When the revolution comes?

As Fort William keeper Stewart Gray plucked the ball from out of the net for the sixth time before the break, he must have been praying for the bad weather, that had caused three of the games in the Highland League that weekend to be called off, to descend on Princess Royal Park and end the misery.  The Huntly keeper had been drafted in on loan by Fort William manager Calum McLean as cover for regular keeper Richard Munro, who broke his foot earlier in the week. “He has all the skills” said McLean “but I think he will need them this weekend when we travel to play Deveronvale.”

Having found the keeper, all McLean now had to do was cobble together a squad for the trip to high flying Deveronvale. With eleven players out, that was always going to be a hard task. Of his regular team, Stephen Hendry (ankle), Danny Mackintosh (knee), Stevie Pearson (foot), Jonathan Cooper, Chris Drain (groin) Martin Godwin (ankle), Michael Ellis (hamstring), Andy Martin, Johnathan Hewitt and Mark Gillespie (work) all missed the bus north.

Going into the game, McLean must have taken a look at the league table and seen a somewhat familiar story: played 8, lost 7, goals for 5, goals against 27, points 1. Those with long memories will know that the Fort went down 11-0 to the Banff side last season, and with effectively his entire first eleven out of action, the task ahead, which was never easy to begin with,  was made even harder. Nevertheless, McLean called in the favours and managed to get a squad together (Gray, Rodgers, Edwards, Flannigan, McLean, O’Conner, Kerr, MacGillivary, Gillespie, Ellis and Finnis) for the trip to Banff where Deveronvale where waiting for them.

A mere blustery, snow-showery ninety minutes later, after the final whistle put an end to on-loan keeper Gray’s misery,  ten more goals where added to the ‘goals against’  tally bringing this season’s total to 37.  In a match that had as many goals in one game as where scored in the remaining three fixtures in the Highland League fixtures on Saturday, The Fort went down to a rampant Deveronvale side. Goals by Graeme Watt, Mark Chisholm and a brace each from Mike McKenzie and Robbie Duncanson had hapless Fort William down 6-0 at half-time. The scoreline remained like this for  most of the second half, thanks mainly to Stewart Gray in the Fort William goal, but Mark Chisholm’s strike on 75 minutes started a 10 minute period where Deveronvale scored four more times (Chisholm, Cowie, McGowan and Barclay) to complete the rout.

Unlike First division Livingston (about whom news of debts to - amongst others - the Inland Revenue, Scottish Power and, some might say somewhat extravagantly, a mobile disco emerged last week) or Second division Stranraer, or even Third division Berwick, Fort Williams problems are not of a financial nature. While Manchester City’ s status as the UK’s richest club is not under threat from the Claggan Park outfit, the Fort seem to struggle on. We’ve also not seen any calls for assistance from local businesses for financial expertise, unlike fellow Highland League side Huntly who are looking to augment their board room with members who can help the club to greater financial independence.

No, it’s safe to say that most of Fort Williams problems are purely those on the park.

The season is looking eerily like turning into a  repeat of last season, a season in which the club finished bottom of the league by quite some margin. There have been no heavy defeats like the 11-0 (Deveronvale), 13-0 (Inverurie), the 7-0’s and 8-0’s (several) from last season, and, the Scottish Cup exit to Junior side Banks O’Dee (the win prompted the Aberdeenshire club to consider seeking admission to the Highland League) and the embarrassing loss - even by Fort William standards - to a Shetland Select aside, the results have been reasonably respectable.  They’re certainly not in any danger of winning a game, the scores are being kept  lower:

4-1  Lossiemouth
5-0  Shetland XI  (North Region Challenge Cup)
3-0  Rothes
5-0  Nairn County
3-1  Forres Mechanics
4-2  Huntly
4-0  Cove Rangers
1-1  Wick Academy
10-0 Banks O'Dee (Scottish Cup)
3-2  Fraserburgh
5-0  Fraserburgh
1-0  Rothes
10-0 Deveronvale

The revolution promised by Paul McDonald’s America’s Team FC has fallen somewhat silent of late. Clearly, if something is going to happen up at Claggan Park to turn around the results, it has to happen soon before the task becomes even harder than it already is.   Certainly the financial help that Americas Team should go a long way to securing the clubs future, a future that once looked uncertain with the team getting close to being thrown out of the league. Under the terms of the deal Fort William will receive a flat fee for the duration of the programme, meaning that the club will not have to depend on gate receipts or sponsorship for survival. The first team players are also promised contracts better than the ones under which they’re playing now and the attention and publicity that the programme will give to the club (in terms of supporters, but also the area (in terms of tourism),can only be a win-win situation.

The revolution at Fort William - when it comes - is not the first we have seen. Ebbsfleet United are a good example of clubs run by proxy, and earlier this season Berwick Rangers where taken over by a supporters trust.  But what guarantees are there that it will actually produce better results?  The answer of course is none. Or, more accurately - time will tell. Berwick are still languishing at the bottom of the Third although the takeover by a fan-led consortium has only happened recently, while Ebbsfleet United (winners of last seasons FA Trophy) where already a reasonably sucessful club under their previous incarnation as Gravesend & Northfleet. We only have to look at Manchester City to see that throwing money at clubs does not always a good team make, though there are of course exceptions - Chelsea, to name but one.

Whether Fort William will reinvent themselves as a powerhouse in the Highland League depends on two things that no amount of money cannot mitigate for: the first is the fickleness of the average subscriber to the programme. Over-saturated with soccer reality TV thanks to the football disaster that has been David Beckham and his LA Galaxy, what would want to make them invest in a team they’ve never heard of, in a league they’ve never heard of ). The second - and most important for the long term survival of football in the town - is the ability of Fort William FC to attract a youth following that want to play football instead of shinty, a sport for which the town is better known, its team being the winner of several Camanachd Cup’s - they are this years defending champions.

Inside Left will be following developments at Claggan Park once the Americas Team revolution comes, but somehow we don’t expect much will change in the short term. In the long term, what is important is that the club survives on its own once the cameras and the hype leave town and that, above all, the team is strong enough to avoid the sort of defeats incurred at the weekend.  It’s a strange world when on-loan keeper Stewart Gray was the game’s Man Of The Match for restricting Deveronvale to a mere 10 goals. However happy he may be with the award, let’s hope that in the years to come, it’s not a regular occurrence.