Blog in Abeyance...

...for now....

Terry Masson signs

So, we've signed our first new player of the close season. Terry Masson, a former Dundee United youth teamer, is a central midfielder who played half a season at Castle Greyskull, and made fitful appearances towards the end of last season for the Village People.

By all accounts, he is a slight, ball playing midfielder with a good eye for a pass. Both Red Schichties and Hedgetrimmers fans have been quite complimentary about him, and ST has had his eye on him for a while, so it seems like a good signing.

There are rumours of one or two more players being signed, one of who is an ex-Red Schichties centre half, the other a more physical midfielder with a range of Angus clubs to his name. We shall see...

Fixtures Out

So, our league season kicks off with an unaccustomedly early visit from the Spiders on the 7th August; we then have a brief detour to the grim plum plastic of Larbert to face a financially-weakened Shire, who astonishingly have just re-signed Sean Anderson; then, on the 21st, the Red Schichties roll into town for our first league derby in three seasons. With Annan Agricultural providing the last opposition of August, it's an unusually, and maybe deceptively, favourable start to the season for Montrose. Let's hop that, for a change, we can make a decent start this season. Montrose have been notoriously slow starters in the league down the years (indeed in several campaigns we seem to have failed to start until mid-October), and it's a habit we urgently need to break. Happily, the money-spinning New Year derby is also at Links Park.

Here are this season's fixtures

Season Ticket Offer

I've been asked to inform you all that the club are offering a 10% season ticket discount, if ordered before the start of July. Contact the office at Links Park to take up this offer. It's a saving of £15, so not to be sniffed at!

The Phoney War of the Close Season

Historians normally refer to the first eight months of the second world war as The Phoney War for, although conflict had broken out, nothing actually happened in Western Europe, other than the odd battleship being sunk, and a lone RAF biplane throwing handfuls of gravel at the nearest German port. So it is in this close season. Even we've grown bored of repeating the fact that Paul Tosh has re-signed as a player/coach, and we've signed two new goalkeepers.

Patience is required, however. There is likely to be a lot of news as the season approaches, and news of real substance, rather than the pitiful noises-off in the Review to the effect that the club is at death's door financially. It really isn't hard to get stuff printed in the Review, however getting stuff in there that is actually backed up with some evidence may be a little harder- the getting the evidence bit, that is.

Although, like all lower league clubs, there isn't the money around that there was five or six years ago, nonetheless, a new look Montrose team will take to the park in August determined to put last season's truly calamitous campaign behind us, with a behind the scenes unity that has been missing from Links Park for at least four years. No one is claiming next season will be easy, but, whatever the results, it's going to be a heck of a lot more enjoyable knowing that the performance of the team and the results on the park are the only things that matter, and not Machiavellian intrigues, closed-doors puffing out of pigeon chests, and pathetic draining he said-she-said rumour-mongering piffle.

Perhaps the most important signing for next season has been made in the last few days. Former Loons boss, Anvil Abusers backroom boy, and sidekick to Jocky "Wha's in Cherge Here?" Scott at Dumpdee, Ray Farningham, will be Steven Tweed's new assistant for 2010-11. Farningham had several possibilities to work elsewhere but chose to resume his good working relationship with Steven. He brings a huge contact list and vast experience of the lower leagues with him, and this new appointment will certainly help improve the performances and fitness of the squad next season. Some have rather unkindly suggested that Steven has appointed his successor. In fact, the arrival of such an experienced and respected coach at the club, is just a wee reminder of the level and range of contacts that the manager brings to the table. Would a coach like that have shown up at Links Park without the personal contact with ST? Somehow I doubt it.

Astonishingly, the first pre-season friendly is scheduled for the day before the World Cup final, when a yawning, tubby and reluctant Raith Rovers will roll off their sun loungers and back into their absurdly coloured Nike predators, to face us. It seems that pre-season will be used to look at many new faces on trial, with the best of them to be signed at some point before the shooting begins in earnest up at Balmoor in late July. I'd say we need another striker, a pair of reliable and consistent central midfielders, and maybe one more defensive utility player type.

Jim Moffat leaves Montrose FC

In this morning's Courier Jim Moffat's departure from the club, as assistant manager, is revealed. Tweed has decided to move things in a different direction for next season, and with Moffat facing increased work commitments the time had come for a change.

In his comments, Tweed states that he has no new candidate in mind to replace the assistant manager, but presumably he'll be working to fill the position as quickly as possible.

On the transfer front, it's as quiet as the grave at the moment. The arrival of Scott Bennett and Sandy Wood to play in goal has been confirmed, but with many players on holiday that's as far as it goes at the moment. This summer, with money so tight in the lower leagues, I think it may well be that players are signed up much nearer to the start of the season, than has been the case in past summers. It's a waiting game at the moment; as soon as there is any news, I'll stick it up on here.

Third Division 2010-11 takes shape

So, the annual high-octane farce of the play offs is now behind us and, for once, the entirely unnecessary cup competition at the end of a league season produced the right result, in that the team who finished as runners up in Division 3 actually went up.

The Red Schichties made light work of the Spiders, 6-2 on aggregate, in the semi-final, whilst Faaaaarrrrfirrrr narrowly squeaked past the Shire, whose bottle crashed yet again at the semi final stage. This set up a tumultuous cross-Angus clash of claymores in the final. By all accounts, the goalless stalemate at Castle Greyskull charted new territories of tedium, as both sides were fiercely determined not to lose. This left the maroon hordes to travel to Station Park at the weekend, needing a result to preserve their division two status. There was some optimism amongst the plooky beetroot clad dunces for, under Jim Weir, their away form has actually been quite decent. Alas! A slipshod and gutless showing saw them slip noiselessly beneath the waves of the upper league, and into the subterranean depths of our awful footballing dungeon, whilst the lurking Faarfir submarine joyously broke the surface, and the sky blue crew had a party. I'll miss the trips to Station Park, if for no other reason than we usually do quite well there. However, I won't miss the atmosphereless sullen silence of the home supporters, who are amongst the most cantankerous and hyper-critical fans in the lower two divisions. A crowd of over 2,000 turned up to watch the last rites being read for the hapless Schichties, yet a Montrose spy at the game texted me with Over two thousand here and nae atmosphere.

Laughter aside, it's hard to see the wretched Smokies finishing outwith the top four next season. Weir has been very unlucky with injuries, never having a full side to choose from, and also mistakenly did a Souness after taking over, freeing far too many players far too quickly, and then not being able to sign adequate replacements. It could be argued that the massively lucky circumstances of A*****th's promotion two seasons ago has, finally, evened itself out. Still, it will be a major surprise if they fail to mount a reasonable challenge for the title next season. Normally, ourselves and the Smokies-came-from-Auchmithie-not-A*****th-You-Thieving-Urchins XI are fairly evenly matched. Next season, the derbies are likely to see a guerrilla style war from us in order to avoid defeat in the derbies- shivering up a mountainside with a world war one rifle, and a home made hand grenade for company, whilst their well equipped battalion parades on the roadside below. If Weir avoids haemorrhaging his few reasonable players, a play off place should be the very least of their ambitions. We shall see.

It would be remiss also not to congratulate the Miners who, in a towsy encounter at Hedge Park, clambered into the first division, in one of the more remarkable promotion stories ever written in the history of the game in Scotland. Only promoted by default last summer, as the losing play-off finalists, thanks to the near death experience of Livingslime, and drowning in the choppy waters of financial ruin and an inadequate museum piece of a "stadium", the Fife side nonetheless will be playing first division football in 2010-11, among the most of their good fortune with a small and tight squad of hard working, determined players. When Cowden lost at Links Park at the end of 2008-9, I thought then that they would be spending many years in the third division; I'm sure I'm not the only lower league fan who will be following their fortunes with interest next season.

Things have gone a little quiet on the behind the scenes front. However, more broadly, the financial outlook for clubs in the SFL is as bad as I can remember it. Only today Dundee chairman Bob Brannan has warned that the Dens Park side will fold without greater input from fans. If that's true at Dens Park, then it's all the more true everywhere else. It seems set to be an interesting- and very worrying-summer.