Pre-Merger

[Guest BigPieMorayDosser]

Can I ask the older ones amongst you how it was you became a Thistle, Clach, or Caley fan ?

Geography, family tie, etc., ?

And did you agree with the merger ?  And are you happy where you are now ?

[SMEE]

I grew up right beside the Caley park. attended my first game in 1976. I used to chase the footies for the players at Dalneigh park during traning and got  to sit wi em at the break and have a peice of orange.

I aslo used to clean the Caley park on a sunday on the hope ad find a programme.I was all for Caley going it alone into the Scottish league (and they could have) but the powers that be werent keen on it! the rest is history.

Av gone on record before saying my feeling for ICT is a fraction of wat it was for Caley.

[Caley Mad In Berks]

I was taken as a 9 year old to my first football game in about 1950, a local Clach/Caley derby at Grant Street.  The older boy who took me supported Caley, and I was hooked on them immediately.  Although I always lived 'up the hill', I was never tempted to watch Thistle,(except against Caley of course).

I was dead against the merger with Thistle, and had I been in Inverness at the time, would have been more actively against it.  I still resent the fact that Ross County got into The Scottish league soon after us without merging, not to mention Elgin and Peterhead sometime later.

However, once the merger was a 'fait accompli', I accepted it, and I have to admit that following ICT has given me some of the most memorable footballing experiences of my life.

As a boy, I could never have imagined SPL (or Division 1, as it then was) football coming to Inverness.

[SMEE]

In my understanding, the major difference in Caley compared to Ross Co, Elgin Sh**ty and Peterhead was that they didnt have Inverness And Nairn Enterprise dictate they way forward to them! Caley were in a better position than all them to go it alone.

[RednBlackComeback]

Been a Jags fan for as long as I can remember. Geography, family ties, the lot.

Similarly with the earlier post, I don't think I feel the same sense of passion/emotion for ICT as I did for jags....but maybe that's just the rose tinted specs effect? Was against the merger and took several years to accept ICT but now a season ticket holder and have been for several years!

Without the merger we would not have SPL football in Inverness. Although if it hadn't been for a single vote against Thistle in the 70's then history might have been very different ??? :symbol_question:

[SMEE]

Without the merger we would not have SPL football in Inverness.

I wouldnt go as far to say that. A caley on their own (dare i say A thistle on their own) had the potential to emulate wat has been done. I can only talk from a Caley point of view but i believe had certain people stood up to the bullying going on, Caley would have easily gotten in on their own, ahead of County or anyone else, coz like it or not, they were the highest profile, best known, and probably most honoured non league team in UK!

[RednBlackComeback]

Had Thistle or caley been admitted on their own then its unlikely they would have received the financial assistance, that ICT have for the likes of the stadium development, from the Council etc. Therefore its unlikely that the team would have reached the SPL by now.

[SMEE]

On what grounds do you assume this?

[RednBlackComeback]

Well how could financial assistance be given to one inverness club over the remaining two? Would've caused a right stramash no? :003:

[CaleyD]

They seem to have no trouble ignoring Clach when it comes to financial assistance, don't see how it would have been any different if Caley or Thistle had managed to go it alone.

[Guest eliza]

As a five year old my much older brother was told (forced?)(encouraged) to take me to Caley, Thistle and Clach games (my other brother took me to the cinema but I was scared by the cowboys and indians! and refused to go back).  After seeing all three Inverness teams, I was asked which ones I liked best and, so I'm told, said "the Blue ones".  So we were Caley fans!    After my brother left home, I went to the games with my Dad and sat in the Stand at Telford Street with Alistair Shaw and his daughter Anne (Anne Nicol as is).    We went to most away games too.

Recently, whilst reminiscing with Anne, we both thought our respective Dads would have been very chuffed and not a little surprised to see an amalgamated team in the Premier League playing against the likes of Celtic and Rangers (and winning!)(not all the time!)

[Charles Bannerman]

Latterly I became a supporter of all three Inverness HL teams because I am a great believer in Inverness football and still attend Clach when I can. Brought up in Dalneigh, I was originally a Caley Kid and supported them to the extent that I used to joop in over the gate at the Howden End without paying and then collect old MacKintosh's lemonade bottles in the ground to get the 3d deposits. One Mike "Gemmell" Shewan used to do the same.

On another issue raised in this thread, I'm in no doubt that any single club entry to the SFL would very likely have created at best another Brechin or Queen of the South and would most definitely not have led to the SPL. However the number of words required to justify this would probably irritate certain other site users (if rermarks in another thread are to be believed!) so I won't!

[SMEE]

Have to disagree with you Charles. CAley in the highland league had a far superior setup to most teams outside prob Scottish Div 1 (prob even many within that league) whilst they were still in the Highland League.

For Example...........Aberdeen approached Caley to take notes on their very sucsessfull Centenary Club.

I fail to see how the most sucsessful team from the HL on every level would have gone on to fail in the Scottish Leagues??

[Guest TinCanFan]

Didn't Caley once try in the 70s I think to try and get in the domestic league but only lost by a point?

[SMEE]

I think I read elsewhere that it was Thistle.......must have been about 1974 ish as I think it was Meadowbank/Ferranti Thistle that got the place

[Guest TinCanFan]

That's probably the one I was think of.

[Charles Bannerman]

You're right Smee, it was Thistle in 1974 and they lost by one vote to an Edinburgh works team called Ferranti Thistle... which became Meadowbank.... which became Livingston.

I actually think that, although it was totally unjust, in the longer term that was to the good of Inverness football because I firmly believe that neither Caley nor Thistle would have made it so successfully on their own and the merger was well worth waiting for.

In 1993/94 the concept of a solo Caley bid was chewed around at great length and for several reasons I believe that, EVEN IF THEY HAD GOT IN, they would not have been nearly as successful as the present set up. These reasons include:-

1) In the early days they would not have been all that much bigger than Thistle and Clach and without having effectively the whole town behind them, they would have found the early steps up very difficult indeed.

2) As one of three rival clubs in town, Caley would not have had the backing from local businesses that a "whole Inverness" bid got (and although Clach withdrew from the merger talks in August 93 the neat manner in which that was done allowed the other two to proceed as "Inverness".)

3) I do not believe that Caley alone would have received the vital backing of public money which eventually played such an important part.

4) It is essential to understand the sequence of extremely narrow margins by which SPL status has been achieved, from the very first merger votes right up to taking SPL football to Inverness. I just cannot believe that Caley on their own would have crossed all these hurdles.

I hope this is not too long for the people who apparently find my "long" posts hard to bear!

[SMEE]

Maybe i am being thick here Charles........but your telling us that Had CAley been in their the Scottish League, supporters, businesses and funding athourities wouldnt have found them so appealing?

My answer to that would be, they would have nothing else to compare it to so it would be every bit as appealing as any ICT setup.

I can tell you now that, to this day, I personally know of more people boycotting ICT than I do new supporters picked up as ICT. And yes, I know more people go to ICT games than did Caley in HL, but i believe Caley alone would have attracted at least equivalent support if not more than ICT. At the end of the day....i really do not believe these extra ppl turned up just because it was a new team, its because they were intrested in seeing a higher quality of footbal.

[Kingsmills]

I've been a Thistle fan since the late sixties just in time to have the pleasure of watching the most successful and entertaining Kingsmills side of all time managed by the recently deceased Willie Grant.

Despite being a Thistle fan, I agree, with the benifit of hindsight, that it was a blessing in disguise that central belt self interest promoted Ferranti Thistle instead of the Jags in 1974.

I don't believe that either Thistle or Caley  on their own would have enjoyed the sort of backing or success that th merged team have had since joining the league system.

Elgin City enjoyed more success and a higher profile in their time as a non league club than either Thistle or Caley and look mow they'v fared since joining the Scottish League.

[Guest LadyChatterly]

I totally agree with SMEE. IMO there is no doubt Caley alone would've done very well in the SPL and would've become a successful and established club, certainly more successful than a Brechin or clubs of that level, for the simple reason that they were already bigger than most lower league clubs and would have surely only progressed.  To destroy them for the sake of some local enterprise funding was totally needless and a great waste.

[Kingsmills]

Caley might well have held their on in the lower reaches of the SFL but SPL football would have been but a distant hope rather than he reality it now is for the merged team.

[SMEE]

Elgin City enjoyed more success and a higher profile in their time as a non league club than either Thistle or Caley and look mow they'v fared since joining the Scottish League.

And you base this on?????? lemme guess.........they once reached the Scottish Cup quarter finals :024: All 3 inverness teams were more sucsessful than Elgin, and by that I mean in the amount of actual honours won. Getting to a quarter final counts for diddly at the end of the day!

The reason Elgin are struggling is because they have 2 more established Scottish League clubs ahead of them in the pecking order in the area and therfore are a far more attractive proposition

[Caley Mad In Berks]

I have to agree with Smee and Caley108.  To suggest that Elgin were a more successful HL team than Caley is utter nonsense.  I can go back further than most of you, and although it is fair to say that Elgin became Caley's main rival, over the years Caley's record far surpasses that of Elgin

[SMEE]

I actually think Clach have won the HL most times. Elgin did have a very good side throught the years and were a bit behind the total number Caley won the HL. But it was the other trophies where Caley really racked up their honours.

I rekon in history of HL, (and available competitions) the most sucsessfull teams are prob, in order

1. Caley

2. Clach

3. Thistle

4. Elgin

Maybe touch and go between Thistle and Elgin tho now i think of it

[ymip]

Elgin bigger than Caley ?!!?.....behave yirsel mun.....

Just goes to show you lot weren't dubbed the fools on the hill for nothing.

:004: