Charles Bannerman

RIP Spock. He was a legend and an icon. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-31662024

And one more thing - the only reason that the self protection racket was broken even in 1994 was that Raith Rovers' representative at the vote to decide whether or not to go for 4 x 10 and hence two new recruits - a Mr Paxton - voted against the instructions of his board and for the change. This then gave the Highland clubs the opportunity to make their cases for real (at a time when Thistle, Caley and Ross County had all had relatively recent Scottish Cup spectaculars) and thankfully common sense prevailed and the Jack Steedman "over my dead body" mentality was defeated. I do realise that the Highland League collectively voted to opt into the pyramid, but i would be interested to know, for instance, how its two most Northerly clubs, Wick and Brora (who also happened to be among the more likely champions and hence participants in the playoffs) voted? I just don't see how it's fair that the decision of a large number of clubs which will never be likely to be affected by a decision should be in a position to impose a binding commitment on others which are far more likely to reap the consequences, but would find it far more difficult to fulfil the requirements.

The much maligned BBC updated Brora's situation and views fully last Saturday evening and again on the Monday morning. Brora chairman John Young said that he felt that, for a part time team, the potential obligation of trips, including midweek, to the likes of Annan and Berwick (that's 600-700 miles both ways) was not realistic and he really didn't want to make the move. However he said that if they had to do it, and he understood that this would be the case, they would - reluctantly. On the other hand, when asked if they would be dreadfully disappointed if the club failed to meet the SPFL criteria, he said that he might get into trouble for saying this, but they would prefer to remain in the Highland League. I actually have full sympathy with Brora in this situation where Scottish football officialdom has again been incapable of seeing beyond the Castlecary Arches. Most of them probably don't even know where Brora is - apart from the notion that it is up in this monolithic community called "the Highlands" (which begin at Perth) where we all live in adjacent black houses and hide each other's claymores and muskets in our thatched roofs. It simply is not realistic for many HL clubs to fulfil the requirements of the League Two fixture programme. Getting from Brora to Fraserburgh or Cove on a Saturday is difficult enough and midweek the HL has a 110 mile rule to prevent unrealistic journeys. The SPFL has created the most ridiculous of ironies here because for decades until 1994 its member clubs operated a self protection racket, hellbent on keeping the Highlands out. Since then the HL area has acquired four SPFL teams, two of which have shown a number of these erstwhile protectionists a thing or two. That has gone a long way to meeting demand for SPFL football from this geographically remote area, so there are now much fewer clubs still wanting in - at which point the SPLF go and make entry compulsory! This is just another case of football being a mirror of the society we live in since up in the Highlands we have been used for centuries to being treated as second class citizens by the Lowland Scots.

If he does sign then I hope, come the Raith Rovers cup tie, that the stadium announcer has suffucient knowledge of the 60s to know to play "Waterloo Sunset", performed by the new man's parents

I'll just declare a pedant alert before I say this! If you mean by "hoi polloi seats" the expensive ones upstairs for posh people, then this is something of a Greek "faux ami" (as they say in French) since it means just the opposite of that. Hoi polloi is actually Greek for the majority or the great unwashed - or the plebs as the Romans would later call them. It's a common confusion which I always attribute to the fact that the two words are reminiscent of "high" and "polite" in English.

The best one I ever heard was by someone actually from "up there". Just last Saturday there was a Sportsound discussion on some club which had engaged a sleep therapist to help their players sleep properly. Willie Miller then came away with a thoroughly brilliant one liner the gist of which was "When I was at Aberdeen, if we had any problem sleeping we just counted sheep."

There are several interesting features of that photo. I would guess that it was taken the late 1940s and you can actually see that the High School's HORSA huts, a creation of that immediate post war era, are still under construction. It's also interesting to note that Lilac Grove must to some extent have been completed "odd before even" and in reverse since the odd numbers look complete while there is still a blank where the lower even numbers now are. The fact that Dalneigh School (1954), although the building would have been off the left hand margin, appears not to be there yet is also consistent with the suggested date. There seems to be building going on all over that end of Dalneigh since apart from Lilac Grove being incomplete, so is Caledonian Road, including the cul de sac, and there also seems to be piecemeal development in the Hawthorn Drive/ Limetree Avenue/ Rowan Road area. I just wonder how many of these houses are actually complete? It's a pity that the photo doesn't extend to the other end of Dalneigh. On the far side of the canal I think I am looking at the absence of Glengarry Rd. The High School playing field seems to include a football and a hockey pitch. Presumably they left rugby to the posh boys at the Kaddie!

What a wonderful allegory of society as a whole! The posh people in the dear seats dumping on the assembled cut price plebs below! Regarding the photo, I think in the old days you went up that stairs to the balcony while the corridor on the right led to the fleapit stalls but the pic is from the Scala 1 and 2 era.

Brian's comment was this:- "Again Board no conviction too scared to give decent contracts to all players so we lose players and do NOT replace them" This breaks down into three sections. Again Board no conviction - given the number of interpretations this could create, it's actually quite difficult to know what it's meant to mean. But if Brian means that he is not convinced by the Board then perhaps he should have elaborated. However in the context of what he seems to be saying, might he actually (but misguidedly) have meant to use the word "commitment" rather than "conviction"? too scared to give decent contracts to all players so we lose players - Brian seems to think that the solution to the problem of losing players is simply the macho, gung ho policy of offering sufficiently lucrative contracts to make them stay. He doesn't appear to grasp the financial realities of such a strategy, given ICT's very limited income streams, nor the consequences of attempting to match the kind of arrangements which the likes of Aberdeen and Wigan are in a position to offer. Perhaps a study of the lower leagues would help illustrate the consequences of clubs living beyond their means. and do NOT replace them - this is the issue which is being talked about most. The manager emphasised that he would only want to spend money on a player who could come straight into contention for a meaningful place and would not buy for the sake of doing so. With the kind of money available, it would not surprise me to learn that such a player did not materialise in the short window time involved. Clearly none of us knows the detailed current financial situation, but what we do know is that for the last several years, ICT has had to rely on one-off windfalls such as selling the Social Club, share investments and cup runs to keep its head above water. Consequently the Mckay transfer fee and the consequent saving of wages may well be a vital element in efforts to ensure ongoing solvency. The following three questions (with their answers) are also relevant. Do the board and manager need to take extra action to:- * avoid the catastrophe of relegation? (Obviously not) * ensure a top six finish? (Very probably not.) * expose the club to financial losses, as St Johnstone and Motherwell reportedly have sustained in the recent past, as a result of becoming obliged to play in Europe? (I would suggest they do not.) I obviously have no detailed personal knowledge of the Board's deliberations. But given the poor financial reputation that a limited European run has acquired and the consequences for the close season, it is not entirely inconceivable that the optimum area of the league to finish may be 4th - 6th (ideally 4th) where the only down side of missing the top 3 is the loss of the somewhat modest marginal SPFL prize money. Two things I do know, though. There is only a very narrow financial route which allows a club with ICT's income streams to stay in the Premiership at all. And historically from before day 1, ICT has been phenomenally successful in passing through various marginally navigable channels so has plenty of experience of that.

There have been a few fairly daft and unrealistic comments on here since full time tonight but this one really must take the biscuit for its utterly crass cluelessness. In a sentence, there are some people complaining that a club with a turnover of less than £4 million (which would fund just over 34 minutes of the EPL on Sky/BT) but is still now enterting a third month unbeaten in all competitions, isn't consistently churning out victory after victory in the upper reaches of the SPFL Premiership against rivals with player budgets often several times as large. Does Brian have the remotest scooby about the board's strategy to fund a team which is now heading for its third season in the top six on gross revenues of less than £4 million derived from crowds which fail to hit 3000 with alarming frequency? Clearly Brian does not.

I met David Goodall once in about 1985 for a BBC interview about playing in the Highland League (was it only for Clach?) in the 1920s. Understandably he was very old by then and, although still in his own house on Leachkin Brae, was by that stage having a bit of a problem keeping it in reasonable order. I don't know what happened to him after that.

I think so. The one which disappeared was a bit bulkier and the one which survived is still with us.

Pre quite a lot of things!

What's the collective noun for "Rodgers"?

Known as Dunbar's Hospital but originally from the 1660s until the 1790s accommodated the Grammar School, the predecessor of the Royal Academy. One of the Grammar School's more famous pupils, in 1746, was a certan Major Wolfe who was on the Duke of Cumberland's staff. 13 years later as a General he lost his life commanding the successful capture of Quebec from the French.

Musicassettes! Can anyone remember the two types of audio cassettes that were available in the early 70s and, like VHS and Betamax, one survived and the other bombed?

Extremely slow this morning!

Many of them did but by no means all. One of the first residents in the Ardross St hostel was a girl called Robin Denoon, mother of Brian Denoon whom we spoke about elsewhere. Some years ago when I was researching my second Royal Academy book, Brian's sister Deirdre loaned me a taped interview she had done with their mother and a fair bit of it was about the hostel. Robin Denoon lived at Tomatin and in the early 1920s even that didn't have good enough transport links with Inverness for pupils to commute daily, so even some from what we would now call close to Inverness had to stay in hostels. Latterly Robin moved to live during term time with an aunt out the A96 and got the train in each day from Allanfearn Station. As a result she may or may not be in IHE's 1924 photo. However a lot of the hostel pupils were always from the Islands and Robin Denoon made a point of emphasising that along with the fact that they spoke Gaelic which was seldom heard in Inverness. Some of them would do 2 years in a junior secondary over there such as Sir E Scott and then come here while others arrived at the start of S1. However this was strictly governed by the old County boundaries so Inverness was a destination only for pupils from islands which were part of Inverness shire such as Barra, Benbecula, the Uists and Harris although from the more southerly isles I think Lochaber High School was an alternative. Lewis was part of Ross and Cromarty but in any case it had a senior secondary in the Nicholson in Stornoway so presumably there was no need for anyone to go to Dingwall. As far as I am aware, kids from Harris always came across the Minch to Inverness rather than make the simpler land journey over the county border to Stornoway.

So are you wearing your suspenders, Scarlet?

That may well be the original Inverness Royal Academy War Memorial Hostel which was opened in 1921 and became the County Buildings in the 1930s rather than Hedgefield where they then moved. The date is maybe a bit difficult to call on the basis of the fashions but I'm going to guess that it was before the move. Further evidence for such an early guess is that you can just see a still relatively young IHE escaping from one of the windows on his way to a similar mission at the Craig Dunain Nurses' Home. The lady in the middle of the second row is possibly Miss Paterson who was the Matron. Note the "domestics" at the back who look as if they may have gone on to get waitressing jobs at the Carlton, if anyone remembers that as a mothers' afternoon tea venue of 50 odd years ago?

I haven't seen Kinmylies Farm for years! Great to get that photo. The lower section of that pic is the upper section of a 3 mile run I used to do very regularly as a kid from my house in St Andrew Drive via the canal banks. It was usually timed and eyeballs out so DD will be intrigued that Kinmylies Farm is yet another of my potential spewing venues! Quite recently - 45 years on - I tried it again and the time difference on the watch was predictable. Any tendency to spew there would be hugely enhanced by the pong of pigsh!t from the farm. In later years, during the 90s, we used to run up there on a Tuesday night from Harriers HQ at the Bught and do a set of runs up what's known as "Piggery Hill" right next door. On other Tuesday nights we used to to a run which included the Hospital and a flat out ascent of Leachkin Brae on the right of the picture. More evocations of Hughie, Bert and Ralph! Probably the most conspicuous feature of that photo is the almost complete lack of housing development on it, whenever it was taken which is most likely pre-70s.

On that subject, remember the celebrations when humble Caley (OK that's possibly the ultimate oxymoron in the language of old Inverness football!) performed giant killing feats by eliminating, for instance, Airdrie and Clyde. How the Scottish game has inverted itself, Rangers and Hearts also being massively high profile cup opponents of the 80s who now find themselves in the lower leagues. Then there's the likes of St Mirren and Kilmarnock who remain in Scotland's top flight but are struggling either for survival or a top six place while the current Inverness agenda is possible European football. Hey... I think I've just dreamt up a Highland News Sportsview topic for next week in advance of the Scottish Cup quarter finals against the 1994 Coca Cola Cup winners who now also find themselves in the lower leagues.

Ah, the third round (quarter finals) of the Qualifying Cup! It used to be the most important day in Highland football because these games each October decided the four teams that went into the Scottish Cup. If your club got through then the world was potentially your oyster. The ideal outcome was to start off with a first round bye followed by a winnable second round home tie against Spartans or St Cuthberts or similar and make the last 32 when the big boys came in, and there were a lot of games against the big boys in the 80s. On the other hand, compared with Inverness football as it now is, some of these big boys are now quite small boys.

Transatlanticism alert!!!!!!!!

Eureka IBM! That's jogged my memory. I remember Lows on the corner of Bridge St (where I believe Sandy Grant may have worked as a butcher in a previous incarnation) and getting a particularly bad bottle of Spanish wine there which made me quite sick at a party. PS - you know something... I think the main contributors to this thread should recruit Old Caley Girl as a latter day Nora Batty and wander, misbehaving, round the streets of Inverness to the nostalgic strains of a harmonica! I don't remember a Sandy Grant but I only worked there 2 years and it was a long time ago! Come on Charles a bad wine was it not too much wine that made you sick IBM this stuff "Don Something-or-other" was real p!sh. I only started drinking Spanish wine again a couple of years ago when I went on an all-inclusive to Lanzarote and it was effectively free and in unlimited supply! Don Cortez? I believe that was indeed it!