Pele has just been appointed as the new Huntly FC manager replacing Mike Teasdale's brother John at the helm. It is also interesting to note that his old chairman Forbes Shand has taken the role of "Football Consultant" to provide a "buffer" between Pele and the board.

Edited September 2, 201015 yr by caleyboy

great news the man is a football Guru, good to hear, IIRC he started his Mangment time with them in the first place...

great news the man is a football Guru, good to hear, IIRC he started his Mangment time with them in the first place...

Don't think so "G". I believe his first management job was at Elgin City and then Huntly where he took over from Joey Harper(ex Aberdeen legend).

great news the man is a football Guru, good to hear, IIRC he started his Mangment time with them in the first place...

Don't think so "G". I believe his first management job was at Elgin City and then Huntly where he took over from Joey Harper(ex Aberdeen legend).

I stand corrected then....

delighted to see Pele get back involved football, where he belongs IMO

Pele is a great guy. I was happy to read this story this morning. Hopefully one day he will be involved again with ICT in some capacity.

I'm sure all ICT fans are delighted that he sorted himself out and is back in football management where he belongs. Everyone deserves a second chance.

Well done to Huntly too for taking a risk that many other clubs wouldn't. I'm sure they won't regret it.

And if Huntly have another Ross Tokely, Pele knows where to send him.

A significant part of this appointment is the role of Forbes Shand. He was his mentor at Huntly the first time round and even when he was at ICT Pel would look to him for advice. Pele always had difficulties dealing with board members who "knew nothing about the game" and needed "someone he could trust" as a link (the reason Grassa was appointed by The Builder). The problem Pele had was that he probably trusted too many so called friends who took him down the wrong road and left him there. I can see Pele being a very successful HFL manager once again but I really don't see him ggetting the opportunity to go back to full-time football. Good luck to him.

Yay...good news for him. I hope everything works out for him and he manages to keep his demons in check. good luck Pele!!!

A significant part of this appointment is the role of Forbes Shand.

I think it's not only good for Pele but also excellent for Huntly FC that Forbes is in there. The man is a Huntly FC legend, a gentleman... and an avid Coronation Street fan by the way! :biggrin:

Over the years Forbes has done a massive amount for Huntly FC, both financially and through his business expertise and his special relationship with Pele played a big part in Huntly's enormous success in the early 90s which continued for a while under its own momentum after Steve came to Inverness. As long ago as 1985, Forbes also provided a groundbreaking sponsorship for the Highland League through his company RB Farqhuar.

When Dougie McGilvray came in for Pele in 1995 Forbes, as Huntly Chairman, understandably did his best to keep his manager whom he had identified as a major talent.

I don't know a lot about the inside story of Huntly FC at the moment but the recent departure of a Chairman at a time when they employed and then sacked a controversial manager and seem to be drifting on the field itself does seem to suggest that all may not be well behind the scenes.

If this means that Forbes is going to have a beneficial effect for them at boardroom level as well as in support of Pele then this will be especially good news for the club.

I was also just wondering what will happen in the immediate futureat Huntly? Will Pele take his customary half dozen or so games to make his influence felt or is the situation so bad there that there will be an immediate and ongoing shot in the arm?

Good to see someone give Steve a chance . Huntly must be gash these days they got beat by Strathspey ffs !!

Good to see someone give Steve a chance . Huntly must be gash these days they got beat by Strathspey ffs !!

And well beat by a far better team.

I noticed that Huntly play Clach mid March and it's a saturday where ICT are not in action. Might go along to see a Pele team in action.

really pleased to see this. good luck to you pele, whatever else may have happened to him he will always be a caley legend!

just as an aside, i remember as a lad going to caledonian's last ever game away at huntly. would it have been pele managing them in that season?

really pleased to see this. good luck to you pele, whatever else may have happened to him he will always be a caley legend!

just as an aside, i remember as a lad going to caledonian's last ever game away at huntly. would it have been pele managing them in that season?

Christie Park 14th May 1994. I was there too, dodging the coins some of the rebels threw after the game on a day when a number of Caley fans disgraced their club and Inverness. Huntly were celebrating their first Highland League title for 64 years - under the managership of Steve Paterson. Unfortunately the behaviour of a minority of Caley "fans", over an issue about which the happy home support couldn't give a toss, spoiled the occasion which ended in a 1 all draw where Wilson Robertson scored Caledonian FC's last ever goal.

Good luck Pele!!!

really pleased to see this. good luck to you pele, whatever else may have happened to him he will always be a caley legend!

just as an aside, i remember as a lad going to caledonian's last ever game away at huntly. would it have been pele managing them in that season?

Christie Park 14th May 1994. I was there too, dodging the coins some of the rebels threw after the game on a day when a number of Caley fans disgraced their club and Inverness. Huntly were celebrating their first Highland League title for 64 years - under the managership of Steve Paterson. Unfortunately the behaviour of a minority of Caley "fans", over an issue about which the happy home support couldn't give a toss, spoiled the occasion which ended in a 1 all draw where Wilson Robertson scored Caledonian FC's last ever goal.

We couldn't give a toss that Huntly had won the league , we had just witnessed our teams last ever match after 100+ years in existence .

Good luck to Pele.

Yup, good luck to Pele and regardless of his personal demons that seem to make him 'unemployable' it is still a bit of a coup for a Highland League side to get a manager who has managed teams in all four senior divisions in Scotland.

I dont know much about Forbes Shand but to him for "taking a chance" on Pele and hopefully it is good for Pele too as it sounds like he will be working with a man he trusts, who already has faith in him, and who can hopefully keep him on the straight and narrow should temptation rear its ugly head again.

Will start looking out for the Huntly scores now !

Would I be right in saying that Pele actually started his management at Forres, winning the league, before moving to Elgin, winning the league, before moving to Huntly, and winning the league, before the history that is Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Pele elevated him to SFL legend status for us

I think your spot on bauhaus

We couldn't give a toss that Huntly had won the league , we had just witnessed our teams last ever match after 100+ years in existence .

Yes, I'm sure you couldn't. Unfortunately neither could some Caley fans, who were in effect guests at Huntly's title celebration on their own patch, find themselves capable of allowing their own club to pass into history with the dignity which its own achievements would most certainly have merited. A dignity, by the way, which was in contrast being achieved with distinction at exactly the same time 66 miles away at Kingsmills Park.

Edited September 2, 201015 yr by Charles Bannerman

Would I be right in saying that Pele actually started his management at Forres, winning the league, before moving to Elgin, winning the league, before moving to Huntly, and winning the league, before the history that is Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Pele elevated him to SFL legend status for us

No, that's not correct. Pele was one of Harry McFadden's players when Forres won the title in 1986.

He then went on to manage Elgin I think from 1988 to 90 where his achievements included a clean sweep of all the Highland honours. Then they somehow managed to let him go as a player to Huntly before he then took over there as manager and won the league as well as goodness knows what else. He went to ICT in 1995 and after he left in 2002 he then had a spell managing Forres.

Edited September 2, 201015 yr by Charles Bannerman

Good luck pele, managing at Huntly would be a fitting start to what is essentially second shot at football management (he has had flirtations with the idea before, but Huntly could act as a clean break) - i hope he takes this chance and does it in a manner he wishes he had done it the first time round!

NEVER SAY NEVER.

Never....