Glenrothes Arabs - History

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Several important members left the Supporters Club this year, unhappy at the way things were being run. Mr. Paton was running things his own way - having a committee appointed, then making all the decisions himself! Most of the committee members intended to start up another supporters club, but due to communication problems, it wasn't to be… for the moment anyway.

Before the season started there was a friendly at Starks Park, just a wee stroll down the road for some of our members! Mainly a team of youth players, this match gave most of us our first glimpse of a young, lanky centre-forward who scored in a 2-1 defeat, a player we'd see more of later in the season.

In August, the first game of the season saw us travelling through to Alloa in a mini-mini bus for the 2nd round of the League Cup. In a quaint little stadium with interesting floodlights and a port-a-cabin stand, United won 3-0 as 16 year old Christian Dailly scored on his debut.

The first League game of the season was United's first ever visit to St Johnstone's new ground McDiarmid Park, where 10 man United had Dave Bowman in goals after Alan Main had been sent off, but United still took the points with goals from Darren Jackson (2) and Christian Dailly. The next round of the League Cup saw United drawn against homeless Partick Thistle, nomads due to Firhill being redeveloped, with the match played at Kilbowie. Late getting through the Glasgow traffic, Paul and Rammy nearly came a cropper trying to take a short cut to the game, ploughing through wildlife that turned out to be 9 feet deep! United again won comfortably with Christian Dailly scoring his third goal in 3 games, this time a "Gallacher" style cross cum shot.

United's first home game of the season in September saw Alex Cleland score the winner over Motherwell, and the Steelmen were the opposition again just three days later as Darren Jackson and Jim McInally scored to take United through to the semi-finals of the League Cup. Jackson scored again in the 1-0 win over St Mirren at Tannadice, his 6th goal in 6 games, and Ray McKinnon scored his first United goal in a 1-1 draw at Pittodrie. There was disappointment as United were drawn against FH Hafnafjurdur from Iceland in the UEFA Cup. A lot of us were looking forward to another European trip, but Iceland was a bit too expensive, so we all held out for the next round. United won 3-1 with Darren Jackson scoring yet again.

A memorable 2-1 win over Rangers at Tannadice saw Terry Butcher score an own goal from over 30 yards in his last ever game for Rangers, with Billy McKinlay scoring the winner. In the club's eleventh League Cup semi-final appearance in 14 years, United were beaten 2-0 by Celtic in a disappointing night at Hampden. United's winless streak at Tynecastle continued with a 1-0 defeat against Hearts.

This season saw us play in the first ever Federation Football tournament at Tannadice after the opening of Gussie Park. Allowed to change in the players dressing room at Tannadice due to work still being carried out at Gussie, it was an experience never to be forgotten. We played against out local rivals, the East Neuk of Fife branch, which ironically had an ex-member of our club playing for them. It's safe to say that Doddy had a few bruises after the match! With our side leading, defender Paul McDaid attempted to waste some time by kicking a clearance out of Gussie Park and down Fairbairn Street!

Into October, and in the UEFA Cup 1st round return leg, United make hard work of the minnows from Iceland, and weren't comfortable until Paddy Connolly came off the bench to score one and set up another to take United through 5-3 on aggregate. Billy McKinlay scored a fantastic free-kick against Dunfermline at Tannadice, but getting beaten 2-1 in the rain, the Pars keeper Andy Rhodes kept bouncing the ball in puddles to convince the ref that the match should be abandoned. It worked. The match was rescheduled for the Tuesday, and United won 3-0, with new signing Gijs Steinmann scoring.

A last minute Willie Miller own goal gave United the points against Hibs at Tannadice, and a 0-0 draw at Parkhead meant United had been beaten only once in the League since the start of the season. Rammy, Paul, Bryan and Ian Strawson (from the Kinross & Alva supporters) travelled with the DUSA bus to Arnhem, Holland to see United go down 1-0 to Vittesse Arnhem - meeting up with another Glenrothes Arab, Doddy, this was a great trip, with Grolsch galore and we all noticed how Holland seemed to have very few ugly women! The red light district just happened to be on the way to the stadium, but none of us had the balls to pay anyone a visit! The month finished with St Johnstone winning 2-1 at Tannadice, although some of us were lucky enough to be at a paintball day out!

November started with a 2-0 win over Motherwell at Fir Park, with Darren Jackson and Christian Dailly getting the goals as Freddy Van der Hoorn saw red. After seeing the first leg in Holland, we thought that United would easily pull back the one goal deficit against Vitesse and win the tie at Tannadice. Wrong. United got spanked 4-0 by the dutch team, and we saw some of the most bizarre goal celebrations ever seen at Tannadice! A smash and grab at Ibrox saw Darren Jackson score twice with United's only two shots on target as United won 2-1 as Ally McCoist missed a penalty and a young, lanky centre-forward called Duncan Ferguson came off the bench to make his United debut. Celebrating on the way back to the bus, Bryan, surrounded by policemen, got punched in the face by a Hun who didn't like getting laughed at, and all PC Dick Head had to say was "Shut yer pus and keep movin'!" Darren Jackson scored a penalty in a 1-1 draw with Hearts at Tannadice, and an entertaining game against Aberdeen saw Eoin Jess score a hat-trick as Duncan Ferguson made his first full team start in a 3-2 defeat at Tannadice.

In December, Darren Jackson scored his 13th goal of the season at Love Street in a 1-1 draw with St Mirren, which was followed by a memorable win over Celtic at Tannadice. Celtic keeper Paddy Bonner stood on the ball just outside the box, and Christian Dailly stuck the ball into the empty net as United went on to win 3-1 - "Bing, bong - Taxi for Bonner!" It's always nice to celebrate beating the Old Firm!, and that night we had a Charity Night at the Strathearn Hotel in Kirkcaldy, in honour of Maurice Malpas as the year ahead would be his Testimonial year. United then went off the boil after that win though, as a 0-0 draw at Easter Road was followed by a 1-0 defeat at East End Park, with the Christmas game seeing United lose 2-1 to Rangers.

Into January, and Christian Dailly scored the only goal in the New Year game at Pittodrie, then John Clark, Christian Dailly and Alex Cleland scored in a 3-2 win over St Mirren at Tannadice. Paddy Connolly scored two goals in a 3-0 win over Motherwell at Tannadice, and in the 3rd round of the Scottish Cup he scored a late, late equaliser against East Fife at Bayview to prevent one of the biggest shocks of the tournament - the United fans went crazy with relief, and who can forget the young Arab who jumped on the park and flicked the V's at the East Fife keeper?! The replay at Tannadice saw Duncan Ferguson score his first goal for the club as United won 2-1.

February started badly, with a 1-0 defeat at Parkhead, a 0-0 draw with Hibs at Tannadice and a 2-1 defeat at Tynecastle. But a Hamish French goal at McDiarmid Park (where the old fashioned square goal posts helped the goal go in!) got United back on track, and French also scored two in the 4th round of the Scottish Cup as United beat Airdrie 2-0 at Tannadice.

The first game in March saw Duncan Ferguson score the winner in a 1-0 win over Dunfermline at Tannadice, and Darren Jackson grabbed the only goal of the match against St Mirren at Love Street. United were drawn against First Division Dundee in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup, and the game was shown live on BSB on a Wednesday night. Ray McKinnon, Darren Jackson and Duncan Ferguson scored in a 3-1 win to take United through to the semi-finals, and this was the fifth straight years United had knocked Dundee out of the competition. A 2-1 defeat at home to Aberdeen and a 0-0 draw with St Johnstone killed off United's League hopes.

Ferguson in the semi final at East End Park

St Johnstone were the opposition again in the next game in April, this time in the Scottish Cup semi-final at East End Park, another wee bus journey just down the road for us! John Clark had put United ahead before ex-United man Harry Curran levelled, but Duncan Ferguson scored the winner in front of a crowd of over 16,000 to take United through to the final. Freddy Van der Hoorn scored in another win over Celtic, this time 2-1 at Tannadice, meaning United had lost only 3 points to the Glasgow side that season. Three 1-0 defeats followed, all away from home, against Motherwell, Hibs and Rangers. The Motherwell match had been described as a dress rehearsal for the Scottish Cup final, after the Steelmen had knocked out Celtic in the semi-finals, and Gary Bollan made his United debut in the defeat at Ibrox.

Into May, and Hamish French scored two goals against Hearts at Tannadice in a 2-1 win, but a late David Moyes goal for Dunfermline at East End Park in the final League game meant that United had failed to qualify for Europe for the first time in 15 years. The only route left was to win the Cup.

The season finished with a large turn out for the Scottish Cup Final against Motherwell, taking two buses through to the West - strangely travelling through to Hamilton and Motherwell for the pre-game piss up!
The match itself, the "Family Final", will be remembered as one of the best finals ever, but not by any Arabs! A disallowed goal and a free-kick that hit both posts were a sign that it wasn't to be our day, and after going down 2-0 things looked bad. But United fought back through Dave Bowman and John O'Neil, and Darren Jackson popped up with a late equaliser to make it 3-3 and take the game into extra time. United lost out in the end to a Steve Kirk goal, Ally Maxwell's heroics and bad refereeing by David Syme. And to round things off, Eileen got pissed on at the game! We headed home for an alcohol fuelled game of football to cheer ourselves up!

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