The Great Leap Forward

Today was a wonderful day to be a Stenny fan - all the more so because our eventual victory had seemed so unlikely, with our shambolic performance in the first half. The one man who made the difference was of course Scott Dalziel - his presence on the park, and the leadership he showed, provided such spark to those around him. Obviously he has been struggling for fitness lately, but I would suggest that - even if we have to send him onto the park in a wheelchair - he has to play next week.

There is an awful lot of work still to do, but a glimmer of hope has returned - could the Great Escape be on?

Tense times

I must confess I never thought we would be in this position - I don’t think any of us did. With the quality of players brought in last summer (Williams, Murray, Lynch, Anderson) - not to mention the likes of Paton and Gilmour who arrived more recently - there is simply no way we should even be contemplating relegation. Yet that is the situation in which we find ourselves - not only contemplating the drop, but drinking in the last chance saloon: we simply have to beat Alloa if we are to have any realistic chance of avoiding the play-offs.

My work recently took my to Nigeria, and - during the time I spent there - Stenny’s form showed considerable improvement; it then proceeded to decline upon my return. Whilst this suggests I should probably remain as far away from our matches as possible, in practice I am doing the exact opposite - i.e. travelling to Recreation Park on Saturday. (I am in fact heading north from London as I write this.)

As I write I am deliberately ignoring the ‘elephant in the room’ (or, in this case, the ineligible midfielder in the room). I don’t know if there is any truth in the rumours about Gilmour’s international clearance (or lack thereof), and somehow I suspect not - our officials are some of the most diligent around, and I would be surprised if they have let us down. In any case I am hopeful of avoiding a points deduction - we are due some luck at disciplinary hearings, not least after the gross injustice we suffered at the hands of Dunfermline last season.

I have already warned my boss that - if we fail to win on Saturday - I will probably be off sick next week. I do genuinely believe, though, that we will pick up the points. In quite simple terms, we are better than Alloa - we just have to prove it. Roll on Saturday…

A welcome distraction

The opening matches of the Carling Nations Cup this week provided a welcome distraction from our perilous league position. Wednesday evening saw me heading down to my local for an experience to which I have long been accustomed - watching Scotland games in an otherwise England-supporting pub. (The Tartan Army contingent in South West London is not the largest.) Our game was being shown on the world's smallest TV screen, situated immediately beside the unreasonably large Denmark-England screen.

One experience to which I am not quite so accustomed, however, is watching Scotland coast to victory quite so comfortably - yet there it was! Clearly there will be tougher tests ahead, but the magnitude of the victory - and the manner in which it was achieved - can only serve to boost the players' confidence.

What I cannot understand, however, is the ongoing process of 'researching whether Gary Hooper has a Scottish grandfather,' with which Craig Levein is reported to be busying himself. Surely such a protracted period of research should not be necessary. Mr Hooper either has a Scottish grandfather, or he does not; wouldn't it be easier just to ask him?

Returning home...

The first few weeks of the "Irons Age" have been nothing if not eventful. We have claimed a few good victories, and - perhaps most notably of all - the defence has looked much tighter once again. (The two notable exceptions to this were the defeats to Alloa and Stranraer, both of which were characterised by shambolic defending - but on this we shall not dwell...)

The most impressive performance of the lot was undoubtedly that against Airdrie United, in a match which we dominated with the help of a certain Eric Paton. Paton's return to the club after almost thirteen years away - albeit only as a trialist - provided us with terrific spark in midfield, remeniscent of JP McBride at his best. This got me thinking about what has become the main subject of this article - the select group of players to have played for Stenny in two separate spells:

LINDSAY HAMILTON returned to Ochilview in 1998 at the age of 867, having previously made his name at Stenny several centuries previously. A commanding goalkeeper, his form in his first spell was sufficient to earn him a transfer to Rangers, whilst his second was equally successful as he helped us to promotion in 1998-99.

EUAN DONALDSON was sold to St Johnstone for a record fee of £75,000 in 1995, after his outstanding form for us in the famous Scottish Cup run. Having played at left-full back (albeit an overlapping one) in his first spell under Terry Christie, he returned in 2001 as an attacking wing-back under Brian Fairley. His second spell came to a premature end when Fairley was replaced by Jimmy Bone, who immediately disposed of all our quality players in an (ulimately unsuccessful) attempt to get us relegated. Donaldson, however, is fondly remembered.

GARETH HUTCHISON earned legendary status as a pacy goalscorer (and thoroughly good guy) in his first spell at the club, which lasted throughout the mid-90s. He starred alongside Donaldson in the aforesaid Scottish Cup run, and was still around the following year when our club enjoyed its finest hour, with the victory over Dundee United in the Challenge Cup Final. After moving on for spells at Falkirk, Alloa and Berwick, he returned in 2006 under the management of Des McKeown. Whilst he stilled showed flashes of his old sparkle, he had difficulty settling into a Stenny side which was - to put it mildly - in a 'transitional phase.' His name is nevertheless one which frequently crops up in "All-time Stenny XIs."

ROSS HAMILTON went down in history after scoring our winner against Brechin City in 1999, in the match which clinched promotion for us. A right-winger with lighning pace, he left for Alloa soon afterwards before returning in 2007 under Campbell Money. Notwithstanding a few memorable performances in his second spell (most notably in a home victory over East Fife), he failed to settle, and left soon after the arrival of John Coughlin as manager.

STEVIE FALLON is the only player in this series whose second spell at the club was longer in duration than his first. We first saw him in 2001, when he joined on a month's loan from Dundee United, playing just three matches at left back before returning to his parent club. His second spell was wholly more fruitful: he enjoyed an outstanding season in 2004-05 (having been converted into a right back), before his spell was curtailed by injury.

At present it looks unlikely that Paton himself will be added to this list - following his trial game last week, he went on to play for Stirling Albion in a bounce game on Tuesday (never a wise move, but there we go). In the meantime, then, we must content ourselves with what we have, and look forward to this afternoon's game at Ayr.

Let's get Ironing...

Traditionally, of course, New Year’s Day is a time for looking forward. In view of the recent changes at Ochilview this is especially appropriate. I must begin, however, with a tribute to our recently departed (and in my view legendary) manager John Coughlin. When JC joined us in 2007, we were second from bottom of the Third Division, and generally in crisis. Notwithstanding our recent rough patch, he leaves us in a wholly more positive position - in a higher division, and with a talented squad of players in place - one which is more than capable of hauling us to safety in 2011.

After a few weeks of intrigue, of course, we now know the identity of the man who will be leading the team for the battles ahead - Davie Irons has arrived at the club, and I hope he receives a warm welcome at Ochilview tomorrow. He has clearly impressed the Board, having emerged successful from an extensive interview process (nine candidates, apparently, made it to the interview stage). Prior to his appointment I wasn’t aware that he had applied, so - when the announcement was made - it was necessary to conduct some hasty internet research, in an attempt to ascertain what style of football he favours, etc.. The fruits of said research were the following:

• In a Q&A session soon after taking over at Cappielow, he stated that he had no particular preference for a given formation per se, but that he would choose the formation to fit the players he had, not vice versa. This led him to play 3-5-2 after taking over in 2007-08, before using 4-4-2 at times during 2008-09 (his one full season).
• In comparison to the teams around them in the middle of the First Division - Irons' Morton team both scored and conceded fewer goals (40 of each during the 2008-09 season) - this suggests a defensive mindset.
• Another useful indicator as to the style of football is whether or a manager uses a six-foot-plus striker. For what it's worth, it appears to me that Irons did not.

Before I sign off, a quick word for Kevin McGoldrick and Graeme Robertson, who spent a spectacularly uneventful spell in caretaker charge (three weeks, eight million feet of snow, no matches) prior to Davie’s appointment - at least they were unbeaten! Whilst Graeme has returned to his role as Head of Youth, Kevin will now be combining his U19 duties with the Assistant Manager role - here’s hoping he and Davie enjoy a fruitful partnership.

In defence of Coughlinho

For weeks, the online supporters' forum has been full of appeals for JC to throw in the kids (which I did not agree with). Now all of a sudden everybody (me included) is shocked to see Quinn and Murray out of the side. Fundamentally you can't have it both ways - with Dickson and Plenderleith coming in, some of the regular players had to be dropped.

My own view is that if you play youngsters out of desparation, you gain nothing. They come into a team which is already struggling, they quickly get their confidence shattered, and nobody gains anything. If there are specific youngsters who deserve to be picked on merit, that is a different matter and they should be encouraged - Dickson and Plenderleith may or may not come into this category, I can't judge as I've only seen them once. But throwing them in simply because we've run out of ideas is foolish.

Re: the manager's ability - form is temporary, but quality is permanent. JC has transformed our club over the last 3 years, and we are now - undeniably - going through a rough patch. I do not, however, believe that he has 'lost the dressing room' - remember that we put in a good solid performance against Brechin just two weeks ago. The solution is not to sack him, but to allow him to settle on a stable starting XI built around our key players (Williams, Clark (when fit), Murray, Anderson, Stirling, etc). Because of injuries he hasn't had a chance to do this until now; contrary to rumour, however, he has used consistent starting XIs in previous seasons, and I look forward to him doing so again.

I would be quite keen to see the Board delver a Vote of Confidence in John - so long as it's a genuine vote of confidence like the one he got two years ago, and not a 'fake' vote of confidence to be followed by the sack two weeks later. Guaranteeing his position until the end of the season would remove the current sense of uncertainty, and this can only help the players.

Root Vegetables

It was another long journey back to London after our defeat by Airdrie United, but - searching as I do for small crumbs of comfort - this was undoubtedly a higher calibre of defeat than that which we suffered on my last trip north (the 2-0 defeat by Ayr in September). Put simply, I would much rather lose to a spectacular overhead kick from Jamie Bain, than to some arbitrary Ayr United goal conceded when the usually excellent Scott Gibb falls on his backside.

The plush surroundings of the Shyberry Excelsior also made a pleasant change from Ayr's stone-age stadium, and - as if that weren't enough - we were kept entertained by the most bizarre set of advertising hoardings in the SFL. Staring back at us from across the half-way line were the words 'Root Vegetables,' emblazoned in bold type with no further explanation in sight. Equally odd was the advert, a little further to the right, for a company offering 'Clean Air Containment Services.' I would have thought the good people of Airdrie would be more concerned with containing polluted air, but evidently they do things differently in Lanarkshire...