The people of Edinburgh expected carnage, and carnage they received. King Leonidas led a wild rampage around the Scottish capital, dragging an army of Spartans FC players, staff and fans on a messy bar crawl across the city to celebrate the club’s back-to-back promotions and first-ever taste of tier three football.
Having come back down to earth and sobered up, King Leonidas set his mind to the monumental task ahead of his club. And, if there’s one thing we know about King Leonidas, it’s that he loves a seemingly impossible challenge. Spartans remained semi-professional as they only had £258k in the bank, so couldn’t afford to go professional. That was good in a way, but it also meant their promising youngsters were easy picking for bigger clubs. So they lost 16-year-old striker Ciarán Court, who came back on loan, then in January right back Jamie Riordan for club record fees of £12k and £23k to Dundee United.
Spartans’ scouting capabilities and finances remain somewhat limited, to put it lightly. So finding players that met Leonidas’ demand for Spartan attributes (aggression, bravery, compusure, concentration, determination, decisions, positioning, stamina, strength, teamwork and workrate) was challenging. That meant he largely put faith in last season’s strong youth intake, with 13 of their 22 players under the age of 18 at the start of the season. However, he did bring in former Aberdeen midfielder Mark Gallagher, who has 7 of Leonidas’ desired attributes above a 10, and former Motherwell goalkeeper Max Currie.
Facing The Impossible
Spartans are overwhelming favourites to go down with 200/1 title odds well behind those of Edinburgh City at 50/1 and Kelty Hearts. They only have five players considered League 1 standard and are up against relegated Queen’s Park, who have the shortest odds known to man at 1/167, and Hamilton and Airdrieonians, who had a tycoon takeover and have £32m in the bank, at 5/4. However, not to be deterred by a tricky situation, Leonidas stuck with his offensive ethos, deploying his positive 4-4-2 formation.
That worked nicely in their season opener as Hamilton visited Ainslie Park Stadium and were dispatched 3-1. Left back Aidan Lamont became League 1’s youngest player and goalscorer and Spartans’ youngest goalscorer aged 15 years 248 days by scoring a screamer before strikes by homegrown wingers Chris Telfer, who also scored on his league debut, and Graeme McGinley.
Spartans’ first away day in League 1 was a local grudge match at Edinburgh City. Spartans racked up 17 shots to 10 and Telfer scored again to secure a massive 1-0 victory. Their luck ran out in a 1-0 defeat at home to Alloa, who are one of the four professional sides in League 1, in which first half injuries to Telfer and Blair Henderson disrupted their flow.
A trip to the national stadium to face another professional side was exactly the type of mammoth challenge that Leonidas thrived on. Seeing a giant stadium with just 632 supporters in it was a little weird, but Spartans started well in the biggest arena any of their players had ever been to. They got a huge chance on the verge of half time as McGinley was brought down and midfielder James Craigen coolly converted the penalty. Queen’s Park offered little but did force Currie into eight saves, including a vital one in the final minute, that led his side to a famous 1-0 win at Hampden Park.
That surprise win gave Spartans confidence as they welcomed Kelty Hearts and, despite conceding early, raced to a 3-1 win through McGinley, Craigen and the returning Henderson. A much tougher test took them to moneybags Airdrieonians for the first time but Gallagher created goals for young winger Ruari Darge and Court to earn a superb point in a game Spartans bossed with 11 shots to five.
The solid form continued, including Court scoring twice in a 3-3 at Queen of the South, Henderson following suit in a 4-0 thumping of Edinburgh City then both of them scoring in a brilliant 2-0 win at Hamilton. The honeymoon period ended with consecutive defeats at Alloa and 3-2 at home to Airdrieonians but they got back on track with a 2-0 win over Stirling. That moved them onto 28 points and basically meant they were already free of any relegation concerns after 16 games. Furthermore, a 2-1 win over left them top of the pile heading into 2025!
Can Spartans Continue Overachieving?
Spartans’ form dropped off a little in the new year, but a Henderson hat trick inspired a 3-2 win at Queen of the South then winger Ruari Darge and Craigen edged a 2-1 win at home to Edinburgh City. That technically had them in the promotion running, sitting 3 points off the playoffs and 7 off the top of the league with 4 games remaining.
Spartans began the run-in by getting thumped 3-0 at home to Airdireonians. McGinley’s goal earned a 1-0 win over bottom side Stirling then Court scored the only goal at Montrose to take them 4th heading into the final day. A 1-1 with Queen of the South was enough to preserve 4th place and finish in the playoffs.
Leonidas was not a fan of the League 1 playoffs, and wrote a strongly worded email to the Scottish FA explaining why they were useless. Spartans had to play a two-legged semi final against Dunfermline, who finished 9th in the Championship, while Airdrieonians and Queen’s Park played in the other semi. Spartans did superbly to earn a 3-3 draw at home, having trailed 1-0 then led 3-1, but conceded an 87th-minute equaliser. But the main talking point of that game was 15-year-old youth academy striker Stevie McGowan scoring on his debut. Three days later, a tired Spartans side went to Dunfermline and fell behind on 23 minutes. But Leonidas didn’t understand the meaning of tired and urged the lads to show some character. And they did. A Craigen penalty and full-back Josh Laing’s inspired a 2-1 victory!
That set up a two-legged Playoff Final against Queen’s Park. The home leg was first and this time there was no shock as they lost 3-1 then, in Leonidas’ 100th game at the club, an exhausted team fought hard to only lose 2-1 away. But what a heroic season this had been from Leonidas’ hugely unfancied charges.
Causing Cup Shocks
Spartans took their strong league form into the Scottish Cup to pull off their biggest victory so far. They welcomed Championship side Falkirk, racked up 1.85 xG and thumped them 3-0 with goals by McGinley, Gallagher and striker Ben Lamont. But they lost to Dunfermline 1-0 in the 4th round.
Spartans also caused a surprise in the SPFL Trust Trophy as they got revenge on Welsh side TNS, beating them on penalties in the 4th round. A Championship side followed as they went to Livingston and, against all the odds, racked up 18 shots and 2.53 xG to earn a 4-2 victory. That sent them into a semi final at Northern Irish side Glentoran and a late Henderson penalty sealed a 2-1 victory. So Spartans were into their first cup final!
Two months later, the SPFL Trust Final served up their toughest test so far as Spartans took on Championship leaders Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Thistle bossed the game and took the lead but Spartans grew into it and levelled through Henderson. They also hit the bar late on through Lamont but took the game to extra time. But then things started to go against them. Centre back Craig Howie was sent off seven minutes into the extra period after they’d made all three subs and Thistle nicked it with a 116th-minute strike that looked offside.
The giant figure of Leonidas was fuming on the sidelines, laying into the fourth official and using language far too strong to publish in this public forum. In hindsight, the red card decision was probably fair but the goal was clearly offside and, the way he saw it, the officials had cost Leonidas and his team the chance of glory and clearly favoured the professional outfit. But secretly, Leonidas was delighted with his lads’ efforts not only to get to the Final but push a far superior side all the way.
Assessing More Spartans’ Overachievement
Spartans again set a new club record high finish as the massive relegation favourites came home 4th in League 1. King Leonidas was proud beyond words of his young squad, which had an average age of just 20.14. Indeed, the first 11 included six teenagers and 13 of the 23-man squad were 17 or younger. But what they lacked in experience, they made up for in potential and heart.
The attacking approach paid off as Spartans were the 3rd highest scorers in League 1, with only Hamilton and Airdrionians (58 and 56) scoring more than their 55. Spartans also had the best cross completion (99%), scored a 3rd-highest corner goals (8) and had the 3rd-best conversion rate (12%) and 4th-most shots (437). However, they also had the league’s 3rd-worst defence as only QotS and Stirling (55 and 62) conceded more than their 50 and only 7 of those were from set pieces. Spartans also made the most fouls (495), won the most tackles (779) and conceded the 2nd-most penalties (10). And all of this is pretty impressive considering Spartans only spend £129k per annum on wages, which is 1/7th of Queen’s Park’s 880k and Hamilton’s 835k. But surprisingly, they had the highest attendance in the league as 2,569 people came to their game against Edinurgh City in October and had the 2nd-best average attendance of 1,407.
Henderson led the way at Spartans, scoring 21 in 44 and coming 2nd in the League 1 top goalscorer race with 17. Loanee Court scored 13 in 34 and has progressed superbly but will go back to Dundee United next season. While 17-year-old McGinley led the assists with 14 plus 7 goals, earning him a new 3-year contract, Craigen scored 9 with 8 assists, Gallagher got 6 assists and Darge scored 5 and got 7 assists.
The promise at the club was bolstered by another “golden generation” led by aforementioned striker Stevie McGowan. He’s one of 8 players with 5-star potential in the latest intake alongside fellow striker Laurie Berra, wingers Darragh Brittain, Jamie Baptie and Liall Rendall, midfielder Harley Bow, centre-back Regan Crabbe and full back Jamie Reid. The intake also had two 4.5-star potential graduates in centre-back Cammie Murrell and full back Paddy Hurst plus four 4-star potential players in wingers Louis Christie and Calvin Dods, midfielder Brett Patterson and goalkeeper Jack Moore.
While there’s plenty of potential at Spartans, how quickly can these young players flourish to help King Leonidas and how many of them will meet his strict attribute demands? And how will Spartans fare in their 2nd season in League 1? Join us next Wednesday to find out!
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