‘Good end point’ for Cormack after 20 years as Top Joe’s manager
Bruce Cormack has acknowledged that it is “time to pass on the baton” after bringing his unbroken 20-year stint as Top Joe’s manager to an end.
To coincide with Cormack’s departure from the role, the Thurso-based county league second division club staged an “Old versus New” challenge match at Ormlie.
The older squad was selected from players who turned out for Top Joe’s from 2006 to 2015 and the new squad from the 2016-2025 period.
The older team won 7-3. On target for the veterans were Derek Munro (2), Martin Murray, Adam Sutherland, Justin Marshall, Ian Smith and Bruce Cormack himself. Scorers for the young side were Morgan Coghill (2) and Jordan Bain.
The game was refereed by Suleiman Makhouli.
Top Joe’s ended up bottom of Caithness AFA Division Two in the 2025 season but had the consolation of finishing top of the division’s fair play standings.
Cormack said: “Twenty years seems a good end point for me as manager so it’s time to pass on the baton and let someone else have a go at it.
“It has been really good to see the young players progress. A lot of them moved on to other clubs and it was a great pleasure to have the older guys come along and finish off their playing careers with us while still managing to perform so well.
“Their experience and help has been invaluable and we wouldn’t have managed to have a team without them over recent times.
“We’ve outlasted a lot of clubs since I began, such as Wick Rovers, Francis Street Club, Holborn, Ashes and Retro, and we even managed to get to a couple of cup finals.
“It’s a shame we’ve struggled in the last couple of seasons but I suppose that’s the cycle of the team, so a bit of freshness may help.
“I’ve had a lot of help from a lot of folk over the years, especially the main sidekick William Smith, but all good things must come to an end. I’ll still be going along as a supporter and staying on the committee to help where and when I can.”
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