Carl Thywissen was in Polmont Prison when he first pulled on an East Stirlingshire jersey. An inauspicious start perhaps, but it would soon get worse. Much worse.

He made his debut in a pre-season friendly against Polmont inmates just over three years ago.

A decent performance resulted in Dennis Newall, the then manager, enlisting the midfielder with the promise of a £10-a-week stipend. How could he refuse?

With his silver boots, sculpted facial hair and statuesque Swedish partner, Thywissen seemed to bring a touch of continental glamour to the club. He didn't: the epithet Shaggy and routine verbal beastings from Newall's potty-mouthed man-management textbook ensured "Scooby Doo's hairy pal" was disabused of any vestiges of self-esteem or confidence.

Many would have walked away. Many did. But not Thywissen, and now the 29-year-old is reaping the rewards for his persistence.

Now a hardened third division centre-back, the Oslo native has been central in the development of the Shire. For so long Britain's worst football team, the side now under the astute tutelage of Gordon Wylde this week recorded a sixth consecutive win, overcoming Queen's Park in the Challenge Cup. With 12 points from their opening five league games, the club have already exceeded their tally for the entire 2003/04 campaign.

With wages no longer limited to 10 pound coins in a brown envelope thanks to £40,000 of investment from Yorkshire entrepreneur Spencer Fearn, Wylde has been able to attract a higher standard of player and a greater number of fans, with East Stirling now, astonishingly, boasting the third-biggest supporters' club in Norway. Over 5000 people have joined Norwayshire, founded after Thywissen was featured on Golden Goal, his homeland's equivalent of Tam Cowan's Offside.

"It's unbelievable," chuckles the amiable defender, during a break from his job in the financial department of Shell. "Our away strips now are the same design as the Norway kit and have Norwayshire on the back with the Norwegian flag, which is great for me because it's the closest I get to playing for my country."

Born in Leicester - "I was only there for a month, so I'm definitely not English" - Thywissen grew up near Oslo, playing lower league football before starting a marketing degree at the University of Stirling. Upon graduating in 2003, he went home but returned to Glasgow with girlfriend Johanna and asked Scott Livingstone, a university friend and Shire player, to get him a trial.

"It was quite an experience,"

he admits, wincing at the memory.

"It's a completely different culture and mentality here. The managers - particularly Dennis - are verbal and like to swear and give a bit of abuse and that was quite a shock.

"Then there was getting beat every week. A lot of players have come in, then left because they couldn't handle it. There have been times I've thought about walking away but you need to be strong and realise it can't get any worse. We love to play football and that's why we're here."

One particular test of Thywissen's faith lingers in the memory. Long trips north are rarely relished and it was with a heavy heart that our hero rose at 6am on December 27 - hours after returning from Christmas in Norway - to rendezvous in Falkirk with the team bus. Snow, a North Sea gale, and a 3-0 humping did little to lift his spirits by the time he arrived home at 11pm.

"I was asking myself why' all the way home," he admits. "I was wondering if it was worth it but it is because it's what I love doing. Any time I don't feel up for it, I think about that day and the fans who travelled up there. It is the passion and interest in third division football here that really appeals to me."

Now one of the longest-serving players at the club, Thywissen says gradual improvements have been taking place since Wylde took charge and that the players had been expecting to do better this term. That said, last season's supporters' player of the year concedes the run of early results has been a mite surprising.

While the aim pre-season was merely not to finish last, expectations have been revised upwards towards mediocrity and, who knows, even the chance of a play-off place should Wylde's 4-2-3-1 system - modelled, of course, on the Norwegian national side - continue to thrive. Thywissen's personal goal is to ensure the club is no longer the worst in Scotland when he leaves for either Norway or Sweden in the next few years.

"I don't think we'll be bottom this season, which means my mission will be completed, but I'm just enjoying it right now. I haven't experienced that many wins here so the last few Saturday nights have been like Christmas and birthdays rolled into one."

richard.winton@therald.co.uk