retired_trainer

Very enjoyable read Peacemaker. Good luck in Europe.

shannon2007

Considering most of the important people on here are Scots (Including one of the mods) I'd watch what I say if I were you. If that is your real name.

Thanks rukus

shannon2007

There was probably as much an air of frustration amongst the Forfar support, as there was excitment about the new season ahead. Especially for those who would miss out on our home games. There was little we could do about that though. If we wanted to stay in the SPL, we needed a better stadium, and sacrifices had to be made somewhere along the line.

The whole team had a different look to it, and it would take the fans a bit of time to get used to that as well. But new heroes would be born, they always are in football.

Scott Murray (22) hadn't played too badly in goal last season. It was hard to judge whether the sixty goals he conceded in his 42 matches were a result of poor keeping, or a poor defence. The truth was probably somewhere in between. With the move of back up keeper Callum Reidford to St Mirren for no fee, we needed someone else to come in and in 22 year old Spaniard Ignacio Martinez I believed we had found someone who was a whole lot better than Reidford and could even push for the starting berth. £110,000 was enough to tempt Middlesbrough to part with the U-21 capped player.

At right back, Stephen Purches (30) had a decent enough season, but this season 19 year old Gary MacDonald, who gets a place in the squad due to the U-21 rule, will be pushing Purches and will probably start the season. MacDonald is a product of the Forfar youth system, and is probably on a similiar skill level to Purches, perhaps a little bit better and of course has time on his side. On the left side, Kieran McAnespie has also turned 30. Again, an adequate season, but new signing Gregor Robertson (26) comes in from Shamrock for £16,000 and is likely to be first choice.

The departures of Steve Evans, Graeme Watson, Ryan McGuffie and Dean Keenan have left the central of the defence looking short of competition. Eddie Forest (31) remains, and will be partnered by new signing, 22 year old Clayton McDonald who cost £150,000 from Manchester City. Deals for other players broke down, and that leaves the only other centre backs as 19 year old rookie Steven Campbell and Cypriot international Giorgios Pelagias (25) a £100,000 signing from Olympiakos Nicosia.

I felt Michael Bacher (22), didnt have the best of seasons in the holding role and there is a chance he will play further forward this season. Another new face, 26 year old German Chris Krause who arrives from Nottingham Forest for £20,000. Whilst Danny Boshell (29), Mike Flynn (29), and Steven Lennon (22) all remain at the club, they are likely to play a less involved role thanks to the arrivals of Belgian Stanely Aborah (23) from Ajax for a club record £400,000 and another German in 26 year old Eugen Bopp from Nottingham Forest for a fee of £130,000. Seventeen year old John Burns, another youth product, made his 1st team debut last season making three sub appearances and scoring a goal. Thanks to the U-21 rule he likely to get some more games this season, and for sure a place on the bench.

Up front, the departure of Stephen Dobbie has left a gaping hole. Colin Boylan (27) managed 17 goals in 44 starts last season, and although that is decent it's far from brilliant. Former Forfar player Paul Shields, now 28, returns to the club on a free transfer from Hibs. Also in are Mark Burchill (30) from Dundee on a free, and Robert Davidson (24) from Rangers for £325,000. Gary Wales (31) also remains at the club. Yet despite a healthy competition for places, it remained to be seen where the goals would come from.

Our opening matches certainly showed that the defence was much stronger - but we lacked a cutting edge. A 1-0 opening defeat at Dunfermline wasn't the start we wanted but a 2-0 win over Hearts at Tynecastle, Colin Boylan with a brace, and a 2-0 win over Aberdeen at Guthrie, Davidson and Bopp and on the scoresheet at least showed we definately had tightened it up. Two 1-1 draws, with Motherwell and Dundee left us lying midtable as we prepared to welcome Slavia Prague to Forfar for our first ever competitive match in European competition.

retired_manpk1

Good luck in Europe, and all the best for trying to overhaul the Old Firm.

shannon2007

Thanks binny. Not sure if we can overhaul the OF. This is quite an interesting game cos I think its about the longest I've ever gone without winning anything, and its the first time I've had a case of moving out of the ground thing. of course irl, it simply wouldn't be allowed, but then rl sucks.

shannon2007

The match with Slavia turned out to be as hard fought and difficult as we expected. We survived a few early scares as nerves were abundant, but when we got chances of our own we just couldn't take them and in the end it was goalless. Not a disaster by any means. Before the second leg, Rangers came to Guthrie Park and won all too easily by 2-0. Consistancy seems to something we have no idea about at the moment as we went to Easter Road where goals from Gary Wales and Stanley Aborah gave us a moral boosting win before we headed off to Prague.

Not having conceded a home goal gave us a decent chance, but by half time to game was still goalless. Two minutes into the second half though, Stanley Aborah stunned the tiny home crowd of just over 3000 and now Slavia needed to score twice. Three minutes later they were level, but on 64 Robert Davidson added a second and the Czech's gave up. It was a great away win, and earned us just over £500,000. The group draw was harsh, as we found ourselves in with Sampdoria, Schalke, Auxerre and Nacional de Madeira. There seemed very little chance that we could end anything but bottom of this group, and in the end thats the way it worked out.

The trip to France proved too much for us as we succumbed 2-0 to Auxerre, and then went down bravely by 1-0 at home Sampdoria. We were effectively out already as we travelled to Germany and gained a creditable 0-0 draw. Hopes were high that we could end the group with a win against Maderia, and finish in 4th place but after just half an hour we were 2-0 down and in danger of a thrashing. A second half brace from Paul Shields though earned us another draw, and although we did end 5th we certainly hadn't humiliated ourselves.

Back in the League, things were going not so well. There was little rythym or consistency to our play, and by the time the New Year cam we say 5th in the table, a long way out of any title race. Perhaps it was playing our home games at a strange park, or perhaps the new players were just rubbish. January would hopefully bring in new faces, and we might get lucky and keep ourselves in what would still be a quite decent top six placing.

shannon2007

As March approached, it was becoming clear that there were serious problems with the re-building of Station Park, so much so that the board had to admit that there was no chance we could return there in the near the future and we would have to stay at Guthrie*. £5M had been flushed down the toilet, and a lot of people, including myself, were very unhappy.

We crashed out of the Scottish Cup at the 4th round stage to Rangers, and although we were riding high still in 4th place, the fiasco over the ground had left me feeling very annoyed, and so on the 22nd of April when Hearts came calling for the second time, I decided it was probably an opportune time to say farewell to Forfar. I hoped I had left behind a decent legacy for the fans, and that they would eventually gain the success they richly deserved.

I took over Hearts with six matches left to play, as they say 2nd bottom of the SPL. It was a long way from the European hunt with Forfar, but I was already relishing the challenge.

shannon2007

*basically the game screwed up and although the message came up about the stadium being complete, it wasnt and we didn't move back. Stupid game.

shannon2007

One thing was very clear about this Hearts side - they were garbage.

Sitting as they were in 11th place out of 12 in the SPL might well have given that away, but it wasn't until you actually saw the players trying to play the game that you realised just how utterly abysmal this team actually was. Fortunately, most of their contracts were up at the end of the season or they had little time to run and could freed for a small fee. There were even those teams who were worse than Hearts who actually wanted to buy some of our players. You had to feel really sorry for the supporters of those clubs.

With Dunfermline far enough adrift, we weren't really in any danger of being relegated. Which was just as well really. A 2-0 loss at Falkirk game me the idea of how much work needed to be done here, but draws with Hibs and then Falkirk again perhaps gave a small false sense of security, before it all came crumbling down in a 5-2 thrashing at Tannadice. The last two matches were defeats to Aberdeen and then finally relegated Dunfermline. A bloody shambles.

There was just over £3M to spend, and it would all be spent in the summer. Only Peter Ferris, whom I'd had at Forfar, and six other players would remain at the club, and only Peter and left back Darren Thompson would be in my ideal starting eleven. It was going to be a busy summer at Tynecastle.

shannon2007

Scottish Premier League 2010-2011

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Celtic | | 38 | 23 | 12 | 3 | 62 | 26 | +36 | 81 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Rangers | | 38 | 17 | 16 | 5 | 62 | 28 | +34 | 67 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Motherwell | | 38 | 16 | 14 | 8 | 60 | 44 | +16 | 62 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Forfar | | 38 | 18 | 6 | 14 | 48 | 39 | +9 | 60 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Gretna | | 38 | 10 | 15 | 13 | 39 | 46 | -7 | 45 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Dundee | | 38 | 10 | 13 | 15 | 40 | 50 | -10 | 43 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Dundee Utd | | 38 | 15 | 6 | 17 | 51 | 52 | -1 | 51 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Aberdeen | | 38 | 13 | 10 | 15 | 47 | 51 | -4 | 49 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Falkirk | | 38 | 11 | 14 | 13 | 38 | 45 | -7 | 47 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Hibs | | 38 | 9 | 13 | 16 | 30 | 46 | -16 | 40 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Hearts | | 38 | 9 | 10 | 19 | 45 | 66 | -21 | 37 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | R | Dunfermline | | 38 | 6 | 13 | 19 | 39 | 68 | -29 | 31 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>