Kirkcaldy and Dysart 0 Musselburgh Athletic 2
No one quite knows who put the mussel into Musselburgh but, two thousand years after the Romans settled there, it rewards an old dodderer fishing for stories.
The modern success of Athletic is obvious. The East of Scotland League Cup victory over Kirkcaldy and Dysart at Albyn Park, Broxburn on Saturday, was the fourth trophy the club have lifted this season.
But other stories flitted around the windswept ground. There were tales of John White, the ghost of White Hart Lane, of another John from Musselburgh, who scored in a European final but had an interlude while an elite player of working on his father’s fishing boat, and there was the anecdote of how a young boy won a competition for a trip to the 1974 World Cup and was driven up to accept his prize buy the then manager, Willie Ormond.
There was also a man of the match from a Scottish Cup final hovering in the background. Oh, and recollections of how the club was saved, the desperation of the Falklands conflict, and the night Neil Lennon was shielded from an attacker at Tynecastle. The rescuer of club, country and Celtic manager is the one person.
Karl Cleghorn, 66, is that veteran of Athletic trials, South Atlantic war and Gorgie mayhem. He has, though, been saved himself. ‘I owe my life to the NHS,’ he says on the sidelines of Albyn Park. ‘I wasn’t expected to survive cancer but I have seen it off — so far.’
A lad from Wallyford, he has travelled the world. He was a Royal Marine. ‘I was based on Ascension Island during the Falklands conflict and got down to the islands at the end of the fighting,’ he says. He lost friends in the war and talks briefly but powerfully of the tragedy of young men failing to come back and of the mothers who survived them.
He is much more cheerful on another episode in his life. Cleghorn joined the police on leaving the navy and on May 11, 2011, was on duty at Tynecastle when Hearts hosted Celtic. During the match, a supporter ran on and confronted Neil Lennon on the touchline.
‘My colleagues called it the fastest huckle ever,’ he recalls with a grin. ‘I jumped on the guy, breaking my pinkie, but had him up the tunnel in seconds. It was just as well because the Celtic fans were baying at him.’
The incident is not forgotten by the club. ‘Celtic still send a Christmas card to the police station every year.’ He has met Lennon since.
‘I bumped into him at a funeral recently,’ he says. ‘A good guy, loves football. We need people like that in the game.’
We need people like Cleghorn, too. He was asked to step in when the club was facing administration, possibly closure, only seven years ago. He has turned it around with the help of others. ‘I am honorary president now as I have stepped back a wee bit because of my illness,’ he says. ‘But we abide by certain rules here. We don’t go into debt. We work with the community. We aim for slow, sustainable progress.’
Jim Gardiner helps with the programme for two Athletics, Musselburgh and Leith. He is thus an obvious interviewee for stories.
He does not disappoint. A Musselburgh man, he speaks with wisdom and insight of the town and its worthies. John White and Willie Ormond head that list.
White, who was killed by lightning on a golf course in 1964, is perhaps the town’s greatest hero. It is said that White’s brother, Tom, was informed of his sibling’s death while playing at the famous Musselburgh Fives.
‘That was some tournament,’ says Gardiner. ‘The big teams always put out good sides. Hibs would have Alex Cropley, Peter Marinello and Alex Edwards playing back in the day and John Greig of Rangers lifted the trophy once.’
Gardiner’s bonds with the town are strong. He once ran an amateur team from a pub owned by Ormond, member of the Famous Five and the man who coached Scotland at the 1974 World Cup.
‘I won a competition for a trip to Germany for that tournament,’ he says. ‘I was to collect it from STV and Willie — who was a pal of my dad’s — drove me up as he was appearing on a preview show.’
Gardiner, who was still in his teens, travelled to the tournament and watched the group game with Brazil that ended goalless. ‘I can still see Billy Bremner missing that open goal,’ he says with a sigh.
Another footballing hero shelters in the lee of the stand. Steven Anderson, man of the match when his St Johnstone side won the Scottish Cup in 2014, is attending the game with his father-in-law Tommy Stewart, a Musselburgh stalwart.
The conversation winds towards John Clark, the former Dundee United player, who hails from Musselburgh. ‘Aye, Big John, Fishing John,’ says Stewart, referencing a character he knows well.
Famously, Clark both scored at the Camp Nou in a United victory over Barcelona and in the two-legged final against Gothenburg in the UEFA Cup of 1987. United lost that final and Clark lost four others, too, in United colours.
He briefly became disillusioned with football and went to work on his father’s fishing boat, sailing out of Musselburgh, before returning to Tannadice.
‘Aye, he’s some man,’ says Stewart, somewhat unnecessarily, as he turns his attention to the cup final of the moment.
It may seem absurd but Athletic’s haul of four trophies — the East of Scotland Premier League title, the league cup, the under-20s development league title and the John McLay Memorial Cup — mark a season tinged with disappointment.
This, of course, was not to be gauged in the immediate aftermath of the cup final where celebrations were loud and sincere.
But the Lowland League play-off defeat to Clydebank is still a cause of frustration. There is no issue with the Bankies. The mass of Athletic supporters openly concede they were beaten by the better side. However, the route to a higher league still has the absurdity that champions do not automatically progress.
‘It’s a ridiculous system,’ says Kevin Liston, president of the club. ‘A pyramid is supposed to be just that, it should be funnelling clubs upwards.’
The disappointment of the play-offs is accepted but the ambition remains. ‘We feel we should be a Lowland League club at least.’
This aim is reinforced by the progression of East of Scotland teams such as Kelty Hearts and Bonnyrigg Rose, though the latter has been relegated from the SPFL after a devastating points reduction.
Liston took over the reins from Cleghorn just more than two years ago. ‘The promise we have made to ourselves and to our supporters is never to sink into debt,’ he says. ‘We remain debt-free which is difficult in the circumstances but central to how we run the club.
Liston, who has his own heating company, is supported by a small but dedicated committee.
‘We are looking to grow,’ he says. ‘We have plans for our stadium and we have a fine young manager in Liam Burns.’
There is an urge to make a season of four trophies a staging post rather than a destination. Liston, who admits climbing over the walls of Olivebank as a boy, salutes a support that is growing. Two supporters’ coaches travelled to watch the team on Saturday.
There are also plans to salute John White. A bench sits outside Brinton Hall in the town. ‘It is in a wee bit of disrepair,’ says Liston. ‘We want to approach the council to take it inside the park, restore it and have it available for people to sit to watch a game.’
It would be yet another Musselburgh fitba’ tale.