Kirkwood aims to go far with Wick

The adage about a home tie being all that teams seek from a cup draw surely applies to no Scottish club more than Wick Academy.

Their players and staff may have become immune to lengthy journeys in completing Highland League fixtures, but the prospect of a Scottish Cup trip to Gala, Hawick or Newton Stewart would have seemed particularly harsh on a club for which long-distance travel is second nature.

As it is, Coldstream will make their own journey to the Highlands for one of today’s Scottish Cup first-round ties. Wick have started this Highland League season slowly but, in Davie Kirkwood, have a manager who knows plenty about the nuances of the Scottish Cup.

“When you have spent five years working with youth teams, spending sometimes 12-15 hours on mini-buses, being at Wick is nothing,” says Kirkwood. That is, of course, a reference to his recent coaching days at both Rangers and Ross County.

From those positions, to the outsider it seems strange that Kirkwood would step into management at Highland League level.

Kirkwood’s playing days involved stops at East Fife, Rangers – then under the management of Graeme Souness – Hearts, Airdrieonians and Raith Rovers. Kirkwood was part of the Raith squad when Celtic were defeated in the 1994 League Cup final, proof if needed that minnows can enjoy days of glory.

He stays just outside Inverness, leaving round trips of just short of five hours for training sessions and home matches. Those away from home are obviously considerably more time consuming – visits to Fort William and Cove Rangers are particularly arduous for Wick.

“Sometimes football works in mysterious ways,” Kirkwood adds. “The way I look at it, there are only so many managerial jobs in Scotland. There are a lot of good managers in Scotland who are out of work. I’m at a club which is just a level below the Scottish League and it is not a bad standard. There are 13 Highland League teams in this Scottish Cup first round draw.”

Kirkwood has, though, aspirations of a return to the senior game. “Of course I do,” he adds. “Everyone, every manager, wants to better themselves. All we are concentrating on at Wick is a rebuilding job. We are going about it a different way, we want the club to be more professional than maybe it has been in the past. And if you look at the examples of Caley Thistle and Ross County, you can see how far that building work can go.”

It is, of course, a massive leap of faith to suggest Wick could follow their northern counterparts into the upper echelons of Scottish football.

Wick only entered the Highland League in 1994 after the decampment of Inverness Thistle and Caledonian from that level. Thistle’s floodlight pylons, in fact, were delivered to Wick’s Harmsworth Park after that turn of events.

“Our players commit a lot of time and effort but they are brilliantly looked after,” Kirkwood insists. “I don’t mean financially – we have one of the smallest budgets in the Highland League – but in all sorts of other ways, the committee of the club do a great job for the players. Their help and support is terrific.”

It would, then, be a repayment both in monetary and public relations terms if Wick can pull off a Scottish Cup run.

“It is difficult for clubs like ours as soon at the professional teams come into the competition,” Kirkwood says.

“They have made the Scottish Cup a bit like the FA Cup in England now; the way it should be. Small clubs have a shot at glory in the tournament, as Irvine Meadow have shown already with a trip to face Hibernian.

“The League Cup is different, I understand why that’s for members of the Scottish Football League, but the Scottish Cup pitting non-league clubs against bigger clubs is a good idea.”

Which begs the question of how far Wick, a team consisting entirely of local players, can go this time around. The nature of the cup is that the town has adopted at least a hint of added football interest.

“The community is passionate about their football, I’ve realised that already,” the Wick manager says.

“Coldstream is a test for us, a plain bit of paper. The difficulty always is gauging where the Highland League level is against teams from other leagues.

“But other Highland League teams have done well in the Scottish Cup in the past and we know, if we believe in ourselves and play as well as we can do, that’s something we can emulate.”