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.
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