INTERVIEWS 2009-2010

Ross Dorward

This week I have been talking to our experienced full back Ross Dorward.

At the age of 9, I started playing football with Tayport Thistle but unfortunately there disagreement and my dad and a pal formed Tayport Boys. Sinc Murray and Andy Barman gave me a chance to join St Andrews Colts where I had a successful time winning Player of the Year, Players Player and Managers Player of the Year. I played for Madras College football Team and in 1993 in the under14's we won the Scottish Schools Junior Championship Shield which was a great achievement for the school. They said we made Scottish footballing history.We also won the Fife under 16's Cup Final against Buckhaven High School playing at Recreation Park. When I turned 16 in 1995 I went to St Andrews Juniors and then onto Montrose F.C. where I got into the senior team and did well. Tommy Campbell then came in and slowly a lot of good young players were moved on, including me. In 1998 I joined Lochee United and went managed to win 2 league winners medals and several cup winners medals. I was sidelined with a foot injury which was eventually diagnosed as a break and after recovering it was hard getting back into the team and in March last year i joined United initially on loan at the end of last season and after nearly 12 happy years with Lochee, I decided to leave and join St Andrews permanently. I was granted a testimonial by Lochee and played a Scottish Junior Select Side at Thomson Park on the 6th December, a day I will remember for the rest of my life.

My Mum and Dad have always been there for me through my football and encouraging me all the time, coming to watch home and away in all weathers, but there also encouraged me to back up my football academically. I went to Elmwood College and managed to get a H.N.C.in Sport Coaching and Development. From there I went into the Motor Trade and was there for a good number of years until 2006 when I bought a grocer and paper shop in St Andrews.

I still have a few dreams to fulfil but at the moment am enjoying my football and my family. I enjoy playing a bit of Golf but the children and work mean i don’t get to play as much as I’d like.

As a kid I was a Dundee United fan and still am and it was a great honour to play at Tannadice against Tayport in the Junior Cup Final and along with the semi final against Maryhill they are probably my most memorable games. When I was at Montrose I played with a guy called Innes McDonald he was a great player he is a hero up at Links Park, he played for Airdrie as well under Gordon McQueen but my favourite player of all time is Paolo Maldini he is so laid back and went on for years longer than anybody should at the highest level.
Wayne Rooney is my favourite player at the minute he can score great goals from nothing and will feature highly at the World Cup for England and if he scores the goals England could well win it.
I would love to see United climb the table, all the guys know that we are good enough and certainly shouldn’t be in the situation that we are in, so hopefully once we start playing again we can climb the table quickly and build for next season, St Andrews should have a side in the top flight of Junior football and I think we are good enough to get it there, we owe it to the guys behind the scenes for all the hard work that they put in that nobody sees. So come on out and support us!

Mark McGuigan

This week’s interview is with midfielder Mark McGuigan

I started off by asking him about his career so far, “I started off playing for a local boys club team in East Kilbride then signed for Celtic aged 10. Having supported Celtic all my life this was a massive honour and I was proud to have been able to say I’d played there.
I was at Celtic for 5 and a half years, the highlight was when I captained the under 15’s team to the final of the European Championship in Milan. We were defeated 2-1 in the final by Anderlecht, but had beaten teams like AC Milan, Liverpool and Sturm Graz to get there.
It was a great tournament and a great experience personally. Sadly when it came to contract time I was told by Tommy Burns that I was too small and slight to be offered a full time contract with the club. He had stated on the phone to my dad that it wasn’t a footballing decision but it was merely down to my physical or rather my lack of physical presence. To be told at 15 and half that you were not physically strong was pretty hard to take and it took me a long while to get back into football. I felt really let down by Celtic and Tommy Burns in particular.”
“I had a few run outs with Hibs, after Celtic however, in truth, my heart wasn’t in it but my dad told me to stick at it and keep my head up but it was about a year and a half later before I got back into the game. I signed for Blantyre Vics and played there for 2 years. I enjoyed my time there and was lucky enough to be capped for Scotland under 19’s Juvenile’s and captained the team in a match against Northern Ireland at Broadwood which we won 3-2!”
“It was at this point I decided to come to University in Dundee and luckily someone who had watched me play for Blantyre gave me Ian Campbell, the Forfar assistant managers, phone number, and told me to phone him when I settled in at Dundee.”
“I began training with Forfar and after adapting to the pace of the sessions and the bounce games I was involved in; I began to find my feet. I was hopeful I could win a contract there but I was keen to get actual match fitness and a chance meeting with our head scout Kris Brash (I wonder if it was in a supermarket? Ed), I was introduced to St Andrews Utd for the first time.”
“After speaking with the gaffer I agreed to sign, however I continued to train and play the occasional bounce game with Forfar. I was lucky enough to play against Jody Morris at McDiarmid Park during one friendly.”
“January came and the Forfar manager Dick Campbell felt I had done enough to warrant a contract. I managed to sign a deal which allowed me to play for both St Andrew’s and Forfar. I never really understood it myself but both managers agreed that it would be for me benefit.”
“When Forfar were drawn against Rangers in the Scottish Cup I was itching to be involved, even if it was just to get on the bench. I like to remind the majority of our dressing room it was a dream to have played against the “2nd” biggest club in Scotland. Doesn’t go down to well but its all part of the banter. As luck would have it I was named on the bench and came on with 16 minutes to go, even managed to get myself a yellow card which Dick Campbell wasn’t too happy about but these things happen. I still maintain I went for the ball! Ha-ha. (Steven Naismith still has the bruise Ed.). It was easily the highlight of my career and it’s fair to say I had a few friends and family watching on Sky Sports that night. Mush tries to kid the boys on he played on Sky during the Victory Shield but I’m not even sure if he made the bench, so I’m quite happy to say I’ve played to millions worldwide, even if its just to wind Mush up.
This season I signed a 2 year deal at St Andrews after agreeing with Dick Campbell that in order for me to progress as player I would have to be playing regular football. “

Mark is studying Sport and Exercise Science at Dundee’s Abertay University and hopes to go on to become a P.E teacher or Conditioning Coach. He told me that his favourite current player is Steven Gerrard although he also likes s watching Messi, Xavi and Iniesta in action. His all time hero however is Celtic legend Henrik Larsson I started supporting Celtic at a time when we weren’t doing so great, and when things started going our way I just associate that with Henrik. He had everything, was easily world class and was a model pro. Obviously for a fanatical Celtic fan his favourite ground is Celtic Park although he does have a soft spot for Steelend????.I then asked him about his best moment in football, after I had ruled out kicking Steven Naismith he told me that it was when Dick Campbell told me to get ready because I was about to go on against Rangers. I’ll never forget that feeling, it might never happen again but no one can take it away from me, I loved it. He says the biggest influence on his career is his Dad, “He was the one who got me into football and since I started playing he’s been right there with me and given me all the advice and help I could’ve hoped for. He played professional himself for clubs like Stranraer and Albion Rovers among others, so he knows the game and it would’ve been silly for me to ignore it. He did do my head in at times although I hear he’s getting better because he now follows my younger brother Anthony as he plays for Hearts. It was all for my benefit though and I’ll always be thankful for that. I’ve told him he’ll have to keep quiet at the sidelines, doubt whether he’ll listen though. The best game he has played in was the Semi Final of the tournament in Milan when I was with Celtic. We were drawn against AC Milan and there was a great crowd at the match. The Italian fans were so passionate and it was an excellent atmosphere, even with it only being an Under 15’s match. Milan were obviously tipped as red hot favourites, but we were up for it and got tore into them from the start. We won 2-0 and surprised a few folk. I loved every minute of it and it was great to get to the final. Given the chance he would sign Lionel Messi for United but with the proviso he could keep up with the United training. I asked him how hard it was being on the east of Scotland when he is from the west “the only real difference is that there are hardly any Celtic fans! It’s amazing how much I’m actually in the minority over here, I love the banter though so it’s not a major issue, you just find out that everyone is a secret Rangers fan, Gus Malone included! Apart from the obvious things like missing my family and my mates it’s not that different,…the accent’s awful though! (You think you have trouble! Ed.)

Finally Mark told me that everyone in the changing room is totally focused on us staying in this league. We’ve worked too hard to get here, to throw it away in one season. We just need a little bit of luck, and everyone to get behind us and we’ll be fine. Keep the faith!.

Bill Greig - Committee Member 1950's & 60's

Three weeks ago Bill Greig celebrated his 90th birthday and celebrated his big day with a meal in the Social Club. I took the chance to have a chat with Bill about the old days.

The first story  Bill told me was about the hut that existed prior to the building of the current club. This building apparently came from an old army camp near Milnathort and arrived one Sunday morning on the back of a flat bed lorry. It took a gang of men about three weekends to put it back together and this included basing the floor on thick rubber belts "acquired" from the Fife Pits. He also told me that there was a weird phenomenan connected with this construction and that was the mystery of the missing hammers, many going missing during construction .

He also told me about the hard work that was carried out to improve the drainage at the dressing room end of the ground, back breaking work that took several weekends but the difference the work made is plain to see.

Players wages were very different in Bill's time, £5 signing on fee and 6s 6d per week, half a crown if the team won, in addition the team was picked by the committee on a Monday evening, with Saturdays performance fresh in the mind. I cant see that happening these days, we would never get 11 players agreed on.

Finally for this week, Bill told me a story of when he was in a pub in the Glasgow area frequented by players of both sides Rangers and Celtic. A Rangers player walked in and started complaining that he was in talks over a new contract and all the Ibrox club would offer was £12 per week, to which the Celtic players all told him not to be so greedy as they were on a maximum of £8 per week, those were the days.

Ricky Patrick 02/02/10

This week I have been talking to United’s skipper Ricky Patrick, Ricky is in his 5th year at Recreation Park and would be the first name on many supporters team sheet. Mr Reliable never gives less than 100% and is usually in the top three when it comes to the end of season awards.

Ricky started his career as a schoolboy with Rangers, the team he supports, before joining Hibernian, during this time Ricky played for Scotland at u14 level, on leaving school Ricky joined Albion Rovers and once again played for Scotland at u18 level during this time he played in a Scotland side that defeated England at Hampden.

The National Stadium played a big part in Ricky’s early career, as he made his debut for Albion at Hampden as a 17 year old, Ricky enjoyed his time at Rovers but left in 2005 before joining United, and so far he has won the Kingdom Kegs Cup and captained last seasons Championship winning Central League side.

Unsurprisingly Hampden is Ricky’s favourite ground but obviously Recreation Park figures very highly in his thoughts, he says that his parents and grandfather have been a massive influence on his career and have supported him at all times, a fact born out by his parents presence at every United game.

As a kid Ricky’s hero was Ally McCoist, no surprise for a Rangers fan growing up in the 90’s but these days he likes watching Lionel Messi, he says that the skilful Argentinean his remarkable similarities with himself.

One player that Ricky thinks would fit in to the set up at United is Hull City midfielder Jimmy Bullard; he says that he would fit in quite nicely to the dressing room, stating his temperament would be ideal as he is a nutter.

The team spirit at St Andrews is one thing that Ricky is proud of, he says it’s the best that he has ever known, admitting that it was poor during the last time the club was in the Premier League, a season that saw relegation, but this season is much different. He saws the only thing missing from this side challenging at the top of the division is confidence and believes that was coming before the enforced break.

He told me that the Team nights out are becoming legendry and almost a full attendance is guaranteed, in the last three years there has been a sing song at some stage with the manager even taking a turn however the star of the show is a certain diminutive left back who has a fear of shopping trolleys.

Finally, Ricky is a respected player not only at St Andrews but throughout Junior football, however, he wouldn’t want to play anywhere else, unless of course Walter came knocking.

Allan Ramsey 27/01/10

In this week’s second interview I have been speaking to United’s experienced midfielder Allan Ramsey, during a successful career at Junior level Allan has basically won everything there is to win although as we will find out later he would love to take St Andrews up in to the Super league.