RAB REACHED A LEVEL THAT FEW DO.

CALL HIM MR SNEDDON OUT OF RESPECT FOR ONE’S ELDERS

The feelings of bonhomme one gets from writing up these Blast From The Past pieces can be attributed to coming across so many great characters or just plain good people who live or as is more the case have lived up to the hype.

Speaking to Rab Sneddon this week, it hit me right between the eyes that this recently turned 71 year old (Wow that’s a big age!) born and bred Bellshill boy, who is still resident in the Lanarkshire town to this day, is a person whose footballing story more than merits an airing ,if for nothing else than to allow others a fuller appreciation of his many achievements in the game.

And the feelings of nostalgia derived …from recalling the roads he once drove and will never drive again… did not impair his thoughts in the slightest as he waxed eloquently about the good and not so good times he experienced with Bellshill Athletic, Blantyre Vics, Shotts Bon Accord and Pollok.

As a youngster he attended Mossend Primary and aged 11 was looked upon as a flying right winger (his words not mine?) in a school team whose star turn was Andy Ritchie , later of Celtic, and Morton renown.

Said Rab , “ Even back then Andy was a big lad for his age and his dribbling skills and ability to hit the ball harder than anyone else going the rounds had him turning out for the school side even though he was around 2/3 years younger than the rest of us.

“He was an exceptional talent whose party piece, on account of the fact he could strike a ball so sweetly and powerfully, was to have a pop at goal straight from kick off in our games and because primary school goalkeepers were so small, he would invariably score.”

Rab progressed to Bellshill Academy for his Secondary School education and he performed well enough in trials to earn selection for a school team with whom he was to win nothing more than local school competitions from competing against the likes of Our Ladys High in Motherwell and Dalziel High School despite playing alongside the likes of soon to be Rangers striker Graham Fyfe, left winger Jim Fleming who joined Manchester United upon leaving school prior to returning North to sign for Motherwell as well as Johnny McGill an extremely talented and versatile type, snapped up by Bolton Wanderers straight from school.

Alas there was to be no such rosy looking career in football mapped out for the young Rab, an Average Joe of a player ,(again his words not mine) and Saturday afternoons found him humbly turning out for the 4^th BB Bellshill before switching allegiances to the 12^th BB Motherwell in the wake of his family relocating to a Holytown address.

Leaving school to take up apprenticeship as a turner at Dalziel Steelworks coincided with him taking 2/3 years out of football and he had moved on to take up a position with Nelsons an Electrical Contractors in Mossend ,before he felt compelled to again pull on the boots regularly for Clyde Rangers, a better than average juvenile outfit based in Bellshill whose derby matches against the highly acclaimed Motherwell Miners could be more than a little tasty according to Rab.

He reminisced, “ My work situation was far more settled back then after joining Honeywell (he was to remain there until retiring in 2016) but footballing wise you could probably liken me to a gypsy for the way I relentlessly moved around clubs in Lanarkshire .

“I recall spending little more than a year or so with Clyde Rangers before having a full season long stint with Cleland Miners where one of the more promising youngsters coming through their ranks at the time was Owen Watters who was to go on and carve a reputation for himself as a midfielder with the outstanding Lesmahagow side of the early 1990’s..

“From Cleland , I then opted to join a local Bellshill outfit Strathclyde United but yet again I didn’t stick around overlong after an opportunity came my way to sign for Bellshill Y.M boasting all the best players from miles around as befitting one of the top amateur teams in those days..

“ From very early on , I could see that one of the guys ,Stevie Clark, could be a bit special on his day so it was no real surprise when Bellshill Athletic lured him away however I’m willing to bet there were a few eyebrows raised when their manager Jim McAulay came back in to make another signing raid and this time I was the one stepping up to the Junior ranks .”

The new recruit who had long since converted to a central defensive role has vivid and fond recollections of a first Brandon Park season sharing a dressing room with such as George Walker, Paddy Morgan, Ronnie Nailen and Terry Collins as well as occasionally operating as a sweeper behind McAulay’s assistant manager and former Hamilton Accies playing legend ,Jim “Popeye” Dempsey whose decision to make a Douglas Park return as John Lambie’s No 2 preceded McAulay deciding to tender his resignation around 1990.

Rab takes up the story, “ Bellshill’s club officials were in a real state of flux following Jim’s departure and they turned to me as one of the more experienced players to ask if I would take charge of running the team to buy time until a new appointment could be made.

“The prospect didn’t particularly faze me however my preference was to keep on playing for the team so we came to an agreement that I would carry out the role in a dual player/manager capacity that could be facilitated by bringing on board the former Shettleston ,Blantyre Celtic and Scotland Juniors left back Pat O’Hara (now sadly deceased) to act as my assistant.

“It really was an ideal arrangement as I was able to call the shots out on the pitch while Pat’s great know how enabled him to see things from a dugout perspective and our partnership got away to a very promising start until the Committee asked me to a meeting after training one night and insisted I sack Pat on account of him having a verbal disagreement with some of their members.

“My refusal to do so unfortunately didn’t prevent them carrying out the deed themselves so I then walked away from the club on a point of principle which let me say for the record, I have never regretted to this day.”

Capable defenders of his vast experience were in short supply and Rab briefly found himself a sought after transfer target before the race for his signature was won by Thorniewood United team boss Stuart Noble however not long afterwards the seasoned gaffer was himself enticed away to assume the manager’s chair at Cambuslang Rangers where his first team strengthening move on coming through the Somervell Park gates was to persuade Rab and Paddy Morgan to come and play for him.

Rab can readily recount Stewart Gunn, Alex Clark , Jim Gilmour and a farmed out St Mirren teenage prospect by the name of Ian Ferguson, later to enjoy a stellar career with Rangers and Scotland, among the first batch of Wee Gers teammates encountered.

“I was at Cambuslang for 18 months all told but never came so much as remotely close to picking up any silverware mainly because ours was very much a run-of-the-mill side packed with wholehearted types but sadly lacking in quality other than Ferguson who despite being only 16 years of age and just starting out in the game was a stand-out each and every time he pulled on a jersey.

“He oozed confidence and had an aura about him but at the same time never came across as a `big time Charlie` and it’s no exaggeration to say every one of us who played alongside him back then knew he was destined for greater things.”

Closing in on his 36^th birthday, it had dawned on Rab that he was no longer considered one of the first picks and this realization that his Junior playing days were numbered compelled him into making a return to Bellshill YM in another player/manager role which all too quickly became outright team manager once it dawned on him that the guys around him were moaning and mumping about doing all his running???

But moving from the pitch to trackside was to prove anything but a fall from grace because his five seasons long hold of the reins will arguably go down as the most successful period in the club’s history after the team he painstakingly pulled together comprising of Dunky Ramage, goalkeeper Tony Macis, Brian Taylor, Ian Miller, Ronnie Nailen, David Hattie , John Shaw and Peter Hendry among others duly won every possible amateur trophy prize barring the Scottish Amateur Cup itself.

A YOUNG RAB GETS HOLD OF THE SECTIONAL LEAGUE CUP AFTER BLANTYRE BEAT POLLOK

Recognition of these feats was always going to follow and in Rab’s case it came via a telephone call from then Blantyre Vics manager Willie Muldoon asking if he would be interested in becoming his No 2 at Castle Park and their subsequent pairing up ahead of the 1994/95 season derived a reward of sorts as promotion was won from the Central Second Division.

The following campaign saw Rab as the obvious choice to assume the helm after Muldoon tendered his resignation for personal reasons and he unhesitatingly installed former Vics player Harry Erwin as his assistant in forming a partnership that would go on to derive scarcely credible success over the next dozen or so years.

Rab in tandem with the supportive Erwin, proceeded to build a better and undoubtedly more competitive Vics side whose key parts were the likes of Jim Brown , Eddie Farrell, Jim Allan, John Darcy, Shug Kennedy, Gary Shearer and farmed out Motherwell protégé Stephen Craigan plus others of a similar ilk as the early season Sectional League Cup was won (a 1-0 extra time victory over Pollok) prior to taking the Central First Division title honours.

If you are able to consider for a moment how enthused Rab was from these 1995/96 triumphs, imagine then how he felt at the end of that season when Shotts Bon Accord , a club serving a one season suspension from all football by the SJFA, made an audacious approach to ask if he and Erwin would take over from ex-Celtic pair John Clark and Frank McGarvey who had resigned their posts amid the furore that erupted after the well-to-do Hannah Park outfit broke ranks to instigate court proceedings against the game’s governing body.(Let’s just say falsified Doctor’s lines and leave it at that?)

Rab could understandably have demurred but instead his response was to meet up with club officials and put to them the many pointed questions needing to be asked while also engaging in a lengthy chat with outgoing Celtic legend Clark about whether Shotts could ever be a force in the game again ?

The upshot of the positive vibes he gleaned saw him agree to undertake a job ,made all the more difficult by a further SJFA imposition requiring Bon Accord to kickstart their rebirth way down in the lower reaches of the Central Third Division,

A smiling Rab remembers,” Just getting a team together was an achievement in itself because Shotts had opted to loan out all their players when the suspension period had kicked in and I soon discovered that not all of them were of a mind to come back ?

He and Erwin spoke with no fewer than 68 players before managing to accumulate a powerful squad headed up by goalkeeper Rab McCulloch along with Charlie Spiers, Bobby McConville, Arthur Grant, Andy Willock, Brendan Gray, Colin Walker, Robert Clark and latterly a further handful of star turns in Paul Crawford, Tony McInally, Danny Diver, Eddie McGuinness and Dougie Mills that were to champion back-to-back promotions (Third and Second Division) as well as finishing top of the pile on Bon Accord’s 1999 return to the big boys playground of the Premier Division.

Never before or since (I think) has a club won three consecutive league titles and as if to underline their burgeoning prowess, Shotts vis-à-vis Rab and his players also added the 1998 Central League Cup during their re-emergence period thanks to a penalty shoot-out defeat of Arthurlie.

RAB (standing far right) WITH HIS TREBLE TITLE WINNING SHOTTS TEAM

The glowing respect earned from the role he’d played in putting a smile back on the faces of the North Lanarkshire club’s supporters saw Rab held in the highest regard and he quite literally could have asked for …and been the recipient …of a lengthy contract if he so wished… 2,5 or even 10 years would not have been out of the question ?

But his life was to turn almost full circle going into the 2000/01 season when an offer he couldn’t resist was tabled by well-to-do businessman Stephen McGhee asking him to bring his widely acknowledged managerial expertise back to Bellshill Athletic where he had recently taken over as Chairman.

McGhee’s considerable financial backing along with his ambitious future plans for their home town club ticked every box for Rab so he walked away from Shotts even though his quit decision resulted in a parting of the ways with close friend and loyal ally Erwin after he chose instead to head East in order to team up with Jim Sinnett at Linlithgow Rose.

Replacing him with another long-time acquaintance in the equally seasoned ex-Larkhall Thistle stalwart Gerry Hamilton proved an inspired appointment as the duo set about the task of constructing a side around worthies of the calibre of Paul McAleer, Danny Drew, Robert Burns and young striker Bryan Dingwall that roared out of the blocks to duly win the Sectional League Cup with a 3-0 Firhill defeat of Larkhall Thistle through goals from James Brown(2) and Dougie Brownlie prior to their eventual crowning as Central Second Division champions.

Away from the playing side , things were not going quite so swimmingly and Rab’s indifferent and ever worsening relationship with McGhee culminated in the team boss being unceremoniously sacked for nothing more than failing to attend a club function..

Word getting out about him being `relieved of his duties` (most definitely his words) led to Cumnock making a tentative approach for his services however the now 51 year old felt his ever growing work commitments with Honeywell could not be combined with the travelling time involved in assuming the Nock hotseat so he turned down the Ayrshiremen’s approach..

He was however far more amenable to Maryhill knocking on his door and with Erwin back at his side along with accomplished coach Stewart Ralston) they delighted in taking up the reins of an overflowing with talent and style squad consisting of Lochburn Park notables such as goalkeeper Scott Black, Stevie Campbell, Brian Smith, Richie McCusker ,Davie Turnbull, Andy Essler and Andy McLay whose 3-1 West of Scotland Cup triumph at Newlandsfield later that season (Alan Grant notched a double along with a Dingwall counter) was all the more sweeter because Rab’s former club Bellshill Athletic (now with feted pair Tommy Coyne and Rab McKinnon in charge of playing matters ) were in opposition.

The similarities between the impact made by Rab at Shotts , Bellshill and now Maryhill ran deep but no sooner had the dust settled on their 2003/04 campaign before something of a major dilemma was posed by legendary Pollok Match Secretary Franny McNeil (sadly deceased) revealing in a late night telephone call that he wanted Rab and his backroom team to move across city to the Southside giants.

RAB IS POSTED MISSING AS HIS POLLOK PLAYERS CELEBRATE ANOTHER TITLE WIN

“ How to put it other than to say you cannot not be interested if a club of Pollok’s stature is on your case escaped me back then and still does”reflected Rab.

“But neither did I want to let down the Maryhill people whose backing for Harry, Stewart and myself during our time at Lochburn had been nothing short of exemplary so I insisted that Franny go through official channels and firstly speak with Chairman Brian Reilly.

“ Brian then approached myself and after hearing how keen I was on making the switch gave his permission for Pollok to enter into talks and a couple of days later I was announced as the new team boss at Newlandsfield which was hugely ironic given the Lok’s former gaffer Ronnie Lowrie headed in the other direction to become my replacement at Maryhill.”

The captures of McLay, Dingy, and Stevie Miller soon followed as Rab set about laying down roots for the ensuing five years by unashamedly building a immensely formidable Pollok playing squad inclusive of the aforementioned trio as well as David McGowan , Stevie Aitchison, Derek Heaton, Chris Robertson , Zander Ryan , Joe Carruth and Gary Wilson among many others of a like quality .

He said , “ I don’t mind admitting to having earmarked Richie McCusker to be one of the foundation stones when I first joined Pollok but sadly he was struck down by a debilitating illness which forced him into retiring from the game when he was coming into his prime .

“That’s one of my huge regrets as is the number of guys whose names I’ve failed to mention when rhyming off answers to your multitude of questions over the past week so here and now I’d like to apologise to one and all because take it as read that I will forever fully appreciate your wonderful efforts at my behest with our various clubs .”

Pollok is where Rab Sneddon is thought to have truly excelled as a team manager , no better typified by three Superleague titles in four years (2005, 2006 and 2008 ) which he has always maintained would have been 4-in-a row had his Junior internationalist goalkeeper Ian Wilson not sustained career threatening injuries in a serious car crash.

And picking up the Central League Cup silverware on a couple of occasions (2005 and 2006) the Evening Times Cup (2008) and the SJFA Supercup (2007) thanks to overcoming Lochee United in a showpiece finale provides further lustre for his unassuming reputation.

RAB LETS HIS POLLOK PLAYERS KNOW HOW IT SHOULD BE DONE

SHe insisted earlier, “ I’d have loved to win the Scottish Junior Cup and I can look back on two losing semi- finals (Shotts beaten on penalties by Johnstone Burgh) and (Pollok’s extra time defeat by Bathgate Thistle) as my near things however my biggest miss of all is not being involved in the Junior game anymore.

“I don’t’ think I can go back now but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time at every club throughout my playing and management days while my yearning for a rapport with supporters will stay with me always so it’s sad to think those days are probably gone for good .”

BELLSHILL ATHLETIC’S MANAGEMENT TEAM COULD DO WORSE THAN LISTEN TO THE OLD FOX

Rab’s summation of where he stands in the grand scheme of things tends to disguise the fact he has taken up an invite to get involved in Bellshill Athletic’s training sessions this week and help the management team of Dean Muir, Neil Rowatt and Paul Burns prepare their playing charges for what promises to be an intriguing Scottish Junior Cup third round clash at home to fellow Third Division outfit Lesmahagow this coming Saturday.

Who Was It That Said You Can’t Keep A Good Man Down Forever?

FIXTURES FOR SATURDAY 4^th NOVEMBER (Kick Offs 2 PM): CLYDEBUILT HOME IMPROVEMENTS Scottish Junior Cup.Third Round.Bellshill Athletic v Lesmahagow,Ashfield v Largs Thistle, Glenafton v Darvel, Finnart v Larkhall Thistle, Rutherglen Glencairn v Troon, Dundee Downfield v Dalry Thistle, Hurlford Utd v Tayport, Bridge of Don Thistle v Auchinleck Talbot, St Anthonys v Benburb, Dundee Violet v St Cadocs , Forfar United v Arthurlie, Vale of Leven v Montrose Roselea, Shotts Bon Accord v St Rochs, Culter v Lochee Utd, Johnstone Burgh v Dundee North End, Stonehaven v Aberdeen East End.INDIGO COMMS West of Scotland Cup.Second Round.Newmains Utd v Eglinton.P.D.M HUWS GRAY Premier Division. Clydebank v Beith, Irvine Meadow v Cumnock, Rob Roy v Gartcairn P.D.M HUWS GRAYFirst Division. Blantyre Vics v Kilwinning Rangers, Renfrew, , Kilbirnie Ladeside v Renfrew, Neilston v Cambuslang Rangers, Thorniewood Utd v Maybole.PDM HUWS GRAY Second Division. Glasgow Perthshire v Craigmark, Vale of Clyde v Cumbernauld Utd, Kilsyth Rangers v Ardrossan Winton Rovers , Muirkirk v Wishaw, Glasgow University v Maryhill (8PM Friday) Bonnyton Thistle v Yoker Athletic. PDM HUWS GRAYThird Division. Irvine Vics v Lanark Utd, West Park Utd v Threave Rovers, Greenock v Kello Rovers, Ardeer Thistle v Girvan. PDM HUWS GRAYFourth Division. Carluke Rovers v Giffnock SC , Glenvale v Campbeltown Pupils, Knightswood v Lugar Boswell, Saltcoats Vics v East Kilbride Thistle.