Charles Bannerman

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.

: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!

I have a real soft spot for Forres (frequently pronounced locally as "Four - ass"). Apart from the fact that it's a lovely town and Grant Park/ Cluny Hill is a great place for a run, I also like the way Mechanics have gone about their business - and without having thrown money at the situation like a lot of other Highland League clubs, especially in Aberdeenshire. Forres now, with four games left, sit 9 points clear of Cove who have a game in hand so it's looking good for them to win their first title since Harry McFadden's days in the mid 80s. Certainly Clach did Forres a big favour yesterday with their 1 all draw at Cove - which for Clach is actually a fifth league game in a row undefeated. And you can hardly say that Clach have been throwing money at the situation!

Heard of video tapes? :D In a previous generation, I think I may very well have done so. Dodgy versions of same may well be what parents of the late70s and the 80s and 90s used to watch immediately before spawning children of that very era.

Luke, on the basis of the date of birth on your profile, "The Caley" played its last game a year almost to the day before you were born!

Dundee's 4-1 home win over Ayr now means that County can't win the title at home to Raith this Saturday but will now have to wait until Livingston on April 7th at the earliest.

Absolutely not! They do a very comprehensive sport roundup just after 6:15 Mon - Fri - in which I now trust Ross County will also figure more prominently, given their pending SPL status. All I am saying is that, given the nature of the Muirfield Mills scenario, it's maybe not the best idea to predict the timing of an outcome.

OK so if STV's story, filed back on the 20th and quoted further up this thread, that the deal would go through "within the next seven days" is going to be correct, then the white smoke will have to appear tomorrow (Tues 27th.) On the other hand back in the autumn, STV and an Aberdeen based local newspaper were both reporting that the deal was expected to go through by the end of October 2011.

With County currently on 62 points and with 7 to play, the maximum total they could get would be 83. Hibs' First Division record points tally of 89 from the 36 games in 98-99 is safe but when a club of the size of Hibs goes into the First Division, this kind of outcome can certainly happen. On the other hand Hibs lost three games that season (but with very few draws) so County are still on target to go through the season with the smallest number of defeats. The second biggest tally is Falkirk at 81 points in 02-03. Caley Thistle totalled 70 when they won in 2004 and 73 second time around in 2010.

I also remember an American commentator describing Colin Montgomerie in similar terms!! If I had known last night of Jocky's passing I would have marked it by having a pint of vodka and coke in the Caley Club - which is probably just about the only place in Inverness where you could afford such a thing. The pint of vodka and coke was apparently an integral part of Jocky's game.

Yup.... if County win next Saturday and Dundee don't County are champions. And I would imagine the ICT "squeaky bum" squad are also much reassured by their cushion now extended to 11 points with a game in hand?

I would hardly call 16 points out of 18 for County in their last six games a frailty (the two they dropped were the product of a 93rd minute penalty for Morton last midweek). But if anyone especially wants to use the word, maybe they could instead apply it to Dundee who have taken just 10 points out of 18... or Falkirk who have managed just 8. The reality is that County... who have actually gone 26 and not 24 games unbeaten..... far from being pegged back, have actually stretched their lead quite dramatically in recent weeks.

A very Chick Young-esque style comment. plenty sarcasm but little knowledge displayed ! I know you were probably trying to be humorous but .... it didnt work ! Say buddy... kin we also get your World SERIES beamed direct to the US of A in twenny14?!

Perhaps to midnight:45 GMT on a Wednesday morning to give the Yanks a quarter to eight Tuesday night?

Absolutely. here we were at the far end of a winding A9 - the end of the earth to a lot of people in the central belt - and with no exposure to the national game unless your Highland League club was lucky enough to qualify for the Scottish Cup. That is bound to have had a limiting effect.

I hope the refs remember to call time outs so the Yanks can get their commerical breaks in. I wonder if they will be providing their own commentators for the "SACKKURRR"

Can't edit the original any more, but Police now say that "a man" has been charged with Breach of the Peace and will appear in court tomorrow (Mon) so I suppose we should now strictly refer to what 4300 people ALLEGEDLY saw!

Oh well, at least Michael McGovern, on his return to Dingwall, was saved abuse from the Jail End in the second half. I thought the penalty was a stonewaller - unlike the lady from Falkirk who phoned into Your Call! However I really must praise Falkirk's energy in the second half and the goal - albeit from a 25 yard FK - was beautifully taken. Then there was the star turn of the day! The Falkirk streaker! A section of Falkirk fans on the east side of the Jubilee terracing had been attracting a lot of attention from police and stewards right from the start - especially after they let off a couple of smoke bombs. Then Brittain scores the penalty after McGovern walked and instantly a STREAKER emerges from that part of the crowd, heading at speed towards the Jail End. Falkirk's new 11th man was absolutely starkers - apart from his underpants which were still around his ankles but weren't stopping him from running at a fair lick. Well not for a while anyway. Because the knickers wdid turn out to be his final undoing since he managed to trip on them just at the half may line and hit the deck, leaving an easy catch for police and stewards who pulled them up for him and carted him off up the tunnel. After that, I counted no fewer than 15 dayglo green jackets around that same wee bit of terracing.