Image: St Albans Saints
When the St Albans Saints’ playing squad arrives at Churchill Reserve tomorrow lunchtime for their final day fixture against the Whittlesea Ranges, you’d be forgiven for thinking they might be light on big game experience.
However, within the dressing room are players who have substantial success in gaining promotion. Goran Jozeljic and Michael Grgic achieved the feat in 2010 alongside current coach Kruni Razov while Josh Knight and George Tsiakalakis were part of Richmond’s promotion-winning campaign of last season, with youngster Daniel Slovacek playing an integral role in Avondale’s elevation to the top flight in 2014.
But the most experienced man of all is unsurprisingly the one who wears the captain’s armband. Ryan McGuffie has been integral to the Saints’ success this year, having played in every one of Dinamo’s league encounters, and remains one of the most consistent performers in the NPL2 despite turning 36 earlier this year.
After a respectable but inconsistent start to the campaign under Zeljko Kuzman, St Albans have hit first gear in recent months under Razov, who guided them to their last promotion six years ago.
12 games have yielded nine victories, two draws and one narrow defeat away to Werribee, leaving the Saints on the cusp of elevation to the top tier, with their skipper offering an insight in their recent surge of form.
“To be completely honest, I think it has been a mixture of a couple of things. The previous management had assembled a squad that had the ability to do well and it was part of their periodic plan that the second half of the season would be when our team would be at our strongest,” he said.
“The new management has come in and put their own stamp on things and the team have responded really well to their ideas and philosophies.”
McGuffie joined the club on the eve of the NPL season after accepting an invitation from then-Dinamo coach Toby Paterson to come down to Australia and was instrumental in their run to Dockerty Cup semi-finals, which subsequently led to an FFA Cup Round of 16 exit at the hands of Perth Glory.
Despite boasting an impressive line-up which included McGuffie’s former Gretna teammate Ryan Baldacchino, the Saints failed to secure promotion as Paterson exited the club towards the end of the campaign, with McGuffie taking charge on an interim basis.
A drop in form in the second season saw the club drop out of the promotion race towards the end of the season in similar circumstances to 2014, as Joe Kovacevic departed late in the season.
However, St Albans have turned the tide around this year and will need just a point tomorrow to achieve automatic promotion, with their defensive maestro emphasising the importance a strength in depth has played to this year’s form.
“The previous two seasons we have had some really good players but we lacked the real strength in depth and that cost us going in to the latter stages of the season. We also picked up some injuries to key players which had an impact also. We did however have a good run in the FFA cup the first season I arrived and that was a big day for the club and supporters.”
Remarkably, McGuffie leads the club’s goalscoring charts, having entered double digits with another strike in last week’s hard-fought 2-0 away win at Bendigo City. A quick glance at his career, though, sees the Scot’s goal tally at 50 prior to his move down under – and now stands at 68 having scored 18 goals in 79 league matches for his current employers – for a player who wasn’t always a uncompromising central defender.
“I have been the penalty taker at every club I have played at and it obviously gives you the opportunity to increase your goal tally,” he said.
“I also enjoy the aerial challenge in and around the box on set pieces and consider my heading ability as a strength and have been lucky to score goals at really important times throughout the season for our team.
“I actually played right wing back and also central midfield when playing professionally, and was a box-to-box midfielder believe it or not at one stage. The most I have ever scored in a single season remains 18 which occurred over the course of our 2005/2006 league winning campaign at Gretna FC.”
While McGuffie is the experienced figurehead of the Saints starting XI, youngsters Joseph Monek, Adrian Barresi and Slovacek continue to impress and all are expected to start tomorrow’s outing against the Ranges. Their skipper was quick to heap praise on their qualities and spoke about the mentoring he has given them over the course of the year.
“The three players you have just mentioned are fantastic talents and are still young like most of our squad at Dinamo at the moment.
“They just have to remain grounded and work as hard as they possibly can and they can make a career in the sport. Joey and Daniel have taken it upon themselves to call me Dad as part of the changeroom banter.
“I try my best to help any of the young players at the club and all the boys know that they can ask me anything and I will help in any way that I can. The good thing about the players at St Albans is they are all really hungry to play football and do well.”
Born in the southern Scottish city of Dumfries, McGuffie was part of the St Johnstone and Annan Athletic youth set-up before making his senior debut at Glasgow-based Queens Park. At the turn of the millennium he returned to Annan and spent two seasons plying his trade at a semi-professional level while studying sport and business management at university, ultimately graduating with honours.
He spent his summer working as a postman while enjoying some impressive pre-season form before attracting the interests of one of England’s biggest clubs.
“I played in a pre-season tournament against St Mirren and we won 5-1. I scored a hat-trick that day while my brother scored the other two. A scout from Newcastle United was at the game and came watched another one before offering me a one-week trial before extending that stay for another week. They then offered me a two-year deal and all this occurred in the space of six weeks.”
Having just turned 21, McGuffie arrived at the Toon, where he lived alongside fellow Scottish brother pairing and future internationals Steven and Gary Caldwell, primarily featuring in the Magpies reserve side alongside the pair and Michael Chopra, while training with the first-team squad under legendary manager Bobby Robson.
Despite failing to make a senior Premier League appearance, McGuffie rubbed shoulders with the likes of Alan Shearer, Gary Speed, Nolberto Solano, Shay Given, Craig Bellamy and former Melbourne Heart defender Aaron Hughes.
“I was at Newcastle for two full seasons and it was an incredible experience,” said the Saints captain.
“I went straight from semi-professional football and into the first team squad of 38 players, having come into a full-time professional environment with one of the biggest clubs in European football at that stage was quite daunting.
“If I’m honest I never really expressed myself on that stage as I felt I was out of my depth and lacked confidence, and this affected my development within the first team. I did, however, learn a lot within this time and had some amazing experiences playing with the reserves, which included featuring in front of 35,000 against rivals Sunderland, and also pre-season trips with the first-team to Marbella in Spain and the Christmas breaks and golfing trips with players you looked up to as cult heroes.”
The utility then returned home and signed for Gretna, who had just been admitted in the Scottish Football League, before helping the Black and Whites win three successive promotions from 2005 to 2007 at a time when the club was being bankrolled by English businessman Brooks Mileson.
McGuffie’s six-year spell at the club saw him make over 150 league appearances for Gretna, scoring 28 goals as well scoring in a Scottish Cup Final defeat to Hearts at a sold-out Hampden Park in 2006.
The Rowan Alexander-managed side earned promotion into the top flight in 2007, although were relegated at first instance after entering administration following Mileson’s death. McGuffie dropped back down to the second tier in 2008 by signing for Greenock Morton, where he was reunited with his former Australian teammate from Gretna in Erik Paartalu.
He subsequently ended his playing career in Scotland with a switch to home-town club Queen of the South in 2010, spending three and a half years with the Doonhamers before moving to Melbourne in 2014 and gave some context as to where promotion with the Saints will stand alongside his other career achievements.
“I was lucky enough to win three back-to-back titles in Scotland, going through the divisions to the Premier League in Scotland. This was the only time it has ever been done in Scottish football history and something I hold dearly. I also played in the UEFA Cup and in a Scottish Cup Final with Gretna in front of 55,000 people at Hampden Park and scored in that match, and these are the memories that will live with me forever.
“I also won the League and Cup double with a team I hold close to my heart in hometown club Queen of the South. This was extremely special to me as I grew up in the town and knew a lot of the supporters, many of whom I class as friends. I also scored the winning goal at Ibrox against Glasgow Rangers which knocked them out in the semi-final of the cup that we won and that was another dream come true for me,” McGuffie reflects.
“St Albans is another chapter and is one which I have enjoyed tremendously and have grown to love the club and have a great affinity to it for a number of reasons. I gained my permanent residency through the club which has a tremendous community spirit in and around the place, and the desire for the club to succeed and grow.
“Championships are very rare and don’t come about a lot in anyone’s career, and if we win the league it will be another title I will cherish, but we still have to win it and Saturday cannot come quick enough for myself and the team in what will be an extremely difficult game against the Whittlesea Ranges.”
McGuffie’s combines his playing duties at Dinamo alongside occupying the role of technical director at Churchill Reserve, and offered an insight into the requirements of his role.
“Some of my duties involve hiring coaches, coach education, video analysis, building relationships with parents, committees, sporting bodies and so on. It involves organising yearly session plans in six week cycles around the FFA curriculum and most importantly for me creating that link between the juniors at the club and the senior team and making sure there is a direct link and pathway that the juniors can see players that are progressing being pushed in to the senior set up.”
Given his role with the club as well as his extensive playing experience in Scotland, in addition to his stint with Newcastle, McGuffie is well credentialed to give his opinions on the state of Australian football and junior development since arriving at Tullamarine Airport in February 2014.
“Just like building a house you have to put the right foundations in place for the future to be strong. I think in Victoria, we have a good technical director in Dave Smith, and his way of thinking is that he wants to improve our juniors’ technical ability from a very young age.
“I agree with this and I also like some of the changes to the NPL set up which have been implemented, like the introduction of our Under 12s playing on a half pitch and remaining at nine-a-side, which in turn will hopefully increase touches on the ball for each of the players and make the games more realistic for the players involved.”
But McGuffie’s immediate focus remains placed on Saturday afternoon’s proceedings as he looks to lead Dinamo to promotion to the top flight for the first time since 2011. The Scot is well-placed to achieve that feat for the fourth time in his career as he aims to ensure the Saints don’t let their hard work go to waste and cap off the season in style and celebration.