Paul Young was thrilled to emulate his father Jimmy by winning the Breedon Highland League title with Fraserburgh.
The midfielder was among the scorers as the Broch defeated Forres Mechanics 5-0 at the weekend to claim the championship for the fourth time in their history.
The last time the Buchan side finished top of the pile was in 2001-02, when Jimmy – who made 680 Fraserburgh appearances over 20 years – was part of Charlie Duncan’s squad.
He was present at Bellslea on Saturday to see Paul pick up his winner’s medal.
Paul, 29, said: “He (Jimmy) was pretty excited and I think my uncle (George) was actually worse – he was greeting at the end of the game.
“It’s brilliant to win the league. My dad won it when he was 41 and then all the family were there to see it again.
“I was at Cove the night they won it in 2002, by that stage my dad was maybe more of a bit-part player, but he’d been with the club for 20 years and deserved his league medal.
“I’ve got great memories of that night and I’m happy my mum (Irene) and dad were able to see their loon do it as well.”
Move justified
It has been a remarkable campaign for Fraserburgh. In 34 league games, they only lost twice and drew twice to amass 92 points.
Young joined the Broch from Turriff United in the summer of 2017 with the aim of winning the title when he arrived.
He added: “I enjoyed my time at Turriff, but I saw what Mark Cowie (manager) and James Duthie (assistant manager) were trying to build here.
“It’s all people I know and local lads from roundabout, I thought there was a great project here and, if I wanted to win the Highland League, I thought the Broch was the place to do it.
“With my dad being here for so long as well, I felt it was the right decision and clearly it’s paid off.”
Composure was key
Young believes one of the secrets to Fraserburgh’s success has been remaining level-headed over the course of the campaign.
The Broch have led the way at the top of the table for most of the season, despite the best efforts of Buckie Thistle to apply pressure.
Young, who has scored 14 goals this season, said: “It sounds pretty good to say we’re Highland League champions.
“It’s been a long season, but the boys have been so focused on the end result the whole way.
“We’ve been focused on achieving this and we’re all delighted.
“When you start the season you always dream about doing this, but it doesn’t happen every season.
“I keep myself quite grounded and I think my wife (Gemma) has been cracking up with me the amount of times I’ve had to say I don’t want to see messages of good luck and things before games.
“I just try to keep myself to myself and don’t get carried away.”
