Charles Bannerman

Yah!... yah!... yah!..... I was watching an old western on Channel 4 this afternoon and suddenly the cowboys got on their horses and began this litany to get the critturs moving. It's something I haven't heard for years since the golden era of the western movie. Surely I wasn't the only kid in the early 60s that used to run along the street, slapping myself on the left thigh and shouting "Yah!... yah! ... yah!...."? At least I hope I wasn't!

I met Jock McDonald at Dingwall last Saturday and he was reminding me of how he got King Willie to Kingsmills. Jock, on taking over as Jags Chairman, had basically decreed that the Highland League title would be coming to Kingsmills. Now, Jock's decrees have the habit of assuming reality, but to do this he needed a manager and decided on Willie. Elgin's fee was ?150 so he borrowed ?10 from each of 15 people, including his father, and Willie arrived on a wage of ?3 a week! The resulting back to back titles in 1972 and 1973 are now a part of Black and Red folklore. Willie was a gentleman and it was also a privilege to work with him in the press box after he retired from the active side of the game.

SP - Curly will be rotating in his grave at French like that!

SP - I'm absolutely certain that there were over 6000 there for the St. J game in 1992 and it was packed out that afternoon. Kingsmills - I would defer to your superior knowledge here. I only based my original statement on a subjective feel for the place. (And it must regularly have felt as if there were 7000 in the notorious Kingsmills away dressing room!) I think, though, that both these observations confirm that neither Kingsmills nor Telford Street could hold 10,000 although I believe Grant Street originally was much bigger. I can't remember who on earth I had the conversation with recently about Grant Street finally being bought outright by Clach with money they got from selling players from their great 1948 team. If that hadn't happened and they hadn't owned the place to sell part of it as part of the 1990 rescue, the club would certainly have gone down the tubes at that time.

This is what I was trying to say earlier. I'm sure it was in the Clach Centenary book, The Lilywhites, that I read about crowds of 10,000 plus for some special games there in decades gone by. Indeed I think Grant Street was the only ground in Inverness capable of accommodating that kind of number. Before the 1990 sell off of land, it was huge. In the case of Telford Street, it was certainly creaking at the seams with 6000 for the St. Johnstone cup tie in 1992 and I also think a similar number for Rangers in 1984. As I recollect, I don't think Kingsmills was even as big as that. Certainly I changed the BBC copy we ran to the biggest SEATED attendance.

I'm splitting hairs here perhaps, but might this not just be the biggest SEATED crowd ever to watch as football match in Inverness. I have a feeling the Clach Park used to attract over 10,000 on odd special occasions in years gone by. (I'll not tempt fate by saying that this won't even be the biggest seated crowd if the Singing Section have anything to do with it!)

Automatic pilot, wanderer!

Fair enough. I haven't actually seen the link since when I realised it could be dodgy I reversed out of it before it kicked in properly. I would have to add that part of that split second decision was a desire for my computer not to be recorded as having visited anything inappropriate. However if those who have actually seen it say it's all right, I'm happy enough to go with their judgement.

Scotty... I inadvertently opened this post before I realised its potentially dubious nature. As it happens the video doesn't seem to work but might this not best be deleted?

Strangely (and I use the adverb advisedly) enough, very shortly after I first read this thread, I visited Tescos to fill up and witnessed a poor woman in a similar fankle. She had, with some difficulty, managed to get the nozzle to the hole (look, there are bound to double entendres in this post but I just can't be @rsed thinking up an alternative PC vocabulary) but couldn't get it to produce petrol. From the next pump I advised her to press the "Pay at Kiosk" button which she did but this only produced tiny bursts of fuel. It was quite clear that although she'd managed to manoeuvre the nozzle to the hole, she had it in at the wrong angle and this was creating a back pressure which was instantly causing the pump to stop automatically. Using rather more PC vocabulary than I have used here, I then explained this latest problem to her and at last petrol seemed to rush forth without the poor woman landing on her backside on the forecourt. I'm not being sexist here am I?.....

Now that the short list for the Hall of Fame is public on the MFR website, I thought I'd place some very brief biographical reminders here just in case anyone needed their memories refreshed about the 12 nominees. In no particular order..... Alan Hercher - scored the club's first ever hat trick v Arbroath in its very first SFL game in August 94. Played a huge part in the 96 Cup campaign which ended against Rangers in the QF with vital goals v Livi and East Fife. An absolute stalwart of Inverness football who was just snatched in time from shinty. Mike Noble - Captain courageous of the 97 D3 winning side. Does much more need said? Like Herch, a local lad and a hero of the Highland League into the bargain. Defensively so solid in thes early years and one of "the few" who made the successful transition from the HL to the SFL. Good to see him still looking after the mascots on match days. Jimmy Calder - I feel another book coming on! What a man! Caley Thistle's answer to Alf Tupper, the tough of the Track, who held down the day job whilst performing amazing and eccentric sporting feats on a diet of fish and chips. Penalty stopper supreme. Heart stopper supreme also when he used to come off his line in terrifying fashion. Would probably find it difficult to get on top of the crossbar these days. Iain Stewart - Fantastic value for the frightening 30K the tribunal told Pele he's have to pay Lossie for him. All time top scorer until eventually overhauled by Dennis and 27 in one season. Frequent destroyer and evader of defences. Just how many hat tricks did the wee man score? Mike Teasdale - made his debut along with Brian Thomson in the famous victory over Ross County in the Inverness Cup Final in December 1995. Superb both in midfield and defence and to my mind his goal which beat Alloa 1-0 at Telford Street was the one which turned the 97 championship season in the right direction after the customary slow start. Brian Thomson - at the risk of appearing to dwell too much on goals, no one will ever forget Thomson's strike which beat Stenhousemuir 1-0 in the Scottish Cup in 1996. Minutes later on Sportsound "Caley Thistle....... will play..... Rangers...." And there were so many more. A guy I got on especially well with. Hope he's at the Legends' Night. Paul Cherry - just how many "Man of the Match" awards did he lift in 96-97? So utterly solid in the middle of the park and no messing... hence the odd red card (don't read this Blackie!). Yet another of Pele's great signings. And a very nice looking wife too if I remember correctly! Paul Sheerin - it was a wee bit like the assassination of JFK. I remember exactly where I was when he put away that penalty to bury it 3-1 at Celtic Park. Unfortunately I wasn't at Celtic Park, but I did stop my car in the middle of Culduthel Road when the award was given. I hope passers by didn't spot it rocking to and fro and come to the wrong conclusion! The latest recruit among the list of 12 and what a player. He's more than welcome to share my taxi to the Drumossie on the night. Bobby Mann - we were in the front foyer at the Stadium as Bobby glared down at me and said "It wuz MAH goal!" I had had the temerity to refer in an interview to Lubo Moravcik's OG at Celtic Park but since then it has been Bobby's. Apart from his own rock solid contribution, I also believe Bobby had a big positive influence on Grant Munro. I trust the slightly controversial manner of his departure and his lack of pace against a certain D. Agathe of Raith Rovers won't count too much against a great ICT player and captain. Paul Ritchie - I remeber meeting Paul in the Heathmount when he was up with Partick in the Cup last year and thinking "what a gentleman"... and that was apart from the amazing contribution he made on the field, especially in terms of the goals he scored. Let's just forget his efforts on behalf of Hamilton which put ICT out of the Cup in 97! I always admired him for keeping up his profession of accountancy while still playing. Iain MacArthur - on top of 30K for Stewartie, we all thought another 20K for this guy was really pushing the boat out, but what a bargain! Iain MacArthur's part in the D3 championship was absolutely massive and very much needed in defence, given Pele's attacking flair. It was a great pity he was so badly affected by injury. Daisy Ross - Hat trick Stewartie may have been the official man of the match in the 95 Inverness Cup Final, but to me it was Daisy's game. He tore Ross County apart down the left and it was so good to see yet another Highland player make such a huge mark for Caley Thistle. How many miles did Daisy knock up between Kinlochbervie and Inverness to play and train? Vetle Andersen - Well there you go. Just in case some people don't understand why Charlie, Barry Wilson, Dennis Wyness etc aren't on the list, the rules are that it can only be players who have been at least 3 years away from the club. Statistically - 1 - Nine of the players were Pele signings (which, despite SP's great talent with signings, is inevitable because of the time rules). The other 3 were there from the start through Thistle and Caley. 2 - Six of the 12 were in what I quote in my book as Pele's "preferred starting eleven" in 96-97 (and Herchie by that stage of his career was a regularly used sub who Pele could be guaranteed to use on 75 minutes). Three more - Christie, Hastings and Wilson - are ineligible since they're still there but will surely have Legend status conferred on them in the fulness of time. Paul Sheerin hadn't arrived by then. The other player is Scott "Trigger" MacLean who himself was no mean operator.

:025: Donald... I applaud you for holding up your hands like that. Look man... just enjoy the whole thing. Your team is in the SPL and doing well. It has an ever strengthening core of support and at the centre of that a Supporters' Trust which is looking after the interests of all ICT fans and the club itself in many different ways. Why not roll up your sleeves, get stuck in positively and constructively and focus your enthusiasm for the benefit of the club and the Trust?

Don - "Despite the great price it is still outwith the scope of the majority of fans" Is that not a bit of an apology of a statement for a rebel to be making?! Come on... you would never hear Che, Lenin, Mao, Rod the Mod or even Wolfie Smith apologetically dip their toe in the water of criticism like that. It looks from here as if you want to have a moan about this but at the same time be very polite about it and not offend anyone. In terms of the product on offer, £55 is a pretty rock bottom price. But the Supporters' Trust not only runs events like this, it also has the likes of the bowling night which, I seem to recollect, cost a fiver plus a small contribution to the Johndo MacKenzie Shoe Fund. Similarly, in terms of football, you can go to the Caley Stadium or even Old Trafford or Stamford Bridge or the Bernebeu. But for those who don't want to spend that kind of money, there are several alternatives, including the Welfare at the Bught. You get what you pay for and there is a range of options on offer. Fortunately the Trust seems to have managed in its various activities to cater for all price ranges in addition to the part it has had to play in the promotion of the interests of fans of ICT, which I expect to grow.

I'm really struggling with this one. It's not just a case of me not following Caley D's point of view... I can't even be sure if he's trying to make a point in the first place! The best I can make of it is that he perhaps thinks the Trust should have borrowed a marquee from the Elton John gig, stuck it in thge car park and sent out for a takeaway of Big Macs and done the Legends that way for a couple of quid? Caley D... look at it this way. The Supporters' Trust has come a very long way in its short existence and has managed to be a lot of things to a lot of people. At one end, it has organised high turnover events which have grossed large amounts of money for the ultimate benefit of ICT. At the other end it has been very active indeed in creating "people's" events such as the Bowling Night and the Football Forums in addition to the initiative it took not only in setting up the singing section but also the manner in which the Trust fought the fans' corner in the unfortunate aftermath of the Singing Section's debut. I would suggest to you that any philosophy which only wants to concentrate on the latter type of activity is one which is backward looking to the days of the Highland League. I could write at great length about Caley D's suggestion that "in the economic climate that currently surrounds football everything is expensive in the eyes of the fans " but will desist. All I will do is to return to the theme that football by its nature has to be an expensive activity for those who want to watch it. When you have a body of 20 plus full time professionals at a club who, by the nature of their employment, can only work productively for an hour and a half a fortnight, the cost of providing what they do is bound to be high. This is the fundamental nature of modern football and if that is what fans want, that is what they are going to need to pay for. But at least the involvement of the corporate sector does manages to relieve the burden on fans to a commendable extent.

Why this extreme obsession with the so called "carbon footprint"? If this gas, which makes up just 350 parts per million of the atmosphere and isn't nearly in the same greenhouse league as methane (cowfart), IS really the reason for climate change, then the cause of that is PEOPLE. It is people who put CO2 into the atmosphere through their way of life... they burn fossil fuels, they run cars, they use electricity made from the combustion of carbon compounds etc, etc. If you really want to reduce CO2 emissions... then don't reproduce! The ultimate and guaranteed solution to the question of human production of CO2 is to limit the number of humans causing it. Therefore, Al Gore, who has procreated four children, is rather more guilty of contributing to climate change than your average human being. Had he been rather less ambitious in that respect, then the world would have been that much more environmentally friendly. So don't knock the Chinese because of their attempts to achieve Western economic standards. They alrerady have a 1 child policy which will do far more to stop CO2 emissions than anything Mr. Gore might have to say. Here's another tip if you're serious about reducing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.... don't cut your grass or weed your garden. The more green material you have around, the more CO2 will be photosynthesised away!

Believe it or not Suzie took part in the Inverness 10K in about 1989.

To be precise: "Caley Thistle say they're now VERY CLOSE to a done deal for Gillingham striker Dean MacDonald. Agreements have been reached with both club and player and he's now expected to arrive in Inverness today to start training. But not arriving today will be Austrian duo Dominic Toboga and Benni Bauer. Toboga is now injured so their observation trip has been postponed until the 16th." I wouldn't like Grassa or Charlie reading this thread and thinking I was making any assumptions on their behalf, but Caley 100 has more or less correctly quoted the situation as I understood it late yesterday afternoon.

Arnotts...previously Benzie and Miller.... previously Young and Chapman.

Aw! On Sunday I had hopes that it might have been a reconstruction job and the old landmark might have survived. The site will probably now sell for 1/4 million for a shed! That's the second wooden landmark in that area to disappear of late - the former black and red Kingsmills Park tea hut which latterly became a garage beside the Queens Park is also away.... ....along with the Royal Academy Playing field and the Station, Kingsmills, Caley, Mercury and Cummings hotels in name at any rate.

Yes I noticed the Jubilee Stores were under deconstruction but are they demolishing it totally. There seemed to be a timber frame left when I last passed on Sunday. I always used to smile at the term "Monumental Sculptor". It used to conjure up a vision of this huge, massive great guy with a chisel in his hand!

If this is correct, Scott Davie and myself might just be hoping it's one of the first two! :003:

The archive of Inverness Royal Academy records that in the inter war years... the Age of Appeasement if you like.... the popularity of the school Rifle Club dwindled away to almost nothing. Burt then as 1938 gave way to 1939, and the Munich Agreement began to be exposed for what it really was, for some strange reason the Rifle Club underwent a miraculous revival. "You can always take one with you," as Churchill once said. Could you imagine Rifle Clubs in British schools these days?! It was quite remarkable, wasn't it, how much old ammunition floated around in bygone days. The same was true of general ordnance. There's the quite well known tale of when Kingsmills Park was handed back to Thistle by the Miltary after the war with unused grenades still in the place. A group of lads discovered some one day and a grenade went off, killing one of them and injuring others. One of the injured boys was Bill Reid who became a Director of Clach after the 1990 rescue.

Who was Chiccy Allan anyway? :015:

Oh dear! And were the other three able to give an adequate accompaniment to "My Way"?

When I used to see Frazee back in these days, and Mantis' photo confirms it, what always used to come into my head was "Geezajob... I can do that". Do you not think he was a dead ringer for Yosser Hughes of Boys from the Black Stuff?