Charles Bannerman

Some achievement by Yngwie as well checking through all these results! ?

As far as I can see, the last goal conceded was 63 min into the 2-1 defeat at Dumbarton on Sep 23. That makes 567 min of play without conceding. I don't know what previous seasons' stats say.

Good question indeed, Blair. Let's first state that a club playing high level Scottish football in front of 3-odd000 in Inverness isn't fundamentally financially viable, before going back a bit to start the financial thread. Input from Tulloch disposed of a £2.3M debt in 2000 and thereafter, combined with good housekeeping, got the club playing SPL football debt free in a compliant stadium in Inverness. Even by 2006/07, I understand that Charlie Christie had a £650pw wage cap imposed on him. Thereafter, with the club needing to stand on its own two feet, it became a case of relying on windfalls to balance the books (roughly). These principally took the form of performance windfalls for league placings and cup runs, player transfers - most conspicuously Ryan Christie's - and the sale of the Social Club. CJuice raises a valid issue about other possible transfer revenue and, albeit in the context of guys simply going for nothing on pre-contracts, performance in this respect would be worth evaluating - remembering also that your team takes a hit every time you sell a player. I get the impression that expanding player budgets began under Butcher who seems to have been adept at persuading chairmen - but in return made some very effective signings and brought in performance income. The real problem, in my view, began with Yogi and continued under Richie Foran. Here the signings were far poorer value for possibly still increasing money and, I suspect, began to pressurise the finances - with decreasing effect on the field after winning the Cup, largely with Butcher players. These were replaced by YH and RF with inferior but at least as expensive signings who effectively earned the club a very expensive relegation. This year's accounts - presumably due soon - should make interesting reading although they are never required to be as revealing as many would like. Notwithstanding, they are likely to continue a story of the legacy of the club having, under YH and RF, paid more and more for less and less.

This game is very much a Ross County conception and promotion which will be played in Dingwall. Caley Thistle have willingly accepted the invitation, but equally do not appear to want to make a particularly big deal of what is being regarded at the club as a charity friendly for fringe and reserve players. The game was announced by Ross County first thing yesterday morning and since then has received a large amount of publicity in a very short time, given the nature of the fixture. Kingsmills' final words above hence apply.

It's actually been quite widely covered in the media since it was announced this morning, on radio and television as well. John Robertson has been emphasising that this isn't a full first team derby and that a number of fringe players will have opportunities to be tried out.

This thread does seem a little ironic in view of the flights of fantasy and misplaced optimism in the national media after a certain very late own goal against Slovakia.

Wot's this? The Broons' But An' Ben?

On the strength of L_G's post, perhaps the best thing to do for the moment is to let things run without ongoing debate for a while.

....since August, when some responses to questions about this organisation included the suggestion that those who were asking them were "sniping" or being unfairly impatient or the like. It seems inconceivable that what is still one of Scotland's leading football clubs continues to suffer from the long term absence of an active supporters' organisation. The word was that the process of organising a CJT AGM would begin "in the next couple of weeks"... that was back on August 29th.

This was the first I'd seen for a few weeks. What a transformation!!!

Certainly the word on the street was that there had been a delay, with speculation that this may relate to the status of a sub-clause in the original agreement, in view of the stands being donated rather than sold. Remember also that more than half the voting rights MM control are by virtue of Tulloch because Tulloch donated their 730,000 shares to the ICT Charitable Trust which MM controls. MM now also has a 100% presence on the Board, which now numbers just three people following the resignation earlier this month of Ken Thomson. I only discovered that Ken had resigned when I made one of my periodic trawls through the Companies House files this afternoon. This is the sixth resignation from the ICT board since April. My visit to the Companies House website also revealed no indication yet of the allocation of the 500,000 new shares whose uptake was announced in August. It was said at the time that the transaction should be complete by the end of September. This was a slice of the 1.1M new shares made available for release at the SGM early in August. I also found no indication in the CH files of the transfer of the Hospice-owned shares to their new purchasers, although I'm not sure if that information should necessarily be there yet. There's a document dated February where the Hospice are the declared owners and nothing has been updated yet. This may not be significant.

Now that I'm back in the house..... all I can say is that I find playing around with numbers faintly recreational!

Given that almost two thirds of the posts are in the Caley Thistle forum which has more than five times the posts in the second biggest forum, I'm not sure that reducing the number of forums. The % breakdown of forums is Caley Thistle 64.7, UK Football 1.4, World Football 8.2, Rumour Mill 2.9, Other Sport 0.3, Gringo's PL 5.1, Serious Topics 2.4, General nonsense 11.8, For Sale 0.2, Tech Support 0.8, Old Inverness 2.3, Classic Music and Retro TV (to the 1dp quoted) 0.0. The only rationalisation I can see is to incorporate UK football, World football, Rumour Mill and other sport into a single forum (total 12.8%) perhaps called "Non ICT Sport" or similar, but even that's a bit diffuse.

All (I think) of the new ones were Kaddy Rats of my vintage.... assuming that Dave Burgess is a member of the family that I think he may be.

I would pretty well agree with that. The original MM consortium were fairly well known and, further to straws in the wind that they were going to be expanding, it's good to know who are involved. I also agree that a football presence with an established pedigree is overdue on that board. Graham Rae does indeed state that they have no agenda but it remains to be seen whether they may become obliged to adopt one. When the McGilvrays and Alan Savage announced their purchase of the Hospice shares, Dougie McGilvray stated that they would be looking to have two directors on the Board. This prompted instant speculation about a possible power struggle. among the quite fragmented factions who have significant holdings in ICT. These, let's not forget, include the strategically vital 10% voting rights of Caley Jags together - of whose existence I am aware of no more evidence now than several months ago when their apparent Dodo-like status was first mooted. Anyway... there's also another aspect of a possible power struggle that adds potential spice. As Graham Rae says, MM have indeed made significant investment, but the bulk of their numerical clout is a result of their control of the ICT Charitable Trust and hence of the 730,000 shares donated to the Trust by Tullochs and which are inextricably associated with David Sutherland.... that well known nemesis of Messrs D. McGilvray and Savage.

What might have happened had Yogi been allowed by Caley Thistle to speak to and to leave for Dundee United is an interesting thought. By United's normal timescale, he would have been sacked from there by now and both Raith Rovers and Caley Thistle might collaterally have avoided relegation. The way matters would have unfolded in Inverness had Yogi left earlier is an especially intriguing "what if?".

I could probably imagine anything, now that Syrian refugees have been accommodated in the "safety" of Alness. Frying pans and fires come to mind.

You'll be wanting a Young Team Day next.

Where do they do these days, now that the Portland Club is a mosque? Also, I am not aware of any crank organisations ever doorstepping the Armistice Sunday parade which is a far higher profile recognition of our armed forces than a football match.

So who do you think you are? John Hughes or Richie Foran?

This one's a bit early for me - I was just 3 month old! There are one or two names I recognise, though. Joopie Mitchell is a legend and I think I remember Bobby Bolt as part of the Caley coaching set up in the 60s??? Another name I recollect is Roy Lytham - to whom respect if he could take the mick out of Jock! Then there's Jackie Wheeler of Clach, the late father of Iain Wheeler who remains a Clach diehard to this day. Right halves.... inside lefts... 2-3-5.....these were the days!

Is it not time this one was laid to rest? The club has certainly done its best to do so - and I thought the manager did a fine job of trying to defuse it on Thursday. There really are far more pressing issues to get exercised about.

Scarlet.... many years ago both ICT and County had cheerleaders. The County ones even had their own chant, one line of which went (in the broadest "Dingwall")...."Foootbullursh ur seckseee!" It did make the toes curl somewhat.

Is it true, or an urban myth, that there was one occasion when the Half Time Harriers returned from the Corrie slightly late to find that, in the interim, Jags had shipped five goals?

I've just been listening on the radio to a description of the horrendously complicated format of some new European league which, in Scotland's case, will apparently create a much more convoluted process through which to fail to qualify for the Euro finals. One main purpose of all this is, apparently, to create more hours of football which are sellable to TV channels. However, the obvious corollary of even more televised football will be the punters having even less inclination and funds than at present to invest in turning up to see games live at places like the Caledonian Stadium.