Charles Bannerman

Indeed Alex, but it's also a virtue not by any means universally practised within Scottish football! I would have to say that I have had one or two other very good experiences in the Social Club when fans of visiting clubs drop in for a beer etc. I really enjoy the opportunity to find out how things are on the other side of the fence. There were some really decent Jambos in last month - one of whom remembered a blether we'd had on their previous visit in September. I think that visiting fans in the Social Club is a great idea, especially since the ones you wouldn't want probably wouldn't come so there's almost an automatic safety net built in there. Apart from filling Westie's coffers, it also promotes good relations between the supports which, as Alex said, is what it's all about.

Ian Broadfoot, who has acted as club statistician and historian more or less since ICT was founded, has announced that he is standing down. Ian moved from Inverness to Perth a few years ago which made this demanding job no easier. Those on his mailing list - and I believe that also includes some of the Mods on CTOL - will be more than aware of the incredible detail and scrupulous accuracy of the statistics he has issued after every game. One of his specialities was the identification of "milestone" appearances etc. For instance, without his input, Terry and Maurice's 100th earlier this season would have gone completely unnoticed but this actually made a big media splash both locally and nationally. Ian has done a great service to Caley Thistle and on a personal level I relied considerably on his match reports from the first two seasons whilst writing Against All Odds, which he also proof read for me. I was able to return the favour for the manuscript of Going Ballistic when Ian recorded the first decade a few years later. Make no mistake, Ian's contributions will be greatly missed and he will be a very hard act to to follow. His knowledge was encyclopaedic, whatever your statistical query. On that subject, my last query to him was just last night when I wanted to find out about winning home runs in the SPL. (And by the way Ian's final response to me was that the longest run of straight home SPL wins was FIVE between 24.11.07. and 5.1.08. which would have been during Craig Brewster's second spell in charge.) Caley Thistle owes Ian a great debt.

Well there's a thoroughly decent fellow who gives Scottish football a good name! And I have to say there were a good few more Hibees of the same ilk on the bus which decanted itself into the Social Club (and overwhelmed the catering staff!!) before the match. It really is such a refreshing thing, especially at the end of the kind of season Scottish football has just had, to see fans from visiting teams mixing in with the home supporters in such a civilised way.

In 06/07 we won consecutive home games against Rangers, St. Mirren and Hibs. Thanks Stan. So that's 06/07 - Rangers, St. Mirren, Hibs under Charlie and 10/11 - Celtic, St Mirren, Hibs under Terry Butcher. The only difference is the OF club involved - and the corresponding "previous history" of the manager!

Liam Polworth - born October 1994 and hence the first player to take the field for Caley Thistle who was born AFTER the club was founded. Yngwie asked when the last time there were three consecutive home wins? I don't have my 2009-10 statrs handy but did it happen in the run towards the First Division title. Better still - can anyone tell me when was the last time Caley Thistle won three at home in the SPL? Has that ever happened?

If you can groundshare in the Champions League, you can groundshare in the MacAllan League. There already is a perfectly adequate cricket pitch at Fraser Park and Counties should be sharing with Highland there. It's not realistic for Inverness to have two areas, one of them a major asset, tied up by the very restrictive requirements of the ultimate minority sport of cricket. Things move on and the situation is such that an increasingly vital and major asset like the Northern Meeting Park can't simply be frozen as a cricket venue while other much bigger users go wanting or have their use reduced by what are extremely restrictive requirements of this sport. Northern Counties may well have been at the Meeting Park for a long time but, taking all the circumstances into account, that doesn't mean that they should have effective control of this valuable publicly owned asset for all time.

Yes, you are quite correct, that is what you did hear on Radio Scotland - or at least the local Highlands and Islands news bulletin. But that will be it from me since I have now passed this story on to colleagues because it heavily involves the Council - my "day job" employers, so I don't cover Council stories. Not being involved in the story does, however, allow me to comment on it here. It's my understanding that on Wednesday of last week, someone from the Scottish Junior FA travelled North to meet with representatives of the Council and Inverness City to examine at first hand the proposed location for City at the Bught. However it seems that the project is not as far advanced as the SJFA had either understood or expected. So when they then met on Sunday, they decided not to allow City to be promoted to the Superleague, which has certain ground criteria. "ictewd" says above that City are due to play at the TCS on Saturday. What I have heard here is that this was the plan, but that the SJFA knocked this back because the TCS, despite having met the criteria of the SPL no less!, was not registered with them as a ground. Now IF this is the case, all I can do is to drop a into this post and simply ask how far up themselves the SJFA actually are? It would also need to raise the question of how much of a Jobsworth culture is alive and well within the SJFA. SMEE mentions the Meeting Park but here I understand that much of City's interest has switched to the Bught which they presumably regarded (until last week perhaps) as a more reliable bet than the Meeting Park where the cricketers seem to be totally entrenched. The main problem is that the cricket season, plus the long period they seem to need to get the place ready for it, significantly impinges on the football season. I had my say on that one in the Highland News a few weeks ago in response to the latest girn from a cricketer - this time to the Simple Minds concert going to the Meeting Park. It seems that what has to be just about the most anonymous and poorly subscribed sport in Inverness has an incredibly strong hold on what is a major venue near the city centre and seems to have a huge amount of sway as to what happens and doesn't get to happen there. I'd also like to know how much rent the cricket club pay for their use of the park and the extent to which they also deny that use to others.

From Luxembourg?

Just to say that commentary from Paul Mitchell will be on 810 medium wave as well as 92-95FM in the Highlands and Islands. This means that it can be got on MW on your "tranny" throughout the country (and a bit beyond given the reach of medium wave). There's also Open All Mics with Charlie Mann on 103.5-105FM and the TV Results Programme is on air from the earlier time of 4pm this afternoon.

C'mon Manfer. Let's get a bit of Highland solidarity going against the Central Belt hordes! The SFL made TWO excellent choices in 1994. They have BOTH done the Highlands credit ever since, remembering the sterling efforts of the rest of Scotland for decades (Ferranti etc) to keep our entire area out of national football. So whom do you prefer - Ross County or Ferranti?

This must be the shortest matchday thread ever!! Can I just take this opportunity to express my delight that Ross County will now survive in the First Division this season after their stoppage time winner at Falkirk (short of an inconceivable 11 goal defeat by Cowdenbeath next Saturday)? A Highland team in the SPL and one in the First Division is a major asset to the game in this area. (I am prepared to accept a mixed response to this sentiment on this forum! :biggrin:)

That is also very much the way the story grabs me. From readng the HN, it looks to me as if Caley Thistle made their travel arrangements and as early as February 25th also came to what they thought was an agreement with the organisers that the final, if they reached it, would be brought forward to allow them to catch their ferry. This seems an eminently sensible step rather than shell out extra time and money just in case they reached the final in a situation where they had no prior indication that they would actually be streets ahead of the other teams. However it then looks to me as if one member of the local organising committee has taken the hump at how much better the Inverness boys were than the rest of the teams and coerced his colleagues into reneging on their earlier commitment. I also share Alex's question about what really would be quite an extreme reaction on the part of Cairngorm, even if he DID have a diect axe to grind... which he apparently doesn't even have.

You mean you're believing the Daily Mail?

George also did a good interview with Jim Spence at half time at Perth, effectively welcoming the DU development.

I wasn't that aware England had a heart. :biggrin:

I think Donald's caution is realistic even if it is not what most Caley Thistle fans would ideally like to hear. Inverness Caledonian Thistle worked wonders to reach the SPL just ten years on from what was a very messy creation. Ever since, survival in that 12 team league has been something which has had to be worked hard for and which has by no means been guaranteed (look no further back than May 2009). In 2010, a combination of a great run of persistence, belief and results, combined with Dundee's attempt to buy their way back up suddenly running out of bottle achieved an immediate and in some ways unexpected return to the SPL after the 2009 relegation. Had that not happened, against the odds, the financial consequences might have something which ICT fans now only wake up in the night screaming about. Given Caley Thistle's marginal financial position and limited fan base, they are one of a fistful of clubs which can never feel 100% long term confident about avoiding relegation - irrespective of the skill of the management team and the commitment of the players. So even with the best will in the world - maybe even in another season where 37 points is not enough to secure safety - relegation could happen again, accompanied by another £1.5M budget cut. If that did come to pass, what chance would there be of another single season dash back to the SPL coming to pass? And if that dash DIDN'T happen, what would the financial outlook be for the second and subsequent years post relegation? What's the longer term prognosis in such an eventuality? Then the clinching question - how much more likely is the scenario which I have described should the SPL shrink to ten teams rather than expand to 14 or 16?

Go on Mantis... play truant... it's exam time!!!

You may very possibly have been unreliably informed once again Miss ICT! As far as I am aware, by far the most likely date is May 4th although I would never 100% believe it until I saw confirmation from the SPL. As it stands, May 3rd looks highly unlikely, given that Celtic have a game two days previously.

To be fair Donald, it was Terry, who had seen the fixtures before I did, who pointed it out to me - and indeed to several others in the media where I expect the issue will be looming large tomorrow. Just another couple of points... Capital - I don't actually think there's a specific pot of money for this televised game. It's just one of those which make up ESPN's tally and their money gets divvied out according to the rules which the SPL will inevitably have for this. I actually suspect that this game and the later one at 4:15 that Easter Monday afternoon are being shown by ESPN quite simply because they have run out of Old Firm Away Days to show. Gringo - I do think you are expecting just a little too much by also asking for a "nearby" fixture on the last day of the season. To be fair, the SPL does have a difficult enough job here without having to make allowances for end of season parties. Having said that, though, I do believe that the SPL have totally missed out on what would have been the most popular fixtures scheduling of the season. Had they fixed a full SPL card for Friday 29th April with the same kick off time as the Royal Wedding they would have given a whole lot of people a golden chance to escape from it!

More likely Wednesday May 4th I'm told, but yet to be confirmed by the SPL. This means three home matches in a week - May 4, 7, 11. Having spoken to the manager about this at lunch time, I don't think I'm out of order telling you now, an hour before broadcast, that his other concerns are having to play in Perth at 2pm on a Monday (with classic TB understatement he suggests there will be "about 10 people there") and the last five games of the season (based on Celtic being May 4th) taking place in 15 days.

The SPL told me yesterday (Tue) that the post split fixtures should be available later this week and that in Caley Thistle's case, that release would include the Celtic game.

Very true, and I well remember how delighted ICT fans were to win this cup in 2003 - as well as how disappointed they were to lose the 1999 and 2009 finals. A big well done to Ross County and it was good to hear Jimmy C in his post match interview give credit to Derek Adams who took the team through the earlier rounds and who was watching the final from the BBC commentary point. I would now like to think that this cup final victory can give Ross County the boost which will finally take them away from any threat of the relegation playoffs, a danger which they should not be facing in any case.

What did John Boyle say? This one could run almost as long as Charlie Christie and Alex Bone at Dingwall!!

BBC reporting that Annabel Goldie has cancelled the Scottish Election on May 5th due to not having enough support to become First Minister. Lobbying the electorate to change their minds will continue however.