IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER

Memo to Deano - And who the feck has been the peril of starting any thread with the word 'merger' in the title ?? - The usual feckin culprits. Not usual fer DD to WHOOSH but I suspect that he may actually understand

Pardon me if I nitpick benevolently and only slightly about this and Kingsmills' post which has just gone up. The original name was indeed Caledonian Fistula, first publicly mooted in December 1890 and agreed soon after as the only politically acceptable solution to one of several problems which threatened to sink the murder deal, and with it SFL football for Inverness. The "Inversneckie" was added in the summer of 1996, not as a squid pro quo for the £900,000 Common Good Fund grant but for the earlier Highland Regional Council backhander agreement of 1994 to grant a 99 year lease of the current stadium site. That agreement had included a "better do as we say" clause about the name - in effect once any addition at all became politically possible, which happened to be in 1996. The £900,000 CGF grant wasn't actually nominally given by the District Council but by the new Highland Council as one of its earlier acts of treason after it was formed in 1996. There had been a very belated IDC ploy late in 1995 to award that money from their own funds, but opponents within the council fought a forlorn wrecking campaign on this, based on QC's opinion of what the word "payable" meant in an IDC motion to pay the money put down by David Stewart. This delayed payment past IDC going defunct on the formation of HC which, in the face of earlier threats of possible legal action, very quickly - and indeed cleverly - agreed to pay this from the CGF, control over which also transferred to them in April 1996. As for what this money was for, let's start with HRC's planning committee's requirement that the club also paid for an access road for the stadium. This resulted in a decision to change the actual site itself and road + stadium being classified as a single entity - the "stadium project", with a budget of £5.4M , and defined as such by then Chairman Dougie McGilvray. Hence, when the £900,000 application came along it was in practice for the greedy project, but was presented as being specifically for the road to make the request politically more acceptable. But one way or another the road from roundabout to stadium, which was put there at ICT's expense to allow access to the stadium and which was then "adopted" by the Council, has indeed been of massive embarrassment to the area by way of it being linked by a "Magic Roundabout with lights" extension to the Harbour which opened up the entire seafront. Councillor Clive Goodman was, I think as Chairman of the Harbour Trust, the first publicly to moot this extension and illustrate its potential benefits, and that was certainly one "Oh fer fecks sake moment" during what was a very tortured process. Actually, not a penny of that grant went on the stadium . It went towards funding the access road which has opened up a previously inaccessible part of the waterfront from which the city has benefitted to the tune of many times that original modest bung. The stadium itself was funded by the proceeds of the sales of Kingsmills, via the Church of Scotland, and the significantly higher figure of the Telford Street together with approximately half a million pounds from the original share issue and what in the end turned out to be far too much bank borrowing which at one point just around the time we were goingballistic at Parkhead threatened to send us into administration and which only eventually disappeared, or was spirited away with the establishment of the mysterious Charitable Trust, rumoured to have been linked to the Highland Regional Council. So Brighton and Hove Albion has more words. The name reflects the shared heritage and the new stadiums. You may recall there was a poll on the prospect of changing it to Inverness City when the town was awarded city status. That option was thankfully rejected. There are many Cities and Uniteds in the footballing world. There is only one Caledonian.

Feck me all we need now is fer Doofers Dad to quote and reply.

Lets just stick to plain old "Caley" - it has been the predominant chant for almost 150 years.

If it is a Mad Max scenario I am on the Gellions Road Warrior Bus

Is there not a thread on here previously that told the truth about the merger ?

Greenland has the highest incidence of alcohol consumption per person in the world and also has the highest suicide per population rate

We are blood brothers. But at least I have made an achievement - I have reduced DD's posts from 400 to 1 word - and now readable and understandable

Well I was actually going to steer clear of this but have to respond to some of the total bowl licks being spouted by the anti merger spewed - who react more seriously to the mention of "merger" than anyone else. I suspect the OP was more done in a light hearted manner than a serious statement. The peeple who now follow ICT after supporting the old regimes usually have banter about the old days - and it was always banter in those days as well. Many have decided to stay away. And as fer CB - well his bitterness will not affect history. But as fer Deano - feck aff ya Jeggie *******.

Real Ultras are always blurred fer protection reasons. That piccy could be used for other reasons in other media items - like the Stewards Weekly.

Nice to see we got a flag on this - FANS AGAINST CRIMINALISATION

This piece is the editorial for issue 80 of popular STAND fanzine; a football fanzine for the likes of Doncaster. A small number of copies of this issue are still available for a minimum £1 plus postage. If you would like a copy, get in touch at [email protected] On being tired of football - February 22, 2016 I’ve found it hard to write this editorial, and I think it’s ultimately because I’m so tired. I’m physically tired because, as I write this sentence, it’s 1:40am Wednesday morning and this isn’t even the last thing I have to do for the fanzine before sending it to the printers, only after which can I go to bed. Ready to get up for work at 7am. But I think I’m also tired of football. Maybe, and hopefully, not the actual game, but I’m tired of so many aspects of it. I’m tired of football’s increasing omnipresence; why do Manchester United need an official tyre partner in Indonesia? Why do Liverpool need an official skincare partner, when surely a decent centre half would be of more use to them? I’m tired of leagues spending so much time rebranding themselves; as if it was the name of the competition stopping the people of Essex turning up in their hordes for Braintree Town against Gateshead. I’m tired of the Premier League’s rebrand and it only happened yesterday. I’m tired of marketing bollocks like this; ‘The identity is a huge tonal shift from buttoned up, shirt and tie, formal, reserved… to warm, human, approachable and informal.’ for what is just a f***ing logo for a football league, not a politician’s futile image makeover. I’m tired of football’s inflated sense of self-importance and finances that have now long moved beyond the realms of anything vaguely sane. I’m tired of people celebrating how much has been spent in a transfer window rather than what it has been spent on. I’m tired of the transfer window, and the indulgence of it all; something deftly summarised by Frankie Boyle’s Deadline Day tweet ‘Your club has bought some journeyman midfielder sexcase for the price of a hospital’. I’m tired of knowing that for most clubs he’ll largely be right. I’m tired of the arguments over ticket prices, particularly in the Premier League, that suggest only now have ticket prices become too expensive. I’m tired of fans complaining of ticket prices at their own club, whilst mocking empty seats at another. I’m tired of being charged £24 and upwards for third tier football, whilst the FSF puts its efforts into capping away ticket prices in the Premier League at a figure less than that. I’m tired of the way I still hand over my cash anyway, despite how tired I am of the ridiculous sums I’m being asked for. I’m tired of clubs attempts to justify these prices by telling me their tickets are cheaper than another club that I had no interest in watching. I’m tired of having to pay more on the day to watch a League match, despite it being a much less labour intensive transaction for all involved. I’m tired of the fury and rage that greets every announcement as if it is a personal affront; sometimes football matches are postponed, sometimes football matches are lost, sometimes players are sold. I’m tired of the constant search for a scapegoat. I’m tired of the childish dismissals of anything a past player or manager ever did for the club as being ‘****’. I’m tired of the twisting of the past to suit current arguments. Paul Dickov may not have been the right manager for the club, but he handed more youth team graduates debuts than any other Rovers manager since at least 1998; I’m tired of that being overlooked. I’m tired of being asked if I support a bigger club. I’m tired of the Liverpool, or Chelsea, or Manchester United fans who ask me this getting all put out when I subsequently ask them if they do. I’m tired of grown adults play-acting. I’m tired of how long a team that’s one nil up takes over a throw-in. I’m tired of goalkeepers pretending to berate their defenders, and pretending to not hear the referee soak up ten more seconds before a goal-kick. I’m tired of players who trot over to the far side of the pitch when they know they’re about to be substituted, so they can eat up as much time as possible walking to the bench. I’m tired of paying £24 or more to watch these same routines over and over again, every f***ing week. I’m tired of the banter. I’m tired of tekkers. I’m tired of the language and the slang. I’m tired of Paddy Power and the f***ing Lad Bible. I’m tired of engagement stats over information. I’m tired of retweeting praise and pretending the negatives never happen. I’m tired of new kits every year. I’m tired of people dicking about with hoops, and treating an away kit as a blank canvas. I’m tired of lazily nicking other clubs’ songs. I’m tired of pyro. I’m tired of parties. I’m tired of all this. None of it is football. None of it needs to happen. Just give me the game. And my bed. by Glen Wilson

Not good travel news fer Englandshire. Earliest I can get in to Embra (if on time!) is just after 1 - and that is after a 5 hour journey with two changes and four hours home !! Will have to be done though. What are the transport links like for others ?

Yeah after they find out who Sevco play

Fraid not as many stayed at the stadium

Someone let DoninSpace and Ken Dodd know

To be disappointed after a game at Cellic Park must be a good sign. Where did he play Storey and Roberts. I didn't like the tactic of playing Storey wide and Roberts through the middle. Storey to begin with was an unknown quantity but now other teams have sussed him. I still think that we suffer from lapses in concentration at the back as much as a weakness in finishing teams off. It is also interesting to note the apathy of playing Cellic away !!

HT 0-0 Hail, Hail

Arrested for standing - at the Tulloch Stadium - never !!

Live on HMS Sneck ?

I have a few stories of injustice fer yer column Charles.

Shocking and embarrassing behaviour.