Clubs have become churches of the 21st century. Our stadia are magical places for everyone ... from young people to pensioners
The walls of the cramped office of chief executive Colin McGowan are covered with photos of family and friends.
He’s a proud father and doting grandad – a far cry from the first half of a life in which he existed in chaos – but pride of place is also given to a large sheet of A3 paper pinned at the side of his desk.
Next to a large, leather-bound copy of the Big Book (the AA’s 12-step recovery programme is given an exhibitor’s plinth of its own in the corner) you suspect that bit of paper is the most studied document at the club.
It lists turnover, profit and loss at the club for every season since McGowan first arrived in 2002, when Accies were just three points off relegation to the bottom rung of the Scottish senior game.
The figures would earn the approval of JP Morgan himself with profits turned almost year on year, the highlight being an £860,000 surplus on revenues of £4.5million in 2010.
They’ve made around £2.5m of a profit since, until last year when the accountant’s pen was dipped in red ink for the first time since 2008 and losses were declared of £575,000.
The reason is explained ominously in a column labelled “Fraud – £752,574.00”.
Accies are one of the most streetwise clubs in the SPFL and the elaborate phone and online deception that saw their accounts pillaged by clever crooks in October 2017 continues to provoke consternation.
It’s to the credit of McGowan and the football department of the club, led by Ronnie McDonald, Allan Maitland, Les Gray and Brian Rice, there has been no negative impact on the playing side, including its much-heralded youth department under George Cairns.
McGowan takes particular pride that Accies’ role as a vital community hub, which he reckons plays as important a role as any church in South Lanarkshire, has also been unaffected.
The proof is everywhere to be seen in the Fountain of Youth Stadium, from the autism-friendly 20-seat private cinema to the beach for local kids, complete with speedboat and jetski, they decided to build five years ago in a corner of the ground.
McGowan said: “As a result of the fraud no one lost their job. The club didn’t take one step backwards. We fitted a new, top-of-the-range synthetic pitch and the magnificent youth academy is still fully staffed at a cost of £500,000 a year. “That fraud nearly killed me but it only served to make us stronger through all the pain and worry. I genuinely believe there’s a higher power at Accies that carried us through an impossible situation. “I can’t explain it any other way. Listen, I’ve slept in derelict buildings as a young man. I should never have reached the age of 65 and Accies should never have survived a hit of almost £1m, or at least sustained Premiership football but we’ve managed it.
“There’s been no magic money tree but we’ve found amazing sponsors and enjoyed luck when we needed it. Ronnie and the football board in particular have been exceptional.
“More than two years on I’m still as bitter about the fraud as I was at the behaviour of banks who were bailed out by the public purse and yet choose to do nothing.
“Insurance companies choose to hide behind a wall of letters. It’s very much a David and Goliath battle but we’ll continue to fight for what we believe is right.
“The bank are culpable and are well aware of our feelings and we
also painstakingly pointed out to the insurance companies where we believe they’ve gone wrong.”
A stone’s throw from the stadium, Christmas shoppers are loading their trolleys at Morrison’s with festive goodies but those less fortunate find their way to McGowan’s door.
Upstairs, a corporate suite’s been transformed into a foodbank and Christmas toy depository and it’s a source of both pride and pain to McGowan that they’re struggling to cope with demand.
The doors of the stadium are open to more than the football club and it hosts meetings by a string of local recovery groups like AA, Narcotics Anonymous and
Families Anonymous, as well as hosting other charity partners.
McGowan is proud to be a trustee with Blameless, a charity formed to provide a vision of hope for children and families affected by alcoholism and other addictions.
He rat-a-tats a string of stats to underline how badly these services are needed, from the number of people on methadone, the rate of teenage suicides and the deaths through drug and alcohol misuse.
McGowan said: “I’ve been in recovery 35 years, this is my passion. Football clubs have become the churches of the people in the 21st century as more fall away from formal religion.
“Our stadia are magical places for everyone, from young people to pensioners. If the world was run by those in recovery there wouldn’t be any wars.”
Accies are at Fir Park tomorrow but McGowan will leave the football to McDonald, Rice and Co.
He said: “Five years ago we were approached by a Chinese company who offered to buy us out but we laughed them off.
“We didn’t even ask how much. Ronnie summed it up when he said, ‘What would we do if we didn’t have Accies?’
“It would have been a betrayal to the community to sell out. Following football is the price I have to pay for the other important work we do.”