Come On Ye Mo - Montrose FC 2018/19

[Silverton End]

Superb Montrose, great away trip, pubs, ground, definite dark horses for the playoffs. Good luck

[Ivo den Bieman]

I'm sad that pressures of work have meant I've hardly seen us in 2019. Caught a fair few games before the Christmas break; I actually was frustrated then by the squad seemingly a little light, which meant results were patchy and inconsistent. Montrose gave signs that they were to be reckoned with however with that 3-2 win over Raith in December, who were genuinely the worst full time football team I've ever seen.

I just wanted to come on and congratulate the players, staff and directors for delivering another memorable season, however it ends up. We'll be playing whoever finishes 9th in the Championship should we confirm our place in the play offs. Nothing to fear from Falkirk if it's them, or QoS I think. Alloa, Partick, Morton would be tough.

We lost a couple of important players last summer (one of whom has since come back and there's a rumour another is returning) and it took us quite a while to adjust. It really is an outside prospect of us "doing a Brechin" this season and many fear the consequences if that were to happen. However, we aren't Brechin and Petrie is no Darren Dods. If the outrageous actually happened and we won promotion, we'd lose a lot again next season but I'd fancy us to give it a right good go. What we lack in quality we make up for in sheer determination.

Perhaps some of the older squad members will move on in the summer and regardless of whether we are sandbagging defensive trenches for an unexpected season in the second tier, or trying to make a few canny additions for a shot at the League One promotion race, we're in a nice situation at present. In John Paton's time as chairman the aim for Montrose was to be a third tier side making regular forays into the second tier. It seemed almost unachievable with squads full of eminently forgettable players.

After a quarter of a century of that being an unfulfilled aspiration, many of these seasons as a laughing stock at the bottom of the senior game, we've finally made that aspiration good.

Keep going, lads. Let's see where this takes us.

[theoriginalhedge]

52 minutes ago, Ivo den Bieman said:

I'm sad that pressures of work have meant I've hardly seen us in 2019. Caught a fair few games before the Christmas break; I actually was frustrated then by the squad seemingly a little light, which meant results were patchy and inconsistent. Montrose gave signs that they were to be reckoned with however with that 3-2 win over Raith in December, who were genuinely the worst full time football team I've ever seen.

I just wanted to come on and congratulate the players, staff and directors for delivering another memorable season, however it ends up. We'll be playing whoever finishes 9th in the Championship should we confirm our place in the play offs. Nothing to fear from Falkirk if it's them, or QoS I think. Alloa, Partick, Morton would be tough.

We lost a couple of important players last summer (one of whom has since come back and there's a rumour another is returning) and it took us quite a while to adjust. It really is an outside prospect of us "doing a Brechin" this season and many fear the consequences if that were to happen. However, we aren't Brechin and Petrie is no Darren Dods. If the outrageous actually happened and we won promotion, we'd lose a lot again next season but I'd fancy us to give it a right good go. What we lack in quality we make up for in sheer determination.

Perhaps some of the older squad members will move on in the summer and regardless of whether we are sandbagging defensive trenches for an unexpected season in the second tier, or trying to make a few canny additions for a shot at the League One promotion race, we're in a nice situation at present. In John Paton's time as chairman the aim for Montrose was to be a third tier side making regular forays into the second tier. It seemed almost unachievable with squads full of eminently forgettable players.

After a quarter of a century of that being an unfulfilled aspiration, many of these seasons as a laughing stock at the bottom of the senior game, we've finally made that aspiration good.

Keep going, lads. Let's see where this takes us.

Good post.   

Good luck in the play offs but beware , if you lot do achieve the unthinkable, the standard is so much higher. However as you say  the overall set up at Montrose looks a lot more capable than ours  (both on and off the park ) of actually giving it a go. 

[Brummo]

1 hour ago, Ivo den Bieman said:

After a quarter of a century of that being an unfulfilled aspiration, many of these seasons as a laughing stock at the bottom of the senior game, we've finally made that aspiration good.

Keep going, lads. Let's see where this takes us

If we were ever a laughing stock, I never found it funny. The worst game I ever saw was an appalling, farcical performance at New Bayview during the Kenny Black orchestrated shambles. That was 100% self-harm. If the aforementioned hadn't spat the dummy out when Jim Weir had been "in charge" the outcome of that season would have been very different.

Honestly, I don't think in those wilderness years we ever plumbed the depths of the Shire, who I remember as being uncompetitive in the league to the point of embarrassment. Maybe they covered for us in terms of the Mo being a "laughing stock". One thing is for certain, that things are much better at the club than they have been for a long time and perhaps to some extent the people who held things together in the past are at least due some credit for not allowing the club to completely go to the wall.

Edited April 22, 2019 by Brummo
Spelling without Goldberg

[Ivo den Bieman]

Actually in the Spencer Fearn years we were demolished regularly by the Shire, they were getting into the play-offs and our defence resembled a bunch of clowns with their hair on hire in a zumba class.. A 0-5 defeat at Ochilview (manager: Mr D. Hannah) at their hands being a particular lowlight. Further back, we beat them 5-4 on the last day of a season early this century (can't be arsed looking it up) which was possibly one of the lowest quality games ever played at senior level.

My point was that it's brilliant to have broken what seemed to have become a permanent cycle of failure until three seasons ago and it's great to see. As you state many half-forgotten figures from that past played a part in us getting to where we are now.

[Brummo]

1 hour ago, Ivo den Bieman said:

Actually in the Spencer Fearn years we were demolished regularly by the Shire, they were getting into the play-offs and our defence resembled a bunch of clowns with their hair on hire in a zumba class...

True but the Spencer Fearn years were somewhat of an anomaly.

Perhaps some stato could confirm whether or not we were really worst overall. I know that when we were staring into the abyss of Highland League football, I felt, probably more due to Montrose tinted glasses than to facts, that there were other teams which were at least as deserving to be candidates to be in that unenviable situation.

As it turned out Fearn's intervention did little more than postpone the Shire's downward trajectory. What I can say is that considering the respective positions of the two clubs now, I am so glad that Hegarty's heroes pulled off their great escape.

Edited April 22, 2019 by Brummo
Tense!

[Ivo den Bieman]

since 96/97 our finishes in the third division were :

6th, 9th, 10th, 9th, 9th, 5th, 7th, 6th, 5th, 9th, 8th, 3rd, 5th, 10th, 8th, 8th, 6th, 6th, 10th, 8th, 4th, Champions.

The darkest time was at the turn of the century, really, and that's when the club was in greatest peril of folding. As late as 2005/6 Montrose were seriously short of money. The past few years have been easier thanks to decent boards and more recently the work of LPCT.

Until Shire disappeared out of the league, we finished above them twelve times in that period, and them eight above us. So it's not just the Spencer Fearn period- it was actually a close run thing. Shire were alright around the turn of the century but never really recovered from the £10 a week days and losing Firs.

When you look back at our record it only throws the competence of the current set up into sharp relief.

 

[tongue_tied_danny]

8 hours ago, Ivo den Bieman said:

since 96/97 our finishes in the third division were :

6th, 9th, 10th, 9th, 9th, 5th, 7th, 6th, 5th, 9th, 8th, 3rd, 5th, 10th, 8th, 8th, 6th, 6th, 10th, 8th, 4th, Champions.

The darkest time was at the turn of the century, really, and that's when the club was in greatest peril of folding. As late as 2005/6 Montrose were seriously short of money. The past few years have been easier thanks to decent boards and more recently the work of LPCT.

Until Shire disappeared out of the league, we finished above them twelve times in that period, and them eight above us. So it's not just the Spencer Fearn period- it was actually a close run thing. Shire were alright around the turn of the century but never really recovered from the £10 a week days and losing Firs.

When you look back at our record it only throws the competence of the current set up into sharp relief.

 

Putting it like that just illustrates how bad things were. You can throw in a few cup defeats to non league opposition as well.

My personal low point during that era was when Arbroath's keeper scored against us. That just summed up now farcical it had become. I can't think of many high points. Beating Arbroath in the cup replay after they fielded an ineligible player and 8-1 v Clyde are about the only decent memories I have of that long, dark chapter in our history.

 

[Brummo]

3 hours ago, tongue_tied_danny said:

Putting it like that just illustrates how bad things were. You can throw in a few cup defeats to non league opposition as well.

My personal low point during that era was when Arbroath's keeper scored against us. That just summed up now farcical it had become. I can't think of many high points. Beating Arbroath in the cup replay after they fielded an ineligible player and 8-1 v Clyde are about the only decent memories I have of that long, dark chapter in our history.

 

Actually, there were some high points too, a replay win against then top of league one (now championship) Morton in one of the Cups springs to mind.

After that it was yet another meh away defeat to Saint Johnstone to terminate any brief sense of respite.

I think rather than being consistently a laughing stock, which is simply not the case - a label applied to us by fans of other clubs which does not reflect the facts - it was the grinding mediocrity of failing to even come close to breaking free from the basement division, that characterises the pain of past decades. 

I think every other team apart from East Stirlingshire and maybe Elgin, (along with Annan who are relative newcomers) was promoted while we languished in the lower half of the league for all but one of TWENTY years. 

It wasn't all bad but I'm not masochistic enough to regard it as much fun either.

 

 

 

Edited April 23, 2019 by Brummo
'e'

[tongue_tied_danny]

 

I missed the Morton game through work and I was that drunk in Perth that I can barely remember the match. 

[Ivo den Bieman]

what, you mean the facts as set out above?

when we lost successive games 0-6 at the beginning of a season and Drinkell was emptied, we were a laughing stock.

when we took until February to win a league game in 2009/10, we were a laughing stock.

when we were eviscerated week after week in late autumn, winter and spring of 14/15, we were a laughing stock.

when we finished season after season between 6th and 9th without finishing bottom, without ever looking like challenging for promotion again...etc

That's why being so crap for so long was so painful, and why it's so great to finally have broken the sequence.

I've no idea why you're so riled by the term and want to pick at it.

[endieinreekie]

3 hours ago, tongue_tied_danny said:

Putting it like that just illustrates how bad things were. You can throw in a few cup defeats to non league opposition as well.

My personal low point during that era was when Arbroath's keeper scored against us. That just summed up now farcical it had become. I can't think of many high points. Beating Arbroath in the cup replay after they fielded an ineligible player and 8-1 v Clyde are about the only decent memories I have of that long, dark chapter in our history.

 

Also the fine Kevin Webster goal against Berwick that still has them seething.

[tongue_tied_danny]

54 minutes ago, endieinreekie said:

Also the fine Kevin Webster goal against Berwick that still has them seething.

That was indeed a screamer. 

John Sheran was our manager at that time. Let's hope he makes a full recovery and then relegates them...

[Ivo den Bieman]

Ah, Berwick. I remember them well.

Other highlights; 5-1 at Forfar in the Cup under Henry Hall, with each goal a screamer, and a band of loons standing in the horizontal rain on the open terrace for the whole game; 4-0 home win against Fester's Forfar in 09/10; the 8-1 Clyde game; Martin Boyle scoring a winner in extra time against Arbroath in the cup; there were good afternoons in that period, just that routine wins in games like that became memorable, as they were so rare.

[theoriginalhedge]

3 hours ago, endieinreekie said:

Also the fine Kevin Webster goal against Berwick that still has them seething.

Was he on loan from Weatherfield United ? 

[1320Lichtie]

Ah, Berwick. I remember them well.
Other highlights; 5-1 at Forfar in the Cup under Henry Hall, with each goal a screamer, and a band of loons standing in the horizontal rain on the open terrace for the whole game; 4-0 home win against Fester's Forfar in 09/10; the 8-1 Clyde game; Martin Boyle scoring a winner in extra time against Arbroath in the cup; there were good afternoons in that period, just that routine wins in games like that became memorable, as they were so rare.

That Martin Boyle game wound me up. We were 2-0 down at half time but we had the hurricane behind us second half, £10 on us to win at half time. Rattray got 2 before the 50th minute and we went on to pummel you the rest of the half. Wee Boyle rounds our keeper 120th minute I'm sure.

[Brummo]

5 hours ago, Ivo den Bieman said:

what, you mean the facts as set out above?

when we lost successive games 0-6 at the beginning of a season and Drinkell was emptied, we were a laughing stock.

when we took until February to win a league game in 2009/10, we were a laughing stock.

when we were eviscerated week after week in late autumn, winter and spring of 14/15, we were a laughing stock.

when we finished season after season between 6th and 9th without finishing bottom, without ever looking like challenging for promotion again...etc

That's why being so crap for so long was so painful, and why it's so great to finally have broken the sequence.

I've no idea why you're so riled by the term and want to pick at it.

Well done Sherlock, you're spot on. I don't like the term and applying it to much of the twenty* of the forty or so years I have been supporting Montrose FC does smart.  You are entitled to your opinions and to voice them. I just happen to disagree with your assessment for the reasons stated above. I belong to Montrose originally and as an exile, take pride in my home town and its football team. If that makes me seem a bit precious about some comments I feel are wide of the mark, so be it.

Subject closed. For pity's sake, what was all that about anyway?

We aren't a laughing stock now, that's for sure!

*E.T.A. apologies, having re-read your original post, I see that I you only described those seasons when we finished bottom as our "laughing stock" era and that, as you helpfully pointed out, happened three times in twenty one years.

 

Edited April 23, 2019 by Brummo
Accuracy

[Scorge]

Don't think it really matters much about how you look at the past 20 years on a richter scale of shiteness, although you can't ignore the fact it wasn't just perma-whinging Berwexit fans citing our club along with the Shire as a reason to get the trapdoor open.  It was a fairly broad spectrum who looked on us as being cannon fodder. I've always believed lower league football clubs tend to have cyclical success based on how the wind blows - we just had to wait a very, very long time for the uptick despite having gone through all the usual methods (boardroom £££££, local players only, etc) to get success. That's part of the reason I'm torn between pissing myself laughing at the fate of Berwexit Rangers, a club currently resembling a gloomy raincoated art student that failed their finals, sulking in the pub listening to the last two minutes of High Hopes by Pink Floyd, and being aware of karma knowing a couple of bad seasons on the trot for whatever reason could have any club hip-deep.

Anyways. The last two and a half seasons have been the crest of a wave, and I'm enjoying the hell out of watching a hard-working team punching above what it 'should' be capable of on paper rather than relying on gallows humour to get through a Saturday. I also have mixed feelings about potential promotion and the balance of football-Darwinism and prudence, but you've got to go for it, and I would trust our current board/management to do things right. 

Edited April 23, 2019 by Scorge

[endieinreekie]

21 minutes ago, Scorge said:

Don't think it really matters much about how you look at the past 20 years on a richter scale of shiteness, although you can't ignore the fact it wasn't just perma-whinging Berwexit fans citing our club along with the Shire as a reason to get the trapdoor open.  It was a fairly broad spectrum who looked on us as being cannon fodder. I've always believed lower league football clubs tend to have cyclical success based on how the wind blows - we just had to wait a very, very long time for the uptick despite having gone through all the usual methods (boardroom £££££, local players only, etc) to get success. That's part of the reason I'm torn between pissing myself laughing at the fate of Berwexit Rangers, a club currently resembling a gloomy raincoated art student that failed their finals, sulking in the pub listening to the last two minutes of High Hopes by Pink Floyd, and being aware of karma knowing a couple of bad seasons on the trot for whatever reason could have any club hip-deep.

Anyways. The last two and a half seasons have been the crest of a wave, and I'm enjoying the hell out of watching a hard-working team punching above what it 'should' be capable of on paper rather than relying on gallows humour to get through a Saturday. I also have mixed feelings about potential promotion and the balance of football-Darwinism and prudence, but you've got to go for it, and I would trust our current board/management to do things right. 

I am loving being a Mo fan at the moment. I'm under no illusions that things will probably turn to shit at some point, but the last two seasons have been magnificent. What makes it even more surprising is that there are still a large core of players that were there under Hegarty (Watson, Masson, Fleming, Ross Campbell, Steeves, Webbie and probably more (apologies if I've got any wrong)) that are still playing regularly. I think that is testament to Stewart Petrie who has kept them at the club and, on the whole has, has turned them into better players.  

[jd_mo]

what, you mean the facts as set out above?
when we lost successive games 0-6 at the beginning of a season and Drinkell was emptied, we were a laughing stock.
when we took until February to win a league game in 2009/10, we were a laughing stock.
when we were eviscerated week after week in late autumn, winter and spring of 14/15, we were a laughing stock.
when we finished season after season between 6th and 9th without finishing bottom, without ever looking like challenging for promotion again...etc
That's why being so crap for so long was so painful, and why it's so great to finally have broken the sequence.
I've no idea why you're so riled by the term and want to pick at it.

I remember the February away win at Berwick (who were at the time top?) and was our first league win of the season. I'd been at a Dundee - County game and pretty sure I remember hearing you on Off the Ball on the drive home sounding very happy!