It's fair to say most of my short, undistinguished writing career has been inspired by the topic of a very big club from Govan.
While this has me half-way to mainstream hackdom, if I'm ever gonnae make the Sportscene couch I also need to churn out the occasional platitudinous acknowledgment that for some cuddly, wacky, salt-of-the-earth individuals, Scottish football isn't just about Rantic and Celgers.
When Saturday Comes let me do just that on their website over the years. Here are a few quick links to articles proving I'm as capable of a rye, sideways, "What are they like?!" piece to camera as that other fat, bald bloke who used to interview the woman who sold the raffle tickets at a non-league club, on every episode of Football Focus.
Think his name was Clem. Her name was always Darling... or Sweetheart. No. Was it "My Love"?...
SEPTEMBER 2014: Dumbarton and Alloa Progress Impresses.
MARCH 2016: Natural Order of Rangers and Celtic Must not Return.
MAY 2016: Hibs Can Ditch "Bottlers" Tag Against Rangers in Cup Final.
I should also take this moment to apologise to anyone checking the fourth reference on the Hamilton Academical FC Wikipedia page. It doesn't get any better than seeing your work has become a Wiki citation; it doesn't get any worse than seeing the article cited has been removed from the When Saturday Comes website (Pro-Old Firm to their core!).
So here, from December 2013, in the middle of a season which would end with them back in the top flight via relegating Hibs, is that full piece on my very real and undying admiration for Accies (With a liddle bit of Livi thrown in at the end):
Hamilton Academical Prospering with Frugal Ethos
Despite competition from more illustrious clubs, Hamilton Academical topped the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) Championship going into December. Dundee, Falkirk and Raith Rovers undoubtedly envy the sell-on clause Accies negotiated when selling James McCarthy to Wigan four years ago. The midfielder’s £13 million move to Everton this summer reaped them something approaching his original 2009 price of £1.2m. But even before McCarthy’s latest transfer Accies had won all five league games and their cup tie at Premiership Kilmarnock.
Moreover Chairman Les
Gray promised none of the windfall would go on new players or completing
Hamilton's two-sided stadium. Their new synthetic pitch, plus refurbishment of
the New Douglas Park floodlights and dressing rooms would be paid for. The
remainder would go towards returning to the top flight, debt-free, through
developing young Scottish talent. Accies refusal to scatter cash on players or
stadium was the antithesis of Scottish Premier League's (SPL) idea of itself
but kept them alive while the SPL crashed.
Few clubs better understand the importance of remaining both
frugal and local. In 1970, with debts mounting and Clyde eyeing their ground, Accies
briefly resigned from the league. They sold the ground to Sainsbury
supermarkets in 1994. But wrangling over the proceeds and the local council
condemning old Douglas Park ensured seven years ground-sharing, with Albion
Rovers in Coatbridge and Partick Thistle in Glasgow. Income plummeted. Unpaid players
even went on strike. Failure to fulfil a 1999-2000 fixture cost Accies 15
points, ensuring relegation to the Third Division. A supporters group determined
to bring the club home polled more votes than the Liberal Democrats in a 1999
by-election.
After two pre-war Scottish Cup finals it seemed modern day
Accies would remain famous only for knocking Rangers out the 1986-87 Scottish
Cup and cult hero Ian "Fergie" Russell, Scotland's most foul-mouthed
fan. Anyone passing New Douglas Park might echo the contempt co-commentator
Craig Burley expressed whenever Setanta or ESPN covered Old Firm visits during
Accies’ three SPL seasons. Stuck on top of a scaffold, Burley slated locals
seen watching the game from outside the ground.
A much bigger
polythene-covered scaffold behind the home goal wasn’t a nascent grandstand but
a barrier to non-paying spectators. It’s now a training pitch. Another side of
the ground presents a five-a-side pitch and 600 bucket seats under a
marquee. And buying a pie at New Douglas
Park gets you struck by the ball. The food outlets are at the front of the
stands, bordering the pitch.
But those stands - housing offices and retail outlets - have
front rows approximately eight feet high. The sightlines are great. In 2008
Accies reached the top flight for the first time in 20 years. The SPL, formed
in 1997, insisted they bring the seated capacity up to 6,000 (thus the marquee)
and install under-soil heating, beneath their all-weather pitch. Accies could
only afford to re-lay with grass. The SPFL replaced the SPL last summer, just
as the synthetic pitch vital to Accies’ community-based infrastructure was
reinstated.
The 2009 scrapping of the Scottish Premier Reserve League
denied youngsters the chance to learn alongside experienced pros. At Hamilton this
happens in the first team, under 32-year-old player-manager Alex Neil. With
such a young squad Accies’ Under-20 League side becomes their de facto reserves. Glasgow-born McCarthy
played first team football at 15. Incredibly, Scotland wouldn’t cap him at
youth level so he plays for the Republic of Ireland. His FA Cup-winning Wigan
team-mate, James McArthur – part of Scotland’s recent revival under Gordon
Strachan - captained Accies at 20 and carries a similar sell-on clause.
Accies’ cutest move was not selling to the Old Firm. With
Scotland a bargain basement for English clubs, sell-on clauses would reap less
down the line. Rangers also won all their August SPFL games - but in League One.
Accies will relish being one division above the behemoth with the UEFA-approved
stadium which plunders their catchment area. Their pity, however, should be
aimed slightly further down the Championship. Livingston, who in late October required
the intervention of Supporters Direct Scotland to tackle mounting debts, still
suffer from past adherence to the SPL model.
Also producing future
Scotland internationals (Leigh Griffiths, Robert Snodgrass), Livi’s
10,000-capacity four-sided Almondvale stadium was ready for their 2001 SPL
debut. That you couldn’t see some pitch markings from the back of their shallow
stands was irrelevant as TV aesthetics became all. Within eight years Livi
qualified for Europe, won the League Cup and returned to the Third Division
after their second administration. During the same period Accies returned to
Hamilton and worked their way up to the SPL.
Rather than half-arsed, New Douglas Park embodies the half-way
house Scottish football must occupy in straitened times. It lacks its
predecessor’s rounded character but affords a comfortable view of both a decent
game and the undulating financial landscape.
