First up in our series of reflective interviews, celebrating the 145^th Anniversary of our beloved Club, we spoke with Mark Haro about our promotion winning season of 1994/95.

Qu 1 – Mark, what are your abiding memories of the day you won promotion?

We had managed to get our noses in front of Ross County and at the time needed to win our last 2 games away to Cowdenbeath and home to Albion Rovers. We scored early against Cowdenbeath and that settled us and we went on to win comfortably 4-0, we started to hear that Inverness were winning 3-0 v County and that meant that we would be promoted, after the final whistle those that travelled had come onto the pitch and it was just sheer joy and a great sense of pride as we had come from mid table with a tremendous team effort over the last 10 games. It was also good to share with family as growing up in Kirkcaldy it was a short trip for me, after the game all the Players and Directors went to Wee Jimmy’s on Cowdenbeath High Street for a few drinks before heading our different ways.

Qu 2 – At the start of the season, how did you assess the squad around you and how well did you think it would do?

I think they were probably still assessing me as I had only managed 7 league games the previous season before I had a tear in my PCL!  If you looked at the players, we had a good mix of experienced players such as Davey Larter, Iain Robertson, Mark Craib, Derek Grant, Allan Kennedy and younger players like Paul Masson, Craig Cooper, Scott Taylor, Levi Stephen and with the addition of Innes McDonald and Colin McGlashan the squad was looking pretty strong. You can never tell until the games start and personally, I was just hoping that my knee would hold up ok. Pre-Season games had gone pretty well overall, the first big test we had was v Falkirk in the league cup drawing 1-1 after extra time and losing on penalties. Although disappointing it showed that we could compete and more than hold our own against a strong full-time team and it started to feel as though we could have a good season.

Qu 3 – What were the key moments/games in that campaign for you?

We were top of the league at Christmas and had been playing good football and scoring a number of goals as well, then had only 1 league game from Christmas to beginning of February as from boxing day to right through January was Scottish Cup games , which concluded v Hibs and a tv appearance on BBC Horizon, who were doing a show on the motivational coach Jack Black who had spent 3 days with us prior to the Hibs game.

As a result, we fell behind in games and went on a bad run through February and March dropping to mid table. There was then a decision to replace the manager, with Andy taking over for the last 10 games and we still had an outside chance to get promoted with the games in hand we had.

The club made two good signings in Shaun Smith and Neil McAvoy in the run in, with both giving us additional height and strength in forward areas, fitting in great with the team and making significant contributions. Sorry lads now Shaun will be even more unbearable…

But seriously those last 10 games of winning 8 and drawing 1 was an achievement and winning the last 5 with scoring 15 and conceding only the 1 was pretty special.

Qu 4 – At what stage in the season did you start to think we could do this?

To be honest it was pretty late on in the season as we had to play catch up, but there was a double trip to the Highlands in April to Ross County midweek and then the Saturday after to Inverness, that put it back in our control beating Ross County pretty convincingly 3-0 that moved us back into 2^nd and then beating Inverness by the same scoreline. That was a tough week as being part-time and getting back late from Dingwall and most players had work the next couple of days then back up on the Saturday, but we were very determined and had momentum with us.

Qu 5 – What are you most proud of from that season?

After the personal disappointment of the season before, it was a relief to repay the club and get back to really enjoying football again and the privilege of being Captain of a great group of lads, that in the end never gave up and finished with a special run in, to win promotion, ending up I believe the top scorers in Scotland, with Colin and Allan both scoring well over 20 goals each that season and having the best defensive record as well, you can never forget the fans and the support that they gave the team and me personally and to give them some memories to look back on as well.

Qu 6 – How does it make you feel Mark, to know you were part of a successful period in the history of Montrose FC? At the time you have a sense of achievement, but that disappears quickly as you are into the next season and on to the next challenge, but as you get older and look back you do have an overall feeling of pride and everyone involved in that squad played their part and should be very proud of what we achieved as a group. It was a club and community that welcomed me, and I hopefully repaid that with helping win promotion and to me Montrose is a very special club and hope that others will create their own history for the club, and it continues to have success.