Gavin Macleod has been associated with Brora Rangers for more than 60 years and the 75-year-old cannot wait for this Saturday when the Sutherland club he played for until the age of 41 could win its first Highland League title.
Retired welder Macleod will be supporting the Wee Gers at Keith’s Kynoch Park, although he never dreamed he would live to see Brora win the championship.
Macleod, who was born in Egypt where his father was serving with a Scottish regiment, said: “I made my debut for Brora when I was only 14 when we were playing in the local amateur leagues.
“Apart from the 1963-64 season, when I went to Clach, Brora is the only other club I played for before hanging up my boots in 1980 at the age of 41. Brora came into the Highland League in 1963, just after I had signed for Clach.
“But when my contract with the Grant Street club ran out, the late Brora chairman Ronnie MacDonald persuaded me to come back to the club where I started my playing career.
“I was 25 and I played for the club for the next 16 years before I retired from the game.”
Looking ahead to what could be a historic weekend for Brora, Macleod added: “It would be marvellous if we could do it. We’ve come a long way since we used to train under the lights at Dudgeon Park, car lights that is, and at that time all the boys were local lads and all intent on getting Brora on the map.
“We had no coaches but all that changed when Stewart Fraser was released by Dundee United in 1967 after he had broken his ankle.
“He came to Brora and became the first man in the Highland League to swerve a ball.
“We later had former Brighton, Gillingham, Colchester United, Millwall and Reading centre forward Kevin Bremner, from Aberchirder, near Banff, take on the role of player-manager in 1992 until 1994. Kevin was a great player. He was strong as an ox and never took any prisoners, a bit like myself during my long playing career at Dudgeon Park.
“I am still on the club’s committee, although I am slowing down a wee bit. I never really thought that I would be in a position to see my team win the Highland League. It was only when our sponsor, Brora man Ben Mackay, came into the club that we started to improve again. He put his money where his mouth is and, as a result, we are on the threshold of creating a wee bit of history at Brora Rangers.”