Charles Bannerman

So who is it OCG? Mantis... evidence possibly for and against your theory about 1993 and the suggestion of October 1996. It very much looks as if there is a Citylink board behind the goal,which might place this at August 1994 or later. However, looking at the board between the PandJ and Tullochs, it rather looks to me as if the phone nuimber begins 0349. That format was superseded by 01349 in 1995 so this would appear to be pre 1995 on that evidence.

The choice should be theirs. Merge or fall by the wayside. I'm not sure people in Inverness really have too much sympathy for the lame ducks who are the very probably the same lame ducks which kept Inverness (eg Jags in 1973) out of national league football for decades - admirably described by David Stewart in his District Council days as "this second division protection racket."

If you can get a hold of a copy of "Against All Odds" you will find a black and white pic of the fire, which i think was around July 30th 1995, about two thirds of the way through (sorry - don't have a copy to hand to give a page reference). There's a lot more detail than that too because in the foreground of Ken MacPherson's photo you can see the complete wilderness that the pitch and Kigsmills Road end terrace had become. Caley... I think your suggested date of the Howden End pic could well be right. But I hope your suggested fate of the footballs issn't - even though they have been doing nobody any good in the intervening years, wherever they are if they have survived.

I tend to favour two 14 team leagues. Teams could play each other twice and then split 6 and 8 with teams playing each other twice more. The only slight reservation I would have there is that the bottom 8 would then have in the case of the top league two games and the lower one four games more than at present. If clubs were prepared to have an odd number of three encounters, then there could be only one post split game giving 31 and 33 but that may reduce revenue too much. There is then relegation and promotion of course between the two leagues and also between the bottom 14 and regional leagues like the East and the HL. So two leagues of 14? What happens to the other 14 clubs? I think there are too many national league clubs in Scotland at the moment and that the scope for mergers is considerable (hey folks.. we know it's not too painful and can do a lot of good! ) There are at least two areas which are oversubscribed - Montrose/Arbroath/Forfar/Brechin and Alloa/Stenhousemuir/Stirling Albion/East Stirling. The choice should be given to the other 14 as to whether they want to disappear on their own into the East of Scotland or the HL etc and battle for promotion to the SFL from there... or amalgamate with a club which makes the top 28 already.... or amalgamate and then go into a regional league and stand a better chance of promotion to the SFL. Within a few years there could well be a much stronger SFL2 and probably stronger regional leagues as well. There are a few questions. * Should the SFA, as the supreme governing body, take total control, abolish the SPL and SFL and run its OWN 2 division league, hence reducing the number of governing bodies? * What would the response be if WICK ever won the HL and promotion to national leagues? * If there was all this talk of amalgamation, might it create some pressure for a parallel amalgamation of ICT and Ross County.

Aye the Howden End fair brought a tear to my eye, and I wasn't even a regular occupant! What's the date of that photo? I would suggest it's sometime between August 1994 and October 1996 because just behind the goal, although at an oblique angle, I think I can make out a Citylink advert. If that is the case, that Citylink sponsorship began at the start of CT's first season in 94 and Telford Street was knocked down in October 96. By the way, just out of shot behind the end of the enclosure would have been the footballs above the gate. I'll ask once again.... does anybody know what happened to them?

That was the point at which I fully and truly realised that SPL football had returned to Inverness - when I drove up to the Caledonian Stadium for a football match and the first thing I saw out on the pavement was a stall selling.... "Pope Benedict XVI" scarves!!

] I think someone mentioned the Social Club. It's £1.22 for a vodka/whisky/ bacardi etc, £2.25 for a bottle of Miller and £2.50 for wine. The Legion is similar but these places have special privileges as private clubs which enables them to sell drink more cheaply. It's £3.90 for a pint of Peroni in the Heathmount, or at least it was the last time I was in and I find occasional visits to Foxes similarly painful.

LadyF was mascot against Aberdeen a few years back IIRC.. You are quite correct!!! I would imagine Lady F would be CHARMED at being taken for 30!

Unfortunately you are indeed holding on to false hope. Understandably this thread does reflect a degree of denial and incredulity over the absence of such a key player who made such a spectacular return on Saturday but Richie will indeed be out for something like three weeks. So just to put the record absolutely straight, I spoke to the manager yesterday morning and he told me then what was happening - hence yesterday's BBC story referred to above. The Courier presumably did the same in advance of today's back page story. He told me that Richie had an arthroscopy done on Wednesday. That's basically a minimally invasive procedure involving the insertion of a clear plastic tube which allows the surgeon to look around inside the joint. At the same time they washed out any "crap" that might have been in the joint which might have caused some pain. Nothing sinister was found and, with rehab (maybe including Maurice imposing more of what Richie earlier bemoaned as "Inverness Harriers" style running ) he should be back on the go and good as new in about three weeks.

I've just heard that there will be a BBC commentary team of four for the Celtic game on Saturday. David Begg commentating, John Robertson and Murdo MacLeod summarising and Chris McLaughlan who will probably be track side.

Yes, with a number of different options. Radio Scotland will have live commentary on all 38 (sic!) games. The only one of these at the moment which will not be live on air (ie internet only) is the Dundee United game a week Sunday. On occasions when commentary is not going out across the whole country it will at a minimum go out on 92-95FM from transmitters across the Highlands and Islands (home and away games). Saturday's game against Celtic, since it is a 1215 kick off, can be heard nation wide on 810MW. Your BBC football options for Saturdays are as follows - * 7 hours of football from midday (Off the Ball through Sportsound and Your Call to Sports Report). Within this, from 3-5pm there are the options of live commentary or Open All Mics on 103.5-105FM. * On TV, the Final Score programme at 4:30 on BBC 1 includes updates and full times from all SPL games. * BBC Online also has live commentary as well as other updates and extensive pre and post match reports. (With the usual unavailabilities of commentary for the Diaspora for the usual reasons.) Outwith Saturdays, SPL coverage is on 810MW and this can also be picked up on 103.5-105FM when Radio nan Gaidheal is not on air.

Busy ! Indeed he is! In fact the last time I saw him was on the morning of the Queens Park game, dressed as a Leprechaun and wearing a thick dayglo pink wig. :023: He said he wouldn't be able to get to the game since he was working with his Limo (and I don't THINK that was a front for him really having a counselling session with IHE! )

I am simply and briefly supplying this for information. One consideration which seems largely to have been missed is that, despite this loss of ?947K, Caley Thistle have managed to remain debt free and have money in the bank. (I quote the Chairman on this.) This has been done through:- * Drawing on reserves. * Management of cash flow * An injection of ?150K from the Directors.

According to my statistics, the last three posts are all correct. The last time ICT failed to win a competitive game was against.... Ross County!.... a goalless draw in Dingwall on March 23rd. The last competitive defeat was at Kilmarnock in the Cup on February 6th, the last league defeat was November 28th 2009 away to Partick Thistle and the last home defeat was October 10th 2009 by Queen of the South. With 21 league games now undefeated, it's worth remembering that the club record is 22 between October 26th 1996 and April 26th 1997. And with 10 straight league wins it's also worth remembering that the club record is 11 within that run of 22. So no pressure for the Celtic and Dundee United games then.....

During the Merger in the mid 90s, one of the burning issues was a Members' Club. The alternatives at the time to were either Caley and Thistle Trusts to perpetuate the memory of the original merger partners or a Unified Members' Club. At one point, Caley were all for a Members' Club since the Rebels thought it, and hence certain aspects of football club life, could be dominated by them. Thistle, predictably, were a lot less keen! However it progressively became apparent that a Members' Club would not benefit Caley in the way some had hoped so the Jaggies took the idea on board and one was formed. One of its important functions was in effect to be Trustee for the shares related to the considerable assets which Thistle and Caley brought to ICT. A rough estimate tells me these would have been, gross, in excess of £1.5M but legal fees at the time of the merger and possibly tax would have had to be deducted. Initially these were reflected in a 50% shareholding on the part of the Members' Club but as this input was diluted by subsequent uptake of additional shareholdings and with the agreement of various club meetings, the [percentage shareholding has also progressively been diluted down and currently stands at something like 10-12%. However a few years ago, the Members' Club was disbanded and its functions in effect transferred to the then newly former Supporters' Trust which now also holds that particular element of shareholding. So in effect, ICT has been there already but now runs a Supporters' Trust which has done a great deal of good for the club.

Johndo... pardon my phlegmatic response but there aren't too many on here who are old enough to remember Monty Python!

I think I can clarify this for you with the version I got from Jimmy Falconer who did the paperwork for his contract. Originally Caley Thistle thought it was Blomstein and I believe the initial version of the contract had this spelling. However Gil (which is what will be on the back of his shirt) produced his passport to confirm that it is in fact Blumanshtein and the correction was made. It's interesting, though, that if you Google a number of different spellings, Blumanshtein does not come up as the most common version, even though it is the correct one.

Barry admits that his studs were the last thing the ball came off before it went in but says he's quite happy to give up the goal so the young lad can have his deserved hat trick! :022:

ITS ACTUALLY THE 1ST TIME SINCE JOINING the highland league we have had a game cancelled due to a waterlooged pitch! so not sure where u get ur info from! a lot of time and money been spent on the pitch during the close season,and playing on it tonight would churn it up for the new season,there was puddles every where at 10am this morning I can exclusively reveal that the foot of snow which had been on the Grantown pitch since December 19th suddenly melted last night and flooded it!

Now there's a wonderful idea!!! The guy who gets the ball into all 18 holes the quickest is the winner and it's each player's strategic decision as to how many clubs he encumbers himself with, but no caddies. Maybe not all that well suited to a mass start but could be arranged like a cycling time trial with players off at minute intervals or whatever. The more I think about this, the more I like it and for the big competitions you could have an Open All Mics reporter exclaiming "HOOOOLE at the 15th" or whatever. I mean, they've dramatically livened up cricket with the excellent Twenty20 format ... so why not this? Can't see the Culcabock Committee volunteering to run an inaugural competition though. :D

Another rather sweeping extrapolation! Let's just say that I'd never really thought too much about it before that remark which, as a result, did prompt some rather more critical thinking about the individiual in particular and to a lesser extent about the sport of golf in general.

Er... no! Are you confusing athletics with sports which require athleticism? By that I mean the likes of football, rugby, basketball and yes, athletics as well. Others which do not include darts, snooker and golf. I make no relative value judgement. Interestingly enough though, curling has moved from the latter category into the former, in Scotland at any rate, since these guys now undergo extensive fitness programmes through the Scottish Institute etc and the transformation in performance has been quite dramatic over the last 10 years (hence the number of major medals Scottish curlers have won in that time.) Unfortunately the term "athletic" or more specifically "athlete" has tended to be used overgenerously, especially by our cousins across the pond, to mean anyone who takes part in any sport - even a non athletic one. Some years ago I heard an American commentator make the statement (after a putt had been holed) that "Colin Mongomerie is a great athlete!" After I picked myself up off the floor and dried my trousers, I found myself from that moment onwards adopting a rather more critical viewpoint of the man and that is where my fundamentally negative take on him began.

Yes indeed I do! It seriously sticks in my throat that anyone with a body form like that should be capable of becoming a millionaire in any activity defined as "sport". Worse still, there is then the absurdity of this man being made captain of the GB and Europe team in one of the world's highest profile sporting events. Especially in an era where society is making serious efforts to eliminate obesity, this is a high profile role model which we most definitely could do without. Mind you, at least if golf comentary went on to the Open All Mics format, Montgomerie might start to get the much deserved Mark Yardley treatment!

Perhaps I should have used the term "obese" which seems to be a bit more acceptable to the PC lobby. I am merely making the point that I find it extremely unjust that people with unacceptably high Body Mass Indices can make large sums of money from activities defined as "sport" (I suppose Sumo Wrestling would have to be included here.) As such they are also being projected as extremely poor fitness role models at a time when this issue is very high on the social agenda. Come to your own conclusion as to whether a certain golfer is very high on my "hit list" here.

Oh well, that's hour after hour of reverential whispering over again for another year. Maybe one of the broadcasting organisations could liven it up by adopting a sort of "Open All Mics" type commentary. "HOOOOOOLE at the 15th!!!!" Can't say I'm a great fan of these "long trousers" sports like darts and snooker and golf where fat people can become millionaires.