Pars Lead The Way

The short answer is not a lot although it does tend to confirm what we might have suspected for a while. Success, for provincial clubs, comes in two ways. Of course it is possible over time gradually to build up a side capable of challenging in cup finals and reaching Europe through the league. But that requires an excellent manager, a good squad of players, luck with injury and suspensions and a period of time when no bigger clubs swoop for your better players. The alternative is less enthralling for a couple of reasons - it all comes down to luck.

Because there is absolutely no one, even the most negative of Motherwell fans, who can say that Dunfermline are better than us. It's there in black and white in the league table that they're not. Yet they have somehow been picked by fate to lead a charmed life through one of the most sensational cup runs ever. Similarly, Gretna as a Second Division team were handed a series of First Division clubs to beat to earn their passports into Europe and Dundee United's last foray abroad came as a result of losing the Scottish Cup final. In the same season we lost the League Cup final but they went into the UEFA cup while we didn't. Perhaps it is time to accept that while we are currently doing poorly in the league, it doesn't really matter that much. If we get a good draw, if we play well on the day, if we get a bit of luck against bigger opponents we have a chance of winning something or making the UEFA Cup.

Whether we are eighth or twelfth in the SPL doesn't seem to make that much difference and even being in a lower league probably doesn't harm our chances of getting to Hampden too much although possibly the chances of winning when we are there are reduced.

Does this mean that all our league fixtures are meaningless? After all if we accept we support Motherwell for the routine, because of loyalty, for the hope of achieving glory one day, it doesn't really matter if we play the basic games in the SPL or the First Division? The do or die crunches that will define the season will still come in the cup and who knows, maybe if we've been playing well and winning games in the First Division we might fare better when it is us up against nervous Premier League opposition.