Charles Bannerman

What a wonderful example of using the exception to attempt to deny the otherwise overwhelmingly obvious. And then there's the complete red herring of quoting crowd size to make a point about on-field performance. In any case, having attended both the Clyde and St Johnstone home games in that cup run along with with several others at that time, the only "sell out" I ever saw was St Johnstone. It's amazing how more rose-coloured the Howden End has become over the intervening years and I am, of course, certain that the entire alleged 4000 Perth Travel Club were also regular Telford Street attenders, but every single one of them has since steadfastly refused to darken the turnstiles of the Caledonian Stadium.

It's been out of print for more than 15 years, so nothing to plug? It went free online here in 2011.

Stan - your observations were probably pretty spot on but that Caley side's quest for trophies was frustrated by Ross County under Bobby Wilson who then launched them very successfully into the SFL and by Elgin and Huntly under Steve Paterson of whom no more needs said on here. That all these sides were so good at that time 1988-94 probably also contributed to the SFL election of CT and County in 1994. If you take a look at the Prequel chapter and Chapter 1 of Against All Odds in the revised online edition on this site, you'll find the background in more detail.

Was it really? I would argue that Caley had been in decline since about 1988 when they won their final HL title at the last gasp. All they produced after that was the Qualifying Cup in 1991 and the North Cup under Baltacha in their final weeks in 1994. Meanwhile, Elgin City and Huntly under Pele and Ross County under Bobby Wilson played more dominant roles. In fact, I would also suggest that Caley's decline and lack of success in these years was a significant factor in the club agreeing to merge with Thistle (which had also been in decline over the same period.) Had Caley continued to pile in the honours after 1988, I think there would have been a stronger desire in 1993 to go it alone.

I suppose it all depends on whether you are using the word as an adjective or as the imperative of the verb.

Lucky you didn't catch Dutch Elm Disease!!!

I'm also with OCG and Kingsmills, although I also agree that neither was much good (Sergei and Richie I mean.... not OCG and Kingsmills ). There are a number of factors in mitigation for Baltacha, not the least that he had to take a new club in its very first season into the national leagues with an entirely part time squad, mainly from the Highland League. It has been correctly said that, even though he had had a season with Caley, bottom tier SFL football was pretty well foreign to Sergei, but this was also new to the club environment he was working in as well. Add to that a complete lack of money and all the hassle that was going on in and around the club, and you have a pretty challenging managerial situation so a mid-table finish maybe wasn't all that bad. Remember also that by the time the Pele transformation kicked in, about 3 months into his debut season, apart from Pele's huge personal qualities, most of the internal hassle had been resolved and he had had around £100K to spend on Stewart, MacArthur, Teasdale, Thomson and Ross. As for Foran, OK he was faced with the Premiership not Division 3 but he inherited the guts of a squad which had won the Scottish Cup just over a year before he took over and which, by historic ICT standards, was having money simply thrown at it. What RF inherited was also an established Premiership scenario whereas SB's team had just been put together (OK, with ex-Caley players, albeit not from an outstandingly good side by Caley standards, as a backbone) and were starting from scratch. This is a little bit like comparing apples and oranges, but I think the balance of the evidence finds in Sergei's favour. As for Brewster 2, I have never quite got my head round that. CB did fine first time round here, but when he came back from Dundee United, his own playing contribution notwithstanding, he just wasn't the same manager. Did something happen at Tannadice when he was there? Well we know it did, in the form of a player revolt, but I have always been of the view that Tannadice is a very strange place indeed and a managerial graveyard, or rather scaffold, and I believe that the longstanding difficulty there originates from boardroom level.

You would need to bring in portaloos. Could even paint them black and red

That would have been back in the days when Cove were indeed pretty duff..... before somebody started throwing silly money at them.

Tonight, 31st January, is also the first anniversary of one of the worst outcomes in Caley Thistle's history - the notorious 3-0 defeat at Hamilton which, apart from being a rotten result, also set something of a "tone" for some time to come. Interestingly enough, on 31st January 2017 and 2018 respectively, Caley Thistle by 3 points and Ross County by 6 were both bottom of the Premiership, both having amassed 17 points. However a year ago, ICT had 15 games left to try to save themselves, while as of tonight, Ross County have only 13. This means that County now are in a numerically poorer situation - three points further adrift and with two fewer games left - than Inverness were one year ago.

Thanks ASB. I'm now off to ponder the concept of half a goal

That may very well be right. All that I remember from Fort's earliest days is a 1-0 home win over I think Clach in their very first Highland League game in August 1985 and a similar scoreline over Thistle, or maybe Clach again? in the Qualifying Cup. There could have been something against Caley as well.

I seem to remember Fort putting Thistle (or was it Clach?) out of the Q-cup back in the 80s, but that's as far as I can go. Lochaber Rugby Club have actually been in decline in recent years and now play down in West Division 3. On the other hand, this is very much shinty country, with hill running and mountain sports also big counter-attractions.

Could someone please explain the significance of the percentages and if necessary their red and blue colours in the right and column. I do realise that they represent the fractions 1/3, 2/3 and 1/6 and are hence probably related to the six games played, but they don't seem to correlate with anything obvious and I'm not sure either what the "2.5+" heading means.

I would maybe look on it differently and suggest that what we are seeing now is more representative of what should normally be expected just outside Scotland's top league of twelve. I don't think it's valid to make a comparison in terms of Hearts, Hibs and Rangers. They are fundamentally big clubs by Scottish standards which got themselves into trouble through their own mismanagement, although in Hibs' case compared with the other two, it's less easy to see specifically how that happened. Had these three not shot themselves in the foot, they would never have been in the Championship in the first place.

So which of the four possible permutations for next season do Inverness fans think is the most likely? Both Highland sides in the Premiership. Both in the Championship. ICT in the Premiership and County in the Championship? County in the Premiership and ICT in the Championship.

Yes, there is a maximum three hour stay, but you can get that without either having to pay £4 without getting it back or spend £50 in the shop - if you are in a position to put in 3 separate £1 coins at hourly intervals and redeem each with a token purchase in the shop. The camera clocks you coming in and out and is set to 3 hours while the "wee man" who has been restored to patrolling duties and isn't even there all the time, is only looking for vehicles with invalid tickets. In any case I don't see anything in the car park rules to stop that since the customer's patter of shop usage must be their own decision. I never have need for the full three hours but, quite regularly, I go into the café for breakfast and to read the paper and redeem my first ticket against that, stick a second ticket on whilst on my way out so I can go down town and then redeem that one against a sandwich for my lunch on the way back.

What I find myself a bit bemused at is all the outcry against Regan for not landing O'Neill. Was there really any realistic chance of luring the guy away from a job in his own country, Northern Ireland, with a higher rated team where he's getting more money and on a longer contract? Compared with that, did the Scotland job actually have ANYTHING going for him at all? He did make the point very strongly himself that, irrespective of all the other considerations, he is Northern Irish, so it's quite important to him to have a job with Northern Ireland, even though I do believe he lives in Scotland.

Free parking at Morrisons is a good one. You can more or less get as long as you like if you feed the meter hourly. To get a £1 refund for the hour there's no minimum spend but, unless you are planning spending more than £15 or more, you won't get a refund for any longer duration.

Lowland Scots treat Highlanders with at least as much contempt as anyone else. Ironically, a certain Scottish Football League vote in 1973, although hardly vital to life, comes as an interesting instance of same. And the somewhat contrived WW1 reference really does betray the most enormous propensity to grievance.

What's realism to one man could well be cynicism to another who is in perpetual denial.

Yes.... the A9 looks WELL up to schedule for completion by 2025.... It took them several years to do the 5 or 6 miles south of Aviemore so only about 70 to go. On the other hand, they'll doubtless officially open a set of experimental boreholes and then announce that they've closed them again for half a century for "snagging". It will, of course, still be "the best road in the world".

That's interesting to see this in terms of numbers which certainly back up the perception that this year's HL performances in the Scottish Cup have been better than of late, although Fraserburgh haven't actually had to face an SPFL club in the first three rounds. Certainly the Brora epic is a welcome return to some of the heroics that Thistle, Caley and Ross County pulled off during the decade before they themselves went into the SFL.

I've had a bit of a debate with myself over whether to place this thread here or in the UK football section, but I've decided that it's relevant enough to Caley Thistle for this part of the forum. First of all, many congratulations to Caley Thistle's longest serving player of all time and appearance record holder (456) Ross Tokely, now manager at Brora Rangers, on their superb passage through to the fifth round of the Scottish Cup. More eye-catchingly still, in four victories to date, two of them away to League One opponents, Brora have scored at total of 12 goals and conceded none at all. Several Caley Thistle "old boys" have made a huge contribution to what Brora have achieved in recent years, and another of them is Jamie Duff who seems to have been put up as their post-match player interviewee at Methil. Jamie was not slow to reveal that he thought East Fife "would have given a bit more respect" to Brora while instead "they thought they could turn up and stroll it". Jamie's words do bring back memories of 22 years ago at the same last 32 stage in January 1996, when East Fife appeared to treat the then still embryonic Caley Thistle with the same lack of respect. Many will remember East Fife manager Stevie Archibald subbing himself off, apparently reckoning the game to be won..... without bargaining on the resilience of Herchie and Co, a replay, extra time and a penalty shootout victory for Caley Thistle. The rest .... Brian Thomson's glorious winner at Stenhousemuir leading to a quarter final encounter with Rangers at Tannadice.... became history as the "new" Inverness club recorded the first major achievement of its then short and still difficult history. I have always believed that the Scottish Cup campaign of 1995-96 was a major turning point for Inverness - and it came thanks in part to a lack of respect which, according to Jamie Duff, still hasn't been addressed down Methil way.

And why not if you can still get life's essentials for free from a food bank?