Pragmatic Approach

East Fife’s Assistant Manager Scott Crabbe learnt to keep his feet on the ground after losing a boot and he is passing his pragmatic approach to the game on to the New Bayview squad in their battle to avoid being dragged into the relegation Play-Offs in the Second Division.

Crabbe explains why he has such a grounded approach, “I was at my second club, Dundee United, in August 1993 and we were playing a League Cup Quarter Final tie at Tannadice against Falkirk. The game had ended 3-3, I had come on as a substitute and then it went to a penalty shoot-out in front of the United fans. Ian McCall missed his kick and I had the chance to win it. I scored and in the excitement I took my right boot off and threw it into the crowd.”

“I mentioned it in the press conference afterwards as it was a brand new pair of Puma Kings I had on and the publicity brought the guy forward who had caught it. I got told he had arrived at Tannadice and went out thinking he wanted me to autograph it for him. I asked where he wanted me to sign it but he said he didn’t want my autograph he was just returning it in the hope that he could get a couple of complimentary tickets for another game. We sorted him out for that but it did feel a bit of a custard pie moment. I learnt from that never to assume anything and that has stuck with me since.”

Crabbe, who turns 42 in the summer, started his career professionally at Heart of Midlothian in 1986 after being spotted playing for Tynecastle Boys Club and having trials with the Gorgie side that led to him being registered as an ‘S’ Form signing when he was only 13.

It was a big deal for Crabbe as he explained, “Signing for Hearts was a dream as I was a big time Hearts fan. I made my debut aged 17 down at Clydebank when Alex MacDonald and Sandy Jardine were in charge and that was a great moment. It was a great day and I thought I played well but big Jim Gallacher, who was their ’keeper, denied me a goal on my debut a couple of times. He was a good ’keeper and so is his son, Paul, at St. Mirren.”

Appearances for the first team tended to be irregular for the young Crabbe as MacDonald introduced him gently however, the first season he played on a consistent basis, in 1989/90, he won the Young Player of the Year honour. Crabbe beams, “I scored 17 goals that year and it was one of those seasons where everything just fell at my feet. I was never an out and out goalscorer but that was a great year.

A bad case of food poisoning slowed up his progress however, in the summer of 1991, Crabbe found himself in demand although his naivety got him into bother. The Edinburgh player was told by then Hearts boss Joe Jordan that Falkirk Manager Alex Totten was keen to speak to him about a move and Crabbe thought that the expected response to that approach was to be polite and listen to what Totten had to say.

Crabbe explains, “I told Gary MacKay and John Robertson I was going to have a chat and they asked me if I wanted to leave. I said no but all Alex Totten wanted was a chat and they soon put me right that it looked like I was being transferred. After agreeing to the chat, I told Joe and Alex that I wanted to stay at Hearts and I don’t think either of them were too chuffed.”

“I stayed for another year but it was always in the back of my mind that perhaps Joe did not fancy me as a player. The following season started and I was beginning to feel like it was time to move on and I agreed to join Dundee United. I knew I was going on the Friday but sat on the bench for Hearts in a European tie on the Wednesday night. It was an emotional night and I threw my shirt into the fans afterwards.”

The lure of Tayside was Jim McLean with Crabbe saying, “As soon as I met Jim McLean, I wanted to sign for him as his technical knowledge about the game was amazing.”

The penalty against Falkirk was the highlight of Crabbe’s four years at Tannadice that was severely blighted by injury and he recalls, “I broke my leg and missed out on the Scottish Cup Final in 1994 and then after that, I severely ruptured my patella tendon. My family and I loved life up in Broughty Ferry but on the pitch it was not a successful time due to the injuries.”

Totten’s interest in the player emerged again in January 1997 and this time Crabbe signed straight away. He explained, “Tommy McLean was in charge of United by this time and he was very honest with me about my chances at United and that I would probably get my career going again quicker with Falkirk. It was a step down to the First Division but it was not really a backward step as four months later I played in the Scottish Cup Final against Kilmarnock.”

Crabbe paid credit to Totten’s role in the Bairns success saying, “Alex was a real father figure to everyone in that dressing room. He worked incredibly hard for his players and in return, you would run through a brick wall for him. I have played in a lot of teams with great spirit but that one topped the lot as it was the best spirit I have ever seen in my life.”

Three more years were spent at Falkirk however, the delay in building a new stadium to replace their Brockville home saw Crabbe leave for Livingston and the lure of SPL football if a promotion place was secured. He said, “Brockville was a great old fashioned place to play football and there were some great players there like Kevin McAllister but going into the last quarter of the season knowing that we wouldn’t go up was a real negative feeling. It was a big decision to leave and I know if Falkirk had their new stadium in place then I would have stayed.”

Livingston were a club on the up at that time and living in East Calder, it was right on his doorstep. The first 12 months were a success with Crabbe saying, “I was working with two very experienced Managers in Jim Leishman and David Hay. 

It was an exciting time and the plan for me was to help the push into the SPL and then help them consolidate in the SPL.

It was working well and I picked up my first League winners’ medal in May 2001. However, I soon realised I was part of a conveyor belt at Almondvale and it was virtually nine out and nine in at the start of the new season. I thought I did okay in the pre-season games however, it seemed new players were going to be picked regardless and I went out on loan to Raith Rovers where I played in a League Cup tie and that came back to haunt me later in the season.”

After three months in Kirkcaldy, Crabbe was signed for Ayr United by Gordon Dalziel where his travelling partner on the road west was John Hughes, who is of course now Manager of Hibernian with Crabbe saying, “You could tell then he was going to be a Manager as he talked knowledgably about League and Scottish football all the way there and back.”

It was a successful season for the Honest Men in the Cups with a date with Rangers in The CIS Insurance Cup Final quickly followed by a Scottish Cup Semi-Final match with Celtic. Crabbe said, “I missed the Final with Rangers as a result of being cup-tied because of my game for Raith Rovers. I played in the Scottish Cup scoring against Dundee United home and away, which was a strange experience and against Celtic in the Semi-Final.”

Crabbe turned 34 at the start of the 2002/03 season and decided to go part-time, missing the target he set himself when he started as a youngster to play full-time until he was 35 by a year however, the switch was not an easy one.

He said, “I signed for Alloa and the switch to part-time took a lot of getting used to as everything changes in terms of when you train and when you eat. I found it a massive difference and I had a really indifferent spell there and my hat still goes off to any part time side that beats a full time one as the gulf in terms of preparation is big.”

Former Bairn team-mate Kevin McAllister took Crabbe to Albion Rovers when he was the Manager at Cliftonhill in February 2004 with Crabbe taking on the role of Player/Assistant Manager. It was a frustrating time as Crabbe explains, “Cliftonhill is not the best of grounds but the people that run the club are really good. The lack of facilities to train properly frustrated Kevin and me but we gave it a real go but things were not happening quickly enough for Kevin and he left in January 2005 and I went too.”

Leaving a Third Division club aged 36 and moving to a First Division club is not the normal route taken however, that is exactly what Crabbe did when he joined a former Manager at a former club when Gordon Dalziel took him to Raith Rovers. Crabbe said, “I thought I slipped back into things well and playing with First Division players made it easier for me. I was there for a season and a half before making New Bayview my last playing stop.”

Dave Baikie convinced Crabbe to have an extension to his playing career in season 2006/07 however, Crabbe knew after a few games that his playing days were coming to an end saying, “I hung the boots up as I knew it was time to go. Dave Baikie asked me to do some coaching work with the strikers at the club and I did that plus I went back to my first love of Hearts and did some Corporate Hospitality work with them. That was me for about a season and a half until Dave Baikie and East Fife parted company.”

Stevie Crawford was quickly installed as caretaker Player/Manager and he quickly promoted Crabbe from strikers coach to interim Assistant Manager in April 2009.

It is a move he has never regretted saying, “We are doing okay and I think everyone connected with the club are proud to have a Scottish internationalist at the helm. It is a big selling point in attracting players as they know what Stevie has done in the game. The boys love the training we put together and have responded well in an unusual situation where the Manager does the same training as them and Gordon Forrest, Jason Dair and I supervise from the sidelines.”

“Stevie has started rebuilding the team and next season he will be able to fully say that he has the squad of players he wants and the players that will play football the way he wants it played and although some of the stuff we have played this year has been great, we need to be more consistent. He has helped set up the youth system at the club again and that is a big thing for a part-time club.”

Crabbe and his Fife colleagues take on Stenhousemuir on Saturday knowing that a win will take them away from the Play-Off zone although nothing is being taken for granted with Crabbe saying, “This will be a massive game to win and of course, a win makes us safe. Stenhousemuir will be stuffy but it would be a good feeling to get the job done.”