Everyone at the club has been saddened to learn of the passing of championship-winning defender, Robin Mitchell.
Robin played a key role in our only Highland League title success and was voted Player of the Year by supporters in that historic 1975/76 season.
He joined us in January 1974, having come to the attention of our Manager, Innes MacDonald when playing university football while studying for a teaching degree in Aberdeen before carrying out his work placement at Elgin, where his availability soon drew the attentions of his new colleague and soon-to-be football manager.
His first stint with us was short lived, as a brief spell in Norway took him abroad before the season was out. However, he was back at the club in time for pre-season training in the Summer of 1974 and played his part in the initial growth of the team being built by Innes MacDonald and his Assistant, George Welsh, as we finished sixth in the Highland League table.
The next season, his second full campaign with the club, was to end in the ultimate triumph. Although the Inverness Cup final was lost to Inverness Thistle at Telford Street in November 1975, that disappointment was more than made up for as the season progress.
Robin was among the goal scorers in a memorable 6-1 home win over Inverness Caledonian in our first match of 1976 and as the league championship went down to the wire and a winner-takes-all playoff against Fraserburgh on Monday May 17th 1976, Robin was named in the starting line-up. He made a goal-saving (and potentially championship-saving) contribution in the final minute of normal time, booting the ball away to safety from the goal line after goalkeeper, Richard Konczak had taken a hefty blow to the face in the melee as our players literally put their bodies on the line to win the title. Of course, the match went to extra time and Peter Robertson ran on to a Stan Brown pass to loop home the winner in 2-1 success after Alex Gordon had earlier opened the scoring for us at Borough Briggs and the championship was on its way to Nairn for the first and only time.
As we defended the title the next season, Robin scored the only goal of the game as we defeated Keith 1-0 in our first league win as champions. He then corrected the wrong of the loss of the previous season’s Inverness Cup final by featuring in the team which lifted the trophy thanks to a 3-1 win over Clachnacuddin at Kingsmills on March 16th 1977.
He left the club to join Forres Mechanics in the Summer of 1981, seven-and-a-half years after initially joining us.
Robin continued to attend our home matches down the years and his passing has saddened us all. A cultured defender with a cool head who could read the game expertly with an eye for a killer pass, he was ahead of his time as a player and a gentleman as a person. We all pass our condolences to Robin’s family and friends at this time.
