Who are the best ever players in the Highland League?

I was at the Clach v Edinburgh City game a few weeks back and was speaking to the curator of the Caley Nostalgia site about the standards of Highland League football. He said that in the pre-merger days Caley would have stuck six past City easily and would have been huge favourites. Also, the standard of Highland League players has slipped since Caley, Thistle, County, Elgin and Peterhead left the league.

So who are the best ever players who have plyed (plied?) their trade in the Highland League? Duncan Shearer started off there, went on to have a international career, Steve Paterson went off to Man Utd, Kevin MacDonald went to England and played for Liverpool in the Double winning season of 86. The Caley Thistle side who went through the leagues was composed of mainly ex-HL players - Teasdale, Stewart, McArthur, Calder, Hastings, Thompson, Christie, Noble.

Who are the best players ever from the HL?

Good call. What about Willie Grant who scored like a million goals a season (conservative estimate) for Elgin in the 60s. And Mike Teasdale's older brother, the particularly evil John Teasdale. I'm pretty sure he's behind Iran's nuclear program now.

Not sure if Hastings played any Highland League football, i may be wrong though.

I always used to particularly fear Ross County's Billy Ferries when he played against Caley.

Aye I fotgot the name of the Elgin guy who scored 50 odd goals a season back in the day. I can't think of John Teasdale without thinking of him throwing the league then shagging Linda Blair

Hastings signed for us from Nairn County, he would only have been there a few months but he's worthmetnioning as he's gone on to play international and European football.

It certainly has although some might argue it's more competitive now. (Despite Loco's, Buckie and Vale being the heaveyweights financially it would seem.)

I suppose a certain Dick Campbell was particularly feared by Highland League opposition.

George Gibert, Johnny Logie, Dougal Grant, Russell Mackay, Rod Clyne, Ian Wilson, Nicky Walker, Alan Main.......

Whilst you are always going to get players who played in the HFL for a wee while before going fully professional and onto greatness (e.g. Alan Main, Stewart Imlach etc.) and players coming to 'retire' after a career (e.g. Jimmy Johnstone etc.), you must think of those players who were truly HFL legends because the bulk or a large part of their career was spent in the HFL. I'm thinking of the likes of Charlie Christie, Billy Urquhart, Fraser Kellas, Billy Ferries etc. in recent decades and there will be a number of players from before that - e.g. Willie Grant and Norman Kellas (the only player to have never had played at a higher level than the HFL to have a street named after him for football).

In my time, Wilson Robertson.

I'll stick with players who spent most of their careers in the Highland League. Elgin had some great teams in the late '60s/early '70's. George Gilbert, Doug Grant and Gerry Graham were outstanding and always gave the impression that they would be comfortable playing at a higher level. I watched Caley for more than 25 years and they had some obvious candidates for this thread - Billy Urquhart, Davie Johnston (in his first three seasons), Freddie Nield (on his day), Wilson Robertson and Martin Lisle come to mind. When the current Fraserburgh manager, Charlie Duncan, was with Thistle, he always looked outstanding. Thistle had great forwards - Tich Black, Ian Stephen and Johnny Cowie. Best goalkeeper, probably Ivor Pirie, but Nairn had a great young keeper, Richard Konczak, who was in their first team at 16, but had to give up the game in his early 20s due to degenerative sight. Ross County - Colin Brett was as good a full back as I have seen in the Highland League. Billy Ferries was always a handful for any defence and Don Cowie (snr) a classy mid field player, both at County and Brora.

From my very short time watching Highland League football I would say that both Billy Ferries and Gordon Connolly were absolutely tremendous. Chris Somerville was also a very under rated full back. The combination of Brian Grant and Alan Duff up front was a joy to watch as they hit 60 goals a season between them in our championship wins.

However Billy Ferries was certainly the most exciting to have played in that time. He was voted our cult hero on BBC Football Focus.

One hell of a cracking point, excellently made, Much agreed.

there is no doobut you have the likes of the excellent Caley and County teams from the 80's the majority of their players were on a level of what would be described as Scottish Firts Divison level today

also from the modern times players who could be classed among the all time greats will include :

Darren Still
Michael Stephen
Mike Beattie

all players that are or were just as good or almost as good as the likes of Christie , Urquhart , Ferries , Connelly etc

i think with the whole standard of current player issue , that the gulf isn't quite as big , i think the HFL was at its peak in the 80's when probably we had the best decade in terms of quality however comparing recent times with previous decades i don't think it currently is as bad as is made out

i think with the whole standard of current player issue , that the gulf isn't quite as big , i think the HFL was at its peak in the 80's when probably we had the best decade in terms of quality however comparing recent times with previous decades i don't think it currently is as bad as is made out
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Recent results in the Scottish Cup between Highjland League clubs and East of Scotland clubs would suggest there has been quite a drop in standard. Until the mid 90s, it was almost unheard off for a EoS club to win a tie against an HL club, now it is almost the norm and I doubt if the EoS league has risen in standard since the 1980's.

I'd certainly agree with Carlos about the players which I remember from a County perspective. Older County fans always go on about Jim Hosie being a cracking player though.

I suppose if you go back to players who also went onto greater things you could build quite some all-time XI with the likes of Jim Leighton and Colin Hendry in there, but then the ones we'll always associate with the Highland League are the ones who played in it for the majority of their careers yet didn't achieve such heights.

Actually, just found out Des Bremner started with Deveronvale and won the European Cup with Aston Villa. Just makes you wonder how many other Highland League players went on to achieve similar successes in their careers (Personally I try to ignore the ones who came to the Highland league to retire).

billy ferries for me.

Agree Billy Ferries was an outstanding winger,always a nightmare for the caley defence when he played for County and Elgin

My favourite winger however was the one and only Wilsie Robertson
Don't get me wrong there were some games he was almost invisible and he could do nothing right but when he was on form there was no better sight

Still picture him with his whiter than white complexion running down the left wing with his shorts pulled under his armpits

In the more recent times I think you have to say that the likes of Charlie Brown (although he got marked out of the game in the Fans tourney) and Ian Murray have been different class in the scoring stakes. Would you rate yourself as a great Goalie in the Highland League of recent times thegoalie1976? In my limited time I can't really think of an outstanding goalie. Hutchison for us was sporadic, nowhere near as sporadic as Don McMillan though.

I could say Jim Calder however I think of him more as an ICT player rather than an Inverness Thistle player. Although he has had a fair number of appearances for clubs recently in the Highland League.

Hamish Morrison,John Suttar,Ivor Pirie???

I only watched Highland League from about 1989 onwards. To be honest I don't remember too many good goalkeepers, but its understandable from my very limited experience. Andy Shearer at Keith is a very good keeper. Any more information on those keepers Caledonian? I am genuinely interested in knowing.

Who were the cult heroes keeper wise at Caley?

The Hamish Morrison perm was a cult in itself - magnificent. The Airdrie penalty save was the second greatest thing about him.

Yeah great goalkeeper and a great perm,he was also a great keeper for Ross County as well
Only other goalkeeper i can really comment on is Mark McRitchie,we used to call him dropsie so don't think i should say anymore
Having said that he did have some great games for Caley and played a number of years

Shearer comes from the Andy Rhodes school of goalkeeping , the man is about 6 foot 4 and dives about 4 foot 3 , a shot comes in and he squats down before diving while diving looks around to see where the camera's are

goalies in the HFL have not really impressed me none have really stood out in recent years , even Jim in his Inverness Thistle days , his goalkeeping ability never stood out for me , but what i do remember is 2 moments of sheer genius
1. County fans giving him pelters in the jailend and he dropped his shorts and bared his arse at them all (imagine that in today's games , he would have been arrested)
2. swinging on the crossbar while the game was at the other end and lifting himself up and sitting on the bar (amazed it took his weight)

as for myself i am not arrogant enough to suggest myself , especially on a public forum like this , ask me in person Carlos be quite happy to tell you where i think i rank among top HFL goalies

To be fair not many goalkeepers love nutmegs as much as you. That should give you a cult following of some sort. However if you got a permed afro that might just do it for you also!

Caley had good keepers for most of the time I watched them, the exception being a spell in the mid 70s when Rod Mackie guarded the net - truly awful. Prior to him was Ken McKenzie, rated the best in the HL at that time and Andy Beattie was keeper when I first watched them, an Aberdonian who was small for a keeper but agile. Probably the best was Billy McDonald who who joined from Clach in the summer of '76 and must have been with Caley for around 10 years. Very consistent, reliable and scored against Lossie away, with a clearance from his own box.
Calder was the keeper most hated by Caley fans, for obvious reasons.

Had Marc Coull stayed at Locos, I am certain Locos would have won the league by now
What about Thainer?

In terms of other players, from a blinkered Locos perspective, Kenny Coull is a legend down Harlaw Park (and no doubt at Cove too) and in terms of pure skill, the most skillful player I have seen is Stuart McKay

As much as i hate to say it, Billy Gordon at the Broch would be a good bet as the top keeper in the league recently.

At Peterhead we had both Piries, who were decent. Before that if Scott Tait had been a foot taller, he would have been playing at a higher level. In between that we had Martin (i think) Dunbar, who was the worst keeper i have ever seen play.

John McGinlay. Ex Nairn County and Elgin City.

Good call, did he not play int he World Cup?

Was just thinking of players in the current SPL who have played Highland League football - Michael Fraser (Brora), Richie Hart (Brora), Richard hastings (Nairn County), Ross Tokely (Huntly) and Grant Munro (Fort William) are those for us. I know that Jim Hamilton started out for Keith, although he isn't in the SPL anymore right enough.

Worse than Barry Thompson?

My uncle

Do tell, who is Uncle Yoda?

Don't think i have ever seen him play. (the name doesn't ring a bell anyway)


It wouldn't have helped Dunbar we had some real diddies in the team along with him either.

there not many good footballers in the highlads at th mo if am honest

Jimmy Gilmour at Inverness Caley
Malky Murray of Buckie Thistle
Nicky Walker of Elgin City
Roddie MacDoanld or Brora Rangers
Donald Park at Inverness Caley.
Scott Paterson at Cove Rangers
Don McVicar ended his career in the Highland league with a few clubs.


All ex Partick Thistle players.

You wouldn't happen to know where Jimmy ended his career?

Fauldhouse United in 1999 after a few years as player coach at Alloa Athletic.

Bruce Paterson.

He played for County during either the 70s or 80s and there was talk of him joing Chelski but he didn't want to give up the fishing at Balintore.

Jim Leighton-Deveronvale
Colin Hendry-Keith

Im Mates with his Son. His old boy was some Keeper in his day. Still got the Mullet/Perm.

the current crop of young players coming through just now are as good as any ive seen over the years lewis mackinnon dave macrae and craig macmillan are just a few to mention .

All ex-Caley thistle. David MacRae was always good when I saw him in the reserves.

your right chris about dave,also michael sanderson ,michael rae in goals when playing for buckie,and colin mitchell.

Michele De Barros

Marco's sister?

Alan Hercher ok he piled on the pounds after he came back from Oz but what goals he got from midfield.

Alan Stevenson of Clach he tormented many a defender with his skill

Charlie Barbour , God he annoyed me but the man was pretty good at footie

Billy Ferries ,another who really gave his all and probably one of the most entertaining wingers I have ever seen play.

Charlie Christie without doubt the best midfielder I have ever seen play in the highland League.

Scott Lemon very imposing centre half who seemed to win everything in the air

Billy Skinner (Wad) Brilliant defender who eventually saw the light and came to Telford street.

Peter Corbet Brilliant as sweeper and I played against him once and he took the pee out of me.

Ivor Pirrie how he never played for a Premier league club I will never know ? He broke my heart more than once with his saves

Kenny Taylor now he was a centre half with the motto "Thou shalt not pass" he would use any trick in the book to stop an attack (and he usually did)

Dave Johnston forward for Nairn who scored over 100 goals in a season ( yes with Nairn) went to aberdeen but got homesick and came back to play for caley.

That was some of the guys I remembered and "hated" but all great Highland league legends in my humble opinion.

Billy Ferries, sweet jesus. I remember him pinging three past Lossie in a 5-3 win for Brora not long ago and he must have been a dozen years older than half our team.

That was after he recovered from his heart attack.

He could have had one on the morning of the game and still scored three against us that day.

I remember watching County in the 90's with the likes of Barry Wilson and Brian Grant (why was he called Geo!?).

They were the best I can remember.

I also liked Johnstone Bellshaw and of course ferries up the wing!

Not only was Brian Grant called G.O but some people called him J.O. No one knows the origins of the nick name and you still hear people calling him by both names.

J.O. is what they called Jim Oliver ex Ross County, Fraserburgh, Montrose, Wigan and Inverness thistle to name but five.