The Moors are covered in heather: Scots links aplenty at the Brewery Field

The unique sweet unique feature of this particular Road to Wembley is that for each match I am looking for links between the competing teams and Bonny Scotland. Links between Chorley and Bella Caledonia have been previously reported and their current link is that their centre forward Jason Walker represented Greenock Morton with distinction. The spotlight now turns on their opponents in the FA Cup third qualifying round Spennymoor Town who will welcome Chorley to their Brewery Field Ground on Saturday the 1^st October. I have had fantastic assistance from two Spennymoor Town fans on twitter (@SpennyToffee1 and @SpennyFanChris) in flushing out the links between The Moors and Scotland. It would appear that Spennymoor have had a number of former players who were Scottish, including Brian Healy and Alex Mathie and that they have hosted a number of pre-season games against Scottish opposition. Unfortunately for them none of their current first team squad are Scottish.

Midfielder Brian Healy was born in Glasgow but spent his entire playing career in England. He played for Spennymoor from 1993-96 following a short spell with Gateshead where he played 11 games and scored 2 goals. After leaving the Brewery Field in 1996 Brian progressed to league football and he played for both Torquay United and Darlington. He finished his career in County Durham playing for Bishop Auckland in 2002.

Scots Ex Moors player Brian Healey photographed representing Torquay 

With due respect to Brian, Alex Mathie was a much higher profile signing for the Moors. Bathgate born Alex started his career with Celtic as a youth in 1987 and by 1991 had progressed to the first team. With strong competition for places in the team at Celtic Park in that era Alex found opportunities limited and in total played only 11 games for Celtic.

 

A young Alex Mathie sporting the famous hoops

To further his career Alex went west to Greenock and between 1991 and 1993 played 74 times for Morton scoring 34 goals. His stupendous scoring rate drew the attention of Newcastle United and he signed for The Toon in late 1993 and went on to score 4 goals in 25 appearances for the St James Park club.

Alex Mathie of The Toon with the trademark bouffant hair do

Alex moved on to play for Ipswich Town, Dundee United, Preston North End and York City. In 2003, in the twilight of his playing days he signed for the Moors. He later went on to become manager of the club.

The other notable tartan link with Spennymoor Town is the fact that they have accommodated pre-season friendlies against Scottish clubs. I do not have access to the full records but I am aware that East Fife and Arbroath visited the Brewery Field. East Fife played against the Moors in County Durham in both 1994 and 2009.

An East Fife fan outside Brewery Field in 1994

Arbroath visited the Brewery Field in 2000 and controversial Scottish football icon Andy Webster recalls the match with some affection. In a recent interview with the Daily Record the man who fell out with Hearts and hence spawned the ‘Webster Ruling’ reminisces about the match at the Brewery Field. “As a young boy, I loved my time at Arbroath. It was one of the best times in my life. That nine-month period when I was full-time, it felt like I was with a group of my mates. I was doing all the rubbish jobs around the football club. But I had an unbelievable laugh along the way. I was in there with some brilliant players. It’s ironic that I’m now playing with young Stevie Mallan at St Mirren. Because I had to tell him that I used to play with his dad Stevie at Arbroath. I actually met Stevie Snr the other week. As players, they’re polar opposites. I told young Stevie that his dad was one hardy guy. He was unbelievably hard. I told him the story about when Arbroath played Spennymoor United in a pre-season match. At the end, Stevie Snr came off the pitch and from under his sock pulled out a Spennymoor badge that he’d ripped off a guy’s shirt during the game! When I met Stevie Snr, he told me still had the badge – he’d kept it as a souvenir.” Lets hope there are no shirt ripping incidents when Chorley visit the Brewery Field. Andy Webster played for my beloved Hearts for 5 years between 2001 and 2006 and won the first batch of his 28 Scotland caps when turning out for the Jambos at that time. He became a controversial figure in Scottish football when he fell out with the Hearts madman Lithuanian owner Vladimir Romanov. To punish the player Mad Vlad vowed that he would not be picked for the first team again. Andy, a regular in the Scotland team at this time, called this restraint of trade and left the club in the middle of his contract to sign for Wigan. After a wrangle lasting 18 months the ruling was in Webster’s favour and years later with the dust settled on this unsavoury episode Andy returned for a second spell at Hearts in 2011.

Controversial Andy Webster in action for Hearts circa 2003

The ‘Webster Ruling’ is a test case in association football law involving Andy Webster. In September 2006 he became the first player to exploit the updated transfer regulations of FIFA, football's governing body, which stipulated that players are able to unilaterally walk away from a contract after a fixed period, regardless of the duration of the contract itself. Although the long-term effects of the decision remain unclear, it has been compared to the landmark Bosman ruling of 1995 in its potential significance. Those Moors fans watching the Spennymoor v Arbroath game in 2000 were no doubt unaware that in the opposition ranks was a teenage centre back who would years later turn football’s employment law upside down.

Hopefully there will be no need for the lawyers to get involved when Spennymoor Town take on Chorley at the beginning of next month. Who will win this intriguing tie? I could make a prediction but discretion is the better part of valour. One thing for sure it is going to be fascinating next stop on The Road to Wembley from Scotland.