But for Forfar Athletic, this was of less concern. The 1980s were the decade in which all came good for the team, where success was achieved and, more importantly, maintained by good stewardship of the club, a succession of excellent Managers and some very fine footballers who had ability, and, in addition, displayed the right attitude. It was simply a great time to be a Forfar supporter.

The decade opened with Forfar in the Second Division and almost achieving promotion in 1980, just a very few points behind the two Falkirk teams (Falkirk and East Stirlingshire) who were promoted. Then, following a very successful summer tour of Canada, strange things happened with the Manager's job. Archie Knox (who had worked wonders since his appointment) left to become Assistant Manager at Aberdeen. Stevie Murray who had played with distinction for Aberdeen, Dundee and Celtic was appointed Manager. He lasted three days, and left mysteriously without having seen the team play! Was it something somebody said?

The strange incident was almost immediately forgotten when Alex Rae became Manager and continued the good work that Archie Knox had begun. It was 1982 however that was to be the key season for Rae with a run in the Scottish Cup. Beating East Fife was no great surprise, but then Forfar confounded the world by going to Hearts and winning there, thanks to a Stevie Hancock goal and a resolute defensive performance. The next three ties were at Hampden, for Forfar beat Queen's Park with virtually the last kick of the ball, and then were drawn in the Semi Final against Rangers.

April 3rd 1982 was a remarkable day. The Argentinians had invaded the Falkland Islands a day previously, and the House of Commons was in emergency session for the first time on a Saturday since Suez in 1956 about whether or not to send a task force. In Glasgow, Forfar ran out to face a Rangers team who had grievously disappointed their supporters that year. Half time came and the score was 0-0, the second half continued with the Rangers fans turning on their own team, then Forfar might just have had a penalty when Stuart Porter was brought down on the edge of the box. But the game finished goalless.

Rangers were rightly pilloried in the press on Sunday and Forfar given due praise, but it was Rangers who won the Replay. There would be similar disappointment in the Scottish Cup of 1983, this time at Ibrox, when Forfar held their own for large parts of the game, but went down 1-2. The Press said things like "Rangers had their usual problems with Forfar".

Forfar had finished 4th in Division 2 in 1983, but 1984 was Forfar's year. Orwell had predicted that 1984 would be a terrible time with spies and "big brother is watching you" etc. Orwell was totally wrong, for 1984 was a glorious year in which Forfar, now managed by Doug Houston won the Second Division by 16 points, and clinched it as early as 7th April when they beat Stranraer 5-2 at Station Park. Only three games were lost, all of them away games, and there had never been a time when the town was prouder of the Athletic. BBC TV paid a call, and Manager Doug Houston and his Assistant Henry Hall were the heroes. And it was the Centenary Year too! Well, almost. The first game was meant to have been played in 1885 not 1884, but who was bothered?

Quite a few people including, one suspects, a few Forfarians were convinced that Forfar would be a one season wonder, and would drop down again next year. Not a bit of it! For the rest of the decade Forfar, under the guidance of Doug Houston and subsequently Henry Hall, stayed comfortably in the First Division, finishing 4th in 1986 and 1988. 1986 in particular brought them to within an ace of the Premier Division. Indeed, had Forfar done better in their last two fixtures at Morton and Alloa, they might have had the glory of at least one season in the Premier League.

There was another good Scottish Cup run in 1985 which terminated at Motherwell in the Quarter Final. The early part of season 1986-87 had one moment of glory. This was on August 27th when Premier League St.Mirren (containing men like Frank McGarvey and Paul Lambert) were put to the sword to the tune of 5-1 in the League Cup, a feature of the game being the great goal scored by the emerging Craig Brewster. Lambert will thus have the unique double, one would think, of winning a European Cup medal and being beaten 5-1 at Station Park. Sadly, however, Forfar went down narrowly to Motherwell in the next round.

Good players in that era abounded. Stewart Kennedy in goal, the man who had been pilloried by idiots for one bad game for Scotland at Wembley was absolutely inspirational. John Clark is the club's record goalscorer but he was a multi-purpose pl;ayer. There were capable defenders in Ian McPhee, Billy Bennett, Alex Brash, and loads of midfielders like Ray Farningham, Raymond Lorimer and Billy Gallagher. And it was Jim Liddle who was the star in the great 1984 season. But there were others as well, and the mid 1980s were the first time in the history of the club that Forfar could be said to have made the rest of Scotland sit up and take notice. It was a privilege to watch them. Will we ever see their likes again?