Fort William haven’t won a Highland League game for more than two years. Last season they picked up two draws in 34 matches, scoring 21 goals and conceding 245. A nine-point penalty for fielding an ineligible player meant they ended on -7 points. But the numbers only tell half the story.

The club began the season with a handful of first-team players and fielded teams of teenagers in order to keep football alive in this remote corner of Scotland. The scorelines were monstrous – they lost 10 games by 10 goals or more – but fuelled a media interest that gave the club a platform to tell their story, attract a whole new fan base, and rediscover their soul.

The chairman

When asked to explain the growing support for Fort William, Peter Murphy cuts to the chase. “Football fans will generally root for either successful teams or the underdog – and we’re clearly not successful right now.

“Someone might be watching the results come in and think: ‘My team’s doing bad, but not as bad as Fort William.’ From there, they’ll end up on our social media and find out there’s more to this club than just a team getting thrashed every week.”

These are young boys doing their best. When people laugh at us, it's heartbreaking Peter Murphy, chairman

As a player, Murphy was part of a successful Fort William side that joined the Highland League in the 1980s. He played for his hometown side for nearly 15 years, but when he returned for a charity game last summer he found a club on the brink. They were offered the chance to drop into the North Caledonian League but declined.

“If we’d stepped down, we might have had more success on the park, but it would have been the beginning of the end for the club,” Murphy says. “It was a calculated risk.”

Fort William’s existence is vital to maintaining youth football in the region, with the club’s local rivals, Clachnacuddin, 66 miles away in Inverness. More than 200 youngsters play in the youth teams – in an area where shinty is the traditional, dominant sport.

Murphy was drawn towards the challenge, accepting a place on the board – and things moved quickly from there. “By the time the first board meeting had finished, I was the chairman,” he says. “Last season was all about stability. Our success was simply keeping the club going.”

Murphy is, though, eager for results to improve – and fiercely protective of the team’s young players.“We’ve got a core of good, talented players, but the average age of the squad is 19.These are young boys, trying to do their best. When people see the results and just laugh at us, it’s heartbreaking.”

And when that elusive win comes? “The party in Fort William that night will be worth seeing,” Murphy says. “There’ll be a few whiskies drunk, I can tell you.”

The player

Scott Hunter was one of the few first-team players who reported for pre-season last summer. “The first training session wasn’t up to much,” he tells me. “We told each other we would play to keep the club alive – so when you’re getting beat 15-0 out there, try and remember the silver lining.”

Hunter has embraced the club’s new fame, with TV cameras a regular feature at their picturesque Claggan Park ground. “It’s been a bit surreal at times,” he says. “One minute I was training with five players, then a few months later I’m scoring penalties on Sky Sports!” Not just any penalty either – a Panenka. “After the awful season we’d had, I thought I’d finish it in style. We haven’t had much else to cheer about.”

Scott Hunter: ‘I just want to play football. It doesn’t matter what the final score is.’ Photograph: Gavin Macqueen

Hunter works as an architect and the final score has rarely been his priority in more than a decade with Fort William. “I always want to play football on Saturday, it doesn’t matter what the score is at the end.” That ethos was tested when the team began the league campaign with back-to-back 11-1 defeats.

“We knew realistically what it would be like – but it doesn’t make it much easier,” Hunter says. “When the 10th, 11th goals go in, it’s a dark, dark place – and a very difficult feeling to describe. But it’s all part of the journey.”

The midfielder accepts the current team are “almost like lambs for the slaughter,” but has dealt with their struggles with humour, labelling himself “a shite Ronaldo” on Twitter with the hashtag #SH7. “The foundations for the future are there. My nephew is in the youth team. Hopefully one day I can tell him I didn’t do all this for nothing.”

The superfans

Fort William’s winless run has earned them a new wave of online supporters. YouTuber Jon Cox, aka LokiDoki, discovered the club through Football Manager. His interest in the team led him to set up a crowdfunding page, raising more than £5,000. “He came up to give us the cheque,” Murphy says. “He’s been fantastic, he’s got the freedom of the town.”

The club have opened an online store, shipping scarves, replica kits and more worldwide. Their Facebook page has more than 5,000 subscribers – and the surge in support doesn’t end online. “Every game, there’s someone who has travelled up here – they see it as a kind of pilgrimage,” Murphy says. “That interest, having the cameras here, helps us to attract sponsors.”

The points deduction was the best thing that could have happened to us Russell MacMorran, manager

The rebuilding project has also attracted younger fans, with crowds creeping back up. Michael, a local teenager who follows ‘the Fort’ home and away, also helps to run the team’s Twitter account, posting goal updates from far-flung grounds.

“The relationship between the players and fans is great,” he says. “There’s a group of young fans who go every week and create a good, loud atmosphere.”

Against Clachnacuddin Sean Grant’s last-minute free-kick earned a point in a frantic 3-3 draw. “The atmosphere was amazing,” Michael says. “There was even a pitch invasion after we equalised.”

The manager

Russell MacMorran never expected to be a football manager. Twenty years after hanging up his boots, he was working as a police officer in Fort William when illness and the strain of his job led to a diagnosis of complex PTSD. Off work, isolated and with limited support, he decided to get involved with football again.



“I started as the club secretary, dealing with the day-to-day running of the club.There was a lot to do. There’s a basic level of professionalism that just wasn’t being met.”

When Kris Anderson stepped down as manager in January, after a 14-1 defeat by Formartine United, MacMorran found himself in caretaker charge. “He’s got the boys buzzing and raring to go again,” Hunter says.

External factors have not helped, though. One game was delayed by deer droppings on the pitch. Another was abandoned at half-time – with Fort William leading 1-0. There was also that nine-point deduction – a penalty MacMorran does not consider unduly harsh.

“Rules are rules. The league treated us fairly,” he says. “Mistakes happen. Unfortunately in this case, it happened three times…” MacMorran adds that it was “the best thing that could have happened. Without it, we’d just have been bottom of the league, and nobody would have had any interest.”

His target after earning the permanent role is to find a way off the bottom – and he can see potential.. “Often we’re 1-0 down at half-time and fall away in the last 15 minutes. Fitness is a big issue for these guys, but that’s something we can eradicate in pre-season.”

The club’s first pre-season showed positive signs. Twelve goals flew in, but Fort William scored nine of them. Four youth team players were in the team that thrashed Jeanfield Swifts, with 14-year-old Robbie Rydings the star of the show. Saturday’s 7-1 defeat to Campbeltown Pupils showed there is still work to do, though.

“When you talk to supporters now, they’re not just saying: ‘The team is useless,” MacMorran says. “They’re judging us on our effort and our ability and not the label – the so-called worst team in Britain.”

The rebuilding process has helped him off the field, too. “The support I’ve had has been immense. It’s kept me going at times. I took a team that was depleted in their morale, their confidence, and even their love for football. Their resilience has been incredible. That’s the spirit of this club.”