Life has not been the same at Darvel since that night, it probably won’t ever be again.
Those inside the club were never in doubt that beating Aberdeen was well within their power, but chairman John Gall confessed he did not quite grasp the ‘enormity’ of what that would mean. It’s been billed as the greatest upset in the long history of the Scottish Cup – a seventh tier side, also-rans of the Junior game only a few years ago, toppling arguably the third biggest clubs in the country. On Monday night, they welcome League One’s Falkirk to a now expectant Recreation Park for an unthinkable place in the quarter-final.
Gall says nobody knew where Darvel was a few short weeks ago – they do now.
“Where were all of you four years ago, eh?” he quips, taking a seat alongside manager Mick Kennedy. It’s Saturday morning and the club have thrown open their doors to fans, media, and anybody else curious as to just what is happening in this tiny pocket of East Ayrshire.
The open day has attracted young and old, the Killie pies are on the house, and the Scottish Cup sits glistening on the top table. On the town’s nearby Main Street, the blue and white bunting thrown up on every window and door last time the circus came to town remains unmoved.
“It's been great,” Gall says. “The ladies, in particular, are loving it. They've got their hair done and make-up on every day in case the cameras pop into their shop.
“They're all loving it, the whole town is buzzing for it. There's people from Darvel who have never seen anything like this in their life, the elderly people. It's great for them to see it.
“The only regret I have is Peter Orr (former Darvel president) who died two weeks before. Peter was instrumental in bringing me to the club.
“He was here every day of the week, a great character. He died just before the Aberdeen game, I think he was looking down on us that night, saying: ‘Well done, guys'.”
He will no doubt be watching again, like the rest of the country, when Falkirk attempt to succeed where Aberdeen could not. It will be no easy task.
Darvel not only defeated the Dons, they did so playing an expansive brand of football that does not often accompany underdog stories such as this. Confidence is understandably high, and Gall, mischievously, is up for giving his audience something to talk about.
“Could you imagine Darvel in the Scottish Cup final in May?” he says with a glint in his eye. “Everybody in Darvel would be cancelling their holidays to and saying: ‘Wait a minute, we’re not going to Spain now, we’re going to the cup final!’”
To his right, Kennedy’s laugh is a pained one.
“No pressure, Mick!” comes the cry from the floor. But why shouldn’t they dream? Nobody thought possible what transpired on the pitch outside last time, they may as well believe anything is possible.
“We’ve got to dream,” Gall insists. “We dreamed of beating Aberdeen and the bookies took a hammering from people in Darvel, because they all put a couple of pounds on 1-0 and got great odds.
“The pubs were all open late that night, people spending their money. The pubs made in one day what they usually take in three weeks, so that’s an example of what it meant to the whole town. It’s been brilliant.”
As surreal as this all is for the club, it’s easy to forget the Scottish Cup is, ultimately, a very welcome aside to their ultimate ambition of reaching the SPFL. Increased exposure has yielded increased sponsorship, no doubt invaluable in their push to progress up the pyramid.
In football, however, reputations do not burgeon without facing cynicism. Darvel have been well financed, clearly, but Gall, also managing director at Brownings the Bakers, rejects the notion there’s anything artificial about their rise.
“Since Michael’s joined the club, we’ve talked about what we can do and how we can do it, “ he said. “Everybody’s gone: ‘Look at them’, and we’ve had quite a bit of a roasting on social media about different things.
“People say it’s all about the money, but you look at the football being played out there. I’ve even heard other managers in senior football say: ‘It’s their budget’.
“Our budget? We’re a lot less than second division budgets. I’ve given Michael a budget to get out of this division, and that’s all we’re looking at just now – get into the Lowland League and take it from there to try and move up the leagues.
“What can I say about Michael? It’s not just him, but the players he brings in. They need to have a certain quality, on and off the park.
“I don’t always agree with what he does, there is no doubt about that, but we get on well together.
“He’s smiling today because I got him a new jacket.”
He might just have a little more to grin about come full-time on Monday evening.
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