Ex-Dons star on the run from cops

Click here to read a story I wrote about former Aberdeen FC midfielder Roberto Bisconti who is on the run from cops after being sentenced to 18 months in jail for fraud. It was published in The Sun.

SFL Division One 2011/12 fan preview: Raith Rovers

Click here or read below for my preview of the 2011/12 season for Raith Rovers. It was published on the STV website.

Raith Rovers

Describe last season in one word? 

Overachievement. A season long battle for promotion to the SPL was the last thing any Rovers fan expected before the start of last season. It was a truly remarkable campaign and one that will live long in the memory.

Who do you think will win your division? 

There is only one First Division side who have significantly strengthened over the summer and that is Ross County. Despite flirting with the relegation playoff spot last season, the Highlanders had a talented squad but suffered from a chronic lack of confidence. Over the last few months they have added the required experience and skill to form what is now an extremely competitive twenty-four man squad.

Who do you think will be relegated? 

The First Division will only contain one part-time team this season and that is Ayr United. The playoff winners may have signed Gareth Wardlaw after his release from SPL side St. Mirren, but on paper their squad is not good enough to stay up.

How do you rate your own manager?

John McGlynn has turned Raith Rovers around, the Kirkcaldy club was once a disorganised shambles. McGlynn has demanded that the players and staff be treated with the highest respect by doing simple tasks such as cleaning and repainting the decrepit dressing rooms. On the pitch, McGlynn has used the contacts he gained at Hearts when he was first team coach to bring in high quality signings, whether that be on free transfers or on loan. He has guided Rovers back to their natural position from the depths of despair and although he does appear a bit tactically naïve he has done a phenomenal job.

How do you rate the business he’s done this summer?

McGlynn's budget has been severed this summer so he was always going to struggle bringing in quality replacements for the fifteen that left at the end of last season. Joe Hamill arrives from Livingston and Brian Graham rejected a contract from Morton to come to Raith. They are decent, if not unspectacular signings and should do a job for Rovers. Signing on loan is Stephen Reynolds, a St. Johnstone youth striker who will offer competition up front for Graham and John Baird. Considering McGlynn's previous loan signings of David Goodwillie and Johnny Russell, there are high hopes that Reynolds will become a star too.

Who do you think will be the surprise package from your team this season?

After years of disputes with the fans over his captaincy, rash tackling and poor distribution this could be the year that Iain Davidson really steps up and drives the team forward. After the devastation of severe budget cuts and waving goodbye to teammates, local lad Davidson might just be the link in the chain to keep this group of players battling on.

Who is the cult hero at your club? 

With his tendency to trip over his own feet, clip the ball over the bar from just two yards out and occasionally score a wonder goal, Gregory Tade was the cult hero last season. However, with Tade's departure to Inverness the new cult hero should be David McGurn. The Rovers goalkeeper is labelled by many as 'The Witch' for his physics defying saves.

Who has been the best signing of the transfer window in your division? 

There has not been many stellar signings this summer due to the desperate lack of money at First Division clubs, but the signing of Colin McMenamin at Ross County should be one of the best. He may not be a twenty-goals-a-season striker, but his intelligent play will create just as many goals and he scores.

Which opposition player do your fans love to hate? 

Dundee goalkeeper Rab Douglas is always on the receiving end of incessant abuse, probably just because he is still a top, top goalkeeper despite his age and fitness issues. This season however, Stephen Simmons is likely to be the fans biggest target. He was a victim of Rovers budget cuts in the summer and has since signed for Queen of the South. Simmons was often criticised by the Starks Park faithful for being lazy and disinterested.

Which opposition player would you love to have in your team? 

Although the Raith defence is fairly sturdy at the moment, Rhys Weston would be a magnificent capture for any First Division and most SPL clubs. The former Welsh international reads the game better than anyone else at this level and not only can he win the ball in the air, but he is also good at sweeping up on the ground.

Finally, where do you think you will finish this season? 

It is very hard to put a specific position on where Rovers will end up this season because it is expected to be one of the most, if not the most, competitive First Division ever. However, I would hope for Raith to finish above Ayr, Livingston and Morton, so if the team can stay injury free, seventh place should not be beyond Rovers. 

written by Will Lyon 

The Terrace Scottish Football Podcast: Team of the Year

Click here to listen to the latest episode of The Terrace.

 We talk about Rangers and how they are the Champions of Scotland for the 54th time, as Walter Smith bows out of the Ibrox hotseat a winner. We'll have the story of Helicopter Sunday, and chat about where the title was one and lost, what's next and chat about the extraordinary and laudable atmosphere's at both Rugby Park and Celtic Park.

The SFL playoff's promise excitement, and the semi-finals did not disappoint. Cowdenbeath and Alloa both went out at the semi stage, meaning both are relegated [to SFL2 and SFL3 resepectively]. We'll hand out praise where it's due and look ahead to Ayr vs Brechin [for a place in SFL1] and Albion vs Annan Athletic [for a place in SFL2].

And, as a special end of [SPL] season treat, we will be piecing together our SPL Team of the Year 10/11, with our usual proviso; that every team should be represented [11 players, 1 coach]. Feel free to get in touch if you agree/disagree with out selection.

Remember, also - we'll be back on Friday with a pre-Cup final special, so be sure to download that on Friday as your perfect prelude to the Hampden showpiece.

Email: theterrace@scotzine.com ¦ Twitter: @terracepodcast

Season Review 2010/11: Hamilton Academical

Click here or read below for my season review of Hamilton Academical. It was published on The Terrace Scottish Football Podcast.

Hamilton Academical - A Season To Forget

New Douglas Park - The home of Hamilton Accies

New Douglas Park, Saturday 25th September 2010 – the day that set the tone for Hamilton's season. Accies found themselves 2-0 up at half time over Mixu Paatelainen's Kilmarnock. The home side had absolutely dominated and were unlucky not to be further ahead at the break. However, the standing ovation at half time would be replaced by stunned silence just sixty minutes later. Midfielder Simon Mensing gave away a completely unnecessary penalty when he brought down Danny Invincible with just seven minutes remaining. Tomas Cerny saved the penalty, but referee Crawford Allan ordered it to be re-taken after players had encroached into the box before Jamie Hamill had taken his shot. Second time around, Hamill slotted home and Killie proceeded to throw everything at the Accies goal. Their pressure paid off on the 89th minute when Connor Sammon redirected a shot into the goal from close range to clinch a 2-2 draw. Many Accies fans believe it was this game that set in stone the belief in the players that they could not defend a lead. It became a self-fulfilling prophecy and led to the club's ultimate demise. 

Obviously, there were other moments where Hamilton shot themselves in the foot. The Accies conceded a staggering fifteen penalties in all competitions and there is only so much a goalkeeper can do to keep them out, although Cerny did manage to save four. The seven red cards accumulated during the campaign will not have helped either, especially considering the number of injuries Accies suffered over the season. James Gibson suffered the third serious knee injury of his career in his comeback reserve match at the start of May, club captain Alex Neil was out injured for the majority of the season and so it appeared that manager Billy Reid rarely had his strongest first eleven out on the pitch at any point.

Although there were numerous setbacks throughout the 2010/11 campaign, Accies made things tough right from the start. After just two SPL games they had accumulated no points, failed to score any goals and conceded eight goals in the process. After just 180 minutes of football most bookies already had Accies down as relegation certainties.

A midweek loss to Raith Rovers in the League Cup heaped more pressure on Reid, but a Dougie Imrie screamer was enough to dispatch of Inverness Caley Thistle in the next league fixture and Accies began to find their feet. Imrie's magical left foot set up the South Lanarkshire side on an eight game scoring streak, but an underlying problem at the same time was Accies incapability to stop conceding goals. 

However, Hamilton did manage a few clean sheets, most notably in late October where they claimed a 1-0 win at Fir Park. After the match Reid came out and claimed that “if we just play our usual passing game, we'll pick up points”, but it was after this match that Hamilton failed to win in their next twenty-two league games - a damning statistic that simply is not good enough for any club expecting to stay in the SPL.

The elusive win to buck the trend came at Easter Road in mid April, but the problem for Accies was that they only had five remaining fixtures to turn over their nine point deficit at the bottom of the league. They managed to pick up a respectable seven in the remaining ties and even secured what would be their only home league win, beating Hibs 1-0. Despite the valiant effort by the stricken Accies, it was too little and too late to manage the great escape from relegation.

Reid would often come out after matches lamenting his side's lack of “rub of the green”, but it would be false to attribute this as the prime reason for Accies demise. When a team are on the back foot for long spells of football matches they will undoubtedly concede more fouls, freekicks, penalties and red cards, even if some of the decisions are indeed incorrect. 

Reid was always quick to praise the efforts of his players and Hamilton were well known for their attractive style of play, but ultimately, when your top goalscorer (Mickael Antoine-Curier) only manages to score five goals (two were penalties) you do not need to be a nuclear scientist to work out that Accies struggled to put the ball in the back of the net. 

Despite Reid professing after one match that “you can't tell me St Mirren are a better team than Hamilton Accies - I can't have that”, I am sure, with time, he will admit that Accies just were not good enough to stay in the SPL. Losing James McArthur in July 2010 was probably the final nail in the coffin for the club. Reid tried his best to bring in suitable short term replacements but his efforts were in the end, futile. 

The season of 2010/11 will be one Hamilton will hope to forget as soon as possible and what better way to do so, by winning promotion from Division One at the first time of asking. Reid has already made a few decent signings which includes the addition of Queen of the South talisman, Willie McLaren. To be fair, this upcoming season would have to be a capitulation of epic proportions if results are not an improvement compared to the monstrosity of the campaign just past.

written by Will Lyon

Dunfermline Athletic - Back In The SPL

Please read below for my article on Dunfermline Athletic who recently won promotion back to the Scottish Premier League. It was published in the latest Football Focus magazine which can be viewed here for absolutely free! Included in the current issue are Leyton Orient, Crawley Town and many more football clubs.

Back In The SPL 

East End Park, the home of Dunfermline Athletic

In May 2007, Dunfermline Athletic found themselves relegated from the Scottish Premier League, but finally, four years on, they were on the brink of returning to the promised land.

With relegation to the First Division comes severe budget cuts and because of this, the Pars stuttered to a fifth place finish in their first season back in the second tier. Dunfermline sacked Irish manager Stephen Kenny and decided to invest their faith in their experienced striker Jim McIntyre who would initially take a player-manager role. Progress was initially quite slow, but over the years McIntyre removed the ageing core of the squad, bringing exciting players to the club, such as Willie Gibson, Joe Cardle and Steven Bell. The Pars began to form an exciting brand of football, with much of their creativity emerging from new signings, Cardle and Gibson.

Dunfermline trailed First Division champions Inverness Caledonian Thistle by fifteen points last season which placed McIntyre under immense pressure from the fans to deliver the goods for this year's campaign. Thankfully, they made a solid start to the term, but were unable to grind out the narrow victories that nearby rivals, Raith Rovers performed. Indeed after a 2-1 defeat to Raith in the New Year derby, some Pars fans were resigned to another season in the First Division.

However, influential winger, Willie Gibson, was snapped up for a six figure fee by Crawley Town and McIntyre was allowed to reinvest the money in the squad. Seasoned pros Kevin Rutkiewicz and Martin Hardie were brought in to add a bit of steel and experience to the squad, while Liam Buchanan, released from his Partick Thistle contract, added some much needed pace to the Pars attack.

McIntyre stressed the importance of being able to grind out victories and if necessary, ditching their attractive style of play. It was a vital decision by McIntyre, setting Dunfermline up for a nine game unbeaten streak before facing Raith again for a top of the table clash. After their impressive run of form, Dunfermline found themselves one point clear before the match and therefore would extend that gap to four points with just two games to play, if they managed to beat their Fife rivals.

On match day, Dunfermline dominated the first period, but after a goalkeeping error, found themselves a goal down at the break. However, the experienced Hardie drove his side on and scored two second half goals to place Dunfermline in the driving seat for promotion.

Director Of Football, Jim Leishman, was delighted with the victory and now sets his sights on preparing for a return to the SPL. “The league is in our hands and we have played very well throughout the season. Next seasons plans will very much depend on if we get promoted, but if we do, we will do everything we can to stay in the division.” However, if the SPL get their way and reduce the number of teams in the division to ten, there is likely to be three relegation places instead of the usual one, making survival extremely tough for the Pars.

written by Will Lyon

Date night in Kilmarnock

Click here to listen to this week's Terrace Podcast.

On this week's show we look back on the Old Firm derby at the weekend - from team selections, to star players and managerial ear-cupping. As well as the rumble in Glasgow, there were another three other matches and plenty of goals to look back on.

In the lower league round-up, we look back on the Fife derby - gun-toting mascot and all - as well as the battles at the top and bottom of SFL2 and we congratulate Arbroath on their first ever title!

There's also predictions for this week's top-flight football and plenty more. Wrap your ears around it and enjoy.

Email: theterrace@scotzine.com / Twitter: @terracepodcast

Terrace Travels #9: Dunfermline Athletic 2 - 1 Raith Rovers

Click here or read below for my experience of one of the biggest Fife derbies in living memory between Dunfermline Athletic and Raith Rovers. It was published on The Terrace Scottish Football website.

Saturday 23rd April 2011 

 

Dunfermline Athletic 2 v 1 Raith Rovers

Raith started Saturday just one point behind their table-topping rivals Dunfermline Athletic with two games still remaining, making this Fife derby a crunch match of epic proportions. East End Park was packed to the rafters and The Terrace’s very own Will Lyon was there to see it.

The Norrie McCathie Stand

Nerves had been experienced by Raith fans in the build up to their Scottish Cup semi final against Dundee United last season, but this was different. Tickets sold faster than Usain Bolt on speed and it soon emerged that East End Park would be sold out for the first time in well over a decade. During the week leading up to the match, endless hours were spent scouring youtube for previous derby-day delights and my university revision brainstorms turned into doodles of Gregory Tade lashing home thirty-yard screamers.

Following a week of procrastination, derby day finally dawned. After the last fixture at East End Park was delayed by twenty minutes due to crowd congestion, Rovers fans this time made their way into the East Stand with plenty of time to spare. My dad and I found ourselves standing by our seats a full hour before kickoff and much to our amazement, so were another thousand Raith fans, already in full song.

Across to our right in the North East stand were some youngsters dressed in full tracksuits, some complemented by black and white scarves, who were only too happy to remind us that “we f*cking hate you, you're just a wee team.” The large choir of Raith fans hit back, informing the young team that we do not particularly like their team either.

The 'Cage' at East End Park

The atmosphere continued to simmer quite nicely for the next fifteen minutes. The teams emerged for their warm up and the songs continued to flow, with the visiting fans exchanging applause with their players who ventured near the stand from time to time. Meanwhile the young team in the North East stand decided to do the 'Poznan', turning their backs to the pitch and jumping in unison whilst singing “Ole, ole, ole, ole, the Pars, the Pars”. Raith fans once again retaliated, changing the lyrics rather intelligently to “Ole, ole, ole, ole, f*ck the Pars, f*ck the Pars”. Yes, we football fans are among the best thinkers of the world.

The players strode off the pitch with about ten minutes to kickoff and on came the rather strangely dressed 'Sammy the Tammy' – the Pars mascot. Sammy appeared to be wearing some sort of cardboard box, sporting – as one fan gleefully turned around and claimed - “a cardboard cock!” Sammy sat down at the halfway line, aiming his “cardboard cock” at the away end. It was only when he started swaying from side-to-side accompanied by the sound of machine gun fire over the tannoy, we realised that Sammy the Tammy had become 'Sammy, Tank Commander' and was pretending to shoot the Raith fans. One wonders what sort of uproar this would have instigated had the same activity unfolded at an Old Firm derby...

Raith fans in the away end

Scotland's “number one mascot” soon departed the pitch as the teams entered the arena from the dressing rooms, taking up their positions. Rain had pounded down onto the pitch before the match and it was no surprise that along with nerves, there were numerous miscontrolled passes and awful touches in the opening stages.

However, Dunfermline began to master the conditions far better than the visitors and should have taken the lead early on when player-of-the-year candidate Andy Kirk smashed a shot off the bar. Despite the Pars complete control of the game, they went in at the break a goal down. Goalkeeper Chris Smith failed to grasp a fairly innocuous looking shot and John Baird (another player-of-the-year candidate) pounced on the mistake and smashed the ball into the net.

The second half was actually a more tightly-contested affair, but Dunfermline equalised ten minutes after the restart with 'Big, Bad, Mental,' Martin Hardie heading in from close range following a corner.

The Pars scored the winning goal twelve minutes from time. Hibs loanee Kevin McBride needlessly conceded a freekick on the edge of the Raith box and Hardie took advantage, stepping up and curling the ball into the top corner of the Rovers goal.

The Main Stand at East End Park

Some of the away fans began to filter out of the stadium as the final minutes ticked by, simply unable to bear watching the Pars effectively clinching the title.

At the full time whistle there appeared to be some sort of altercation between Dunfermline's David Graham and Raith's Allan Walker, but they were separated before either player could land a blow.

The Pars fans sang their hearts out as their heroes proudly strutted off the park and before the remaining Raith fans fled the ground, they gave a standing ovation to their players, recognising just how far the club have come since sitting second bottom of the Second Division just over four years ago.

Looking back, the build up to the match was utterly fantastic and with the nerves and emotion during the game, it was possibly the quickest ninety minutes of my life. It is now ninety minutes that I hope to forget.

written by Will Lyon

The Terrace Scottish Football Podcast - "Accents"

Click here to listen to this week's Terrace Podcast.

We talk about the SPL action at the weekend including the Edinburgh derby and give our two pennies worth on the ICT v Celtic postponement where a gruff sounding Craig takes on the nonsensical role of the hard-nosed, old timer.

It wasn't just football that was worth discussing in the SPL as the Rangers takeover and Neil Doncaster proposal also took centre stage on this week's topics.

In the lower leagues: Falkirk are all but out of it, Livi have all but secured it and things get interesting if you are a Airdrie United fan... or is that Alloa... or is that Arbroath?

There is a jam-packed predictions section that includes midweek and weekend SPL fixtures, as well as the Challenge Cup Final between Queen of the South and Ross County. Who will want it more?

There is also our usual favourites in Where Are They Now? and Punt of the Week.

As usual, enjoy the show!

Brazil, Mixu & Takeovers

Please click here to listen to the latest installment of The Terrace Scottish Football Podcast.

There was no SPL action at the week, but there is still plenty talk about, starting with all the international goodness of out potassium-filled trip to face Brazil. We'll discuss what we learned, what's next and what the atmosphere was like among the throngs of Scots down there.

In domestic matters we'll have a round-up of what has been happening in club football, including talking Mixu, and potential takeovers of St. Mirren and Rangers.

Last night was a massive night in the SFL, particularly in the ever-changing race for the SPL taking place in SFL1, while Livingston and Arbroath look shoe-ins for SFL2 and SFL3 respectively. We also want to hear from Alloa and Clyde fans; what has happened with your clubs in the past couple of weeks?!

There's action to preview, including the vital Scottish Cup quarter-final tonight (which is only £10 / £5 to get into - get on that!) between Motherwell and Dundee United as well as a full card of SPL fixtures - including the Edinburgh derby.

There's also our usual goodies of Punt of the Week and Where are they Now?

Email: thetterrace@scotzine.com / Twitter: terracepodcast

The Terrace Scottish Football Podcast - "Givin' Out Daps"

Check out the latest Terrace Scottish Football Podcast here where Alan Temple, Craig Fowler and myself talk Scottish Cup, SPL, SFL, Scottish League Cup and Europa League. Enjoy the show!

The Terrace - 28th February 2011

Click here to listen to this week's Terrace Podcast featuring Alan Temple, Craig Fowler and myself.

After a hiatus of a week, we are back with a show packed full of Scottish football incident - starting off with Celtic’s shock capitulation at Fir Park, which handed title race momentum back to the men in blue.

A team in blue continue to set the pace in the SFL, with Raith leading division one - but they are being fervently chased by Dunfermline and Falkirk. There’s also focus on Livingston, Peterhead and an unpredictable division three.

There’s a preview of this coming week’s Scottish Cup replay between Celtic and Rangers as we ask whether differing results for the Old Firm this weekend will have any bearing on the result of the cup tie.

And, as always, there’s a full round-up of all 8 SPL matches which will be taking place in the next 7 days up and down the country.

All that, and Where are they Now? and Punt of the Week too.

Email: theterrace@scotzine.com / Twitter: @terracepodcast

Enjoy the Show.

Play-off Madness

Click here or read below for my article on the radical SPL play-offs proposed by Dundee United chairman, Stephen Thompson. It was published on www.theawayend.net.

Play-off Madness

Dundee United chairman, Stephen Thompson, has controversially proposed his own Scottish Premier League plans which would determine the winner through a play-off system at the end of each season.

All twelve current SPL clubs were due to meet on Monday to discuss the possibility of a ten team league,only for the snowy weather to scupper the plans. The discussion was to be based around the system proposed by SPL Chief Executive Neil Doncaster, a system which would see the bottom side in the Scottish top tier automatically relegated, with the winner of a 'SPL2' moving up a division automatically. As the regular season finishes, a play-off scenario containing the ninth placed team in the SPL and second, third and fourth in the SPL2 would then take place.

However, Thompson believes the SPL proposals are not radical enough and says that the top four teams to finish in the SPL should battle for the title in a play-off.

Thompson has stated that "just going back to a top 10 will not change anything. If we are to have just 10 in the top league, we have to look at really radical proposals.

“Fans of teams outwith the Old Firm have become fed up of those two sharing the title between them.

"It is incredible and extremely regrettable that the last non-Old Firm title win was 25 years ago.

"I think we need to go further and make things more interesting at the top of the table as well as having promotion/relegation play-offs."

Fair?

Is Thompson's idea fair though? Is there really any justification for a team to finish top of a league after 36 gruelling fixtures, only for the SPL to turn around and say “sorry guys, but now you have a match against the fourth placed side who finished 'x' points behind you, to see who are the champions”. If that fourth placed side knocked out the table toppers and went on to win the play-offs, would they really be worthy winners? Despite (for arguments sake) finishing twenty points behind the first placed side, why should they be rewarded with the trophy because they managed to collect a decent amount of points during the regular season and then winning four games on the bounce, right at the end?

Surely, the worthy and correct champions of a long league system are the side who collect the highest number of points? Scotland's top flight already has two competitions which have a knock-out system. The Scottish Cup (a competition that Thompson's side won last season) and the Scottish League Cup are already in place and give teams outside the Old Firm a better chance of winning competitions because teams do not have to be consistent over a long period of time to win it.

Crowds

Thompson asks us to consider “a top-four play-off with home and away games and a play-off final at Hampden.

"There would be full houses for all the games and it would create huge interest from the TV companies and the fans and would generate a lot of money, perhaps as much as £2m extra income for the teams in the SPL.”

That is all fine and well, the play-off matches would indeed be absolutely exhilarating. However, what about the money and crowds that Celtic and Rangers will lose during the regular season? The last time an Old Firm side finished outside the top four in Scotland was in the 1989/1990 season, when Celtic finished fifth. In every other season since, both of the Old Firm have finished in the top four. So what exactly is appealing to Celtic and Rangers fans about this play-off ending season? All Old Firm fans will realise that their clubs have an extremely rare chance of not making the play-offs. So why do they need to bother going to any league games until the play-offs? There is no incentive at all. Most Old Firm fans would find something else to do on a Saturday because there would be no reason to turn up to watch their team play a meaningless match.

Thompson may not care if Old Firm home crowds drop sharply, but what he would certainly miss, as a chairman, is the thousands of Old Firm fans that pay to come through to Dundee to watch games containing his football club.

Conclusion

Not only is Thompson's proposal grossly unfair, but it is also selfish and clearly only in the interests of his and similar sized clubs. We may well see Hearts or Dundee United win the top tier of Scottish football once more with this new system, but if they finish ten or twenty points behind the actual winner after 36 games, do they really deserve to be holding the trophy?

Kilmarnock 1 v 0 Celtic [Match Report]

Click Here for the link to my match report of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League fixture between Kilmarnock and Celtic which took place this evening. The match report was published on The Away End's website.