Ben Mackay reveals the role Kilmarnock boss Stuart Kettlewell played in Brora Rangers' rise

Press and Journal

10-07-2025

Brora Rangers benefactor Ben Mackay has credited Kilmarnock boss Stuart Kettlewell with helping to make the Cattachs serial winners.
Kettlewell will be back at Dudgeon Park on Saturday for his first competitive game in charge of Killie when they take on the Breedon Highland League champions in the Premier Sports League Cup.
The former Ross County and Motherwell manager spent two years with Brora.
He joined the Sutherland club as a player in 2014 and helped them go unbeaten in the Highland League during the 2014-15 season, he then took on the role of player-assistant manager under Richard Brittain in 2015-16.
Looking back on Kettlewell's time with the Cattachs, Mackay – who has overseen Brora winning 16 trophies in the last 12 seasons – said: 'My lasting memory of Stuart is that he scored the winning penalty in the shoot-out against Edinburgh City in the pyramid play-offs in 2015.
'In the last few years of his career Stuart had a lot of injuries and he didn't play too much for Brora, but when he did he made a real impact.
'I've got fond memories of Stuart's time with us, he's a really good guy and it's great to see how well he's getting on in football.
'When Stuart and Richard Brittain came to Brora they brought another degree of professionalism to the club and raised the standards.
'If you want to win things every season you need standards and Stuart and Richard helped embed the standards along with the likes of Grant Munro and Ross Tokely and that helped take the club to a different level.
'Those standards remain to this day at the club, so although Stuart wasn't here for a long period he's part of the reason we are where we are.'
The clash with Kilmarnock is only the second time Brora will have played top flight opposition in a competitive match at Dudgeon Park in their 146-year history.
Mackay is thrilled the Cattachs are competing in the group stage of the League Cup for the third time and with every participating club guaranteed a minimum of £30,000 in prize money it's a lucrative tournament to be involved in.
He added: 'Saturday's a landmark day in the club's history it will be only the second time we've played a top flight club at Dudgeon Park in a competitive game.
'Any time you get the chance to play against Premiership opposition it's a day to savour.
'For the players getting the chance to show what they can do against top flight opposition is a great thing and it's good for our supporters to be able to see us going up against a side like Kilmarnock.
'For clubs like ourselves the prize money for being in the League Cup is very good.
'We're involved in the Scottish Cup every year, however, unless you get far enough to play Rangers, Celtic, Aberdeen, Hearts or Hibs you actually bring in more revenue from playing in this tournament than the Scottish Cup.
'That's something people don't realise so it's great to have qualified for it.'
Mackay also revealed Brora have been busy getting Dudgeon Park ready for the new season and have invested in a state of the art sprinkler system.
He said: 'We've put in a whole new sprinkler system during the close season which has allowed us to keep the pitch in much better condition during the summer.
'The sprinkler system has been another major investment and we've invested a lot in the pitch during the last three summers.
'We put down a new pitch two years ago, but the drainage wasn't quite right so we had to put in a new drainage system last summer.
'Now that we've sorted the drainage water doesn't stay on the pitch which means the pitch gets too dry so we needed to put in a sprinkler system so we can keep it in good condition.'