A EUPHORIC WILLIE FOLLOWING GLENCAIRN’S SEMI FINAL VICTORY OVER EAST CRAIGIE
Nobody can accuse one of exaggeration in saying the world has changed immeasurably since Willie Harvey had his very first go at winning the Clydebuilt Homes Scottish Junior Cup as a raw 21 year old goalkeeper playing behind a St Rochs backline of Joe Marenghi, Stan Rankin ,Gerry Collins and Stan’s younger brother Stevie.
You’d have thought surely nothing could ever penetrate that formidable defensive talent but someone obviously did because it was Blantyre Vics (one of Willie’s later clubs) who had the last laugh that 1981/82 season after John McGurk’s goal earned them a 1-0 victory over Bailleston in the Final.
Willie , unlike a certain Robert the Bruce did not need the try and try again example set by a spider to motivate him into coming back for more because 41 years of attempts later, with all of 9 clubs no less , (3 of them more than once) he finds himself on the cusp of getting his hands on the coveted Holy Grail silverware as the proud manager of Rutherglen Glencairn preparing to take on Cumnock in this coming Friday night’s showpiece finale staged at Broadwood Stadium (Kick Off 7.35 PM).
To realize his dream after all this time would mark a remarkable achievement for the nowadays 63 year old who was born in Calton and brought up in the little known Glasgow area of Mile-End .situated between Calton and Barrowfield.
He recalls playing for his St Marys Primary school team as a goalkeeper but upon stepping up to St Mungos Secondary at the annexes of St Kentigerns in Duke Street as well as Parsons Street , the well-built youngster was alternating between Centre Half and the last line of defence.
Willie takes up the story,” Ours was a decent St Mungos school team ,as you might expect with Joe McBride(later of Hibs and Everton) playing up front, but I can also remember other decent players such as Jim “Pooney” Jamieson and Franny Boyle who went on to join St Rochs.
“Centre Half was where I established myself in my first couple of Secondary years but I had reverted to playing in goal upon turning 14 and a year later I actually played as a trialist for St Anthonys when auld Felix McKenna was running their team after I had shown up well in a short spell with St Anthonys Boys Club..
“Myself , Pooney and Franny also teamed up together with St Marys Boys Guild until I was offered the chance to join a Celtic Boys Club team whose star turn was undoubtedly John “Friar” McLuskey (George’s young brother) but our captain John Weir was also a bit special and went on to play in Celtic’s first team under Billy McNeil while yet another of the guys to get a call up was James Nelson but he never made the breakthrough.”
Willie’s former St Marys Guild manager John Rice enticed him and a number of other Calton based youngsters into turning out with Coventry City Boys Club and he also has fond memories of a stint with St Lukes Boys Guild in the Gorbals where soon to be Pollok winger Mickey Livingstone was one of his team mates.
He recounted ,” Hail, rain or shine we climbed up six flights of iron clad steps to a big open Hall in Ballater Street where we changed into strips and boots before running a half mile along to play our games on the red ash pitches at Glasgow Green.
“I can imagine the response if you asked any youngsters nowadays to put themselves through all that ?”
The influence of John Rice is Willie ‘s only explanation for somewhat bizarrely joining Falkirk based Grangemouth International ( managed by ex-Celt David Cattanach) however aged 18 he made a closer to home move to crack Juveniles side Harmony Row where he featured in a Scottish Juvenile Cup winning side alongside Stuart Gordon later of Pollok, Clydebank and Hamilton Accies renown.
WILLIE HOLDING THE SCOTTISH JUVENILE CUP AS A HARMONY ROW PLAYER
Willie spent three seasons at the Govan based outfit before signing for St Rochs where his impressive performances caught the eye of Celtic and he duly played as a trialist for a Frank Connor steered Reserves team , inclusive of David Moyes as a central defender ,in a 2-0 Celtic Park defeat of Ayr United but “putting up the shutters” did not bring about a signing offer.
And a further hard luck story followed when he made no fewer than three appearances for Partick Thistle but to no avail despite speculation in the Evening Times Juniors column of the time saying the St Rochs No 1 looked Firhill bound.
This seemingly Senior animus towards him was not shared by Junior clubs and an Ian Wallace managed Glasgow Perthshire made a transfer bid which led to Willie moving to Keppoch Park to play alongside worthies such as Paddy Smyth , Ian Young and Jackie O’Brien in an enjoyable two years stint that might have been considerably longer but for Wallace tendering his resignation and opening the door for Petershill gaffer Jimmy Kiddie to entice Shire officials into letting their highly respected keeper seal a move to their arch rivals.
His addition acted to further strengthen an emerging Peasy side ,already comprising of the likes of Sammy Millar, Jimmy Lyndsay, Danny Scullion, Jimmy Robertson along with Andy Dailly and big Pat Daly up top so it was no real surprise when the ambitious Springburn outfit made it through to a 1984/85 Junior Cup Final showdown against city rivals Pollok .
What was more unexpected was a gaffe by the normally reliable Willie which brought about a Hampden Park first game goal for Lok skipper Gordon Wilson in a 1-1 draw which still causes him angst to this day not least because the Southsiders ran out 3-1 winners in the ensuing replay..
“It wasn’t a particularly well hit shot and I could easily have stuck out a leg and stopped it but I made a total hash of things by diving down and letting the ball squirm out of my hands and I’ve never pretended otherwise.”admitted the ex-keeper.
The following campaign heralded the break-up of that Petershill squad and a race for Willie’s signature was won by East Kilbride Thistle whose team boss Davie Thomson , assisted by former goalkeeper Willie O’Neil ,was in the throes of building a team around stalwarts Kenny Gordon and Dougie` Biter` McMillan by subtly introducing quality signings , Frank Lynch and Stevie Easton at various points.
With no signs of trophy success and the Jags on a downward spiral, Willie grasped the opportunity to leave and sign for Stonehouse Violet when their manager Paul Fox made an approach after his long serving regular No 1 Nizzy broke an arm….he was never called anything else and Willie cannot recall his first name ???
It was an anything but ideal move as Willie revealed , “ On hindsight, I should have known better than to think I would stay in the team once Nizzy was back at full fitness .
“But I foolishly believed Foxy would base any decision on who should be wearing the gloves on form alone but I discovered otherwise in the lead up to a Scottish Cup tie away to Dundee North End.
“I had a decent shut-out between the posts in a game against Larkhall Thistle but was then replaced by Nizzy in the team line-up that was read out the following Saturday when we played Bailleston (a week before our DNE game).
“Foxy never at any time attempted to offer an explanation but his assistant Archie Mailey did say they wanted to give him game time to cover for the eventuality of something untoward happening to prevent me making the North End game ?.
“I took his words at face value but when our defensive drills at training the following week were centred on Nizzy and not myself , I knew he would be getting the nod for the Cup tie and my fears were confirmed when our starting X1 was announced before the trip .
“It was a kick in the teeth and I was not best pleased but then Nizzy took unwell in the bus journey and I was thrust back in and played reasonably well even though I did consider myself at fault when North End scored the only goal of the game.
“Imagine then how I felt the following week when Nizzy was brought straight back in to face Lesmahagow and I was shunted out of the team without so much as a word spoken.
“I totally resented Foxy’s treatment of me and there was no way our differences were ever going to be made up so I jumped at the chance of a move to Rob Roy where my former adversary Gordon Wilson had taken up the reins and had Chic Charnley pulling the midfield strings.”
A matter of six months further down the road saw Wilson depart the Kirkintilloch club and Willie felt compelled to also head for the exit gates and put pen to paper for Vale of Clyde when the Donnelly brother Tam and John, Stevie Slowey, John Campbell and Shanty Ferry were the mainstays of a team managed by Bobby Crilly and his No 2 John Cochrane.”
Willie spent three seasons all told at Fullarton Park however the lure of reuniting himself with former Petershill team mates Sammy Millar and Ian “Tattie” Young , by then installed as the Peasy management team , proved too much for him to resist and he enlisted as their goalkeeping coach for (you’ve guessed it) the next two years prior to Rutherglen Glencairn boss Davie McDermott asking if he would come on board in a dual Player/Assistant Manager capacity?
“I learned a lot working under Davie , a very knowledgeable type who was forever looking at ways to improve our team but there was no transfer kitty as such and we had to rely heavily on bringing through young amateur and juvenile prospects.” recalled Willie .
After two years (again?) and by now approaching his 37th birthday Willie took to working under the wing of his ex-Vale of Clyde gaffer Crilly but their partnership lasted a mere season before Larkhall Thistle’s luring away of Crilly pre-empted the Tin Pail’s club officials offering their hotseat to the former goalkeeper .
He brought in Andy Quinn(Thorniewood United) as his No 2 and over the following season introduced the likes of Rab Torrance and Tony Fraser from Tower Hearts as well as procuring the goalscoring prowess of St Anthonys hitman Danny Taylor however a poor start to his third Tollcross season brought Willie to conclude the time was nigh for a new man at the helm.
He admitted , “I was losing my enthusiasm and when that happens it’s time to call it a day which is what I did but on the best possible terms with the Vale people who are still friends of mine to this day.”.
EVIDENCE IN BLACK AND WHITE OF WILLIE’S COMPETITIVE STREAK
Six months out of football proved sufficient time to recharge his batteries for a return to the Junior scene in charge of team affairs at Blantyre Vics where Rab Torrance doubling as his player/coach prior to Joe Pryce coming onto his backroom team helped take the weight off Willie’s shoulders and the trio remained at Castle Park for fully five seasons of mixed success working with such notables as Brian Eadie, Andy Cunningham, Andy Dorrans, Joe Shields, David Crilly(Bobby’s son) and Davie Anderson.
Willie added , “We were happy at the Vics and never at any time were we put under any pressure to leave however a chain of events started in 2010 when the Glencairn co-bosses Willie Paterson and Scott Smith left to take over at Petershill and almost the entire Glens dressing room followed suit.
“ Around that time I received a phone call from Glencairn’s Committee asking if I’d come in for an interview which I did and a matter of days later the job was offered to me and I accepted but only after Rab and Joe agreed to come with me.
“Rab was to put in another six years at my side before calling it quits and Joe has recently racked up his 13th season as my No 2 at Glencairn (18 in total if you include the 5 at Blantyre).
“Beating Arthurlie 4-1 in the League Cup Final has to be one of the highs as has winning the First Division title to gain promotion into the Premier Division even though the imposition of league construction then saw us relegated and we’ve not found it easy to bounce straight back up this past season .
“In 2013 we had a fabulous Scottish Cup run and made it all the way to the semi-finals only to lose out in a two legged contest against the eventual winners Auchinleck Talbot .
“We were the rank underdogs back then and no doubt will be the same against Cumnock however it’s when everybody writes us off that the guys have played at our best and here’s hoping we can do it again.
”If we play the game and not the occasion then we’re in with a shout.!”
FIXTURES FOR FRIDAY 2nd JUNE 2023 Clydebuilt Homes Scottish Junior Cup Final.Rutherglen Glencairn v Cumnock (Broadwood Stadium 7.35PM)
Regards
Jim O’Donnell
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