Manager of the year?

Whilst our form has turned somewhat sour of late - at least until tonight's victory over Albion Rovers - one Stenny hero who nevertheless has good reason to celebrate is our ex-centre back Harry Cairney, who is nearing the end of a remarkably successful season in charge of our Third Division rivals Annan Athletic. Cairney represented the Warriors between 1983 and 1992, making 306 appearances, before moving on for an equally long and successful spell at Brechin City. He began his managerial career with Annan in the 2003-04 season, and returned to the club in 2006 following an unsuccessful spell at Arbroath. Yet when Annan were elected to the SFL at the start of the current season, the challenge facing Cairney was perhaps the greatest of his career.

Annan’s election was a surprise to many, myself included: I felt that Spartans had a strong case, with excellent infrastructure and a relatively strong squad (which at the time included Kevin Motion) already in place – the side had finished as champions of the East of Scotland League. Annan, on the other hand, had finished seventh in the same league, and the club had to put urgent plans into place to bring Galabank up to SFL standards – the work was still ongoing when we visited them in August.

Against that backdrop, Cairney did remarkably well to assemble a squad capable of competing at this level. Of the 25 players in Annan’s first team squad, eleven joined the club last summer. (Most of these players were youngsters with no SFL experience; one of them was Darren Johnstone, whose previous senior career had consisted of around three matches for Stenny in 2003.) They have played their part in an excellent campaign: the side got off to a flying start, and have really hit form again in the last couple of months.

The Third Division manager of the year award is, as such, something of a no-brainer. Sides such as Cowdenbeath, Dumbarton and ourselves were always expected to be in promotion contention, and even the Shire have invested considerable funds in their squad this season. Whoever goes on to win the title, then, the team of the season is undoubtedly Annan Athletic. When the season began I was amongst their many doubters – I expected them to finish rock bottom – but they remain alongside ourselves in playoff contention, and have thus proved me entirely wrong.

In support of the gaffer...

Prior to tonight's last gasp victory at Cliftonhill, I sensed some people might have been starting to lose patience with John. It is, however, important to keep things in perspective - not simply because we won this evening, but because John has, overall, done a very good job since he came to the club. Whatever people say about his motivational abilities, the fact is any group of players on a losing run will look like they've lost heart. It's a blip - a fairly major blip, admittedly, but it doesn't mean John has suddenly become a bad manager.

As it stands, we still have a good chance of making the play-offs, especially after tonight's result. Even if we head into the play-offs on something of a downward spiral, the pressure-cooker type atmosphere of those games means they're a law unto themselves - I'm sure the players we have, with John at the helm, would give a good account of themselves. And if the worst comes to the worst, and we find ourselves in the Third Division again next season, there is certainly nobody better than John to have another go at winning the league. The point I'm making is that nobody stands to gain anything from a change of management. Whatever happens in the remaining matches, I'd be very surprised if the board would consider sacking John, and I hope John himself is equally intent on sticking with it for the long term.

In the 2005-06 season, under John’s stewardship, Berwick had a very similar campaign to ourselves this time around, setting the pace early in the season before falling away during the winter. (The ultimate beneficiaries and eventual champions were of course Cowdenbeath, who took advantage after our own challenge collapsed during April.) The following season, however, after a slow start, John’s Berwick team came good and won a richly-deserved title. In the current situation, then, I remain optimistic about our long-term prospects, precisely because we have John at the helm.

Home straight

It’s been a while since this blog has been updated. General disillusion and depression regarding the team’s performance is to blame I think. However, as we enter the last quarter of the season one way or the other this could get quite exciting. Our form showed some signs of improvement during the recent double header against Cowdenbeath. It was far from perfect but it was certainly a step in the right direction; namely, towards the opposition goal as opposed to side ways or backwards. The introduction of Craig Molloy has been one factor behind this, and the pairing of him with Kevin Motion in the middle in the second Cowden match meant that we enjoyed our best performance for quite some time. Of course all good things must come to an end. It would have been nice if it had lasted more than 3 or 4 days though. The match against The Shire was disappointing for so many reasons, but the fact is that I don’t think any team in this league would have coped with them that day. Until the 4th goal went in I didn’t think we were actually playing that badly, and certainly the introduction of Andy Ferguson up front seemed to give us a real physical presence we haven’t had all season, but at the end of the day we were beaten by a (much) better team. The issue for them is whether they can keep that level of performance up for the rest of the season. If they can then they could win the league. I thought Cowden looked a spent force when we played them. Very similar to our performances over the previous few weeks. Given Cowden’s slump it means that all of a sudden the race for the title is very much back on. Given our poor form of course this shouldn’t really be of concern to us but we certainly have the squad capable of challenging for the title, it is up to them and the manager to get the team performing to the level that they are capable of. Of course, if things continue the way they have since the turn of the year then we need to look over our shoulders. A play off spot is not guaranteed. Forfar in particular look like they could mount a challenge. The ability of most teams to beat anyone in the league means that nothing is decided yet. If Forfar or Albion do go on a run then it means that they are taking points off other teams which could open the way for a team to take the title, if they can go a decent run for the remainder of the season. I have my doubts that it will be us (too many well documented perceived weaknesses in the team) but you never know what is going to happen next. Meanwhile we head north to face bottom dogs Elgin who by all accounts seem to have improved since Ross Jack took charge. I think it will be a tough match but if we can take three points then it could be the kick start we need.