'It was a big stepping stone for the club': Wick Academy in the Highland League, 30 years on
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Thirty years ago this week there were champagne celebrations for Wick Academy after the club finally secured a place in the Highland League.
It all hinged on a vote by the league management committee at Elgin City's Borough Briggs ground on the night of Thursday, March 24, 1994.
The Academy contingent, including chairman Alistair Gunn and honorary president Clair Harper, waited anxiously for the verdict along with officials from the two other clubs in contention, Inverurie Locos and Bon Accord.
Then, after years of arguing the case for Highland League status for Scotland's most northerly senior club, it was all over in the blink of an eye – or, more accurately, a friendly wink.
Three decades on, Gunn (76) remembers it vividly.
"The Elgin boardroom was upstairs and we had to sit downstairs with the Bon Accord officials and Inverurie Locos," he recalled. "We strolled upstairs after an hour or an hour and a half.
"As we were going upstairs into the boardroom a friend from Inverness who was the vice-president of the Highland League at the time, the late Charlie Cuthbert, the chairman of Inverness Thistle, turned round and gave me a wink and I knew there and then that we were through.
"I turned to Clair Harper at the top and said, 'We're in, Clair.'
"It was a historic night indeed."
Founded in 1893, Academy had competed in the Wick league, county league, Qualifying Cup and North of Scotland Cup. From the early 1970s they played in the North Reserve League, which later became the North Caledonian League.
One or two previous attempts had been made to gain admittance to the Highland League, but these had come to nothing – not helped by the distance factor before the road bridges over the Kessock, Cromarty and Dornoch firths shortened the A9 journey. By the time of the club's centenary, however, there was a new determination among the committee – backed by the public and the Caithness business community.
A place had opened up for season 1994/95 after Caledonian and Inverness Thistle merged to form a new club, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, and joined the Scottish league set-up along with Ross County.
Support for Wick from Inverness Thistle and Fraserburgh would prove crucial.
"There was a lot of work involved in the campaign, there is no question about that," Gunn said. "It was a big task when we started off.
"I had become chairman the year before that, 1993, and talk about landing in the deep end – that was Wick Academy's centenary year. And I had no experience of being a chairman.
"We did a lot of travelling, all the canvassing of different clubs to get the vote. We had most of the north teams [on board].
"The real turning point was Fraserburgh, when they gave us their support. I was great buddies at that time with Charlie Duncan, who was the Fraserburgh manager and who had played for Inverness Thistle.
"I had a great bond with Inverness Thistle. Their 1970/71 team was probably the finest Highland League team I ever saw. Charlie Duncan played in that team, and Ian Cummings, a lot of good players."
Gunn was also friendly with John "Jock" MacDonald, who had been chairman of Inverness Thistle and served on Scottish FA committees. He was "very supportive".
On that memorable night in Elgin, Alistair Gunn and Clair Harper were accompanied by vice-chairman Malcolm Mackay, assistant secretary Andrew Carter and the club’s North of Scotland FA and SFA delegate Austin McNiven. It was McNiven who presented Academy's case.
Wick ended up with nine votes, with six for Inverurie and none for Bon Accord.
A lot of work had to be done in a relatively short time to get the ground, and the team, ready for Highland League football.
The floodlights and other parts of Inverness Thistle's now redundant Kingsmills Park were dismantled and transported to Wick.
"Their ground was dug up then so we went down and got their floodlights," Gunn said. "We had to take those down and the far-off stand [the south stand] that's at Harmsworth Park now, it's new sheeting but all the steelwork came out of Kingsmills."
Long-serving Academy fans may remember the blue seats that were installed in the south stand. Those came from Ibrox.
"I put every seat in that myself," Gunn said. He was based in Halkirk but found himself spending most of his time at Harmsworth Park, working closely with vice-chairman Mackay and others.
"In that first year in the Highland League I practically lived in Wick," he said. "I was home from my work and then I was straight down to Wick nearly every night. But I really enjoyed it.
"When I commit to something, I commit to it 100 per cent or nothing at all."
Gunn was chairman for six years. That position is now held by Pat Miller, who was co-manager for the first Highland League campaign.
"It was really through Pat that I became chairman," Gunn revealed. "I think there were only three games that I missed as chairman of Academy."
The club's first Highland League game was at home to Cove Rangers on Saturday, August 6, 1994, attracting a crowd of 1700. It ended in a 3-0 defeat.
"I remember when we got our first win," Gunn said. "That was on Saturday, September 17, when we beat Forres 1-0. That was only after about five league games but Forres were sitting at the top at the time."
Gunn is still a regular at Harmsworth Park. "It takes a lot of hard work now to keep a football team afloat, not just in the Highland League but in other divisions in Scottish football," he pointed out.
"People have asked me, if you had your time over again would you do anything different? Yes, there would have been things I'd have probably done a wee bit differently, but it was a big stepping stone for the club."
- Next week: Pat Miller looks back.
