Devastation for Buckie Thistle manager Graeme Stewart who says his Highland League champions deserved a crack at SPFL football
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The Scottish FA’s decision to deny Buckie Thistle a place in the SPFL play-offs is devastating for the players who achieved Jags’ “astonishing” Highland League title success.
That’s the view of stunned Buckie manager Graeme Stewart after his team learning their play-off clash on Saturday had been cancelled less than two days before it was due to be played, and opponents East Kilbride were handed a place in the final.
Jags president Garry Farquhar described the situation as a “disaster”, admitting mistakes were made but insisting that the authorities gave no indication prior to Thursday that Buckie would not be allowed to play in the League 2 play-offs.
In a statement issued around 5pm on Thursday, the SFA said Jags could not take part in the play-offs because of their failure to achieve a bronze-level club licensing award.
“The Scottish FA’s club licensing department has been in regular dialogue with Buckie Thistle since then to notify the club of, and provide ample time to address, issues highlighted in their Club Licensing Report,” said the statement.
“Unfortunately, these issues were not addressed by the club prior to yesterday’s licensing committee decision.”
Buckie president Garry Farquhar admitted his club missed the cut-off date for a period of grace being offered by the SPFL for clubs to work towards meeting all of the licensing criterion.
He said four of the areas where Buckie sought a derogation - or relaxation - of the licensing laws saw the club granted three of these, leaving only the medical return which requires a club doctor to be present at all home matches.
“This is currently our stumbling block and I believe the reason for our failure to be granted a Bronze Licence,” Farquhar said.
“I have to stress that during all the dialogue between the club, the SPFL and the SFA, there was never any mention of the pending disaster that unfolded (on Thursday).
“I received the e-mail last night at 5 o’clock, informing us that we would not be taking part in the Pyramid Playoffs. The rest, as they say is history.”
The row led to some accusations that Buckie didn’t want to be promoted from the Highland League, a scenario furiously denied by manager Stewart.
He said players had even been rested from last Tuesday night’s Aberdeenshire Cup final to keep them fresh for the East Kilbride match - Jags subsequently lost to Inverurie Locos on penalties after a 0-0 draw at Keith.
“I never knew there was even an issue. We had been preparing for the East Kilbride game, and my first thought was ‘this can’t be right’ because I thought I would have surely known.
“I was shocked, and there was a bit of disbelief but also devastation for the players. At the end of the day they have still achieved something special.
“My players thoroughly deserved to win that league and it doesn’t matter if it was goal difference or 12 points. What they had to do to win it was astonishing, and that is where the devastation comes with the play-offs.
“Even if we didn’t go up, and I thought we had a very good chance of going up, they deserved that opportunity to try.
“I think most of them could play higher and we signed players who we knew definitely could play at a higher level.
“I am confident no matter what team I manage, I would be successful, no matter what league we are in. So if we did get promotion we wouldn’t be going up just to make up numbers.
“We wouldn’t be going for a relegation battle, we would be firmly focused on the top of the league and pushing for promotion again. It’s the way I’m built and the way my players are built.
“We were desperate to get the opportunity to go up and if we did, the next challenge was to get promoted to the league above. A lot clubs maybe sit about in League 2 and are happy to be there but that was never going to be the case for Buckie if we were fortunate enough to go up.
“To get that taken away from us, it is a real downer.
“I have been messaging the players to tell them what they achieved was special, winning the league, playing Celtic. I feel we should have won a cup as well and I’m frustrated because I rested players for the cup final and rotated the squad because we were looking ahead towards the play-off against East Kilbride on the Saturday.
“You are talking about them having the season of their lives and I still think that is what it was. They should be proud of it.
“There’s nothing I can do about the situation. The club has been brilliant for me but they have accepted that they could probably have done some things differently.
“I will always support the club but all round, I don’t feel the situation has been handled properly. We hear there’s six or seven teams in the SPFL, one of them trying to go for the Premier League who don’t have the bronze licence so if these clubs are able to work towards it while they are in the league, surely we can work towards it if we get promoted in the two months until the first game of the season.
“To me it makes no sense. There could have been conversations straight after we won the league.
“The club has acknowledged that they could and should have done a few things differently. It almost came down to things as simple as replying to an email.
“In hindsight you hope things like that don’t come back and it shouldn’t really. We are a part-time club, everyone has full-time jobs out with football and things get missed but you hope you can get some support to correct it.
“But it has passed now, I wasn’t involved in it and all I know is that we can’t play the play-offs and my thoughts are with the players especially - they deserved the opportunity - and also the fans as well who were looking forward to these matches.”
