Charles Bannerman

18/11/2000 for me ..... County 0-3 ICT and Alex Bone with not one, not two, but three Red Cards !!!! Some time later, I asked Charlie what he had said to Bone to make him lose the plot and punch him and although he wouldnt answer at the time, he revealed much later that it was quite mundane and he had just asked him the score Yes I was REALLY disappointed that Alex wasn't a member of the County Legends team at the Testimonial!

Not for many many years before the Merger they were'nt. From what i remember (bearing in mind i have a terrible memory) but Huntly were the team of the moment and had been for a good few seasons. Even County had had more recent sucsess than Caley, Clach and Elgin Sh1tty. If i recall corectly, Caley hadnt done much for the last 4-5 seasons they were in the Highland league. SMEE... your memory isn't as bad as you think! You are absolutely correct. Let me fill in a little detail. The last Highland League "major" (ie League, Q Cup, League Cup) that Caley ever won was the League title in April 1988. After that they won very little at all until the North Cup in their last few weeks as a team in April 1994 (which was why Jags fans - who already had the Inverness Cup - used to sing "what's it like to win *&%£ all?" at the Caley fans.) However in that intervening six year period when Caley were doing very little:- * Jags won the Q Cup, beating Caley (at Telford Street no less!) 3-0 in a final replay in November 1988. * Elgin had two great seasons under Pele 1988-90 and at one popint had all the trophies on their shelf. * Ross County won back to back League titles in 91 and 92 because (WHISPER IT) Caley bottled it big time on both occasions. * In the Inverness teams' last season 93-94 Huntly won the League title, marking a lengthy period of pre eminence in Highland League football started off by Pele until 1995 and continued by other managers - albeit latterly without Caley, Jags and County to have to contend with. * And for God sake CLACH, not long back from the jaws of the receiver, even managed to put Caley out of the Inverness Cup at Telford Street in 1993 on the famous night of the Comet End Bus! So we do really have to wonder if Doogie has got a serious case of retrospective vision through rose coloured spectacles, or simply whether he has been borrowing too many delusions of past glories from Aberdeen fans.

Interesting though that of the five teams Doogie mentions there, County and Elgin were the most successful and indeed only Clach - who were heading towards their first bankruptcy - were less successful than Caley in the immediate "pre merger" years. But I'm not going to rise to the bait with the statistics.

So actually am I too young inasmuch as it ceased to be possible to buy your way into the "Kaddy" as long ago as 1945 although even in earlier days a bright working class kid such as your great aunt could always get a scholarship. PM me her name and I'll take a look in the archive and see what I can find. Anyway... by now the Mods will be well hacked off at this peroration (good Kaddy word that!) so I will conclude by remarking that Iain Gray the former Scottish Labour leader was also a former Kaddy Rat (but I don't know which team he supports) and that Murdo was just a perfectly ordinary lad in a situation where it's possibly unsurprising that a member of the Conservative and Unionist Party supports the Unionist club.

Former pupil of mine at said institution Douglas old chap But it WAS from the more recent era when entry was determined by where you live rather than by brains. "Tecky" boy yourself?

I would largely reinforce what others such as IHE and OCG have said. The ICT - County scenario is a relative Johnny Come Lately on the local rivalry stakes. Certainly in the North, and probably elsewhere as well, rivalries have tended to be with whomever your closest rivals at the time are, so this tends to be cyclical. In Inverness there was a long period in the early - mid 20th century where Caley and Clach were the two big cheeses and that was quite a longstanding one. In the 60s and into the 70s Elgin had a purple patch so they, as has been said, became principal rivals. That may also have coincided with a period of especially bad behaviour at football matches in general and perhaps locally in particular which may have amplified the situation. Then during the early/mid 80s, Caley and Keith dominated the HL scene. I was a student in Edinburgh when Thistle had their couple of glory years in the early 70s so have no great recollection of that or any rivalry it might have generated. However when Thistle had their next purple patch in the latter 1980s, in doing so they were challenging Caley's status as top dogs so this gave rise to quite an intense rivalry especially in 87 and 88. Between them these two Inverness clubs also shared all the HL honours and actually won (or effectively so) the last major trophies of their history at each other's grounds (Caley 87-88 League, Jags 88-89 Q Cup). Interestingly after that both Inverness teams went into decline as the merger approached, but appeared to retain a rivalry. However by the early 90s Ross County were up for their back to back HL titles in 91 and 92 - both the result of Caley bottling it big time. (A look at the "new" (HL) Chapter and the original Chapter 1 of Against all Odds will give more information up until 1997.) These close run HL title races then gave a huge impetus to the Caley - County rivalry (Caley fans seemed to do "rivalry" quite well!!) which therefore had every reason to spill into the SFL years post 1994. And there we have it! That rivalry of the only two national league clubs in the inner Moray Firth has continued ever since - albeit in fits and starts dependent on just how competitive they are with each other at any particular time. So we look forward to next season's unprededented scenario!!!!

Tony, an absolute gentleman, was the Rapsons bus driver in the early SFL days for both ICT and County when he would take them both to alternating away games. He was hugely respected by both Highland clubs and a legend among the players and officials he used to drive. Tony died, I think of cancer, quite a few years ago and a Memorial Trophy was donated by his family for competition between the two clubs. That went into abeyance after a while but was brought out of cold storage for this testimonial. Maybe it could now be formally restored for annual competition between the clubs alongside one of their SPL encounters (no smartass cynical one liners please!!) with the initial venue decided by the toss of a coin.

OCG... I think this is perhaps the wisest course now. It very much looks as if there is no great desire on the part of the club, the consortium or both to dwell on the issue of identity and maybe it would be best left there - especially if the consortium may be motiviated to make further investments as already reported. Maybe the "fifth man", especially since he is Inverness based, has very good professional/ business reasons not to want to be identified and if so that should be resepcted - even though he provides the clearest link with the consortium's name. Best left maybe?

Don I'm not sure whether you genuinely misunderstand what I am saying or merely choose to do so. Just in case it's the former, the point I am making is that ICT and its fans have made a number of parallel and equally laudable efforts to raise cash for their club so it really does appear a little selective - churlish even at this highly successful time for them - to criticise Ross County's commendable enterprises whilst rightly supporting and endorsing ICT's. On your second point, I should perhaps simply echo John F Kennedy's famous 1963 quote of solidarity with Berlin when he visited the city during the height of the Cold War in 1963 and comment "Ich bin ein Staggie!" as a mark of appreciation of Ross County's achievement of SPL football for themselves and hence also of double representation and derbies for the Highlands.

Anyone who purchases shares in the football club is doing no more than making a donation. As for the bricks, this was no more than a novel means of posting a list of donors - or are you suggesting that if the people who stumped up to get their names on these integral parts of the main stand actually own them, they would therefore be perfectly entitled to take their "property" away with them at any time?

And how the HELL do you think the cash was found to put North and South stands at the Caledonian Stadium in 2005 when there was an urgent necessity to return to Inverness when the cost of hiring Pittodrie was threatening to bankrupt Caley Thistle? Then apart from that, I suppose getting fans to chip in to get their name put on a brick at the Caledonian Stadium or on an away strip doesn't count as the same sort of scheme since it was ICT who did it? Next up, the perfectly admirable ICT car boot sales which are an excellent means of fundraising. Has anyone seen anything on Jailender/overthebridge criticising these? Finally, it's a bit ironic that these gripes sjould emerge today... just as the names of four of the five ICT fans who have recently put their hands in their pockets to help their club out have been released. Or is this beyond criticism when it's £50K a shot or when it's ICT? I'm with Sorted on this one.

Ah... the memories.. LSM!! I have to say that this "petrol station down the dump with Fiona Larg" didn't do too badly - however intent Dougal and his chums of equally limited ambition and imagination were on being "the most successful Highland League team in history." (An interesting order of words there, I've always thought.... "the most successful Highland League team in history" does seem to imply rather more of a world conquering delusion than the more balanced alternative of "the most successful team in Highland League history.)

You are right Charles. But a word of warning. If I ever turn on the radio and hear you use the word "fairytale" (like your BBC colleagues felt obliged to do every single time they talked about Gretna) I will get in my car, find you at whatever ground you are at, and stick your microphone into that unpleasant stinking place where where the sun don't shine. And I don't mean Dingwall. I may do it just once.... especially for you!!

Apologies to anyone who read a previous post by me in this slot which I have now deleted since - given the massive success of the project over a period of almost 20 years now - I really have to discipline myself not to argue the bleeding obvious with any of very fewer anti merger whingers who still have their AGM in a phone box in Telford Street.

Don... maybe you should have critically examined the one where I missed out the "M" (for million. Tullochs have chipped in rather more than a fiver!

D.. all I am doing is critically examining the alternative to your "expensive merger that swallowed up the previous club' assets". And for passing round buckets read a total of over £5 committed one way or another by Tullochs - over £2 million of that to keep the administrators from the door following over spending during the period that ICT went from D3 to D1.

Donald... have you become Buenos in disguise? I for one am certainly in no doubt that without the merger, any single Inverness team that got in - and I wouldn't have staked my pension on that - would have been a lot more poorly off and would have done a good deal less well than what eventually happened. There is absolutely NO WAY that Caley playing out of Telford Street or Thistle playing out of Kingsmills, which was condemned as unsuitable even for Division 3, would have got anywhere like as far. For SPL football to come to Inverness a 6000 all seater stadium would have been necessary at some point and the limitations as to site are very well documented. The only qualification you might make is whether it might have been a better idea to have gone for the Stratton Farm stadium site in 1994 which would not have cost so much but would have been a long way out to the east. Then you have to remember the considerable amounts of public money (Council, INE etc), totalling off the top of my head £1.8M, which the stadium and merger projects attracted and which would never have been given to a single club.

Two points here. 1 - On the subject of money allegedly being thrown around, where did ICT's £2 million + debt of 1999- 2000 ultimately disappear to etc etc etc? 2 - Show me the evidence that Ross County "always outspent Caley Thistle" in the lower leagues? For instance I am looking for numbers which outrank £30,000 for Iain Stewrt in the summer of 1995 and another £50K for Brian Thomson and Mike Teasdale a few months later.

It could be Tuesday if Dundee fail to beat QoS then. But absolutely. I've been through in Dingwall as often as I can this season and County have - despite the best attempts of Messrs Pressley, MacNamara and Reid to denigrate them - been absolutely superb. This is thoroughly deserved. County have been the best team in D1 by a country mile. Bring on the Highland Derbies!

Exactly what I was thinking Rasczack. ICT won the 2010 title because Dundee failed to produce the goods on a midweek night that ICT weren't playing. As it happens the ICT players had arranged a wee night out in the Chieftain anyway... and it turned into a somewhat bigger night!

Jeeezis Johndo... you have completely lost track of how old I and (subtract 3ish) you actually are!! Year Book! Fer Gawd sake mun, Year Books hadn't been invented when I was a kid nor probably when you also were (still are ?) But even if we had Year Books back in them days (cue Horlicks music), even with who were still left by Sixth Year you would still have about 120 to choose from. Maybe a better guide might be for you to think of which Sixth Years in 1971 gave you a right good kicking for being the little Third Year irritant most deserving of the privilege. On second thoughts forget that... there would be far too many to choose from! Oh and by the way... you ARE going to Dungwall next season!!!!

No can do. Fair enough the name "Muirfield Mills" enabled me to work out who they probably were on the basis of stuff I knew from the past. However I then had to rely on a contact to confirm my suspicions so I feel obliged to respect their wishes for anonymity and regard that as privileged off the record information which I am not prepared to place in the public domain - unless the names appear anywhere else in the media in which case I would then feel entitled to broadcast the information within the hour.

As it happens I met the Inverness Oracle which is Sheila MacKay in Morrisons today and put the question to her. Sheila's made the point that Laurel Avenue was the first of the post war Dalneigh housing to be built and hence comprised a boundary between the pre war Columba Road and Dochfour Drive and all the "Saints and Trees" (St Valery Ave, Limetree Ave) which were to follow very quickly. She believes that the town planners of the time quite simply expected an increased volume of traffic with increasing car ownership and the extra housing on its far side so decided to make Laurel Avenue a dual cariageway for that reason. She is not aware of any plan to link the A9 north and the A82 but couldn't rule it out.

:lol: I've just read this post for the first time after Kenny Cameron, who spotted it earlier, flagged it up to me! In fact Kenny was quite amused that I was able inadvertently to scupper the above fantastic conspiracy theory by mentioning in my Highland News column this week that I had actually been at school with these guys and played rugby/ done athletics with them - so they are genuine Inverness gentlemen - ex Jaggies if I remember correctly - who I think would recoil in horror at the thought of being thought of as Rangers in disguise!

Aye... righ'eenuff!! Bona Cola! Good stuff. Glen Mhor..... The York Drive Laundry... I certainly remember that. But the building round the corner in The Haugh that briefly became The Scene Disco in 1968 - what did that used to be?