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‘Mr Jeanfield’ savours Swifts journey as Perth club aims to join big boys in Scottish Cup 4th round

The East of Scotland League side face Clyde on Friday night, having thrashed Elgin City a few weeks ago.

Jeanfield Swifts goalkeeper Mark Mitchell (left) with manager Robbie Holden. Image: DC Thomson, Kenny Smith.
Jeanfield Swifts goalkeeper Mark Mitchell (left) with manager Robbie Holden. Image: DC Thomson, Kenny Smith.

Just as there are St Johnstone fans edging into their 20s who have known nothing but a diet of top-flight competition, European trips and trophies, there’s a new normal taking hold for Perth’s ‘second’ football club.

Five years since Jeanfield Swifts grasped the opportunity to make the leap from the world of Tayside Juniors to the bottom of the pyramid structure that feeds into the SPFL, it’s been a story of steady progression, peaking with an extraordinary and historic 6-0 Scottish Cup triumph over League Two, Elgin City a few weeks ago.

In the short-term, Swifts may soon advance into the fourth round, opening up the possibility of the unprecedented financial and sporting reward that a draw with the big boys brings.

Having thrashed Elgin, who were then bottom of League Two, the team currently occupying that basement spot, Clyde, are every inch a realistic next scalp.

Mark Mitchell enjoying the famous Jeanfield victory over Elgin.
Mark Mitchell enjoying the famous Jeanfield victory over Elgin. Image: Brian Roper.

In the long-term, it will be fascinating to see the limits of Jeanfield’s rise put to the test – there’s no sign of a ceiling being hit yet, that’s for sure.

The club’s longest-serving player, Mark Mitchell, is confident about the future trajectory.

And he’s uniquely-placed in a dressing room filled with former pro-youth prospects and ex-SPFL regulars to provide perspective on the route trodden to get to this point.

The results, the national profile, the horizons opening up before them – none of this should be taken for granted.

“I’m the only one who played at Simpson Park,” said the 39-year-old goalkeeper, reflecting on the club’s previous home, now an edge of town housing development.

“I get slagged off about that from time to time.

“We won the league the last season we played there, the old Tayside League.

“Some of the boys in our team don’t even know where Simpson Park was!

“I loved walking across the bridge and going down the hill to the clubhouse. It was a proper old Scottish Junior football ground.

“We’ve come a long way since then, right enough.”

Just over a mile to North Muirton (in 2006) if you want to be geographically precise.

“It was a handy move for me,” said Mitchell. “This is where I’ve stayed all my life. I’m a short walk to the ground these days.

“At the start we were changing in a portacabin at the side of the park.

“Nobody could have predicted how far the club has come since then.

“The idea of even playing in the Scottish Cup wouldn’t have even entered your mind back in the day. We were a Junior club and that was that.

“We played in the Tayside League every year and you got used to the same teams and the same grounds.

“The Scottish Junior Cup was the only time you got something a bit different.

“The current era is going to go down in the history of the club. That means everything to me.

“I just wish I was a bit younger because this team has gone from strength to strength over the last few years. The same goes for the club as a whole.

“We’re only going in one direction.

“I’d love to be a wee bit younger so I could have the chance to continue the journey.

“I wouldn’t like to say how far we’ll be in 10 years’ time but it will be upwards.

“Wherever we are, I’ll still be part of the club, I can assure you of that. It means that much to me.”

Jeanfield in the blood

Mr Jeanfield would absolutely be a fitting description for Mitchell, whose 15 years of playing service earned him a testimonial against a young St Johnstone team in 2019.

“Cammy Ballantyne captained the Saints team that day,” he recalled. “I think Jordan Northcott (now a Jeanfield forward) was playing as well.

“Ever since then folk keep asking me if I’m retiring but I’ve just taken it year by year.

“I’ve ticked off most of the local clubs at one stage or another but they were all short stints.

“I left Jeanfield to go to Kinnoull with Gavin Price, then went back.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been away for longer than a season.

“And when I did go it wasn’t because I wanted to leave. Jeanfield has always been my club.”

And it’s in the family as well.

“My dad (Andy) is on the committee,” said Mitchell.

“He’s watched me week in, week out since I was a kid.

“When the bar was opened at Riverside he offered to help out and ended up on the committee.

“It means he doesn’t see as much of the football when he’s serving drinks.

“He’s actually going to Benidorm this week so he’ll miss the Clyde game. He’s absolutely gutted.

“My son, Logan, plays for the Jeanfield under-14s.

“It’s partly his fault I’m still playing!

“A few years ago I was thinking about retiring.

“We were coming back after an away game in the league and Logan said: ‘Dad, will you be playing in the Scottish Cup again next year?’

“I said: ‘I’m not sure if I’ll be playing at all next season, pal. I’m thinking about retiring.’

“He was staring out of the window and I could tell he was upset.

“Anyway, there was another season. And another.

“I’d never have had the experiences of beating Inverurie and Elgin if I’d gone through with it.

“My two daughters (Maizie and Myah) were the mascots for the Elgin game. Every box was ticked that day.”

Not the second round he was expecting

It was six going on goodness knows how many when Elgin were taken apart at the Riverside last month.

Even a scoreline that emphatic doesn’t reflect Jeanfield’s total dominance.

“Going into a game like that against a team from League Two, as the goalie you’re expecting to have a busy afternoon and thinking you’ll need to have a very good game for the team to have a chance,” he said.

“But the guys were bang on it from the word go and I genuinely only had one save to make at the very most.

“It was surreal.

“Nothing comes close to it in my 15 years here.

“Up until that point Inverurie away (also in the Scottish Cup) was a high point but everything about that day – the opposition, the fact it was at home, the size of the crowd, the scoreline – made it something on a completely different level.

“It’s raised the profile of Jeanfield through the roof. The whole of Perth was talking about it.”

Six supporters’ buses are heading to Hamilton for Friday night’s game.

It’s hard to escape the ‘if we can do that to Elgin, we can do it to Clyde’ theory.

Feet will be on the ground in the players’ coach, though.

“We still have to be treated as massive underdogs I’d say,” said Mitchell.

“But after Elgin we’ve got to believe we can compete with any League Two team.

“We’ll be quietly confident and give it a good go.

“If we’re at our best and Clyde aren’t I’d like to think we can cause another upset.

“None of us are thinking about who we could get next if we win.

“It would have been nice to have been drawn against a Dundee United or a Dunfermline when the Championship teams came in for this round.

“If we were to get through it’s unimaginable to think Jeanfield could be playing Rangers or Celtic.

“And for me being a St Johnstone fan, it would be something else to play them.”

Older than the boss

The last Jeanfield manager, Ross Gunnion, was a former team-mate of Mitchell’s. So too the current one, Robbie Holden.

“Robbie scored an equaliser when we needed a point to win the league about 10 years ago,” he said.

“I think I’m a year older than him. He’s been brilliant with me since he came back in the summer.

“He doesn’t push me through every training session. If I need a night off to make sure I’m right for a Saturday, that’s what happens.

Jeanfield Swifts manager Robbie Holden.
Jeanfield Swifts manager Robbie Holden. Image: Kenny Smith/DC Thomson.

“He trusts me to know what’s best for my body.

“He’s played with Aaron Whitehead and Jamie Reid as well.

“He’s the gaffer and he gets the respect of all the boys. He’s made that transition brilliantly.”

Penalty save specialist

If the Clyde match goes to penalties, Jeanfield have a goalie who is a bit of a specialist keeping them out – even though his manager’s plan for a recent cup tie against Largs Thistle didn’t quite come off.

“He put me on with a couple of minutes left of extra-time,” said Mitchell.

“I took one goal-kick, injured my hamstring, saved two penalties in the shoot-out and we still got beat!”

Should Jeanfield get the result that takes them into the fourth round – maybe even if they don’t – expect a clip of their answer to the famous David Marshall dressing room conga to find its way on to social media, as it did from North Muirton’s Mallard bar after the Elgin victory.

“The first time that got sung was down at Annan in the Scottish a couple of years ago,” said Mitchell.

“It wasn’t long after the video that had gone viral when Scotland qualified for the last Euros.

“A few of my mates had a good drink that day and started singing it and it’s stuck ever since.

“The last one was a good one – my mate Willie got me on his shoulders in the Mallard, which isn’t easy these days!”

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