The Mantis

With hindsight, very much so.

The standard in the Highland League is pretty woeful nowadays IMO. Pre-1994 it definitely would have been fertile ground but back then there were no League clubs to benefit from it anyway. Ironically the presence of four league clubs in the area has relegated the HFL to a backwater. Over the past few seasons the HFL has been overtaken by the Lowland League, and even that is no great shakes, given that it has a heavy advantage over the HFL in population terms. Very few players in the LL would make the step up to SPFL2. At a stretch, we could be recruiting from Elgin and Peterhead, but in turn any players performing well in the HFL are likely to move to these clubs rather than straight to us. You make a fair point about the 20s though.

Right guys, let's get back on topic before the inevitable happens...

I think that's just him as captain and the repeated rumours of keeping him/his wife from wanting to go home. Don't think it's a typical wage.

Machiiiiiiiiine!

Try 4.5k.

Welcome to the forum. I take it the interviews were the usual BBC post match stuff. I never heard any of them, although the BBC website has a few written quotes.

Now I'm more confused... 2004 from 2017 maybe. Or simply from memory that we lasted 5 years the first time and 7 years the next time.

12 out of 13 surely?

Well done to the team and respect to everybody who kept the faith and travelled. I must own up to losing faith (and it'll still take a minor miracle ), after what happened in 2009. Went to all the post-split fixtures only to get relegated on goal difference with 20 minutes left, with arguably a stronger team than now.

We could use him as a butler... Sorry Matt, it was an in joke a few years back

Oh well, feck off then

Snorbens is right, that's truly awful. Is that a waxwork he's singing to

Just checked back and ICT have lost every league game I've been at this season, so it's not Yngwie that is the jinx. But fear not, I won't be there anyway. The Dingwall Debacle was the end of the season for me. Also saw the defeat at Alloa in the League Cup. The last time I saw ICT win a game was August, 5-1 at Dunfermline, and the only other ones were pre-season friendlies at Clach and Buckie (woo-hoo, 8-1 and TWO Boden goals ).

It was unlucky that Rossco was sent off but I don't think you can blame him for Higdon's late winner as he wasn't on the park at the time

We also thumped them 3-0 in the penultimate game in 1995 to end their promotion hopes and confirm Montrose in 2nd place.

I started the topic thinking that a few others might try a prediction I took the playoffs into account but my prediction still stands, i.e. Falkirk and Utd to stay down...

2009-10 season DVD would be nice

Most of us discovered 20 years ago that Livi are a shower of ****s The Toni Macaroni Arena ffs

Well that's Yogi taken the Rovers down...

I suppose Andy Barrowman couldn't be accused of betting against us as his sitters seldom went anywhere near the bar.

Can’t really blog about anybody else this week as The Blue Brazil are very much in the news. Having been part of the Scottish League system since 1905, they have finished this season as the dreaded Club 42 and face a two-legged playoff against East Kilbride to avoid dropping into the Lowland League. Worse still, this would represent a 3rd consecutive relegation. The club’s foundation is disputed (either 1881 or 1882) but they have played at Central Park since 1917. Usually dismissed as a dump by those philistines whose IQ is about the same as their age, the grand old stadium did see a crowd of 25586 when Rangers visited in 1949, in the second leg of a League Cup Quarter Final. Cowden had won 3-2 at Ibrox hence the large crowd, but lost out overall. These days the capacity is pegged at 4309, which, with home attendances averaging 3-400, is rarely tested. The floodlights date back to 1968 and a match against Celtic. They did once beat Johnstone 12-0 but that was in 1928. As recently as 2015 they lost a record-equalling 10-0 to Hearts in the Championship. I’m old enough to remember season 1970-71, which was Cowden’s only season in the top flight since the war. Andy Matthew was in charge for 6 years back in those relatively stable times for football managers, and the previous two, Harry Colville and Archie Robertson, got 4 years each. Due to the Ibrox Disaster on 2/1/71, Cowden’s match at home to Rangers on the 9th was postponed. As a young lad I had a ticket for this which I carried around in my wallet until the game was eventually played on 14th April. Back then if a game was all ticket, boys just had to pay the adult price, which in those days was 5 shillings (or 25p as decimalisation came in before the game was eventually played). A couple of years ago I was having a clear out and I sold the ticket on eBay for £24 as it had a few autographs on the back, including Willie Waddell, Derek Johnstone and Colin Jackson, the Rangers centre half who was known as The Caramel Wafer because he was ‘Gray and Dunn’. On the night Rangers won 3-1 with goals from Jardine, Greig and Stein after Kennedy had given Cowden the lead. The crowd was given as 6000 which was obviously well down as it was a meaningless midweek fixture. The teams were: Cowdenbeath: McArthur, McLaughlan, Bostock, Taylor, Kinnell, Moore, Harper, Dickson, Laing, Kennedy, Thomson. Rangers: McCloy, Alexander, Mathieson, Jardine (Penman), McKinnon, Jackson, Henderson, MacDonald, Stein, Greig, Johnston. Sandy Jardine broke his leg that night. He was in great form and would surely have started against England at Wembley a month later. Being of school age we had very little chance of getting from Midlothian over to Fife in midweek to use our long-cherished match tickets but we managed to persuade a friend, Ian Stenhouse, to drive and we piled into his Reliant Robin. For younger readers, think ‘Only Fools and Horses’. Stenny’s Robin was a 3 wheeler car with a fibreglass body. I think it was classed as a motorbike for tax and insurance purposes. No photos from that visit but I found an even older one on the internet: At the time of my first visit there was a roof over the Chapel Street end (left in this photo) but this blew away in 1983. The ground was also used for greyhounds and speedway, but in 1970 the stock cars moved in and remain to this day. I actually knew Gordon McDougall, who became Cowdenbeath owner, back in the day, as he had a small garage in Leith. The image below is from a match in September 1993 when the visitors, Albion Rovers, won 1-0. I think John Reilly was manager at the time. You can see that work is underway on the new Alex Menzies stand, which opened in 1995, after half the old stand was destroyed in 2 separate fires. One other thing I noticed, standing on the main terracing, was that the natives were revolting. The team and manager were getting abuse before the game had even started. The following season the SFL went to 4 leagues of 10 and ICT were admitted along with Ross County. ICT crossed swords with Cowden for 3 seasons before being promoted as champions in 1997. In October of that season ICT scored twice in abundant stoppage time, in front of 330, to win 4-3 leaving the home support disgusted with referee Ian Elmslie. However, the following April, 282 turned up to witness Cowden beating ICT 2-1 at Central Park to end a fine 22 game unbeaten run. Compare the shot above from 1993 with the one below, 20 years later: Following ICT’s ascent to the big time, it was to be 16 years before I set foot inside CP again. My fitba daft mate Jamie McQueen suggested going over in the train for a pre-season game in July 2013 and we enjoyed a few pints. New Sheffield Utd boss Davie Weir brought his side north for a friendly in the sunshine which ended 1-1. A decent travelling support came to witness a fresh dawn under Weir, but he was gone by October. A (very) short movie from 2013 In March of this year, on a free Saturday due to postponements in the Lowland League, I ventured over to see whether Cowden, under ex-ICT man Liam Fox, were really as bad as everybody said, and whether they could overcome Stirling Albion. I used my Jamie McQueen card to ingratiate myself with programme editor Andy Mullen and we had a good blether about the LL and League 2 matters. I sat in the New Stand first half then joined the Binos fans in the gloom of the Old Stand for a second half in which they showed what a lively bunch they were, in a crowd of 381. As for the game itself, Cowden started brightly before Dale Carrick missed an early penalty and the Binos went on to prevail 2-0, including an impressive strike from Sean Dickson. It was uncannily similar to watching Richie Foran’s ICT side, totally fragile and lacking in confidence, right down to the missed chances, loss of the first goal and the heads going down. Soon afterwards, Fox was dismissed and man of many clubs Gary Locke took his place and has steadied the ship, but has not been able to avoid the dreaded bottom place finish. Showing my age once again, I played in the same school team as Gary’s dad Danny. The rest is (fairly recent) history and so the 2-legged showdown looms. EK beat Highland League champions Buckie Thistle in a fairly towsy couple of matches and this Saturday Cowden will visit K Park for the first time in front of an all-ticket gathering of 660 before hosting the Lowland League champions on the 20th at Central Park. Let battle commence. “When the Sun Shines”. A very nice documentary by Ross Cunningham View the full article

Can’t really blog about anybody else this week as The Blue Brazil are very much in the news. Having been part of the Scottish League system since 1905, they have finished this season as the dreaded Club 42 and face a two-legged playoff against East Kilbride to avoid dropping into the Lowland League. Worse still, this would represent a 3rd consecutive relegation. The club’s foundation is disputed (either 1881 or 1882) but they have played at Central Park since 1917. Usually dismissed as a dump by those philistines whose IQ is about the same as their age, the grand old stadium did see a crowd of 25586 when Rangers visited in 1949, in the second leg of a League Cup Quarter Final. Cowden had won 3-2 at Ibrox hence the large crowd, but lost out overall. These days the capacity is pegged at 4309, which, with home attendances averaging 3-400, is rarely tested. The floodlights date back to 1968 and a match against Celtic. They did once beat Johnstone 12-0 but that was in 1928. As recently as 2015 they lost a record-equalling 10-0 to Hearts in the Championship. I’m old enough to remember season 1970-71, which was Cowden’s only season in the top flight since the war. Andy Matthew was in charge for 6 years back in those relatively stable times for football managers, and the previous two, Harry Colville and Archie Robertson, got 4 years each. Due to the Ibrox Disaster on 2/1/71, Cowden’s match at home to Rangers on the 9th was postponed. As a young lad I had a ticket for this which I carried around in my wallet until the game was eventually played on 14th April. Back then if a game was all ticket, boys just had to pay the adult price, which in those days was 5 shillings (or 25p as decimalisation came in before the game was eventually played). A couple of years ago I was having a clear out and I sold the ticket on eBay for £24 as it had a few autographs on the back, including Willie Waddell, Derek Johnstone and Colin Jackson, the Rangers centre half who was known as The Caramel Wafer because he was ‘Gray and Dunn’. On the night Rangers won 3-1 with goals from Jardine, Greig and Stein after Kennedy had given Cowden the lead. The crowd was given as 6000 which was obviously well down as it was a meaningless midweek fixture. The teams were: Cowdenbeath: McArthur, McLaughlan, Bostock, Taylor, Kinnell, Moore, Harper, Dickson, Laing, Kennedy, Thomson. Rangers: McCloy, Alexander, Mathieson, Jardine (Penman), McKinnon, Jackson, Henderson, MacDonald, Stein, Greig, Johnston. Sandy Jardine broke his leg that night. He was in great form and would surely have started against England at Wembley a month later. Being of school age we had very little chance of getting from Midlothian over to Fife in midweek to use our long-cherished match tickets but we managed to persuade a friend, Ian Stenhouse, to drive and we piled into his Reliant Robin. For younger readers, think ‘Only Fools and Horses’. Stenny’s Robin was a 3 wheeler car with a fibreglass body. I think it was classed as a motorbike for tax and insurance purposes. No photos from that visit but I found an even older one on the internet: At the time of my first visit there was a roof over the Chapel Street end (left in this photo) but this blew away in 1983. The ground was also used for greyhounds and speedway, but in 1970 the stock cars moved in and remain to this day. I actually knew Gordon McDougall, who became Cowdenbeath owner, back in the day, as he had a small garage in Leith. The image below is from a match in September 1993 when the visitors, Albion Rovers, won 1-0. I think John Reilly was manager at the time. You can see that work is underway on the new Alex Menzies stand, which opened in 1995, after half the old stand was destroyed in 2 separate fires. One other thing I noticed, standing on the main terracing, was that the natives were revolting. The team and manager were getting abuse before the game had even started. The following season the SFL went to 4 leagues of 10 and ICT were admitted along with Ross County. ICT crossed swords with Cowden for 3 seasons before being promoted as champions in 1997. In October of that season ICT scored twice in abundant stoppage time, in front of 330, to win 4-3 leaving the home support disgusted with referee Ian Elmslie. However, the following April, 282 turned up to witness Cowden beating ICT 2-1 at Central Park to end a fine 22 game unbeaten run. Compare the shot above from 1993 with the one below, 20 years later: Following ICT’s ascent to the big time, it was to be 16 years before I set foot inside CP again. My fitba daft mate Jamie McQueen suggested going over in the train for a pre-season game in July 2013 and we enjoyed a few pints. New Sheffield Utd boss Davie Weir brought his side north for a friendly in the sunshine which ended 1-1. A decent travelling support came to witness a fresh dawn under Weir, but he was gone by October. A (very) short movie from 2013 In March of this year, on a free Saturday due to postponements in the Lowland League, I ventured over to see whether Cowden, under ex-ICT man Liam Fox, were really as bad as everybody said, and whether they could overcome Stirling Albion. I used my Jamie McQueen card to ingratiate myself with programme editor Andy Mullen and we had a good blether about the LL and League 2 matters. I sat in the New Stand first half then joined the Binos fans in the gloom of the Old Stand for a second half in which they showed what a lively bunch they were, in a crowd of 381. As for the game itself, Cowden started brightly before Dale Carrick missed an early penalty and the Binos went on to prevail 2-0, including an impressive strike from Sean Dickson. It was uncannily similar to watching Richie Foran’s ICT side, totally fragile and lacking in confidence, right down to the missed chances, loss of the first goal and the heads going down. Soon afterwards, Fox was dismissed and man of many clubs Gary Locke took his place and has steadied the ship, but has not been able to avoid the dreaded bottom place finish. Showing my age once again, I played in the same school team as Gary’s dad Danny. The rest is (fairly recent) history and so the 2-legged showdown looms. EK beat Highland League champions Buckie Thistle in a fairly towsy couple of matches and this Saturday Cowden will visit K Park for the first time in front of an all-ticket gathering of 660 before hosting the Lowland League champions on the 20th at Central Park. Let battle commence. “When the Sun Shines”. A very nice documentary by Ross Cunningham View the full article

Went to see messrs Becker, Fagen & co with Naelifts at the Edinburgh Playhouse few years back. one Relegation Day per lifetime is enough for me. As Bannatyne would say, I'm out. Especially after that gutless display last Friday.

I was there but I was surprised that it was as early as December 27th, as I thought we had promotion more or less sewn up by the time the game took place. A strange game in that we went behind, had Paul Cherry sent off (surely shome mishtake ) then took the lead and then lost the game 3 minutes from the end. I got to thinking why we had been there only once (as we played everybody away twice) and it turns out that they actually moved in in November, after we had won 5-1 at the old Bayview back in August. The 3-2 game was played on a Sunday at 1345 as the new stadium had no lights. They had to replace the seats around 2005 as they were corroded by the sea air, something that hasn't happened yet at TCS.