WHERE THE HEART IS ?

The picture above shows just one side of Glebe Park, the football ground of Brechin City FC, currently plying their trade in Scottish League Two.   Now you might be wondering why I would show this photo and go on a bit about Brechin City.   Well, the explanation is simple.

Aficionados of these pages will by now be bored witless by my penchant for following the fortunes of lesser known football clubs - Fort William, Stoke Gabriel, etc.  I`m not alone in that endeavour as I have a good friend in Southampton, like me a lifelong Saints fan, who follows Stenhousemuir and there was a time when he and I were planning to visit when they played East Stirling, only for the latter to get relegated from the Scottish League.

Now I have also been wandering through my 2018 version of the AA large scale road atlas of Great Britain and I came across a cluster of small(ish) Scottish towns in close proximity to each other to the south of Aberdeen.  Places like Montrose, Forfar, Arbroath and Brechin, who all have professional football teams playing in the Scottish League.  In terms of `performance` on the field of play, pride of place must go to Arbroath who are well settled in the Scottish Championship.  Montrose and Forfar play in Scottish League One (where Forfar are currently bottom) and Brechin play in League Two (and are also currently bottom.)

So naturally in order of priority I started finding out about Brechin City - yes, it`s a proper city with a lovely cathedral and a football club that goes to the very heart of what running and supporting a football club is all about.   For example, it is thought to be the only professional club in  Europe whose perimeter (Glebe Park) is surrounded by a hedge, of which the club is rightly proud.   And I discovered a short documentary which seems to encapsulate the spirit of the club and the affection it breeds in the hearts of its supporters.   Here it is:-

                       I`ll certainly be following their progress from here on in.