Annan have qualified for the end of season Play-Offs and goalkeeper Kenny Arthur is hoping that his side carry the same good fortune that he enjoyed as a Partick Thistle shot-stopper back in 2006.
Arthur said: “Annan have reached the Play-Offs a bit easier than Partick did as we sneaked into fourth place. We ended up winning the Play-Off Final at Peterhead and being promoted to the First Division.”
“We lost the first leg of the Final and then got an equaliser with the last kick of the ball in the second. They had hit the post a couple of times 5 minutes before that. I saved the first penalty and that was the only one missed so we used our get out of jail card that day.”
The 35-year-old was also promoted during his time at English side Rochdale however that was by more conventional means as he explained: “We finished in the top 3 in League 2 and that got us automatic promotion so I avoided the Play-Offs down there.”
“It is different in England with the final at Wembley as opposed to a two legged final that we have up here. That would have been a good experience and everyone says that if you are not going to win the league the best way to go up is to go up via the Play-Off Final.
“However when you come to the end of a long hard season and you face high intensity and high profile games perhaps it might be more sensible to say we will go up in second or third place. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush sort of thing.”
There is no such luxury for Annan with Arthur adding: “We will have to play extra games to get promoted here but we are fine with that. There is a hard working ethos across the club and everyone pulls together down here.”
“If we have to be promoted via the Play-Offs then we will look to do things that way.”
Arthur is enjoying his third taste of going for promotion even though he did not expect to play such a prominent part in over 30 games this season as he explained: “Annan has been good move for me and I have played in more games than I thought I would when I signed. I thought I would be doing more coaching than playing but by hook or by crook I got myself into the team and have stayed there.”
Arthur who has also played for Accrington Stanley, Grimsby Town and Airdrie said: “The team has done really well. I have enjoyed it with a good bunch of boys. The manager has put a good culture in place amongst the players and a similar ethos is in place right across the club.”
“Everyone pulls together down there and it is a pleasure to play at Galabank.”
The shot-stopper added: “When you are getting to the latter stages of your career you do just judge things on a one game at a time basis. Your next game could be your last as your body may just say enough is enough or you just can’t get yourself up to a standard you are happy with.”
Arthur has already started making plans for when he is not happy with the standard he is capable of producing as he explained: “I am doing some coaching at Annan and at Queen of the South as well and I have enjoyed it. I am also involved with Northern Ireland under-19's and it is a side of the game I enjoy.”
“The opportunities presented themselves at a time when I had not thought much about coaching to be honest. I was into my Academic career and developing my business and then things popped up and I thought why not.”
“I have really enjoyed it and it has been good to see football from a different side.”
One of the reasons that Arthur had not looked too much into coaching after playing was due to his rapidly expanding business of KA Goalkeeping which supplies goalkeeping gloves to shot-stoppers at all levels of the game.”
Arthur said: “The business is going ok. It started off really small but it has developed nicely. Sales Volumes have increased by 50% in the last 3 years - that is up to 5,000 pairs last season. Funnily enough my business year matches the football this season and up until February this year we sold over 6,000 so we should see another decent rise this year.”
“The thinking behind the gloves is that the goalkeeper has to trust in their hands. That means they have to trust in the product and our target goalkeepers, or customers if you wish, is any goalkeeper that takes their role seriously.”
There are plenty of goalkeepers taking things seriously as Arthur explained: “We have high end professional goalkeepers wearing them all the way through to the junior and amateur ranks and under-12 goalkeepers as well. I was serious about my sport when I was a kid and I like delivering a product to people serious about their sport as well.”
“I spotted a gap in the market when I was at studying whilst I was at Partick Thistle. I was doing a Risk Management Degree at Glasgow Caledonian University as I knew that I was never going to be a good enough footballer to rely on retiring when I finished playing.”
“I wanted to do something else when I had spare time and that included working in a Bank for a year as well. I got some work experience doing that but I did not really enjoy it.”
Extra free time after his move south in 2007 helped Arthur build his business as he explained: “When I moved to England I had done all my research into the gloves. I also had a lot of time on my hands as my girlfriend, now my wife, stayed up here finishing her Degree.”
“It was a business I fancied doing and it all fitted together nicely at that time of my life. At the very start the gloves were all over my house and that was to be expected in a developing business. Every penny was a prisoner so you did things yourself.”
“It was a great experience but I would be looking to make myself some beans on toast but I would have to take a couple of pairs of rolled finger gloves out of the pot.”
Arthur finished by saying: “It has developed a bit from there and we have our own unit now where the gloves are stored. It will grow again by using an order fulfilment company that can take things onto an even grander scale.”
And will Annan be playing on a grander scale next season Arthur was asked and he said: “We will give it a real go and you never know. Getting through the play-offs a second time would be decent.”
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