The Interview Bryan Hay

An undoubted highlight of the season to date has been our Scottish Cup run. Bryan Hay is someone who has been through it all many times before - this being his sixteenth Scottish Cup campaign - and like everyone at the Club he’s delighted with how it’s gone this year.

Bryan said,“The Annan result really was massive for us a team. Not only the result but I think the performance too. In the end we probably could have won by a more comfortable margin. We have played SPFL League teams in the Scottish Cup in the past and, although we have caused some upsets, we have probably let ourselves down a bit. I think we have probably lacked a bit of belief when coming up against this kind of opposition.

“But I think our belief and mentality were spot on against Annan as the performance and result showed. The Coaching staff had done their due diligence on them. The two midfielders loved to get on the ball as much as they could, which you would expect from players of the calibre of Wullie Gibson and Paul McGowan, and they had a live wire who would play anywhere along the front line in Aidan Smith, as well as other threats obviously. But we nullified these threats quite well and even when it got to the later stages when Annan were starting to pile players forward I never felt like we were ever in real danger of conceding which is great testament to the whole team.

“Having the game at the Bellslea was a big help and when the home crowd get up it’s hard for any team coming here.”

All eyes then turned to the Fourth Round draw with the prospect of meeting one of the big guns.

“I’m not too sure where to start with this one! I honestly had a gut feeling that something big was going to happen and to be honest this is what I thought It would be. When I saw Rangers get pulled out for a home tie I called it right away - we’re the next team coming out. It turned out to be so and I just burst out laughing. I couldn’t believe it happened again, but it just shows the magic of the Scottish Cup.

“I’m so happy for everyone involved with the Club that we have landed the tie that we have. Firstly for the team and the management who put in countless hours of work through the week and give up so much at weekends - they really do deserve this, but at the end of the day these guys are rewarded when they get to walk out onto the pitch on a Saturday afternoon and represent such a special club as Fraserburgh. We get all the plaudits when things go well on the pitch and also are well looked after financially so we already are very lucky really.

“The guys behind the scenes will be breathing a sigh of relief that it wasn’t a home tie this time around, hopefully a bit less stressful for them, but they deserve this more than anyone.The board and committee put in just as much work as the playing staff, if not more, doing all the jobs that go unnoticed to most and allow us to play football every weekend so I’m just as happy for them.

“The tie obviously comes with financial implications for the club which will hopefully contribute to the successful running of the club for years to come. Fingers crossed the board and committee and further FFC family can get a good day out at one of Europe’s biggest clubs and enjoy the whole experience.”

Bryan is one of several survivors who played in the previous encounter back in 2018.

“The last time this happened, back in 2018 was a pretty surreal experience. None of us had been in this position before and really didn’t know what to expect, but it was all brilliant. Phones ringing off the hook, messages daily from anyone and everyone wishing us luck, looking for tickets, asking us to take it easy or get into them depending who you supported!

“When we were told it would be a televised match that just added to the excitement – the whole build up to the match was brilliant, players getting to do things with the press. I remember Eddie and Boomer doing something with Arthur Numan, Willie taking a Sky Sports reporter to the Broch beach for a surf lesson, and there were loads of interviews and reports in various papers, all just brilliant.

“What probably wasn’t ideal was Jamie Beagrie’s offshore rota. He was due to be offshore for the game but managed to get it changed so he would be home for the game on the Sunday. But then of course Mother Nature struck, the game got postponed, and Jamie would again be due offshore for the re-arranged game. Thankfully he must have a pretty good boss as he was able to get off and play in the match.

“I must also mention the team of staff and supporters who attended the Bellslea to try and clear and defrost the pitch. They were there nearly the whole weekend, working through the night and in freezing conditions to try and get the game on. Again these kind of gestures show just how much the club means to the community – its pretty humbling really.”

So to the forthcoming match, Bryan believes it comes against a Rangers who are in a better shape than the team we faced back in 2018. Bryan said,“When we faced them back then there was a bit of turmoil at the club if I remember correctly. Pedro Caixinha had just been sacked and Graeme Murty was caretaker manager. The team wasn’t performing –they were out of Europe and there was reports that top goal scorer Alfredo Morelos was on his way to China (turns out he was just off to the local Chinese!). But you could say things were far from rosy.

“Compare that to now and I think they are in a better place than they were then. Things may not be going so well domestically but they are doing quite well in Europe. They have got a team littered with talent and internationals and they also have some good young players playing quite regularly so it will be a massive test for us come gameday.”

Then of course there’s the change of scenery.

“Unfortunately this time we won’t have the Bellslea Park to rely on, a sprawling Ibrox bowling green awaits which could spell disaster for usbut it will be a great experience to play on such a quality pitch and I’m sure the guys will rise to the occasion.

“Playing at Ibrox is the thing of dreams and not many people get to say that they have done that. It will be an experience that I will treasure and I’m sure the whole squad will feel the same. Walking out to potentially forty or fifty thousand will be pretty surreal. The atmosphere has been described as one of the best in Europe at times and the stadium voted as one of, if not the best in the UK with its famous marble staircase and wood furnishings so these are all things that we get to take in on a match day and to be perfectly honest, I can’t wait.”

There’s little doubt it will be an enormous challenge for the lads but Bryan remains upbeat.

“The hope for the match will be to go out there and give a good account of ourselves. I think we did that quite well the first time around at the Bellslea, although at Ibrox it will be a very different challenge. You would hope that Rangers have an off day and that we could cause the greatest Scottish Cup upset of all time - almost impossible I know but we can all dream.”

“Like I said previously the Rangers squad is littered with talent and internationals so we are going to be majorly up against it. I’ve been really surprised how well Connor Baron has fitted into the team and it looks like he’s Philippe Clement’s main man in midfield. His partnership with Niko Raskin looks to be going from strength to strength and I’ve been really impressed. I’ve also been really impressed with John Souttar so far this season. Again he looks to be the first choice centre back and he’s been excellent for both club and country. Then you’ve got a legend like James Tavernier who has been out the team recently which shows how well Dujon Sterling has been performing - he’s an absolute machine, I’d liken him to Ross Aitken. In attack,Vaclav Cerny has probably been Rangers bright spark, he looks very accomplished, plenty of pace and knows where the goal is.

“We haven’t even touched on the likes of Butland, Balogun, Jefte, Diomande, Hagi, Bejrami and Dessers - fingers crossed they are all starting on the bench but we have seen first

36 hand how good the Rangers reserve team can be!”

With almost 570 appearances under his belt, Bryan is well qualified to offer guidance to the younger lads.

“The best advice that I could offer the young team would be to just embrace the whole experience, take it all in, enjoy every second of it because it doesn’t come around very often - usually every 7 years or so!

“They will get a small taste of what its like to be a professional footballer and hopefully they can take that experience and use it as motivation to push on and try to play at the highest level possible. Of course we want players to stay at FFC but ultimately we also want them to push on and play SPFL football, if not with the Broch then hopefully with someone else.”

The temptation, with such a big occasion on the horizon, may be to become distracted from more immediate matters but Bryan doesn’t feel that will become an issue.

He said,“Hopefully it will be quite easy for the boys to remain focussed from now until January 19th. At the end of the day they are playing for a place in the team and the best way to do that is to be performing week in week out.

“We’ve got a busy run of fixtures coming up and professionalism is going to be key. Recovery, preparation and application are all things that we will need to do well and the best way to look after yourself on the pitch is to give it your all and not start shirking challenges because that’s when players will start to hurt themselves.

“We have a good core of senior players in the squad and hopefully the standards that they regularly set can keep the boys in check and keep training and matchday standards at the highest level.”