Wick Academy F.C.

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Wick Academy Football Club
Full name Wick Academy Football Club
Nickname(s) The Scorries
Founded 1893
Ground Harmsworth Park
Ground Capacity 2,412
Chairman Colin Stewart
Manager Barry Wilson
League Scottish Highland Football League
2012–13 Highland Football League, 3rd
Home colours
Away colours

Wick Academy F.C. are a senior football club founded in October 1893, who currently play in the Scottish Highland Football League at Harmsworth Park. They represent the Caithness town of Wick, making them the most northerly club in the SHFL.

Club history

The club was known in Wick simply as Academy and sometimes in other parts of Caithness as Pulteneytown Academy. An indirect and unofficial connection with the local school of the same name was maintained with the election of a teacher, John Davidson as the first captain or ‘leader' as it was termed in the minute book of the first meeting. The club's first game was a friendly away to Castletown. Home games were played at Harrow Park, now known as Harmsworth Park. Ten matches, with only two defeats, were played in that first season against teams like Dunbeath, John O'Groats (formed that same year in Wick), Lybster Portland, Thurso Thistle and Wick Thistle.

The Wick League was started in 1896, and Academy won the championship in the third season in 1898-99, the first of 17 league titles. From 1907 to 1914, Academy had virtually a clean sweep of league and local cups and in 1911, applied successfully for full membership of the SFA, so they could play in the Qualifying Cup.

Academy's Qualifying Cup début was a home tie on 2 September 1911, and a crowd of about 800 saw a 4–0 win against Inverness Thistle. Men paid 6d, boys 3d, ladies were admitted free and gate receipts were £17. Caldedonian won a 2nd round tie in Wick 4–1.

The right winger in those games was Jimmy Miller, who was later secretary and president of the club, his commitment to the club continued almost 50 years to 1954.

A Caithness County League was started in the 1926-27 season, by which time the Harmsworth family had bought the park and gifted it to the town with the Burgh Council as trustees and local sports clubs formed a management committee. Only the football clubs seemed prepared to do the work of the ground improvements and building a stone wall to enclose the park. Changing rooms were built and were saved from demolition in 1973, when Academy agreed to keep them in a good state of repair. The building now houses an office and tea hut. Academy won the county league in 1927-28 and again in 28-9, 30-1, 35-6 and 37-8.

As the only SFA club in Caithness (Thurso Pentland were also members for 3 years from 1936), Academy was allowed to sign players from other clubs to play in Qualifying Cup games. From 1928 onwards, they were unbeaten at home in Qualifying Cup ties. In 1933, they beat Nairn County, Caley and Keith, all away, to reach the Scottish Cup proper, losing 3–0 to a strong Division Two side, St Bernard's on 20 January 1934 at the Gymnasium Ground in Edinburgh. In 1936, Academy drew 3–3 in Wick with local rivals Brora Rangers, won the replay and two more games at Forres Mechanics and Buckie Thistle to earn a tie at Stirling. Academy scored first against King's Park, but lost 6–1. Several prestigious friendlies were played, Aberdeen and Celtic were among the teams who appeared at Harmsworth Park in the 1930s.

Academy had also joined the North of Scotland FA in 1914, but had been unable to play their first tie away to Forres Mechanics as most of their players had been called up by the Territorials. They had to wait until 1954 to be readmitted, but made up for lost time with a 4–3 win at Brora Rangers, before losing 3–1 in the semi-final away to Caley.

In 1960, the Caithness Amateur Football Association switched to summer football and to retain its SFA membership, Wick Academy had to stay with the normal winter season, playing only cup ties and friendlies for the next 12 years.

In 1972, with Clair Harper now as chairman, the club joined the North of Scotland 2nd XI Association to have regular league fixtures, drawing 2–2 at home to Dingwall Thistle in the first game. Academy were a strong team in this North Reserve League, (later to become the North Caledonian Football League) and were champions four seasons running from 78-9 to 81-2 under manager John MacDonald, and also won several of the league cups. With former goalkeeper Pat Miller as manager, Academy won the league again in 86-7. In July 1984, Heart of Midlothian fielded a full strength first team in a friendly which attracted 2,400 fans to Harmsworth Park. 900 copies of a souvenir programme sold out five minutes before kick off. Richard Hughes scored for Academy in a 7–1 defeat.

After having several applications knocked back, Academy were at last voted into the HFL in 1994 when Caldeonian and Inverness Thistle amalgamated and left to join the SFL, along with Ross County. The first game at home to Cove Rangers drew a crowd of 1,700, but ended with a 3–0 defeat. After a draw with Rothes, Academy beat the then league leaders Forres Mechanics 1–0, and after three straight wins in October, were briefly 4th in the table.

In the 2001-02 Qualifying Cup, wins over Lossiemouth and Nairn County saw Academy in the Scottish Cup proper and BBC TV cameras were at Harmsworth Park where, Threave Rovers won 3–2.

Midfielder Martin Gunn represented Scotland in the Four Nations semi-professional tournaments in May 2005 and May 2006.

In January 2007, the club appointed Richard Hughes and Ian Munro as 1st team joint managers after Peter Budge resigned to join the SFA as football development officer at the Highland Football Academy. Hughes and Munro have long been associated with the Caithness side. After finishing usually between 10th and 13th, Academy completed a run of ten successive league wins in the 2008-09 season to finish 5th. Co-managers Richard Hughes and Ian Munro received the league's Manager of the Year Award, with Richard Macadie voted Player of the Year.

In the 2009-10 season, wins over Clachnacuddin and Girvan put the team in the third round of the Scottish Cup for the first time, earning a home tie with Second Division side Brechin City. Academy almost pulled off a shock, but an equaliser for Brechin five minutes from full-time saw the game finish 4–4. Brechin won the replay at Glebe Park 4–2. Academy finished the season in 9th position and midfielder Sam Mackay was voted the Sunday Post Young Player of the year.

The 2010-11 season saw the Scorries under-achieve in the league with a disappointing 14th place finish, but the club reached their first senior cup final in September 2011. Academy beat Brora Rangers and Thurso to reach the North of Scotland Cup, semi-final where Wick produced a magnificent performance in beating a strong Inverness Caledonian Thistle side 3–1. This set up a final against the current cup holders Forrest Mechanics. The final was played in Brora at Dudgeon Park and Academy took over 1,000 supporters, but Forres won in the end.

Wick finished 8th in the league in the 2011-12 season and played in the 2012-13 Scottish Challenge Cup, where they got beat 4-2 by Raith Rovers at home. Academy finished 3rd in the league in the 2012-13 season.

Managers since 1994

The Wick Academy FC Managers since the club joined the SHFL in season 1994–95 are as follows:

Manager Nat From To Competitive Record
G W D L GF GA GD Win %
John MacDonald & Patty Miller Scotland 8 August 1994 6 May 1995 36 7 4 25 36 97 −61 19.44
Don Cowie Scotland 25 July 1995 21 February 1998 100 28 21 51 137 208 −71 28.00
John Black Scotland 14 March 1998 31 October 1998 25 5 7 13 26 53 −27 20.00
Peter Budge Scotland 21 November 1998 15 July 2000 59 9 8 42 64 160 −96 15.25
Ian Munro Scotland 5 August 2000 12 August 2000 2 1 0 1 2 2 +0 50.00
Patty Miller Scotland 12 August 2000 18 January 2003 82 17 12 53 97 175 −78 20.73
Alistair Budge Scotland 25 January 2003 8 April 2006 111 29 13 69 151 266 −115 26.13
Ian Munro & Richard Hughes Scotland 29 April 2006 13 May 2006 2 1 0 1 3 6 −3 50.00
Peter Budge Scotland 6 July 2006 20 January 2007 21 6 2 13 32 52 −20 28.57
Ian Munro & Richard Hughes Scotland 7 January 2007 28 May 2011 168 72 24 72 347 341 +6 42.86
Davie Kirkwood Scotland 26 July 2011 31 August 2012 45 22 8 15 111 77 +34 48.89
Richard Hughes Scotland 1 September 2012 29 October 2012 9 6 1 2 26 12 +14 66.67
Barry Wilson Scotland 30 October 2012 28 January 2014 52 32 4 16 154 77 +77 61.54

As of 28 Jan 2014

Managerial Achievements

Scottish Highland League Manager of the Year

  • Richard Hughes & Ian Munro 2008/9

Player Achievements

Sunday Post Young Player of the Year Winner

  • Sam MacKay 2008/9, 2009/10

Sunday Post Young Player of the Year Runner-up

  • David Allan 2009/10

Supporters' Player of the Year

  • Alan Farquhar 2012/13
  • Alan Farquhar 2011/12
  • Richard Macadie 2010/11
  • David Allan 2009/10
  • Richard Macadie 2008/9

Players' Player of the Year

  • Stevie Cunningham and Craig Shearer 2012/13
  • Davie Allan 2011/12
  • Richard Macadie 2010/11

John Henderson Shield Young Player of the Year

  • Grant Steven 2012/13
  • Grant Steven 2011/12
  • Stevie Cunningham 2010/11
  • Allan Farquhar 2009/10
  • Richard Macadie & Bryan McKiddie 2008/9

Dot McLachlan Trophy Most Improved Player

  • James Pickles 2012/13
  • Grant Steven 2011/12
  • Bryan McKiddie 2010/11
  • Alan Bokas 2009/10
  • Stevie Cunningham 2008/9

Dan Thomson Trophy Youth Player of the Year

  • Ruri McCartney 2012/13
  • Alan Hughes 2011/12
  • Jack Halliday 2010/11
  • James Mackay 2009/10
  • Jordan McKechnie 2008/9

Top Goalscorers - Bill Mackay Memorial Golden Boot Award

Season Player League Cup Total
2012/13 Richard Macadie 24 3 27
2011/12 David Allan 21 3 24
2010/11 Richard Macadie 24 4 28
2009/10 David Allan 18 10 28
2008/09 Richard Macadie 14 2 16
2007/08 Gary Weir 13 3 16
2006/07 Shane Sutherland & Gary Weir 8 2 10
2005/06 Mark Nicol 9 0 9
2004/05 Martin Gunn 8 3 11
2003/04 Craig Gunn 22 3 25
2002/03 Martin Gunn 8 0 8
2001/02 Stewart Ross 4 3 7
2000/01 Gary Farquhar 9 0 9
1999/00 Stevie Reid 6 1 7
1998/99 Martin Gunn 8 2 10
1997/98 Gordon Connelly 10 5 15
1996/97 Alan Duff 10 0 10
1995/96 Alan Duff 17 1 19
1994/95 Alan Murray 19 0 19

Most Appearances

Competitive, professional matches only including substitute appearances.

# Name Years SHFL Scottish Cup NOS Cup League Cup Other Total
1Scotland Craig Shearer1998 – present38215311819465
2Scotland Martin Gunn1994–20123609331917438
3Scotland Gary Manson2000 – present34214311218417
4Scotland Gary Weir2002 – present2509251210306
5Scotland Andrew MacLeod2001–20112481019109296
6Scotland Richard Macadie2003 – present2401422106292
7Scotland Nigel MacKenzie1996–20091884161513236
8Scotland David Cowie2001–2011178417710216
9Scotland Gordon McDonald1994–2003176112146209
10Scotland Gordon Robertson1996–2005162015119197

As of 18 May 2013. Other includes Scottish Qualifying Cup, SFA Challenge Cup and SFL Challenge Cup.

League positions

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
Scotland GK Michael Gray
Scotland GK James More
Scotland DF Alan Farquhar
Scotland DF Ross Allan
Scotland DF Grant Steven
Scotland DF Gary Manson
Scotland DF Shaun Sinclair
Scotland DF Michael Steven
Scotland MF Stevie Cunningham
Scotland MF James Pickles
Scotland MF Richard Macadie
Scotland MF James Mackay
Scotland MF Sam Mackay
Scotland MF Bryan McKiddie
Scotland MF Stewart Ross
Scotland MF Craig Shearer
Scotland FW David Allan
Poland FW Lukasz Geruzel
Scotland FW Alan Hughes
Scotland FW Gary Weir

Information taken from Wick Academy Official Website[1]

Senior honours

North Caledonian Football League

  • 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1986–87

Northern Caledonian Cup

  • 1979–80, 1980–81, 1985–86

Football Times Cup

  • 1972–73, 1978–79

Chic Allan Memorial Cup

  • 1981–82, 1987–88

Frank Parker Shield

  • 1989–90, 1991–92 (Shared with Fearn Thistle) 1992–93

North of Scotland Cup

  • 2010–11 Runners up
  • 2012–13 Runners up

References

  1. ↑ http://www.wick-academy.co.uk

External links

Teams
Former Teams
Cup competitions
Seasons
National teams
League system
Cup competitions
Junior football
Amateur football
Lists
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