His involvement with Banks o’ Dee has given him a lifetime of memories and for Gordon Christie this Saturday’s Scottish Cup tie will be another experience to savour.
The club ambassador is preparing for Hamilton Academical’s visit to Spain Park this weekend in the third round of the national competition.
Christie has seen and done it all at Banks o’ Dee, one of his earliest and fondest recollections is watching the club win the Scottish Junior Cup in 1957.
The 77-year-old then went on to play for Dee and managed them for 15 years before spending 20 years as club president and a further decade as vice-president.
Christie, who was made Dee ambassador last year, said: “My first Banks o’ Dee memory is 1957 when the club won the Scottish Junior Cup.
“My father Bob was president at the time and I can remember being at the games in the run up and the final at Hampden particularly stands out.
“I can still remember the game vividly, it was a dreich, misty sort of day and there was about 35,000 at Hampden.
“My father was taking me to games from the age of four or five so I’ve got a lot of memories. He also played for Banks o’ Dee in the 1930s so our connection with the club goes back a long way.”
Player, manager and a whole lot more
Injury meant centre-half Christie’s time playing for Dee was short-lived, but it wasn’t long before he became involved in coaching and eventually running of the club.
He added: “I signed for Banks o’ Dee A in 1965 and was in the same team as Martin Buchan and Ian Taylor, who went on to play for Aberdeen.
“I managed to move into the Banks o’ Dee first-team for a small period but I got injured and was told to stop playing at the age of 19.
“After that I went on the committee for a couple of years and then they asked me to start an under-18s team.
“Then in 1978 they asked me to manage the first-team and we had a fairly successful time.
“In the last year I was manager I was also vice-president and then the president passed away and I realised 15 years was a long time to be manager and it was time to take on the job as president.”
Club progression
During Christie’s tenure as president Dee progressed on and off the pitch.
The sports club at Spain Park was constructed in the 1990s and in 2008 the Aberdeen side made their Scottish Cup debut following changes which allowed junior clubs to enter the competition.
Christie was succeeded as Dee president by Brian Winton in 2013 and they have continued to go from strength to strength.
Upgrades have made been to the infrastructure at Spain Park, while on the pitch they became the dominant force in North Junior football before moving up to the Breedon Highland League in 2022.
Christie is in no doubt that the last decade has been a great period for Banks o’ Dee.
“It’s hard to compare eras,” he said. “However, this is certainly a golden era for Banks o’ Dee with where we are and the clubs we’re competing against.
“In our last five years in the juniors we were winning a lot of trophies and I think a lot of the players were keen to compete against better teams.
“Everything sort of merged together that both the club and the players wanted to move to the Highland League to test ourselves.
“With the facilities we have we’ve got things right off the park and we’ve also been getting things right on the park.
“Since we’ve been in the Highland League I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it and every club has accepted us and treated us really well.”
Cup memories
The Scottish Cup has also provided Dee with plenty of highlights in the recent past.
Ayr United visited Spain Park in 2017 and in 2022 Dee reached the fourth round of the tournament for the first time and faced Raith Rovers.
Ahead of playing Hamilton, Christie said: “In recent times we’ve been regulars in the Scottish Cup and it’s been fantastic.
“We’ve had Ayr United and Raith Rovers at Spain Park, we’ve beaten East Fife home and away and Hamilton is another challenge for us.
“It will be a tough game against a Championship club, they’ll be red hot favourites, but so were East Fife in the last round.
“It’s great to be coming up against opposition of this calibre. We’ve been playing well recently and I think the boys will do the club proud and we can always hope for a shock.”
Wood wants Fraserburgh to spring another suprise
Connor Wood has become something of a specialist at taking SPFL scalps during his time with Fraserburgh.
And the winger is hoping make it a hat-trick of victories against higher level opposition when Annan Athletic come to Bellslea in the Scottish Cup this weekend.
The Broch take on the League One outfit on Saturday with a place in the fourth round of the national tournament up for grabs.
Wood joined Fraserburgh from junior club East End in August 2022 and two months later grabbed the Buchan club’s winner in a memorable Scottish Cup victory against Stranraer.
This season the 24-year-old helped the Broch cause another shock as he scored the winning goal in an SPFL Trust Trophy triumph against Forfar Athletic.
Ahead of tackling Annan, Wood said: “It would be a great achievement if we can get a result. In recent games against Scottish League teams we’ve done well so we can take some confidence from that.
“When we played Stranraer that was my first crack at playing in the Scottish Cup and playing an SPFL team.
“I think scoring that day gave me an extra bit of confidence in terms of playing at this level and believing that I can do that.
“Beating Forfar this season was another great result for the club and I was lucky enough to score the winner.
“As a team we feel we can beat anyone at the Bellslea on our game so I think we’ll go into this weekend’s game feeling we’ve got a chance.”
Winger has made his mark from the bench
Wood has been troubled by a groin injury which has restricted him to substitute appearances of late, although he says he is back and ready to go for this weekend.
However, he has shown he can be very effective from the bench.
His winner against Forfar in August was as a sub and more recently he netted against Forres Mechanics in R Davidson (Banchory) Highland League Cup on November 9 and against Turriff United last month in the Scottish Cup after coming on.
Wood added: “Everyone would prefer to start and I’m no different, but whether it’s starting or coming on I’ll do whatever I can to help the team.
“Recently when I’ve been coming off the bench I’ve managed to make an impact so if I feature against Annan hopefully I can do that again.
“Coming on in games with fresh legs and with the pace I’ve got, I feel I’ve been able to help the team because we want to get the ball in behind.
“My groin is a lot better now, it was just an ongoing niggle, but that’s me back now.”
Mackay seeks Brora bravery
Brora Rangers boss Steven Mackay has backed his players to be bold against full-time side Livingston in the Scottish Cup.
The Cattachs make the trip to Almondvale this weekend to face Championship opposition in the third round of the national competition.
Although the Breedon Highland League side will be underdogs, Mackay believes they have players who can cause problems for Livi.
He said: “In games like this you need to be brave on the ball and we’ve got players who are.
“We’ll have to work hard to get the ball first and foremost and when we get it we’ll need to keep it and not just give it straight back to Livingston.
“We’ve got players in our team who are very good at keeping the ball. Guys like Tony Dingwall and Shane Sutherland have played in the Premiership and the Championship so the standard isn’t unfamiliar to us.
“It’s really important when we do get the ball we keep it and make use of it, that’s the task for the boys on Saturday.
“We want to make use of the fact we’ve got boys who have played full-time football in the past and boys like Andrew Macleod and George Robesten who are full-time with Ross County and on loan to us.”
Shocks have happened before
Brora have shown their pedigree for producing cup shocks in the past. In March 2021 they famously defeated Hearts at Dudgeon Park having barely been able to train, never mind play matches, in the build-up due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Mackay is cautiously optimistic when assessing the Cattachs’ chances of springing another surprise against a Livingston side sitting second in the Championship.
He added: “Nobody expects us to get anything out of this game. But internally we believe if we catch Livingston on an off day then you never know what could happen.
“However, if they have a good day – as they’ve had a lot this season – then it could be a tough afternoon for us.
“We caused an upset before against Hearts and the circumstances were more outrageous than what we’re facing this week against Livingston.
“However, results like that are few and far between, we’ll be sensible in our approach.
“We know Livingston will have the bulk of possession, we’ll need to restrict space, match runners and be aggressive in the right areas.
“If a chance or two comes our way then we need to take them.”
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