ANDY Harrow has had a chequered career as a player, with striking
roles for Cowdenbeath, Raith Rovers three times, Luton Town, Aberdeen,
Motherwell, and East Fife between 1972 and 1990.
However, he is not so proud of his present role -- managing
Cowdenbeath in a disastrous first season in the first division which has
seen them win only one game out of 40 so far played -- and heading for a
possible record. They could go through the card without a home victory
before taking the inevitable drop back to the second division.
Their only league win so far was away from their Portakabin home that
is Central Park. Ayr United were the ones to suffer in mid-September at
Somerset Park. With only one fixture remaining at the ground better
known for stock-car racing rather than football, that record is there to
be set, along with only 28 goals for, and 101 against.
It all makes grim reading every week for the 36-year-old blacksmith
who has his business within sight and sound of another Fife team --
Raith Rovers, who, with Jimmy Nicholl at the helm, have taken the
division by storm.
The doomed Cowden side could yet decide who joins Raith in the premier
division. Their four remaining games are away to Raith and Dunfermline,
at home to Kilmarnock, and away to St Mirren -- the top four in the
league.
Considering Cowden's record, anything could happen. Although there
have been heavy reversals, defeats by a single goal also have been
common -- for example against St Mirren, Kilmarnock, and Dunfermline.
Then they had a run in the Scottish Cup, defeating Partick Thistle at
Firhill, and then losing narrowly to Hibernian in a replay.
But with Raith already up in the big league, those chasing the Stark's
Park side must be looking sideways at a team who still want to prove
something before they rejoin the second division.
Harrow was blunt: ''They have not been the most professional of
players this season.'' He was referring to the part-time scenario of
players who have a job first, and are footballers second. In the olden
days, it was the other way around.
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