James

Thanks. How does the POTY work? Am I correct in thinking that you will add up all the total votes from each game at the end of the season?

I had a thoroughly enjoyable day yesterday at my first game. Shame I didn't get to witness the win that I thought we deserved. The Dumfries locals were generally pretty friendly and welcoming, especially the two ground staff that allowed me in to take pictures of the stadium in the morning. The atmosphere in the away end was really good. The drummer and the rest of the young lads around him really made a difference. It's great to see the next generation of fans showing enthusiasm and travelling to games. I hope everyone that travelled had a good journey back. 3 stand out players for me, for what my humble opinion is worth, were Liam Sole, Calum Macleod and Remi Savage. Liam Sole was a menace to the opposition defence all afternoon and looks to be a crowd pleaser, always positive and looking to drive forward and get the ball in the box. Calum Macleod was solid and strong all afternoon and this was all the more impressive when I learned he is only 19. Remi Savage was dominant at the back both in the air and on the deck. He looked very sharp for a centre back and was first to the ball on a number of occasions. I got a few pictures which I will look to upload.

I'm exactly 5 rows in front of you, that's assuming everyone sits in their allocated seats? In any case, it would be interesting to speak to you and compare stories.

I'll be there too, for my first game!

Interesting story, thanks. Hopefully keeping on topic, I do feel that that the way clubs like Port Vale still feel a big part of the local community is similar to that of (hopefully still) most Scottish clubs for the reasons I alluded to at the top of this thread, amongst others. This has arguably been long since lost in the higher echelons of English football and is the main reason I have such an interest in football north of the border. If you do ever make it to a Port Vale game with Brian, please let me know. There can't be too many people that follow both clubs

Thanks for the info. I do normally drive up to Scotland although I booked the sleeper train for the unfortunately cancelled Stenhousemuir game last year, which coincidentally falls on the exact same date as Hamilton away this year! I may just watch this one on Alba then as I did the last game against QOTS in November (another coincidence). It was interesting to note that gaelic is still used on Alba too.

It's only 3 hours for me, so I should be there before midday. It's less travel and much easier to get to than a lot of the Port Vale away games down south. The next easiest away game looks to be Hamilton. I'm hoping to get up to Inverness for a home game before the end of the season though, when the weather is better

Further to my original post, if anyone on this forum is travelling to Dumfries on Saturday, was planning to have a pint before the game and would be interested in sharing stories about life as a Caley Thistle fan with a wandering Englishman that has a passion for Scottish football, then please let me know. I'll even buy you a pint!

Hi all I'm planning my first trip to watch Caley Thistle on Saturday, following an 11th hour cancellation of a long planned trip to watch the postponed game at home to Stenhousemuir last season. When I visited the Caledonian Stadium in 2023, the people there were very accommodating and were helpful in allowing me to take photos (some of which I uploaded on my previous post) and I have followed them ever since. I love travelling to Scotland and I have visited Inverness a few times. I'm fascinated with the history of the club and some of the more recent drama brings back a lot of memories of going through administration and fearing for the future of my own club, Port Vale, in years gone by. We have been taken over by some good owners with local connections and it seems that the same has happened with Caley. I've thoroughly enjoyed watching Caley Thistle's fortunes this season and I will be heading up to Palmerston Park to watch the away game at QOTS on Saturday. It's actually closer to me than it is to Inverness! I then hope to get to the Caledonian Stadium later this season. The reason for the post is to ask if anyone has any useful information about the game, see how many fans are travelling down from Inverness, etc. Also, if anyone has any merchandise that they might want to sell then I would be interested. I also plan to take some pictures and videos at the game. Thanks in anticipation of any replies. James

This was my fourth time in Aviemore. I've always found it to be a pretty special place. We took the bus up the the Cairngorm ski centre yesterday and went past Loch Morlich before going on a mad walk up one of the mountain paths! I've walked on Loch Morlich in the winter of 2008 when it was -13ºC! Slightly foolish I know but it was pretty solid and we stayed close to the edge. If I manage a camping trip in August/September to watch an early 25/26 season game for Caley then there could well be another stop off in Aviemore on the way. Oh and we watched a great Johnny Cash tribute act in The Winking Owl last night just to nicely round off the unplanned visit!

Wow! Thanks for sharing this story with me. Sounds like I wasn't anywhere near as unlucky as you were. By coincidence, I've got family in Norfolk and Suffolk. One of them plays for Beccles Town and I'm planning to go and watch him play before the end of the season. This, combined with my Truro City trip earlier in the season and the ill-fated Caley Thistle trip was part of a bigger plan to watch teams from the far corners of the UK in one season. I will be back to the Caledonian Stadium, but it's likely to be next season now unfortunately.

Thanks for the messages about the cancellation. I did notice it myself pretty shortly after the announcement, literally as I was logging on to buy my match tickets and pre-order some things from the club shop! I've been frantically making arrangements over the last couple of hours to reorganise my trip and I'm now staying in Aviemore instead which should be an adventure in itself. Unfortunately it will be a football free weekend though ☹️ I will endeavour to return to Inverness another day. An early season trip would mean I could combine it with a camping trip in the late summer, so this seems the most likely right now. Thanks for all the help everyone

Thanks for the info and it's good to hear from another long distance fan. Hopefully I'm still going up there in years to come and tomorrow's game gets me hooked the same as you. Do you also go to watch Coventry? Club legend Mark Robins has recently gone to my team Port Vale's rivals Stoke City. He's not had a great start, but every manager they've had in most of the last decade has had a nightmare there. The golden rule for me in supporting a second team (which isn't something I've ever done before) is that there's no chance of both teams ever playing each other in a competitive game, which seem to be the case here unless both teams ever get into Europe (less likely for Port Vale than Caley I would think here!). Another question - where would be the best part of the ground to sit for a good atmosphere? I'm currently swaying towards the North Stand