snorbens_caleyman

In 1954 or 55 - before I was around - my parents had a motorbike/camping holiday in Orkney. The photos below show their bike being unloaded at Stromness, and the winchman. There is also a postcard with that b/w pic of the St Ola.

Well, you said it yourself - "Big cup game on the Saturday after". So the derby is a chance to try out players, with no consequences for cup or league. And it minimises the risk of injury to vital players needed for the cup game. Yes, the downside is that it would be another chance for the first team to gel.

The enlarged photos at the shop website show that they don't. They say "Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC".

Fair enough. If I wasn't so lazy I'd have checked Alex Main's book first. However, my old season ticket below suggests that your date is not quite right. Added later Having checked Alex Main's book and a few other sources, I see little to suggest that the club was ever formally called Inverness Caledonian. Pictures of league flags and programmes from all eras invariably say just "Caledonian", apart from one programme from 1991-92 on the Caley Nostalgia website, which says "Inverness Caledonian". The club is always referred to as just "Caledonian" or "Caley" by Alex Main, and by Bill McAllister in his history of the Highland League. CB's "Against All Odds" is no help at all

<pedant> Who was this Inverness Caledonian of whom they speak? </pedant>

I think if we want to continue discussing this, we should take it to another forum - Serious Discussion. However, to answer Caley Stan's question - "Only armed forces. Why?" - it is one of the results of a deliberate policy of UK governments of all colours (Lab, Con/Lib and Con) to improve public recognition of the Armed Forces. Over the last few years, I suspected that I was seeing the military more and more - parades in the streets, TV programmes both factual and fictional, the Invictus Games, Armed Forces Day, even the Military Wives choir, and so on. It turns out that I was right. So if you have had that feeling too, now you know. It's not a secret - although I wonder how many people are aware of it. The report which led to these activities can be found here - http://www.ppu.org.uk/militarism/recognition_of_our_armed_forces.pdf The contents page is a good summary of what it's all about. Please do not read any personal about me in the fact that that link is to the website of a secular pacifist organisation. It's just a link that was in something that I was reading, and until two minutes ago I had never looked at anything on the website other than that report.

Speak to me now, IHE!!

Thanks for replying! I know that one or two here are old enough, so I wasn't being totally facetious when I asked if anyone was there. It was before my time, but my late father must have been there - I came across this in the many boxes of old photographs that I took out of the family home years ago, and that I am only now exploring. I remember my Dad and my grandfather talking about Bobby Bolt, Ginger Mackenzie and Joopie Mitchell - and they'd probably have known all the other Inverness players too. Roy Lytham was on the committee at Thistle when my Dad was there in the late 60s - he was the only man who could get off with taking the mickey out of Jock McDonald. I think I remember Tom McNiven being there too - I don't think he had any official position, but he always used to be in the "tunnel" under the stand.

It was 64 years ago today. Were you there? Click on the PDF link below to see the complete programme. complete programme.pdf

One of my former golfing buddies was a junior in a law firm in London in the 1960s. The firm acted for Peter Sellers, who was madly protective and controlling over Britt Ekland. Sellers used to spend a fortune on international phone calls to the lawyers - not to her - asking what she was up to, and wanted her kept under surveillance at all time (the law firm refused). Anyway, one day he had to deliver some legal papers to him. The door was answered, as in your wildest dreams, by Britt Ekland wearing a silk negligee and obviously little else. "Peter's away", she purred, "Would you like to come in?". Reader, he said "No thanks!". (And is still happily married to this day.)

Was in Orkney for a few days in the summer. Ferry from Gills Bay to St Margaret's Hope - lovely day on the way up, but wet and blustery coming back. They really should tell people to leave the cars unlocked. You're not allowed near them during the voyage, but as soon as the ship clears the harbour and starts pitching and rolling, all the car alarms go off. And they keep sounding until you reach the other end.

Wish I had your confidence. How many goals have we let in straight after the restart? And normally I would say that superior fitness should count as the game goes on. But from what I've read here... Fingers crossed.

So how many are you Seeing today, o great Seer?

In Firefox, Tools > Options > Privacy takes you to a screen on which there is an option to remove individual cookies. Selecting this presents you with a list of domain names from which you have received cookies - each of these "domains" is a folder which you can drill into to see all the cookies from that domain. I'm using Firefox 55.0.3, but I'm pretty sure that this functionality has been around in FF in this form for quite a while.

I never knew that! "Hills of dung are hardly unknown in football, at least in the metaphorical sense, but Aberdeen fans have a powerful affection for theirs. The name of the club's home at Pittodrie derives, evidently, from a Gaelic term for 'a place of manure'. When the newly established club took possession of the site in 1891, they found exactly that; it had been used to stable police horses. There was also a rubbish dump while the wider area was known as Gallows Marsh." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/2369117/Pittodrie-built-on-rotting-foundations.html And I've just discovered that "Ibrox" means "badgers' den"...

Exactly. "The Dump".

I used to work with a guy - Steve King - who told me that he had been their Chairman for a while. Looking at their website, I see that he is still responsible for website admin. He told me that one of the biggest hassles for a small club like Ware was a home tie in the FA Cup. The fans may have loved it, but it was a lot of work and expense for the club. The FA published pages and pages of rules and regulations, all of which had to be adhered to. Proper turnstiles, a certain type of barrier round the pitch, a certain number of police in and around the ground, a match programme of at least <x> pages of a minimum size, with a specified number of pages having to be in colour. And so on, and so on....

Coming a bit late to this thread, because I was away last week. My answer to the question is that it's in my blood. My grandfather played for Citadel in the early 1920s, and was their trainer after that. He was also trainer for Thistle for some time in the early 50s. My Dad was never a player, but was Thistle secretary for a couple of seasons at the end of the 60s, just before they won the league. Up until then, I had supported Caley, but no 12 year old kid is going to turn down the chance to see a football club from the inside. I used to play the records at Kingsmills, though they wouldn't let me do the announcements because my voice hadn't broken. I travelled to away games on the team bus. Two seasons of watching a free-scoring goal machine reach its peak. After that I rejoined my mates, following Caley. Privileged to see a very fine team there, including of course the telepathic partnership of Chic Allan and Dave Johnston. But, to tell the truth, I would watch any game of football. If Clach was the only game in town, Dad and I would be there. In the summer, we would wander around the Bught when the Welfare League games were on. My Dad seemed to knew everyone involved at all levels of Inverness football, so going round the Bught was a social event, as well as a chance for me to see past heroes from the Highland and indeed Scottish Leagues. I left Inverness in 1978, and moved to north London. I used to watch Arsenal, since they were the nearest club to me. Liam Brady on his own was worth the price of admission, but somehow I couldn't get into it. I couldn't connect. This was simply not my team. When the merger happened, of course I was disappointed that the two clubs, with their long histories and rivalry, were disappearing. But you often have to pay a price for progress. At the time, I promised my wife that I would take her to their first game in Europe - a promise that I was delighted to fulfill on a hot July night a couple of years ago. Let's be honest - most of the last 23 years have exceeded anyone's realistic expectations. I don't get to many games. In fact I confess that the last two that I attended were the Cup Final and the Europa League match in Romania. So maybe some of you will write me off as a happy clapper. I don't think I am. There is more chance of me growing another head than NOT supporting Caley Thistle - whatever league they are in. As I said, it's in my blood.

I see Trafford has been red-carded. Is it me, or is discipline worse this season? There seemed to be a lot of yellow cards in the previous games - even last week at Brechin.

I assume you don't sit in the Jock McDonald stand? And ye're talkeen rubbeesh, mun!

Bit inconsistent to airbrush away the past, but retain the name and crest.

Good news. Thank you!

What about taking on new members? Are you able to do that?

Not a directly commercial or marketing idea, but you could always ask if anyone knows what happened to Caley Jags Together and/or the Supporters Trust. The Board really ought to know, because they wouldn't be able to have a proper shareholders' vote without knowing who could cast that 10% of the vote. If it could be revived, an active supporters' club should surely be a positive asset to the football club - not least if they simply went out and brought more folk to the matches. Edit: Have just seen the post from a few minutes ago by highlandexile on the CJT thread. Excellent news. Make sure the Chairman knows - hope he can get together with CJT and make things happen!

Shouldn't someone, presumably the Chairman or the club secretary, know who is entitled to vote? Would be interesting to know who they would recognise as being eligible to cast those 10% of all votes. Wouldn't surprise me if they don't know. Note that I am NOT criticising any Board or official, past or present, for not knowing. But if I didn't know, I'd sure as hell be trying to find out!