Club Update

We are now four games into the truncated SPFL League One campaign and also approaching our final sectional game on Saturday first in the Betfred Cup.

Certainly we would not have wished or expected to be in the bottom spot in the league after the first month of competitive action, but that is where we are, this despite playing some excellent football in the opening fixture at home to Dumbarton and doing exceptionally well to pick up a point at Falkirk the following weekend.   

However defensive lapses in the derby clash with Montrose and a 3-0 defeat from early pace setters Cove Rangers have seen the ‘Loons’ pick up only two points from that early batch of fixtures.

Our Betfred Cup run got off to the worst possible start with a scenario no one could have foreseen, the forfeiture of the three points to Dundee due to Covid related issues. This before a very encouraging home performance against Hibs, David Gray’s late header clinching the solitary goal success for the Capital City outfit.   This was then followed by our 3-3 draw at home to Highland League champions Brora last night, a one point bonus being picked up in the subsequent penalty shoot-out.

The one situation that has overshadowed the above results and performances has not in fact been the dreaded Covid, but an almost catastrophic injury list which has been hard to cope with, especially on a tight budget.

It began with the loss of key close season signing Steven Anderson following the pre-season joust with Arbroath, continued with the cruciate damage incurred by Darren Whyte in the Hibs fixture, Daniel Scally also picking up an injury in that tie.  This was then followed by Marc McCallum having to head for the treatment table six minutes into the derby fixture with the ‘Gable Endies’ , then on Saturday past Steven Doris and Ross Meechan picked an injury and knock respectively which ruled them out of the Brora game.

Sadly Darren will require surgery and it is almost certainly out for the season, but Steven Anderson is making good progress and could return pre-Christmas.

Marc McCallum, Daniel Scally and Ross Meechan are thankfully more short term and all three could be in contention for the return to league action against Airdrie on Saturday week.

Steven Doris however will be absent for a little while longer.

With so much experience lost, it has been a fairly youthful side that has been plying their trade in recent times and their work rate has been second to none.  One or two of the younger element amongst the loan players that have been brought to the club would indeed look to have a bright future ahead of them.  

Hopefully with a little ‘rub of the green’ in the weeks ahead, victories will come and the good news is there are still a clutch of sides within two/three points of the Station Park outfit in the league’s lower half.   

One thing is for certain in a 27 game campaign. You do not want to get cast adrift in the early stages.

On the playing side as well players at all levels have had to get used to the difficulty of playing in a closed doors environment with only officials, a few match day assistants and press in attendance.  

It is a weird experience for all concerned and certainly from a spectator’s point of view not a particularly enjoyable one and we are sure it is the same for the players.

There have been various different expressions in the media to sum it all up such as it is just like watching or being involved in a training ground match or it just like being at a game on a public park without the ‘dogs.’

Jock Stein famously said ‘football is nothing without fans’ and he was as he was with many aspects of the game one hundred per cent correct.

Perhaps the current situation was best summed up by the ever articulate Jim Spence in his weekly column in the Courier on Saturday past having just witnessed his first couple of games this season at McDiarmid and Dens over the previous two weekends.

‘At the moment, it’s like watching Oasis play in your living room – it feels like a rehearsal or a sound check, but not the concert.’

A few fans are being admitted to clubs in Tier One areas over the next few weeks notably at Dingwall and Inverness, but sadly Angus now finds itself in Tier Three.

However as the politicians muse about the hope of a little bit of normality perhaps being allowed to return to our lives over the Festive Period, without making any promises, wouldn’t it be a great idea to allow a few fans in to the Boxing Day fixtures at least in the lower leagues as a starting point.

We live in hope.

A few of the fans, the season ticket holders in particular have been able to keep up to date with home match action following the installation at a substantial cost of the Pixellot System to live stream the fixtures.  After a few teething problems experienced by clubs throughout the country not just Forfar, all seems to have settled down with this product and thankfully the sales figure at the Hibernian fixture saw a fair degree of the outlay to the ‘Loons’ recovered at the outset.

There is little doubt that although Forfar Athletic and many clubs of a similar stature are managing to keep their ‘heads above water’ in the financial sense at present, this situation is going to change as the season moves on in the early part of 2021 for some.

Apart from the obvious loss of revenue from home games, especially this season from the fixtures against Falkirk, Montrose and Partick Thistle in particular, the approximately £100,000 plus that the club grossed off match sponsorship and hospitality has disappeared.

Following on the loss in March and May of last year of both our hitherto successful Ladies and Sportsman’s Dinners, no one envisaged at the time that a similar scenario would be the likely outcome for 2021 into the bargain, but that is also now a more than distinct possibility.  Decisions will have to be taken on the staging of either or both in early January at the latest.

However on the plus side the support the club has received over the past seven to eight months from fans throughout the country and indeed the world for firstly the purchase of shares, the sale of Lotto tickets, virtual 50/50 tickets, the sponsored cycle run and the management and player sponsorship scheme has been first class.  Thanks and keep up the good work please.

We were also delighted to extend our Club sponsorship from Orchard Timber Products into a 14th season and to maintain our relationship with Graham Pest Control as well as welcoming Graham Hygiene Services into the kit sponsorship fold. Amazingly we have received kit support from two new sponsors in these challenging times - Alpha Projects and DA Gilmour Ltd Clerk of Works. Thanks to all for this much needed support.  

The uptake of season tickets reached a figure of around 75 per cent of last year’s total sales, but on the plus side financially there was an increase in adult numbers.

Obviously Club shop sales of the new replica strip and other souvenirs have faltered slightly, quite natural with the shop itself not open on match days as in the past. Added to that the slight drop of in interest that had to be anticipated in the pandemic perhaps from the younger fan element, a fact that Club officials will work hard to rectify once ‘live’ action can resume. 

However with Christmas on the horizon hopefully sales will receive their normal Festive Period boost through the online shop set up at the start of the lockdown. Thanks to those who have already made use of this facility. 

Thankfully as well bookings from around the area for the 3G pitch facility have picked up considerably in the past three to four weeks, but again only time will tell whether the move to Tier 3 status will have an adverse effect in the weeks ahead in this regard.

As we begin to look towards the end of a calendar year that no one could ever have envisaged, the Club that we all love so dearly is still in good heart and certainly surviving.   With word of various vaccines being available and in hopefully in fairly general  circulation early in 2021 if not before, we all keep our fingers crossed that some, possibly full normality will return to life in general and to the game we all love sooner rather than later.

In the meantime all management, players and officials at Station Park who are lucky, and we are lucky in that regard, to still be involved at the ‘coal face’ of the Club however difficult the circumstances in these hellish times implore you to stay safe, keep well, keep supporting the ‘Loons’ . The day cannot come quick enough when we can open the gates and welcome you all back to lend your support at Station Park in person.

C’mon the ‘Loons.’