Bleeding knuckles, shredded fingertips or nails bitten to the quick – some First Division chairmen will be spending the close season at the manicurist. Inside Left considers the fortunes of our First Division clubs
Previous lucky escapes came courtesy of the demise of Gretna and last season’s demotion of Livingston following their slide into insolvency, but this time, Jim Duffy’s Brechin (plus a slice of incompetence from the match officials) have disposed of Airdrie at the first play off stage, meaning that it would take a catalogue of disasters to see them appear on the SFL First Division fixtures list for 2010/2011.
Ballantyne has described Airdrie’s relegation as “pretty devastating”, but it can hardly have been surprising given their early season form and an individual with his track record of death, murder and resurrection in footballing terms, with Airdrieonians, Clydebank and Airdrie United, must have been scheming since October. They will be OK in the Second and might even come back up quite soon.
Ballantyne’s devastation will no doubt be matched by relief elsewhere, as teams who lay claim to semi-permanent First Division status, began to see the gap at the bottom reduce and an unholy scramble to safety broke out amongst at least four teams during the last two months of the season.
For a club like Morton, this seems to be an annual event, but had they succumbed, it’s fairly certain that in due course they would come back, supported by Douglas Rae’s benevolence, a solid (if grumpy) home support and a low-cost approach to the creature comforts of having a decent pot for away fans to piss in.
Queens also seem somewhat immune, with a different Rae at the helm and a guarantee of existence for as long as Davie’s hair holds out against the onset of baldness. They’re even making plans to upgrade Palmerston, but given experiences elsewhere in the league, a rush to build new stands that lie empty may not be money well spent.
Turn your attention instead to Partick Thistle, for whom a slide into the Second Division could be the start of a very slippery slope. The Jags end-of-season form was very far from title winning, with only a nil-nil draw with Raith Rovers guaranteeing safety three games from the end. Thistle’s crowds slid inexorably down as the season’s end approached and that Monday night against Rovers, not many more than 1100 folk turned up, which is about 2000 short of break even, according to the Firhill board.
Whilst the Jags have a few very rich men involved at board level, there’s an apparent reluctance to dig as deep as the two Raes. One multi millionaire director is happy to invest in the property company which has bought half of the stadium, but apparently less happy to dribble cash down the parched throat of a club that is losing its way and losing its fans.
And although Dunfermline almost made second place, they showed an early season fragility with a run of defeats in September that surely scared the wits out of their belligerent chairman John Yorkston. The club are deeply in debt via an incestuous arrangement with a holding company and so called “soft” loans from directors, which run well into the millions. Unsubstantiated rumours of severe cash flow problems were circulating during the mid season cold snap. It’s all very well owing vast sums of money to yourself, but when there is a chance that the debt cannot be serviced, it’s time to look out some spare pants, just in case.
What hopes Raith Rovers hold of becoming a “safe” club in the mould of Queens or Thistle seem to rest on John McGlynn’s ability to turn journeyman players into competent performers. The trick needs to be repeated more consistently however, if Rovers are to avoid becoming a yo-yo club like Ayr or Stirling Albion. Rovers’ position as a community owned club is however, both a blessing and a curse and their lack of ready cash will make them more vulnerable than most next time round.
However, whilst the fingernails grow back, the knuckles scab over and fingerprints are once again visible in certain First Division boardrooms, no serious plans are being hatched to woo back the stay away fans, improve the quality of the matchday experience and provide a good excuse for slipping away from the pub before the end of the lunchtime Sky fixture. Instead, the fans forums are awash with rumours of further ticket price increases.
The slide seems inexorable and further casualties seem inevitable, but we’ve been saying that for ages now. Someone recently said that it was “time for change”, but realistically, it’s maybe time for the life support machine to be switched off in some cases. Then we might see real change, in the mould of Clydebank, as fans resurrect their team from the ashes of former glories and boardroom failure – owners, not supporters. No more Steedmans, Massones or Milesons, just Wullie, Davie and their mate Boab who now lives in New Zealand.
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