ID:PC_INVFOOT_STORY_BLACK_ALISTAIRDESCRIPTION:Alistair “Titchy” Black is one of the most exciting wingers to have graced the Highland League. Over a 16-year period from 1971-2, Alistair played more than 500 games for Inverness Thistle – and did not get booked once. He was fast, was a great crosser of the ball and possessed a fierce shot with either foot. He was a member of the teams that won the club’s three post-war Highland League titles in 1971-72, 1972-73 and 1986-87. He won winners’ medals in the Qualifying Cup, Highland League Cup, North Cup, Inverness Cup, Bell’s Cup, and the Skol Cup and represented the North FA and Highland League Select as well as the British Railways Team. He also won a Highland League Player of the Year title. Here he tells his story:
“My dad, Kenny, was a big influence on my football career and that of my brothers, Sammy and Brian. A railway man, he played for Corinthians and Thistle. I remember him taking me along to my first match at the age of five or six. It was to watch Clyde play a friendly against the Jags at Kingsmills Park. Apart from recalling how wet it was, I remember the outside right of Clyde, George Herd, who had played for the Jags during the 1950s. He was a really tricky player who could score goals as well as make them. He went on to play for Sunderland and Scotland. He made a big impression on me that night.
I was brought up in the Bught area of the town, attending Central Primary School and Inverness High School. We had the Bught Park on our doorstep and it was a popular place for boys from the area to gather and play at nights and weekends. It was no surprise that so many players from this area went on to play at a decent level. Notable was Kevin MacDonald, who went on to play for Caley, Leicester City, Liverpool, and Rangers. It was while playing at the Bught with my pals that I got my nickname, Titchy. This was the name given to me by Ray MacLennan, a fireman who played for Caley and Clach, and the name stuck. Brian was given the nickname “Lofty” and this name stuck, too. My older brother was just Sammy. He was a big guy, and no one was brave enough to give him a nickname!
I played for Central Primary School in the Inverness Primary School League and played against the likes of Peter Corbett of Merkinch, Brian McBey of Dalneigh, and Gordon Fyfe and Alastair Kennedy of Crown. At Inverness High School, I featured in a really strong side for the first three years. I don’t remember us losing a game in that time. We had two really good goalkeepers in Alfie Ross and Billy MacDonald. Indeed, Alfie was the number one choice with Billy playing at right back. We had Ronnie Munro at the back, Eddie Jessiman and Bill Nelson in midfield and Alan Stevenson up front. Not too sure what happened to us when we became seniors? I don’t recall us doing so well!
As I was a Jags fan, it was a no brainer that I would join Thistle and I remember playing my first game in a pre-season friendly at Bonar Bridge, aged 16. At the time, Thistle attracted a number of up-and-coming young players, such as my older brother Sammy, Peter Corbett, Peter Mackinnon, Denis Lockhart, Alastair Kennedy, Sandy Cuthbert, George Sinclair, Alan MacLaren, Brian McBey and John Morrison. Dave Milroy was to join the following season.
Under the management of Willie Grant, Thistle were a great side, playing fast attacking football and we scored more than 100 goals on four successive seasons around that time. I had just turned 17 when I made my Highland League debut in an 8-3 win over Huntly, and we followed this up with a 7-1 over Keith. I thought: “This is easy. Just fire the balls over to Stephen and Cowie and they will do the rest!”
Thistle had two great wingers in Tony Fraser and Bobby Maclean. Alan MacLaren and I were the young guns trying to break into the team on the wings.
We had Jed Reilly and Sandy Shand as a choice for goalkeeper, two attacking full backs in Roshie Fraser and Brian D’Arcy; two strong central defenders in Billy Bremner and Huisdean Lazenby; skilful midfielders in Ian Cumming and Charlie Duncan and two goal scoring machines up front in Ian Stephen and Johnie Cowie.
It was difficult for a young player to break into this settled outfit. I became a regular starter when we retained the Highland League in 1972-73, beating Ross County 2-1 in a play-off at Telford Street Park, Inverness. We were 1-0 down at half time but came back strongly in the second half with Charlie Duncan scoring the winner. That was the first of my medals with the club.
It was to be season 1986-87 before Thistle next won the league title when my brother Brian was manager. At this time there were 18 teams in the Highland League. Going into the last game we had won 27 and drawn 6 of our games and just needed to avoid defeat in the final game at Peterhead to equal Caley’s record of 1982-83 of completing the season undefeated. We lost but it was still a great achievement to play 33 games without defeat and win the league title by 5 points from Caley. That final season, Thistle also won the Highland League Cup, the North of Scotland Cup, and the Inverness Cup. We had a great blend of youth and experience with players like Jim Calder, Billy Skinner, Billy Wilson, Dave Milroy, Mike Andrew, Alan MacDonald, Kevin Sweeney, Mike Noble, Alan Stevenson, Charlie Christie, Fraser Taylor, John Bain, and John MacGillivray.
That was to be my last season as I was experiencing hamstring strains, which I later established was due to hip problems. I’ve had both hips replaced.
Probably the biggest game in the history of Inverness Thistle was our visit to Parkhead, Glasgow, on 16 February 1985 to play Celtic in a fourth round Scottish Cup tie. We had beaten Kilmarnock 3-0 in the previous round to secure the glamour tie, with goals from Dave Milroy, Gordon Hay, and Brian Fraser. During the game at Parkhead, I was injured when Danny McGrain, the Celtic skipper, caught me with a high tackle. Viewers watching television highlights of the game recall Thistle trainer Murd Urquhart racing on to the pitch with his magic sponge bag and giving Mr McGrain a forceful push and a tongue lashing before attending to me. To our surprise, it was Murd and not the Celtic player who got a ticking off from the referee. Not long afterwards, Murd, was called upon again to treat me after a clearance from Tom McAdam hit me in the face. Danny stayed well clear of Murd on this occasion! Celtic won the game 6-0 and went on to win the Scottish Cup, beating Dundee United 2-1 in the final. Paul McStay scored a hat-trick in front of a crowd of 14,927. This was his only senior hat-trick that he scored. Other Celtic scorers were Frank McGarvey, Murdo MacLeod and Maurice Johnston.
Another memorable occasion was playing for the Jags in 1973 when we beat Celtic for the first and only time in the club’s history. Paul Wilson gave Celtic an early lead, but Ian Stephen equalised before half time. During the interval our chairman Jock MacDonald came into the dressing room and offered us £1,000 each to win the game. I’m not sure whether he was happy or sad when Ian Stephen got his second goal and our winner late on! He did not deliver on the bonus but as I recall he did dip into his own pocket to provide a handsome reward the following week.
In another game against Celtic in 1976 when Jock Stein was manager and Kenny Dalglish was skipper, Celtic won 6-2. A consolation was that I scored our two goals. One was a retaken penalty, and the other was one of my best goals - a 20-yarder into the postage stamp corner. The trouble is that it came late on when most of the crowd were on their way home.
We did manage another great result against Celtic when we drew 2-2 in a friendly to mark the club’s centenary on a snowy night in 1985.
Winning the Scottish Qualifying Cup was another great experience and the game I most recall was in 1980 when we defeated the much-fancied Buckie Thistle at Borough Briggs, Elgin. I set up our first and scored the second goal in a stunning 5-0 win.
Being selected for the Highland League Select was a highlight, playing alongside the best players in the Highlands. I was also chosen as the Sunday Mail’s Highland League Player of the Year. And as my dad was a railwayman, I qualified to play for the national railway football team and on one occasion I was chosen to play for Great Britain in Sofia against Bulgaria, whose team was full of international players.
While I played against Celtic on six occasions, I never got the chance to play against my Old Firm favourites, Rangers. Ironically, Rangers came to Kingsmills the very pre-season after I retired at the end of the 1986-87 and the Jags secured a 3-3 draw.
But that is a minor disappointment in a career that spanned 16 years and produced so many good times and fond memories.
DATE OF IMAGE:1980PERIOD:1970s; 1980sSOURCE:Alistair BlackCOLLECTION:Inverness Football Memories - storiesAsset ID:49749KEYWORDS:
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