Fort William 2021-22 Thread

[peternapper]

On ‎03‎/‎08‎/‎2019 at 04:45, Jimmy Shaker said:

Victory over Nairn County in the Pat Munro North of Scotland Cup on Wednesday gave Fort William their first win in any competition for the first time in almost two full years. The Highland League strugglers last won a game when they bested Elgin City in the opening round of the same competition in August 2017, before going out to Forres Mechanics in the quarter-finals after failing to raise a team for the tie.

Fort William remain without a league win since Wednesday, April 12th, 2017, when they were 4-1 winners against Strathspey Thistle. Fort last won a league game on a Saturday on October 8th, 2016, when they beat Turriff United at Claggan Park.

A WINLESS STREAK – IN NUMBERS…

Last win prior to Wednesday – Fort William 4-0 Elgin City (Wednesday, August 23rd, 2017)
Days without a win – 706 (Thursday, August 24th, 2017 – Tuesday, July 30th, 2019)
Games without a win – 70 (across all competitions)
Games lost – 63
Games drawn – 7
Goals scored – 48
Goals conceded – 452
Clean sheets – 0
Last clean sheet – Fort William 4-0 Elgin City (NOS Cup, Wednesday, August 23rd, 2017)

Longest season-long losing streak – 2017/18 – 15 games, 2018/19 – 18, 2019/20 – 1
Unbeaten streak – 2017/18 – 1 game (5 times), 2018/19 – 1 game (2 times)
Losing run when streak ended – 19 games

Last league win – Fort William 4-1 Strathspey Thistle (Wednesday, April 12th, 2017)
Last Saturday win – Fort William 3-2 Turriff United (SHFL, Saturday, October 8th, 2016)
Last league clean sheet – Strathspey Thistle 0-1 Fort William (Saturday, September 3rd, 2016)
Last home league clean sheet – Fort William 2-0 Keith (Saturday, November 22nd, 2014)

MATCHES LOST TO (63)…

5 – Forres Mechanics, Fraserburgh, 4 – Buckie Thistle, Brora Rangers, Deveronvale, Formartine United, Inverurie Loco Works, Nairn County, Turriff United, Wick Academy, 3 – Clachnacuddin, Cove Rangers, Huntly, Lossiemouth, Rothes, 2 – Keith, Strathspey Thistle, 1 – Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Linlithgow Rose

MATCHES DRAWN (7)…

2 – Clachnacuddin, Strathspey Thistle, 1 – Keith, Lossiemouth, Strathspey Thistle

GOALS SCORED AGAINST (48)…

8 – Lossiemouth, 6 – Turriff United, 5 – Clachnacuddin, 4 – Keith, Strathspey Thistle, 3 Formartine United, Forres Mechanics, Wick Academy, 2 – Cove Rangers, Huntly, Inverurie Loco Works, Nairn County, Rothes, 1 – Buckie Thistle, Deveronvale, 0 – Brora Rangers, Fraserburgh

GOALS CONCEDED TO (452)…

46 – Fraserburgh, 42 – Brora Rangers, 40 – Formartine United, 35 – Turriff United, 29 – Cove Rangers, 27 – Buckie Thistle, 26 – Inverurie Loco Works, 25 – Rothes, 24 – Deveronvale, Forres Mechanics, 22 – Wick Academy, 19 – Clachnacuddin, 18 – Keith, 16 – Huntly, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, 15 – Lossiemouth, 13 – Nairn County, 12 – Strathspey Thistle, 3 – Linlithgow Rose

BIGGEST DEFEATS…

2017/18 – Brora Rangers 16-0 Fort William (Saturday, December 2nd, 2017)
2018/19 – Fort William 0-16 Inverness Caledonian Thistle (NOS Cup, Tuesday, July 31st, 2018)

NARROWEST DEFEATS…

2017/18 – Fort William 3-4 Lossiemouth (Saturday, December 23rd, 2017), Clachnacuddin 2-1 Fort William (Wednesday, November 8th, 2017)
2018/19 – Fort William 3-4 Lossiemouth (Saturday, September 29th, 2018)

HIGHEST SCORING DRAW…

2017/18 – Fort William 3-3 Keith (Saturday, May 2nd, 2018)
2018/19 – Fort William 3-3 Clachnacuddin (Wednesday, November 7th, 2018)

CLOSEST TO A WIN…

2017/18 – Bradley Manson scored with 4 minutes remaining to earn Keith a draw at Claggan Park (Saturday, May 2nd, 2018)
2018/19 – Scott Lisle scored with 10 minutes remaining to earn Strathspey a draw at Claggan Park (Wednesday, August 29th, 2018)

Think the biggest defeat should be the 17-0 loss to Peterhead in 1998

[Jacksgranda]

7 minutes ago, peternapper said:

Think the biggest defeat should be the 17-0 loss to Peterhead in 1998

I think he's talking about their record since they last won.

[Jimmy Shaker]

Think the biggest defeat should be the 17-0 loss to Peterhead in 1998

Clucking bell.

[Jimmy Shaker]

I think he's talking about their record since they last won.

Correct.

Why are Fort happy to keep rehashing the 840 days/73 games line.

[peternapper]

10 hours ago, Jacksgranda said:

I think he's talking about their record since they last won.

Fair enough.

[TheScarf]

Some start in the league for Fort; Brora then Locos.  Can't read much into their results against them in the first 2 games IMO.

[Aqy]

Aye, the upcoming games against Strathspey, Keith and Rothes will be a bit more of a barometer. Some good spells against Locos but made some silly mistakes, some poor distribution from the keeper, and the heads went down a bit towards the end. Fantastic penalty save though and was very impressed with Roddy's cool head to score the penalty after Locos used every trick in the book to try and put him off.

[Hampden Diehard]

For Fort and any other team in Scotland playing before two men and a dug, the answer is an amateur contract and expenses.

[cmontheloknow]

On 05/08/2019 at 06:21, Jimmy Shaker said:

 

Correct.

Why are Fort happy to keep rehashing the 840 days/73 games line.

It's a weird one. They have won 4 times since the Strathspey game, all in the NoS Cup, and while they can I suppose dismiss the Elgin one as being against substandard opposition, they also have beaten Rothes in that cup, so it's not as if Nairn in the NoS Cup trumps anything. It's almost as if they're revelling in their crapness. The league wait goes on though.

[welshbairn]

2 hours ago, Hampden Diehard said:

For Fort and any other team in Scotland playing before two men and a dug, the answer is an amateur contract and expenses.

I agree, but is it allowed if you're not in an amateur league? QP are having a bit of difficulties with this I understand.

Edited August 7, 2019 by welshbairn

[parsforlife]

I agree, but is it allowed if you're not in an amateur league? QP are having a bit of difficulties with this I understand.

Allowed? Of course it’s allowed, many many players have been on amateur deals in pro leagues.

Queen’s Park are questioning their status in a post hampden landscape. They relied upon it to attract players and are unsure if they will have the same attraction in the future, they also can’t keep hold of(on indeed get cash for) youth products as they don’t offer professional contracts.

There’s nothing stopping any club offering amateur deals, to 1 players or the whole squad

[welshbairn]

1 minute ago, parsforlife said:

 

Allowed? Of course it’s allowed, many many players have been on amateur deals in pro leagues.

Queen’s Park are questioning their status in a post hampden landscape. They relied upon it to attract players and are unsure if they will have the same attraction in the future, they also can’t keep hold of(on indeed get cash for) youth products as they don’t offer professional contracts.

There’s nothing stopping any club offering amateur deals, to 1 players or the whole squad

 

I thought there was some HMRC factor about paying minimum wage that came into it. Have to admit I'm clueless about this stuff.

[Ludo*1]

They're maybe reveling in their 'crapness' because that's what has got them attention? They wouldn't have received the £5k from Loki Doki the Youtuber for example if he hadn't noticed them. And it was their record that made him notice. The club are improving financially by marketing the club this way.

[craigkillie]

20 minutes ago, welshbairn said:

I thought there was some HMRC factor about paying minimum wage that came into it. Have to admit I'm clueless about this stuff.

The issue that Queen's Park had was that because their players were registered as amateurs, clubs could come in and sign them for free. They lost Robertson, Shankland, Connolly and Spittal for nothing as a result of this (although I think they may have received a small goodwill payment for some of them). They attempted to get around this by signing guys on nominal £1 a week contracts, but this fell foul of minimum wage issues.

[welshbairn]

23 minutes ago, Ludo*1 said:

They're maybe reveling in their 'crapness' because that's what has got them attention? They wouldn't have received the £5k from Loki Doki the Youtuber for example if he hadn't noticed them. And it was their record that made him notice. The club are improving financially by marketing the club this way.

Doesn't explain why they're promoting their North Cup ICT assisted win against Nairn County as an end to their record smashing League game failures, when they've won a couple or three cup games since their last League win. Should have played the worst team angle until they play Lossie imo.

[FairWeatherFan]

8 minutes ago, welshbairn said:

Doesn't explain why they're promoting their North Cup ICT assisted win against Nairn County as an end to their record smashing League game failures, when they've won a couple or three cup games since their last League win. Should have played the worst team angle until they play Lossie imo.

Maybe with the board turnover they didn't know until it was pointed out to them

 

[Aqy]

I'll need to wait until the highlights come out, but a 2-0 loss to Strathspey doesn't exactly inspire a load of confidence.

[Sherrif John Bunnell]

I was at the game yesterday. Fort blootered a penalty over the bar very early on, but Strathspey were fairly comfortable winners in the end. Decent goalkeeping and poor finishing stopped it from being more than 2.

Fort William had plenty of the ball, but struggled to threaten the goal too much. They could really be doing with a half decent striker.

[Woody from Fort William]

4 hours ago, Sherrif John Bunnell said:

I was at the game yesterday. Fort blootered a penalty over the bar very early on, but Strathspey were fairly comfortable winners in the end. Decent goalkeeping and poor finishing stopped it from being more than 2.

Fort William had plenty of the ball, but struggled to threaten the goal too much. They could really be doing with a half decent striker.

Missed a lot of chances, and couldn’t get past a solid strathspey defence, seem to be cutting out some of the errors in defence.  Still looking to gel as a team but delighted to be competing in the HL at last.

[Hampden Diehard]

The issue that Queen's Park had was that because their players were registered as amateurs, clubs could come in and sign them for free. They lost Robertson, Shankland, Connolly and Spittal for nothing as a result of this (although I think they may have received a small goodwill payment for some of them). They attempted to get around this by signing guys on nominal £1 a week contracts, but this fell foul of minimum wage issues.

You're correct about players on amateur players being signed for free. A bit rich for Well to complain about US teams scooping up their youths for free recently as they did the same thing with QP.

Your last point isn't correct though. There was a spell between the SFL and SPFL move where there was only one contract which, I think, made no mention of status. That's been changed now. No one was paid anything at QP. There was a bit of shit-stirring by top shit Davie Provan about it. He got it wrong.