I cant help but think that a large number of the posters on here now are post merger and have become accustomed to on-going success and a guaranteed place in the top leagues. To me the last 24 years have been a total feckin mini-miracle. I followed Caley (OK Celtic as well) since I could walk. I have followed them all over the Highlands and wherever the cups took us. I always dreamed of being in the higher leagues and winning Cups!! In those Highland League days it was a case of away days with your mates, winning was a bonus and fortunately in the Highlands it usually was. You practically knew everybody around you at games or they introduced themselves to you. It was an extended family. What we have achieved is mind blowing. I will cherish every feckin minute - well at least the minutes I can remember or hadn't been chucked out  I have met so many newbies and established so many great friendships.

 

I HATED some of the SPL away days. They became boring. I actually looked forward to this season. I am worried but I still look forward to many away trips. We have made great unions with the likes of QOS and Dumfermline. I will be there even if we go down. I will be there next season and I will be there until my head is chopped off by another Immortal. The Away Day crew differs in numbers but it is still great craic. There is always a friendly face to have a dram or two with.

 

Peeple are all trying to pinpoint blame. To me the club has been mismanaged over the last two seasons. So the damage has been done. This year to me is all about survival first and a sign of revival next. We are again a little fish in a big pond. We always were and always will be. I suppose that you will all now note that I am cheesed off with a lot of the negativity on here. Hopefully this may strike a note with some.

Actually beginning to ask myself this question. Not in a good way either! 

2 hours ago, jagster said:

I was just thinking that I want one too 

You can get one for your next birthday 

3 minutes ago, IBM said:

You can get one for your next birthday 

Can I have three consecutive league wins for mine ?

Heaven 

Because I something to bring down my otherwise cheery demeanor. 

 

4 hours ago, IBM said:

You can get one for your next birthday 

That will be my 21st 

It was the year 2000 for me, my first trip to Scotland. I was travelling with my wife who is Inverness born and bred.  As drove over the rise in the A9, the stadium was the first thing I saw.  I asked my wife whomplayed there.  She who played there? She had been away for a long time and the stadium wasn’t there then.

I found out it was Inverness Caledonian Thistle - I need to check this out.

The first game I was supposed to go to was a Hogmannay Derby, I got my ticket and I was looking forward to it. Luck wasn’t on my side, the match was called off due to frost. Not the type ofmthing that happens to me at home.  Anyway, I went to the Innes, met some of the fans and had a great day out.  I was hooked!

From there I was at home at ungodly hours pusing F5 on the keyboard to get updates from the Skysports website, while checking the matchday thread on the site.

I woke the neighbours yelling at 2am when we got promoted to the top devisions - both times.

I woke the neighbours yelling at 2am when we beat Celtic in the Semi, followed by again hitting the net to book tickets to Glasgow.

I have met some lifelong friends that I only get to see every few years, but it is like it was yesterday. IHE taking me on a pub crawl after a game and preceeding to show me his arse tattoo. Every new trip brings new people.

whenever I get a home game on TV I look out for you, I may not see Richard, but I can always here him whistling.

I have been to a dozen games over 17 years, in a couple of weeks I get to add 2 more to that total. The Cup game against Peterhead and an away trip on the Supporters bus to Falkirk.

I cannot wait!

 

 

 

 

Tie me kangaroo down sport

Married an Invernessian from a Caley family and started going to away games, mainly, after the merger as the club were now playing regularly in the Lowlands. And all downhill from there.

Every summer I hope for a Kirkie Rob Roy v ICT pre-season friendly, so that I can wear two scarves in July and expire from heat exhaustion.

Coming a bit late to this thread, because I was away last week.  My answer to the question is that it's in my blood.

My grandfather played for Citadel in the early 1920s, and was their trainer after that. He was also trainer for Thistle for some time in the early 50s.

My Dad was never a player, but was Thistle secretary for a couple of seasons at the end of the 60s, just before they won the league. Up until then, I had supported Caley, but no 12 year old kid is going to turn down the chance to see a football club from the inside. I used to play the records at Kingsmills, though they wouldn't let me do the announcements because my voice hadn't broken. I travelled to away games on the team bus. Two seasons of watching a free-scoring goal machine reach its peak.

After that I rejoined my mates, following Caley. Privileged to see a very fine team there, including of course the telepathic partnership of Chic Allan and Dave Johnston.

But, to tell the truth, I would watch any game of football. If Clach was the only game in town, Dad and I would be there. In the summer, we would wander around the Bught when the Welfare League games were on. My Dad seemed to knew everyone involved at all levels of Inverness football, so going round the Bught was a social event, as well as a chance for me to see past heroes from the Highland and indeed Scottish Leagues.

I left Inverness in 1978, and moved to north London. I used to watch Arsenal, since they were the nearest club to me. Liam Brady on his own was worth the price of admission, but somehow I couldn't get into it. I couldn't connect. This was simply not my team.

When the merger happened, of course I was disappointed that the two clubs, with their long histories and rivalry, were disappearing. But you often have to pay a price for progress. At the time, I promised my wife that I would take her to their first game in Europe - a promise that I was delighted to fulfill on a hot July night a couple of years ago. Let's be honest - most of the last 23 years have exceeded anyone's realistic expectations.

I don't get to many games. In fact I confess that the last two that I attended were the Cup Final and the Europa League match in Romania. So maybe some of you will write me off as a happy clapper.

I don't think I am. There is more chance of me growing another head than NOT supporting Caley Thistle - whatever league they are in. As I said, it's in my blood.

On 9/19/2017 at 12:57 PM, Caleytrue said:

As a kid between the ages of  ten and fourteen I did get to watch Ware Town FC who played in the Athenian League but that was hardly on the same level.  Their biggest day out was in the first round proper of the FA Cup having qualified and the result was a 6 - 1 defeat at Luton Town, but it still seemed glamorous at the time.

 I used to work with a guy - Steve King - who told me that he had been their Chairman for a while. Looking at their website, I see that he is still responsible for website admin.

He told me that one of the biggest hassles for a small club like Ware was a home tie in the FA Cup. The fans may have loved it, but  it was a lot of work and expense for the club. The FA published pages and pages of rules and regulations, all of which had to be adhered to. Proper turnstiles, a certain type of barrier round the pitch, a certain number of police in and around the ground, a match programme of at least <x> pages of a minimum size, with a specified number of pages having to be in colour. And so on, and so on....

17 minutes ago, snorbens_caleyman said:

Coming a bit late to this thread, because I was away last week.  My answer to the question is that it's in my blood.

My grandfather played for Citadel in the early 1920s, and was their trainer after that. He was also trainer for Thistle for some time in the early 50s.

My Dad was never a player, but was Thistle secretary for a couple of seasons at the end of the 60s, just before they won the league. Up until then, I had supported Caley, but no 12 year old kid is going to turn down the chance to see a football club from the inside. I used to play the records at Kingsmills, though they wouldn't let me do the announcements because my voice hadn't broken. I travelled to away games on the team bus. Two seasons of watching a free-scoring goal machine reach its peak.

After that I rejoined my mates, following Caley. Privileged to see a very fine team there, including of course the telepathic partnership of Chic Allan and Dave Johnston.

But, to tell the truth, I would watch any game of football. If Clach was the only game in town, Dad and I would be there. In the summer, we would wander around the Bught when the Welfare League games were on. My Dad seemed to knew everyone involved at all levels of Inverness football, so going round the Bught was a social event, as well as a chance for me to see past heroes from the Highland and indeed Scottish Leagues.

I left Inverness in 1978, and moved to north London. I used to watch Arsenal, since they were the nearest club to me. Liam Brady on his own was worth the price of admission, but somehow I couldn't get into it. I couldn't connect. This was simply not my team.

When the merger happened, of course I was disappointed that the two clubs, with their long histories and rivalry, were disappearing. But you often have to pay a price for progress. At the time, I promised my wife that I would take her to their first game in Europe - a promise that I was delighted to fulfill on a hot July night a couple of years ago. Let's be honest - most of the last 23 years have exceeded anyone's realistic expectations.

I don't get to many games. In fact I confess that the last two that I attended were the Cup Final and the Europa League match in Romania. So maybe some of you will write me off as a happy clapper.

I don't think I am. There is more chance of me growing another head than NOT supporting Caley Thistle - whatever league they are in. As I said, it's in my blood.

Glory hunter ?

Dumbarton Football Club belongs to all of you... we, the people who play for and manage are passing through. This being football, one day we will all move on, but you will still be here, because it's your club.”

Ian Murray, 4th May 2013, after keeping DFC in Division 1 against heavy odds.

I now have no idea