Brora Rangers face East Kilbride in the League Two play-off semi finals and club benefactor says Highland League champions are ready for promotion to make the step up
BENEFACTOR Ben Mackay says Brora Rangers are in the best position they have ever been in to win promotion from the Highland League to League Two.
The Cattachs are already celebrating the most successful season in the club’s history after winning a Highland League and cup treble for the first time.
Brora secured their fifth Highland League title earlier this month and also won the North of Scotland Cup and Highland League Cup.
Now they are preparing to try and win their biggest ever prize of entering the SPFL as they look for success in the League Two play-offs.
Brora Rangers head to Lowland League champions East Kilbride in the first leg of the semi final on Saturday, with the second leg taking place at Dudgeon Park on Saturday, May 3.
The winner will face whoever finishes bottom between Bonnyrigg Rose or Forfar Athletic in the play-off final for a place in the division next season.
Speaking to the Northern Times today, Mackay says Brora Rangers are ready to make the step up from Highland League to League Two as they look to take the club into a new era.
He said: “We have the business plan in place to go up to League Two.
“We are more comfortable as a football club and we are ready for stepping up. We have never gone into play-off matches in such good condition.
“In the past, people have accused Brora Rangers of not wanting to be promoted. But Brora Rangers have never played a game of football where they have not tried to win. The first time in the play-offs we beat Edinburgh City in the semi finals and won the first leg of the final against Montrose 1-0 and we lost the second leg 3-1.
“The second time we were in the play-offs, Kelty Hearts were just too good for us.
“All these boys who have come to Brora Rangers want to progress their careers and play at the highest level they can. This club won’t deny them that opportunity and we are going to try and win them the play-offs.”
Mackay says there is a market for another team from the Highlands to be playing in the SPFL and strengthen the identity of the region.
He says that Brora Rangers being promoted to League Two would provide footballers new opportunities and improve the standard of the game in the north.
In addition, he feels football fans in Sutherland, as well as Caithness and other parts of the Highlands, would get behind the team and result in bigger crowds at Dudgeon Park.
He said: “It would be massive for football in the north.
“If you look at the more senior players that come out of Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Ross County, they tend to go to Elgin City or Montrose because they are SPFL clubs. A few of those players would become available to Brora Rangers in the SPFL.
“There are also good players based in Caithness, where before Wick Academy joined the Highland League, Brora Rangers was a team made up of Sutherland and Caithness players.
“If we do get promoted to League Two, I could see stronger links between Brora Rangers and Wick Academy developing and the crowds would increase because of that.
“Having that level of senior football here, you could predict the excitement not just at Brora, but from across Sutherland and Caithness.
“This week, I have had Brora Rangers fans from Thurso asking me for tickets for the East Kilbride game on Saturday. There is a real interest in the north to have a higher level of football, so if that can be with Brora Rangers then that would be fantastic.”
Brora Rangers’ treble winning season has seen the club turn their fortunes around compared to 12 months ago when they couldn’t even play all of their matches at Dudgeon Park.
Problems with the pitch at Dudgeon Park last season resulted in Brora Rangers having to play some of their Highland League matches at Golspie in a campaign where they finished in sixth place and 22 points off top spot.
Brora Rangers also saw a number of players, who had spent the majority of their careers with the Cattachs, leave the club last season.
Mackay says they knew Brora Rangers had made mistakes on and off the pitch and that change was required. He said there was a real determination to learn the lessons from last season.
He said: “The biggest thing for us was we laid our park two years ago and we didn’t get everything right.
“At the start of last season, the ground looked beautiful and then we had the wettest spring where it didn’t stop raining and it put us in real trouble as we didn’t have the proper drainage.
“We got the park fixed, but we would never have survived that season without the help of Golspie Sutherland allowing us to use their pitch. We are grateful to them and we owe them a favour. It was a phenomenal hand of friendship from them.
“The team from last season was at the end of their cycle.
“The problem is when you have so many club legends who had been there for 10 years, even when you can see they are a yard off it, it is difficult to say goodbye because they are so attached to the football club.
“We had to go through the cycle we went through because it was the right thing for the culture of the club. With so many players retiring, we took the opportunity to change the playing staff at a high level. Nine players left the club and eight players came in.
“The real thing I wanted to inject back into the team was energy. We were a good possession team and played nice football, but lacked the energy that youth gives you. The recruitment process was to attract the best young players in our region from north of Elgin. The best players who were out of contract and available to speak to.”
After Ally Macdonald stood down as manager last season, Steven Mackay, who had resigned as Nairn County manager in April last year, approached Mackay to say that he was interested in returning to the club and taking up the role he previously held between 2018 and 2021.
Ben said as soon as Steven told him he was interested in becoming Brora Rangers manager again, there was no need to look anywhere else.
He said: “The manager knows this club inside out. Steven was one of my first signings when Davie Kirkwood was manager in what I called the revolution days. He was desperate to come back and when I knew that, I didn’t advertise the job. The minute I knew he wanted the job, it was his.
“We hadn’t spoken for two years when he was at Nairn County, but he had told them he was stepping down and looking to do something different. He told me he was extremely interested in the club. He wasn’t bothered about details of contracts, he just wanted to come back.
“Brora gave him a platform to win things, he saw it as his football club and he wanted to come back. I said to Steven that he was pushing on an open door and we would love to have him back. My biggest fear was telling the board that I had hired him without speaking to them! But they were as delighted as I was when they realised what was happening.”
Speaking about Steven Mackay, the benefactor said: “Steven is a disciplined and thoughtful individual in everything he does. He came with a business plan for the football club. He came to me with eight key performance indicators that was written as part of the plan.
“The team didn’t meet two of those indicators, which included scoring 88 points or above. We only scored 82 points but it was still good enough to win the league.
“They also failed to concede less that 25 goals in the entire league season as we conceded 31.
“But they passed the other six key indicators, four of which were winning the Highland League, Highland League Cup, North of Scotland Cup and getting to the third round of the Scottish Cup.
“Even the day we won the Highland League Cup last week, he told me that if we are still in the Highland League next season, he would be fixing the other two performance indicators.”
Mackay said he worked closely alongside the manager to help recruit almost an entire new squad at Brora Rangers. He said scouts were hired to analyse every player north of Elgin.
Among the new personnel that arrived included former Inverness Caledonian Thistle players Wallace Duffy, Cammy Mackay and Shane Sutherland.
In addition, up and coming talented youngsters arrived such as Craig Mackenzie from Forres Mechanics and Connor Bunce from Clachnacuddin.
Mackay says the one thing he learned to create a successful squad is not necessarily spending big money, but to analyse the person and make sure they are the right fit for the club.
He said: “We brought in players who wanted to win things. It is easy for people to speak about money, but these boys, first and foremost in their minds, said they wanted to come to Brora to win medals. There hasn’t been conversations regarding lengths of contracts and wages. I am more focussed on the culture of the person than I have ever been.
“Not just if a player is a winner, I want to know what they are like as a person. We are big on the individuals and if they have a point to prove and if they have a big heart. Those are the types of individuals we want to sign.”
Brora Rangers have only become a force in the Highland League in the last decade, but their success in competitions has been prolific. Since 2013, they have won five Highland League titles, seven North of Scotland Cups and four Highland League Cups.
Mackay says the treble winning season shows Brora Rangers are on the right track after perhaps losing their way in the last few years. Whatever the club achieves in the future, he says the main emphasis is for people in Sutherland to know that the club belongs to them.
He said: “Myself and Steven are individuals who try to win everything we do because we are so focused. The last two or three years that has not been the case here. I have been trying hard with the club to make it Sutherland’s football club and make it more amenable to the county. When David Kirkwood came in as manager in what I call the revolution years, there was a real buzz, but we did lose our way after that.
“But this time around I am determined that there is a feeling the football club is felt by the community.
“People call me the benefactor, but this football club belongs to the county of Sutherland.”
