Charles Bannerman

This idea is absurd and should have been kept under wraps until April 1st. It means that there's a huge swing of six points on the lottery of a penalty shootout. It also leaves no means of proportional reward for two well matched teams. If they want any change at all, perhaps they could think along the lines of "bonus points" which Scottish rugby uses where you get a bonus point (in relation to four for a win) for scoring more than a certain number of tries or for losing by less than a certain number of points.

C100... I believe it was 204 from DU but let's not split hairs!

Johnboy.... RESPECT!... so nice to see somebody who knows a past participle when he sees one. This can be a rare species in football when we frequently hear statements such as: "We should have saw that they would have went straight up the park and scored." Johnboy... I don't suppose you have any ideas why, over the last four or five years, managers and players seem to have changed from the past to the perfect trense when they are describing a game AFTERWARDS? eg "McGeady has hit a great strike but MacGregor has pulled off a fantastic save." This one has been mystifying me for a while.

I like to think of it as a verb, or a "doing" word...!! If you add "in" at the end, as I'm quite sure Charles's friend does, then it becomes an adjective.... :017: It's a present participle used in the form of an adjective.

Johnboy.. have you ever tried one of Gordy's gammons? Huge steak, mountain of chips, TWO fried eggs, peas, onion rings, mushrooms, tomato. And all for £4.50. You can upgrade that to steak for a fiver! And you're completely right about the predictability of this old guy's adjective!

Many years ago my dad took me to the Scotland v England international at Hampden. We could have got standing room but he went for the expensive North stand seats - 30 shillings - a fortune at the time. However the whole game was ruined by the constant foul mouthed abuse (and I mean the whole 90 minutes) from this one guy in the row in front. I've never forgotten that. Nowadays I'm more concerned with swearing in the Social Club. I had been in the habit of going in there for my tea on a Monday night but really I've got so fed up with having to listen to this foul mouthed old Weegie geezer who parks himself at the corner of the bar and Effs incessantly. It's mindnumbing, as if he needed the alternate Eff word to give him time to think up his next normal one. (Shame because Gordon's gammon steaks are excellent.. if somewhat demanding on the waistline.)

Perhaps I should have added earlier on the thought that in some respects Ross County's SFL bid in 93/94 was actually stronger than Caley Thistle's never mind Elgin's. In particular I would point to the fact that Ross County was a stable , existing club while CT's bid materialised at a time when it was far from certain whether there would even be a club there. The bid actually squeezed through during a narrow four week window of the "phoney peace" when the Rebels suspended their actions against the Committee. I would also point to how much better County have done than Elgin after they eventually got in but, as Kingsmills says, this is ancient history and I'm only too pleased to see all three North teams in national league football... the higher up the better for all three And congrats to Robbie for getting Elgin off the bottom at last!!!

Smee... I can't even come close to agreeing with your suggestion that Ross county only got into the SFL because Elgin City "cheated". I'm assuming you're referring to the adverse effect that the Teasdale Affair and the stripping of the 1993 HL title had on Elgin's SFL bid. I certainly don't think that did City any good, but I also don't think City ever were going to get in ahead of superb bids from both Caledonian Thistle and Ross County. I saw County's efforts to be elected at first hand and their really presented an excellent case. The contribution of Bobby Wilson shouldn't be underestimated here. They absolutely deserved to get in on merit and that has been confirmed by their progress since which, although not as dramatic as ICT's, has still been very good. They have also, throughout, maintained a very professionally organised club structure. Obviously things have not been so good "overthebridge" this season and they're now bottom of Division 1 and 5 points adrift of safety. I for once sincerely hope that Ross County weather this storm and remain in the First Division.

I've been following the Clach saga for the last 20 years and find it quite fascinating although, as someone who wishes them very well, I'd prefer if there wasn't a story there to follow in the first place. Clach struggled and declined through the late 80s under the second generation Rodgers and Willie MacLennan era until the club was snatched from the jaws of the receiver (the winding up order had actually been signed by the Sheriff) in 1990 by the consortium put together by Davie Love and from which David Dowling emerged as the major player. They got rid of much of a large 6 figure debt by selling off the part of Grant Street Park which had accommodated the stand which mysteriously burned down around 1988. On the park, starting with one signed player (Derek Rudkin), Roshie Fraser rescued Clach from a situation where they'd ended season 89-90 on three points (3 draws) and 153 goals conceded. By 1993 they won the North Cup and have had other larger triumphs since, notably the League and League Cup, losing the Q Cup on penalties, in 2004. Then in the mid 90s they were hit again by a combination of factors relating to economic conditions in the Merkinch and the growth of Caley Thistle - these are detailed in the second last chapter of Against All Odds. They came within a whisker of moving to Dingwall with Ross County in 1997 but eventually stayed at Grant Street Park which was sold to Caley Thistle Properties for £280K which saw off this latest financial crisis. However, irrespective of how much fuss the Merkinchers may have made on these two occasions when it looked as if the club would be lost, they still haven't matched this with their cash. Attendances continue to be poor and the latest problem has been a decline in Social Club income. This is partly a national problem although the recruitment of Kevin Duff to the Board (NOT as a representative of Carlsberg as has been implied in the Courier) has also sharpened up the management of the Social Club. I also notice from their accounts that they have managed to cut a lot of costs and the Scoial club is already turning round considerably. Certainly the current situation is pretty tame compared with 1990 ansd 1996. But the fundamental problem is that this club which is meant to be so close to the hearts of the Merkinch (and you should have heard the fuss when they were going to go to Dingwall) is not getting the income it needs to survive. They've also been forced to sell much of the "crown jewels" to solve the two earlier financial crises and more or less all that's left now is the capital value of the Social Club. David Dowling says he believes Clach will be down there "for many years to come". I'm sure he's right. I certainly hope so.

You'll find a photo of the burning Kingsmills stand on fire in my book. I seem to recollect that one came from Ken MacPherson who lived a couple of hundred yards away at the time.

That used to be the case but Grant Street Park is now owned by the Common Good Fund and leased back to Clach. When Clach had their last financial crisis in 96/97, a company called Caledonian Thistle Properties was set up and bought Grant Street to allow Clach to pay off that debt. I believe the sum was £280,000 and I always understood that this was funded by Tullochs money. A few years later the park was sold on to the Common Good Fund who continue to lease it to the football club.

I had the pleasure of being at a very well attended Clach FC Dinner last night with over 200 people (more than you get at Grant Street on a Saturday unfortunately) which, including a very successful auction, will hopefully have earned quite a decent sum for Clach. (Unfortunately, though, those of us who were also at the Tokely Testimonial got second helpings of the same speech from John Rowbotham!) Great night though. I do wonder if there might be a grain of truth in mainstander's theory a couple of posts ago. (Mainstander, please don't take offence but maybe you could try to sort out your spelling - especially "there", "their" and "they're".) Certainly my fairly searching discussions with David Dowling on the matter and the look I have had at the Clach accounts seem to produce a very different picture of a club which is perhaps not doing all that well financially (did Clach ever?) but improving and rumours of whose demise have been greatly exaggerated.

Hadn't heard that one! That particular chant, however, would have been the natural successor of the one of 93-94 vintage which suggested a similar resting place for the "effing merger"!

Three of four times a week Charlie Christie faces a large gathering of journalists. What he says, he says publicly as Charlie Christie, Manager, ICTFC. Once a week his players take part in matches. They do not wear masks. Everyone also knows who they are. On this board, there is a minority who either seem to need football as some means of expressing deep and fundamental dissatisfactions in their lives or who have a personal grudge against Charlie Christie, or both. In doing so, they hide behind the anonymity of a pseudonym. If these people have such comments to make, if they have such unshakeable faith in their own viewpoints, why can't they find the moral courage or the integrity to let it be known who they really are?

Yup Mantis. Simply a case someone who is known to me attempting to score cheap points but apparently lacking the moral courage to do it under his own name. I don't intend to rise to the bait. Inevitably the Highland Icon will be decided by the dreaded Sunreaders and Bigbrotherwathchers who amazingly manage to find the right numbers on their phonepads to dumb down the national respectability wherever we go these days.

IHE is thinking of the 1988 Qualifying Cup replay at Telford Street.

Kieran... I'm certainly not seeing "all these 'Thistle' fans fighting their corner on here". Kingsmills, for instance, even with his strong Jags past, is taking a commendably balanced view on this issue. In fact to summarise the responses here, the overwhelming majority are saying "God, not again!.... let it drop", there's the odd pitch for "Caley" and then there's the singularly unique and enigmatic response of IHE!

Buckett.. I wouldn't dream of stopping anyone from posting any legitimate point of view about Caley Thistle, which yours is. All I'm doing is expressing the equally legitimate point of view that this is a worn out topic which peaked in 1994 and that further pursuit of it is counter productive. Caley Thistle is a title which emerged from months of detailed negotiations on a very unequal marger. Kingsmills... I'd just point out that the discovery in October 1993 that Thistle owned their park essentially pre dated the wrangle over where the balance of the merger lay so the value of the park was factored into that debate. At a later stage it was suggested that Caley were contributing 70% of the assets, 80% of the membership (albeit after a little creative recruitment!) and 90% of the fundraising power, which illistrates the inequalitry very well - even after Jags discovered they owned their ground. Come to think of it, if they'd discovered that earlier, they could have told the Church of Scotland to bog off and gone and held games there on Sundays. And what was Jags' reward for abstaining from Sabbath play? Their stand catches fire on a Sunday!

Please God not again! Why does this keep coming up? We KNOW it was an unequal merger. We KNOW that in certain respects such as this one it becomes more unequal than it really was. We KNOW that "Caley" is more chantable than a lot of other things, including Thistle and that just about the only chant the two clubs could raise between them was the highly imaginative "Caley...clap, clap, clap" (NOT). We KNOW that the media are reasonably good at using "Caley Thistle" (*) and indeed a lot better than certain fans. We also KNOW that the merger is now over a dozen years back down the line so there's no point in keeping raising this. Buckett... it seems that "this old Thistle thing has cropped up again" because you have revived it through this tired, clapped out thread. (*) I can confidently say that in over 12 years of reporting on (I)CT I have NEVER used the term "Caley" on its own, with one exception and that was to conform with a famous precedent. Following a certain Highland derby at the Caledonian Stadium I did feel moved to wind up my report with "Super County go Ballistic, Caley are Atrocious. Caley Thistle 1 Ross County 5"!

So what's the score here? Most people will be there to be pampered, except for Footballer's Wife who will be there to be tampered with?

This really depends on how you define "worst". Obviously no one is even going to consider yesterday as a "worst performance" in a cup tie?! I don't even have to make a case for that not being true. On the other hand I'm sure a number of Caley Thistle fans will regard yesterday afternoon as the worst they've felt after their team losing a cup tie, or indeed any game. Barry Wilson certainly said it was "right up there" with going out to Partick on penalties last season. Probably the worst actual performance I've ever seen in a Cup tie was the 1-0 defeat by Queens Park in the CIS, followed closely by Caley Thistle's first ever Scottish Cup tie, a 2-1 defeat by QoS at Telford St in 1994. It was at that point that two senior players first revealed to me that there was unhappiness in the dressing room with the then manager, and this was the beginning of the end for Sergei. One of these players is now doing that job himself and a great deal better! In terms of disappointment, the replay at Pittodrie and the Challenge final v Alloa must indeed be up there, and also losing out to Partick in the quarter finals in 2002. There was also the 3-2 extra time defeat by Dundee United in 1998. But just in case there's any ambiguity about RiG's original intention, what happened yesterday was that Caley Thistle for the third time this season gave a team with a heavy sprinkling of million pound a year players (NB - that's roughly ICT's total player budget!) a real close run for their money in Inverness, holding on to a 1-0 lead for 70 minutes until Celtic again did what they're renowned for - winning it at the absolute death. That, however, won't make it any easier to take for a lot of Caley Thistle fans.

Who's to blame? I blame Graeme Bennett and David Sutherland for appointing Charlie Christie when they could and obviously should have appointed Crownjaggie.

OK BNP.. but I really WAS at the last Rebel Reunion in the Tarry Ile. It was great! Beer at 1993 prices and the Guest Speaker was Jimmy Falconer on the subject: "SPL football at Fiona Larg's petrol station down the dump." The ceremonial re enactment of the Deposing of the Chairman was also a nostalgic moment. Alan Savage was riotually ... sorry, typo, I meant "ritually" .. on second thoughts let's just stick with riotually... voted out and replaced by Deryck Beaumont. Then, just before going home time, someone threw a symbolic firework to mark the start of a minute's silence for the passing of Finlays, which was brought to a close by setting off the fire alarm.

No need to indulge in revised histories of the merger since I wrote the original one. I suppose BNP must be one of these people who attend Rebel Reunions in the Tarry Ile, drooling beneath a huge, heroic portrait of Deryck Beaumont reading a copy of "Life Support", reminiscing about what an original thinking and progressive bunch they were and how they were cheated out of their masterstroke of preventing two ailing and moribund Highland League clubs from joining toghether and reaching the SPL, despite the fact that none of these clubs' fans wanted this to happen and as a result they all stayed away, leaving the Caledonian Stadium as the sole preserve of the central belt.....

I would place the total number of people, Thistle and Caley fans, who initially refused to go to watch Caley Thistle at a maximum of 200... a number which has steadily reduced since the mid 90s. Even at that top of the range estimate, it's a drop in the ocean and indeed I note that I've managed to be drawn into a discussion of what is really a non issue.