buckett

Does anyone remember Steve Archibald's Airdrie team of not long ago (or was it Clydebank?) when he brought in a mob of Spanish players to put in the shop window? Some of them were very good and went on to better things, but as a team they didn't perform all that well. They weren't playing for Airdrie, they were playing for themselves.

And perhaps that's the problem we have with journeymen - other than a temporary job, they have no connection with, or desire to be in Inverness. Mention you come from Inverness to anyone dahn saff and they'll do a mock shiver and make a wee joke about the snow and the rain - nobody wants to come here! And, watching recent games, I do get the feeling that some of the players just don't want to be here.

So for a small, provincial team like ours, I think it's quite important to have local lads turning out for the first team - only they can provide the passion and patriotism for their home-town team.

And as a supporter, I find it much easier to support a team made up largely of local players. Football is, after all, a tribal game!

Agree with many of the sentiments here - outside of Inverness, Elgin City were the hated enemy and Ross County weren't disliked any more than any of the other teams. But I was made aware by relatives from those parts that the County supporters really hated Caley, much more than the other Inverness teams. They hated us but we didn't mind them!

I remember the absolute misery of a 5-0 gubbing from the hated Elgin City, sometime in the late 60s - they were the team of the moment and I think they were the only non-league side ever to reach the quarter finals of the Scottish Cup - quite an achievement in the 60s when the standard of Scottish League football was so much higher than today.

I also remember going to a Cup Final at Telford Street with some of my Dalneigh School mates, probably in the late 60s. Ross County were playing Elgin City and we were all supporting County, who won 3-2. Ex-Celtic player Don MacMillan was playing for County that day, at least he said he was when I worked with him many, many years later!

Like Lizi, I now find myself rooting for Elgin City and would love to see them and Ross County fighting it out for 1st or 2nd division dominance,

Regardless if the club is.was IC or IT do you honestly believe a non-mergered club would have done any better than ICT have?

I don't see why not.

It wouldn't have taken long for people in Inverness to see the benefit of the town having a senior football team. Money that was directed at ICT could just as well have been directed at any Inverness team.

And without the merger baggage, whichever Inverness team decided to go it alone, could have hit the ground running and perhaps made even quicker progress than ICT.

But it's all academic now, although it's always interesting to imagine what might have happened. And I do get a bit tired of reading that "it couldn't have happened without the merger."

Of course it could - look at Ross County!

No problems with the OP raising the issue if he/she genuinely heard rumour on the matter....although I do find it a tad suspicious that an account that is 6 years old and only ever used once before for a similar purpose appears out of nowhere, makes a post, and then disappears again!!! They've not even logged in since making the two posts on this thread....if I was truly interested in a genuine rumour then I'd have come back to check out the responses.

What never fails to amaze me, however, is the need of some people to suckle on that teet and use it as a means to create a whole load of something out of nothing. That gene that exists within some people whereby they can't just accept they know/have heard nothing and then say so or just move along. The forum arsonists who see a hint of smoke and want to fan it furiously in the hope of getting a bit of fire. The ambulance chasers who throw a "I heard something the same" comment in there just so they can return to the scene and gloat of "I told you so's" should anything come of it.

In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really matter.

Just rise above it!

Buckett just out of curiousity what street do you or did you live in at the time?

Fairfield Road, though I haven't been there for many years.

Telford Street Park was a 5 minute walk from my house when I was a bairn.

Obvious really!

Hmmm - a Thistle supporter!?

I used to feel a bit sorry for Lennon with all that Northern Ireland / Catholic crap going on back then.

I now realise he's nothing more than a thug and deserves no sympathy, ever.

What a bunch of knicker-wetting pearl-clutchers

I may not always agree with your opinions, but I can appreciate your wonderful prose!!!

On the subject of bias, Reporting Scotland on Monday evening only had eyes for the OF game.

I'm sure they used to give a bit of coverage to all of Saturday's SPL games on Monday evening, but the last few times I've been looking out for ICT highlights they only seem to show Celtic and Rangers and whoever they were playing.

Is this just me being biased, or the BBC?

1. Kenneth St / Tomnahurich St

2. High St / Inglis St

3. Bridge St / Church St

And the 4th set would perhaps have been High St / Castle St with one of them new-fangled filter arrows!

Oh well, seems I was wrong. County have managed to avoid their traditional February/March collapse.

They're coming up to the SPL and this is very bad news for us.

Hope I'm wrong about that too!

Gotta agree with Smee there.

I've said it before - County's progression to the SPL will be to our detriment.

It's not rocket science!

No chance of County going up - they always blow it in the second half of the season and this season will be no different.

In fact it's more likely they'll be playing in the same division as Elgin City the season after next!

Goodbye Gordy. It was a privilege knowing you.

(I suppose I can write off that pint you owe me!)

Personally I'd prefer to see a few more Highlanders in the first team.

.-- .... .- - .- - .-- .- -

Careful Alex - some of us ex-mariners are still quite fluent in dots and dashes!!

Ha! What a team!!

But yon cheating cnuts count the feckin eyes.

Don't see how that would make much difference in that particular part of the world!

County always seem to have better gates than us when we're in the same division. Generally we have better gates than them when we're in a higher division.

If County do go up (and we stay up), there will no doubt be a wee bit of interest in the first derby or two, so there may well be a record attendance.

Sorry to sound gloomy but I can't see subsequent derbies breaking any records and I can see a general drop in our attendances as a result of both teams being in the SPL. It won't do them any harm though.

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:

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!

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.

That is simply a joke and one of the worst attempts I have ever seen

I dunno - saw an even more blatant one the other week - big Greek fellow went down like a sack of tatties.

It's just P.R., posturing, brinksmanship - call it what you will, but I just can't see TB starting from scratch again in January.

Maybe the defence is taking a while to gel but I would hate to see a new group of strangers coming in in January and effectively guaranteeing us 1st Division football next season.