East Stirlingshire finished at the bottom of Scottish League football last season and they decided that they would not settle for that this season and they have come out fighting – fighting fit – to ensure that they enjoy much better fortune.
The Shire face Rangers this weekend in the Ibrox club's first ever Third Division home fixture and Chairman TONY FORD decided that if they are coming out fighting this season, they would have to be prepared for it and that they better have the military behind them.
Ford explained: “Last summer was really tough for our club as we faced a lot of pressure from people that we owed money to. Results on the field suffered as we had a very inexperienced team but we have done what we set out to do as we do not owe anyone a penny at the moment.
“We got John Coughlin on board as our Head Coach late on and we assembled just before the season started. As a result, our pre-season preparations suffered and John felt that the condition of the squad was not great and that hurt us at times as we lacked an edge.”
Determined to do better, the Shire have rallied with Ford adding: “When John and I spoke about the plans for our players this season, we wanted to do what’s best for the players in terms of fitness, and what was best for them was to have military trainers involved.
“A former colleague of mine runs a military fitness programme and we spoke to him about helping out and he was delighted to do so. Mind you, I am not so sure the players agreed in the early stages!”
Ford has felt the pain himself in the past as he said: “I am ex-military but keeping fit in my job was quite difficult as I was a submariner. There is not a lot of space to work in that environment so you would always face a really hard routine when you came back from a couple of months away on a sub.
"Personal pride plays a huge part as well but you are sluggish and I suppose what we went through is like what a pre-season programme is for players.”
The training programme for the Shire players began amongst the wind and rain at the Little Kerse training ground in Central Scotland with Ford adding: “The demands on the squad were high from the off and there was no slowing down despite the weather being horrendous when we kicked off our first few sessions. The players were doing push-ups in puddles.
“The instructors from Scottish Military Fitness are strong characters and are still serving in the forces. They are dedicated to what they do and fitness is their life.”
The good news for the players is that the hard work will not stop when the fitness trainers leave as Coughlin has brought in Barry Carmichael as the club’s Fitness and Conditioning Coach to work with them every week and the boys from the military will also be checking in.
Carmichael previously worked with the Shire when Jim McInally was in charge and Ford added: “This is another great move for us. Barry has worked with us and other clubs in higher divisions and he really knows his stuff.
“He will be a key member of the coaching team and he also will be able to offer advice on things like diet and lifestyle choices. This move again underlines the professionalism and attention to detail we are trying to bring to the club.”
Despite their finishing position last season, it could still be a memorable one for Shire fans thanks to on-loan Hibernian goalkeeper Calum Antell’s stint at the club. The Welshman was a stand-out and Ford reckons that Antell’s time at the club could end up being discussed in the same manner that Sir Alex Ferguson’s brief spell as Manager at the club was.
He explained: “Calum was fantastic in goal for us and he learned a lot as well. I reckon that Calum is good enough to go on and play for his country in the future.
“East Stirlingshire and Alex Ferguson are always linked as people talk about him starting his managerial career here and I reckon that it will be the same for Calum. He will go on to great things in his career and people will be able to say they first saw him play at senior level here.”
Off the field, things at the Shire have improved as well and Coughlin has seen an improvement in his budget as a result with Ford adding: “Cutting our cloth to fit has resulted in an upped budget for John and you can see the benefit already in that he has attracted a very experienced player in David Greenhill to the club from Berwick Rangers.
“We have also set out a plan for the next couple of seasons and that is a huge turnaround from last season when everything went from day to day. Being extremely prudent was hard short-term however, it will prove to be beneficial in the longer term.”
Ford praised his management team at the club saying: “To be honest, we were a bit gobsmacked when John agreed to come here with his team. He is a really experienced Manager and we were in a bit of a state. Not only did he come but he brought his management team with him in Matt Kerr, Arthur Bell and the Goalkeeping Coach Alex Connon joining.
“They are all good footballing guys and you can see the benefit of the work Alex brought out in Calum.”
Ford added: “We are committed to doing the best we can here. The boys have trained very hard for the season ahead. They came in for full days and several nights and were worked really hard. When they came in for the full days, we provided them with a healthy lunch and things like that show the progress we are making as a club.”
There is a return gesture from the club for their support as East Stirlingshire are to continue their policy of allowing present and past members of the Armed Forces into their home games free of charge in the new season.
Ford said: “I was in the Navy for over 30 years and I know how much gestures like this mean to people who are serving their country. Serving Forces members and veterans are welcome into our games free and that will continue as long as I am involved with the Shire.”
The instructor assigned to getting East Stirlingshire ready for the new season, BRIAN JOHNSTONE, spoke about the training programme saying: “In general, we were looking to work the players hard and improve their general fitness levels. We looked to give them a base for the new season that they can work from and being military based training, a lot of work was done on heart rate, strength and development.
“It is different to a normal pre-season which usually involves a lot of running as there are military type circuits, lots of body weight exercises and drills which are interspersed with crossover work on strength work.”
Johnstone added: “The plan was to give them a core fitness level that they can depend on for the season. My background is that I was an Army Physical Training Instructor and I still do that in the Territorial Army. I am studying for a Masters in Exercise Science at Glasgow University so it was a great opportunity for me to gain work experience in a very different environment.
“I am also a huge football fan and coach the Edinburgh University side in the East of Scotland League so I know how to mix in military training with football related activities. Scottish Military Fitness was set up by my friend who was in the Navy with Tony Ford and I work with him. Tony asked what we could do to help with East Stirling and because of my footballing background, I was asked to lead the programme.”
The Shire players were good students with Johnstone saying: “We started our sessions off with pre-tests and thankfully, most of the players made the standard or were very close to making the standard. Those that fell short were on course after a couple of sessions.
“We spent four weeks in helping get the guys ready and then Barry Carmichael took over for the rest of the season. He is my lecturer at college so the boys know I will be keeping tabs on them.”
There were no assault courses for the Shire players to manoeuvre as part of their programme with Johnstone saying: “I am not sure John Coughlin would have been pleased with his players doing one of those. Our programme was all about fitness training and making it specific to footballers.
“We did not train the goalkeepers all the same as they are a different breed!” laughed Johnstone.
East Stirlingshire Head Coach, JOHN COUGHLIN, said: “When I looked back at last season’s preparations, I knew it was not good enough. We came in late and there was little in the way of structure or kit. We wanted to change that and I thought the best way of doing that was to get specialists in, guys who would be as determined as we were to get the players as fit as possible.
“The Scottish Military Fitness guys came in through the help of the Chairman and it was a great idea from him. I met them and said what I was after and they said 'leave it in our hands' and I was more than happy to do that.”
There are no gimmicks involved as far as Coughlin is concerned as he said: “There is not a novelty thing as the trainers will dip in and out all season. This programme gives us and the players the best possible chance to do better than we did last season.
“Our approach brought a mixed reaction from the players as they were not sure what to expect but after a couple of sessions, they were positive.”
The fact that it is not just stamina work after stamina work brought the Shire players on board with Coughlin saying: “The players responded to the trainers in a willing way and I am delighted with the work that has been put in especially as Barry Carmichael will be carrying their work forward. The guys looked to get the players as fit as possible but they do it with a scientific edge which is a bit different.
“There has been a good harmony between everyone and it was noticeable that the trainers had no respect for egos. They did not worry about what a player had done in the past, they just saw a player as someone they had to get fit.”
The former St. Mirren, Berwick Rangers and Stenhousemuir boss said: “I have obviously been involved in a number of pre-seasons so it was great to see new techniques that I may not have picked up during my research. Nowadays, we are all looking for the all-round footballing athlete. It is no longer enough to be a good footballer or someone who can run all day, a player needs to have both.
“These trainers have tried to do that and hopefully, they have added a bit of steel to the players’ character as well.”
Everything about the Shire is looking fitter this season with Coughlin saying: “The players will be fitter on the pitch and off the pitch, things are a lot brighter as well. Matters have moved on one hundred percent since I took the job a year ago but to be fair to the people at the club, they told me it would be a really hard shift.
“There was nothing in place, no kit, no physio, no players and I was also starting after most clubs had begun their pre-season. I could go on and on but there is no point and people like the Chairman have worked incredibly hard to move us forward.
“Stevie Barr at Little Kerse gave us a bit of a pitch to train on last season whereas this season, we had a full pitch to do pre-season on and will be able to use throughout this season. We missed out on a lot last season and it affected us. Beating Montrose in the first game was a surprise as our preparations were terrible and it was a false dawn.”
The lack of preparation caught up with the Shire after that success and they went on a 12 game run, with 10 defeats suffered in it, before they won again.
Coughlin said: “Off the pitch, the club was more of a success as they paid off their debts and became one of the few clubs to run at a profit. The policy was to take a one season hit, it was painful at times on the pitch and I am sure the fans would agree with that as we had a young inexperienced side.
“Things are a lot more positive now and all the hard work that was carried out helps to attract the right players to the Shire. We play at a nice ground, we have the players kitted out well and everything is now getting run to make the club better for players and fans.”
That improvement has seen Coughlin able to entice a couple of his former charges back to work with him in former Berwick Rangers midfielder David Greenhill and ex-Stenhousemuir frontman Paul Quinn.
Coughlin said: “We were very keen to get David in as he has a lot of games under his belt. We managed to have Craig Winter here for a short time last season on loan from Cowdenbeath and he had played more games than the rest of the squad put together. We picked up when he was here and that was no surprise.
“Paul is another player with a good few games under his belt and having improved the squad, we should get improved results.”
Recruiting fitness co-ordinator Carmichael is another win for Coughlin as he explained: “Having Barry here allows me to spend more time on the players individually. I can coach them and talk to them knowing that their fitness is being worked on whereas last season, we looked to do both and never quite mastered any of them.
“Everyone is bringing something to the party now and we should have a much better season.”
There are other green shoots of recovery at the club as well with Coughlin saying: “Our Under-19 squad is progressing well and we are looking for these players to push for first team action this season. We are committed to their development at the club because if you are a part-time club, you have to use all the resources available to you and we have 16 players at Under-19 level that could play in our first team. They can see that light at the end of the tunnel and hopefully, that motivates them.
“These guys will get their chance and although things are going well at the moment, we do not have the funds required to have loads of experienced players at the club. Experience costs money as anyone in the SFL will tell you.”
Coughlin said: “We are improving all the time as the results against Ayr United and Airdrie United have shown and improved fitness levels helped do that. We are also improving as a club and having Scottish Military Fitness here in the first place shows that.”
It was a tough introduction for new recruit DAVID GREENHILL at East Stirlingshire with the former Berwick Rangers player saying: “It was certainly a different approach. The trainers were great and the person that is still in the Army gave us a bit of a doing early on. It was my tenth or eleventh pre-season and it was a hard start to the season.
“You usually begin by running and build up from there but we jumped straight into circuits and body work. It was really good, the trainers really knew their stuff and always had something up their sleeve which kept you on your toes.”
Greenhill was asked about his summer move and he said: “I moved over from Berwick to work with the Manager again. He signed me for Berwick in the first place and it is good to play for him again. I know him well and he impressed me with his vision on how he is going to take East Stirling forward.
“I had the chance to go to Junior teams but this is a good senior side that is looking to improve and move to a higher place in the division. I want to be part of that.”
The 27-year-old will be an integral part as he said: “I am probably the oldest player at the club now which is a new experience for me. We have a few good young players but need a couple of older heads and if we get them on board, then we will do fine.”
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