Scottish football's losers in 10 years

[tamthebam]

1 hour ago, Jimmy Shaker said:

Elgin's eventual entry into the Big Time just came too late and they've never caught up. A monster of a club from the mid-1950's into the 70's, they missed what was effectively their greatest window of opportunity to progress at that time. They were sniffing about the league at the time Ross County were elected and Inverness were shat into existence, but the lingering smell of disgrace from 1992/93 scuppered any real chance.

Following that, they just dicked about in the Highland League until such time as finances all but dictated they had to be involved in the election proceedings at the end of 1999 in order to give the club focus, which saw them shoved into the SFL the following season. Sentiment towards them across the wider Moray area - never that pleasant at the best of times - was burst completely by the occasional remark that people in Moray would unite behind the club, an idea that caused as much resentment as Elgin's continued post-war success. 

They've sorted their shit out in recent years, but spent too long in doing so, essentially missing their window of opportunity once again, having to sit and watch on as Inverness, Ross County, Peterhead, and others reached various heights, either through doping or dumb luck, the former of which Elgin are without and the latter they just can't seem to stumble across. Landing in a league with New Rangers for a season didn't even pay off, as they printed and sold forty thoosan tickets for the televised home game against them, causing it to be postponed. Rubes

Now the pyramid is a thing, the window of opportunity is wide open but not for Elgin; instead, they're the Albion/Berwick/Cowdenbeath/Shire-sized target for others coming up, much as Elgin thought those clubs would be (and TBH, should have been) for them nearly quarter of a century ago. 

Everything is indeed there for Elgin to succeed - they just haven't. I'm not really one for superstitions, but I am more inclined than ever to believe the club is cursed.

 

There was a rumour that Birmingham City had a Romany curse put on them 

Then manager Barry Fry resorted to pishing on all four corners of the pitch at midnight as he'd been told this would lift the curse 

Feel feel to do this. Bonus points if it's during a game and you hit Douglas Ross running the line 

[Connor1874]

Personally think Cove and Kelty will slip back down the table in years to come. They've rode the crest of a wave and shown great ambition to climb the leagues, but don't really see how they grow much more than their current standings. 

[DA Baracus]

1 hour ago, Connor1874 said:

Personally think Cove and Kelty will slip back down the table in years to come. They've rode the crest of a wave and shown great ambition to climb the leagues, but don't really see how they grow much more than their current standings. 

'Ambition'. f**k so far off with that. Pretty much every single club is 'ambitious'. Cowdenbeath had 'ambition' to get to League 1, but instead went down. Elgin City have 'ambition' to get to League 1. In fact, every single League 2 club has 'ambition' to get to League 1. 

I suppose technically Cove and Kelty are 'ambitious', but they have had cash to chuck around. That doesn't make them more 'ambitious' than any other club.

Cash does not equal ambition. Ask Gretna and old, dead Rangers (who died).

Edited August 6, 2022 by DA Baracus

[BFTD]

Ambition always seems to be the buzzword thrown about by pundits whenever a club throws about money that they don't have.

David Murray loved to accuse other clubs of being unambitious for not racking up huge debts based on potential Champions League income.

In Scotland, ambition maybe doesn't equal cash, but it certainly seems to be equivalent to an untenable line of credit.

[DA Baracus]

My own club were 'ambitious' for a period from about 1999. Saw us finish 4th in the SPL, play in Europe twice and be in three cup finals. We got relegated in 2007 but our ambition saw us come back in 2011.

 

Of course all of this 'ambition' was built on huge, unsustainable debt where the club paid out far, far more in wages than it could afford, as well as large transfer fees. This 'ambition' saw the club go in to administration and come within a single judge's decision of dying. We haven't been in the top league since. Thankfully the club has been financially prudent since though, recording a profit in most years, although the accounts from last season will surely be very grim reading.

[BFTD]

1 minute ago, DA Baracus said:

My own club were 'ambitious' for a period from about 1999. Saw us finish 4th in the SPL, play in Europe twice and be in three cup finals. We got relegated in 2007 but our ambition saw us come back in 2011.

 

Of course all of this 'ambition' was built on huge, unsustainable debt where the club paid out far, far more in wages than it could afford, as well as large transfer fees. This 'ambition' saw the club go in to administration and come within a single judge's decision of dying. We haven't been in the top league since. Thankfully the club has been financially prudent since though, recording a profit in most years, although the accounts from last season will surely be very grim reading.

Disgusting lack of ambition. Little more than a social club IMO. Celtgers could be a European powerhouse if they could only keep the massive^{[citation needed]} sums they bring in for the diddies of Scottish football every season.

Et cetera, et cetera.

[Moomintroll]

9 hours ago, tamthebam said:

There was a rumour that Birmingham City had a Romany curse put on them 

Then manager Barry Fry resorted to pishing on all four corners of the pitch at midnight as he'd been told this would lift the curse 

Feel feel to do this. Bonus points if it's during a game and you hit Douglas Ross running the line 

So just to clarify, we need to pish in the corners & then, afterwards,hit DRoss?

[DA Baracus]

7 minutes ago, BFTD said:

Disgusting lack of ambition. Little more than a social club IMO. Celtgers could be a European powerhouse if they could only keep the massive^{[citation needed]} sums they bring in for the diddies of Scottish football every season.

Et cetera, et cetera.

It was lack of ambition that led to our administration. If only the club had been even more ambitious, we'd still be in the top league.

Yes, the better Sevco and Celtic do in Europe, the more it benefits the game in Scotland overall. Demonstrable benefits include <insert here> and <insert here>, as as well as <insert here>, and who could forget <inser here>?!

[ATLIS]

We had ambition and ended up in financial peril. It's only now through desire and passion that we've managed to become a Premiership club  

[Monkey Tennis]

On 06/08/2022 at 20:33, DA Baracus said:

'Ambition'. f**k so far off with that. Pretty much every single club is 'ambitious'. Cowdenbeath had 'ambition' to get to League 1, but instead went down. Elgin City have 'ambition' to get to League 1. In fact, every single League 2 club has 'ambition' to get to League 1. 

I suppose technically Cove and Kelty are 'ambitious', but they have had cash to chuck around. That doesn't make them more 'ambitious' than any other club.

Cash does not equal ambition. Ask Gretna and old, dead Rangers (who died).

Spot on.

'Ambition' in the sense that it's always used in this context, must be the most discredited notion in Scottish football, yet still we see it trotted out.

[Kyle Reese]

On 06/08/2022 at 10:46, johnnydun said:

Down with an email..

We sent you down with an email..

Down with an eeeemail.

I like you Hibs, but…

[johnnydun]

40 minutes ago, Kyle Reese said:

I like you Hibs, but…

....your neighbours are complete fannies.

[Kyle Reese]

7 hours ago, johnnydun said:

....your neighbours are complete fannies.

I like you Hibs, but…

[Northboy]

On 06/08/2022 at 19:19, Connor1874 said:

Personally think Cove and Kelty will slip back down the table in years to come. They've rode the crest of a wave and shown great ambition to climb the leagues, but don't really see how they grow much more than their current standings. 

Ross County and ICT have both come from non league established themselves at Premiership/Championship level as well as winning major cup competitions. Cove and Kelty will surely look at their achievement and feel there is still the potential for them to progress further.

[BFTD]

1 hour ago, Northboy said:

Ross County and ICT have both come from non league established themselves at Premiership/Championship level as well as winning major cup competitions. Cove and Kelty will surely look at their achievement and feel there is still the potential for them to progress further.

In the long term, I'd suggest Cove & Kelty will need to grow their supporter base to progress further than occasional visits to the Championship.

Ross County seem to have managed it, so it's possible. But we certainly haven't.

[Jimmain]

3 minutes ago, BFTD said:

In the long term, I'd suggest Cove & Kelty will need to grow their supporter base to progress further than occasional visits to the Championship.

Ross County seem to have managed it, so it's possible. But we certainly haven't.

tbf I always remember County having a big fanbase even in the HL...this was only helped by the forcing together of the two 'biggest' Inverness clubs to make ICT. There's still more than a few that point blank refuse to go to watch ICT and prefer to travel across the bridge for their fitba.

I can't really see how Cove or Kelty will build their fanbase beyond what is already there, but I may be wrong?

[TheScarf]

19 minutes ago, Jimmain said:

tbf I always remember County having a big fanbase even in the HL...this was only helped by the forcing together of the two 'biggest' Inverness clubs to make ICT. There's still more than a few that point blank refuse to go to watch ICT and prefer to travel across the bridge for their fitba.

I can't really see how Cove or Kelty will build their fanbase beyond what is already there, but I may be wrong?

That's the thing for me.  At the Cove v The Caley LC game last year all the home fans had Aberdeen hats/fleeces on.

[BFTD]

30 minutes ago, Jimmain said:

tbf I always remember County having a big fanbase even in the HL...this was only helped by the forcing together of the two 'biggest' Inverness clubs to make ICT. There's still more than a few that point blank refuse to go to watch ICT and prefer to travel across the bridge for their fitba.

I can't really see how Cove or Kelty will build their fanbase beyond what is already there, but I may be wrong?

Aye, I was just reading something about ICT and County entering the league, and how Inverness were expected to be in the position to do better overall, which is the opinion I remember from the time. County certainly got off to a slower start, but seem to have built gradually to being in the stronger position of the two now.

If I know P&B, somebody's got the Highland League attendance figures prior to the mid-Nineties to hand  

[TheScarf]

36 minutes ago, BFTD said:

Aye, I was just reading something about ICT and County entering the league, and how Inverness were expected to be in the position to do better overall, which is the opinion I remember from the time. County certainly got off to a slower start, but seem to have built gradually to being in the stronger position of the two now.

If I know P&B, somebody's got the Highland League attendance figures prior to the mid-Nineties to hand  

Yeah but County are clearly in a false position because of MacGregor.  When he's not around they'll drop below us.

[Dons_1988]

1 hour ago, TheScarf said:

That's the thing for me.  At the Cove v The Caley LC game last year all the home fans had Aberdeen hats/fleeces on.

Box office