"Kenny Mackie walks on water" resounded the Fife fans after a glorious one-nil victory at Glebe Park, Brechin. "Aye, shite floats" remarked one old-timer, resisting the near hysteria induced by a rare away win.
Ken Mackie arrived at Bayview in 1977, having made his name while with Dunfermline as the man who refused to sign for Glasgow Rangers. A commendable decision one might have thought, but one also had to question just how desperate Rangers were in their quest to find eleven protestants to play for them.
Mackie was the archetypal center-forward. Big, slow and dumb enough not to mind being banished to the wilderness of East Fife's frontline.
His exploits were varied, one week he could be terrible, the next, even worse. He certainly made sure the Glasgow Rangers' of this world gave him a wide berth.
Within two years, Ken hit rock-bottom when he was dropped in favour of Alan Blair, as Davie Clarke brought new meaning to defensive football by fielding two goalkeepers.
Almost as entertaining were the antics of Mackie's father who followed his son wherever he played. Mackie senior's face went through a veritable cosmos of colours - pink, through to red, scarlet to several shades of purple - in reaction to junior's efforts on the pitch, which ranged from the embarrassing to the abysmal.
I have a souvenir which, for me, sums up Ken Mackie.
The colour photograph comes from 1979, when the sports magazine "Scoop" mysteriously chose to feature East Fife and Raith Rovers team photos. In the picture the lads put up a reasonable, if somewhat windswept, performance. However, with the rest of the team attaining a semblance of uniformity, with folded arms and without any ridiculous smiles, gestures or hairstyles, there is Big Ken, complete with flabby corn-beef legs, a great gormless grin under his Larry the Lamb hairdo and standing with his hands on his hips. Typically, Ken blew it.
The year was 1980 and Mackie was in the twilight days of his career with the Mighty Men from Methil.
When Ken somehow managed to score, the old boy overheated completely and appeared to short-circuit. He would then turn to the person nearest saying "That's my boy!".
by ANGUSFIFER