Banks o’ dee miss out on Highland league
Turriff United, Formartine and Strathspey in
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Turriff United, Strathspey Thistle and Formartine United will be playing Highland League football next season but there was huge disappointment for fellow junior club Banks o' Dee, who missed out in the vote.
Turriff United led the way with 15 votes at last night’s meeting in the Lossiemouth FC Social Club. They were followed by Strathspey Thistle with 14 and Formartine United with 11 votes. Aberdeen juniors Banks o' Dee surprisingly accumulated only five votes.
Turriff United chairman George Manson said: “I am delighted. We were always quietly confident going in but I really am over the moon.
“We have had good backing from our local sponsors and are quite confident that we will be well supported and play well.
“Of course, we now have a local derby to look forward to against Deveronvale."
Strathspey Thistle chairman Donly McLeod, who is also the Grantown club's manager, was also a happy man after the vote.
He said: “It is a real boost for Strathspey Thistle, as well as for the 35,000 people in the Strathspey and Badenoch area many of whom have been talking about this for weeks.
"The whole community was right behind us in this application and it is a real boost for the whole Spey Valley. We are aware that the hard works starts here but we are well prepared."
Formartine United chairman Atholl Cadger was equally elated that his club's canvassing had paid handsome dividends.
He said: “I am delighted for the club and the fans as well as the community in and around Pitmedden. We are very grateful to the Highland League member clubs for giving us the opportunity.
“It has been the talk of the town for the last three to four months.
“We are expecting some good investment coming in from sponsors, so we are all looking forward to it.
“It will be a big change for our club but we are buzzing and we will be up for the challenge.
“We were at Wick and Brora Rangers and visited most of the Highland League clubs to gather support and it has certainly paid off tonight."
John Irvine, secretary of Banks o' Dee, said: “Obviously, we are disappointed with what the people in the Highland League have decided but if they feel that other teams have better set-ups then that is up to them."
Highland League president Sandy Stables said: “Everything has gone well with the procedure which was set up and we now have the three new member clubs.
It is very exciting and we can now look forward to having 18 clubs in the Highland League as that was one of the things I set out to do before my term of office ends in May."
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