At right before 4pm on Sunday, Station Road heading into Dingwall was supported to the roundabout where it fulfilled the A835. Partick Thistle fans were parking anywhere they might discover a space. Turning onto the High Street you were attacked by red and yellow, brighter than the sun which brought best conditions for the last day of the season.
Crossing the train tracks to the Global Energy Stadium, one Thistle fan, who appeared to have actually begun on the beverages early doors, was being kept his feet by a number of mates as they approached the arena. The checking out fans appeared to surpass the home assistance by 10 to 1. Leading 2-0 from the first-leg of the Premiership play-off last, there was a genuine sense that this was going to be the Jags’ afternoon. Ross County decreased to simple individuals, background characters as the similarity Kris Doolan, Brian Graham and Aidan Fitzpatrick took centre phase, the focus completely on the Maryhill Magyars.
It, naturally, was an excellent injustice to the Staggies, whose home assistance was partially larger than the taking a trip fans. A club which is extremely congenial, whether checking out as a fan or in an expert capability. A club which is seen by numerous fans within the Premiership as an essential top-flight addition. There is no other away day in the nation which has rather the welcome, stepping off the train and within a couple of rates into The Mallard pub.
Fortune and experience
After the rather stupendous return from his gamers, scoring 3 in the last 20 minutes to come back from 3-0 down, taking the video game to extra-time then charges, which they won, Malky Mackay mentioned it. “It’s quite clear that it would have been lovely for them to go into the Premiership and teams not to have to travel on the A9,” he kept in mind.
Make no error. This triumph was definitely huge for the club and the county. Relegation would have suggested that for just the 2nd time because the 2009/10 season, the top-flight would have had no Highland representation. Both the euphoria and relief appeared at full-time, from gamers, staff, fans and board members, specifically owner Roy MacGregor. A man who has actually done more than anybody else to put Dingwall and this club in the footballing map, he confessed “fortune” was on his club’s side as he applauded Mackay’s “experience”.
“For this part of the world, the people of the Highlands, we need to have one team in the Premier League,” MacGregor said, also being sure to highlight his pride in rivals Inverness CT reaching the Scottish Cup final.
Getting act together
MacGregor stuck by manager Mackay after the 6-1 shellacking at Hearts, a result which left the side four adrift at the bottom going into the split. Relegation would have brought difficult decisions, such are the finances at play. Yet, difficult decisions could still be taken. The County chief spoke of the “dogfight” at the bottom of the Premiership and financial strength of the “city teams” namely, Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibs who all finished in the top five for the first time since the 2004/05 campaign.
“It is a relief and we need to take stock,” he said. “We need to see what we got right and what we got wrong. To fall out of this league is really difficult and to play in a game like that was so difficult, with so much at stake for both teams.
“It could have big consequences. We have had the privilege of being in the Premier League all but one season in the last 11 years. It is a great place to be. It is getting harder because the city teams are getting stronger. All the teams in the bottom six you will find will question their budgets for next season. We have all been dragged by the city teams, who after 10 years have got their acts together. Financially, they are more sound.
“If you get into Europe like Hearts, their budget was up to £10million or £11million. The other clubs are down at £2million to £2.5million so it’s a dogfight down there. The league doesn’t lie and St Mirren have done really well to get up to sixth.
“You have to have exceptional leadership on and off the park. A lot of us dream. We got sixth last season and could we go better? We brought in better technical players but we maybe lost a wee bit of our soul. We need to examine that to get the balance right. We finished 11th in the league and that is something we will look to improve on.”
‘A bigger gap’
MacGregor bewares that the space might grow in between those who completed in the leading 5 and everybody else, specifically with the possibility of European group phase football for the group which completes 3rd, as Aberdeen have this season. Something he calls a “game changer”.
“I think the financial challenges that are here, the Rangers debacle, the whole thing has been really, really challenging,” he said. “I am hearing on the grapevine the other so-called community teams overspent, as we did, to try and get in there. There probably has to be some realism for the bottom teams and that might mean a bigger gap.
“The team who wins the Premier League gets £3 million and now you finish third and get £5 million. It is good for Scottish clubs because we need to get our coefficient up. I wouldn’t condemn it but we all got caught up in that trap that it is easy to get into the top six, it isn’t. St Mirren have done a great job and did it and Motherwell pushed all the way.”