Ross Norman Tokely is not exactly a household name in world or even UK football, but this weekend against Airdrie United he will (if selected) become the first player in ICT history to reach a milestone that will likely never be beaten. He will make his 500th appearance for the club.

This will put Rosscoe in the same bracket as only a small number of Scottish players in the modern era that have amassed all their senior appearances for a single club.

Perhaps surprisingly, one the "leaders" of the modern day figures is none other than ICT assistant manager Maurice Malpas who played an amazing 832 times for Dundee United (617x LGE,151x CUP,64x Europe). Others on the "loyalty list" include Paul McStay who clocked up 678 appearances for Celtic, and Willie Miller who took to the park 558 times for Aberdeen.

When researching this article, a few other names also sprung to mind such as Dave Narey, Roy Aitken, Jim Leighton, Alex McLeish and former ICT manager John Robertson, but all had to be excluded as they had played for more than one club. Even ICT manager Terry Butcher didnt quite make it to Rosscoe's appearance level. He clocked up 350 appearances for Ipswich between '78 and '86 and somewhere in the region of 127 for Rangers.

On a global level, single club players do still exist throughout the game - AC Milan's Paolo Maldini is a great example, having notched up over 1000 appearances for club (900+) and country (126) in a 25 year career that ended just a few months ago. In Maldini's case it is a family affair as his father Cesare Maldini notched up more than 400 apperances for the club. Real Madrid's captain, Raul is another who is over the 500 mark and closer to home, in the English Premiership, Ryan Giggs is the most obvious candidate with 800+ appearances for Manchester United from 1991 to the present day. Liverpool can boast two players high up on the loyalty list with Jamie Carragher (580+) and Steven Gerrard (480+) making over 1000 appearances between them.

We salute all those players who show loyalty to a single club, but most of all we salute our very own Ross Tokely who is already an unofficial ICT club legend

Born 08/03/79 in Aberdeen, Ross (30) was a raw 17 year old central midfielder playing for Huntly in the Highland League when he was signed by his former manager Steve Paterson on 3rd June 1996. At the time, no-one paid much attention to the signing of the youngster with attention instead focusing on the "big" names to arrive ahead of what was to be a championship winning season - Barry Wilson, Paul Cherry and Scotty McLean. However, Paterson was quoted at the time as saying "People will not have a clue who Ross Tokely is – but they soon will. He has only just turned 17 but I think he has a great future. I rate him that much it's my intention to put him straight into the first team".

Ross made his debut for the club in a cup game against Clyde at Broadwood Stadium, Cumbernauld on 3rd August 1996. Caley Thistle lost this game in extra-time and Ross didnt feature again for a while. He made his full league debut on 14th September 1996 in a 2-0 victory at Telford street over East Stirlingshire. In the early days of his career, Ross was asked to play in almost every position on the park (including in goal during a 1999 match Vs Livingston when Les Fridge was sent off [Ross kept a clean sheet]). By the time we reached the SPL in 2004 and adopted squad numbers, he had worn every shirt number except 9 ... maybe Maurice and Terry will let him wear that one for his 500th?

Ross of course was part of the historic side that defeated Celtic 3-1 at Parkhead on a certain evening in February 2000 and also scored another vital goal a couple of years later against his boyhood heroes Hearts at Tynecastle in another 3-1 win over SPL opposition. In fact, for a defender, he has not done too badly at all, netting 33 times in his 499 appearances so far.

Ross became the record appearance holder when he broke Charlie Christie's total of 314 appearances on 9th April 2005 at Rugby Park, Kilmarnock. Richard Hastings, Roy McBain and Barry Wilson all subsequently overtook Charlie's record, but Ross is still streaks ahead of them all and none are likely to surpass his achievement (especially as Roy is now the only one of the three still at ICT).

As part of the research for this article we have had access to a few other articles written about Rosscoe over the years - but one anecdote that sticks out is from Ian Broadfoot's programme piece from Rosscoe's testimonial where he recalls the story of a Balloch teacher who set a class project on "Famous Scots".

The story goes that "pupils had to name ten famous Scots. One girl, clearly impressed by her involvement in the club's Hot Shots, put Ross Tokely third behind William Wallace and Robert the Bruce. Her father decided that this was perhaps a little over the top and persuaded her to substitute Kenny Dalglish. Dalglish for Tokely is quite a substitution! This story goes a long way to show the place Ross holds in Inverness football folklore after ten years and 362 appearances for ICT".

138 appearances later, and the legend that is Rossco is even more firmly entrenched in Inverness Football folklore and we have a feeling that this girl may even have put him higher up the list if asked now.

No review of Rosscoe's career is complete without mentioning his perceived record as a bad boy who is always getting booked, but as with many things, when you look at the facts, they paint a different story. We realise that drawing attention to this aspect of Ross' game might be seen as a bit negative but on the contrary, we have included it as we think the numbers show that despite his reputation as a big no-nonsense defender, he is in fact just a big pussycat !!! In 500 appearances, Ross has been booked a total of 85 times. That is only once every 6 games or so (5.87 to be exact) which is pretty reasonable for a man playing in his position. As for sendings off, the total might even be viewed as remarkable by some ... 7 times in 499 games so far or once every 71 games (once every 2 seasons roughly!).

We are going to stretch things a little for our next little bit of trivia, but you could also argue that he has played in every season ICT have been in existence .... Inverness was not added to the front of the Club's name until season 96/97 - the same season that Ross was signed ! Before that, ICT were only CT

One achievement however that cannot be debated however was his clean sweep of every single player and fan award at the end of our first SPL season in 2004/05. This had never been done before and he walked away with the Players' Player, Supporters' Player, Supporters' Club Player, Matchday Programme Player and CaleyThistleOnline Player of the Year trophies

So there you have it. Ross Tokely, club stalwart, ICT legend, and proof that heart, determination and footballing skill can take you all the way from the Highland League to the Premier League. Ross we salute you on the occasion of your 500th appearance for Inverness Caledonian Thistle and as you are still only 30, hopefully we will see a few hundred more in seasons to come.

We will close with some comments from two of Ross' former managers, John Robertson & Steve 'Pele' Paterson.

Steve Paterson (Manager May 1995 - Dec 2002)

Ross was a big lad, even at the age of 16 when I signed him for Huntly. But one of his biggest attributes was his approach to training and his desire to get to the top in football. When he joined Huntly he had the ambition to be a professional footballer and although we were only part-time at Inverness when he joined us at the club, he saw the move as a step-up on the way to realising his ambition.

I’m sure he never dreamt when he signed that he would have been a one-club man but he must be praised for his total commitment and his dedication. I always think of him and Barry Robson, both of whom came through at Inverness, as having a similar attitude, one that drove them on to be as good as they could be. They each wanted to make something of their football, and both did.

Ross was one of my favourites because having a player like him so young and for so long he almost became like a son to me and to this day I speak with him regularly and still follow his career. He has been a tremendous player for Inverness .

I am surprised he didn’t move on, particularly after his testimonial when he may have taken stock and been satisfied with the service he gave the club, and perhaps tried football south of the border, either in the Championship or League One. Personally, I think he’s good enough for the Championship. It could be argued he might have gone south and tested himself.

I believe that if the club doesn’t win promotion this season he may look again at his career and think it is time for him to move on while he’s still at an age where he can make an impact. I certainly believe he is too good for the SFL. He has been a credit to Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

John Robertson (Manager Dec 2002 - Nov 2004)

For any player to acheive 500 appearances at any club these days does not just pay respect to a very loyal player but a player who has consistently showed desire hunger and the ability to remain in the team for such a lengthy period.

Ross Tokely has shown all these abilities in abundance and there are not many more awe inspiring sights to be seen at the Caledonian Stadium over the years than Ross charging down the wing in full flight with the ball at his feet. The fact that most of his crosses end up in the Moray Firth is irrelevant (only kidding Ross).

Having been on the end of some of Ross's less than well timed tackles in the past I know first hand how much he tries for the cause that is ICT. I actually found out that Ross is not as quick as some would think when, in the twilight of my playing days, I brushed Ross aside, and raced away with my 'electrifying pace!!!!' to score for Livingston one day. Retribution was swift though as the next two tackles saw me in row z.

Managing Ross was easy and despite his size he is a very gentle giant when he had to visit the manager s office for a chat (not that it happened very often), but the funniest thing I saw was Donald Park in full flow standing eye to eye with Ross at half time one day when Donald thought Ross was at fault for a conceded goal. Ross was still taller than Parky even though he was sitting down but did not dare look him in the eye for fear of more tongue lashing and did his best not to laugh.

Ross has chipped in with his fair share of goals over the years but it his all round game that the ICT fans have come to love and i am sure he is going to add to a tremendous appearance record over the coming years. In an age when players move with ease we should all applaud this player who is a 'giant' both on and off the pitch.