Nostalgia ain't what it used to be.
Scottish Cup 4th round action this weekend at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium in Inverness. Maybe just what the Doc ordered after a barren Christmas schedule saw Butcher's boys lose all three SPL fixtures, one of those ending the undefeated away run at Perth. The slump in form has come at the right time for former Highland League arch enemies Elgin City, who can now see a chink in the armour of the SPL club and with their own form on the up, then the possibility of another scalp to add to the many in the Moray club's locker is looking more feasible by the minute.
This will be the first ever competitive fixture between these two clubs since they joined the big boys league. When the dust settles, that will be the full house for Inverness as they will have played every other SFL and SPL club in Scotland, so that's another tick in the box for Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
Elgin City were formed from two clubs when Elgin Rovers and Vale of Lossie amalgamated on 10th August 1893. By October they had played their first competitive match when they defeated another local side Rangers Athletic 4-2 in a North of Scotland cup tie at Association Park. They joined the Highland league two years later and beat Citadel 7-2 in their opening fixture at Milnefield Park Elgin, where one Bob Hamilton scored four goals. Incidentally, Inverness Thistle were the inaugural Champions ahead of Inverness Caledonian. By 1898 Elgin had won the North of Scotland Cup by defeating Clachnacuddin 2-1 at Kingsmills Park Inverness, the first team outside of Inverness to do so. Fast forward to 20th August1921 when they arrived at their present home of Borough Briggs and duly christened the stadium with a 3-0 win over Citadel in a Highland League encounter. It was not until 1931/32 season before Elgin won the first of their fourteen Championships, beating Keith to the title and replacing Inverness Caledonian as champions. The best was yet to come for Elgin as from 1959/60 season, they won eight out of the next eleven Championships before the early seventies saw Caley and Thistle return to prominence. Elgin's last title win was in 1992/93, but they had the title removed from the record books after fixture irregularities, which saw their final game being brought forward to avoid suspensions being their downfall. Elgin were voted in to the SFL system in 2000 but have struggled to make any impact, remaining in the third division, but this season has seen them climb to fourth in the table as we speak, no doubt the influence of former ICT legend Barry Wilson is starting to pay dividends.
The Black & Whites are steeped in Scottish Cup history, mainly from the sixties and seventies when they were the most successful Highland League club. Beating SFL clubs became part of the norm and in season 67/68 they reached the quarter-finals before narrowly going down 2-1 at Cappielow to first division Greenock Morton, with Gerry Graham scoring a spectacular goal for City. During that run they had some memorable games in front of record crowds at Borough Briggs. Second division Albion Rovers were first up and they went down 3-1, then another non league club Tarff Rovers were beaten 3-2 away from home. Forfar Athletic went the same way as Albion, another 3-1 at Bourough Briggs in front of a healthy crowd, but the best was saved for Arbroath, as Elgin progressed to the quarter-final after a 2-0 victory over the smokies. This game brought out a record crowd in Elgin, which still stands today as 12,608 witnessed that scalp. Arbroath were promoted that season to the top tier. The season before this saw Ally McLeod reduced to tears after his first division Ayr United were dumped out of the cup 2-0 up North. The prize for the winner of that tie in 1967 was a lucrative match in Glasgow against Celtic, (whatever happened to them). Aye, those were the days, large crowds, standing shoulder to shoulder, jam packed into the smoke filled arena and cup shocks galore, (remember Berwick), I'm young enough to have been part of that record.
Of course there are some records that Elgin are not so pleased with, losing 14-1 to Hearts in the same competition in 1939 would have been a sore one, although beating Brora Rangers 18-1 in the North of Scotland Challenge Cup is hardly recompense for that in 1960. With goals in abundance it is no surprise that Willie Grant notched a remarkable 348 of them. The ultimate measure of Willie's goal scoring is that it took him only 255 games to achieve this.
Fourteen Highland League championships, 5 Highland League Cups, 7 Scottish Qualifying Cups and 17 North of Scotland Cup final victories sees Elgin as one of the most successful ever Highland League sides. Inverness Clachnacuddin and Inverness Caledonian are two of the clubs that can boast of a better record than Elgin in terms of Highland League titles and this weekend Inverness Caledonian Thistle turn back the clock and provide Elgin with a local adversary to rekindle the fire and the passion of bygone days.
The howden end is back to give us this look back to days of yore, where men were men, and paper hadn't been invented....................................read on.
In a seventies revisited nostalgic look back at the good old days, our own Immortal Howden Ender has gone back to his youth, and that's a long time ago, and here are his thoughts and memories ahead of the return of the Caley Animals.
The Highland Football League was formed on 4 August 1893, at the Inverness Workman's Club. The original league consisted of seven teams: Inverness Thistle, Caledonian, Clachnacuddin, Forres Mechanics, Inverness Union, Inverness Citadel and Cameron Highlanders. Ross County were an eighth original member, but resigned membership in November 1893.
Elgin sneaked in to the league in 1985 when they became another merger team when Elgin Rovers and Vale of Lossie joined forces. As with recent times they stayed in the wilderness for years until they moved to Borough Briggs in 1921 - and the ground hasn’t changed a lot since and nor has the fashion sense of the local support. Their first home game was against Citadel !!
The 60’s were the heady days for Hellgin Shittee and they even drew a crowd of 11,207 to Borough Briggs for a Scottish Cup game against Cellic in 1961.
My fave memories are of the mid 70’s to 80’s when the rivalry between Hellgin and specifically Caley were at their “best” - Hellgin won the league in the 73/74 season ahead of the Jaggies but would not win another title until 1989/90 whereas the Telford Street Massive took six titles and three runner up spots in between whilst the Jaggies sneaked it in 86/87.
Caley also won 5 Qualifying Cups in that era whilst the Jaggies scored a hat trick. The only Hellgin players who I really had any respect fer was Ian Wilson who went on to prove himself at a level that suggests that he was only extracting the urine at Borough Briggs
But the Caley v Elgin clashes of the 70’s and 80’s bring the glorious memories of meeting up with the lads from the Elgin “Staigo” although it would be mostly their backs and running styles that I could ever remember. The Caley support was usually a mix of the old gangs from the Ferry, Dalneigh, Hilton and the unforgettable Caley Animals - possibly the most feared football outfit of those heady days.
Can ya no remember slipping on the Oxford Bags, the Harrington, the knee length bovver boots and the ritual scarves around the wrists and hanging from the waist bands - I used to favour a Leeds / Caley divide scarf and we all wore the Howden End Animal badges as personally manufactured by Stormin Norman Gordon - and Rodger McDonald once got a job at the Football Times but was thrown out after a day when he was found mass producing calling cards proclaiming “ You have just met the famous Caley Animals”.
Home or Away we used to give Tom Jones and his mate some feckin jip - whether it was smashing the buses down the Carse Road and 100 waiting in ambush in the Merkinch School playground, the famous fight up the Hill when we went in to their end and showed the Jeggies how it should be done - and there was always a bit of fun when we changed ends at Telford street but turned back and kicked them out of the Howden End.
And who can recall scraps bursting out on a Friday or Saturday night at the Caley ballroom, the Keppoch, the Nairn Ballerina, the Two Red Shoes and even the Strath - there was only one or two places that I can ever recall the Staigo and the Caley joining forces to take on a venerable army of tinks - and the second was a surreal Beach barbeque after a Slade concert in Nairn in 1970.
And what about the crowds - 7-8000 at times and the packed 500 football specials - which were unfortunately banned after a bunch of Caley boys who had been reading the “Skinhead” best seller and had donned lead pipes and chains decided to loot Woolies in Elgin and lay waste on the hill down to the Main Stand. And those terraces at the Briggs - desolate now but I can recall they looked massive and no separating fence.
It was so good that most finals were played in either Elgin or Sneck and we could have a go at each other even if we weren’t playing these others. I can only recall being battered once and that was in a Qualifying Cup Tie which went to a game and two replays and we had the smallest and most precarious support at the middle 0-0 game and then rejoiced as wee Donnie Park knocked in a double as we won it at the third attempt.
And despite that, in later years, I have met up with quite a few Staigo boys on tour with the Tartan Army and we had a good old drink drowning our sorrows. In many ways I miss Hellgin City and recall how we were - with the Jaggies - the main sources of winners in the Highlands. And for the kiddies Caley and Thistle were mainly bantering mates - there was a wee bit more dislike between Caley and Clach - Caley enjoyed the trips to Dungwall and Peterhead as they through up a wee bit of challenge - on and off the pitch - but Caley HATED Elgin and Elgin HATED Caley - Oh those were the days !!
I wont be there tomorrow but I will be glued to the internet singing - My old man said be an Elgin fan - I said feck aff bullocks yer a **** - we took the Jail End in half a minute - we took the Briggs with the Staigo init.
THE HOWDEN END IS CALLING YOU - here is hoping for a draw and a midweek replay.
There you have it, a one time Caley Animal looks back with affection at the good olde days, thanks IHE. I would expect a knock on yer door from the plod soon asking a few questions to tidy up some unfinished business.
So, back to the future:-
Squads for 2011 cup game
Terry Butcher has no fresh worries since the disappointing festive fixtures, but may be looking to freshen up the starting eleven after some jaded looking performances. Tuffey might get the nod for the cup games and look for McBain, Golabek and Sutherland to push for a start along with forgotten man, Spaniard Dani Sanchez. This means that Jonny Hayes is still recovering from his ankle injury, and misses out along with Gillet, Morrison, Proctor and McCann.
Jack Ross may go for the experience of former ICT legend Barry Wilson to try and spring a cup shock. Jamie Duff and Jake Inglis also have something to prove as they make a return to the Tulloch Stadium. Elgin may pin their hopes on pacey forward Craig Gunn, an ex-County player who also has something to prove.
Disclaimer.........any names used in this preview are purely fictional, and spelling errors are deliberate, but if you need help, speak to the Immortal Howden Ender.
