Begin Again

Last updated : 29 July 2016 By Alex Horsburgh

C:WindowsTempphpDF63.tmpCowdenbeath FC start the new league season back in the basement of Scottish football, on Saturday 6 August at home to Elgin City after a relatively successful start to the new century.

Successive relegations see the Blue Brazil back where many say they belong but the League Two side have enjoyed more success since 2000 than at any time since the end of World War II with just two promotions in 1970 and 1992 and two League Cup semi final appearances (1959 and 1970) the highlight of their 55 year existence after hostilities and before the 21st century.

Since 2000 the Fifers have flirted with the second tier of Scottish football for only the second time since original League reconstruction back in 1975/6 and there has been play off triumph and disaster since the Noughties and promotions to keep a previously success starved central Fife public entertained.

Cowdenbeath Chairman Donald Findlay has attempted to stop the rot at Central Park by boldly appointing the youngest manager in the SPFL and a much travelled and familiar face in Scottish and Dutch football to the Cowden board.

Former Hearts player Liam Fox brings new drive to the Blue Brazil after Colin Nish's departure following play off heartache last season while Jimmy Calderwood is a major coup for 'Beath as new school combines with old school at a stadium that will celebrate it's 100th year in 2017.

The fear of the Pyramid Play Off and becoming a Lowland League side has not been lost on Cowdenbeath as SPFL status is one of the few things that keeps the old mining town on the map outside Central Park's 'other' sport of Stock Car Racing.

While the relationship between the round ball and motor sport remains an uneasy one, with the state of the Central Park pitch often blamed on the Stock Cars that come to rest on it when they veer off the oval track that surrounds it, the football club have yet to find the substantial amount of cash needed to build a new stadium. So one of the small town collesium's of British football must continue to house Scottish League games in the new season with supporters accompanied by the surreal backdrop of white wall tyres, Alcatraz style fencing and a now crumbling football façade that represents a bygone era when shorts were long and local enthusiasm made for five figure attendances that sometimes fell just short of the town's actual population.

Liam Fox's signings this season have pointed towards Cowden attempting to make a quick return to League One and a mixture of young guns and journeymen have been added to the squad along with a Bulgarian striker who has maybe already shown he could become a cult figure this season.

Fox further augmented his squad for 2016/17 with the loan signing of 19 year old striker Nikolay Todorov from Hearts. 

The loan will run until January and many will recall Nikolay from the recent friendly with Hearts where he played on with a bandage round his head after suffering a head knock. 

Nikolay was born on August 24 1996 in Pleven in Bulgaria. 

He came to the UK in 2014 when he joined Nottingham Forest from the Bulgarian club Cherno More Varna (the Black Sea club are nicknamed 'the Sailors').

He was sent out on loan to Worcester City and Hemel Hempstead by Forest and then moved to Hearts at the start of this season. 

"Nikolay is a hard-working striker with good aerial ability and we hope he will make his mark here." said Cowden director David Allan: "It is a pleasure to welcome him now to Central Park. We thank Hearts for their assistance which is much appreciated by Cowdenbeath FC".

Nikolay made a good debut at Gayfield against Arbroath in the Blues' closing Betfred Cup tie which saw him score in a 2-0 win.

The Betfred Cup saw Cowden start with a decent performance and a narrow 2-1 home defeat by Inverness CT, they then showed how far they had to go when they were crushed 6-1 at Tannadice v Dundee Utd before Dunfermline Athletic came to Central Park in the local derby and won 3-0 to make the days when Cowden were truly the Pars bogey team seem like a very long time ago.

The win at Arbroath perhaps showed where Cowden are right now and they will expect to spend the 2016/17 season in the top half of the table pushing for either outright promotion as champions or a promotion play off place which seems within reach judging by early performances but League Two could be a great unpredictable this season.

The other scenario is unthinkable and Cowden will not want to follow Montrose and East Stirlingshire to that final match of the season where a Highland or Lowland League side stands between SPFL and obscurity, Montrose survived and East Stirlingshire didn't, many wouldn't shed a tear if Cowdenbeath joined the ranks of the fifth tier as Central Park is not a favourite with visiting players, managers and fans.

Middle ground is a territory Cowdenbeath rarely occupies, whether it be politically or in a football sense, and the casual observer gets the feeling it will be a case of "either or" for the Blue Brazil this season.

Either a return to the promotion days 2011, 12 and 13 or the relegation struggles of 2015 and early 2016.

There is a lot at stake for Cowdenbeath FC this season as they try to be more than just another League Two side... maybe even SPFL survival itself.