Alastair 'Sugar' Kennedy

Alastair 'Sugar' Kennedy

ID: PC_INVFOOT_STORY_KENNEDY DESCRIPTION: Alastair Kennedy is known to many by his childhood nickname Sugar (taking too many spoonsful of Sugar in his tea and the nickname has stuck with him throughout). Sugar is well known on both sides of the Kessock Bridge, being a former player of Thistle, Clach and Caley and a current director of Ross County FC where he is well known for his light-hearted hosting of their Victoria Suite hospitality on match days. Football was in his family DNA, with his great grandfather being Sir Donald MacDonald, a former provost of Inverness was a prominent benefactor of Clach FC and their first ever Chairman of the club. Below Sugar recalls his football memories. “Growing up on Broadstone Park, overlooking Kingsmills Park – my early memories were of jumping over the back fence, watching the Jags and not having to pay for the privilege!! Jags Trainer at the time was George Pyke, followed by Murd Urquhart and they used to let the young ones kick the ball around on the park on training nights and I just got hooked on the game. I was fortunate and it was a privilege as Thistle in the late 1960s and early 1970s were a terrific attacking side, great to watch. For four seasons in a row, they scored more than 100 goals. I started training with the Jags in 1969-70, along with my pals Peter Corbett, Gordon Fyfe, Alan MacLaren, Brian McBey, Dodo Sinclair and many more young friends who played in the Inverness Juvenile League. I had played in the Crown Thistle team that won the league title and two cups in 1970. I had earlier played for the Camerons Boys Club and later enjoyed my time playing for the Gellions pub side, especially their tours to Spain. Thistle won the Highland League in 1971-72 and 1972-73. There were so many good players at Kingsmills at the time and getting a first team start was a challenge. Following a successful league winning season for Alness in the North Caledonian League where I played with the likes of Alan Gitsham, Dodo Sinclair, Terry Curtis, Les Anderson and Mike Hurry, I got asked by the late Rodwell Clyne to sign for Lossiemouth. I jumped at the chance as there were a few boys, local boys, in the side such as former goalie and Clach Manager Brian Mackay, Calum Nicholson from Inverness alongside “Scooty” Campbell and the late Robbie Macdonald from Dingwall. I played for a couple of seasons before my good friend over many years from school and playing football, Peter Corbett recommended me to Manager Sandy Wallace to sign for Clach. I was delighted to join a young side that was on the up under the leadership of Manager Sandy Wallace. My links with Clach date back to the days when my great grandfather Sir Donald MacDonald was chairman of the club. Sir Donald was instrumental in the club moving to Grant Street Park. Indeed, he went on to become Provost of Inverness. An unusual condition attached to the Clach Park leases was that members and players had to join the Royal Artillery volunteers! The season that stands out during my time at Clach was winning the Highland League in 1974-75 for the first time since the great Clean Sweep side of 1947-48. We also won the Scottish Qualifying Cup North and had a great Scottish Cup run. Winning the league at Grant Street against our local rival the Jags was pretty special and there were some celebrations that night in the Clach Club with the fans. Much of our success that season was due to our unconventional but inspirational manager Sandy Wallace, who had no previous connection with Clach and was relatively unknown in the Highland League. He joined Clach as Manager following a spell as Manager of Ross County Reserves. He was a great motivator and could often be seen at games on the opposite side of the ground from the dugout, bawling encouragement at the team and some strong advice to the referee! His style of management was really effective, and he managed to get the best out of what was a pretty young and relatively inexperienced squad of players.” At that time, Clach signed Norrie McArthur and Ray Mackintosh from Elgin City, Donnie MacLennan from Caley, Calum Grant from Brora, Peter Corbett and Alan MacLaren from Thistle, Charlie Kennedy and Donald Stuart from Nairn County, Jocky Clark and Billy MacDonald from Ross County and John Allison and Alan Stevenson from the Cameron Youth Club. Skipper Robbie Giles was already with the club. We all got on really well together and built strong friendships which continue until today. There were many “characters” in the side and whilst we had many laughs together, when we crossed over the line on a Saturday it was very much down to business and winning the game. We won the Scottish Qualifying Cup with a 2-1 win over Thistle, with goals from Charlie Kennedy and a terrific winner from Donald Stuart. The league title was won on the final day of the season when we again beat Thistle 2-1, with goals from John Allison and Ray Mackintosh, who had earlier missed a penalty. Our Scottish Cup run saw us beat Gala Fairydean 8-1 and Stirling Albion 4-3 before we lost 2-1 to Dumbarton, then a top tier side. To everyone’s disappointment and surprise, the league title decided was to be Sandy’s final game in charge of Clach after 3 seasons as family and work commitments took over. The following season, Clach did not do so well under new manager Calum Grant and, sadly, the team broke up, with Billy MacDonald, Peter Corbett, Ray Mackintosh and I moving on to Caley to join another inspirational manager, Alex Main. The contrast between the two managers could not be more extreme. Alex was not so animated as Sandy, but he knew a good player and pieced together a side of youth and experience and most importantly a team of winners. His tactics were not over-elaborate, and he trusted the players to manage games. We had a great goalkeeper in Billy MacDonald, a solid defence, midfield creativity through Andy Penman and John Docherty and goals galore in Billy Urquhart and Ray Mackintosh. We won back-to-back league titles in 1976-77 and 1977-78 and also lifted the Qualifying Cup, Highland League Cup, North of Scotland Cup and Bells Cup during that time. We did not fear any side at these times even although there were some great sides in our local rivals, the Jags and Lilywhites but also in the likes of Keith, Elgin, Peterhead and Fraserburgh. I did not score many goals, but I do remember one in a Scottish Cup tie against Inverness Thistle, when we ran out 5-0 winners. My favourite though was my far post header from an Andy Penman corner in the last minute away to Rothes in the semi-final of the Bells cup where we took them back to Telford Street to win the game and went on to win the final. I rose like a bird and pushed Billy Urquhart and Ray Mackintosh out of the way to score at the far post! It was disappointing when we got the news that our Manager, Alex Main was set to leave the club at the end of the 1978-79 season. Alex, like all my playing colleagues had grown into a good friend as well as being the most successful manager in Caley’s history. I moved on to play for Brora Rangers for a couple of seasons as I moved with my family to work in Caithness where I finished my playing days with Wick Academy, being their Captain as we won the North Caledonian League prior to their entry into the Highland League. Work promotion took me south to North Yorkshire and Tee-side where family matters and work took over. Looking back at my football career, I was delighted to play for Clach and Caley sides that won the league and many cups. I also fondly remember my times with Thistle, Lossiemouth, Brora. Great times also with the likes of Alness, Wick Academy and the other teams I played for within my younger years where friendships were built to last a lifetime. I am just so grateful to have shared this with so many great characters and players of our times. COLLECTION: Inverness Football Memories - stories Asset ID: 48889 KEYWORDS: