Fans of Buckie Thistle, a football club on Scotland’s north-east coast and occupying a respectable fifth place in the Highland League, were initially bewildered to discover that Stephen King had referenced their team in his latest work. It is not immediately apparent whether this small town on the Moray Firth, its harbour crowded with fish processors and smokehouses, bears marked similarities to coastal Maine, where the legendary American horror maestro resides, or is host to any maniacal clowns, haunted cars, or other subterranean suburban horrors that so delight his readers. “Everyone was surprised,” said Buckie Thistle’s director of football, Graeme Tallis, with admirable understatement. “We first knew about it when fans started to let us know on Facebook that we were in the book”. If It Bleeds, the title story of King’s new collection of four novellas, features a recurring character, the private detective Holly Gibney, who investigates a bomb at a middle school where pupils participate in an exchange programme with a partner school in Scotland. The Scottish pupils learn about baseball and the Pittsburgh Pirates while those in the US learn about Buckie Thistle, a club King says he picked because of its “gorgeous name”. Alerted to this unexpected exposure, Tallis continues: “I took it upon myself to send an email, not expecting a reply, but then I got a quick response. He asked how the club was doing in lockdown, and said he would send us over two signed books.” Along with most sports clubs and venues, the pandemic has been a challenging experience for the eleven-times Highland League winners. “We’re a big part of the community, but like every other club, we came to a shuddering halt because of lockdown. Staff are furloughed but we still have bills to pay and we’re doing what fundraising we can. We have a big fanbase out there who are very good to the club.” One of those fans is Jamie Watt, a metal worker from Leyland, Lancashire. He first encountered the Jags, as the club is known, on a family holiday to the Highlands seven years ago. “I told my wife I might take in a game, and the love affair started there. They are all very genuine people, very giving – during lockdown the players were dropping off food parcels – and now they treat me like one of the lads.” Watt, who was born in Glasgow but moved south as a child, regularly travels to Buckie for matches and admits he has been missing his adopted club since travel restrictions came into force in March. Watt’s devotion to the Jags is matched only by his daughter Lucy’s dedication to Stephen King – “she owns everything he has ever published, in hardback and paperback” – so when Tallis announced he was auctioning one of the signed copies to raise funds for the club, the only question for Watt was, how much? The answer was £900. “I went in really aggressive with my bid because I thought even if I don’t get it, it’ll push up the price. My daughter got the book and the club got the money, so everyone was happy”. Watt did not tell Lucy what was coming in the post until a package arrived from the north of Scotland earlier this week. “She was in tears for half an hour,” he said. To thank King, Tallis sent him a Buckie Thistle scarf and shirt, and he has since received a photograph of the 72-year-old author happily wearing the memorabilia. “He was over the moon when I told him how much we had raised,” Tallis confirms. “There’s an open invitation to Stephen King to visit us at [club ground] Victoria Park. He said he hadn’t been to Scotland for a few years so fingers crossed.” The other signed copy will remain in the club’s trophy room for the time being, said Tallis. Watt is brimming with optimism as the King novella brings the Jags to a global audience: “In an ideal world it’ll capture people’s imagination, and they might want to buy a replica shirt or go to a match. It might bring them to a new audience and put some money in their coffers, especially now. A lot of these clubs operate on a shoestring.” Tallis is more circumspect. “It’s put us more on the map than we were already,” he muses. “I didn’t realise there were so many Stephen King fans going about.”