Charles Bannerman

0-0 would have done them! It was an historic day for Newtonmore since this is their first league title in 25 years and their first ever in the Premier League since their 1985 triumph was back in the days of the MacGillivray North League. I think it's also good for the game to have three different teams winning the three national honours, the Premier League, the Camanachd Cup and the MacAulay Cup although Kingussie did do the double with the MacTavish as well as the MacAulay. All that really remains now is Premier League relegation since Bute missed out on their chance of guaranteed survival yesterday when they lost 2-1 at Inveraray so whoever loses between Bute and Oban Camanachd in Rothesay this Saturday will go down although Bute can afford a draw. And what a day for George Fraser! A massive 2-0 win for Caley Thistle and the shinty team of which he is a legend also do the business in the Premier League. George has admitted that Newtonmore's last league success was sooooo long ago that he actually played that season!

... which by Pele's normal way of working is a flying start!!! Great to see him settling in so well at Christie Park. And there can't be too many managers who remain legends with a club's fans eight years after they left!

Too close to call I think. I've seen both teams defeating Kingussie this month and both were very impressive. Newtonmore got off to a whirlwind start in the Bedenoch Derby which they won 6-0 while the Fort looked equally impressive in the Camanachd Cup Final. One vital factor may be that Fort William have to win the game while a draw will do Newtonmore who are, incredibly, looking for their first league title in 25 years (Kingussie having won all but one of the intervening honours since More's Grand Slam in 1985.) They're already calling it "Shinty Super Saturday" with at least two and maybe four title or relegation issues up for decision. In Lochaber the game plan is for Kilmallie to play Caberfeidh at 1pm with Kilmallie needing a point to clinch the North Division 1 title. Then a very short trip to An Aird Fort William for 3:30 will find the Fort playing Newtonmore for the Premier League. But it doesn't stop there. Bute also play Inveraray at The Winterton and a Bute victory (but in practice a point) would not only relegate Oban Camanachd from the Premier League but also put Camanachd's reserves Lochside Rovers down to South Division 2 to make room for their own first team in Division 1. Had I not been detailed for ICT v Aberdeen, I would have been strongly tempted down the A82 on Saturday.

Terry Butcher interview with Charles Young Esq. on:- http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_prem/9028895.stm

They did..... Fort William v Strathspey Thistle live in 3D from Claggan Park on last Saturday.

OK, if well presented food is easily accessible at sensible prices, I don't suppose a Saturday afternoon snack is all that out of the way. But if there are problems of the magnitude described.... why bother? (Indeed if they are as bad as described, I strongly sympathise.) Is it really all that necessary to eat mid afternoon at a football match? How many other days of the week do people have greasy pies etc etc at that time? If the service provided is as bad as has been suggested, just don't use it. I am sure people could survive without it and also save a lot of money. If enough people did that, then the company would soon begin to notice.

Steady on! Give the lad a break! For a start his body mass index is far too low! What does concern me about Andy Murray is that he will become the next victim of the Scottish Affliction i.e. a fatal tendency to overstate expectations of success. Scottish history is littered with examples of it. Flodden - 1513 Darien - 1698 Argentina - 1978 And very nearly Liechtenstein 2010. Central to the problem is a tendency to underrate the opposition, usually England but in 1978 Peru and Iran, and to overrate the Scottish contender. Murray is a good enough player who has done very well but must be getting pretty fed up of the Scotland Expects syndrome.

Yes, I took full advantage of the football international break and went for what turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon in Newtonmore. Newtonmore started with all guns blazing and were 3-0 up after 18 mins and 5-0 at half time. Kimgussie started the second half a bit more brightly but Newtonmore's 6th in 51 minutes put paid to any chance of even a modest revival. Significantly, Ronald Ross wasn't playing because he contracted a minor illness on Friday night. Although it was in midfield and defence that Kingussie looked shaky, Stevie Borthwick admitted afterwards that when Ronald is not playing this has an adverse effect on the morale of the rest of the team.

I think he made it quite clear that he is FUNDAMENTALLY capable of managing at a higher level than that but the deciding factor will probably be the extent to which he has managed to banish his demons. Even in a situation where I was meeting him face to face a couple of times a week I had no idea that his life was descending into such chaos when he was at ICT. Yes, we knew there were problems but it is only since the publication of the book that their full extent has become apparent. IF Steve can keep himself on the straight and narrow, I have got very positive feelings about the return of the Paterson - Shand partnership at Huntly - which I see got off to a winning start today. That in itself is unusual for any phase of Pele's management career - he was always a notoriously slow starter (qv Season 1997-98 in the Second Division )

No, that's not correct. Pele was one of Harry McFadden's players when Forres won the title in 1986. He then went on to manage Elgin I think from 1988 to 90 where his achievements included a clean sweep of all the Highland honours. Then they somehow managed to let him go as a player to Huntly before he then took over there as manager and won the league as well as goodness knows what else. He went to ICT in 1995 and after he left in 2002 he then had a spell managing Forres.

Yes, I'm sure you couldn't. Unfortunately neither could some Caley fans, who were in effect guests at Huntly's title celebration on their own patch, find themselves capable of allowing their own club to pass into history with the dignity which its own achievements would most certainly have merited. A dignity, by the way, which was in contrast being achieved with distinction at exactly the same time 66 miles away at Kingsmills Park.

Christie Park 14th May 1994. I was there too, dodging the coins some of the rebels threw after the game on a day when a number of Caley fans disgraced their club and Inverness. Huntly were celebrating their first Highland League title for 64 years - under the managership of Steve Paterson. Unfortunately the behaviour of a minority of Caley "fans", over an issue about which the happy home support couldn't give a toss, spoiled the occasion which ended in a 1 all draw where Wilson Robertson scored Caledonian FC's last ever goal.

I think it's not only good for Pele but also excellent for Huntly FC that Forbes is in there. The man is a Huntly FC legend, a gentleman... and an avid Coronation Street fan by the way! :biggrin: Over the years Forbes has done a massive amount for Huntly FC, both financially and through his business expertise and his special relationship with Pele played a big part in Huntly's enormous success in the early 90s which continued for a while under its own momentum after Steve came to Inverness. As long ago as 1985, Forbes also provided a groundbreaking sponsorship for the Highland League through his company RB Farqhuar. When Dougie McGilvray came in for Pele in 1995 Forbes, as Huntly Chairman, understandably did his best to keep his manager whom he had identified as a major talent. I don't know a lot about the inside story of Huntly FC at the moment but the recent departure of a Chairman at a time when they employed and then sacked a controversial manager and seem to be drifting on the field itself does seem to suggest that all may not be well behind the scenes. If this means that Forbes is going to have a beneficial effect for them at boardroom level as well as in support of Pele then this will be especially good news for the club. I was also just wondering what will happen in the immediate futureat Huntly? Will Pele take his customary half dozen or so games to make his influence felt or is the situation so bad there that there will be an immediate and ongoing shot in the arm?

This could be the most exciting three way league race for... well decades!! I think Inveraray are out of it now after losing to the Fort on Saturday. Newtonmore have the obstacle of a slightly more difficult run in than Fort given that Fort have Oban Camanchd who have been struggling all season (but on the other hand might start fighting for their lives.) Kingussie have the disadvantage of also needing to win three games in hand and in addition need to beat Fort and Newtonmore to overhaul them both. Basically all three have it in their own hands to win the league. What a finish! I'm strongly tempted to take advantage of the free football Saturday and get myself down to The Eilan for the Badenoch derby.

Kind of reminds me of these guys who work for the Turriff company which specialises in creating traffic chaos throughout Inverness and especially up the Crown with their spectacularly slow replacement of gas mains. Apart from the fact that they only seem to do a 40 hour week when they should be on the contract 24/7, on more than one occasion the only activity I spotted was the classic two blokes standing staring into a hole. Maybe the two companies employ the same work study consultants.

Gosh... I hope in that case that the Elgin fans are being civil enough to their new player assistant manager who has rather more formidable ICT credentials than even Ian Black has. I wonder how many of them still remember Johndo?

I'm not convinced that it's a two horse race by any means. Inveraray I think are out of it but Kingussie are sitting there respectively with four and three games in hand on the top two, although still one point short of Newtonmore and the Fort if they win them all. Stevie... how big a reverse do you think Fort's defeat by Kyles was at the weekend? And are you really Kignussie manager Stevie Borthwick trying to take some pressure off your team by tipping the other two?

Oh they do, they do! It's obviously you guys in general and Doofer in particular who haven't heard about the latest merger negotiations.

Alex.. John Willie actually retired from BBC shinty reporting about 20 years ago and for some time after that Hugh Dan MacLennan did the BBC reports on a Saturday. There have been one or two others in between and currently it is Fraser MacKenzie from Glenurquhart. Over the last 15 years I have tended to stand in if the regular reporter is unavailable - subject to my football commitments.

So far it has been - but that might well change. Since 1984 just three clubs have won the League (or the MacGillivray North league pre Premier League) - Newtonmore in 1985, Fort William in 2008 and Kingussie on the 24 other occasions. Fort's record in the Camanachd Cup over the last 8 years or so has been superb but they only have that one league victory. Alex - I trust you know that Fort lost 2-1 at home to Kyles in the league yesterday when a 3 goal victory would have put them top? I have to say I thoroughly enjoy reporting on Shinty. In particular the people make you feel so welcome (not that this isn't the case elsewhere, but Shinty is outstanding in that way.)

OCG... I think you are right but Peter left Caley to become general manager at Clach in 1991 at which point he also sold a lot of boards for them. Indeed the first signs of Clach's 1996 financial crisis (they are frequent enough to define by year) was when Peter found that firms were no longer willing to support the club. It was good to go to Grant Street last Saturday after the Celtic game and see an encouragingly decent number of nice, clean, new boards there.

The famous Newtonmore side of the 70s (whose great rivals were Kyles)relied hugely on guys like John and George Fraser as well as the likes of keeper Hughie Chisholm and "Tarzan" Ritchie. That was the team which really kept Newtonmore in the forefront into the 80s at which point Kingussie took over with a Grand Slam in 1984 - repeated by Newtonmore the following year but since then the game has really been Kingussie's although Fort William's Camanachd Cup exploits and one off interruption of Kingussie's quarter century league domination are very well worth noting too. The question for Kingussie is - what will happen when Ronald ross finally hangs up his caman? On the other hand they were saying 10 years ago that Kingussie were a spent force.... we are still waiting.

Final score 4-3 Kingussie a.e.t. As Manfer has said, Ronald got all four for Kingussie. I did a calculation back in July when Kingussie's run of wins sat at about 10 and although I forget the precise figure, I think he had scored something like 70% of Kingussie's goals in these games. This is by no means the only time that he has scored all four(ish) in a Kingussie win and he's been dominant for years. Here's an interesting point. Last week Ronald was out with a minor injury and Kingussie beat severely relegation threatened Oban Camanachd 1-0. Today he was back and scored all four as Kingussie beat cup specialists Inveraray 4-3 in this MacAulay final. Also, Kingussie made a very slow start to this season - which coincided with a couple of Ronald's absences. Make no mistake. I am NOT saying that Kingussie are a one man team. There are many other very fine players in that side and Ronald Ross would not be putting away the goals he does without first class service. However what we do have here is without question the finest goalscorer the game has seen, possibly ever. Put an asset like that into an environment which can give him the supply and the combined effect is devastating. How good Ronald is with the foot I don't know. Indeed the Beautiful Game is sometimes regarded with some disdain down Badenoch way. For instance Stevie Borthwick the Kingussie manager on one occasion this season dropped his own son and his own nephew after they played midweek football. I also recollect an instance when Newtonmore football club were forbidden to start a fund raising effort from within the Eilan shinty ground.

What? The Trinkie? Is it even still open? Probably the most Baltic, genital shrinking outdoor pool in Britain from what I have heard from a previous generation of folks from Up Ee Rodd.

I seem to remember a wee wifie came on here a few years ago to say how nice it was that the Celtic support seemed to have this song about (that icon of Protestant youth ) The Boys' Brigade!