The Mantis

There was a place up for grabs right enough, but they weren't invited, they were voted in. Obvious self interest by the voting clubs, faced with Highland clubs and more, but democratic nonetheless.

Those are the guys that were on AVFTT the other week, right? Must have been warned to be on their best behaviour before they filmed it then.

Ah right, thanks for clearing that up Marten. Having lived here all my puff, I've been to all of these places, some many times, before B teams were even thought of (Whitehill Welfare over 150 times ). Been to very few grounds in the NCL, SOS and North Juniors but at my stage of life I won't be bothering. Pity I never got round the NCL when I was younger. But... just been looking at Futbology... I can only see one ground share (Caley Braves Reserves) in the SOS and one in the NCL (Clach reserves) but two in the North Juniors (Banks O'Dee and Montrose Roselea). Then Broomhill, Stirling Uni and Shire in the LL plus the 3 B teams making 10. Stirling Uni reserves at the Gannochy is not a share so now I'm as confused as ever

Hampden in 1997

Spot on. It's been interesting seeing Rose take over from Nitten Star as the big team in Midlothian over the past decade or so. A perfect example of how a club should be run. I imagine the risks taken in retaining the same squad are largely a consequence of spending a lot on the ground. I don't necessarily agree with everything there. I didn't see the game so can't comment, but I'm pretty much a neutral and I think they've had a lot of unfair stick this season from opposing fans. With the three missing players I mentioned they're definitely a different side. Although quite ageing/experienced/over the hill (take your pick) Ross Gray (11) only got 17 mins according to the BBC. He's been a regular starter though when I've been there. Conor Doan (17) signed from Stirling Uni this season. I've been impressed by him. Great prospect. McGachie is the big forward. Scored a barrowload over the years but has hit the big 3-0 age wise and has a dicky knee. Kieran Mitchell (no 7) is on loan from Raith. I would be expecting great things from him but no idea how he did this week. Saw him a few weeks ago and felt he was pretty much a spectator as Rose were hemmed in their own half most of the time. That's disappointing if true. You'd think they'd be motivated by playing in the SPFL. Apart from Stranraer and Elgin the travelling is not much different from what they're used to.

In other news: Hitler invades Poland Seriously though, you're only saying what ICT fans have been saying for 25 years: the vanity of some of the Inverness bigwigs to build The Finest Stadium In The North. Roughly £4.8M was cobbled together from various sources and this wouldn't cover some of the overambitious plans. So the plans were scaled down but it was expected that the stadium could expand as demand rose (ha ha). That's why the ends are uncovered (they said at the time the stand was a modular construction so no bother), that's why the pitch is large enough to take Internationals, etc etc. I'm sure I heard that the main stand faces the weather so that traffic on the A9 could see the adverts... Mind you, we've had some terrific occasions over the years with 7500 in the ground and even >3000 when we were in Div 3, but the matchday experience nowadays is grim and likely to remain so.

I remember that one. Tam Hendrie brought me back a programme. Might even have the goals on video somewhere.

That was actually a great help, as I had only skimmed through my diary looking at Saturdays. The original game was Monday 2nd. Albion were leading 1-0. I forgot about London Hearts, it's a great resource.

Wiki says 292 but don't shoot the messenger. I've got to 245 in Scotland but that's including old ones like Muirton & Brockville. Not a fanatical groundhopper at all, just seen a lot of fitba since I was taken to Tynecastle in 1966 as a wee laddie for Bonnyrigg v Penicuik in the Junior Cup. My totals are bumped up by watching Caley in the HL and ICT moving up the leagues, and my local teams Bonnyrigg in the Juniors and Whitehill in the EOS. Seen ICT at 55 grounds.

That’s the one. In fact if there’s anybody out there that has the date of this I’d be grateful. Just remembered probably my no 1 coldest experience, but all other games were off so I came prepared with long johns, hillwalking gear including boots . Hibs v Killie in the Cup, Jan 1996, it was the day before Whitehill played Celtic. I went in the Killie end. Amazingly the next day I was in the WW end only 2 seats away. Wee Jimmy Gilmour had a season at Caley in the Highland League. Maybe 1993.

In a longer post I would have named all these places as examples, as I've been going to games for over 50 years. At Broadwood I remember the conditions turning icy and the game being abandoned after 30 minutes when the goalie hurt himself in a fall. At Tannadice once I needed the car heater on full blast for about half an hour to stop shivering. Gayfield and Pittodrie are others. The west is wetter so maybe the east is colder. I have to say I've been at Caley Stadium over 100 times and it probably doesn't even register in my top 10 brass monkey moments, although I've had a few soakings in the old terracing days.

Away man, Scotland's a small country. Everywhere gets cold at times, you just need to get out more You could make that claim for loads of grounds depending what day you went.

Fair assessment. Desperately need creativity in midfield. 11 is Ross Gray. I watch them semi-regularly when it doesn't clash with ICT. I predicted back in August that their home form would keep them up. They comfortably saw off Forfar and Annan but were well beaten by Stenny and Rovers (twice). They missed late chances to beat Falkirk in the LC. They have a pretty big support but it's a mystery why this is not reflected on here. Most of the Rose support on here are fairly realistic except one bampot who thinks they should be aiming at the Championship/Premier, and when they were in the EOS, was claiming they could hold their own in Lge 1... Robbie Horn put his trust in the squad that won the LL and only made additions once the season was well under way. Yesterday they were missing Kerr Young, their best defender IMO, and two key players Dean Brett and Lee Currie, somebody can correct me but I think all three are out injured for at least a few weeks. Big McGachie is played sparingly as he has a knee problem.

Caley Stadium under construction in 1996 and again in 1999

Tayport 0 Rutherglen Glencairn 4 (HT 0-4) SJC, Round 3 at the Canniepairt. £6/£3 entry and £3 for a pie & Bovril. Never in doubt from the 11th minute when Glens went ahead following shoddy marking at a corner. The next 2 goals were poor defensively but the 4th by Burns was a cracking 30 yarder*. *OK, 25 yarder, having just seen the highlights

A couple from Boghead in the late 90s. Clydebank v ICT. Apologies for the big watermarks but there was a cheeky c**t who nicked the first image a couple of years back and actually put his own watermark on it...

I set them up, you tap them in. Kind of had that at the back of my mind as I posted it…

We were talking about half time scoreboards a couple of weeks back. Just by coincidence I was searching my hard drive for something and came upon this one from Cappielow from 1996.

Keep biting. As long as he stays away from the WW page

I’ve just had a horrible vision of wee Gordon and his missus practising the widden boax method of contraception.

Couple of wee Peewits/Peasies/Peesweeps at Musselburgh

They built the MV Loch Bhrusda with jet propulsion instead of propellors since the Sound of Harris is so shallow. In 2017 I was over in the Netherlands for the Women's Euros with the missus. We went up to Friesland and took a ferry over to Ameland. They had to zigzag too, it was so shallow they were steering in between sandbanks.

I saw Dan Stratford in Tesco Inshes yesterday. 3 full trolleys too.

It’s time we started publishing/announcing away supports the way some other clubs in our league do… not having a pop at Accies but some of the more crowdwanky teams. Some of the away numbers at Caley Stadium are piss poor considering the stick we get when our fans have to travel the A9 20 times a season rather than twice. There was even a St Mirren fan a few years back who thought the car park should be free considering how far they’d come…

Who’da thunk it: https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/media/7460/scottish-fa-club-licensing-manual-2021.pdf