Elgin City Football Club's 'annus horribilis' - worst defeat in their history, email fiasco scuppers record sponsorship deal, three managers depart, threat of relegation and boardroom reshuffles
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When the bells chime at midnight on Hogmanay, no-one at Borough Briggs will be sorry to see the back of 2023.
It was surely the worst year in Elgin City Football Club's 130-year history, an 'annus horribilis' where everything went wrong for the SPFL club.
Telling a major backer where to stick a record sponsorship deal, and being thrashed 6-0 by non-league minnows in the Scottish Cup were two low points which drew nationwide attention.
Three managers departed in quick succession, long-serving chairman Graham Tatters stepped down and City escaped relegation back to the Highland League by the skin of their teeth - and are fighting it once again this year.
Even when things were looking good for the Black and Whites, fate conspired against them. Just seconds away from reaching the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup in February, a last-gasp Ayr United equaliser denied them a chance of playing Celtic in the last eight.
Elgin's year from hell finished with a glimmer of hope, with a young and ambitious management team and three new directors coming on board in an effort to halt the club's dizzying downfall.
Yet 2023 began with real optimism. Bossed by Gavin Price, who arrived as Jim Weir's assistant in 2014 then stepped up to the manager's job three years later, the Moray club looked a strong bet to make the League 2 promotion play-offs.
A last-minute winner by Aberdeen loan signing Aaron Reid earned City a 1-0 success at Forfar to put them five points clear of their nearest rivals in third place, and with much to look forward to.
Form then began to suffer, particularly at their home fortress of Borough Briggs where visitors no longer feared to tread.
A home loss to East Fife and a draw with Annan cast some doubt over Elgin's promotion credentials.
City's attention turned to the Scottish Cup and a home clash with West of Scotland League Drumchapel United, neighbours of City's conquerors from the previous season, Clydebank.
After a postponement, the tie went ahead on a Tuesday night in late January and the Black and Whites won 2-1 to book a fourth round trip to Ayr United.
Back on the league front, defeat at Stenhousemuir and a home draw with struggling Albion Rovers took Elgin out of the play-off places, and in dire need of a morale boost.
Could the cup trip to Ayr provide that? Elgin were massive underdogs to claim a victory which would emulate their greatest-ever achievement in the competition when they reached the quarter-finals as a Highland League club in 1968.
But a goal by ace striker Kane Hester put the visitors ahead and they held their advantage until stoppage time, when their Championship hosts cruelly scrambled the ball home from a corner to force extra time.
A shattered Elgin conceded three more goals to exit the cup with pride, later learning that had they managed to win, the draw numbers would have handed them a home clash with league champs Celtic.
Instead, it was back to League 2 business and the job of arresting their plunge down the table.
A home loss to Stranraer, then a 3-0 humbling at Albion saw the pressure begin to heap on manager Price, with his team now seventh, just seven points off the bottom.
Surely a team in strong contention for promotion couldn't be sucked into a relegation battle?
A superb 2-1 Elgin win at leaders Dumbarton at the end of February seemed to suggest that the Black and Whites would be too good to go down.
However, a mad March told a very different story.
A home defeat to bottom side Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic was followed by a 4-1 crushing at Annan, and a Friday night loss at East Fife combined with another Bonnyrigg victory meant that City ended the month just three points off bottom spot with eight games to go.
The horror home form continued, with Price's men beaten 3-0 by a visiting Stirling Albion side on April Fool's Day. The cup win over Drumchapel was City's only home success in nine matches since early December.
Leaders Stirling made it back-to-back victories over Elgin in midweek, and it was all over for Price when a second consecutive 3-0 loss at Albion left the Black and Whites rock-bottom of League 2, and a sacking for the City manager.
Many were now tipping the Moray side for a return to the Highland League ranks, where they left in 2000 after their successful Scottish League application.
City player Ross Draper was joined by first team coach Charlie Charlesworth and goalkeeping coach Stevie Dunn in forming an interim management team, tasked with the job of saving the club from relegation.
They looked on course to steer Elgin to their first home league win in eight matches when they led Stenhousemuir in a midweek clash, before the Warriors struck at the death to rob their hosts of a much-needed three points.
On April 15, it looked rosier for the Moray side when they finally ended their barren Borough Briggs sequence with goals by Hester and Reid earning a precious 2-0 success over Forfar.
This meant that City were four points ahead of bottom club Albion with three games to go, and seeing some light at the end of the tunnel.
A week later, optimism turned to agony when the Black and Whites lost 3-1 at Stranraer, while Albion beat Stenhousemuir to reduce the gap back to one point.
Elgin's final home match of the season became one of the biggest in the club's history, against promotion-chasing Dumbarton.
A tense clash remained goalless for 90 minutes, and with Bonnyrigg drawing and Albion losing, it looked like City's battle would go into the final game - away to a Bonnyrigg side in desperate need of a result for their own safety.
What followed was a rare high point in the year for Elgin, as caretaker co-manager Draper popped up with a thrilling headed winner deep into stoppage time.
The Black and Whites were safe from relegation, that goal's importance becoming all the more evident when they lost at Bonnyrigg a week later and Albion defeated champions Stirling.
City hung one point above of the Coatbridge men, who were to lose their SPFL status to Lowland League champions Spartans in the relegation play-off final.
Draper's success in saving Elgin from the drop earned him the manager's job permanently, as he was appointed on May 25.
Having already lost top scorer Hester, who was sold to League 1 Montrose, the new boss then caused a stir when he released long-serving local defender and fans' favourite Darryl McHardy, who subsequently signed for Highland League Buckie Thistle.
While Draper began his search for replacements over the summer, another huge bombshell was about to hit the club.
Just days after chairman Graham Tatters announced he was stepping down from his role due to family reasons, interim chairwoman and fellow director Isla Benzie was faced with a Borough Briggs crisis.
Her fellow director Stephen Scott pulled his record sponsorship deal and quit the board, when an email comment by another board member stating that Scott could "stick his money up his a**e" was also sent to the Gleaner businessman in error.
Meanwhile, Draper brought in several fresh faces in his effort to strengthen the Elgin squad and a void another basement battle.
A young squad took time to gel, losing all four Viaplay Cup group matches before a 2-0 success over St Johnstone's B team handed the manager his first win.
City also beat Forfar in the same competition in a penalty shoot-out after losing their league opener at home to Stranraer.
A 5-1 defeat at Bonnyrigg Rose left the Black and Whites with just two points from five league games - and very soon looking for another manager.
Draper had already confided in his board that the job of managing and playing, combined with work and family time had become too much for him.
After just 11 matches as permanent boss, he stepped down and former Dundee manager Barry Smith was quickly ushered into the hotseat.
Smith recognised a need to strengthen the City squad but had nearly four months to wait for the transfer window to reopen, though he did steer his team to victory over Dumbarton in his first home match.
With chairman Tatters returning to his role at this stage, Elgin were back in trouble when defeat to bottom club Clyde and a 6-0 thrashing at Peterhead plunged them to bottom spot.
A run of postponed games was followed by a 1-1 draw at home to Stenhousemuir, and by the end of October the Black and Whites were deep in crisis.
Drawn to face Perth side Jeanfield Swifts in the Scottish Cup - a former club of ex-boss Price with several former City players in their ranks - a banana skin lay in their path.
To say that Elgin slipped head-over-heels would be an understatement. Swifts raced into a 4-0 lead inside 20 minutes, eventually winning 6-0 to complete a result which reverberated across the country.
It was the most humiliating defeat in the Black and Whites' long history, and the next chapter of woe was only just around the corner.
Two weeks later, Smith led his team to a 2-0 home win over Bonnyrigg, and within days he has resigned citing increased work commitments.
Draper had last just 11 games and Smith managed eight, leaving their club once again searching for a new manager.
The caretaker job was once again handed to Draper, who had resumed playing after his managerial exit and took charge for a 1-0 defeat at Dumbarton and a 1-0 home success over Forfar.
By the start of December, Huntly boss Allan Hale and his assistant Stefan Laird had been appointed - Hale becoming the club's fourth manager in nine months.
Back-to-back 4-0 defeats to East Fife and Spartans and a 2-0 loss at Stenhousemuir made it a tough start for the newcomers.
With Tatters' return to the club proving to be short-lived – he permanently stepped down as chairman on December 19, Benzie resumed the interim chair and introduced three new directors to the club along with a plan to restructure board duties in an effort to turn around City's flagging fortunes.
