Charles Bannerman

A number of club records broken in this one. The 12-0 scoreline certainly eclipses the 8-1 against Annan Athletic and the attendance of 7 (SEVEN) members of the public must also be a record low (it rose to 19 by the end.) Also, given that the media are strictly neutral, this must be the first ICT game with NO ICT fans present! I couldn't get a hold of Ian Broadfoot to check whether Rory McAllister's opener after 19 seconds is also the fastest ever goal, but I do know there was a very fast one in a pre season friendly some years ago. It was almost totally one sided although Mark Brown did have one decent save to make in the first half. MIchael Fraser came on in the second along with 5 others but Michael had very little to do. The goals were - 19 sec - McAllister header. 2 - Wilson - lovely 20 yard volley. 27 - Keogh 32 - McAllister 38 - McAllister completes his hat trick. 5-0 half time. 48 - Black - largely made by himself. 61 - Dargo straight into the top corner from an acute angle on the right. 67 - Duncan header. 70 - Dargo penalty. 77 - Dargo completes his hat trick. 82 - McCaffrey scored what Stuart describes as the best goal of the game! Barry might dispute that! 90 - Wyness. Charlie said that although there was a big differenece between the teams it was a good and worthwhile start for his side, although he hopes that Saturday's game against another local side will be tougher. The starting eleven was - Brown, Parratt, Golabek, Munro, Dodds, McBain, Wilson, Wyness, McAllister, Keogh, Morgan. There were mass substitutions at half time and nobody who was in any danger at all of worsening any minor injury was played at all.

Kick off time was advanced by half an hour yesterday to 8:30 local time, 7:30 UK time. It definitely won't be on BBC online. We have about 20 min on the bus back to the hotel after the match but IF we can get a hold of the necessary internet facilities, we'll do our best to put a score and outline details on this site as soon as we can. But in any case I'll have a report on the BBC's Highlands and Islands bulletin just before 8 tomorrow morning. Report and photos will also be sent to most national papers. I understand the team will be playing in white this evening. We are also wondering if this will be the first ever ICT game where there is not a single ICT fan in support?

The first game is tonight, kick off 7:30 UK time, at a ground which we have come to call "Stadio del Big Hill behind Montecatini Terme". It looks a wee bit like the Queens Park in Inverness. It's where the team have been training much of the time, working extremely hard and looking very fit. But to return to the game, it's against Montecatini and seems to be of a level which suits Charlie perfectly. There will be a match report on the BBC Highlands and Islands bulletin sat 7:50. There are also hopes that something will arrive with the Scottish press tomorrow morning. There's a second game against another side on Saturday night. It's been extremely hot out here with temperatures up to 35C. The players have been doing double sessions in this, except today when there's just a single morning session in advance of the game.

Just to let ICT fans know that there will be a small "media" group in Italy not too far away from the ICT squad so news will get back here, hopefully quite soon. Kenny MacPherson and Trevor Martin will be there to do pics for various newspapers, including the local press. Alasdair Fraser will also be doing newspaper reports . I'll have stuff fairly regluarly on BBC local bulletins either at 0750, 1254 or 1654. This can be accessed on 92-95FM but only within the Highlands and Islands. I also hope to have an overview on radio after the team returns and there will be coverage in the Highland News both this coming week and next. I'm not sure what The Courier are going to have, but there WILL be information available if you keep your eyes and ears open.

caleydon... I will both answer your questions and take issue with a couple of your statements. No, Tullochs will not be "pulling out of the club". They will still retain two "Tulloch" directors on the Board and shares will be transferred to the Inverness Sports Trust whose directors will be David Sutherland and his Tullochs deputy George Fraser. Also, in response to a direct question from me in an interview on Wednesday night, David Sutherland quite categorically stated that support for Caley Thistle by Tullochs would continue. (However I would add my own opinion here that the football club also needs in the longer term to become more self sufficient.) As far as the 4th stand is concerned.... how often could the crowd exceed the current limit of 7500 and by how much? How often, for that matter, are there fewer than 2000 empty seats at the moment? Is it worth spending upwards of £1M for the sake of something like three games a season? As for the "present waffle about a gas main" being "just a load of codswallop", the situation, again described publicly by David Sutherland in an interview, is that to build something as heavy as a stand over the gas main would need a device called a "cantilever". This would be extremely expensive and couldn't be justified in relation to the usage a third stand would get. Something lighter like a family enclosure might be realisitic but there are other items of expenditure which have higher priority. Finally, with reference to your statement that "£200,000 would be better spent on the stadium rather than some airy fairy trust"... you seem to have forgotten that ICT is not the only sports club in town and that Tullochs are very aware of the need to support other sports. They have mentioned athletics, shinty and rugby as examples. The £200,000 is NOT specifically, if at all, for ICT. Unfortunately I detect on these forums an occasionally proprietorial attitude towards Tullochs. ICT are not Tullochs' only beneficiaries, even within football, and indeed the company was supporting other sports before Caley Thistle was even a glint in ther eye of the enlightened gentlemen who got it here. In the intervening years, Tullochs have helped football to catch up on other sports in Inverness in terms of standards. Before 1994 many other sports were producing performers up to advanced international standard (and still do) whilst football (partly because of the intransigence of the SFL clubs) was struggling along at local level - ie the Highland League. We are all familiar with the revolution which has allowed football to play a welcome catchup in the last 12 years. That has been assisted by Tullochs' money and all Tullochs are doing now is to re emphasise their previous policy of helping a wide range of sports.

All I would add is that, over the years, ICT and the greater Inverness community have had a constructively symbiotic co-existence. They have benefited each other hugely, although I would have to add the caveat that whilst Inverness could have survived without Caley Thistle, the converse is not the case. But that's merely an historical analysis. Fortunately both are going from strength to strength to their mutual benefit.

Caley D.... 1) irrespective of who underwrites the debt, the fact is that the setting up of the ICT Trust was fundamental to saving the club from oblivion and the inclusion of sports other than football was fundamental to being able to set up the ICT Trust. That, however, does not detract from the fact thas it is the ICT TRUST. 2) You still cannot escape the fact that Caley Thistle owes its existence to the fact that substantial sums of public money were invested in the club. On a number of occasions between 1993 and 1996, the future of Caley Thistle hung on a knife edge. One of these was in 95-96 when the Common Good Fund's £900,000 was absolutely vital to survival. The "public" could just as easily have invested £1.3M in the link road, if it thought necessary, even if there had been no football club there. Then you have to additional contributions from INE, Objective 1 etc. 3) The "local and football politics" which you say led to going to East Longman were, in fact, entirely football politics. Stratton Farm was the strong choice of INE and a cross funded stadium could have been built there at minimal cost to the club. It was the CLUB'S insistence that they went to the more expensive option of East Longman (which planinng requirements then made even more expensive.) So in reality, the public money was needed to bale out the club's own more expensive preference. 4) A lot of public, Tullochs' and other people's money has helped football in Inverness to catch up on the performance levels enjoyed by other sports in the city for years. Perhaps now, with Tullochs' help, the entire Inverness sporting community can move forward together without becoming too partisan.

Caley 100.... I seem to recollect that, even when the ICT Trust was set up in 2001 (to rid the club of £2M of debt and save it from the receivers), the Trust had to be constituted to include the interests of all sports and not just football in order legally to qualify for tax breaks. Given that Caley Thistle were effectively saved from oblivion by this move and by Tullochs' money, I wouldn't get too territorial about what is the club's and what isn't. I would also, incidentally, mention the £1.8M of public money from which ICT benefited when the Stadium was built. However the ICT Trust is a completely separate issue and we are talking here about the new Tulloch promoted Inverness Sports Trust. Given the role that Tullochs have played in the transition of Caley Thistle from a near bankrupt First Division outfit to an unusually solvent SPL club, I think they should be left to support such sports as they see fit - which they've been doing for some time anyway.

Y'know.... I've got a funny feeling this thread would be better placed in the Old Folks Home section. "When Scotland used to qualify...." Can't be too many people who remember that. Possibly the 8 surviving World War 1 veterans featured on the news last night and that's about it.

Apparently there is an elite group which includes Germany, France, Italy, Greece and England. The withdrawal came from within that group so first choice of replacement also has to be offered within that group.

bigmack.... I have to admit to having lived in Wick for my first 2 years although I was born in Inverness. Gringo... I think even Berriedale may be better than it was way back in 79. And, switching to your preferred mode of transport, it's geographical features like Berriedale that force the railway line right inland on the last stage of its route North.

Caley 100 .... the journey "up ee rodd" isn't that bad. It's about 107 miles from the Caley Stadium to Wick .... it's closer than Perth.... and if "ee rodd" is fairly quiet it can be done in a couple of hours. "Ee rodd" isn't all that bad either apart from The Ord and Berriedale, and much better than it used to be, for instance before the Kessock, Cromarty and Dornoch Bridges and the improvements at Dunbeath. As someone who has joint Caithness and Inverness roots, although essentially an Invernessian, I'm delighted to hear that there's support in the far North for the Highlands' SPL club.

Sorry, I have no record of thsat. If there's anyone out there with a copy of Bill MacAllister's "Highland Hundred" therHL's official history, it may be in there. Jock.... there can't be many people around who can still remember old Bridge Street down to the numbers!

Jock... the Highland League was founded in a Working Men's Club in Bridge Street which in these days had rather more architectural attraction than it has since the 60s travesty.

Jock... the Highland League was founded in the Working Men's Club on Bridge Street which in these days had a good deal more architectural integrity than it has since it was demolished and rebuilt during the 60s.

The Highland League was formed in a club on Bridge Street in 1893. The founder members included Caley Clach and Thistle all of which had their origins in the 1880s. In contrast Dundee FC was formed in 1893 while Dundee United are very much New Kids on the Block, having been formed in 1909. Until the 1930s there was also a fourth Inverness club, Citadel, in the Highland League. For allegedly not having a football tradition, Inverness seems to have done rather well, finishing for the last two seasons ahead of both clubs from the City of Discovery. I suppose Inverness can also lay claim to being a "football city" on the strength of long term support here for Celtic (founded 1888) and Rangers (founded 1690).

The interview I did for the HN with David Sutherland will be on the Official part of the site tomorrow (Fri).