October 9th 2026
The spring of 1976 remains the club’s defining moment. Fifty years later, memories of that dramatic title race and unforgettable celebrations still live strong.
The below is an excerpt from The History of Nairn County Book – 100 years in the Highland League.
Having restored the club’s respectability on the park with fifth and sixth place finishes in successive seasons, Innes Macdonald achieved the crowning glory in the 1975/76 season by bringing the Highland League championship to Station Park in the most dramatic of fashions.
However, it may never have happened if Macdonald had followed through on a thought he had in the summer of 1975 that Nairn County might have been better off without him. Macdonald’s goalkeeper, Richard Konczak has now revealed: “We went a bit stagnant in our second season under Innes when we finished sixth. We lost Ian Gibson to Aberdeen and we struggled. Innes was a bit demoralised and I remember he said to Harry McFadden that he was thinking of giving it up. Luckily he stayed though, as none of what was to follow would have happened without him.”
The summer saw the final piece added to the jigsaw, as Macdonald recruited centre half Dave Cochrane. The 22- year-old arrived from St. Johnstone, where he had made 30 appearances the previous season, and was immediately appointed Nairn’s club captain.
Konczak was instantly impressed by the performances of his new team mate as he stated: “I think Innes realised we were one player away from being a good team and signed Davy who was a tough player – he would not last half of the games today! We then had a back four of Davy, Harry McFadden, Robin Mitchell and Sammy Forsyth. Brian Derby ended up slotting into the back four for Harry and I said at the time we had the best five back four players in the league.
“We started playing some great football and we had a great team spirit because we all put in money from our wages, which went towards nights out. The Nairn players used to put up the other players from outside of Nairn and there was a really good spirit which Innes built up.
“We went to Cromdale for a weekend in pre-season and that was the first time I saw Davy play. We played a Badenoch Welfare Select and I could see he was a really good player. Things just seemed to gel and I went from being the busiest man on the park to hardly having a touch of the ball. “In the first season I played, we finished down near the bottom of the league and I won the club’s player of the year, which says it all. I went from that to standing in my goalmouth wondering when I was going to get the ball. I would stand there thinking that I could not believe we were playing such good football. The movement was tremendous and we had a really workmanlike team.”
Although Cochrane became a lynchpin in County’s legendary title-winning side, he has now revealed that his Nairn career was almost over before it had even started. He said: “I had the chance to do pre-season training with Forfar Athletic and East Fife but what brought me north was Innes Macdonald and his wife Anna. They made the effort to travel to Perth to speak to me and lay out what they had in mind. It was a great personal touch by them and Innes had his own stamp of authority about how he spoke and approached things.
“His words to me were that if he could sign a higher quality of centre half than he already had then we could win the league. I thought to myself: ‘This man thinks I am the man to do it’.
“There was the opportunity of work because McDermott’s were taking men on and the club helped me to get a job there. They also assisted in getting me a house like they said they would but it was a tricky situation with Bob Gordon because his family arrived and they needed a place to stay. I was on the verge of going back to Perth but the club pulled some strings and got me a house.”
He added: “Part of my job in the team was to make sure nobody slacked. Innes was not a great one for bawling and shouting but he gave everyone a job to do and if someone was not doing their job, it was my responsibility to shout at him. If I did not get onto him for not doing his job then the manager got onto me.”
The respect Cochrane has for Macdonald is plain to see and it was reciprocated by the manager for the imposing centre half. Macdonald said: “Davy had worked under Willie Ormond and I went down to Perth to meet him. I liked the way he spoke about the game – he was a big, strong personality and I realised this was just the sort of player I was looking for. He stood in the middle of that defence and he was an emperor, so much so the referees picked on him because he got a lot of frivolous bookings.
“We obviously had the safest pair of hands in the league with Richard (Konczak) in goal and I switched Sammy (Forsyth) to left back and Harry (McFadden) to right back. Harry was captain when I arrived but he was quiet on the park and I wanted someone who would really make their presence felt. Davy was that big personality every team needs and I appointed him captain and never once regretted that decision.”
A lot of work remained to be done but a pillar of the attack had already been recruited in a burly Hydro Electric engineer from Aberdeen – striker Alex Gordon.
“I had a contact in Aberdeen who ran an amateur side and he tipped me off about Alex. He was a big, honest player and individual. We got a lot of goals from him, including one in the championship play-off against Fraserburgh.
“We had Stan Brown on the left flank, who was always a dependable and hard-working player. He had a great left foot which provided the ammunition for our strikers to feed off and he was one of the unsung heroes of that side.” A late comer to Macdonald’s band of brothers was the galloping policeman, Norman Macdonald, who was to become a great fans favourite.
Innes said: “He was a real jewel because of his ability to carry the ball past defenders and score very special goals. I have no idea how we came across him. He appeared out of the blue and because he was in the police, he could not play all of the time. I subbed him a lot because he sometimes ran himself out of steam. It did not make me very popular with the fans who loved Norman – he was a very special player.”
Norman Macdonald said: “I was serving with the police in Inverness and we were unable to play football in the Highland League. When that policy changed in 1975, my superintendent at the time used to play for Nairn County and was desperate for me to play for the club. He took me through to meet Innes Macdonald, I had a trial and it went from there.
“Before joining Nairn, I had only played in the Inverness Welfare League alongside a lot of ex-Highland League players. I was very much a latecomer to the Highland League as I only started playing at that level when I was 28 because of the policy of the police force.”
Macdonald also tried and failed to re-sign Davy Johnston from Caley prior to the start of the season. The club made three bids – the last of which totalled £500 – for the forward but all were turned down. Meanwhile, on the departures front, George Stapleton left to rejoin Caley.
Prior to the start of the new season, Innes asked the committee to change their red and white strip and revert to the original club colours of black and gold. What he got instead was black and yellow.
“It was for practical reasons as much as anything but I liked yellow! Lossiemouth, Deveronvale, Brora and Thistle all played in red and sometimes we clashed with Huntly too. The committee backed me and red and white was out.”
To say Innes liked yellow is an understatement. His daughter, Ailie Macleod, who now lives in Nairn and regularly comes to Station Park, revealed her dad was so passionate about the club he bought a yellow and black Hillman Avenger!
Brian Derby scored the only goal of the game as Nairn kicked off season 1975/76 with an away victory at Ross County on the evening of Saturday August 9th before strikes from Brown and Forsyth downed champions Clachnacuddin the following midweek.
Nairn County winning squad of 1975/76
In the quarter finals of the Highland League Cup, Nairn twice came from behind to draw 3-3 with Elgin City after extra time thanks to goals from Brown, McFadden and Gordon. However, the Black and Whites progressed 1-0 in the replay the following Wednesday before 1507 fans at Borough Briggs.
Billy Mitchell was added to the squad and played in the draws with Clachnacuddin (0-0) and Fraserburgh (1-1) as Nairn dropped their first points of the season in mid-September. He scored his first goal for the club on September 20th in the Qualifying Cup first round win at Golspie Sutherland. Alex Gordon also netted a brace in County’s 3-0 success.
However, progression to the Scottish Cup proper was halted in the next round as Keith recorded a 4-0 victory at Station Park on October 4th. Prior to the match, Nairn finally secured the return of forward Davy Johnston thanks to the support of an anonymous financial donor.
A crowd of nearly 700 turned out to see the start of the prodigal son’s third spell at the club but they were left disappointed, as the Nairnshire Telegraph explained: “Dave Johnston was due to make his first appearance in a Nairn County shirt since leaving for Aberdeen in 1966. However, his registration papers, sent by registered post on Wednesday, had not been received by the SFA and he was not eligible to play.” Johnston played the following week but County lost out to Lossiemouth by two goals to one.
The team bounced back on October 18th though by dumping joint league leaders Inverness Caley 5-3 at Telford Street thanks to efforts from Gordon, Brown, Derby (2) and McFadden despite Cochrane being sent off.
The Inverness Cup was revived after three years in abeyance and Nairn received a bye to the semi finals, where they met Clachnacuddin at Grant Street on Tuesday November 18th. A Brown penalty and a free kick from Forsyth sent the visitors into the final, where they met Inverness Thistle at Telford Street on Tuesday November 25th. However, it was to end in extra time disappointment for Nairn despite Brown’s goal having them in front up until the 86th minute, when Thistle scored to force the additional half an hour of play. Two further goals from the Jags in the first half of extra time secured the trophy for the Inverness side, despite Gordon’s late counter in a 3-2 defeat for Nairn.
The team for the final was: Konczak, McFadden, P. Robertson, R. Mitchell, Derby, D. Robertson, W. Mitchell, McIldowie, Gordon, Forsyth, Brown.
Nairn bounced back from that disappointment to top the pile as 1975 approached its conclusion. In a top-of-the table clash against Fraserburgh at Bellslea, Brown, ‘Super Mac’ Norman Macdonald, Forsyth and McFadden all scored as County soared to the summit with a one-point advantage over their hosts and two games in hand.
Back-to-back derby wins over Forres Mechanics retained Nairn’s strong position at the top over the festive period, with Brown, Peter Robertson and Macdonald striking in the first half of a 3-0 win at Station Park in the return fixture, which the Nairnshire Telegraph reported on by saying: “County, playing with the wind behind their backs in the first half, gave an exhilarating performance of attacking football and led by three goals at half time. After the turn around, Forres tried to stage a revival but their forwards met up with a defence as solid as the Rock of Gibraltar and this soon petered away.”
Nairn’s first match of 1976 saw a memorable 6-1 success over Caley on January 10th. The Nairnshire Telegraph reported: “It would be rather unfair to try and pick out any individual stars in the Nairn County side which handed Inverness Caley a 6-1 thrashing at Station Park on Saturday. From the last line of defence to the 13th man, County’s performance could only be described as, to quote the Big Yin, ‘just magic’.”
Despite falling behind after only one minute, goals from Robin Mitchell, Donald Robertson, Forsyth, Johnston, Macdonald and Gordon gave County a comprehensive win. Johnston – who scored his first goal since returning to the club – was afforded a standing ovation from all four corners of the ground as his strike hit the net.
A draw at Lossiemouth and a defeat to Inverness Thistle brought Nairn back down to Earth in their next two games. However, any thoughts that the club’s title aspirations were beginning to fade were blown away in the next fixture as a Billy Mitchell hat trick and a double from Macdonald dumped Ross County 5-1 at Station Park.
County crashed out of the North of Scotland Cup to bogey side Lossiemouth in February with Derby netting a 94th minute equaliser at Grant Park on the 14th of the month after McIldowie had already scored a first leveller in a 2-2 draw. The Coasters won the replay at Station Park seven days later 1-0.
Manager Innes Macdonald added Fochabers-based teenager Mike Hendry to his squad and the club issued an appeal for financial assistance in their quest to install floodlighting at Station Park by launching the ‘Light a Lamp for Brighter Football’ campaign.
On the park, a Forsyth own goal handed title rivals Keith the points as the Maroons recorded a 2-1 home win over County, despite Macdonald scoring to put Nairn in front. However, Nairn continued their tendency to thump the big boys, with Elgin City their latest victims at Borough Briggs on March 20th.
“It must be many years since any side went to Borough Briggs and came away with a 5-1 scoreline in their favour,” the Nairnshire Telegraph’s report enthused. “It was a brilliant team performance by the County and they outplayed City in every aspect of the game. It is a vital boost to their title hopes and once again they took with them a tremendous travelling support, outnumbering the Elgin fans.”
Billy Mitchell, Peter Robertson (2) and Macdonald (2) did the damage for the visitors.
Dave Cochrane said: “There were so many memorable games that season, including winning at Elgin. We beat Inverness Caley home and away and we went up to Ross County and won in our opening game. We also beat Fraserburgh away from home, so we beat a lot of the big sides that season and we were not a lucky side – you can be lucky and win a cup but you do not win a league through luck. “A lot of the time, we had to dig out results and be dogged. I do not like getting beat and we took that attitude into our games but I do not think we ever thought we could win the league. There was never any big-headedness and we were never cocksure that we were the best side in the league.”
The title race continued to twist and turn. Fraserburgh had finished their campaign prior to Nairn’s reaching a conclusion and had bagged 44 points from their 30 fixtures (two points for a win) to top the pile with County a point behind with two games remaining. Keith drew at Ross County the same day as County’s resounding win at Elgin and sat third with 36 points from 24 games.
As it stood, a win from either of Nairn’s two remaining fixtures away at Huntly and Rothes would be enough to overhaul Fraserburgh’s tally and take them out of the equation. Two victories would leave Keith requiring maximum points from their remaining six games to deny County championship glory.
However, disaster struck on April 3rd at Huntly with the Black and Golds dealing Nairn’s championship hopes a body blow thanks to a 3-1 win. The hosts fought back from Macdonald’s opener to dump County. At the same time, Keith thrashed Deveronvale 7-1 to narrow the gap. As if that was not enough, County’s final league fixture of the season ended in a goalless draw away at lowly Rothes on April 10th. Despite long periods of County pressure, the visitors could not find a way through and it looked as if the championship dream was over for another season.
“The miss of the season came in the 52nd minute,” the Nairnshire Telegraph’s match report observed. “A cracking angular drive by Peter Robertson was only parried by the Rothes ‘keeper and Donald Robertson raced in with the intention of prodding the ball home for what seemed a certain goal but somehow he managed to lob the ball over the bar from a couple of feet.”
Recalling the miss, Donald Robertson said: “It was the miss of the season without a doubt – if only there had been a hole that I could have jumped into! I was absolutely horrified and I was substituted soon afterwards as I was in shock.
“Peter cut in from the right wing and crossed for Dave Harris, the Rothes goalkeeper, to palm the ball at my feet with a gaping net. I do not recall the mechanics of putting the ball over the bar but I think I was stretching and leaning back, thus lofting the ball.”
The dropped points at Rothes were a missed opportunity to clinch the championship as far as Sammy Forsyth was concerned. He said: “When Innes Macdonald came in, the club became highly-organised and he brought a more professional approach. Prior to that, it was the committee who were picking the team but Innes had great success as a manager at Elgin doing well with them in the Scottish Cup. He then brought that approach to Nairn.
“Right up until Christmas time of the 1975/76 season, we did not think it was possible for us to go all the way. Once we got into the New Year though, we had a good run up until the last two or three games, which were nerveracking. We should have wrapped the championship up at Rothes in a game we should have cantered through.
“We had done so well that season against the bigger clubs – we went to Elgin and hammered them and then played Caley at Nairn and hammered them too. We played the top teams off the park but towards the end of the season, we probably noticed that we had a chance of winning the league and things did not go too well.”
It was ‘as you were’ at the top of the table after the close of play as Keith were also held to a 0-0 draw having shared the points with Peterhead. County finished the season level with Fraserburgh on 44 points. Nairn won 19, drew six and lost five of their 30 league fixtures, scoring 75 goals in the process and conceding 35.
The championship remained in Keith’s hands as they had four fixtures remaining and required six points to pip Fraserburgh and Nairn to glory. However, the Maroons lost 2-0 at Peterhead in their penultimate game, leaving them a point behind Nairn and Fraserburgh with one match remaining – an away fixture at Elgin City.
That match, on Tuesday May 11th, finished 2-1 in favour of Elgin, dashing Keith’s championship hopes and leaving Nairn and Fraserburgh level at the top of the pile on 44 points, one ahead of Keith. The match at Elgin was attended by most of the Nairn squad, who were still waiting for their title fate to be decided having completed their programme of fixtures several weeks previously.
Dave Cochrane revealed: “We never played any friendlies after our season had finished. Innes gave us a bit of leisure time, we did a bit of training and we played a bit of football among ourselves. Innes was a great one for integrating youth team players, so we played games like 127 the first team defence and the youth forwards against the youth defence and the first team forwards.
“We were a very close group of players and had nights out with partners and wives every so often. Things like that kept us going because we were down to the bare bones of the squad by that stage of the season.
“One of Innes’s moves for a training night was for us to go to the game between Elgin and Keith. It could have ended in a three-way tie between ourselves, Fraserburgh and Keith, so I suppose it was Innes’s way of sending us to do a bit of spying. We were in the last chance saloon that night because had Keith won, we were out of it. Elgin could have laid down because we beat them 5-1 at their ground but I remember wee Jimmy Wilson, who played for Elgin, turning and saying to me ‘You are alright big man, we will win this’ even though they were getting beat 1-0 at the time!”
Innes Macdonald, who was also in the stand at Borough Briggs that night, added: “The whole Nairn team was on the pitch congratulating the Elgin players when they turned Keith over.”
Goal difference had yet to be introduced (for the record, Nairn would have won the championship due a superior goal difference of nine over Fraserburgh), so a winner takes-all play-off was hastily arranged for Borough Briggs, Elgin on the evening of Monday May 17th 1976, some 37 days after County’s final league fixture of the campaign. Cochrane added: “I was supposed to be on nightshift at McDermott’s and there was a rule that nobody could get time off for football. I went to Joe Borthwick, who stayed in Moss-side Road, and asked for a night off to play football for Nairn and he said I could not have it, so I told him there and then that I would not be in. It was the Thursday night before I eventually went back to work! I was called in straight away and received a written warning.”
In front of 3367 supporters, Nairn started the match in the ascendancy and Alex Gordon had the ball in the net but his effort was disallowed for a foul on Fraserburgh goalkeeper Gray.
Peter Robertson was described by the Nairnshire Telegraph’s report as a constant thorn in Fraserburgh’s side and he was involved in the opening goal, along with trialist Tommy Wilson, who was playing in only his second match for the club.
The Nairnshire Telegraph’s man covering the action, Donald Wilson, described the action in his report. “County’s efforts were rewarded a minute before the interval. Wilson started it with a cross which was nodded on by Peter Robertson to Brown at the far side of the penalty area. He neatly hoisted it to the far post and there was Gordon to head home at full stretch.”
Gordon recalled: “I can still picture my opening goal from that game in my head. Nowadays, I go to watch Elgin City from time-to-time and I picture the goal at the east end of the ground every time I go into Borough Briggs.”
The manner of the opening goal was all a part of the Nairn game plan, as Brown has now revealed: “One thing I could do was cross the ball. I had such a good understanding with Sammy Forsyth behind me on our side of the pitch and I knew Alex Gordon would get his head on a fair share of crosses. At the time, Fraserburgh had a wee goalkeeper, so we knew we could fire in crosses from both sides and he would struggle to deal with them.”
However, Fraserburgh equalised on 51 minutes through Stephen and began to take control but, as the Nairnshire Telegraph explained, they found no way through the mean County defence. “Fortunately for Nairn, Mitchell was as cool as ever at the back and Cochrane was as tenacious as ever in the tackle, so much so that he was booked in the 75th minute for a foul on Hunter.”
As the 90 minutes edged towards a conclusion and extra time seemed likely, Fraserburgh appeared to claim the upper hand with County goalkeeper Richard Konczak struggling to continue. “Konczak had to wear a gauze mask for the extra time after a collision with Newlands in the 89th minute. The ‘keeper dropped the ball on the line but Mitchell hooked it away. By the time the final whistle was blown Nairn had recovered from Stephen’s goal and were looking more the part,” the Nairnshire Telegraph reported.
Konczak was on the ground out cold and would never have been allowed to continue if the match was played today. However, the thought of leaving the field never even entered the goalkeeper’s mind.
He said: “I went up for a high ball in a ruck of players and tried to fist it. Just as I was about to connect with it, one of the Fraserburgh players came crashing into my ribs, which knocked me backwards and the ball just dropped straight down to the deck. Brian Newlands, the Fraserburgh captain, swung his boot at it and my face got in the way. I got his boot right in the mouth and Robin booted the ball clear, which was just as well as it was probably one of the luckiest thing that has ever happened to me. If my face had not been there then they would have scored.
“Even though I was unconscious for three or four minutes, it never dawned on me that I could not carry on. I was lucky because my nose and teeth were OK – it was just a cut above and below my mouth and my face was in a mess but it was certainly worth it.”
Into extra time and the moment which secured a first ever Highland League championship for Nairn County and a place in history for the players.
“Billy Mitchell replaced Wilson for Nairn in the 95th minute and immediately afterwards Peter Robertson scored that glorious goal,” the Nairnshire Telegraph stated.
“Again it was Brown who laid it on. He raced down the left flank, released the ball at the right time and there was no way the Broch defence was going to catch Robertson. The Nairn speed king kept a cool head and chipped the ball past Gray into the net.”
McIldowie struck the crossbar later on in extra time but two goals were enough for Nairn as they secured the championship thanks to a 2-1 win. “I was shattered when I had that shot which hit the bar,” said McIldowie. “We were holding on a bit at 2-1 up and I just hit it as hard as I could. There was a feeling that we were not going to lose the lead though but they really came at us towards the end. However, with guys like Robin Mitchell and Dave Cochrane at the back and Richard Konczak in goals, you always knew that we were going to be difficult to beat. Nobody was ever going to give us a thumping because we were so solid and then we had the likes of Alex Gordon and Peter Robertson up front.
“We were the surprise team that season and I do not think anybody expected us to win the championship. We did well against the top teams like Inverness Thistle, Caley and Elgin although we sometimes struggled against the lesser teams in the league.
“I think we surprised the better teams because we were so hard-working. We did not have many stars in the team but we enjoyed each other’s company and worked hard for one another. The pre-season training was hard under Innes (Macdonald) and George (Welsh), who is such a lovely man and was always immaculately turned out.”
He added: “Innes Macdonald was super. We probably did not appreciate it at the time but he would not let any of us relax. We then had people like Dave Cochrane and Harry McFadden in the team and they kept the rest of us going. “There was not one single team running away at the top of the table that season, which had happened in the years before with the likes of Caley and Elgin having the league won with a few games to go. It just seemed that it was meant to be our year.”
Peter Robertson recalled his title-clinching goal as he said: “I will never forget that moment. It came from a brilliant ball from Stan Brown. I was just crossing the halfway line and made a run for the space behind the Fraserburgh back four. Stan released a perfect ball just at the correct split second to rule out offside and then it was between me and the goalkeeper.
If he had stayed on his line, it would have been more difficult but he came out to narrow the angle so it was a simple chip to get it in. Fortunately, it went in and the rest is history.
“It must be said that I did not win the league for Nairn County with that single goal – the league was won through every game of that season with input from everybody from the groundsman to the President. It was a team effort with a squad that had been brought to a peak of fitness by George Welsh and managed brilliantly by Innes Macdonald. It was a very happy dressing room and we all seemed to gel.”
He added: “I distinctly remember Alex Gordon’s goal in the play-off just before half time from a Stan Brown cross. In the first half, Nairn were well on top and with good fortune, we could have been three up at half time.
“Fraserburgh came back into it in the second half and scored a scrappy goal. We were then on the ropes for a while after that but we came back into it again towards the end.
“We then had the Richard Konczak kick-in-the-face crisis. Being the guy he is, Richard played on without any qualms. Then, Robin Mitchell cleared off the line in the 89th minute and we went into extra time.
“I do not recall much about the extra time apart from the goal and several chances after that to seal it completely.”
“Three years ago Nairn were a struggling side,” the Nairnshire Telegraph reflected. “Then Innes Macdonald and his sidekick George Welsh took over when they gave Elgin City their leave. Ever since, the footballing side of the club has gone from strength to strength. The Macdonald-Welsh combination injected new life into the team while the officials have ‘slaved at raising the finance necessary for a wee team like us to compete with the big guns,’ to quote Macdonald.
“The ecstatic Nairn fans inevitably invaded the park on the final whistle and when their side had gone into the dressing rooms, the chanting continued. Team captain Dave Cochrane led his side out to greet the fans amid the celebrations and Innes Macdonald followed.
“The side also got a standing ovation in the Brackla Hotel at Nairn for their magnificent achievement.”
Cochrane can still picture moments from that match in his head, including Peter Robertson’s winning goal.
“Sometimes I cannot remember what I did yesterday at work but I can remember exactly what happened that night,” he said. “If I live until I am 100, I will still be going on about it!
“I was not directly behind the winning goal but I can still see Peter lifting the ball over the goalkeeper. I can also remember Alex Gordon rising to head in the ball for the opening goal and it was like watching in slow motion – he seemed to climb an extra few inches that night.
“I remember the fans charging across the park at the end of the game and the sheer elation of it. Every player in the team came back to Nairn, even though some of them lived in Elgin.
“My medals and memories can never be taken away from me. It fills me with a great deal of pride because I was asked to do a job from the start and it was fantastic to see a lot of people get so much satisfaction out of us winning the league. For the people who were born and bred in Nairn, it must have been some night for them.
“I was the first captain of a Nairn side who won the league. Nairn might win the league again but I can still turn around and say I was the first. That fills me with a great deal of pride.”
Partnering Cochrane at the heart of the County defence that night was Robin Mitchell. He recalled: “We were very strong defensively that season. Dave and I might have exchanged a few words from time to time on the pitch but we certainly had a good relationship. He was the ‘go and get and knock them down’ type whereas I waited to see what would happen and counteracted it.
“Sammy (Forsyth) was excellent for the team and we had Brian Derby and Harry McFadden too, who were also very good players.”
He added: “Going into the play-off, it was a couple of weeks since we had played as a unit and we all thought our chance to win the league had gone. On the night, we were short of a couple of players but we thought we would give it a go and it was just one of those nights where things went tremendously well.
“The team really gelled over the course of the season and everyone worked hard for one another. We went into every game knowing that if we worked as hard as we could then we would wear the other team down and beat them. Everything seemed to fit into place. Even in those games where the goals did not come as easily, we had the confidence to plod on knowing that we would get the break needed to get a result.”
Stan Brown believes Nairn were worthy champions because of the success they had enjoyed that season against the big names of Highland League football. He said: “It was not just the play-off which was memorable about that season. We beat Caley 6-1 and Ross County 5-1 both at home and won 5-1 at Elgin as well. In the Elgin game, we were 5-0 up and coasting and even though the game was over as a contest when they scored, we felt it was a foul on our goalkeeper, Richard Konczak in the lead up to the goal and we were gutted about it!”
Harry McFadden recalled: “Innes Macdonald brought a different approach to the team. There was much more analysis and discussion – sometimes too much – but it made you think more about your responsibilities to your team mates and your job within the team structure.
“George (Welsh) brought a different dimension to physical fitness and during his time there, it is doubtful if there was a fitter set of players in the league.
“The team spirit they forged was excellent and the players all got on well. It was quite a mix of players but they all gelled together in that one season and all the good work culminated in the winning of the league.”
McFadden felt Nairn’s preparation for the play-off worked hugely in their favour. He revealed: “I spoke to Brian Newlands of Fraserburgh after the game and he asked me how we prepared for the game. I said apart from big Davy, we all worked during the day and just got on the bus like a normal evening game.
“The Fraserburgh lads tried to prepare for it by all taking the day off and Brian felt they were flat in the dressing room before the game as they had too much time on their hands all day and it affected them later on.”
Goal scorer Gordon said: “I had missed a couple of games before the play-off and we should have had the league won before the end of the season. We had a better goal difference than Fraserburgh though, so it was sporting justice that we won the league in the end.
“We had some real characters in the team that season, like Brian Derby. I remember being up at Cromdale for preseason training that summer and it was quite eventful. Innes sent us on a run through the woods and Brian and a couple of others managed to get lost! They somehow ended up in Grantown, although that might have been a convenient excuse to avoid doing the rest of the training.”
Donald Robertson added: “Playing in midfield in the playoff, there was a lot of dogged play but nothing too pure. It was a great team performance and I will never forget it – the goals from Alex Gordon and my brother Peter, Richard Konczak becoming concussed, the great crowd, the elation of the final whistle and picking up a Highland League medal. I am still very proud to have been a part of Nairn County’s league championship winning team.”
Sammy Forsyth was undecided whether to play in the match with his wife due to give birth. He revealed: “I had to put my wife into hospital the night of the game as she was expecting our first born. The old matrons were not very happy at me for going away to play a game of football.
“That night was something else though – it was a tremendous atmosphere and a most memorable night all round, which did not just finish with the game as the celebrations went on until about 6 am the following morning. I will never forget it.”
He added: “I was a left back and played at centre half for Nairn but I was not all that comfortable in that position. Big Davy Cochrane came along and that is when the whole thing became a lot more solid. Robin Mitchell was the sweeper behind him and I moved back to left back with Harry McFadden at right back. Brian Derby came in too and that is when Innes built that really strong defence.
“We were strong throughout the entire team and we did not have a weakness. That is one of the main reasons we won the league – we had good, solid players in every position on the park.”
Innes Macdonald ranks the success among his finest in football. He said: “It was a fantastic night but one of our key defenders, Brian Derby, thought we had blown it and left Nairn to find work and we could not track him down in time to get him back for the play-off. The jungle drums told me he was in the Channel Islands but all efforts to contact him failed. Of course, Super Norman (Macdonald), as he was known by the fans, had to attend a police course and that ruled him out. We fielded a player called Tommy Wilson on the wing and he had only played once for the team before. He came highly recommended from Aberdeen junior football. It was a big gamble but I had no choice. He put in a great shift for us that night.
“Then, of course, there was the incident when our goalkeeper Richard Konczak took a boot in the face to prevent a certain goal in the dying minutes of normal time with the game finely balanced at 1-1. My heart was in my mouth and Richard’s face was a mess. He was patched up and he bravely carried on after treatment. Peter Robertson got the winner in extra time and the rest is history.”
Nairn’s play-off heroes were: Konczak, McFadden, Forsyth, R. Mitchell, Cochrane, Brown, Wilson, D. Robertson, Gordon, McIldowie, P. Robertson. Subs: W. Mitchell, Hendry.
Fraserburgh: Gray, Sharp, Cardno, Mackenzie, Roger, Duthie, Watson, Hunter, Newlands, Stephen, Bowie. Subs: Massie, MacKay.
Referee: L. J. S. Officer, Aberdeen.
As Innes Macdonald mentioned, Brian Derby was absent for the play-off as he had left the area to seek work. He has now revealed how he was informed of his team mates’ title triumph. He said: “I thought that it was over and we had not won the league, so I accepted an offer of work in Jersey and went there for three weeks. It was when I called home that my wife shouted down the phone at me ‘We won the league! We won the league!’ I asked if she had been drinking. She told me that Innes had tried to contact me through the Jersey police and other sources but to no avail. I felt gutted to have missed out on that game but the lads who played that night are heroes.”
He added: “We won a lot of games against the so-called big guns of the Highland League that season. We made a great start to the season with some superb results and that really lifted the club and the supporters. I guess some of us thought that it could be our season as it progressed but it was never mentioned in the dressing room or on the field – we just concentrated on winning the next game.
“I have a lot of fond memories from that season, like the time the floodlights did not work and we had to bring our cars into Station Park and turn on the headlights to allow us to train. Richard Konczak could not see very well as he was wearing contact lenses and one had fallen out. We were all looking for it in the semi darkness, picking up small shreds of anything that glowed and looked like a lens then trying to stick it in his eye!
“We also sometimes trained down near a row of trees close to the beach and did our running when it was starting to get dark. One night, I climbed up a tree hoping George (Welsh) would not notice as I needed a rest. I did not escape though and when the rest of the lads got back, I heard him asking ‘Where’s the Big Yin?’ One of the lads said I was up a tree, so I was caught out.
“The following game, we won well and someone mentioned that it must have been the training on the Thursday night. Then, someone else said it must have been Brian up that tree. From then on, it became a superstitious ritual and I had to climb that same tree every training night, even when we trained at Station Park. I was once driven down to climb the tree at half time of a game because we were losing!”
County’s other play-off absentee, Norman Macdonald said: “I was on a driving course at the Scottish Police College and could not get off. It was not something that I could miss and my job came first. It was a while after the league season had finished and I was unable to attend any training prior to the play-off either.
“It was disappointing to miss out but I cannot be sure that I would have even been selected. Alex Gordon played and of course, scored on the night against Fraserburgh. I am great friends with him and it was down to Innes Macdonald which one of us played each week – invariably one of us played up front and the other was on the bench.
“I was over the moon when I heard that the boys had won the match but I did not really feel a part of it until I got my hands on my medal sometime later.
“I played in most of the games that season and it was like playing a cup final every week because we were doing so well. They were all memorable games and it seemed to be that it was more difficult against the teams further down the table because they put the shutters up against us.
“The photograph of the championship winning team takes pride of place in my living room and I still look at it fondly from time to time.”
Immediately after the play-off, Konczak was taken to hospital in Elgin and any thoughts he had of being congratulated for his heroism were swiftly dashed.
He revealed: “A female doctor saw me and she was quite nasty to me. One of our committee guys who came with me told her I was our goalkeeper and she was all apologetic after that because she had thought I was a troublemaker who had been fighting at the match!”
He added: “The elation after the match was unbelievable and we headed up the High Street expecting the pavements to be lined but there was not a soul there. We then went to the Canteen pub at the Brackla Hotel and when we opened the door, folk were falling out. It took us about half an hour to get to the bar and what a night it was. My face was up like a balloon by this stage and I was trying to drink but I think I gave up at about half three the following morning.”
Cochrane said: “We celebrated long and hard. Richard obviously had to go to the hospital for stitches and Sammy was at the maternity unit with his wife. Those guys were our team mates though so we waited for them.
“By the time we got back to Nairn, it was probably 11.30 pm. We were not expecting anything because it was so late on a Monday night. We walked into the Canteen and it was jam packed with people wearing yellow and black scarves. It was unbelievable.
“I would never have imagined the number of people who were there. We had the lounge set aside for us because there was no room in the bar and every player was shouted through by the fans to have their name chanted and sung. “We had a few drinks and it was half past 6 in the morning before I got home. Stan Brown was hoovering the floor and there was only about three of us in the bar when I left. I got up the next day and Billy Mitchell and his father appeared at my door and we went back down to the Canteen again.
“Everybody wanted to buy me a drink and I hardly spent any money. It is a night that has lived in my memory ever since. At the time, we probably did not realise how historic it was for Nairn.”
