Now the Can-Cans face the possibility of sanctions, including a points deduction and a £500 fine.

The Mosset Park men played former Greenock Morton and Elgin City central midfielder Gary Tweedie (25) as a substitute in their 3-2 win on Saturday after the player turned his back on the Coasters, citing family problems as the reason for him missing training sessions and being unavailable on Saturdays.

Tweedie was signed by Grant Park manager Tommy Madden prior to the Qualifying Cup match against Keith with the intentions of playing him in that game – however family trouble down south prevented Tweedie from taking part despite an offer from the Lossie board to fund his travelling expenses down and back to ensure he could take part in the important tie.

This offer was rejected and Lossie went on to lose in a replay. After Tweedie failed to show for training, Madden contacted Tweedie again. The player explained work commitments at RAF Kinloss had prevented him from attending the Tuesday session prior to the Deveronvale game but promised to make the Thursday session.

Tweedie never showed up and Madden received a text message from the player explaining that family problems would prevent him training or playing for the Coasters for the foreseeable future. Madden accepted this and gave the player the space he required.

However, during that week, Tweedie contacted Forres manager Gordon Winton enquiring about the chance to attend Thursday training with the Mechanics – but due to Forres’ injury problems, they were unable to train last week.

Tweedie was invited along on Saturday to sit on the bench as a trialist with possibility of getting a run-out – only after the Mechanics manager asked Tweedie and his wife if he was a signed Lossiemouth player, which was denied.

'Boogle’ repeatedly asked Tweedie if he had signed for another club but the player told Forres he wasn’t and would be okay to play. Despite all the press coverage about Tweedie signing for Lossiemouth, the player assured Forres that the story was untrue and that he wasn’t signed to any club.

When the Coasters manager was told that Tweedie had turned out for Moray rivals Forres, helping them to their first Highland League victory, Madden made enquires to find out what had gone on. He received a call from Tweedie on Sunday afternoon saying that he was along at Mosset Park to watch the game and, although Madden knew Tweedie had taken part, he kept quiet.

The player then asked Madden for his release from Lossiemouth, but the boss directed him to club secretary Alan McIntosh. Tweedie then admitted he had played for Forres to McIntosh.

It has been confirmed that Tweedie had been registered as a Lossiemouth player with the Scottish Football Association (SFA) and Forres now wait on tenterhooks to find out their punishment for fielding the player, who was unavailable for comment this week.

Mechanics boss Winton said the club had apologised to both Rothes and Forres over the mistake and said they should have checked that he was eligible to play.

“We have to hold our hands up – we never checked as we should have,” he said.

“We invited him along to training at the end of August after I saw him play for Kinloss in the juniors. He couldn’t make it to the session and then I found out that he had been signed for Lossie. I thought that was the end of it.

“However, after the North Cup tie at Dingwall last Tuesday I got a text from Gary inquiring about the chance to come to training. I phoned him then and said there would be the opportunity to come along on Thursday for training, however I had to phone him last Thursday because we had to call off training. I then invited him along on Saturday, after speaking to his wife, who assured me he had not signed papers with Lossiemouth.”

“Tweedie had assured me that he wasn’t signed to any club despite playing in a bounce game for them before the tie. I told him to come along on Saturday, explained that neither myself or Charlie Rowley would be there, but there would be the chance of getting a run-out.”

The next Winton knew about the scandal was on Sunday when he found out Lossiemouth had spoken to Rothes about the player and it was confirmed that he had played in the game.

“I actually got a call from Tweedie on Tuesday of this week as I think he thought there was a chance of him coming along to training this week,” he said.

“He was unaware of everything that went on but still denied being a signed Lossiemouth player. He claimed that the only papers he signed were for the bounce game.

“It’s now the case that we face a big fine and a possible points deduction for fielding him and we have to apologise to both Rothes and Lossiemouth for our mistake. We should have checked up on his status but we took the player’s word that he wasn’t signed. It will be up to Lossiemouth to deal with the player as he is nothing to do with us, but it’s our mistake for not checking it out.”

Meanwhile Lossie boss Madden has rebuffed Internet speculation that Tweedie was duped into signing for Lossie and said the player knew exactly what he was doing when he put pen to paper for the Grant Park men.

“It took Rab Mulheron and I about 15 seconds after a bounce game to decide that we wanted to sign him to play in the middle of the park as I thought he could do a job for us,” he said.

“I phoned him the following day to ask If he wanted to sign for us and he said he did. I drove over to his house with the forms and told him that I wanted him to become part of the team, especially for the cup match for which we were struggling to get a team on the park. He said he was happy to sign the forms and he did. He came out to my van and we got the forms signed – but I actually needed to phone him later because I omitted to ask him which club he was last registered for, which was Elgin City.

“He knew he was signing for us. He’s a player with experience in the Scottish League, so he’s no fool. So what he was doing turning out for Forres on Saturday, our local rivals? Maybe he thought no one would notice, I don’t know.”

Madden refused to comment as to whether Tweedie has a future at Grant Park, but added that Forres had issued an apology to Lossiemouth after the scandal.

“I don’t know why Forres didn’t check up on his situation and I don’t know why the player has told them he wasn’t signed with us,” Madden continued.

“The story about Tweedie signing for us was all over the press – did no one at Forres read the 'Northern Scot’ two weeks ago?

“When he told us he had family problems, I obviously wasn’t going to phone him at home. It was a real surprise to hear he played for Forres on Saturday.

“Rothes must feel aggrieved because they were beaten by an ineligible team. Lossiemouth are the innocent party in this and what happens now really has nothing to do with us. All we are looking to do this week is get a team on the park on Saturday and pick up our first points against Forres.”

Highland League president Sandy Stables said a meeting of the Highland League management committee would be arranged in the near future.

“Our secretary John Grant is in the process of making the arrangements now that this matter has come up,” he said. “All member clubs will be invited to attend but we do not have a date for the meeting yet. But it looks like it will be some time very soon so that the matter can be addressed.”

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend

Bookmark this

---