The End?

So this is the end?

A mere two hectic months after I finished 42 Grounds – the new football season is underway. For me, last season ended with a defeat for Hibs at Hampden and the new season will begin this Thursday when Hibs try to overturn a 2-0 defeat against Malmo.

It’s taken me two months to get round to this post for a number of reasons. First of them was that I’ve been incredibly busy with, well, life. Work, weddings and everything else in between. Secondly, I was probably suffering from a little bit of footballing fatigue, writing up reports after every match. But also, I wanted to delay the post because I wanted to have a little bit of perspective on the season.

Two months has given me time to reflect.

And you know what? Scottish football isn’t all that bad. We’re mired in negativity surrounding the game, but I believe this is for two simple reasons: 1) we’ve have the richest league in history playing next door and, as is our want as Scots, we’ll always compare ourselves to what is happening down south and 2) we are far too inward looking in Scotland. There’s leagues of similar sizes throughout Europe that are undergoing just as many problems (just look at the mess in Portugal for starters) but we choose not to focus on them  because we prefer to moan about Scotland’s continual decline from the world-beaters of the ‘60s and ‘70s without recognising the world around us has changed and will continue to change.

But what of last season?

In 42 games I saw:

• 123 goals
• Saw games with 186,326 people
• Paid a total of £597 in admission
• Bought £90 worth of programmes (having sourced programmes from Hibs and Hearts online, missed the Bet Butler programme sellers and discovered Brechin no longer do programmes)
• Travelled 2,689 miles (roughly)
• Most expensive ticket: £30 for Hearts vs. Hibs, 3 January 2013
• Cheapest ticket: £5 for Aberdeen vs. Hearts, 18 May 2013
• Most goals: Cowdenbeath 4-4 Raith Rovers, 20 October 2012
• Four 0-0 draws
• 15 home wins, 16 away wins and 11 draws

Most of the time, I had a great time and saw some thrilling matches. There were certain moments when I questioned by sanity (being so cold I bought a cup of tea at Ochilview just to feel warmth again springs to mind) but overall I loved my time watching the great and the good of Scottish football.

I’ve said often that the ticket prices are far too expensive for what’s on offer but hopefully that will be resolved – I’m picking up a real sense from clubs that they need to attract new fans to watch the games, not bleed the diehards dry.

There’s a lot to look forward to in the coming season, and I intend to continue writing about Scottish football and with the advent of the Lowland League and pyramid structure there could be some new grounds to write about shortly.

Any round-up wouldn’t be complete without a list of awards – so here are my 42 Grounds awards for 2012/13

Best game: This was a tough one, but across the 42, the most thrilling match to watch was Dundee United’s defeat to St Mirren at Tannadice on 30 December 2012. Tannadice is a great, compact place to watch a top-flight game and then this end to end encounter took place. An afternoon game under floodlights, plenty of rotten defending, great goals and a sending off. Enough to warm the coldest of hearts.

Best team performance: Without a shadow of a doubt – Ross County in their 3-0 demolition of Motherwell in February. I’ve never seen a team work so far for each other – they covered a tremendous amount of ground, defended together and attacked in flurries (over-lapping fullbacks, my favourite). They dismantled the league runners-up in such a fashion that even ‘Well manager Stuart McCall didn’t have any complaints.

Best individual performance: Honourable mention to Leigh Griffiths, without whom Hibs would have struggled in almost every single game I saw them in (seven). I was also delighted to see Aidan Connolly make his debut for Queen’s Park back in November. From the very first minute he looked assured on the park and despite his size he’s done well to bag a move to Dundee United in the summer. However, the winner is Peterhead’s Rory McAllister. He was instrumental in Peterhead’s 2-0 win against Annan in March. Peterhead looked an average side even with McAllister in the side, but his sheer will to drag the team along to victory was most impressive. Evidentially he is far too good a player for the Third Division.

Highlight of the season: During the season it became clear to me that I was developing more than a casual interest in Elgin and that I was suddenly becoming a supporter. Therefore, Gavin Morrison’s free kick to give Elgin a 2-1 lead in the final minute against Annan in April was a highlight. Suddenly the possibility of promotion via the playoffs seemed a real possibility as I danced a jig on the Galabank terrace. Cruelly that moment was taken away within 90 seconds as Annan equalised and broke City hearts. Honourable mention should also go to Inverness Caledonian Thistle’s chairman Kenny Cameron for getting in touch after the reading this post and ensuring I could attend ICT-Celtic. Top guy, who really restored my faith in those in Scotland’s boardrooms.

Best programme: A lot of competition for this one – but Aberdeen get the nod – many interesting articles and designed brilliantly. It just pipped Motherwell, which is another cracking read. Both Inverness and Stirling should be applauded for having a different approach to the traditional matchday programme. Stranraer and Cowdenbeath should also get a mention for very readable publications despite presumably much smaller budgets.

Best matchday experience: There’s only two clubs that have the budgets to put a real effort into the ‘matchday experience’ – the Old Firm and I can only be honest when I say Celtic’s is streets ahead of the other 41 clubs. They make proper use of the big screens that are available to them, fan interaction in the build-up to the game is used throughout and once the game begins, the Green Brigade make enough of a racket for the 55,000 in attendance. Admittedly, I was there on the day they clinched the title, but I can only judge on what I saw over the season.

Favourite ground SPL: This isn’t a hard one – nothing beats a full Tynecastle under the lights. I was there later in the season for another midweek game and it is still special. Compact and steep, it keeps the noise in – quite an achievement when the game was as bad as the 3 Jan stinker.

Favourite ground SFL1: Honourable mention goes to Cowdenbeath. I know some who are not fans of the ‘rustic’ charm of Central Park, but I love it. There is simply nothing else like it in Scottish football and we should appreciate that – especially as the First Division has a number of new identikit stadiums. But the winner is Cappielow, home to Greenock Morton. A glorious green surface, three beautiful terraces and an old-fashioned grandstand with one of the best views in Scotland. On a sunny day, I defy anyone not to enjoy their day out at Cappielow.

Favourite ground SFL2:  Gayfield. I had been warned about Arbroath’s ground – especially as I’d chosen to visit late January, when the weather could be temperamental to say the least. But we found a beautiful wee ground – noisy fans, covered terraces and a wonderful local derby. Standing on the north east corner of the ground, where you can watch the waves crash against the land as well as a football game is pretty special.

Favourite ground SFL3: Although it only spent one season hosting Third Division games, Ibrox is by far and away the most impressive ground in SFL3. The sheer size of the ground is impressive and once inside the ground you can’t help but be impressed by the scale of it. It felt like a proper arena where you couldn’t tell if you were in or out. Scotland is truly fortunate to have a number of magnificent stadia.

That concludes 42 Grounds for 2012/13. Thanks to those who have visited the blog, got in contact via twitter and the like. It’s been a blast and I’d recommend it to any Scottish football fan – you’ll come away with more love for the game, something I didn’t think was possible.