The Life of Pie

I didn’t manage to get to a game this weekend, and won’t for the next two as I’m moving flats (how on earth does one accumulate so much stuff?), however my interest was piqued by an article in Friday’s New York Times about a new arena opening in Brooklyn this week. I’m a big fan of American sports and they lead the way in terms of innovation in the way they package and present sport. You might not have a clue what’s going on inside the arena/ballpark/stadium but you sure as hell will have a good time.

The Barclays Center can host 18,000 people for basketball games and the new arena will host 37 different Brooklyn restaurateurs. The owners of the arena scouted 130 Brooklyn businesses to find the best products for their paying customers. A one-size-fits-all approach this ain’t.

I’m sure at this point you’ll be asking “well what’s that got to do with Scottish football?” and you’d be right, there isn’t a clear link, but my thinking over the past few weeks has been about the contrast between Scottish football and other ‘normal’ businesses. Just last week I had a conversation with a colleague at work about catering at football games and he said to me: “I mean, why should I bother? If you don’t want to queue, you have to leave during the first half of the game. If you don’t want to miss the game, you’ve to wait in a queue with no guarantee you’ll see the start of the second half. You queue, get served by some young lad or girl with no customer service training, you’re not guaranteed to get the food you want (especially the later you go) and then you’re paying for overpriced rubbish. No other business would accept that many inefficiencies in the system and no right thinking customer would put up with it.” And you know what? You can’t really argue with that.

What I’ve discovered about Scottish football is you can tell if a club has been in the SPL purely on the price of their catering. I’ve trialled this hypothesis and yet to be proven wrong.

In fairness, the lower league clubs have got something right – the service is very personable and the food, most tellingly, is fresh (and tends to be local). But once you get to the SPL (or former SPL clubs) you just feel you are being exploited, and in fairness to the clubs, you’ve got a captive market so it’s slightly understandable. However, why not pit local businesses against each other? Why not diversify the menu? Why not have concession sellers in different parts of the concourse? Why not a la ballparks and arena, have people selling popcorn or hot dogs or drinks in the aisles being delivered to seats? I’ve yet to see a reason why this could not work aside from Scottish football’s inherent conservatism.

Currently, most Scottish football fans pay over the odds for everything: for season tickets, for parking at the grounds, for programmes, for replica shirts, for catering. This is a wholly reductive way of working, slowly squeezing the loyal until they can attend no more.

This is meant to be Scottish football’s annus horribilis, then things can only get better – but only once there is a recognition that Scottish clubs can grow the game. There are things that chairman and owners cannot control: the product on the park, the weather etc but there are many factors they can  and they should be making every effort to ensure that everyone’s visit to a Scottish football ground is a pleasurable experience. For too many clubs, that’s not the case.

Now I’m not at all suggesting that we need cheesecakes, cupcakes and crab sandwiches at Celtic Park or Cappielow but we do need recognition from both clubs and supporters that we deserve better. The clubs need to do better and we, as fans must demand better.

Ground 5: Easter Road

Easter Road witnessing the most tedious of SPL initiatives: the pre-game handshake

Game: Hibernian 2 v 1 Kilmarnock

Date: 16^th September 2012

Competition: Scottish Premier League

Attendance: 9, 723

Admission: Nil (but usually £22)

Programme: n/a

In all honesty, I didn’t think I’d be writing a post about a game this weekend or for the next few weeks. Having returned from holiday to discover I’d spent more than I thought, coupled with the fact that I’m moving flat soon meant that I would be soon chasing my tail in attempting to get to all 42 Grounds by the end of the season. Therefore it was of great relief that my friend Mark offered me a spare ticket to Kilmarnock’s visit to Easter Road.

You will have probably gathered from reading this blog that I’m a Hibs fan. It had been my intention to avoid Easter Road all season, save for my final ground. There were several reasons for this. Firstly, Easter Road is the ground where I do most of my football watching and it would have been a nice return to go at the end of the season and secondly because last season I found myself falling out of love with Easter Road. Perhaps not the ground, but certainly a section of the people inside the ground. There is no denying that last season Hibs were atrocious but I found myself on more than one occasion moving seats at half time to avoid supporters who were relentlessly negative and abusive towards their own team. Having paid £22 for a ticket, I can understand expectations may be high but I could not abide the personal abuse that young players such as David Wotherspoon were receiving from the crowd. Last season, Easter Road was not a good place to watch football.

Easter Road is the closest ground to where I live, so it was pleasant to leave my flat at 2.15pm and still arrive at a ground with time to spare. Perhaps I’m hyper critical of the way my club runs things off the field but this week’s game was the first time that I wasn’t able to find a programme seller to take my money off me for a piece of club propaganda. It’s not the end of the world, and if it had been any other ground I would have taken off in search of a programme, but for me, it was indicative of how affairs have been run at the club for a few years now. In an era where people are financially hard-up but willing to spend money on your product, you could at least ensure that programme sellers, club shops etc are available and open to business.

The Famous Five Stand, built in 1995

We were sitting in the West Stand at Easter Road, and as we took our seats just a few rows behind the Hibs’ dugout I started to reflect on how much the ground has changed over the years. My first visit to the ground was on 25^th January 1992 when Hibs took on Partick Thistle in the Scottish Cup (highlights below). It’s strange how everything about the stadium has changed – four new stands and the pitch levelled out - it still feels like home.

Since I last saw Hibs play a month ago, they’ve recorded a home win against St Johnstone and came away from Celtic Park with a credible draw. Last season’s League Cup winners Kilmarnock have stumbled into the new season with one win (against the much fancied Dundee United) and three draws. Both clubs have also been dumped out of the League Cup by lower league teams, so the league will be the main focus for both sides over the next few months. Both Hibs (historically) and Kilmarnock (recently) have had a good reputation for playing passing, attractive football so any clash between the teams tend to be entertaining counters.

As I may have mentioned, being a Hibernian supporter recently hasn’t been particularly easy. Since Tony Mowbray left the club as manager in 2006, the club has seen John Collins, Mixu Paatelainen, John Hughes and Colin Calderwood in charge before Pat Fenlon took charge midway through 2011/12 shocking season where Hibs only avoided relegation on the penultimate day of the league season before succumbing to a 5-1 humiliation in the Scottish Cup final against city rivals Hearts (and yes, I was there for all 90 minutes of it. For the last 40 I sat in stunned silence. What a horrible, horrible day). The summer has seen Pat Fenlon rebuild the squad. He has signed last year’s loan sensation James McPake and made him captain. A new goalkeeper, right back, left back, two midfielders also made the starting XI for Saturday’s game as well as Leigh Griffiths, who has returned for a second loan spell with the team he supported as a boy.

The most recent addition to Easter Road, the new single tired East Stand

Hibs started strongly with Griffiths’ having a shot from outside the box saved by Kyle Letheren. From the resulting corner, once again taken by Griffiths, the ball somehow ended up in the goal with Letheren punching the ball behind him and off the bar, off Rory McKeown’s head and into the net. It was a bizarre goal, but one that no Hibees around me were complaining about. The gentleman who sits next to Mark has a tradition of giving out sweets when Hibs score. It’s fair to say that last season he didn’t have to buy too many bags of chocolate éclairs.

Kilmarnock had the opportunity to equalise soon after when Borja Perez was put through one on one but his hesitation led to Ben Williams, impressive in the Hibs net deflecting the ball wide. Williams then made another fine save from the resulting corner. Hibs have had a stream of dodgy goalkeepers over the past decade so as a fan it’s nice to see a safe pair of hands in the goalmouth. Williams is not without fault though, as everyone in the ground discovered several minutes later when an everyday cross from McKeown was floated into the box – Williams, Hanlon and McPake all went for the ball and not one of them came away with it, allowing Danny Racchi to slot the ball home from ten yards out.

From there until half time, Hibs dominated the play and were rewarded on the cusp of halftime with a penalty after Ryan O’Leary downed Paul Cairney in the box. Cairney has been a bundle of energy since his arrival in the summer from Partick Thistle in the summer and his movement saw him take the ball past O’Leary who lunged in. From our position, it looked like a penalty as O’Leary had lunged recklessly, but this was not a position shared by Kilmarnock manager Kenny Shiels (who was further away than us!) and Killie keeper Letheren who protested that Cairney had dived and pushed him twice. Letheren found himself in the referee’s book for his protest (others may have set him off), whilst Griffiths duly dispatched the penalty.

The South Stand hosting the visiting Kilmarnock fans

Griffiths almost had his hat-trick early in the second half when a cross-field ball found him in plenty of spare, but Letheren parried the ball effectively. It was to be Griffith’s last effective contribution to the game as he left the feel with a knock. I have to confess that when Hibs signed Griffiths initially I was sceptical as to his talents. I had watched him play in Jocky Scott’s underwhelming Dundee side of 2009/10 and didn’t see much to his game beyond pace. I am happy to be proved wrong as he’s certainly starting to fulfil the potential that saw him earn his move to Wolverhampton Wanderers. Yes, he is tempestuous and immature, but he’s also hugely exciting and to quote the song “one of our own.” When he scores, you know how much it means to him and it’s always hugely satisfying to watch a lifelong Hibs fan wear the green. I should also note that when Griffiths was substituted, he left the pitch on the far side and walked around the pitch. He took time to shake hands with all the kids along the perimeter of the Famous Five Stand. Although it’s a small gesture, I’d imagine it will be ingrained in the minds of those Hibs Kids.

From that point on, Hibs started to sit further and further back, inviting Kilmarnock pressure. David Wotherspoon, who frustrates and delights in equal measure, was replaced by Lewis Stevenson and Kilmarnock brought the game onto Hibs, chasing an equaliser. Jorge Claros, the Honduran midfielder who has been shot in the head had another impressive performance whilst his central midfield partner Gary Deegan looked fatigued and continually gave the ball away. Perhaps it speaks of the paucity of SPL benches that there wasn’t a suitable replacement for him sitting on the Hibs bench. Kilmarnock had new signing Cillian Sheridan upfront, who is always capable of scoring and his header from six yards out just sailed wide. Kilmarnock substitutes Gary Harkins and the diminutive Chris Johnston started to pile the pressure on. Hibs countered and Eoin Doyle had the ball in the net only for it to be ruled offside. And in stoppage time Kilmarnock came close with Ben Williams making a tremendous point-blank save.

At full-time I reflected with Mark, that if that game had taken place last season, Hibs would have thrown away their lead and drawn that game, if not lost it. That’s progress that the fans have been looking for, and this looks like a team that the fans can take pride in. When might not be winning but playing pretty, but after last season, I think we’re glad they’re just winning.

Ground 4: St Mirren Park

St Mirren Park: it was sunnier than this for most of the game. Honest.

Game: St Mirren 1 vs. 2 Hibernian

Date: 18^th August 2012

Competition: Scottish Premier League

Attendance: 5,039

Admission: £20

Programme: £2.50

This post won’t be as long as I would like as unfortunately I’m struggling for time with a combination of work and heading off on holiday this weekend which will mean this is the final post for a few weeks.

As I left Stair Park I wasn’t sure what game I’d go to but my friend Mark suggested a trip to Paisley for the Hibs game and it sounded good to me – the prospect of seeing my team in the flesh for the first time this season added to the fact that this was a top vs. bottom clash (albeit after two games) made it an enticing match.

We headed through on the train to a warm and muggy Paisley to be greeted by tens of fire engines in the town square. Slightly surreal but certainly a bit different. We had a quick pint whilst watching the end of the Ross County-Celtic clash which saw Saints’ fans taunt the sole Celtic supporter with a “we’re top of the league and you’re no” chant which was very amusing.

A quick ten minute walk north west towards the ground and we’d arrived at St Mirren Park, St Mirren’s stadium that opened in 2009 following the sale of former ground Love Street to Tesco. On my previous and only visit in  2009 I felt the ground lacked a certain amount of identity, that it could have been anyone’s ground. Not much has changed although on this Saturday afternoon with a big crowd it certainly felt like a better ground than my previous visit.

I’ve embedded a video clip of the highlights from the game to save me from my awful prose on the game, but I’d like to mention a few key points from the game. Firstly, Dougie Imrie, playing on the left wing for the Saints was dangerous throughout the ninety minutes. A shrewd acquisition from Danny Lennon, who has moulded the team in his own image: talented and comfortable on the ball but tough and mean off it. As a Hibs fan, this was the first performance in several years that I’ve taken any comfort from – we finally look like a side going places and although far from being a complete side there is the green shoots of recovery which is very pleasing. Hibs were lucky to come away with the three points and had the game lasted ten more minutes I’m sure it would have been a draw.

Apologies again for the lack of content in this week’s post but hopefully normal service will be resumed in a few weeks when I’m back from my summer holidays.

Ground 3: Stair Park

Stair Park, Stranraer

Game: Stranraer 1 vs. 1 Arbroath

Date: 11^th August 2012

Competition: Scottish Football League Division 2

Attendance: 290

Admission: £12

Programme: £2

I’ve learnt the hard-way that a 14 hour round trip to Stranraer is not best undertaken with a hangover. When my alarm went off at 8am on Saturday morning I was cursing myself and wishing I’d foregone that last pint at 3am.

So I found myself dozing off on the Citylink on the M8 on the way from Edinburgh to Glasgow and then floating down Buchanan Street in a hungover haze to Central Station. Central Station is a wonderful station but it didn’t feel that way then hundreds of families and young people hogging the concourse as they made their way to west coast beaches to enjoy that rare commodity: Scottish sunshine.

Remaindered carriages took us passengers westward to Paisley and then south down the Ayrshire coast towards our eventual destination. It must be said that once south of Ayr, the views can be spectacular on this line: Carrick looks fantastic, Ailsa Craig looks unworldly and as you enter Galloway the landscape reminds you more of the Highlands than the South of Scotland. Adding to the Highlands flavour was the fact you lose phone reception for much of the journey between Girvan and Barrhill and Barrhill to Stranraer.

Two hours and twenty minutes after our train left Glasgow Central we find ourselves passing Stair Park, home of Stranraer Football Club and into Stranraer harbour. Exiting the train, you can look right and literally see the end of the line, beyond it, Loch Ryan.

Abandoned ferry terminal at Stranraer

As you leave the train station you see what remains of what once was a thriving port. Several times I’ve been in Stranraer briefly to catch the ferry to Northern Ireland, but that is no longer the case. Stena Line closed its operations in Stranraer to move a few miles along to the road to Cairnryan, with a deep water port. It now means that the famous ‘Rail & Sail’ deals from Glasgow to Belfast and vice versa no longer run and Stranraer is entering a critical time as a town. It’s because of the withdrawal of the harbour that I find myself here so early in the season. The Scottish Government has launched a scheme for £15 return rail tickets between Stranraer and Glasgow for the whole of August and September to stimulate economic development and encourage tourism. I question the wisdom of how cutting train fares by 65% will work for just two months, but then perhaps the fact I am here indicates its success.

After a short walk I find myself in Stair Park, which contains Stair Park the football ground. This is a bit of a novelty for a football ground and it looks fantastic, tennis courts, playpark and most magnificently of all, a bandstand. It’s idyllic. As I approach the turnstile, there is a fair bit of excitement coming from the cars parked in the park – it turns out Peterhead have taken a lead over Rangers in the lunchtime game in SFL3. The smiles of those near the cars would suggest that there’s quite a few closet Peterhead fans living in Stranraer...perhaps there’s solidarity for their brothers in blue playing in the very opposite corner of the country?

I pay my £12 at the turnstile and I’m given a teamsheet featuring the line-ups for today’s game as well as advertising for all manner of local businesses. Quite a clever idea and one I’d like to see replicated across the country. I pay for my programme and a couple of tickets for the half-time draw (surely if I play every week I can recoup some of my expenses at some point?). The programme, Beyond the Bandstand (what a title), is a very well put together production which puts Falkirk’s efforts last weekend to shame with features on Arbroath’s squad as well as a profile of the town itself, a historical feature of when Rangers came to play at Stair Park, football book reviews and a profile of other European leagues, an acknowledgement that there is much more to football programmes that anodyne features and adverts for the club shop.

What was also noticeable in the programme was the chairman’s column where he recognised that this season could be a long one for the club – they were only promoted to Division 2 in the last month after the Rangers debacle and the previous weekend were on the receiving end of an 8-0 home tonking from Livingston. There was a heartfelt appeal to support the club as much as each individual fan could as well as asking to bring others along to Stair Park. As I sat on the wooden benches in the far-stand, I couldn’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t want to come to this smashing wee park – in front of me was an impressive main stand, to the right was a covered three stepped terrace, to my left was a tree lined goal and I was sitting in a proper ‘old-fashioned’ stand that reminded me greatly of my first games at Easter Road sitting in the old North Stand. At that moment, one of my friends tweeted that he was in place at Wembley for the Olympic final, but in all honesty, I wouldn’t have swapped the authentic Stair Park for the corporate dwellings of the FA. But then I’ve always been quite strange.

I even had a reason for not wanting to enjoy this visit. Stranraer FC were responsible for my first falling out of love with football when I was 11 years old. Hibs had just been relegated to the First Division and I went to the first home game of the season, against Stranraer who had just been promoted. Stranraer caused a shock and beat Hibs 2-1 through goals from Jason Young (I can still remember them now) that caused me such heartache that I couldn’t bare to watch Hibs the rest of that record breaking season where they went on to dominate the First Division and swiftly gain promotion back to the SPL. I couldn’t bring myself to go to game in fear that I’d become a bad luck charm and could effectively derail our chances of success. So I deprived myself of the arrival of Russell Latapy and Franck Sauzee and the start of an exciting era at my club because of bloody Stranraer.

Arbroath player-manager Paul Sheerin launches a ball forward

 I digress (and now hold no grudges). The game got underway in the glorious sun with Arbroath looking the better of the two sides as you would expect. Arbroath player manager Paul Sheerin looked lively on the left as his team edged the proceedings early on. Playing alongside Sheerin was Brian Kerr, a former Hibs player who from a very promising start at Motherwell has plummeted down the divisions and still doesn’t look like he has found his level. Much like Barry Ferguson, I cannot understand what Kerr does apart from dominate proceedings in the centre circle and do a lot of pointing.

As their chairman pointed out in his programme notes, it looked like it was going to be a tough season for Stranraer, in this Division 2 season opener. They haven’t had the summer to budget and plan their squad accordingly and they currently have a small squad. Perhaps loan signings might help them but due to their geographic location they are restricted to the number of clubs that would be willing for their young prospects to travel. As Arbroath began to tighten their control of the game, it looked only a matter of time before they put themselves in the lead, a lofted shot from Steven Doris hit the bar to compliment the half volley near miss from Darren Gribben earlier on.

The match was much more of the rough and tumble fare that one would expect of the lower leagues, much more so that the Berwick-Queen’s Park from a fortnight ago. There was a lack of ability to find that neat pass in the final third so the ball tended to be played out to the wings and lumped into box in the hope that something would come off. It was a cross from Stranraer’s impressive Sean Winter that proved the most effective in the first half, met by the hairless Michael Moore who powerfully headed home to give the home side the lead in a match that they had struggled to get a foot in.

A Stranraer attack late in the first half

 The goal brought Arbroath back to life who hit the bar and missed a free header just before half time to go in a goal down in a game they, for the most part, had controlled. Over half time and an average pie, I contemplated titles of songs about Stranraer such as ‘The Ferry Don’t Dock Here No More’ (a country tune obviously) and ‘Sunshine over Stair Park’. Like I said, I was hungover and my even at the best of times my chat isn’t that great.

An Arbroath free-kick

 My decision to watch the second half from behind David Mitchell, Stranraer’s goalkeeper’s goal was vindicated within minutes as Arbroath took advantage of hesitancy in defence and Darren Gribben capitalised with a good finish just inside the box, he had all the time in the world to level the scoreline.

It must be said that the rest of the game couldn’t be described as a classic but it was a back and forth encounter that could of gone either way if one of the sides had taken their chances.

As the final whistle blew and the tannoy encourages fans to come back and bring friends with them, the fans drudged off through Stair Park. I had two hours to kill until the next train (adding to a sense of remoteness that a trip to Stranraer brings) so I walked around the town centre for a bit as the shops closed for the night. Whilst there was a lot of pubs and takeaways there wasn’t anything unique about the town centre that would encourage those from out of town to come and visit I’m afraid. I’m absolutely delighted I took a visit to the charming Stair Park but its remoteness will put off many more and no doubt it’s a contributing factor to Stranraer’s lowly status within Scottish football.

Ground 2: The Falkirk Stadium

The view from the Falkirk Stadium looking towards Grangemouth

Game: Falkirk 2 vs. 0 Elgin City

Date: 4^th August 2012

Competition: Scottish Communities League Cup 1^st Round

Attendance: 1,549

Admission: £12

Programme: £2

The second Saturday of the season was also the first round of Scotland’s secondary cup competition, the League Cup. It’s a competition I’ll always have affection for as it was the 1991 League Cup final at Hampden between my team Hibernian and Dunfermline Athletic that was my first ever football match. Suffice to say, much of the following twenty one years have lived up to that glorious Hibs victory.

I’ll make no bones about the fact that Elgin may be a club I’ll see a lot this season as they are my family’s second side with both my parents moving to Elgin in their teens (separately). We’d visit Elgin several times a year and my brother and I would be checking the fixture list to see if the Black and Whites were at home. Therefore when Elgin were drawn against Falkirk in the Scottish Communities League Cup 1^st Round I knew I’d be heading to the Falkirk Stadium.

As I was attending the game with my father and his friend I had to bus out to my parent’s house to get a lift to Falkirk. My immediate reaction was that I should have worn shorts as Edinburgh had been blessed with a rarity: the sun shining over a period of hours.

The sun was still shining as we took the M9 north west in the direction of Falkirk. Falkirk’s new stadium was built in 2004 and is on the outskirts of Falkirk between the town and Grangemouth. For a first time visitor I have to say the signposting was limited – at one roundabout we were directed by a sign for away fans, however, there was no follow up signs and there was an element of intuition and guesswork that delivered us to the ground.

Arriving at the impressive looking away stand we encountered my first gripe of the season: car parking was priced at £4. I’ve been to grounds where £2 was the standard fare but £4 is absolutely ridiculous, especially when I opened the door to put my foot in a puddle – not even a tarmac-ed car park at that! I understand club’s have to maximise as much money as possible but when you build a ground out-of-town and still expect fans to come (and away fans to come from further afield), £4 on top of a £12 admission isn’t going to encourage casual fans I would argue.

The whole day had an element of pre-season friendly about it: the stand which normally houses away fans was shut (clearly not expecting hordes of fans from Elgin) but it wasn’t signposted where Elgin fans should enter the ground. Further to that, there was a thin programme produced for the game which for £2 certainly didn’t represent value for money.

The North Stand: closed to away fans

Eventually we found ourselves inside the stadium with minutes before the game was due to start. Falkirk’s stadium is made up of three stands – two behind the goal and a main stand where we were seated. From our seat we could look left and enjoy a view of the Ochil hills in the distant and in front of us was the industrial town of Grangemouth, it felt strange to sit in a main stand with a massive vista in front of you, but it’s something I enjoyed.

The players tropped onto the sound of Faithless’ Insomnia which thankfully did not turn out to be an omen for the match which was an entertaining affair. Falkirk for years have placed a lot of faith and money in their youth system developing some fantastic footballers and this tradition continues under current boss Steven Pressley, found immaculately turned out in his three-piece grey club suit and brown brogues. Elegant he looked and this was a mirror image of the football played on the park – Falkirk in their away yellow strip passed neatly, quickly and attractively, with their little triangles causing havoc for Elgin. From kick-off Falkirk were the team on top, dominating their part-time opponents but not quite delivering in the final third of the pitch. Elgin, when they did had the ball suffered from a lack of composure, lumping the ball forward instead of finding a pass to feet, which was hardly surprising as the Falkirk midfield did a tremendous job of closing down the space to ensure Elgin had few options. Elgin’s keeper John Gibson kept them in the game several times in the first half. The best chance came late in the first half when Elgin’s Cameron found himself in the box but his effort was saved following a quick attack from the black and whites.

The second half followed the same pattern as the first as Falkirk’s dominance continued as Elgin started to wilt after playing their backs against the wall for so long. Falkirk countered an Elgin counter attack (if such a thing is possible) and stretched the Elgin defence to allow 18 year old left back Stephen Kingsley to slot home. The Falkirk Stadium familiar fanfare of Tony Christie’s Is This The Way to Amarillo blasted out the PA and Falkirk were firmly in charge. Elgin shuffled their pack by making a few substitutions but it failed to spark the Third Division team to life. Both Andrew Haworth and Lyle Taylor shone for Falkirk, both immensely comfortable on the ball but lacking that killer instinct (which would be the reason for playing at this level). With two minutes to go, Taylor did what he had threaten to do all game and put the ball in the back of the net with a volley to kill off any chance of a surprise Elgin comeback and secure Falkirk a place in the next round of the League Cup where they will travel to Ibrox to play Rangers.

All in all, I enjoyed my first visit to the Bairn-abeu, where there is a real emphasis on playing attractive and entertaining football. Falkirk have a great set-up and I’m looking forward to seeing how they get on this season. Pressley deserves credit for trying to get a team to win ‘the right way’ in what is a fantastically difficult division to gain promotion from. Whilst the atmosphere at the Falkirk Stadium may have been a little flat as it was a fairly routine win for the Bairns. The real test will arrive this coming Saturday when they travel to fellow promotion contenders Partick Thistle. I’m  looking forward to watching some cracking First Division matches during 42 Grounds.

Ground 1: Shielfield Park

Shielfield Park

Game: Berwick Rangers 2 vs. 2 Queen’s Park (AET. Queen’s Park win 3-2 on penalties)

Date: 28^th July 2012, 3pm

Competition: Ramsden’s Cup 1^st Round

Attendance: 372

Admission: £10

Programme: £2

All close seasons are a form of purgatory, but the most recent close season has been a particularly painful one. Whilst the majority of football fans around the world were enjoying the European Championships and our neighbours to the south were signing a £3 billion television contract, those of us in Scotland were watching on as the game threatened to tear itself apart. This isn’t a blog about the summer (although some of the issues will no doubt turn up in other posts throughout the season), and it was with great delight I took a train from Edinburgh Waverley down the east coast line to Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Every adventure has to start somewhere and 42 Grounds is no exception, so why Berwick-upon-Tweed, home of the ‘other’ Rangers in Scottish football, Berwick Rangers? When I was perusing the Challenge Cup draw, the Berwick-Queen’s Park tie was the first to ignite my imagination. A blog about Scottish football grounds featuring a match between a club in England and a club that was once finalists in the English FA Cup seemed like a quirky enough beginning.

Berwick is a mere fifty minutes or so away on the train, but on my train southwards it felt much longer as my carriage was choked full of children on their way to some sort of musical summer camp. That I could deal with. However, when a ukulele was produced by the time we reached Meadowbank I knew that this was going to be a long journey.

Thankfully the singing wasn’t too boisterous and I quickly departed my train when it reached Berwick just before 1pm on what was a very sunny day in Northumbria. Walking through Berwick it was clear that despite being in England, this could be any small town in Scotland. Regular local opinion polls state that the population of Berwick would like to be considered to be part of Scotland, although the local pubs detailing drinks offers demonstrated that we weren’t in Scotland anymore, as did the abundance of Newcastle United shirts.

The town walls created to keep the then-Catholic Scots out of England

Berwick has a pleasant town centre (after you pass through the town walls to keep the Catholic Scots out) that was filled with holidaying families, market stalls and the sound of seabirds. It’s easy to see why the artist L.S. Lowry found Berwick such an accommodating retreat. Walking through Berwick across the Tweed towards Shielfield Park was a very pleasant way to spend an hour.

Shielfield Park is in the Tweedmouth area of the town and is easily found (and spotted from the train lines). As I arrived at the ground the heavens opened and I was soaked. The changeable weather was to be a theme of the afternoon. I paid my £10 and entered the ground. Shielfield Park, like Cowdenbeath’s Central Park, doubles as a speedway racecourse with a track around the pitch to supplement income for the club.

Entrance to Shielfield Park. Circus big top to the left, but the real entertainment was inside the ground

The ground has two covered stands – the main is seated and the far-side terraced. Taking my seat in the comfortable main stand to read the programme I was interested to read that Berwick’s manager Ian Little wouldn’t be in attendance at today’s game as he was going to be Best Man at his brother’s wedding in San Francisco. It was a gentle reminder that there are things in life that are bigger than football.

By the time kick-off arrived we’d already experienced around five spells of rain followed by terrific sunshine, which stayed around as the teams took to the field. Berwick played in their gold and black shirts whilst Queen’s Park (the only amateurs playing in the Scottish Football League) wore their ‘Irn Bru’ away kit (the club are sponsored by Barr’s finest soft drink) of blue and orange.  Despite this being the first competitive game for both sides I was impressed by the level of neat passing and the attempts from both sides to play to feet. Admittedly, both sides won’t be playing on beautifully manicured pitches by December time, but it was lovely to see a lack of ‘hoofball’ with both goalkeepers attempting to build from the back, passing goal kicks to their full-backs. Interestingly, the passing approach may be a result of the number of 4G artificial pitches that are now becoming more common in the lower leagues.

An early Berwick attack

Berwick started the game stronger and twice in two minutes they had Queen’s clearing the ball off the line. What was also encouraging was the level of support from both sets of fans in the main stand; they supported their teams loudly and chided them softly. The Berwick fans surrounding me were far more respectful than your average fan as demonstrated when the referee wished to speak to Berwick’s left-back Damian Gielty and a man behind me shouted “dinnae argue with the ref son, just listen and walk away.” It was a sentiment shared by many in the main stand.

The first half was end-to-end football, with neither team seemingly capable of finding a cutting edge but what it was lacking in quality was being made up in entertainment and competitiveness and finished 0-0.

With the half-time came the now seemingly obligatory half-time entertainment, featuring two sides of Berwick’s under 16 team facing each other in a ten second challenge. It was at this point I took the opportunity to check out Berwick’s catering options. Whilst in the queue weighing up my options (a good selection of scran it must be said) I spotted a guy who was a dead ringer for Darren Fletcher ahead, who was leaving the kiosk with his chips. Whilst he was putting sauce on his chips he was approached by two young children for a photograph. Sure enough, it was the Manchester United star as the man behind me in the queue confirmed this telling me that he was Damian Gielty’s cousin and that he’d already been down at Shielfield already this season to watch Berwick in pre-season. The sights you see at Scottish football grounds!

It's a fair distance to the goal

For the second half I decided to take the game in from the terracing on the far side. Because of the speedway it means that the ground is more oval shaped than rectangular so the furthest you are from the pitch is in fact behind the goals. The weather had become more and more changeable and the wind had picked up. On the far side of the ground something became noticeable which wasn’t apparent from the main stand – Shielfield has a rather pronounced slope! The slope may have been responsible for Queen’s somewhat sluggish play in the first half as they seemed to push on at the beginning of the second forty five, Owen Ronald created an opening down the right wing and played the ball across for Queen’s number 9 Anthony Quinn to slot home first time.

With the wind picking up and Queen’s not needing to score the game’s pace started to get a little bit slower with Queen’s being a tad lacklustre in their attempts to fetch balls for goal kicks and throw-ins. Berwick were starting to get a bit more desperate, lumping the ball up the slope and conceding silly fouls that they hadn’t in the first half. Berwick’s introduction of substitutes Phil Addison and Ben Miller turned the game and gave Rangers an added dimension to their forward play that hadn’t been in evidence during the previous hour. Berwick equalised through a neat Neil Janczyk header from a corner.

Following the goal there was a bit of needle between a Queen’s Park fan and a few Berwick fans, nothing particularly serious – it could have just been one idiot trying to create a scene but it’s nothing I’d previously seen at games at this level. Perhaps the early season tension was getting to them...

The 90 minutes finished at 1-1 so we were headed to extra time and I was glad that I’d taken this possibility into consideration when booking tickets. Berwick had lost the impetus from their equaliser and started extra time sluggishly so it wasn’t surprising in seeing the home side conceding a penalty after they backed off from the ever dangerous Owen Ronald before upending him in the box. Ronald took the penalty himself and hammered the ball off the post. Quinn reacted quickest leaving the Berwick defenders dead in their tracks, finishing to give Queen’s the lead.

Going behind for the second time kick startled Berwick and they threatened several times in the second half of extra time with Fraser McLean moved further forward from the right wing who created several chances. It was from one of these chances that Berwick secured another corner and for the second time it proved successful for the men in Black and Gold. A well-worked short corner allowed Kevin McDonald to fire a low shot past Neil Parry into the back of the net.

The remaining six minutes of extra time were enthralling, with plenty of chances for both sides, although Berwick looked the most likely the grab a winner and secure a spot in the second round. However, neither side netted which meant this tie was going to be determined by a penalty shoot-out. In my 21 years and attendance at hundreds of games, I’d yet to attend a match that went to penalty shoot-outs so the 42 Grounds project is already bringing me new experiences!

The drama of a penalty shoot-out

What followed, in the words of a Queen’s fan on the way out the ground was, “the worst penalty shoot out I’ve seen in my puff” and it wouldn’t be difficult to argue with that statement. The majority of the spot kicks were saved or blasted over, meaning that we went into sudden death, which also prompted one of the funniest moments I’ve ever seen at a football match. When Ben Miller missed Berwick’s sixth kick, Queen’s defender Ricky Little charged forward from the centre circle to celebrate, followed by absolutely no one as Queen’s had yet to take their pen! Fortunately for Little, goalkeeper Neil Parry saved his blushes by scoring for Queen’s to seal victory for the Hampden Park side by thumping his penalty off the bar and in.

Walking back towards the station I reflected that if half the games during this 42 Grounds season are as entertaining as today’s effort then I’m in for a real treat. A nice ground, knowledgeable fans and a cracking 120 minutes of entertainment made for a cracking day out. After a close season of doom and gloom, all I can say is that I’m delighted that football is back.

First game confirmed

Train tickets for my first of the 42 Grounds have been booked! On Saturday 28th July, I shall be at Shielfield  Park watching Berwick Rangers host Queen's Park in the first round of the Ramsden Cup (the Challenge Cup).
Why Berwick for my first game? The journey has to start somewhere and I thought the best place to start my quest to visit all 42 Grounds in the SPL & SFL was to start in a different country! Although it will probably be one of the quickest journeys to get there (45 minutes by train), Berwick of course play in England. I thought this was a novel way to start what could be a novel season.




My planning for the rest of the 42 Grounds hasn't quite got anywhere near as finalised as I would like, mainly due to the unmitigated disaster that has been the close-season in Scottish football. We are less than two weeks away from the start of the season and still the SPL doesn't have a 12th club and there are other clubs such as Airdrie, Dundee, Dunfermline and Stranraer who don't know for sure where they will be playing next season. This has not been the finest summer for our footballing administrators. The incompetence on show in the Scottish Premier League and Scottish Football Association has many fans harking back to the days of Jim Farry, which is a sentence I never contemplated writing before this year. Say what you will about Mr Farry, but unorganised  is not one of the words you would have associated with him.


Hopefully after tomorrow's SPL Annual General Meeting we'll finally have some clarity and then I can begin to plan some more adventures!