‘One eye came off the ball’ – Former Ross County stars Barry Wilson and Andy MacLeod reminisce about the Staggies’ final steps in the Highland League 30 years ago
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This week 30 years ago, Ross County were preparing to say goodbye to the Highland League.
On Saturday May 7, 1994, the Staggies played their last home game in the division, losing 1-0 to that season’s champions Huntly at Victoria Park.
One week later, on May 14, they would say farewell to their home for the previous 65 years in style, picking up a 3-1 win over Elgin City.
After winning the Highland League title in both of the previous two campaigns, a third-place finish may not have been the triumphant ending that supporters had hoped for, but it was still an exciting period of celebration knowing that greater challenges were to come after the summer break.
Members of the County squad in the 1993/94 season admit as much, saying that once news came through that they would be playing Third Division football, focus immediately turned towards the Scottish Football League.
"To be honest, I think one eye definitely went on to the next season,” Barry Wilson said.
"We didn't win the Highland League that season, but we had won it two years before that. Whether it was the prospect of going up, or whether it was just how things panned out, we finished third.
"I'm not sure how the league looked when the announcement was made that we would be going into the Scottish league. I'm sure one eye came off the ball when it came to the league title, because we were effectively getting promoted anyway.
"It was great, and all three clubs that went up have never really looked back since. We've had a couple of backwards steps along the way, but the people who voted for us have been proven right."
Andy MacLeod commented: “It was a brilliant team to be involved in. When I came back from Holland I didn’t have many thoughts about playing football again, but that only lasted for a few months before I got a call from Bobby Wilson to get involved at Ross County.
“I count myself quite lucky to be involved in that group of players with that manager. It was a fantastic group of people, and still to this day I have friends that I keep in touch with.
“Once we had been accepted into the league over Christmas time, all of our heads started to look towards the Scottish Football League and taking Ross County into what was then the Third Division.
“I can hardly remember those last few months in the Highland League, because our focus was very much on the next season.
“All the stars had aligned. It was a fantastic few years for us in the Highland League, but it was equally fantastic getting that promotion with those boys that I got on so well with. They still talk about it now, so it has gone into the history books.”
While there was excitement about moving into the then-Scottish Football League, it would be easy to think that the last few months in the Highland League were poignant ones.
Many of the County players had spent years in that division, and would have seen plenty of familiar faces whenever they went to away matches that, for all they knew, they would never come across as footballers again.
"With the derbies we knew that there were going to be more, but there was a lot of thinking 'this is the last time we're going to this team',” Wilson recalled.
"That was just the forward thinking of the people at the club at the time, Hector McLennan and Donnie MacBean, and my dad as well.
"There were other people behind the scenes as well. There were some people against it, and there were some for, but Ross County have never looked back which has been great for the whole area.
"If players wanted to keep playing in the Highland League, they would leave. There are obviously a lot of long journeys in the Highland League anyway, but if anyone didn't fancy the longer journeys that was up to them.
"The players were all generally on board, and you could see that because there weren’t many changes to the squad that next season.”
It would be almost 20 years before Wilson would play in the Highland League again, essentially coming out of retirement to feature as player/manager for Wick Academy in 2013.
MacLeod, though, provides a slightly different perspective. Having already played full-time with Aberdeen and Fortuna Sittard in Holland, he had no intention of returning to the professional game regardless of where Ross County would end up.
He suspects some of his teammates at the time were similarly thinking they would eventually return to the Highland League, which meant very few tears were shed at the end of the 1993/94 season.
“We’d had such good years in the Highland League, and we were going to some of the places we’d gone to for years and seeing the people we’d come to know, so there was an acknowledgement that it was our last run,” MacLeod explained.
“In football though, nobody can stay at their best forever. I can only speak for myself, but I would guess for most of the players in that dressing room the Highland League was probably somewhere they thought they would finish off.
“We wanted to do our best when we went up and try to put ourselves on the map, but we knew that in a few years time we could be back.
“The next closest team in the Third Division would have been somewhere like Montrose or Forfar, so I don’t think many players would have moved there from Ross County. They would have gone to more local teams in the Highland League to see out their career I think.
“It didn’t feel like the last time we would ever be in the Highland League. It takes a wee bit of the romance out of it, but if you go through that squad, I think all but a couple did go back.
“The Caley and Thistle games were a bit more spicy, because we knew we would be facing them in the Third Division, so that was a bit more about getting the last laugh. Thankfully, we’re still laughing.”
Losing three of the most successful clubs in the history of the Highland League was inevitably going to be a blow for the division, but it also opened up the possibility that more teams could follow in Ross County’s footsteps in the future.
That, Wilson believes, was a sacrifice that ultimately proved to be worthwhile.
"So much has happened since then – the Highland League lost Elgin and Peterhead as well, albeit not to the same level of success as Inverness and Ross County, and it was only a matter of time before some of these teams were invited in,” Wilson added.
"It just so happened that 30 years ago, Ross County were a successful team in the Highland League. It could have been anyone, so there was a bit of luck regarding the timing of it.
"It definitely weakened the Highland League unfortunately, taking away two of the top three teams in that last season. While the top teams are still very strong I feel like there are a lot more average teams in the Highland League now.
"It has definitely been worth it though. Having league teams has given so many youngsters chances to go full time in the game from 16 – a chance I never had when I was that age.
"We have apprentices who have the chance to do well for themselves and forge a career without having to move away, and when the bigger teams come to town it helps the economy. It's definitely a positive, and 100 per cent it was the right thing to do for the teams.
"Although it weakened the Highland League, it probably made the other teams a bit more competitive. There has been talk for years about Celtic and Rangers joining the English league, and it's a bit like that – it would mean teams like Hearts, Hibs and Aberdeen were playing for a title at the end of the season rather than a European spot."
