Mighty Montrose FC Thread

[Brummo]

We have to do things the hard way, don't we? I can only think of the Storm Babet game being off at Cove due to bad weather although it would also have likely been the same had it been a home tie.

Have there been any games postponed because of bad weather at Links Park this season? 

We had to play Falkirk midweek because they had a cup game and now we have another midweek because of today's abandonment. Added to that, we had to play Falkirk when they were on fire after winning the league. Thankfully Falkirk didn't let Cove back into the game as looked a possibility after the latter pulled a goal back.

Alloa's free scoring against Stirling shows they mean business.

Obviously disappointed we never had the chance to get back on the horse after last Saturday's nightmare.

When is the game rescheduled for?

Let's hope the Mo can get their MOjo back in time for their next match as it is an absolute six pointer.

I seem to remember us being absolutely blown away (not in the Edinburgh City sense) last season at Alloa. Hoping for a far better outcome this time.

Edited April 8 by Brummo

[mo83]

Good point on saturday at Alloa tough venue so happy enough with that.

Tuesday night now is massive if we could pick up 3 points it would give us a little bit  of daylight from Cove(not much) and a tad closer to Alloa with 3 games to go.

 

[Vegetableman]

Would be pretty disappointed if you guys or we  were to relinquish a spot to cove , i dont think they deserve to be in the playoffs 

now that our  (neutralised ) game is over good luck on your next few games  

[mo83]

10 hours ago, Vegetableman said:

Would be pretty disappointed if you guys or we  were to relinquish a spot to cove , i dont think they deserve to be in the playoffs 

now that our  (neutralised ) game is over good luck on your next few games  

Fingers crossed.

Like I've said before are we ready to go up right now with this team probably not  in my opinion.

If we did of course I'd be delighted and all for it,summer transfer activity would take a right twist as we would have to bring in probably about 6-7 players who we think can play in the Championship and compete.Crowds would be up and better money coming into the club  would be superb and well needed.

We will see how it pans out still a few games to go to grab a top 4 spot,get a win tonight and a think we will be in a good position going into the last 3 games.

 

[Brummo]

Listening to BBC Radio Scotland and the pundit was ecstatic at the prospect of having an all full-time Championship. He inflated Falkirk's crowds to 5000-6000, so it seemed that as is par for the course, he was clueless about football in Leagues One and below.

It is unsurprising but annoying nonetheless that there is no acknowledgement that part-time clubs can compete with full-time ones. The accepted "wisdom" is that any player who is half decent will want to play full-time football and I get that but it ignores the fact that going full-time may not make sense for everyone. Why shouldn't talented part-time players have the opportunity to play in the Championship if their fitness and skills are good enough?

Someone recently said to me something along the lines of the Championship should be full-time clubs and Leagues One and below, part-time.

It annoys me that clubs from smaller towns away from big centres of population seem to be discouraged from aspiring to success because they are expected to remain at "their level". It's this kind of negativity which no doubt contributes to the bus loads of glory hunters heading down from smaller towns to watch the ugly sisters rather than support their local team.

People point to Brechin's spectacular tail spin as though that were the expected fate of a part-time club in the Championship, when clearly that example is an anomaly rather than being the rule.

I am not saying that a part-time club could necessarily maintain a permanent presence in the Championship. That would probably require at least a hybrid of full-time and part-time players. I would however prefer to have a season or two in the Championship or even to be a yo-yo club than to have no higher aspiration than League One.

I like to think that were we to be in a promotion playoff, the Mo would be in it to win it and if we did get promoted, that we would be in a position to strengthen the squad to be able to compete in the Championship.

That is all wishful thinking for now but I hope it isn't always going to be the case.

In thinking about Brechin's current sorry plight, I am also very thankful that the Mo are in the position they are.

Edited April 28 by Brummo

[NavyBlueArmy1876]

32 minutes ago, Brummo said:

Listening to BBC Radio Scotland and the pundit was ecstatic at the prospect of having an all full-time Championship. He inflated Falkirk's crowds to 5000-6000, so it seemed that as is par for the course, he was clueless about football in Leagues One and below.

 

Our average is 4,602 at the moment and will rise to approx 5.5k next season with home gates increasing by around 500 and another 4-500 away fans so sounds like they're pretty much spot on tbf 

 

Edited April 22 by NavyBlueArmy1876

[bridge of allan bairn]

2 hours ago, NavyBlueArmy1876 said:

Our average is 4,602 at the moment and will rise to approx 5.5k next season with home gates increasing by around 500 and another 4-500 away fans so sounds like they're pretty much spot on tbf 

 

Agreed @NavyBlueArmy1876.

Our home gate against Alloa in 2 weeks will be well over 7,000, bringing our average crowd in League 1 this season to over 4,750. Hardly inflation. This is with average away crowds of only 150.

In the Championship average away crowds will be significantly higher, especially given the rivalries with the Pars, Airdrie, Raith, Morton etc. If anything crowds next season of 5000-6000 is an underestimate, even if he is referring to this season as opposed to the potential of next season that's only inflation of 5%. Hardly being clueless about League 1. Some individual Falkirk games this season have hit the crowds stated of 5,000-6,000 (and more).

Despite 5 years of being served up despair, the Falkirk fans have stuck by the team, this, as a provincial club should be celebrated within the lower leagues. Many clubs, especially Montrose, who are rumoured to have made £40K at the title winning game would be in a far worse financial position without fans from clubs like ours making the effort to go to games.

[1320Lichtie]

3 hours ago, Brummo said:

Listening to BBC Radio Scotland and the pundit was ecstatic at the prospect of having an all full-time Championship. He inflated Falkirk's crowds to 5000-6000, so it seemed that as is par for the course, he was clueless about football in Leagues One and below.

It is unsurprising but annoying nonetheless that there is no acknowledgement that part-time clubs can compete with full-time ones. The accepted "wisdom" is that any player who is half decent will want to play full-time football and I get that but it ignores the fact that going full-time may not make sense for everyone. Why shouldn't talented part-time players have the opportunity to play in the Championship if their fitness and skills are good enough?

Someone recently said to me something along the lines of the Championship should be full-time clubs and Leagues One and below, part-time.

It annoys me that clubs from smaller towns away from big centres of population seem to be discouraged from aspiring to success because they are expected to remain at "their level". It's this kind of negativity which no doubt contributes to the bus loads of glory hunters heading down from smaller towns to watch the ugly sisters rather than support their local team.

People point to Brechin's spectacular tail spin as though that were the expected fate of a part-time club in the Championship, when clearly that example is an anomaly rather than being the rule.

I am not saying that a part-time club could necessarily maintain a permanent presence in the Championship. That would probably require at least a hybrid of full-time and part-time players. I would however prefer to have a season or two in the Championship or even to be a yo-yo club than to have no higher aspiration than League One.

I like to think that we're we to be in a promotion playoff, the Mo would be in it to win it and if we did get promoted, that we would be in a position to strengthen the squad to be able to compete in the Championship.

That is all wishful thinking for now but I hope it isn't always going to be the case.

In thinking about Brechin's current sorry plight, I am also very thankful that the Mo are in the position they are.

You are spot on. 
 

I think the biggest hurdle, in my opinion, is that it is incredibly hard to turn over players and continue to be decent when you are part time. There is zero let up in the Championship every week is a battle.

 

If you are slightly off it you will struggle. The pool of part time players good enough to compete in the Championships a lot smaller in comparison to the large amount of Full Time players good enough to play in the division. I also think there is a noticeable difference in intensity in the Championship. 

 

 

We have been absolutely riddled with injuries all season. 8-12 players out some weeks. The strength of our squad just could not compete but the teams above us are hardly world beaters either. It is just hard to build up a very good squad of part time players, all the best part time players will not want to come to your club to sit on the bench. 
 

It’s a much harder job to stay in the league for a prolonged period of time when you’re part time but there’s no reason why well run and well organised part time clubs and teams cannot go up and do well.

 

I actually think we ruined every good thing we had going when we attempted to go hybrid at the beginning of last season (22/23) and I think we’ve not really recovered from it even now. We have signed 13 ‘Full Time’ players and the only good one has been Jay Bird. They also were only ever going to be here for a season at most so you kind of lose all the benefit of a team and squad unit when you start going down that road.

 

We’d have been much better off staying fully part time.  

Edited April 22 by 1320Lichtie

[Hugh Hillshaveyes]

6 hours ago, Brummo said:

Listening to BBC Radio Scotland and the pundit was ecstatic at the prospect of having an all full-time Championship. He inflated Falkirk's crowds to 5000-6000, so it seemed that as is par for the course, he was clueless about football in Leagues One and below.

It is unsurprising but annoying nonetheless that there is no acknowledgement that part-time clubs can compete with full-time ones. The accepted "wisdom" is that any player who is half decent will want to play full-time football and I get that but it ignores the fact that going full-time may not make sense for everyone. Why shouldn't talented part-time players have the opportunity to play in the Championship if their fitness and skills are good enough?

Someone recently said to me something along the lines of the Championship should be full-time clubs and Leagues One and below, part-time.

It annoys me that clubs from smaller towns away from big centres of population seem to be discouraged from aspiring to success because they are expected to remain at "their level". It's this kind of negativity which no doubt contributes to the bus loads of glory hunters heading down from smaller towns to watch the ugly sisters rather than support their local team.

People point to Brechin's spectacular tail spin as though that were the expected fate of a part-time club in the Championship, when clearly that example is an anomaly rather than being the rule.

I am not saying that a part-time club could necessarily maintain a permanent presence in the Championship. That would probably require at least a hybrid of full-time and part-time players. I would however prefer to have a season or two in the Championship or even to be a yo-yo club than to have no higher aspiration than League One.

I like to think that we're we to be in a promotion playoff, the Mo would be in it to win it and if we did get promoted, that we would be in a position to strengthen the squad to be able to compete in the Championship.

That is all wishful thinking for now but I hope it isn't always going to be the case.

In thinking about Brechin's current sorry plight, I am also very thankful that the Mo are in the position they are.

Don't want supporters of provincial teams to follow the ugly sisters but large Falkirk crowds are hyperbole...very strange 

[The Laddie Gastineau]

Brummo doesn't like us Bairns much.  Devastating really. 

[Bairn in Exile]

On 07/04/2024 at 01:47, Brummo said:

We had to play Falkirk midweek because they had a cup game and now we have another midweek because of today's abandonment. Added to that, we had to play Falkirk when they were on fire after winning the league. Thankfully Falkirk didn't let Cove back into the game as looked a possibility after the latter pulled a goal back.

 

10 hours ago, Brummo said:

Listening to BBC Radio Scotland and the pundit was ecstatic at the prospect of having an all full-time Championship. He inflated Falkirk's crowds to 5000-6000, so it seemed that as is par for the course, he was clueless about football in Leagues One and below.

[Brummo]

9 hours ago, The Laddie Gastineau said:

Brummo doesn't like us Bairns much.  Devastating really

 

[Ivo den Bieman]

19 hours ago, 1320Lichtie said:

You are spot on. 
 

I think the biggest hurdle, in my opinion, is that it is incredibly hard to turn over players and continue to be decent when you are part time. There is zero let up in the Championship every week is a battle.....

 

We’d have been much better off staying fully part time.  

 

It's been like that for as long as I can remember. Meadowbank Thistle in the second half of the 80s survived as long as they did in the second tier- nearly making it to the Premier in 88/89, because they were able to get the best of the part time players in the country; guys who had a good job outside of football who didn't want / need to give that up for sport, or who didn't fancy playing full time for some other reason. They played in the capital so travel not an issue and Terry Christie inspired loyalty in his team.

Players like Stevie Logan, Dave Roseburgh, Walter Boyd would easily have been full time in our present era. They were an awful side to play against- ultra defensive, and they had virtually no fans, but purely on the park they were very, very effective and kept a core of players with them for a long time.

Arbroath, Alloa and Dumbarton within the last 15 years have all done well to give a good showing in the Championship over a few seasons. The first two also kept a solid core of players with them for a long time.

The old Scots first division-pre the 1994 reconstruction into four leagues of ten, which I cheerfully detest-was a mixture of eight or nine full time teams and the best four or five part timers- back then three of the four Angus clubs (Arbraoth were in long term doldrums back then), Clyde, Stirling Albion- and it was such a great league. The current Championship is good, too, but the variety of grounds and teams was better in the old system, at least for the fans. You could go from a home fixture in front of 5000 with Falkirk or Dunfermline one week to a trip to Glebe Park or Meadowbank the next. A slightly bigger tier also gave part time teams the chance to grow and properly establish themselves without the near-certainty of an instant relegation the following season. Plus there was always the occasional hilarious result as the poart time diddies sworded a hungover Chic Charnley and his mates.

I can well remember Kilmarnock being at least partially part-time at the end of the 80s, for example, Dunfermline a bit earlier. Nowadays it's near on impossible for a part time club to establish themselves in the second tier without serious, long term money behind them. In 2024 access to that kind of funding is getting scarcer.

That said I'd be delighted if our squad somehow made it up this season. It's a very long shot but I hope we get the chance. Regardless of going up or staying put the sqaud needs major surgery over the next 2-3 windows, as long standing successful careers come to an inevitable end.

[LeodhasXD]

11 minutes ago, Ivo den Bieman said:

Arbroath, Alloa and Dumbarton within the last 15 years have all done well to give a good showing in the Championship over a few seasons. The first two also kept a solid core of players with them for a long time.

The old Scots first division-pre the 1994 reconstruction into four leagues of ten, which I cheerfully detest-was a mixture of eight or nine full time teams and the best four or five part timers- back then three of the four Angus clubs (Arbraoth were in long term doldrums back then), Clyde, Stirling Albion- and it was such a great league. The current Championship is good, too, but the variety of grounds and teams was better in the old system, at least for the fans. You could go from a home fixture in front of 5000 with Falkirk or Dunfermline one week to a trip to Glebe Park or Meadowbank the next. A slightly bigger tier also gave part time teams the chance to grow and properly establish themselves without the near-certainty of an instant relegation the following season. Plus there was always the occasional hilarious result as the poart time diddies sworded a hungover Chic Charnley and his mates.

I like the idea of a slightly larger second tier too. However it's been floated before and shot down most notably at covid. There's so many full time teams now I can't understand how they'd not back themselves more in a 12 than a 10 team league. There's enough in part time teams for a two or three seasons to compete but once your prime players get a bit too old everyone struggles to replace them. Our kit-man used to say every year in the championship for a part time side is a game of Russian roulette and eventually you'll get the bullet.  Would also personally quite fancy the variety of a big part time league with the variety of a combined League 1+2. There's only so many times a year going to (insert hated ground, normally Airdrie) is interesting.

[1320Lichtie]

26 minutes ago, Ivo den Bieman said:

 

It's been like that for as long as I can remember. Meadowbank Thistle in the second half of the 80s survived as long as they did in the second tier- nearly making it to the Premier in 88/89, because they were able to get the best of the part time players in the country; guys who had a good job outside of football who didn't want / need to give that up for sport, or who didn't fancy playing full time for some other reason. They played in the capital so travel not an issue and Terry Christie inspired loyalty in his team.

Players like Stevie Logan, Dave Roseburgh, Walter Boyd would easily have been full time in our present era. They were an awful side to play against- ultra defensive, and they had virtually no fans, but purely on the park they were very, very effective and kept a core of players with them for a long time.

Arbroath, Alloa and Dumbarton within the last 15 years have all done well to give a good showing in the Championship over a few seasons. The first two also kept a solid core of players with them for a long time.

The old Scots first division-pre the 1994 reconstruction into four leagues of ten, which I cheerfully detest-was a mixture of eight or nine full time teams and the best four or five part timers- back then three of the four Angus clubs (Arbraoth were in long term doldrums back then), Clyde, Stirling Albion- and it was such a great league. The current Championship is good, too, but the variety of grounds and teams was better in the old system, at least for the fans. You could go from a home fixture in front of 5000 with Falkirk or Dunfermline one week to a trip to Glebe Park or Meadowbank the next. A slightly bigger tier also gave part time teams the chance to grow and properly establish themselves without the near-certainty of an instant relegation the following season. Plus there was always the occasional hilarious result as the poart time diddies sworded a hungover Chic Charnley and his mates.

I can well remember Kilmarnock being at least partially part-time at the end of the 80s, for example, Dunfermline a bit earlier. Nowadays it's near on impossible for a part time club to establish themselves in the second tier without serious, long term money behind them. In 2024 access to that kind of funding is getting scarcer.

That said I'd be delighted if our squad somehow made it up this season. It's a very long shot but I hope we get the chance. Regardless of going up or staying put the sqaud needs major surgery over the next 2-3 windows, as long standing successful careers come to an inevitable end.

All good comments - I think if a Part Time team makes it into the Championship then they need to try and capitalise on it off the park with their support and infrastructure - that would set them in good stead going forward. I think it is fair to say that we have done that. 
 

I would never want to see us move away from just being a part time club either though, for what? I don’t see what’s wrong about being happy with that. We will never be a Premiership club so if we can go up and compete in the Championship during our more successful seasons, which we and others can - then why change your entire set up. A lot of these FT clubs are financially a mess. 
 

It is not about being unambitious or anything like that which are comments I read sometimes it is just that everyone has their place in the pyramid. In the same way there are several Championship clubs who at their peak may be lower half Prem teams and at their lowest may be L1 teams. 
 

To be honest after this and last season, you quickly come to realise that the only thing that matters is enjoying watching your team and being happy on Saturday afternoons more often than not regardless of what division you are in. Never take that for granted

 

 

Edited April 23 by 1320Lichtie

[Brummo]

What has happened to the official club website? It has been revamped but it seems to have less information and be more difficult to navigate around.

I was trying to find previous results against Kelty Hearts and clicked on the "fixtures and results" link. It showed that the next match was Edinburgh City on the 16th and had information about the matches following this but no results whatsoever.

My take from this is that the site is not being updated recently and it is not providing information it says it is.

I also sent an email enquiry to the office on behalf of a fan of another team asking on here about who qualifies for concessions, as this was not on the website. I got a courteous enough reply fairly promptly but I am not aware that the information requested has made its way onto the website as I had suggested might be a good idea.

I realise that in the past the website has been maintained really faithfully over many years by a dedicated supporter and I am very grateful for this. I am disappointed however that the site has recently fallen short of my expectations regarding content and ease of navigation.

I wish whoever has taken on responsibility for the website well, if there is someone new in charge but I also hope that the site will be regularly updated and that content which might reasonably be expected to be on the site, such as results of past fixtures, be reinstated.

 

[SouthStander1876]

14 minutes ago, Brummo said:

What has happened to the official club website? It has been revamped but it seems to have less information and be more difficult to navigate around.

I was trying to find previous results against Kelty Hearts and clicked on the "fixtures and results" link. It showed that the next match was Edinburgh City on the 16th and had information about the matches following this but no results whatsoever.

My take from this is that the site is not being updated recently and it is not providing information it says it is.

I also sent an email enquiry to the office on behalf of a fan of another team asking on here about who qualifies for concessions, as this was not on the website. I got a courteous enough reply fairly promptly but I am not aware that the information requested has made its way onto the website as I had suggested might be a good idea.

I realise that in the past the website has been maintained really faithfully over many years by a dedicated supporter and I am very grateful for this. I am disappointed however that the site has recently fallen short of my expectations regarding content and ease of navigation.

I wish whoever has taken on responsibility for the website well, if there is someone new in charge but I also hope that the site will be regularly updated and that content which might reasonably be expected to be on the site, such as results of past fixtures, be reinstated.

 

Just google Montrose results 

[Brummo]

4 hours ago, SouthStander1876 said:

Just google Montrose results 

I did but usually this takes me to a betting website or one with links to one. The previous match results should definitely be on the club's official website surely?

[SouthStander1876]

1 minute ago, Brummo said:

I did but usually this takes me to a betting website or one with links to one. The previous match results should definitely be on the club's official website surely?

Should be but plenty alternatives available, just get an app on your phone, LiveScore is what I use.

[tongue_tied_danny]

Happy 6th anniversary everybody...