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Great memories. Back in the days when the Highlands were represented by Highlanders (mostly)

I was reminded of one of Inverness football’s finest moments - a decade before the Celtic Park epic whose silver jubilee approaches - when I saw this January 1990 photo of snowbound Telford Street in today’s PandJ. There’s a fair chance that this was taken in relation to Caley’s Scottish Cup replay against Airdrie on a snowy night at Telford Street, where the team from the Highland League edged its Scottish second tier opponents 5-4 on penalties after a 1-all draw. The outcome, a decade before going ballistic, was another episode in Inverness’s proud Scottish Cup history. One of my great regrets is having had to miss this legendary occasion. The game started 7 minutes late to allow a 3485 crowd in and Caley went a goal down but Wilson Robertson equalised to send the tie to penalties where John Docherty missed Caley’s first one. Airdrie also missed one, taking the shootout to sudden death where Danny MacDonald (the current manager’s brother-in-law) buried Caley’s sixth and Hamish Morrison saved Airdrie’s next to send Telford Street wild. This was a golden era for Inverness in the Scottish Cup since this game came just a few years after Thistle beat Kilmarnock 3-0 at Kingsmills to earn a trip to Celtic Park and Caley played both Rangers and Hearts - although I recollect that at least two of these games ended in 6-0 defeats. Then in 1992, Caley held visitors St Johnstone to a draw and that was just four years before Caley Thistle reached the quarter finals against Rangers. Fast forward another 3 and 4 years and we have back to back semi-final appearances at Hampden… and there were still two finals to come. Putting that lot together makes quite a Scottish Cup saga across four decades!

Nobody's mentioned the Clach park, with a capacity of 3000 or so. Could a groundshare deal be done between Highland League and Scottish League that would be mutually beneficial to both clubs? Certainly more accessible to many by foot than some others being mentioned.

Massive ****-up by the league. They've only awarded us 3 points. Reminds me of European football, where the scoreboard will only designate one goal, forgetting away goals count double.

Cricky, 35 years, wow! The tie in Airdrie was my first ever time of watching Caledonian F.C. We were so unlucky not to win the game at the first attempt. If I remember correctly we fell behind and, I think, a goal down at HT. Second half saw Caley go for it. We were 2-1 up until around the 96th minute. We were robbed. Great introduction though to my Caley supporting days. I couldn't make the replay unfortunately.

This just has to be my worst season ever. Just can't pick them and too many late goals. I blame the ref.

I remember watching thar penalty shoot out from the tunnel with the late Fiona Mackenzie. Well I say watched....think it was through my bitten fingernails! Would never happen now re playing in these conditions but what a night!!

I remember being at this game. It was bloody cold. Could not get into the Howden end that night and had to stand in no-mans land between the stand and the Howden End. After the game, like many others, we trudged diagonally across the park to the Comet/B&Q end exit that had been opened as the main exit was struggling to cope with the crowd. I remember to this day that as cold as it was, the ground was heavy and muddy as ****. Ruined a decent pair of shoes that night.

I don’t think the Bught is even a starter here, and for one or two reasons, Cherly. Back in 1993, INE commissioned a study which eventually led to the choice of the current stadium site, but the Bught never even figured. Agreed, the West Link has appeared since then which might appear to improve access to close to the Bught, but in terms of immediate access, the area is already a traffic nightmare, made worse by everyone trying to pile out on to Glenurquhart Road because you can no longer drive north along the riverside because of that £2.5M cycleway that nobody uses. The other big problem with the Bught is that the land is all already committed to other purposes and - to be blunt - people aren’t going to be prepared to be dislodged simply to accommodate a football club that’s failed to run itself properly. The Bught Stadium itself would be a complete no-no since it is currently undergoing a multi-million pound upgrade as a national centre for shinty. You mentioned sharing with the rugby club or the athletics track. Both of these are HighLife Highland facilities so any football club would simply be tenants and there would probably difficulties with advertising signage. But, more fundamentally, the rugby club doesn’t even have a stand while, although the running track has a small one, spectator areas are quite limited. Also, there is no running water at the track past the sports centre which is the only location of toilets and, with field event areas on the infield, the Queens Park isn’t actually big enough to accommodate a football pitch. And then there’s the issue that Highland RFC and Inverness Harriers both have their own fixture lists which they wouldn’t be prepared or indeed able to have disrupted, and the same goes for both clubs’ weekly training sessions which would clash with midweek football fixtures. What the 1993 report showed was that Inverness wasn’t, even then, well provided with potential sites for a football stadium so - apart from possible greenfield areas outwith the city boundary - I don’t see that having become any better over the last 30 years of development.

I have now managed to establish the route by which Cameron and Morrison acquired control of the ICT Property Company and hence of the lease of the car parks and of the so called Bermuda Triangle at the far end of the North car parks. This was purchased from a body that was effectively Tullochs, which also tells us that about 8ish years ago, when the stadium was given back to the club by Tullochs, they retained the car park lease under Propco whose two directors, before Cameron and Morrison took over in August 2023, according to Companies House, were George Fraser, former Chairman of Tullochs and a Cesidio de Ciacca who appears to have been a minor Propco shareholder. This means that, contrary to what many, including myself, had thought, the club gained nothing from the acquisition so the transaction was not apparently made as a bail-out. So why, then, did Cameron and Morrison acquire this intangible but potentially valuable asset if it wasn’t to keep the club afloat? In Cameron’s case, it’s especially mysterious since the gentleman is 82 years old and there are other gestures he could have made that might have helped the club more. As for Morrison, five months after he acquired his share of that lease, he also made a loan of £1.65 million to the club, but with the security of the Stadium plus the land on which it stands and right out to the pavement. As previously mentioned, this security (Charge) may, in the opinion of the administrator, be subject to challenge, but as things stand, Cameron and Morrison - who resigned as club directors respectively in July and May 2024 - potentially have complete control over the stadium and all that surrounds it. It was also made pretty clear at the administrator’s press conference on December 23rd that Cameron and Morrison - respectively based in Aviemore and Broughty Ferry - have been attempting to play hardball over the car park lease, leading us to ask whether they are looking for pretty big bucks for it? It is therefore very clear that these two former directors pose the biggest obstacle that the administrator has to clear as he tries to ensure that this club survives and moves forward. As a post script, it was my firm understanding back in 1994 that the Common Good Fund granted the original lease specifically for the purpose of taking Scottish League football to Inverness so any attempted change of use might rank alongside the query over Morrison’s loan in terms of what is going for the club here.

If I am remembering correctly, the tie at Airdrie ended 2-2 and I think the home side needed a late equaliser. Airdrie were close to the top of the second flight at the time, highlighting what a remarkable performance (x2) this was by Caley.

My money is on the Administrator knowing the Companies Acts better than RM. Just weigh this up: The Companies Act 2006 codified certain common law and equitable duties of directors for the first time. The act sets out the general duties of directors, which are: to act within powers in accordance with the company’s constitution and to use those powers only for the purposes for which they were conferred to promote the success of the company for the benefit of its members to exercise independent judgement to exercise reasonable care, skill and diligence to avoid conflicts of interest not to accept benefits from third parties to declare an interest in a proposed transaction or arrangement

Thats a possibility. The land may be worthwhile to the council in terms of selling it on or leasing it as part of the freeport area if we were to be relocated or perhaps they let it lie fallow for a few years to truly drive the value down. However, where would we go and how would we finance a new stadium? Would this be part of any deal to reclaim the reclaimed land? I have no idea of the legalities of this, but if the lease has been "acquired" out from underneath us then no-one can cry foul if the council do it to them! RM once told me - when we were discussing potential links over here - that he would sell his stake in the club for £1 if the right person came along. I challenge him to do that now! Come to the table, work things out for the benefit of all. Was going to cut out parts of this for brevity but I simply cannot. You are right Charles. There has been a lack of clarity and transparency going on for years, one that you have highlighted here and elsewhere for some time and which our posters on here have also been concerned about for years. There is a lot that doesnt pass the sniff test, and it has got stinkier every year, month and week. As shareholders we have been treated like mushrooms, kept in the dark and fed on s*** ! There has to be some dereliction of process and duty of care in this somewhere.