This old Thistle thing has cropped up again.

For over 10 years now, fans have shouted "CALEY" from the terraces and the stands.

It is maybe not politically correct, but how often do you hear people shouting "THISTLE"?

Perhaps we should stop being so sensitive and accept that, whereas the history of the club's merger is safely contained within the official name, the nickname of the club, i.e. the name that people will shout and chant, and by which they will refer to their team, is and always will be "CALEY".

Perhaps you should go and post on the Caley website  :023:

Perhaps you should go and post on the Caley website  :023:

I got plenty of places to post, I pop on to this site now and again to see if there is any gossip which I have missed and to laugh at the petty squabbling which goes on here between propper football fans and politically correct sweety rustlers and prawn sandwich munchers.

I swear we had a better class of fan in the SFL days the SPL seems to have dragged a lot of PC pussies out of Eastgate on a Saturday afternoon.

I don't post much, as I said, but this is a subject I still feel strongly about and I have passed those feelings on to my kids I only hope that the old Caley and Thistle fans do the same because the history of those two clubs should not be allowed to die along with them.

The main reason I don't post here is because, as stated, there are too many PC fans arguing about off the cuff comments etc (see the "Elton/ Intertoto thread) and as everyone knows "Arguing on the internet is like running in the special olympics, you may win but at the end of the day you are still retarded" *steps back for the torrent of political correctness to erupt*

I have no doubt my post will be edited by the over zealous mods now :33: :023:

Obviously your looking for debate but not getting it birdog, even with yourself. Your first post says 'but the name Caledonian has now got an unwanted growth at the end of it. Even if it means protesting at Scottish League games five years from now, we'll fight to the bitter end to get rid of it'.

Then in your next 'I still feel strongly about and I have passed those feelings on to my kids I only hope that the old Caley and Thistle fans do the same because the history of those two clubs should not be allowed to die'.....

Bit contradictory is it no. First post get rid of the Thistle link....next post save the Thistle memory.

My personal view is that the three names should be retained...INVERNESS THISTLE CALEDONIAN FC

Birddog's Sig "Forget about who you thought you were, and just accept who you are!"  :015:

Obviously your looking for debate but not getting it birdog, even with yourself. Your first post says 'but the name Caledonian has now got an unwanted growth at the end of it. Even if it means protesting at Scottish League games five years from now, we'll fight to the bitter end to get rid of it'.

Then in your next 'I still feel strongly about and I have passed those feelings on to my kids I only hope that the old Caley and Thistle fans do the same because the history of those two clubs should not be allowed to die'.....

Bit contradictory is it no. First post get rid of the Thistle link....next post save the Thistle memory.

My personal view is that the three names should be retained...INVERNESS THISTLE CALEDONIAN FC

Not contradictory at all I was trying to say that the Thistle fans should be proud of the Inverness Thistle history as I am of the Caledonian history after all the two teams had a great rivalry back in the good old days and I am not advocating mearly getting rid of the thistle name I am saying Thistle should never have been involved in the first place but a condition of an Inverness team getting into the SFL at the time was that 2 of the clubs from the town, as it was then, had to merge. An unfortunate occurance but decisions were made which were beyond my control.

As for your suggestion that the team should be called Inverness Thistle Caledonian it does not quite work due to the fact that Thistle is a noun and Caledonian is an adjective otherwise I would be happy for that scenario.

Birddog's Sig "Forget about who you thought you were, and just accept who you are!"  :015:

LOL nice try but I never "thought" I was a Caley fan I knew I was, and still am.

Feck me, last week it was equations, this week it's grammar. Don't know how you can stay away from this forum birdog  :015: :015: :015:

Didnt think the merger was a prerequisite of getting into the league. Caledonian could never have afforded to go it on their own, otherwise they would have. And the same goes for Thistle. The teams had to merge to get the needed revenue through the gates.

One question though, do you believe the great debate, the hatred etc would have continued had Clach not pulled out of the deal.

Birddog's Sig "Forget about who you thought you were, and just accept who you are!"  :015:

I was tickled by the irony of that too.

I've said it before, I don't know if I said it on here however, that the name should be changed to the Tulloch Tigers

Caledonian Cougars?

Some great rhetoric from birddog but he'll then probably go and spoil his image, revealing himself as some kind of second rate rebel who even knows who Chic Allan was!

who was chic allen?  :029:

Some great rhetoric from birddog but he'll then probably go and spoil his image, revealing himself as some kind of second rate rebel who even knows who Chic Allan was!

Not old enough to remember Chic Allan  but after Googling I see he played in the same Caley line up as Freddy Neild who trained us whippersnappers when I was at Kingussie high school Bobby Neild was the better player of the two brothers if the stories I heard were true I believe Bobby had trials down south but refused to go because Freddy wasn't accepted, I may be wrong though my memory is slightly fried by years of abuse :016:

Caledonian Cougars?

Birddog's Sig "Forget about who you thought you were, and just accept who you are!"  :015:

I've said it before, I don't know if I said it on here however, that the name should be changed to the Tulloch Tigers

Both sound like they should play on an ice rink

One question though, do you believe the great debate, the hatred etc would have continued had Clach not pulled out of the deal.

I can't answer that question because my crystal ball is away at the jewelers getting polished, I will however state that I don't think there is any hatred between our fans just an old rivalry which is slowly dying off but I intend to keep it alive if only ever so slightly by educating my children in the history of the club which they so dearly love. Rivalry is not a bad thing just look at this thread there is an abundance of passion here showing that this club will thrive because the fans feel so deeply about not only the club as it is now but also the fact that a club of 14 years age has a whole heap of history to stir those passions. Now if only we could get the new recruits to the supporting ranks to feel the same we might get a better atmosphere at the TCS.

Feckin spot on Birdog and rite be feckin hind ya mun.

Chiccy was in the feckin 70's (I was there then  :017: :017:) - I am Caledonian - I am a Howden Ender till I die - Birdog is too - We are loyal to our past and loyal to our present and our future.

THE HOWDEN END IS IN THE SKY - THE HOWDEN END WILL NEVER DIE - GOD BLESS INVERNESS CALEDONIAN THISTLE.  :011:

The new museum should go a long way towards providing education to new and future fans as to the history of both ICT and the clubs which were sacrificed to make it possible.

I don't for one minute think we should, or indeed need, to forget about Thistle and Caley, but I do think some people need to move on from the merger.  The anti-merger campaign failed - regardless of the reasons, the politics and whatever other excuse anyone cares to cast up for that failure what's done is done.  Nothing anyone does now will change that or turn the clock back.

I was against the merger at the time, but in hindsight you have to wonder where Thistle and Caley would be today if it never happened.  You could argue one or other team may have made it into the SFL of their own accord at some future date, but it is just as likely that with the current economic climate in football and the depleting gates which are being witnessed across the whole game (a trend ICT seem to be bucking, slowly but surely) then the reality is that one or other clubs could have gone to the wall and been lost totally.

Many of those who resent ICT claim some unfaltering loyalty to one or other pre-merger team.  I call in to question that loyalty.  ICT may be the ******* child of Thistle and Caley, but it is the child all the same and you do not disown a child simply because you didn't like one or other of the parents.

They don't want people to forget about the clubs that passed, yet they fail to realise that the only thing keeping that history alive is ICT and it's continuing existence and success.  If ICT was to disappear then everything that come before would disappear along with it, including the history they claim to cherish so much.

In short - the truly loyal Thistle and Caley fans of old are those who lend support to ICT today, not only to assist in it's future, but to protect the history of that which came before.

Nice post CaleyD :clapping03:. I remember from my times posting on the old board (as stonedsailor) that we very rarely agreed on anything, however since you have basically taken most of what I've said already and reworded it :016: then I can hardly disagree with you.

What you (and I) did fail to cover in our posts was that the name of our club is the best in British football (with the exception of the first and last parts :016:) and we should never ever allow it to be changed. Call the club what you want shout "Caley" shout "Inverness" shout "Thistle" (don't expect me to join that shout though :016:) but just make sure you let the boys on the park hear that you are there.

Wonder if theres any old Zaanstreet supporters still refusing to acknowledge AZ Alkmaar as their clubs name when singing  :024: They've a few years on us in merger terms but UEFA Cup semi finalists... now there's a thought...

Feckin spot on Birdog and rite be feckin hind ya mun.

Chiccy was in the feckin 70's (I was there then  :017: :017:) - I am Caledonian - I am a Howden Ender till I die - Birdog is too - We are loyal to our past and loyal to our present and our future.

THE HOWDEN END IS IN THE SKY - THE HOWDEN END WILL NEVER DIE - GOD BLESS INVERNESS CALEDONIAN THISTLE.  :011:

And who is it that always kicks of the O2B...........................and takes so much time and care with the banner. :023:

Oh, and the red n black will make a comeback..............................in the form of next seasons away top :016: