COME ON MAVIS, MAKE YOU MIND UP!

Advice from Tommy Burns prompted Mark Reilly to ask himself: “Do I really want to be a footballer?”

Former colleagues of Mark ‘Mavis’ Reilly will often single him out as their favourite teammate. It is understandable: a tireless standard-setter who nonetheless remained off the pace in supporter player of the year awards. A central midfielder who did the hard yards while others accepted the accolades.

With all the success that came his way in a Kilmarnock career of more than 300 games, Mark’s heart to heart with the manager seems all the more incongruous. What was it in these early days that had Tommy Burns not just questioning his place in a starting eleven but openly musing on the very real possibility of releasing him?

The story begins at fifteen years old.

“I was always a midfield player, growing up. The Scotland Schoolboy trials were taking place and the coach at Motherwell spoke to me and said, ‘There’s going to be a lot of competition in the midfield area, and I think we’ll play you left-back.’ I played left-back and got in the team, and I was kind of pigeonholed.

“I left school and joined Motherwell. Tommy Boyd was the regular left back at the time; Fraser Wishart was the other full back. I played four games, I think, but there was a real frustration with me at that point because I knew I didn’t have the attributes. I wanted to play top level, Premier League in Scotland and I knew, as a full-back, I wasn’t good enough, if I’m being honest.”

Shoehorned uncomfortably into a position he neither enjoyed nor felt capable of excelling in, Mark’s early career was to be defined by uncertainty.

Perhaps though there was an element of serendipity at play. Kilmarnock’s title-winning teenager, Tommy McLean showed a benevolence not often associated with the gruff exterior of his later managerial persona. He actively sought a new club for his backup full-back, accompanied with the promise of an extended contract in Lanarkshire if nothing was forthcoming.

A move to Ayrshire was secured but Mavis found himself a now-and-then in the number three shirt under first Jim Fleeting and, later, Tommy Burns, as Killie eventually emerged bruised but triumphant from the First Division. And the clawing acceptance of his own limitations in defence persisted.

Not for the first time, it is Burns, with his rolodex of inspirational pow-wows, who set about changing the destiny of yet another of his players.

“Going through the motions, I don’t know if that’s the right term to use, but there was certainly a frustration there. And maybe an acceptance that things weren’t quite happening for me. Tommy Burns by this point was the player-manager. He took me aside and said, ‘Listen, you’re plodding on, but you’re not quite doing enough. But you’re not a full back. I think you can play midfield.’ And that was music to my ears.

“But he said, ‘I want you to go home tonight and have a good think. I don’t want you to waste your time and waste my time. Come in tomorrow and let me know if you want to be a footballer.’

“I went home that night, and the penny dropped. I thought, ‘I’ve got an opportunity here.’ He was honest enough, he said, ‘See if we don’t get into the Premier League at some point, I might have to cut staff and cut players, and you’d maybe be one of them, the way things are going. But I’m going to give you a real opportunity in the middle.’ And that changed my football career from that point, in all aspects. I got the opportunity to play a position that was my best position. It gave me that confidence boost, but it also changed my outlook.

“Tam said another thing that stuck with me for the rest of my life. He said, ‘As soon as you get out of bed, stand in front of the mirror and say, ‘I’m going to do my best today’. You might have a good day, you might have a bad day, you might have a rotten day, but at night, when you go to bed, stand in front of the same mirror again and say, ‘Have I done my best today?’ And if you can truthfully say you have, put your head on the pillow and you’ll go to sleep at night. You’ve got no regrets.’

“For a period, I physically did that. I got up in the morning and I physically stood in front of the mirror. That was the conversation with Tam that definitely changed my career.”

And what a transformation. Now taking the number 8 shirt from his peg on matchdays, only the ever-reliable defensive unit and Shaun McSkimming played more often in Kilmarnock’s first season back in the Premier Division, with success upon success to come for Mavis in the following nine years.

And what of all the ‘Mavis’ stuff, anyway? Much like with all great legends, the mists of time have rolled in. Thelma Barlow’s ubiquitous presence on the Corrie cobbles for nearly 30 years as Mavis Riley is the genesis. But who first burdened Mark with a nickname based on the nervous, prissy curtain-twitcher? Bobby Williamson confidently lays claim: “It was me who first gave him the nickname; I hope he forgives me.” Mark though has a slightly different recollection: “I’m not too sure, but the first I remember suggesting it was Paul Flexney.”

I guess we ‘don’t really know’ who to blame with any certainty.

As for Mark though, Mavis will do just fine.

“It’s been that long now, there’s more and more people refer to me as Mark. I actually quite enjoy getting called Mavis because it makes me think I’m a footballer again.”

And what a footballer, with the medal and topflight longevity to prove it.

Words by Gordon Gillen

This article first appeared in Issue 9 of the Kilmarnock Football Club official magazine of April 2022.