30 years since Ross County were voted into the Scottish Football League: Barry and Bobby Wilson recall the 4-0 win over Forfar Athletic and the Scottish FA vote
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A full 30 years ago today, the landscape of football in the Highlands changed forever.
It was on Wednesday, January 12 1994 that Ross County and Inverness Caledonian Thistle were voted into the Scottish Football League as the two new clubs ahead of the SFL's expansion for the 1994/95 season.
In the Highland capital, it was the start of a journey that would take them to Scottish Cup glory and European football in 2015. For Ross County, it was just the next step of progress in a lot of ways.
Over the handful of years preceding that vote, the Staggies had gone from an amateur side struggling at the bottom of the Highland League to winning the league title in 1991 and 1992.
When talk of reconstruction started up, then, County were in a good position to make their case to become a fully-fledged Scottish League outfit.
Cup runs certainly helped. Many people point to their Scottish Cup victory over Forfar Athletic on Saturday, January 8 1994 as the final proof to member clubs that County were ready to take that plunge.
However, despite winning 4-0 at Station Park, the day was not as plain-sailing as it may have seemed from the outside looking in.
"I can't believe it's 30 years, it's mental," former County winger Barry Wilson, who was a 21-year-old winger at the time, reflected.
"We've got a Ross County reunion chat, and someone put the Forfar Scottish Cup game in there so we were talking about that, and I couldn't quite believe it when I saw it. Time flies.
"It definitely played a pivotal role in (getting voted into the league). Even Forfar were impressed, and there was a lot of goodwill towards Ross County at the time.
"We had done quite well in the Scottish Cup in the years before that, so I think people did realise we would be a good addition.
"I think it was a given that Inverness would get in, but I think people realised that we were a better option than some of the others."
Barry's father, Bobby, was Ross County's manager at the time.
"It wasn't a straightforward as saying we got in because of that one game, but I would say it provided about 70 per cent of the help," he recalled.
"You look at the game – their boy got sent off after three minutes. I think we still would have won the game, because I knew how they were playing and we changed our system to play with two wingers, which flummoxed them a bit.
"Their chairman, David McGregor, did a big thing for us just by realising what we could do. It was a big point in us getting voted in – it made people think 'wow, 4-0, they must have something'. We did have something – a lot of players with a lot of ability, and a really good club.
"It wasn't an easy day for us to be honest, because as we went down the road the weather got worse and worse. When we stopped in Dundee for our pre-match meal, it was a bit firm, a bit frosty.
"I didn't know what we would do, because we didn't have the all-weather boots that we have now – just our leather boots and our rubber studs, which weren't suitable for that. I decided to give Jim McLean a phone call.
"I played with Jim at Dundee, and at that time he was at Dundee United as manager. He got all the players' sizes and gave us some boots. We knew what we were going into, and we were up for it, but it was quite an interesting day."
The timing was impeccable. If any SFL member clubs were on the fence about Ross County's credentials, they could be left in no doubt that the Staggies were capable of competing in the national set-up.
Plenty of hard work had already gone in to convince other of that fact even before the win over Forfar.
County chairman Hector MacLennan had been a serious driving force towards gaining membership, and Bobby Wilson made use of his own contacts from a professional career in the game – including a full decade at Dundee – to put forward the club's case to those who were voting.
"We worked hard enough to get into the Scottish Football League," Bobby explained.
"When I took over in 1987, Ross County were bottom of the Highland League and an amateur team – the first thing that I said to the chairman was that I wasn't taking over amateurs, no chance.
"I persuaded the chairman to give the players some money, so we gave them £5-per-week – and that was taxable as well, so they lost a pound off of that!
"At that point we never had any thoughts of getting into the Scottish league. There were no options anyway, there were no spaces – you didn't get an opportunity.
"After three seasons, we progressed at Ross County and we eventually won the Highland League back-to-back. Then we had the opportunity to get into the Scottish League.
"It was very hard, and to be fair we didn't think we had that much of a chance to get in, because we were just from a small town like Dingwall. The idea of Rangers and Celtic coming up here eventually, we didn't think it would happen, but it was a chance for us.
"We had to use all of our contacts. Where we had already come from, being bottom of the Highland League a few years before, everyone could see that we were a team in progress. It was an easy sell to be honest.
"There were two votes because two teams were going to get in, and we knew that one of them would be Caley.
"Me and Hector went down and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Hector had to put over our case to the Scottish FA, and he did an amazing job to put over our club to the people that were there. He hadn't written anything down, it was just straight from the heart.
"Then it went to the votes. At that point you're getting nods from the people around you, but if we got the same amount of votes as we did nods, we would have scooped it no bother!
"We got in of our own accord too which we were really chuffed about. It was one of the historic days I've had at the club, a pat on the back for myself and what the club had done over the previous years.
"Coming up the road, we were high as a kite. Hector actually had a pub in Maryburgh, the Cottage Bar, so we all met there and all the directors were there with their wives. We had a great night, and it was a job well done."
From the squad's point of view, they had to wait at home to hear whether they would become Scottish Football League players.
They certainly believed they were good enough to make an impact at that level – but the decision was completely out of their hands.
"The players were confident we could compete," Barry reasoned.
"In the years previous we beat Alloa a couple of times, we had beaten Queen of the South 6-2 down there, and then obviously there was the Forfar game.
"We knew that on our day, we would be a match for most teams in that division. Whether we could do it consistently over a season was another thing, but we knew than on our day we could be a match for most of those teams.
"That was basically how it panned out. We knew it was going to be tough, but at the same time we didn't think we would struggle.
"There were quite wild celebrations once the vote came through. The players were up here, so we went down to celebrate at the Ross County Social Club. I'm sure it was quite the shindig. I don't remember much of it!"
In some ways, that night was the start of a huge adventure for Ross County. In others, it was the culmination of a journey that was already making serious progress.
It would be easy for the likes of Bobby Wilson to be sentimental about getting such a reward for taking the Staggies from the bottom of the Highland League to the top – but that he did it with his family in tow made it all the more special.
"I must admit – I haven't said this a lot – that I was really delighted that Barry was involved in that as well," Bobby added.
"It's very seldom that a manager is able to take his son and be part of that set-up. Then he went on to have a good career too, which I was so proud of as well.
"I think I was more chuffed for his mum. She was so delighted, because she was really deep into football too.
"What she did for County – that's another thing I have never really spoken about. She used to sell tickets and to the turnstiles, do home baking to take to Victoria Park. What didn't she do? It was amazing.
"When we would go into the Scottish League and go on the long trips down south, I would sit on the bus and Jessie would go back and blether with the players. She wouldn't refrain from telling them they were rubbish!
"The players respected her as well. She picked up a lot of knowledge from being at Dundee games when I was there, and she loved her football.
"She would argue with the players and tell them what she thought. That was good for me as well, because football was our life – our social side and business side."
