Growing up never really satisfies a boy’s childhood fantasies of becoming the last-minute winner. The sixty-year-old Raymond Cardno had another one last week. Mr. Cardno is the vice-president of the Highland League’s Buckie Thistle. On the eve of his team’s game versus Scottish football powerhouse Celtic, Mr. Cardno saw some serious killing taking place in his vision.
“In my dream, we sneaked in a goal in the final minutes with the score still 0-0. Subsequently, the board announced that an additional eight minutes would be added. It then subsided, and I awoke.
As he prepares to board the bus that will transport the players and staff of Buckie Thistle 200 miles south to Glasgow, he tells me this. Before they arrive in Aberdeen to pick up their boss, Graeme Stewart, they will pick up a few more players in Keith. They will then meet up with their soldiers in Inverness at the Broxburn Roundabout on the outskirts of Perth after they have driven down the A9 to link. Before climbing Everest, the group will spend the night at the Garfield Hotel in the Steppes.
He alone among all the officials traveling with the Buckie Thistle players will have a glimmer of what they are going through right now—a frenzied blend of fear and hope. “I played football for two terms here at Victoria Park and around the Highlands until I retired at the age of 42. As a respectable player, I was aware of my limitations. However, I won cups with every squad I was a member of.
“All I can hope for is that the boys perform well tomorrow. Our talented young players will want to demonstrate their abilities to both the Celtic players and the spectators.
As a Celtic season ticket holder, I try to be somewhat positive without coming across as condescending. I warn him, “When you pressure him, our left back can be quite wayward with his passing. We’re a bit susceptible to cross balls into the box.” I also told him about the 36 years ago Scottish Cup match between Celtic and the humble Stranraer, and how the latter would have earned a rematch if they hadn’t missed a last-minute penalty. He listens with the well-honed patience of a former professional who has indulged in amateurs like myself for half their lives with reckless advise.
These young lads will travel to their football-related date with destiny thanks to Christine, the team bus driver. She acts as if she knows her young charges don’t need any more anxiety among the growing tension that is starting to seep around them, even if it is already thirty minutes over the planned departure time.
Furthermore, this won’t be the biggest job she takes on at the beginning of the year. About thirty of Mayne’s Coaches’ cars will be needed for the whisky festival in Speyside next month. Just 26 fans—or one-third of Buckie’s population—are scheduled to travel to Glasgow today with the rest of the entourage, which numbers over 3,000.
The Buckie Thistle team bus departure has turned into an annual event that may be recreated if the boys could manage to come back tonight with a victory.
But what will be considered deserving of “a result”? More than any other team, Celtic is the current holders having won the Scottish Cup 41 times. Scottish professional football has been dominated by them for the past 25 years.
However, Buckie Thistle has also had her share of fiery and beautiful moments, with numerous victories in the major Highland awards. They are a well-established, proud club with strong ties to both the town they represent and the coastal settlements of Fochabers, Findochty, Portnockie, and Portgordon that surround this area of the Moray Firth.
The players give enthusiastic thumbs ups for an infinite stream of photos, and no request is turned down because they might never experience such adoration again. There are now about 400 well-wishers in the crowd, including parents, grandparents, and kids. There’s a young, rowdy group of ultras jumping around and cursing on a perch provided by the local skate park. To prove to everyone that they can compete with the finest of the SPL’s top teams, they even put on a small fireworks display.
Margaret Paterson, a 35-year Buckie Thistle committee member, is quietly toasting to an occasion she never expected to witness at the stadium’s entrance. She says, “They’re just my boys.” “A significant portion of them genuinely cheer for Celtic, and I started working with Thistle on the first day of 1989 when Celtic sent a team to play us in honor of our centennial.”
No one is completely sure why there are such strong ties between Celtic FC and this storied fishing village. According to local tradition, Celtic awarded Buckie his first pair of football strips when they were created the following year, even though they were founded just one year before Buckie Thistle. Buckie also plays in green and white hoops for this reason.
In the 1980s, Celtic made a trip to Victoria Park in support of the Spires Appeal of St. Peter’s Church in the town.
I meet Ian Fraser, Charlie Beresford, and David Mair at Victoria Park in the Social Club, which is located beneath the main stand. They all talk about how important this match against Celtic is to this community, and they are all ardent supporters of Thistle. Ian remarks, “This is a real community club.” “Even those who may not be big football fans have a strong emotional bond with the sport. Tomorrow, many hundred kids will descend, the majority of whom are members of the young teams that Thistle manages.
Old campaign battle honors are garlanding the lounge. Among them are the medals that George Cowie, one of Buckie’s finest players ever, won in the 1950s when Thistle was the dominant team in the Highlands. The relationship between the club and the municipality is furthered with a brief statement next to the glass display case. The statement says: “George has given his medals to the organization so that fans of the Highland League and Buckie Thistle can see them for many years to come.”
There’s a framed poster of Buckie’s 1907 Scottish Cup match against Aberdeen over there, to the right of the bar. Zinedine Zidane’s boots are kept in a glass box across from it that looks like meteorites from a far-off planet. David smiles and says, “Zidane wanted to play for us, but he didn’t do well in his trial.”
Every storefront on Main Street displays the green and white banderoles and favors of their home team. One of the most striking is at JP Pozzi, the deli and newsagent run by team sponsor David Robertson. He is also a former Highland League football player and is assisting in bringing Buckie Rovers, another historic team that has been dormant for many years, back to life.
“I’ve never experienced an environment like this in Buckie since the draw that paired us with Celtic was made,” he remarks. “I believe that one of its best aspects is that it has demonstrated to the players and officials how much the community loves them.”
Legendary Celtic manager Jock Stein took his squad north in 1970 in an effort to raise money for the families affected by the Fraserburgh lifeboat catastrophe. Just a few days remained before their European Cup final matchup with Feyenoord, and many had doubted the viability of trying to fit in a match on this rocky, windy shore. He had responded, “We’re not as important as people make us out to be.” “Please donate to the cause; we’re having fun up in Fraserburgh. These individuals are the most significant ones in life.
The town’s previous sources of income, shipbuilding and fishing, have long since disappeared due to political manipulation by the British government and the European Union. It’s only because two plastic balls in a sorting hat fell favorably for them that the circus has returned.
However, some traditional Highland customs will never go away. I offer to buy Ian Fraser, Charlie Beresford, and David Mair drinks in the social club. They won’t be aware of it. “It is our pleasure to offer our Highland hospitality to you as long as you are our guest,” Ian explains.
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