Season 2012/13 is a significant one for
Dumbarton Football Club. Playing in the Irn Bru Scottish Football League First
Division for the first time in 16 years, Dumbarton’s first return to the top
division of the SFL since season 1995/96, is a testament to the hard work and
dedication of all concerned with this historic football club.
Formed in 1872, Dumbarton were
Scotland’s first ever national champions, sharing the first ever league title
with Rangers in season 1890/91 (though Dumbarton were ahead on goal difference,
this wasn’t taken into consideration in those days) and being crowned outright
champions of Scotland the following season. It is said that the club’s
reluctance to embrace professionalism in those early years of organised football
are the reason that they never went on to fully exploit their position as one
of Scotland’s big guns in domestic football at that time. Over the years
Dumbarton have seen their fair share of ups and downs, with various promotions,
relegations, financial crises and cup near misses, in particular the 4-3 extra
time defeat against Celtic in the semi-final of the League Cup in October 1970
and the 3-0 replay defeat to Heart of Midlothian in the semi-final of the
Scottish Cup in 1976.
Since the dawn of the modern game and
the advent of all-seated stadia, Dumbarton have mostly occupied the lower tiers
of the Scottish Football League, spending time variously in the Second and
Third Divisions for the most part. However, the unlikely play-off success of
last season has seen the club rise to Division One for the first time in 16
years and Dumbarton manager Alan Adamson is relishing the prospect of pitting
his wits against his First Division counterparts: “After the way we started
last season, we felt we would be lucky just to stay in the Second Division. We
had a lot of new players and, as I said all season, it takes time for a team to
gel, but fortunately for the team, me and everybody they did gel and we went on
that run in January / February of 12 games unbeaten and at that stage we saw
ourselves saying ‘can we win this league?’”.
Dumbarton’s unbeaten run in the early
months of 2012 saw the club competing with eventual title winners Cowdenbeath
and fellow title hopefuls Arbroath in the top 3 of the Second Division, when in
the first third of the season Dumbarton had looked likely candidates for
relegation to the bottom tier. But throughout that time, Adamson remained
realistic and tempered his team’s excellent turn around in fortunes with a
cautious optimism: “I always felt that the play-offs were a more realistic
target and, having got there, we thought to ourselves ‘why get here and
stop?’”.
Of the play-off final success against
Airdrie at the Excelsior Stadium, the Dumbarton manager notes that the match was
a watershed not just in terms of the confirmation of their promotion from
Division Two, but also of their tactics and coaching finally paying dividends.
“All season we had been hoping for maybe 20 minutes to go where we could relax
and that was the first game all season where we could. We just enjoyed the
occasion and even after Airdrie scored we thought it was fine as we would just
go and score more”.
With the success of promotion comes the chance
for Dumbarton to test themselves against a higher quality of opposition and the
manager is under no illusions as to the challenges that they face in what is
predominantly a full-time league (only Dumbarton and Airdrie United are
completely part-time, whilst Cowdenbeath and Raith Rovers have a mixture of
part-time and full-time players. All other clubs in the division are entirely
full-time). “We’re up a level and when you do make a mistake in the First
Division, you’re going to be punished a lot more than you are in the Second. If
you got a couple of chances last season and missed them, you always felt you
would get more. This season we’ve had a couple of chances and missed them and
further chances haven’t come along, but we’ll keep working hard, the boys train
hard and I don’t think fitness will be an issue at all. We had a really good
pre-season under our belts and that’s what stands you in good stead. The last
year’s signings, the new signings we’ve brought in, it could take time to gel
again, but watch this space.”
Asked what his goal is in coaching,
Adamson acknowledges that he has come a long way in a short time. From managing
the British police football team to managing a First Division club, the coach
has had an unorthodox route into professional football management; “I was
coaching the first team at Albion Rovers with Jim (Chapman, ex-Dumbarton
manager who stepped aside in 2010/11 to become Director of Football and
Community Development, Alan Adamson stepping up from assistant to manager at
that time) and when Jim was sacked I was offered that job. I felt that as Jim
had brought me into Albion Rovers I would go as well. We came here to Dumbarton
and we did well, winning the Third Division in 08/09. After we were promoted to
Division Two things changed. It’s hard to put your finger on what went wrong,
but it wasn’t quite working. Jim made the decision to step aside and the Board
approached me and I decided I would have a crack at it this time. We were
sitting on 4 points from 11 games when I took over and we turned it around and
survived.”
Of his background coaching the police
team, Adamson maintains that it was a valuable experience for him to take into
his professional coaching career; “The police team were very talented, I had
players earning £2,000 per week in the Conference, and there is the Metropolitan
Police FC in the Ryman League. I was offered the position of coach there a few
years ago with a good salary while I was still in the police, but the idea of
moving to London didn’t appeal to me. We played in European championships, so I
had worked with good players before. I did my coaching badges whilst I was in
the police as you have to have them to coach at that level. The standard of
football is really good and, of course, the fitness levels are very high. We
played teams like Swindon and various others down south and we always held our
own. My left back from the police team actually left the police service and
signed for Brighton and I believe he’s still there now.”
When asked what his proudest achievement
is in the game, the manager has only one answer; “Airdrie away last season,
winning promotion. That’s my proudest achievement by miles. Winning the Third
Division title (in 08/09) was great, but I don’t think it compares. Getting us
to the First Division is a bigger achievement than that I think. When you
consider the fact that it looked like we may go down, back to Division Three, and
then the opposite happened”.
It is clear, then, that this is a club
who are not taking their new found position amongst the elite teams of the
Scottish Football League for granted. There is an air of determined optimism
running throughout the club from top to bottom.
One person at Dumbarton who is looking
forward to making his bow in the First Division is striker Patrick Walker. The
former Albion Rovers forward is currently injured and is determined to get his
share of the action as soon as possible. Even if results on the park haven’t
been exemplary so far, the teacher-cum-footballer is anxious to help his team
earn some pass marks sooner rather than later. “It’s difficult to watch the
team struggling, I’d definitely rather be playing in a struggling team than
watching from the sidelines. But the mood in the dressing room is good and
although we’ve conceded a few soft goals the team have bossed games and if we
can take the chances then we’ll compete at this level. All of the lads are
upbeat and confident. I can’t wait to be fit again so I can start contributing.
I take the boys football team at the school I teach at and they’ve been giving
me some stick about the results this season. But they gave me stick at this
point last season too and I had the last laugh then, so hopefully I can do so
again this season.”
Dumbarton’s success has also seen an
increase in season ticket sales, with over 450 sold prior to the season getting
underway and the corporate hospitality has been similarly busy, all of which
bodes well in these times of austerity and thrifty spending. Clearly the fans
will come out in numbers to support a successful team, contrary to the
predictions of falling crowds and financial oblivion that were prevalent
throughout the summer.
A final word then from Alan Adamson on
Dumbarton’s aim for the season; “Our goal is survival. We’re not just here to
make up the numbers”. Given the strides which he has made in a relatively short
space of time in club management, it is hard to argue with him.
I'm going to have to finish this at work Pete. But excellent start mate.
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