Ground 14: Hampden Park

The lights are on...

Game: Queen’s Park 2 v 1 Stirling Albion

Date: Friday 23^rd November 2012

Competition: Scottish Football League Division 3

Attendance: 557

Admission: £12

Programme: £2

Another Friday night adventure and this time it was at Hampden Park for what is one of Scottish football’s most surreal experiences.

But first I had to get there – I couldn’t physically get there in time to make the game by train so I was on the M8 again. It’s fair to say that I’m getting sick of this road. I also had to endure a shocking edition of Sportsound on the way there. Like most football fans I enjoy listening to coverage of the football to build up anticipation for the game. The whole hour wasn’t a pleasant experience. Firstly, there was coverage of the news that Elgin’s clash with Rangers was postponed due to Elgin overselling the number of tickets. Rightly, Elgin will be hauled over the coals for their lack of ticketing oversight but asking luminaries such as Billy Dodds to speculate on a story that the BBC had not further news on was ridiculous and patronising. Then followed twenty minutes on Celtic, including Neil Lennon’s foray into the league reconstruction debate. Why the manager of a team whose club has never been relegated is being asked for his opinion I’ll never know. The hour long show featured no coverage of the SFL aside from the sneering comments on Elgin. All in all, I find that pretty disappointing.

As I mentioned, watching Queen’s Park play in Division 3 is one of football’s surrealist sights as they play their home games at the Scottish football national stadium, Hampden Park. Hampden Park can hold 52,063. Queen’s Park attract an average crowd of 500. In comparison to other stadium’s in the division it is luxurious. You can get tours of Hampden Park as part of the Scottish Football Museum (which I highly recommend) the tour guide told me that the changing rooms for the ballboys is bigger than most changing rooms in other grounds in the SFL. As I parked up, Hampden was full of people entering the BT Scotland Stand dressed up to the 9s, clearly going to functions in one of the many hospitality suites. The fact that the football fans don’t go through this entrance demonstrates that football might not have been the biggest attraction in Mount Florida that night. Near the turnstile you get a good view of Lesser Hampden, which is a smaller stadium where a game was also underway. To get the history of Hampden, Lesser Hampden and sport generally in Glasgow, I can highly recommend Played in Glasgow which is a wonderful history of sport in Glasgow with some fabulous photographs too.

I paid my £12 admission and bought a programme and headed to get my dinner for the evening opting for a pie and coke which came to £4.70! Whilst I acknowledge that the catering will be run by a private firm on behalf of the stadium – that is a ridiculous sum of money to pay. I looked at the rest of the menu - £2.50 for chips, a cup of tea is £2.20, a packet of crisps £1.50, hotdog £4 (yes, £4), what planet are these people living on? On my way to the ground I spotted an enormous Asda superstore and another Tesco Express within sight of the West Stand – if I’m going to games in future I know where I’ll be stocking up because at those prices it feels like the catering operators are taking liberties.

I took my seat just in time for the Queen’s club song (every club should have one) and reflected that this is the clash of the idealists in Scottish football – the amateurs (Queen’s Park) versus Scotland’s first ever fan owned club (Stirling). But sadly, both teams were struggling for form in Scotland’s lowest division – both sides hadn’t won in five and four respectively, so I was fully expecting a goalless draw.

As you would expect, the pitch was immaculate but it wasn’t able to elevate the quality of play on it. Both teams were playing without confidence, with Queens looking slightly better but struggling in the final third of the pitch. Without much action in the first half it allowed me to reflect on my surroundings. There were a lot more female fans that I would expect but I couldn’t help feel that there were many things that could make the evening’s entertainment better. Firstly, beer and wine should be allowed in Scottish grounds – it would add to the atmosphere and give the clubs much needed revenue. Admittedly it wouldn’t work for all games but licences could be applied for on a game-by-game basis. Secondly, a move to summer football wouldn’t go amiss. I understand that the weather is not always better in the summer but for sheer comfort of the fans (heaven forbid this might be considered) a summer move might be better than fans in eight layers shivering for 90 minutes.

At half-time the majority of fans returned to the concourse to try warm up a little. Luckily, the second half was a vast improvement on the first and within three minutes we had a goal. Queens broke down the left and the ball was whipped in to Aidan Connolly who slotted home from 12 yards.

Ten minutes later Stirling equalised (unlike six days earlier when they had wilted under pressure from Elgin). Strong running from Stirling striker Scott Davidson saw him get his shot away and it hit the back of the net after coming off the bar.

Queen’s manager Gardner Spiers moved Aidan Connolly in from the left and into the centre of the park and this change had a desired effect. Connolly is the son of former Dundee United and St Johnstone striker Paddy Connolly and he had impressed me all evening, despite his short stature he was confident on the ball and gave the Spiders a lot of impetus in their forward play. I couldn’t believe when I heard others around me referring to the fact it was his debut. I couldn’t believe it, he looked far more accomplished than his 17 years suggested.

Even though it was 1-1 it was clear that Queens were the better side – they were playing a better standard of football, whilst Stirling offered a more robust approach (in fairness they are struggling with a lot of injuries – I’d seen three limp off last weekend) but the referee was missing a lot of fouls on the young Queens side. There’s a lot to admire about Queens – they’re an amateur side trying to mix it with the rest of the Division and they have a whole host of young, exciting players but as an alternative it’s not cheap to come and watch the Spiders.

Then in the closing stages Queens put together another good move and Stirling player-manager Greig McDonald brought down Ian Watt in the penalty box. Queen’s striker Anthony Quinn stepped up to fire home and the PA system played Manfred Mann’s The Mighty Quinn. Obviously. The goal secured the three points for the Spiders.

For the second Friday in a row I’ve enjoyed the game in spite of poor first halfs. But overall I can’t say that a visit to Hampden is anything but surreal. The club will move away from Hampden next season whilst the stadium is prepared for the Commonwealth Games in 2014 and the Queen’s committee may use the time to reflect on how they can make the stadium work better for them as a club. The history of both Queen’s Park and Hampden are forever intertwined and the fact they still play at Hampden is one of the eccentricities that makes me love Scottish football. 

Ground 13: Forthbank

Forthbank Stadium's East Stand. Plenty of room to spare

Game: Stirling Albion 1 v 4 Elgin City

Date: Saturday 17^th November 2012

Competition: Scottish Football League Division 3

Attendance: 454

Admission: £10

Programme: £3

Confession time: I’d didn’t pay to get into this game. In fact I wasn’t going to attend any games this Saturday as I was a tad cash-strapped. Thank goodness then for my Dad, who stepped in and met me in Stirling and paid us both through the turnstile (in return it looks like I’m taking him to Ibrox in a couple of weeks, so I’m not sure who’s the winner in the long run).

This was only my second visit to Forthbank – in 2009 I saw Dundee turn them over 2-0 in the Challenge Cup, but it’s a compact little ground to the east of Stirling town centre. Forthbank hosts 3,808 but all fans for today’s Third Division clash were held in the main stand. Stirling in the past few years have very much been a yo-yo club flitting between all three SFL divisions. Hence this was Elgin’s first visit to Forthbank since 2004.

We entered the ground to be greeted by fans selling lottery tickets and tickets for the away visit to Ibrox. Rangers were defeated here at Forthbank earlier in the season in a result that shocked Scottish football. Another appealing aspect of Stirling Albion as a club is they are Scotland’s first fan-owned club through the Supporters Trust. Hopefully this a model that is replicated throughout the country as the community value of these clubs are recognised.

We took our seats at the north end of the Main Stand but not before I picked up a copy of The Albion, Stirling’s official magazine. It’s a substantial A4 production costing £3 but covers a month’s worth of games. This is something I’ve seen before in the United States and I welcome the innovative. The magazine is well designed and put together and clearly they’ve done their work getting lots of sponsorship from local businesses. If they could provide an insert with that day’s teams like they do in America then that would be perfect!

Kick-off in the game was delayed by a linesman checking the net and discovering something was amiss. Another first in this 42 Grounds adventure! Who knew there was actually a reason for the assistant referees to be checking the net.

The game finally got underway and both teams were feeling each other out – Stirling are struggling near the foot of the division whilst Elgin are flying high in 2^nd behind Rangers. My Dad turned to me and said “Elgin haven’t offered much – they are just looking for that quick through pass to Gunn”, which less than three seconds later happened and Craig Gunn put the Black and Whites 1-0 ahead.

At this point, the rain started to lash it down obscuring the great view of the Ochil hills you get from the ground. The game was still a bit of a battle for the next twenty minutes before Gunn doubled Elgin’s lead with a cool finish after some neat interplay and a good advantage played by the referee.

Gunn completed his hat-trick five minutes later when he tucked in from close range, whilst Elgin extended their lead to 4-0 when Stuart Leslie netted a pass from left-winger Daniel Moore. Stirling were shell-shocked – they really hadn’t played that badly yet found themselves four down! They managed to pull a goal back just before half time with a deflected shot that looped over Gibson in the Elgin goal.

At half-time we discussed the likelihood of more goals in the second half – I went for two more whilst Dad, ever the optimist, predicted none. Unfortunately for us both, my Dad was correct. The game really petered out and any chance of a Stirling comeback looked unlikely as they were forced into their third substitution of the game in the 52^nd minute with a sub replacing an injured replacement. Elgin threw on a few of their fringe players but neither side pushed hard for more goals, but after a cracking first half we could have very few complaints as we filed out of a lovely but cold Forthbank.