No more Merger talk

[Kingsmills]

Inverness Union would not necessarily delight those of us of a Nationalist persuasion

[Renegade]

In footballing terms, I have to admit I feel we're Better Together.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

O2B

[ICTPaisley]

3 hours ago, Renegade said:

It's my understanding that Inverness United had been/was/is already in use in the welfare leagues (as was Inverness FC IIRC).  I must say, I quite like the name but I do personally refer to the club in speech as 'Caley Thistle' (to me simplified names are for one of the pre-merger clubs), while central belters almost exclusively seem to refer to us as 'Inverness' for some reason and it's no more simple than Heart of Midlothian (should they just change their name officially to 'Hearts'?  Nope!).  Another option for the new club name though that may well have fit bill would be Inverness Union FC which could also be used as an homage to another club within our DNA.

Just for the record, there are clubs with longer names.  Some of the Faroese teams for example have ridiculously long names!

They refere to us as inverness as every weekend when the scores come through or any league table has it down as Inverness CT. 

[Alex MacLeod]

18 hours ago, wynthank15 said:

I sometimes wish the Directors had chosen a simpler name for the club, trying to write a song to include Inverness Caledonian Thistle aint easy.not sure why Inverness Utd wouldn't have fitted the bill. Perhaps someone can enlighten me. i'm sure our name must pop up in football quizzes from time to time off the top of my head i can't think of a longer one.

We had longest name in UK until Lothian Thistle changed their name to Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Perhaps we should merge with Internazionale Invermorriston.

[TopSix]

They're calling us Caley on BBC Scotland. 

[Charles Bannerman]

1 hour ago, Alex MacLeod said:

We had longest name in UK until Lothian Thistle changed their name to Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale

I still think ICT has it by a short head if you go on syllables. ICT - 10. LTHV - 9.

[Charles Bannerman]

6 hours ago, Kingsmills said:

Inverness Union would not necessarily delight those of us of a Nationalist persuasion

Well Inverness Union, along with Crown, is where the Jags originated from! But it could have been worse. Yes Highland could have had their HQ in something like Union Street.... hang on a minute....

Edited February 27, 2016 by Charles Bannerman

[Charles Bannerman]

18 hours ago, IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER said:

Feck me all we need now is fer Doofers Dad to quote and reply.

I know! You could write a book about all this.

[ICTPaisley]

2 hours ago, Alex MacLeod said:

We had longest name in UK until Lothian Thistle changed their name to Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale

Wasn't that a club merger rather than a name change?

[Sneckboy]

Inverness Caledonian Thistle is also shorter than Easthouses Lily Miners Welfare! (which ties with Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale)
There will be countless others - depends how far one wishes to go. There will be plenty Welsh clubs with very long names.
Speaking of which, the club often abbreviated to TNS is officially known as The New Saints of Oswestry Town & Llansantffraid FC !

[Kind of Blue]

I recall someone used to write into the papers proposing the name Inverness Castle. The merger did result in some weird and wonderful suggestions.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Bridge and Castle - great feckin name - wonder what song we could have used

[Charles Bannerman]

3 hours ago, TopSix said:

They're calling us Caley on BBC Scotland. 

Given that the term "Thistle" appears to be reserved exclusively for a less successful club from Maryhill, they do seem to have narrowed their options on that one.

[Charles Bannerman]

1 hour ago, Kind of Blue said:

I recall someone used to write into the papers proposing the name Inverness Castle. The merger did result in some weird and wonderful suggestions.

Probably some jakey who found himself regularly transported there by G4S or whoever their predecessors were.

[Alex MacLeod]

3 hours ago, ICTPAISLEY said:

Wasn't that a club merger rather than a name change?

No Lothian Thistle was the senior club and Hutchison Vale was youth club linked with them. They changed their name to reflect the link and to outdo ICT as longest named club in UK

[wynthank15]

Kingsmills, Brighton and Hove Albion have more words??? I take it you don't attend many sports quizzes, and just why did you deem my comment worthy of a  negative vote? it certainly seems to have generated explanation and comment which was the whole point and some interesting background of which I was unaware has been the result. Also it seems that not all supporters are settled on the name of the club I have received criticism from Thistle fans for using only the word Caley, frankly if the name of the club was Caley Thistle not many would complain everyone knows the clubs are from Inverness without stating the obvious, just my thoughts.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Apparently we should be known as Inverness Caledonian Thistle Crown and Union FC

[Kingsmills]

6 hours ago, IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER said:

Apparently we should be known as Inverness Caledonian Thistle Crown and Union FC

If Clach had, as originally intended, joined the merger would we have been Inverness Caledonian Thistle Clachnacuddin FC ?

[Yngwie]

2 hours ago, Kingsmills said:

If Clach had, as originally intended, joined the merger would we have been Inverness Caledonian Thistle Clachnacuddin FC ?

Shortened of course to ICTC, which when you say it fast sounds just like AC/DC!

Could the team have run out to Back in Black (and red)?  Whole Lotta Tokely?

Edited March 3, 2016 by Yngwie

[Renegade]

Some people will know this better than me, but at what point in the merger discussions were possible names put forward? I know Inverness United was for decades a working title, but seemingly was an official non-starter due to it already being used in the Welfare League at the time. Was Inverness Caledonian not once voted on as well (taking the Caley from Caley and the Inverness from Thistle!)? Any other names we could've ended up with?

[12th Man]

We are the Highlands FC.

Provisions were made to get this one used decades ago but the plug was pulled as it seemed a bit naff.

[Charles Bannerman]

7 hours ago, Renegade said:

Some people will know this better than me, but at what point in the merger discussions were possible names put forward? I know Inverness United was for decades a working title, but seemingly was an official non-starter due to it already being used in the Welfare League at the time. Was Inverness Caledonian not once voted on as well (taking the Caley from Caley and the Inverness from Thistle!)? Any other names we could've ended up with?

The idea of Caledonian Thistle really began to emerge mid December 1993, although it had been talked about before that. Earlier that month, Caley passed the merger in principle for a second time, but with insufficient support also to secure asset transfer. This led to the Rebels suggesting that a merged team called Caledonian and playing in blue would be acceptable to them. This is turn forced Thistle to the brink of quitting a bid which by now had been past the point of no return for over two months. A couple of weeks before Christmas, INE Chairman Norman Cordiner spent an evening of shuttle diplomacy between the two sides - Thistle at Kingsmills and Caley in the Kingsmills Hotel.  (It had to be Norman and not his CEO Fiona Larg because women weren't allowed in the Thistle boardroom!).

The product of these knife edge negotiations was a three fold agreement - the club would be called Caledonian Thistle, the new park would be called the Caledonian Stadium and the team would play in "predominantly blue" strips (there are still plenty of people around who remember what that actually worked out as). Even though they were the minor partner in just about every respect, this still represented a significant concession from Thistle. As a result, since Caley weren't going to accept any name without the C-word in it and Thistle weren't going to surrender the small bit of the action they had got, they were walking a tightrope on that name. Having been in Caley's Rose Street meeting and having doorstepped the Thistle one ten days later, I really do believe that this was the only name that was going to be remotely acceptable at the time and the name was just one of a range of issues on which the entire deal - and SFL football for Inverness - could have collapsed. At this point, all other possible names departed the fray.

 

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Rattle a cage and out comes the fairy tale teller. For a start the INE and diplomacy does not match, perhaps try manipulation. You entertain the "minority" in a shackled boardroom whilst you dine the majority of the "fat cats" in the Kingsmills