Charles Bannerman

He won it in 1999... and again in 2006.

Don't forget these mental arithmetic challenges which a lot of papers do... you know... a string of calculations at "Beginners", "Intermediate" and "Advanced" levels. Of all the papers that do this, The Sun's "Advanced" level challenge is really hilariously so much more difficult than all the others. I just wonder how many Sunreaders realise they are just being wound up by this?

Jade Goody was quite simply one of an unfortunately sizeable slice of our population on whom the drama series "Shameless" is based. It is a rather damning indictment of our society that any unfortunate dysfunctional with these non-credentials should achieve and sustain "celebrity" status. The media, and people like Max Clifford, created the nonentity which was Jade Goody. However they would neither have been able to do so nor to have sustained their efforts even past the grave if our society was not able to produce sufficient demand for/ be hoodwinked by the fundamental vacuousness of a phenomenon like this. Having said that, I love the Sun (who are probably the biggest and most successful "Jade Watchers") and especially Bill Leckie's excellent stuff, football and non football. The Sun is very cleverly written and they understand and know EXACTLY the "readership" they are writing for (remember IT'S THE SUN WOT WON IT in 1992?) Indeed in Scotland what I have said in the last paragraph probably accounts to a large extent for why The Sun is taking The Record to the cleaners in terms of circulation.

Must be an Irish thing. Maybe the poor chap uses the same dentist as that really rough sounding singer guy in that Irish band who has terrible teeth as well. The same dentist probably did Leslie Ash's lip job and Amy (?) Winehouse's hairdo.

You may be interested to know that the summariser alongside Scott Davie who will be doing commentary this afternoon is CHARLIE CHRISTIE. That's on 92-95FM in the Highlands and Islands (94.0 in the Inverness area) and on the internet for those able to access it. Just to plug the BBC's other coverage of ICT v St. Mirren, you will also have John Robertson on Open All Mics on 103.5-105FM across Scotland (104.9 in the Inverness area) for the whole game and updates and a full time report from me on BBC1 from 4:30. Post match there will be a podcast from Scott and Charlie on the net and a roundup on Sports Report on all Radio Scotland frequencies at 6:30. I will also have a post match interview with Terry Butcher which will eventually find its way on to the net and possibly also on air before 6:30. As they say ... "every kick of the ball".....

Gentlemen... the solution to your problem should be BILLY URQUHART. Calder is too young!

Ronnie Sharp - I used to hate playing against him as you knew he was always going to give you a few problems - big lad all arms - if I remember right he was at Nairn Academy He was indeed and was arguable a better athlete than he was a footballer. In fact he became known as "The man who beat Colin Jackson" which he did over the 100m hurdles in the British Schools International some time in the early 80s. He also ran 10.9 for 100m sprint when he was still an under 17.

You mean this (incidentally posted on the day of 10 man ICT 3 Celtic 2)? "Brewster deserves a thread of his own - not just for today - but for the dramatic manner in which he has turned ICT fortunes round since his re-appointment. He's managed to get that spirit back into the side again - they all work their socks off supporting each other now in a manner that was totally absent at the start of the season. He's found a way of best utilising Niculae's undoubted skills... Thankfully he's re-introduced Rankin to the side. He has also adopted a much more thoughtful approach to substitutions. Whether you were for or against his re-appointment to ICT you have to surely acknowledge the fact that he has transformed this football team... Long may his reign here continue.... "

Maybe it's because Terry Butcher and Maurice Malpas know a hell of a lot more about running a fotoball team than you do Johndo.

Aye, righ'ee nuffmun. Ah wuz in the Hulton Chapper the u'ur day ge'een a chucken sapper from yer brurr.

Having spent the best part of the last two decades residing in rural Aberdeenshire, I diina ken fit you're on aboot ! Aye maloon, but ye ken whaur ye went tae the skule tho! Now widdit huv been yon chiel Horne or the loon Ian Thomson that taught ye the Roman mither tongue. Surely no' the quine Jessie Thomson tho' - ye'll be far too young a laddie tae huv been in wan o' hur classes. Ach weel, as the say in Turriff "Labore et Virtute" an' keep chavvin awa' defendin' a' thae bestiality cases. Whit's yur standard line o' defence onywuy? "My Lord, my client understood that 'animal husbandry' was a perfectly legal activity." :thumb04:

Would it not just have been easier to tell me? To be fair to Caley D he has narrated the position in full at least twice before on these fora. Is this just Kingsmills reminding us that his Classical education in the Victorian pile at the top of Stephen's Brae has afforded him familiarity with the nominative case of a plural neuter Latin noun of the first declension?

Would it not just have been easier to tell me?

So who does then and under what terms?

I was not seeking to make any value judgement in what I wrote. The purpose was merely to give a factual account of Tullochs' financial involvement in ICT since the initial link was made.

To be rather more realistic, Ross County presented an excellent case to te SFL in 93-94 and were well worth their election. Indeed it was Ross County who were the "stick ons" as the vote approached since the Inverness bid was hovering on the brink of strangling itself and it only even got to the starting line principally on the basis of an illusory truce with the Caley Rebels which the Rebels then reneged on within a week of the vote.

So is it widely accepted now that Tulloch own the stadium? Weren't we told that it was transferred to a charitable trust? Let's go back to 2000 when ICT was ?2M in debt and in significant danger of administration or worse. A lot of measures were put in place over the next couple of years, including the ICT Charitable Trust which bought the Stadium and took over the balance of the lease from Highland Council, thus effectively wiping out the potentially fatal debt. The setting up of the Trust was a long and complicated affair, with strict criteria to qualify for charitable status (which included the legal requirement, as a quid pro quo, to assist ALL sport and not just football although I'm not aware of too much of that having happened.) The Trustees were, and as far as I am aware still are, David Sutherland, David Stewart MP and now MSP and ex Provost Allan Sellar. There had always been some uncertainty as to how ?2M of debt was simply "spirited away" but it has become clear that the Bank of Scotland, with which David Sutherland has strong ties, played the central role in taking up this debt, with Tullochs guaranteeing it in some shape or form. As a result, Tullochs play a very influential role in the basic stadium ownership and, to face reality, they were the only game in town when ICT was a complete basket case and would probably have gone to the wall without them. The second component of the Tullochs involvement was the ?500,000 or thereby of equity they took up in around 2002 which made a huge difference to ongoing club funding, probably at the same time making it financially feasible to win the First Division and to go into the SPL (and carry the Pittodrie costs for 6 months). In return for this, Tullochs got the right for 5 years to nominate 3 of the 6 directors, including the Chairman, and since he also had a casting vote, this was effectively control of the board. This arrangement expired in 2007 but David Sutherland, although not a director, is still very infuential. It should perhaps also be emphasised that Tullochs have never allowed their shareholding to exceed around 42% and have never sought to have a controlling interest. Part 3 relates to the North and South stands which were built at great speed by Tullochs in the winter of 2004-05. What is more important than the fact that they built the stands is that they also played an instrumental part in funding them, in association with Highland Council. The quid pro quo for that was that the premises should be called the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium. So Tullochs' contribution can be summarised under three headings - avoidance of bankruptcy, funding on the eve of SPL membership, provision of facilities to bring SPL football to Inverness. These are the financial facts although I have noticed that interpretation of them on this board has tended to depend on the phase of the cycle of popularity that David Sutherland is deemed to be on at any particular time.

Is that the fat cats? You mean the people who subsidise the price of your ticket?

As he is a lifelong dyed in the wool Clacher, I would doubt if this would be a job which would appeal to Billy.

That would be Billy Nelson. He still does the Clach PA and often plays tracks from his own CD, including the legendary "Westering Home To The Ferry."

That was the original request from Inverness District Council when they granted the 99 year lease of the site but it was only a request and the term "Caledonian Stadium" was needed instead as a means of appeasing the Caley side at a time when the whole merger plan looked likely to hit the buffers.

There was never a thistle in the name. I dont even think calling it Caledonian Stadium had anything to do with that club but more with Caledon that ancient name for these lands and the fact we sit pretty much at that end of the Caledonian Canal. The title "Caledonian Stadium" is a legacy of the torrid time the merger went through late 1993 and early 1994 when it came within a hairsbreadth of extinction and with it Inverness's prospects of Scottish League football. There were protracted negotiations, which also involved INE and on which the future of the club depended, and these came up with the vital agreement that the club would be called Caledonian Thistle and the stadium would be called the Caledonian Stadium. There was never any "Thistle" part of the stadium name but the deal as a whole was designed to reflect the fact that Caley were the bigger partners. There were eventually other features as well such as the notorious inaugural "predominantly blue" strip but what finally came out in the wash, especially after the black and red was added to the strip in 1995, probably reflected quite fairly the unequal nature of the merger. I often think the Jaggies got a bit of a bonus out of it though since "their" bit of the stadium was named the Kingsmills Suite. As it's turned out this is one of the most heavily used and therefore best known parts of the Caledonian Stadium.

And that would be in the days when uprights were made of real, solid wood!

Apologies, I didn't realise that this was an older thread. It's not like people on here to complain, is it?

Most of the Rebels I knew would by now be in the 40-60 age range. Maybe it's become chic to be a Retro Rebel, a wee bit like all these Americans who claim they were on the grassy knoll, even to the extent that there are some people claiming to be Rebels who were little more than glints in their fathers' eyes at the time of the merger. I have to say I never fail to be amazed at the fascination which the Caley Rebels, and especially the Refuseniks who were only a slice of the larger group called Rebels, still seem to command. 15 years on the Caley Rebels really are little more than an historical footnote, albeit from my point of view an intriguingly interesting one. But what really stands out is the undue significance those who never went to see ICT out of protest etc seem to command. They really were quite a small slice of a then much smaller Saturday football support in Inverness and certainly only a handful compared with the massive increase in attandance at matches which has ensued since they began to stay away. Why do people keep getting excited about a group of people who, fair enough, had a perfectly legitimate point of view, but who numerically only represent a tiny proportion of Inverness football support?