Martin McNiff has been at the vanguard of change at his club Dumbarton as the midfielder has been leading a group of homegrown players that have begun to establish themselves into the first team at The Rock.
Eleven players have worn Sons’ colours since the youth programme was revamped nearly four years ago under the direction of Community and Youth Director Jim Chapman, who also found time to win the IRN-BRU SFL Third Division Championship as first team Manager in season 2008/09.
The six foot one inch 20-year-old McNiff has become a regular in the Second Division with his club and he recognises the importance of sustained development as opposed to flash in the pan success.
McNiff said: “I have been at Dumbarton since I was 16 and joined their Under-17 side. I had been playing for three years with Clydebank Boys Club and had trials with Queen’s Park, Dundee and Partick Thistle. To be honest, I never really thought I was ready to play at a different level and in any case, I was enjoying playing with my mates so I was not too bothered about not being signed to a club.”
That changed when he had the chance to join Dumbarton and he found himself being called upon quickly as he explained: “I made my debut as a 17-year-old although I was still at school. I came on for the last 10 minutes of an away match in the Third Division against Albion Rovers in September 2008. We were winning 3-1 and it was a case of me just helping to see things out but I really enjoyed the experience.
“Jim Chapman gave me my debut and it was the season that we won the Third Division Championship. It was my only appearance and I remain glad I helped out that day as part of the club’s success that season. The team were very consistent in the second half of the season but I was in most of the squads during that time.”
McNiff was there on the historic day just over two and a half years ago when Dumbarton headed to Annan looking for the win that would clinch the Third Division title.
It was achieved with a 3-1 success with McNiff saying: “That whole day was fantastic. We went there confident we could win the title and in a pretty relaxed frame of mind as there would have had to have been a remarkable turnaround in results for us to lose it and Cowdenbeath to win it.
“I had been around the first team for most of the season and enjoyed the experience I had. I was also playing regularly at a youth level and I had a fair idea that Jim wanted me to stay for life in the Second Division.”
McNiff’s hunch was correct as he said: “I was offered a new two year deal and I was delighted to sign it. I carried on being involved in the first team when I started playing in their pre-season games and I featured in 16 games as well as playing for the Under 19s under John Joyce.
“I had that one full season under Jim as we stayed in the Second Division and he remains a special Manager to me as he got my career on its way. He is still developing the youth team players at the club and over the past couple of seasons, we have seen several players come through.”
The likes of Kieran Brannan, Alan Cook, Jamie Lyden, Nicky Devlin, Ryan Metcalf and Tony Wallace have all played first team football for Dumbarton in recent years. McNiff has clocked up the most top team appearances whereas Cook has moved onto Stirling Albion and Devlin to the SPL with Motherwell.
Last season saw a change at The Sons at first team level and after a disappointing start, Chapman’s assistant, Alan Adamson, was placed in charge of the first team with the Third Division title winning boss transferred to a community and youth role.
Three months after the switch but only six games into it due to the harsh winter, McNiff played a prominent role in a game last January that proved to be pivotal in Dumbarton beginning a move up the table and Alloa Athletic starting to move in the opposite direction towards eventual relegation.
The midfielder said: “We had started slowly in the League but things began to come together. Our 4-1 win over Alloa was really important as we played really well that night, well everybody but me did as I did not start the game well at all.
“I was disappointed but I never let my head go down and I stuck to my task of charging forward whenever I could along with my midfield colleague Andy Geggan. With the game goalless, we broke up the park to support Mark Gilhaney but his cross was sclaffed towards their defender. He never cleared it properly and I thought I had a chance to get on to it.”
What happened next saw McNiff put the annoyance at himself to good effect as he said: “I was fouled but the referee never gave it however, eventually the ball broke for me and I put all my frustrations into hitting it and it went in. That was my first ever senior goal.”
It was a night of great goals as McNiff explained: “Andy and I had been talking about both of us scoring before the game started and he ended up chipping Stephen Robertson from 35 yards. He won Dumbarton’s 'Goal of the Season' for it and I was third so it was not a bad night.
“Andy got a move to Ayr United in the First Division in the summer so we cannot charge up the pitch together nowadays. I know he is really looking forward to The Scottish Communities League Cup Semi-Final against Kilmarnock at Hampden and if our game is postponed that day, I will be going over to support him.”
The success over their Recreation Park visitors meant more than just the three points with McNiff saying: “The performance against Alloa gave us confidence and we ended up avoiding relegation. We went on a wee run of results which was great as we were all really desperate to stay in the Second Division.”
Alan Adamson had kept faith in the potential Jim Chapman had seen with McNiff explaining: “The new Manager had kept me in the team as he had got to know me when he was the Assistant Manager. It was a quick conversation during the summer when it came to re-signing as I really respect the club and what Jim and Alan have done for me.”
The Sons made another sluggish start this campaign with their opening run of only one win in their first six League games being even more frustrating for McNiff who explained: “I broke my foot in our first pre-season training session. Getting my fitness back after that was hard as I missed all our pre-season games. I could do weights in the gym but could not run as I had to get the balance right of keeping fit but not bulking up and losing mobility
“The real issue was playing in matches as that is where you get your match sharpness. I played against Berwick in The Ramsdens Cup in my first outing back and in that game and the next couple, I started to tire. I would always give my all but now I am fully fit and training really hard and able to go for the entire 90 minutes.”
McNiff added to his solitary career goal against Alloa with a double against Arbroath three weeks ago although he did not fully enjoy the afternoon saying: “That was a very strange game where 10 minutes of madness at three set pieces in the first half cost us three goals. We did not fold which was great and we battled back but eventually lost.
“We knew if we got a goal at the start of the second half, we had a sniff of getting back into things. I managed to get in front of my marker and get my head onto the ball to get us going.”
Scott Agnew added another one but the great comeback never happened with McNiff saying: “I remain convinced that a couple of unfortunate decisions when Kevin Nicoll was sent off and where the ball maybe never crossed the line cost us their fourth goal. I grabbed another goal with my head although I did not know too much about it as all I saw was the ball trickling over the line after a Scott Agnew free kick as a few of us went for it.”
Arbroath ended up clocking up their sixth home win of the season with McNiff adding ruefully: “The only satisfaction we can take from that game is that Arbroath are joint leaders and we pushed them all the way.”
The Sons will be hoping that the satisfaction of almost matching the Gayfield men will lead to increased confidence when they travel to face the other joint leaders this weekend when they pitch up at Central Park to play Cowdenbeath.
McNiff said: “It is not a ground I have had much luck at apart from a win in my youth team days. It is always a battle there and I am sure this will be another sleeves rolled up effort. Our away form in the League is good and we need to put the Scottish Cup disappointment from last Saturday against Brechin behind us.
“We want to take points from all our games as we are aiming this season for a Play-Off place at least. They beat us well at our place and are the only team that have outplayed us for long spells.”
The Sons want to redress the balance with McNiff saying: “We know that we can play better than we did in that game. We have all spoken about the fact that there has been no other team that much better than us so it must have been a bad day against Cowdenbeath so we want to do a lot better this time.”
As well as pushing Dumbarton towards promotion, McNiff has other aims saying: “First and foremost, I want to keep on enjoying my football and become an established Dumbarton player. I have had what I call a two year apprenticeship which has been about learning. You cannot just expect to join a club and go straight into their first team.
“I am growing in confidence all the time as are all the boys that are coming through and, of course, it would be great if all this eventually led to me giving up my job in a Bank and becoming a full-time footballer.”
McNiff finished by saying: “To play football only for a living is a dream but all I am focusing on at the moment is Dumbarton.”
