 18 | 10 | 26 | 32 | -6 | 42 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | R | St. Mirren | | 36 | 5 | 14 | 17 | 25 | 49 | -24 | 29 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | R | Queen's Park | | 36 | 4 | 7 | 25 | 24 | 67 | -43 | 19 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

retired_jgirl87

Nice work PM7, now let's see how Forfar handle the SPL. :cool: