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merged: memories of the merger


old caley girl

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Just been on youtube to view the bt advert mentioned elsewhere on the site. Found a video called caley, thistle merger. Gosh it seems like another age then but look how far weve come. No mention of ambitions of the spl just the ambition of playing well in the 3rd division. Peoples fears did'nt cpme true for instance - no Caley takeover or disappearance of the Thistle name. By the way my kids think it's hilarious that I am selling raffles in the clip.

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Having reported on the merger from 93-96 on an almost hour by hour basis at times (for which I am claiming War Correspondent status!), I couldn't help but remark on the admirable detachment of Rob MacLean's piece there. I certainly think it was a different phenomenon to those of us within the ringed fence at the time compared with what it was to those on the outside looking in.

It was also interesting to hear again the Thistle fears that all traces of them would disappear in 4 years. It was a legitimate fear which would have been realised had the very narrow path out of the merger gloom not been found. I have always contended that this was by necessity an unequal merger and this is the way it has very successfully turned out although both sides have had a vital part to play. However it was very difficult to achieve that, given that so many on the Caley side wanted a takeover and others on the Thistle side wanted an equal partnership while it was, in practice, neither.

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Guest TinCanFan

no Caley takeover or disappearance of the Thistle name.

I wouldn't say a takeovers happened but I would say that a Caley bias still exists.

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What I fail to understand is the comments below the video, No history. Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't a merger constitute two entitys merging into one in that they still exsist as a combined effort? Therefore ICT's history would include the historys of Thistle and Caledonian which can be dated back to 1885. Pre dating Celtic, Dundee United, Aberdeen and roughly the same time as Dunfermline (the three teams formed in 1885). Doesn't that kill off the argument that the club have no history as they combine the decorated history of two clubs spanning 123 years?

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That's an interesting one James. Caley Thistle was a brand new club constituted in Feb 1994 but this happened as a result of both Thistle and Caley having voted to use their assets to purchase shares in CT. I don't know if Thistle were ever formally wound up as a club. They certainly had the 2/3 majority to do it but I'm not sure if it ever happened. On the other hand, I don't believe that Caley was ever wound up because the 2/3 majority to do so was never achieved. In fact I also believe that the Caley constitution might have provided the Rebels with grounds for a challenge which (fortunately) they never woke up to.

It was Caley's failure to produce a 2/3 majority (they always got 50%) for the merger that led to CT being formed as a result of using assets for the purchase of shares, voted on at separate meetings (in Caley's case the Third Battle of Rose Street) early in December 1994, and not in a direct union.

However the SFA will regard ICT as a "new" club dating from 1994.

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  • 4 weeks later...

What I fail to understand is the comments below the video, No history. Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't a merger constitute two entitys merging into one in that they still exsist as a combined effort? Therefore ICT's history would include the historys of Thistle and Caledonian which can be dated back to 1885. Pre dating Celtic, Dundee United, Aberdeen and roughly the same time as Dunfermline (the three teams formed in 1885). Doesn't that kill off the argument that the club have no history as they combine the decorated history of two clubs spanning 123 years?

Feck me James, well written wee statement you got urself there  :clapping03:

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What I fail to understand is the comments below the video, No history. Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't a merger constitute two entitys merging into one in that they still exsist as a combined effort? Therefore ICT's history would include the historys of Thistle and Caledonian which can be dated back to 1885. Pre dating Celtic, Dundee United, Aberdeen and roughly the same time as Dunfermline (the three teams formed in 1885). Doesn't that kill off the argument that the club have no history as they combine the decorated history of two clubs spanning 123 years?

Feck me James, well written wee statement you got urself there  :clapping03:

I do try Kassman  :001:

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  • 1 month later...

just thought i would share something with you. I organised a van to transport some furniture here in Edinburgh. The guys email address had the word Howdenender in it and sure enough he was an ex Caledonian FC fan. I say ex as he hates ICT...turns out i know him from the High School & the Howden end of old and now supports another team in blue. He was one of the head honchos of the Anti-Merger lot and refuses to attend any ICT games...shame as we could do with him in the stands, he actually said that i was only 1 of 2 ex Caledonian FC fans he knew who supported ICT..

So it got me thinking, do we have any Anti-Merger protester now supporting ICT?

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This sounds like the chap well known to many here, who used to come on the website and take the p1ss out of ICT, but who has gone very quiet since we made it to the SPL. He'll be back on if and when we ever get relegated or go bust.

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He was one of the head honchos of the Anti-Merger lot and refuses to attend any ICT games...shame as we could do with him in the stands, he actually said that i was only 1 of 2 ex Caledonian FC fans he knew who supported ICT..

He would, wouldn't he! :rotflmao:

It's a pity you didn't ask him for his comments on the fact that, before the merger, an average of around 600 fans combined watched Caley and Thistle playing in the Highland League. Now, following progress within 10 years to the SPL, an attendance of 3501 is regarded as disappointing.

And yes, I do know, among others, one very conspicuous anti merger protester supporting ICT. Mike Shewan (aka Gemmell) was a leading "Rebel" and one of the five of that group at one point lined up to take over in the event of the Rebels managing to oust the established Caley Committee. He has now for some years been a member of the ICT Management Committee and his jobs at home games include manning the end of the tunnel... as it happens with ex Thistle committee man John Falconer. These two have become the best of friends since 1994 and that to me epitomises what this merger has been all about. (And apart from Gemmell, the Social Club is full of old Caley fans after a home game.)

Yngwie... I wonder of your "chap" might have been Alan Douglas (aka Buenos Hornell). I noticed after ICT's accounts showed a loss the other week he was doing his level best to doomsay on the Courier's website. It's a pity nobody pointed out to him that the profits which ICT had returned for each of the two previous years were just the kind of money that Caledonian FC used to struggle to make as total annual turnover in its latter days.

On the other hand that might still be too much for this Lifelong Caledonian Fan to absorb since he is presumably still trying to find out who Chic Allan was. :thumb04:

Edited by Charles Bannerman
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think he means 2 rebels rather than 2 ex Caledonian fans ..... Mantis and IHE would be the two that spring to mind for me but I am sure there are plenty others .....

You are more of an ICT rebel than a Caley one Don !

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  • 2 weeks later...

He was one of the head honchos of the Anti-Merger lot and refuses to attend any ICT games...shame as we could do with him in the stands, he actually said that i was only 1 of 2 ex Caledonian FC fans he knew who supported ICT..

He would, wouldn't he! :rotflmao:

It's a pity you didn't ask him for his comments on the fact that, before the merger, an average of around 600 fans combined watched Caley and Thistle playing in the Highland League. Now, following progress within 10 years to the SPL, an attendance of 3501 is regarded as disappointing.

And yes, I do know, among others, one very conspicuous anti merger protester supporting ICT. Mike Shewan (aka Gemmell) was a leading "Rebel" and one of the five of that group at one point lined up to take over in the event of the Rebels managing to oust the established Caley Committee. He has now for some years been a member of the ICT Management Committee and his jobs at home games include manning the end of the tunnel... as it happens with ex Thistle committee man John Falconer. These two have become the best of friends since 1994 and that to me epitomises what this merger has been all about. (And apart from Gemmell, the Social Club is full of old Caley fans after a home game.)

Yngwie... I wonder of your "chap" might have been Alan Douglas (aka Buenos Hornell). I noticed after ICT's accounts showed a loss the other week he was doing his level best to doomsay on the Courier's website. It's a pity nobody pointed out to him that the profits which ICT had returned for each of the two previous years were just the kind of money that Caledonian FC used to struggle to make as total annual turnover in its latter days.

On the other hand that might still be too much for this Lifelong Caledonian Fan to absorb since he is presumably still trying to find out who Chic Allan was. :thumb04:

You cant knock the guy,he loved the club and tried with all his will to keep them from going out of existence,for that alone i take my hat of to him,just a pity ICT dont have any fans like him he would certainly get the atmosphere going at the dump

just thought i would share something with you. I organised a van to transport some furniture here in Edinburgh. The guys email address had the word Howdenender in it and sure enough he was an ex Caledonian FC fan. I say ex as he hates ICT...turns out i know him from the High School & the Howden end of old and now supports another team in blue. He was one of the head honchos of the Anti-Merger lot and refuses to attend any ICT games...shame as we could do with him in the stands, he actually said that i was only 1 of 2 ex Caledonian FC fans he knew who supported ICT..

So it got me thinking, do we have any Anti-Merger protester now supporting ICT?

HAHA the two removel men you had were none other than the editors of the hilarious LSM caley fanzine,both now working in Edinburgh running their removal business

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HAHA the two removel men you had were none other than the editors of the hilarious LSM caley fanzine,both now working in Edinburgh running their removal business

Are you sure about that? A few years ago they had lost touch AFAIK and while AD was in Edinburgh, DM was anywhere between Sneck and your own neck of the woods...

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HAHA the two removel men you had were none other than the editors of the hilarious LSM caley fanzine,both now working in Edinburgh running their removal business

Are you sure about that? A few years ago they had lost touch AFAIK and while AD was in Edinburgh, DM was anywhere between Sneck and your own neck of the woods...

DM?? Don't you mean DC?? the Big Lad??

or do you mean DM the painter??

AD and DC i know are deffo the Edinburgh removal men as they were both in sneck a few weeks ago telling their removal men tales :rotflmao: :thumb04:

Edited by reefinweedallday
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