The record attendance will surely be broken next season if there is a first ever SPL match v Ross County ? !

Can you imagine that - and what a build up there would be to it as well. Still just a thought but more likely than ever.

County second half of the season will crumble, im pretty sure of it. Personally....i dont want to see them anywhere near the SPL as ICT are currently the biggest draw in the region...last thing we need is to be fighting for scraps with another team! Yes, we would get two good gate reciepts twice a season, but i fear the overall drop in revenue should county also make it to the spl would be greater!

I'm really quite surprised at how many people on this forum view County's elevation to the SPL positively.

Make no mistake - such a scenario would be to our detriment and could quite feasibly lead to part-time football in Inverness.

Don't underestimate the dangers (to ICT) of County entering the SPL, which fortunately, as Smee points out, is actually quite unlikely.

I think it would be negative. Strictly hypothetically speaking, if we're playing St Johnstone and they've got one of the uglies, think of the impact on our hospitality, advertising, etc.

On saying that though, I highly doubt they'll win it with Derek Adams in charge. They've had opportunities in the past with Adams at the helm to win silverware and have always bottled it, falling at the final hurdle. Although they've thrown a lot of money at this league campaign and have signed some of our legends, you don't win fizzy pop division one without beating the likes of Dundee and Falkirk - home or away. Just sayin.

I would look forward to it just the same way that Steven Thompson would like Dundee back in the SPL.It willl reignite the interest in football in the highlands and it may even convert some Old Firm pretenders to go and watch a real club where they actually live,I would also expect it to lure sleeping fans back to ICT and County.

It also puts a bit more cash into the Inverness economy, I cant see for example a Hearts fan bringing the wife up to Dingwall and saying goodbye to her on the High street, going to the match whilst she does a bit of retail therapy, I cant see fans wanting to have a weekend in Dingwall either so Inverness still makes money off the back of County even on away days.

Just to add a bit more, I think hospitality will be worth far more v County than any other previous SPL newcomer.

Regarding sponsoring can anyone give an example of a long term County sponsor who has abandoned them and advertised with us as soon as ICT reached the SPL.

Edited December 27, 201114 yr by 12th Man

So basically what folk are saying is that ICT's support is a false one and that we will lose numbers to County. Personally I believe another highland team in the top league will be good for scottish football. I also believe that the competition for revenue between the two clubs will be no different to what it is now.

So basically what folk are saying is that ICT's support is a false one and that we will lose numbers to County.

Look how many on here who were creaming themselves when County got to the Scottish Cup Final....and vowing to lend them their support. Never have i felt so dissapointed in ICT "fans". Maybe im an old fashioned "fan" but in my day...you chose a team and stuck with them, and you certainly would NEVER turn up to support your local rivals at any game...let alone a Natioanal Final. I m not a subscriber to this whole support the Highlands team mentality that seems to be rife up here. And i am 90% certain that IF County made it to the SPL...ICTs income would take a hammering!

So basically what folk are saying is that ICT's support is a false one and that we will lose numbers to County.

Look how many on here who were creaming themselves when County got to the Scottish Cup Final....and vowing to lend them their support. Never have i felt so dissapointed in ICT "fans". Maybe im an old fashioned "fan" but in my day...you chose a team and stuck with them, and you certainly would NEVER turn up to support your local rivals at any game...let alone a Natioanal Final. I m not a subscriber to this whole support the Highlands team mentality that seems to be rife up here. And i am 90% certain that IF County made it to the SPL...ICTs income would take a hammering!

County are on a good run so you would expect the feel good factor fans to turn up and they are still only getting around 2000, their own fans dont even turn up so why would ICT fans want to convert to Rossshire-ism, if their not attracting ICT fans now, seeing as they have our old players and are winning most games then why convert to them in the SPL when they will lose more frequently and probably release our old players over the next couple of seasons(if they stay up longterm)

Cant see how County getting into the SPL will have an impact on our income. Can only see it rise for the season they would be up. Increased interest in North football, icreased compitition between team, more income for inverness businesses, especially the garages ( fuel in inverness is cheaper, and it take more fuel to tow yer house behind you ). Bigger gates than against Dunfermline if its they who go down. Cant see a negative.

ICT fans wandering over the bridge to support county in big games, probably wouldnt go to our away games anyway.

SPL would also try to avoid ICT and County playing home games the same weekend anyway, same as they do with the ugly sisters, The ednbru two and if Dundee had two spl teams.

Can you imagine the train from Perth to inverness with Hearts and Celtic fans, or Gers and Hibees fans onboards, Train station would be interesting place to be. Stadium roundabout before and after games, police up here would advice against stretching their manpower. come on county, dont f up the second half of the season, would love the north derbies to be on SKY / ESPN live, even if it is just for the one season.

I thinjk you're right Bauhaus, I would be very surprised if the SPL let us both have a home game on the same day.

I'm all for Ross Co. getting up, I would put money on our average attendance going up, It would mean there was 4 teams (Rangers Celtic Aberdeen & Ross Co) where we'd have bumper crowds.

It's a no brainer for me.

Is it not the case that the powers that be sort the fixtures so that we wouldn't both be at home on the same day?

ICT's support is a false one and that we will lose numbers to County.

Well, I wouldn't put it as harshly as that but it is true that there are many followers of football, rather than of one particular team, attending TCS on matchdays who would maybe prefer to watch Ross County vs Hearts or Rangers than ICT vs. St Mirren or Dunfermline.

At the moment the only high profile games in the Highlands are going on in Inverness but if they were to happen in Dingwall too, and perhaps only in Dingwall a year or two down the line then our support would certainly be diluted.

Best keep the upstarts in Division 1 or 2, where they belong!

Edited December 27, 201114 yr by buckett

I do agree that County will take some of our sponsorship etc, and it will be more evened out that way. But what about new sponsors attracted to the idea of 2 SPL teams in the Highlands? Two extra games where we will sell out with 7,000 fans instead of 3,800. County would add more interest for Caley Thistle fans. Not only would the goal be to avoid relegation / get to top six, but also to be above County. There will be more nationwide publicity with the 2 teams in the area. It will help with local economy. To add on to what a previous poster said, if a Hearts fan comes up and stays the weekend for an ICT game, he then does the same for a County game and possibly stays in an Inverness hotel buying Inverness beer in an Inverness pub etc.

I don't believe for one second that we will lose fans to County. Not one Caley Thistle fan is going to tear up their ICT ticket and drive across the bridge. County will gain fans, but possibly fans who don't have an allegiance to a Highland team, possibly one of these ghastly Invernessian old filth fans. If they don't support Caley Thistle by now, well they never will.

Smee - I personallly have no problem wishing County well. I am a Caley Thistle fan. It is the only team I support and the only team I will ever support. It doesn't make me any less of a "fan" for wishing them well. I still love to hate them, love to hate their fans - some of them very good friends actually and I sincerely hope I will continue to love to hate them whilst taking 12 points (or 9 if we make top 6) off them next season in the SPL!!!

p.s. f*ck the County!

Has to be good for the Highlands.

And will surely put a gag on the big mouths down South who moan a lot about the long journey north.

Has to be good for the Highlands.

And will surely put a gag on the big mouths down South who moan a lot about the long journey north.

You mean...the likes of Rangers and Celtic, who want to play in Europe every season, yet moan about a 170 mile trip up the road

Edited December 28, 201114 yr by SMEE

They had well over 4000 for the home game against Falkirk in November which shows they certainly have a large enough fanbase to sustain SPL football .

What "Stevie" said. Another big turnout at T.C.S. A home game with a bit of atmosphere.(and three points in the bag!!)

As far as I am concerned, having both ICT and Ross County in the SPL next season would simply be the next step on the Highland football journey which began in 1994 when the injustice of decades was atoned for and both these clubs were rightly elected to the Third Division. There is absolutely no doubt that the two clubs coming in together was a great thing for them both. Not only did the competition between them in the early years do a lot for the quality of the start they had in the national leagues, the crowds they both got even for quite ordinary games showed the national establishment that Highland involvement was long overdue. In the case of derbies, by 1997 these were comfortably exceeding 5000 and setting huge new Division 3 records as these games rolled up. As a result there is already substantial evidence that County and ICT being in direct competition is a positive thing so that established principle is not suddenly going to change if this happens again in the SPL.

I realise that a number of ICT fans seem to think that having Ross County also in the SPL would be bad, but I really see that as cutting your nose off to spite your face. The benefits are just too huge, ranging from a definitely positive financial one to a much higher profile for the game in the North. I have even heard very ungenerous suggestions from some ICT and Ross County fans relating to people who already complain bitterly about having to travel up the A9 to Inverness!

Just to return to the OP - I'm not 100% sure what the record crowd for a Highland Derby is, but I actually wonder if it dates from the early seasons in D3 and not from the later period in D1 when attendances had begun to drop away again.

I've been doing a bit of checking and the first ever Highland Derby in the SFL in Dingwall on 27.8.94. attracted 3157. That was followed by the lowest ever of 2440 at Telford Street on 29.10.94 and the highest for that first season was also at Telford Street - 3562 for a 3-0 CT win on 6.5.95. which was a sort of response to that week's announcement that Baltacha was leaving.

In the second season (95-96), attendances were generally higher and I have a wonderful memory of the postponed New Year derby at Telford Street in January 96 (1-1 - Colin Milne equaliser after Iain Stewart opened) where the 4931 was actually the third biggest Scottish crowd on a night which also had an SPL card. This also meant that the record wasn't actually broken again in the first derby at the Caledonian Stadium where a slightly reduced 4562 watched Iain Stewart score a double without reply, with Barry Wilson also in his usual form v County. The figure went above 5K when 5017 attended a 3-0 victory in Dingwall (Maclean 2, Wilson) on 12.2.97 while new ground was again broken in the final derby of D3 championship season when Stewart on either side of Thomson produced another 3-0 on 15.3.97. in a game when Sandy Ross completed his back to back red cards for carbon copy fouls on Richard Hastings at the new stadium. This one was watched by 5525 fans.

I can't RECOLLECT any crowd bigger than that in the subsequent D1 encounters. However I don't have easy access to more recent versions of the kind of stats I have just retrieved from the magnificent bound booklet Ian Broadfoot produced, cataloguing the first two seasons and which I found in my box of source materials for Against All Odds. (A right wee Aladdin's cave that lot, which I must rake through in the quiet time running up to New Year!)

So if anyone could confirm or deny that the 5525 is actually the Highland Derby record, I would be very grateful.

Edited December 28, 201114 yr by Charles Bannerman

Sandy Ross completed his back to back red cards for carbon copy fouls on Richard Hastings

Ha! I remember that well although I couldn't remember the name of the County player.

Reckon Hazza dived both times too - sheer magic! :lol:

5846 for the first Div 1 derby of 09/10 season on 29th Aug 09 at TCS when County won 1-3 was broken in Dingwall by a crowd of 5928 who watched a boring goalless game.

A crowd of 6120 watched County win 1-0 at Dingwall on 3rd Jan 2004. Own goal from Gollie sealed it for them in 83rd minute.

The bigger crowds seem to have been at times when ICT were flying high in the league. I can see these figures being broken if both teams are holding their own in SPL. Assuming, of course, that both teams meet in SPL.

Incidently Charles I didnt trawl through any alladins cave for the stats. Only this site

Edited December 28, 201114 yr by Alex MacLeod

Incidently Charles I didnt trawl through any alladins cave for the stats. Only this site

Thanks Alex... that's just the kind of feedback I'm looking for. I'm afraid trawling through websites is not one of the stronger points of this computer illiterate! I have no recollection at all of the 6120 game but do do remember the 5846 which contributed in a big way to ICT's difficult start to that season back in D1.

Buckett... I'm sure that one, if not both, of these fouls was a hefty elbow from Sandy Ross! I also think they happened within about 20 yards of each other round about the middle of the park.

Link to match report Charles. Find the match down list then click on yes at right side to get to report.

http://caleythistleo...lder=/TPL&id=26

Edited December 28, 201114 yr by Alex MacLeod

Some stats here as well

http://www.rosscounty-mad.co.uk/footydb/loadhed.asp?TeamA=303&TeamB=446

Thanks Alex.

Not posted for a while! Personally i would rather see County in the SP(hell) than Aberdire or Leithiopia ( i love these names)

I cant see it being negative for ICT and i bet the club are just aching to play County again on the big stage. Might make the Central Belt Mafia take note for once.

I personally would like to see County in the SPL the money from these games would be very welcome when times are so hard

Pretty sure Sky would show one or two of these games live as well which would be a great advert for the highlands

There are negatives though losing match hospitality would be definite as they just seem to do it better in Dingwall somehow, sponsorship and investment would also drop with a second SPL team playing from the same area

What could be embarrassing though would be the increased gates at Victoria park as they would dramatically increase and would more than likely average out more than our poor attendances sadly

The other worrying thought is that of Grant Munro coming back to haunt ICT think most of us know it's going to happen one day and the way things are shaping out it's starting to look like it's going to be next season

dougal