Even for a manager who thrived on succeeding when presented with challenging situations, this was a mission impossible. The inspirational attitude and unwavering Spartan ethos of manager King Leonidas had led his unfancied charges into the cinch Championship for the 2026/27 campaign.
However, the Spartans FC board yet again decided it wasn’t in their best interest to take the club professional for the step up to tier two. For context, midfielder Mark Gallagher was considered Spartans’ best player as they sealed promotion and his 4-star rating is only equivalent to a decent cinch League 1 player. That meant it remained virtually impossible to sign new players who were good enough and met Leonidas’ attribute demand. So they remained reliant on the club’s promising youngsters.
Facing The Impossible
Spartans came into The Championship as overwhelming favourites to be relegated with their title odds of 200/1 way beyond the next longest of Alloa’s 33/1. They were now up against big Scottish sides like relegated title favourites St Johnstone (3/10), Livingston (5/4), Kilmarnock (9/5) and Raith Rovers (9/2).
They began with a trip to Raith and a huge shock as winger Graeme McGinley scored the only goal on 21 minutes. The first Championship game at Ainslie Park Stadium against Allow also resulted in three points as striker Stevie McGowan’s opener was doubled up by an own goal for a 2-1 victory. And they didn’t disgrace themselves at Kilmarnock, only losing 1-0.
Another of the league favourites was dispatched with a 2-0 home victory over Falkirk, as target man Blair Henderson scored a penalty and striker Ben Lamont scored late on, followed by a 0-0 at home to Livingston. And after 5 games, Spartans were flying high in 3rd!
Spartans went winless through September but bounced back to beat Hamilton and Alloa 3-1 then dominate bottom side Raith 4-1 with goals by Henderson and Lamont and wingers Ruari Darge and Chris Telfer. And that was backed up by a 3-3 at home to Kilmarnock, which confirmed Spartans were very much finding their feet at this level.
A six-game winless streak followed but 2-0 wins over Arbroath and Alloa saw Leonidas crowned December manager of the month. And, as a result, his side sat 5th in cinch Championship going into 2027. They had 29 points, just 1 point outside the playoffs and, more importantly, 14 clear of relegation trouble.
January saw a mass of bigger clubs come in for Spartans’ hot prospects, including derisory bids for the likes of left back Aidan Lamont and midfielder Ruari Curnyn, which highlighted the challenges of being a semi-pro club. In the end, Leonidas was only forced to sell McGowan, who’d scored 2 in 22 this season, for a huge new club record £150k to Aberdeen. However, the board were still unwilling to deliver on Leonidas’ request to turn pro.
Player morale took a hit and they unsurprisingly went on a poor run that was halted thanks to Curnyn’s brace inspiring a 3-2 win over 2nd-place Livingston at the end of January. Then McGowan’s replacement Calvin Glass equalled his goal tally for the season with a double in a 2-1 win at Cove. But a really tricky run of fixtures followed, including trips to the top 3, and 5 consecutive defeats were again snapped by a win against Livingston, this time an impressive 2-1 away success.
But that proved to be their only win in the final 9 league games, which saw Spartans come home in a very solid 6th place. They finished on 46 points and 14 clear of any relegation concerns after 12 wins, 10 draws and 14 defeats, scoring 48 and conceding 57, all of which was pretty impressive for a semi-pro, newly promoted and very young team.
Henderson scored 12 league goals, which was enough to be the 6th-top scorer in the Championship. Curnyn attempted the 5th-most passes (2,015) and made the most progressive passes (298), Darge attempted the 3rd-most crosses (254), McGinley made the 5th-most dribbles (98) and got the 6th-most assists (8). While centre backs Chris Inglis won the 2nd-most key headers (55), 16-year-old Bobby Munro made the joint-most key tackles (11) and Lamont made the most blocks (34) and covered the most distance (265.3 miles). Goalkeeper Max Currie also played a huge role, making the most saves in the league (4.92 per 90) and having the highest xG prevented (7.43).
Henderson was again Spartans’ key man, leading their goalscoring chart with 16 in 41. Now 32, Leonidas wasn’t convinced about giving him a new contract, but it but would probably be prudent to give him at least one more year. That’s because behind him, McGinley top-scored with 7 gollowed by Curnyn and Glass (5) and Darge (4). McGinley led the way with 8 assists followed by Darge (7), Henderson (6) and Curnyn (4).
There was plenty of room for improvement, but Leonidas was happy with his side’s efforts in once again defying all the odds. The big challenge he now faced was to turn the considerable amount of potential at the club into current ability and performances. That potential was again boosted by a strong youth intake containing 9 players with 5-star potential and 2 more with 4.5-star potential.
Could Leonidas and Spartans continue to upset the odds and was a move to professional status finally in the offing as they moved into their 4th season? Join us next Wednesday to find out!
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