Charles Bannerman

Just texted Laura to warn her I'll be checking with Gordy as to who ordered gammon sizzlers. I will also be monitoring dfr's plate on Thursday morning (whilst stuffing myself with large helpings of fried Jaguar). Any one of the FFF who would like to join me for a run at any time would be very welcome. I'm just back from a 4 miler just now. On the other hand Les could maybe instead try a run round the block with the "bad company" he was keeping at the Clach Club on Saturday night. I predict the "bad company" will probably beat me in our next race, since she was only 8 seconds behind me last time out.

I think this thread should be used to "denounce" members of the Fitness First Five who have been seen to be backsliding. For instance, Les Kidger was spotted at a dinner in the Clach Club on Saturday night. (And before anyone starts up with topical jokes about short rations at Grant Street, forget it... the "Cuisine du Ferry" is out of this world!) I will keep you all posted (which possibly means it's unlikely I'll see Doug Ritchie visiting my Rotary Club for breakfast for a while!)

.... given that a lot of Caley Thistle fans seemed to be expecting it a month ago today, on Junuary 4th, just after the fourth goal went in at home to Gretna!

So I see the legacy of Jim Farry still lives on in Scottish football!

SMEE... the ?900K was most definitely a grant, not a loan but arguably it was one of the wisest investments ever made by the CGF. As you say, it had the secondary effect of opening up the whole East Longman area in addition to the massive stimulus Inverness has as the base of an SPL club. If you add other money in such as Objective 1 and INE funding, it comes to something around ?1.8M of grants from public sources to Caley Thistle. ?900,000 from the CGF to create a transport artery beneath the Kessock Bridge... or ?250,000 for a 12 minute fireworks display above it. Difficult one to call, that, in terms of relative value! :015: Clach's problem is the club's fundamental non viability in an area of town where economic conditions have changed dramatically over the last 20 years. The proposals for an all weather pitch which will begin to emerge this week are designed to create a new income stream. Heilandee has hit the nail on the head. There is a huge sentimental support for Clach within Inverness but there are precious few who will actively do anything to improve the club's situation... such as go through the turnstiles on a Saturday.

You're obviously not aware of the ?900,000 which Caley Thistle, after a lengthy wrangle within the District Council, got from the CGF in 1996. Without that the stadium project could not have gone ahead and it's very likely that the club would have been strangled at birth. Scotty.. I think you have to distinguish between the money given to ICT for the stadium (a total of ?1.8M of public cash) and the debts of over ?2M which were run up subsequently (mainly 1997-2000) as a result of overspending. These debts still exist - it's just that they have been "spirited away" (and I've never been able to pin David Sutherland down on exactly how) by the ICT Trust. I'm not so sure it's a case of "no lessons learned" with Clach. There's a major difference between ICT and Clach in that since 2001 ICT has been able to be fundamentally financially viable, ROUGHLY breaking even. However Clach is fundamentally financially non viable (indeed I feel another book coming on about social and economic conditions in the Merkinch) so continues to be loss making irrespective of tightly they cut their cloth. But one additional factor will be emerging over the next week or so and that is the community all weather pitch which they are attempting to put at Grant Street which could become a substantial source of income. This was revealed exclusively to the BBC on Friday afternoon (sorry... do I sound like Chic?! :014:) and we will be going with it in more depth on Monday morning, including an interview with David Dowling. Clach's rent, by the way, is ?14K - 5% of what the CGF paid ICT Properties for the park. In comparison, the land housing Spartans' ground is believed to be worth something like ?8M and they pay Edinburgh City Council ?350 a year.

So you weren't around 1995-2001 when ICT had to depend hugely on input from the CGF and from Tullochs in order to survive? Do you not know how close to the wire ICT was around 2000 with over ?2M of debt? Clach's debts are trifling compared with ICT's, except that ICT has been fortunate enough for these to be taken away by the Trust. What the Courier story doesn't mention is David Dowling's plan to try to get a revenue raising community all weather pitch at Grant Street. It's also interesting to compare two broadly similar inputs from the CGF.... ?280,000 to buy Grant Street in 1997 and ?250,000 to fund the closing of Highland 2007. The former investment purchased an appreciating asset, attracts a rerntal of ?14,000 a year and has kept a vital part of the Inverness heritage alive. The latter investment......

Complete with machine gun towers and perimeter guards? :015:

Oh dear me! :crazy07: Caley4life.... a red white and blue Holland flag with the words "Loyal Army"... just stop and think about what that implies three times over for goodness sake! (If you want a hint.... it's quite the wrong team!!!) In any case, blue, white and red are not Caley Thistle's colours... there's black in there too!!

I could guess that footballer's wife might be first in the queue to sign up for that!

I'm already teamed up with the Pauliebees and L_G.

Having been on it (at my own expense) in 2006, I would venture to disagree.

This does seem to betray a fundamental assumption and expectation that it is a football director's destiny in life regularly to put his hand in his own pocket and subsidise the club of which he is a board member.

I'm just so sorry that the succession of managers who have taken Caley Thistle into the SPL and established the team mid table have not had the blessing of the insight into football which you clearly have.

The Charlie Adams goal should have stood - TV pictures showed Duncan was playing him onside... The Darchville goal was ok.... I understand that it emerged later that Cousin ran across Mike Fraser, impeding him, so it was a foul rather than the offside which everybody initially thought it was.

Strangely enough a hairstyle closely resembling the good old DA does seem to be acquiring a certain popularity among contemporary youth.

I have now located a Courier and can quote directly the webwords of Mr. Hornell - "Wouldn't it be terrible if the hybrid ICT was bought by "outsiders" and run into the ground for a quick profit? As an ex Caley Fan I would laugh my socks off. It's no more than they deserve. Primus Inter Omnes. - Alan Douglas." (And who was Chic Allan anyway? )

Buenos rides again!...I notice in today's Courier a quote from a certain Mr. A Douglas, relishing the prospect of ICT being bought over by an outside investor and bering sold off as redundant in due course. The said Mr. Douglas describes himself as "an ex Caley Fan".... oh... and who was Chic Allan anyway?

Seriously, though, all the best to John. He's a cracking lad and a real professional.

You mean you have the papyrus version?

Destabilise.

Last time I did it I could see your feet clearly!

Fiona now has the text of the HN atricle on the Official site. I would do one of these link things of I knew how..... ???

No, I'm not confused at all really. In fact I'm more than aware that within one post EWS has made three quite individually specific statements, but the first of which contradicts the second and third. By placing the question mark there, I was perhaps just reverting to the red pen practices of the day job!