Not a great day for photos…

I have a pile of work like I’ve never had a pile of work to get through; if ever I wanted a day to go smoothly it was today. I’d deliberately set myself up to do as  much as I could to clear the sludge.


But. Our IT was woeful. Great news normally, but not today. Slow; partially working. Which kills any enthusiasm and momentum you might have built up to power through some work. Then at lunchtime…? Migraine. You couldn’t script a more debilitating day if you tried. So I eventually logged off, dispirited and not really anywhere near where I’d hoped to be on the work front.
Similarly, there’s no photos either as I’ve barely left the house at any point.
So here’s a picture with a story attached. Remember back to the last day I felt rotten…? (early January) Me and Her managed to collect 4 boxes of paperwork from Her ex’s best friend containing all manner of bank statements, wage slips, tax credit info etc for sorting / destroying. On Sunday we had a bit of a go at one of the boxes and out of one of them popped this programme.

Turns out both of us had been at the same football game years before we’d ever met. I remember this game particularly because it was part of my quest to watch a game in every round of the Scottish Cup that year. Way back in November 2005, I’d watched Stirling Albion squeak past Elgin City 2-1 on a cold rainy dark Saturday afternoon and I then followed each round to the bright sunny warm Saturday in mid May when Hearts finally overcame Gretna to lift the cup and cruelly crush Gretna’s fairytale hopes of the most unlikely football story until Leicester managed to nab the Premier League.
After the Elgin tie, Stirling again drew a North East team and Inverurie Locos duly arrived at Forthbank in December and in what was a very close encounter the Binos shaded an unlucky Inverurie side 1-0 and secured a 3rd round home tie against Plastic Whistle.
Early 2006 saw Stirling’s cup hopes end in another game decided by a single goal; Partick winning 1-0.
By this time I’d got the notion of watching the cup from start to finish and I somehow half decided to follow the lowest placed team left in the competition in each subsequent round. This decision may have been made easier by Spartans being a mere mile walk from the house so there was no great effort on my part to get to the game. There was one small problem – the game was a sell out.
I was working at Chesser at the time and cycled the 5 miles to and from work every day along the cycle path that runs from north Edinburgh to Haymarket and every day I passed the back of City Park, venue for the 4th round meeting of The Spartans and St Mirren. So I knew full well that there would be options to stand at the back of the park and peer through the wire mesh fencing and still be able to see the game. So that’s what I did – in fact I even went full Oor Wullie and climbed up a tree to get an even better view. I was by no means the only one with the same idea; I reckon there was a good 20-30 others outside, peering in to what was – let’s be honest – a poor game with few chances at either end. 0-0 and a game that only lives in the memory because of the way I watched the game. I asked Her about the game and although She vaguely remembers going, there’s little recall of any details, other than Her partner at the time had got tickets through a friend and it was more of a social thing than anything else.
Spartans lost the replay 3 – 0 the following Tuesday, so my quarter final game was Hearts 2-1 win at Tynecastle against Partick – Thistle were greatly improved on the side that knocked out Stirling and ran Hearts close with the last 10 minutes being frantic as Thistle tried valiantly to conjure up an equalizer.

And so to the semi finals. Edinburgh met at Hampden on the Sunday where Paul Hartley scored a hat trick as Hearts demolished city neighbours Hibs but I opted for Dundee v Gretna on the Saturday. A game my climbing buddy Barry was at, long before I met him, too. Dundee were adject; the manager had rested his top players the week before and they got annihilated 6-0 by Airdrie; hardly setting your team up for their biggest game in years with confidence. And so it turned out. Dundee capitulated 3-0 in a game that they never looked like competing in, never mind winning.
I managed to secure a ticket for the final from Gretna – I phoned up and had to convince the ticket office I wasn’t a ticketless Hearts fan with an Edinburgh address trying to sneak in to the opposition end – I obviously convinced them I was genuine with my Stirling Albion story and my ticket arrived and so off to Hampden I went.

6 months after the 1st round in darkness along with 359 others, here I was – part of a 51,252 crowd wondering if Gretna could really manage the impossible dream. I saw all manner of familiar faces outside Hampden ahead of the game, including the colourful Gretna chairman Brooks Mileson and TV actor Ken Stott.
There was a family of Hearts fans weaving their way through the crowd, dad at the front, son and daughter aged maybe 10 and 12 next in the line and the mother bringing up the rear. The dad spots Ken Stott and shouts back to his wife ‘See who that wiz?’ The mum responds ‘aye, that’s Rebus is it no’?’
‘Aye’ says the dad ‘he’s shite though, ah prefer that John Hannah, he’s a much better Rebus,ken…’
Ken Stott carried on, shaking his head, smilingly ruefully.
History records the final was a 1-1 draw; Skacel cementing his place as Jam Tarts legend with the opening goal, only for Gretna to equalize in the 2nd half. As a neutral it was decent game, but I know Hearts fans hated it; they’d expected to turn Gretna over and have an enjoyable day celebrating an easy win. And so to penalties and to be honest Hearts were much more convincing in the shoot out and duly lifted the cup.
It's the first and only time I’ve followed the cup from start to finish ad only my second ever Scottish Cup final. I really enjoyed the journey; maybe I should suggest to the lads we try it next year and see where it takes us. Oh. And Alex plays for a Spartans Division 3 youth team these days. How time marches on.

So between the migraine, the programme and the soundtrack of Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, it’s been a low key day.
Maybe tomorrow, eh?