Elgin City manager Allan Hale says the club had no belief and no soul when he arrived at Borough Briggs - now the current structure offers optimism for the future
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Clyde pulled off the great escape from relegation, Allan Hale feels it’s Elgin City who deserve the greater plaudits for not being pulled into a last-ditch survival battle.
The two teams will meet again in League 2 next season following the Bully Wee’s 3-0 win at Borough Briggs.
Clyde lapped up the adulation of their big travelling support, celebration the restoration of their SPFL status while City finished in seventh spot, having once been favourites to end up in bottom spot.
Hale said after the match that the Black and Whites were in a real mess on and off the park when he and assistant Stefan Laird arrived at the club last December.
Now, with new chairman Alan Murray in charge of a reinforced board of directors, and some positive results gained over the past few months, the manager has scope for optimism.
“Clyde will talk about achieving the impossible but they have had a pretty healthy budget to play with, that has allowed them to have a squad full of depth whereas we have worked against the impossible in terms of finances,” said Hale.
“People will talk about the players we have brought in in January but we have had to move a lot of players on to bring these players in and most of the players who came in have been loans.
“So I would say that we have achieved the impossible and especially to finish seventh from where the club was.
“It’s not just about results, but the club in general. Where it was when we took over, the whole club was on a downward spiral.
“It had no energy, it had no belief, it had no soul - but that has changed. There’s a different feel about the place now.
“I’m delighted because you can see the supporters are disappointed, the board and the staff are disappointed with today’s result. That is a good feeling because they should be disappointed.
“The players deserve a break because they have been exceptional, and they have accumulated a lot of points in half a season, which we needed to do to stay in the league.
“Our form has been as good as anyone in the second half of the season which has given me a lot of optimism.
“Now it is about going into pre-season and looking at what’s available, trying to be creative with one or two things and look at the budget so we can free up a bit more money and give us the depth we need. We can’t go into next season with the lack of depth we’ve had this year.”
