BUNION, BULLY, MAVIS, DITCHER AND NIFTY

Pat Nevin was looking forward to being ‘Nifty’ again. Having left Scotland as a teenager, the 28-times-capped winger returned home carrying a suitcase filled with Player of the Year awards from highly successful spells at Chelsea, Everton and Tranmere Rovers. Much had changed in his time down south. He was now a high profile name; a real coup for Bobby Williamson’s first full season in charge of Kilmarnock. But his new teammates’ initial ‘Mr Nevin’ deference was something he was eager to eschew. 

And after a couple of training sessions, he got his wish.

“I had been down in England for about 15 years, and we had rotten nicknames. If your name was Mark Wright, you were Wrighty. All our lads had great nicknames. Ditcher, Mavis…from nowhere they had these amazing nicknames. Bully, Bunion. Bunion! Really? And nobody ever called each other by their first name. I hadn’t used my nickname since I’d played in Scotland but, immediately, Dylan Kerr said, ‘You alright, Nifty?’ Nobody had called me Nifty for about 15 years, but I was Nifty again. At that point, I almost felt, ‘I’m home.’”

For all that this Killie team – and the club itself – was on the rise, it was a poor start to 1997/98. Hindered in part by four away games before a Rugby Park bow, an early October dismantling by Celtic meant a paltry five points from a possible 21. Work to do.

And Pat taking time to adjust to new surroundings played its part.

“I’d been playing at the very top level in England. I had been, until very recently, a Scottish international. And in the first few games, it was mayhem! ‘Is anyone going to stop for a minute and pass to each other? Is anyone going to slow down and make intelligent movement and runs?’ And I’m not talking about Killie players; I’m talking about everybody!

“There was one game where I said to Bobby Williamson, ‘Just play me in the 10 role. I’ll find the space and I’ll develop it. You’ve stuck me out on the wing and it’s not working. The ball’s not getting there often enough.’ He did…and I had a stinker! He took me off at half time. I sat in the dressing room, thinking, ‘Have I made a mistake here?’ I liked Bobby. I was beginning to get to know some of the players. And I didn’t really understand why it wasn’t working yet because these guys were quite good.

“I got the ball once, out on the right-hand side. I dummied three players and dragged three defenders towards me. Down in England, I know fine well that the guy behind me, my right back, he will fly past me because he knows I’m in charge of the situation. I’m deliberately drawing them in, to make space for him. I’m not looking at him, but that’s happening.

“So I’d dragged these three players in – I had three ogrons all running at me – and then I look back and my right back is 40 yards away! ‘You’re supposed to overlap!’ Bang! I get hit by three players. And the Killie fans are going, ‘Why is he getting caught?’ It was Gus MacPherson and I’m thinking, ‘What did you sell me down the river for there?’ But he didn’t know my style or played with me to know that had to be done. I said to Gus and Dylan Kerr, ‘See when I get the ball and I move and dribble and drag, don’t look at me, just go. If I lose the ball and they break, my problem.’ And I said the same to Gary Holt who was really international class as someone who could arrive in boxes. Bunion (Paul Wright) always knew where to run – a really clever mover. After that, it just flew.

“Hearts away, we got beat 5-3 but we were great. I scored one and helped make one that Holty put in at the end of work from Mavis (Mark Reilly) and I. If Arsenal score that goal, we’re all saying ‘wow’. We were not doing so well points-wise, but there was enough quality.”

A strong second half of the season, and a late run of results which included home wins against Aberdeen and Dundee United, as well as a famous Ibrox success, meant European football in Ayrshire for a second successive season.

1998/99, and Killie had a spring in their step, the talismanic number 7 now starring in midfield alongside another international of distinction: Ian Durrant was pulling on the number 10 shirt and matching slippers. And Pat’s defining Kilmarnock moment came on the opening day, in front of a crowd in excess of eight thousand. Days in the sun indeed.

“It was a really good goal. I was really happy with it. It was probably the most common type of goal I scored in my career. That and the scoop. If the keeper’s got every angle covered, I’m very comfortable that I’ll clip you, I’ll chip you or I’ll scoop you. And that one is up there with my very favourite ones in my entire career.”

The leisurely self-assurance to stand, smiling knowingly at the sprawling Sieb Dijkstra, just a yard from his goal line, grasping unsuccessfully at thin air, is something from another plane, a blend of wizardry and friendly mischief. Fitting that the self-confessed ‘watcher’ gave himself time to soak it all in as the ball, floated with feather touch accuracy, drifted towards the stanchion. A Bruce Forsyth fist pump and he was submerged. The start of a gripping second scene in the epilogue of his playing career. Except it wasn’t. Pat would make one more start for Killie before – to the surprise of everyone, player included – he agreed a move to Motherwell as Chief Executive.

Yet the all-too-brief experience in Ayrshire left its impression indeed: “I had a 20-year career, and I didn’t have a more enjoyable season than my season at Killie. It was absolutely brilliant. It gave me the biggest joy.”

Words by Gordon Gillen

This article first appeared in Issue 4 of the Kilmarnock Football Club official magazine of November 2021.