SATURDAY was the first time friends Paul Brown and Andy Kidd had visited Fort William.

The two men drove through the night from Bognor Regis on England’s south coast only to find they would have to wait for the campsite to open before getting a few hours kip ahead of the big game. It didn’t matter.

Theirs was a pilgrimage to Claggan Park, a chance to watch their beloved Fort William FC take on Keith in a Highland League match. And why not.

“We left at eight last night, got past God knows how many speed restriction,” Paul tells me. “And all because it’s Fort William. Come on the Fort.”
“This is what football is all about,” says Andy. “They turn up every week and show passion and commitment. They can get beaten by 10 and yet 
are always back. We felt we had to honour that.”

So, why did two English lads from Bognor first become interested in Fort William?

“It’s because they’re rubbish,” they say in unison and laugh.

A couple of locals eye my laptop in one of the bars in Fort William high street and ask what I’m up to.

“You will see some ***** football but at least you’ll get some goals,” one says when they learn the nature of my business in the town.

My taxi driver take a similarly harsh view. He radios his controller to tell him that a journalist from Glasgow is in his car and is on the way to Claggan Park. “Has he got his boots?” comes the quick-witted reply. “Is he sober?”

If you know one thing about Fort William Football Club it’s that they aren’t very good. They never win, are forever rooted to the bottom of the league and after Saturday’s defeat to Keith – ‘we didn’t lose by 10 so it felt like a win’ – their record reads no wins. one draw, seven defeats, eight goals scored, 72 conceded and a points tally of minus eight because they fielded an unregistered player.

Claggan Park literally sits at the foot of Ben Nevis in surely the prettiest ground to have hosted a game of football. It’s hard not to fall in love with the place and people.

The players travel from as far away as Skye and Inverness. They train twice a week and without fail turn up for games even when they are not playing. There is a thin line between commitment and people who should be committed.

Colin Wood, a local businessman, joined the board in the summer at a time when the six-man previous board stepped down and for a few weeks there was a real fear Fort William, formed in 1974, would be forced to give up their Highland League status. Softly spoken and amicable, Colin is my guide to all things ‘Fort’.

“For me, what sums up this club is a time when the bus broke down on the way to play Cove Rangers,” said Colin. “We had to come back and get cars. All the players drove or were driven, knowing there is class difference in Cove and there was a good chance they would get beaten. In fact, we lost 11-0.

“That was three hours in the car and the same back because they didn’t want to let the rest of the team down. They had every opportunity to say ‘this isn’t worth it’ but they were there to a man.

“Ach, I would regret not doing something rather than being afraid of failure. If you lose one week, you can win the next. We are eight weeks into a season that might not have happened. How would we feel eight weeks in that there was no football in Fort William?”

“There are three tiers within the league,” says Sam Lees, a director and match-ticket seller. “There is the top six, then seventh to 12th or 13th in the league and then the rest of us.

There are clubs paying £45,000 for a player and others being handed big signing on fees by the richer clubs whose owners find the new star striker a job within his company – perks and all. On the day of big games said player will be allowed time off.

There are even some, according to guys at Fort, whose full-time job is playing in the Highland League.

The Fort William boys are paid £15 plus win bonus although that’s not something the board have had to concern themselves with too often. The club always finishes last or second last. Occasionally there is a third-from-bottom finish. The 13th place secured in the 2012/13 season is something of legend.

“We are 10 weeks behind everyone else,” says Colin. “We couldn’t get a manager for five weeks because we didn’t know for sure what league we were going to be in, as there was talk of dropping to the amateur ranks. But the new committee decided that wasn’t going to happen. It would have been extremely difficult to get back into the Highland League once we left.

“When Kris Anderson [the manager who arrived from the Clachnacuddin youth team in June] decided to join us, we didn’t have any signed players. Kris knew some lads from Inverness and a few local lads were interested. So, we have come a long way.

“This is a five-year plan. We want to improve the team, get a reserve side and bring more kids to what will be a proper community club. We are battling shinty for interest. There are three clubs in the area and rugby is big here, too. However, we want to make Fort a good place for a local kid to come along and play.”

Anderson is a big man who you would not choose to mess with. He had a 14-year stint in the Royal Artillery which will surely stand him in good stead as he toughs it out in football’s nether regions.

“We have a rightful place in the league and it’s a restructuring process, he says. “It’s not going to happen overnight. It is what it is, the boys turn up, training hard and let’s see where we go.

“The heads have never gone down. We are trying to have a positive environment because the players will have other options that would involve less travelling for training and home games.What do I get out of it? I have always liked a challenge.”

On Saturday, Fort enjoyed a good first-half until Keith’s Ryan Keir scores just before half-time. It is 4-0 midway through the second half and then, yes, Fort score: an own goal by Stewart Hutcheon.

“It’s Christmas,” shouts a delighted woman with not a hint of irony. And for a moment we are all cheering.

My time here is drawing to a close. It has been hard not to get drawn in by the wildly cheery optimism and genuine eccentricity you need to give so much time to this level of football.

These are good folk who know where they are and where they want to go. Check in your cynicism at the door.

The refurbished social club is busy after the match and thoughts are already turning towards next Saturday’s trip to Brora. That’s a 250-mile trip, six hours on the bus for what is going to be another defeat. There are better teams than Fort William. There are not many better clubs.