PHOTOGRAPHER IAIN MCLEAN IN THE PICTURE

 Lockdown to Lowland April 2019 – May 2023

Covid and Relegation at Albion Rovers FC

We're thrilled to announce our guest blogger, the renowned photojournalist Iain McLean, who will be talking about his essay on Albion Rovers.

I’ve been documenting life at Albion Rovers for too many years to remember and this is now my third

photojournal showing life in the lower leagues of Scottish football.

The pics are always in black and and always in landscape format. I look for odd scenarios,

awkward juxtapositions and try to anticipate when someone is about to do something.

I can miss a whole game through not paying attention to the footy.

This particular journal was hard to produce. Hard in a few different ways – hard to photograph an empty

stadium during the surreal days of Lockdown and even harder to photograph the club’s first relegation

from Scottish professional football in 120 years. As it turned out I was almost paralysed with shock and

only took a limited number of photos at the end of our disastrous relegation playoff against Spartans.

That day (20 th May 2023) was worse than any rain swept Tuesday evening at Cliftonhill in February.

The club seem to have kept their core fans and our away support has been exceptional, unlike some of

the on-field performances - but let’s not get into that. Where we go once the parachute payment has

gone I don’t really know, and while I don’t miss playing League 2 teams a minimum of 4 times a season

there is always the new experience of visiting new grounds in the Lowland League.

Don’t get me wrong though – it’s 100% not where I want the club to be. It’s all a bit shit really.

Anyway, I had some reservations about continuing with the project but having been to some of these

new grounds over the past few months I think there may be interesting photo opportunities to be

found.

I was especially taken with the outdoor toilet at Armadale, West Lothian, where the wall is just low

enough to peer over and watch the game while urinating against it.

It’s this kind of thing that keeps me going!

Iain McLean

https://www.iainmclean.com/-/galleries/httpwwwiainmcleancomcart

Iain McLean is a Glasgow based freelance photographer combining self-initiated projects with

commercial photography. Formerly a digital imaging specialist at the Herald and Evening Times, he took

the plunge in 2007 and left full time employment to ‘live the dream’ earning a living from photography.