Wick Academy F.C.

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. Caledonian 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 donated 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 1928–29, 1930–31, 1935–36 and 1937–38.

As the only SFA club in Caithness (Thurso Pentland were also members for three 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 Caldeonian.

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 1978–79 to 1981–82 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 Caledonian 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 fourth 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 first 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 fifth. 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 ninth 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 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 Forres Mechanics. The final was played in Brora at Dudgeon Park and Academy took over 1,000 supporters over the Ord where they created a sea of black and white inside the ground. Unfortunately Academy had a poor first half and went into the break trailing by three goals to zero. A battling performance in the second half saw the score pegged back to 3–2, but as Academy pushed for an equaliser the clock ran out and Wick hearts were broken.

It was a similar story in the Scottish Cup in season 2010–11. After a first round bye we drew Whitehill Welfare in the second round away at Ferguson Park in Rosewell. Academy travelled as far as Perth the day before the game and woke up on the Saturday morning to the news that the game was postponed due to a water-logged pitch, so had to turn tail and head for home without a boot being dirtied. The return trip the following weekend also ended in disappointment. The sides went in at half-time with the spoils shared at a goal each, but Whitehill scored three second half goals in a five-minute spree that put them in a commanding 4–1 lead. Academy however fought back and pulled the score back to 4–3 but again the sands of time ran out and Whitehill went on to face Montrose in the third round whilst Academy headed back up the A9 for another marathon trek home.

At the end of season 2010–11 co-managers Tichie Hughes and Zeeky Munro announced their resignation and the hunt began for a new manager. Former East Fife, Rangers, Hearts, Airdrieonians and Raith Rovers player Davie Kirkwood was appointed into the hot-seat. Davie who had previously worked as head of youth with Raith Rovers, Rangers and Ross County duly appointed Tichie as his assistant and Gary Manson bolstered his back-room team as a player coach.

The Harmsworth Park also had a make-over during the 2010–11 closed-season. The Club are striving to apply for a SFA National Club License for the start of 2012 and work necessary to take the park up to the required standard was completed. This included the upgrade of the floodlight, creation of a medical room and a successful safety inspection and associated “letter of compliance” from Highland Council. In additional both stands received a freshen up with bench seating installed against the south stand back wall, boarding was erected around the park perimeter fence, new goal posts were erected and a massive amount of work was done to the playing surface to take it into tip-top condition.

As a result of all the hard work the Club was one of the first Scottish Highland League sides to be awarded a SFA National Club License in February 2012. As a result of obtaining Club licensing the top two licensed SHFL Clubs were invited into the first round of the Ramsdens Cub. Wick Academy along with Inverurie Locos secured the two slots and Academy drew a home tie against Raith Rovers. The Scorries gave the 1st Division side a real fright and at 2–2 it looked as if an upset was on the cards, but unfortunately Raith went on to win the game 4–2. Wick finished 8th in the league in the 2011–12 season

Pre-season 2012 saw the club draw 3–3 with Aberdeen and 0–0 with Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

At the end of August 2012 Manager Davie Kirkwood resigned to join local rivals Brora Rangers. Richard Hughes took over as caretaker manager but the shock resignation of Kirkwood was taken in the stride of the players as they did their talking on the park. As fate would have it Academy met Kirkwood's new team in the semi-final of the North of Scotland Cup within a few weeks of his sudden departure, and the Scorries thrashed Brora 3–0. Academy faced Nairn County in the final which was played on October the 20th 2012, but lost out 2–1 with Nairn's winner coming in the first period of extra time after the game had ended 1–1.

In the Scottish Cup Academy became the first Highland League team in over 10 years to beat Cup specialists Spartans 2–0 down at Ainslie Park, and then drew another mammoth away trip to Berwick Rangers in the second round. Academy missed a penalty in that game and with the score at 0–0 in the 90th minute and a re-play on the cards Berwick were awarded a penalty of their own which they converted to win the game 1–0.

Barry Wilson was announced as the new manager on 14 October 2012 with caretaker manager Richard Hughes staying on as his assistant. Barry Wilson's first game in charge was a 5–1 demolition of Keith which took his new side to the top of the Highland League.

In November 2012 a new sponsorship deal was announced with Scotty Youngson of PHDBarga Ltd. Scotty owns the Comm Bar in Thurso which will be used by the Club as the main sponsorship logo until the end of season 2014–15. As well as the Comm Bar in Thurso Scotty also owns the Central Bar and Hotel, Top Joe's and Caffe Cardosi.

Academy ended the 2012–13 season with a 4–1 win over visitors Deveronvale and finished in third spot in the table, the highest league finish achieved to date for the club. Other records also tumbled as the Scorries went the whole of season 2012–13 with a 100% home league win record (17 wins from 17 games), and extended their unbeaten home league run to 29 games. Fraserburgh being the last team to win a league game at the Harmsworth Park back in October 2011. 2012–13 also saw the Scorries score over 100 league goals in a single season, and keep the most number of clean sheets – 12 in total. Their best previous clean sheet total in a single season was six.

Barry Wilson left the Club in January 2014 to take up the Managers post at Elgin City following the departure of Ross Jack. Gordon Connelly was appointed as the new Manager with Richard Hughes staying as his Assistant Manager. At the same time Wick Academy also appointed Ross Suttar as the Club Development Officer and first team coach.

At the beginning of the 2014–15 Highland League season, Wick Academy introduced new club mascot 'Norrie The Scorrie' to Harmsworth Park. The Club reached the semi-final of the North of Scotland Cup where we were beaten 2–1 at Harmsworth Park by local rivals Brora Rangers in an evenly contested game. Disappointment however in the Scottish Cup as we were dumped out of the competition in the first round away at Huntly. In the Highland League Cup Academy beat Fraserburgh, Clachnacuddin and Nairn County to reach the final. That was played at Grant Street Park Inverness in front of over 1,000 Scorrie supporters but Academy disappointingly lost 4–0 to Cove Rangers. League form for season 2014–15 was excellent and Academy finished the season in 4th place. In the process the team racked up a record 12 away wins and broke our record of unbeaten league games with an impressive run of 14 matches (13 wins and a draw). Our defence was pretty solid and only conceded 43 goals in 34 league games, a ratio of 1.26 goals against per game. Between the sticks we also clocked up a club record number of 13 clean sheets.

2015–16 was arguably one of Academy’s best seasons when in November 2015 the club won its first piece of silverware since joining the SHFL defeating Nairn County 6–2 in the final of the Menzies Distribution North of Scotland Cup. The club also got to the 3rd round of the Scottish Cup. All three games went to replays with Academy beating Whitehill Welfare and Nairn County before being knocked out by Linlithgow Rose. League form was also good and a 5th-place finish was secured following a great run-in finishing with a fantastic 4–0 win against Fraserburgh down in Bellslea in the last game of the season.

Managers since 1994

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

As of 11 Dec 2016

Managerial achievements

Scottish Highland League Manager of the Year

Player achievements

Sunday Post Young Player of the Year Winner

Sunday Post Young Player of the Year Runner-up

Supporters' Player of the Year

Players' Player of the Year

John Henderson Shield Young Player of the Year

Dot McLachlan Trophy Most Improved Player

Dan Thomson Trophy Youth Player of the Year

Most appearances

Competitive, professional matches only including substitute appearances.

As of 11 Dec 2016. Other includes Scottish Qualifying Cup, SFA Challenge Cup and SFL Challenge Cup.

League positions

Current squad

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

Honours

North of Scotland Cup:

North Caledonian Football League:

North Caledonian Cup:

Football Times Cup:

Chic Allan Memorial Cup: