How author Stephen King is helping keep Highland League side going

Buckie Thistle have thanked famous horror writer Stephen King for his "fantastic" donation towards a fundraising campaign aimed at securing the future of the club.

The pair struck up a relationship six years ago when King featured the Highland League club in his book, If It Bleeds.

At the time, the best-selling writer of works including Carrie and The Shining donated two copies of the novel to the Moray side, one of which was auctioned off.

The 79-year-old has helped boost their coffers again this time round as the club tries to navigate its way out of its current financial predicament.

Buckie Thistle interim president Daniel Farquhar told BBC Scotland: "It is fantastic. We reached out and we are just really grateful for Stephen to take the time to donate something.

"We don't want to disclose the sum but it is a nice little figure that will keep us going. It will help pay for players and operation costs and things like that.

"The response we got back in the email from him was 'hopefully this donation inspires others to get involved and put their hands in their pockets as well', so we are eternally grateful and we just hope it does inspire others to help us."

Buckie Thistle found themselves in the spotlight in early 2024 when they played Celtic in the Scottish Cup, losing 5-0 in Glasgow.

The Highland Jags have found it tough to make ends meet after long-standing president Garry Farquhar stepped down for health reasons earlier this year.

His son Daniel said: "Our operating costs of around £20,000 per month are far outweighing the money coming in at the moment, so we are undergoing a big task just now just to look at expenditure, try and reduce that.

"We have had in the region of £55,000 worth of donations in the last five or six weeks, so it is phenomenal."