Current Team-mate Tributes

Current Team-Mates

Connor Scully

“Stuart McKenzie is without doubt the best goalkeeper I have ever played with.

He was always good, but I think he came back from his spell at Montrose as a more confident keeper, and after he got into the Cove team, he never really lost his place. I’m sure everyone has talked about his kicking – and back in the Allan Park days he had to rein that in otherwise he’d have overshot the other goal.

Even then, he would come off his line, he was commanding, and he’s got better and better over the years. He could definitely have played at a higher level earlier in his career. He has all the attributes, and I don’t really know why he wasn’t picked up. I guess that can be down to luck, being in the right place at the right time, but he enjoys playing for Cove, and we’ve certainly benefitted from having him all this time.

You could say we’re a team like no other. We’re a tight knit group, so many of us have been together for years – the likes of Fraser, Mitch, Blair and myself go all the way back to being with Aberdeen when we were eight or nine – and Stuart has been such a big part of that.

All of us, we’re really good friends outside of football, we go on nights out, we play golf, although I’m not sure Stuart has much time for that now that he has a young family who mean the world to him.

He’s a brilliant keeper, but even more important than that, he’s a really nice guy. He’s a quiet lad, not at all loud, and he just gets on with things and is always there for you. Stuart’s a painter and decorator by trade, and he’s helped out a few of the lads, probably me more than most. He’s just a really good friend and I’m so happy he’s getting his big day.

No-one deserves it more than Stu does.”

Scott Ross

Unlike most of his other team-mates, Scott Ross has experience of playing against, as well as with, Stuart McKenzie.

During Stuart’s two seasons with Montrose, the big defender was plying his trade with Peterhead, and he laughs as he recalls those occasions.

“Big Stu won’t have many happy memories of those games as we generally thumped them every time, and Rory McAllister still winds him up about all the goals he scored back then.”

The sides met four times in League Two in 2013-14 with Peterhead coming out on top in three of them. McAllister scored twice in each of those victories, and even got the consolation in their only defeat, 2-1 at Links Park. He also netted past Stuart in the League Cup the following campaign, in another convincing win.

“Stuart doesn’t like being reminded about that as he’s such a committed professional and hates conceding goals, but it’s all done in the right spirit. He really is a top guy on and off the park.”

For Scott, Stuart is a defender’s dream, someone who is there to help when the pressure is on.

“He’ll take the ball in any situation. You can play it back to him left or right and he zings these diagonals across the pitch. He has unbelievable feet; his distribution is by far the best of any keeper I’ve played with.

Scott says Stuart has all the attributes, but points to his concentration levels as being particularly outstanding.

“He can be quiet for sixty or seventy minutes, and then he pulls off an unbelievable save and you’re thinking ‘how has he done that?’ You watch him in training and he’s outstanding, what a shot stopper.”

While Scott and his team-mates have a high regard for everything Stuart does on the pitch, he believes it is what he brings to the group off it which is just as important.

“He’s a big friendly giant, and he’s always there for you, always ready to lend a helping hand. If there’s one guy who deserves this recognition, it’s Stuart, and I hope this is a really special and memorable day for him.”

Iain Vigurs

“I’ve known Stu since I was fifteen, he was always there in the background. We were at Albion Boys Club, then Elgin and then Inverness, and he hasn’t changed a bit!

He’s maybe a bit more vocal now, but not much. He’s always been the quiet assassin, just sitting there soaking it all in, then he picks the right moment to take you down.

Our paths hadn’t crossed for years, not even in pre-season I don’t think, so it was brilliant to see him when I signed for Cove Rangers last summer. I’d kept across his career and heard how he was doing, and I know he’s become a real club legend.

The only thing that’s changed is that, like me, he’s become bigger and slower! It’s funny how everything swings around. After all that time, we were back together again, and now we’re looking forward to life in the Championship.

That will mean so much to him, probably even more to be doing it with Cove rather than if he’d moved on to another club. I’ve always felt he could have done that, he definitely had the ability, and he’s a real credit to his family the way he conducts himself on and off the park.

One thing that has always impressed me about Stu is his distribution. He’s like Ederson at Manchester City, so comfortable with the ball at his feet. Way back from when he was a teenager, he could play outfield – not in midfield obviously, because he’s not a runner! – but we could stick him up front and he’d certainly do a job for us, I have no doubt about that.

He’s a real, true professional and he deserves the chance he’ll now get to play at a higher level, and the recognition he’s getting with this testimonial.”

Blaire Yule

“We have been together a long time, and Stuart is definitely one of my best friends in the game. We just can’t get rid of each other and speak virtually every day.

Plenty people will have told you how quiet Stu is, and he is quite a private person, but he definitely has a cheeky, mischievous side to him. We’re always trying to catch each other out, have a bit of a wind-up, and he’s chased me round the training ground a few times after I’ve pinged a ball and hit him while he was warming up with the other keepers.

But don’t let that make you think he’s anything other than professional when it comes to his football. When it’s time to get down to business, he’s serious and focused, and he has worked so hard over the years to become the top class keeper he is today.

Like me, he did have a brief time away from Cove Rangers, and I think that was all about proving to himself that he could play at a higher level. He did that then, he has done it throughout his career, and the fact he was named in the League One team of the year for the past couple of seasons highlights that.

Stuart is part of the group of players who have grown up at the club, been together for years, and he has been a major part of everything we have achieved. He’s always the same, so reliable, so consistent, and he will relish playing in the Championship next season.

Family has been a big thing for him. I’m sure that’s been a driving force, he adores his family, and wants to do everything he can for them, and to make them proud. I know they are, and they should be, he’s a brilliant team-mate and friend.

I am delighted he’s been recognised with a testimonial, and he deserves all the accolades and praise he’ll been getting.”