In todays 5th Round Scottish Cup games, the results pretty much went with our expectations. Continue reading →
Asides
16
Jan 10
More Scottish games called off
We’ve been calling for the introduction of winter breaks for a while now – if not permanently, but just on a trail basis for one season to see how things would work out. We say this because the weather has put paid to a few more games today, and possible Monday causing the sort of fixture pile-up that most teams could well do without.
Today’s games called off (so far) include Aberdeen’s game in Perth against St Johnstone, while in the First Division, the games at Ayr, Morton and Ross County have been postponed.
In the Second and Third divisions there are 6 games that have fallen foul of the weather. The full list (as at 1315) reads as follows:
SPL
St Johnstone v Aberdeen
FIRST DIVISION
Ayr United v Airdrie United
Morton v Inverness CT
Ross County v Queen of the South
SECOND DIVISION
Clyde v Alloa Athletic
Stirling v East Fife
Brechin v Dumbarton
THIRD DIVISION
Albion Rovers v Livingston
Elgin City v Annan Athletic
Forfar Athletic v East Stirlingshire
HIGHLAND LEAGUE
Clachnacuddin v Forres Mechanics
Fort William v Rothes
Fraserburgh v Lossiemouth
Huntly v Deveronvale
Inverurie Locos v Formartine Utd
Keith v Strathspey Thistle
Turriff United v Nairn County
21
Dec 09
The Highland League Shows Itself Up In Public
21.12// We’ve featured some of Dave’s videos on the site (without permission it has to be said, sorry), but fuck it, sign the petition anyway. Time to show the suits at the Highland League that they’re just plain wrong, as twohundredpercent points out rather neatly.
19
Nov 09
A short history of Hampden
There’s a good history of our national stadium Hampden Park to be found over at Soccer Source.
I’ve been to Hampden on many occasions, watching either Aberdeen or Scotland, and have always found it to be a truly impressive stadium, but since the much-needed re-fit a few years ago, it’s lost a lot of its unique charm, not to mention capacity.
My first ever visit to Hampden was in 1986, when we beat Hearts 3-0. Alex Ferguson was still managing the Dons (in his last season before moving south to Manchester United), and we still had many of the players who won us leagues and European trophies in previous seasons: Hewitt, Weir, Miller, McLeish, Cooper and McMaster.
The Hearts team on the day, managed still by Alex McDonald featured a young Craig Levein, currently managing Dundee United, but tipped to be the next Scotland manager. Also in the squad where three more future managers of Hearts, Sandy Clarke, John Robertson and Sandy Jardine.
‘Supersub’ John Hewitt, making a starting appearance would open the scoring, eventually netting twice. A third from current Scotland U21 manager Billy Stark completed the 3-0 rout.
The last time I was there with Aberdeen was our last appearance at Hampden, May 2000, when goals from Van Bronckhorst, Vidmar, Dodds and Albertz saw Rangers lift the Cup.
The match was gash, as an Aberdeen fan; aside from losing heavily, we also lost keeper Jim Leighton after 3 minutes when he was injured in a challenge by Rod Wallace. Robbie Winters took over in goals, and the rest, as they say is history.
I always prefered the ‘86 Hampden to the 2000 Hampden. The noise and the atmosphere where miles better, in my opinion. I also remember being very excited about finally seeing those deep, deep goals with the square posts they used to have there, and standing on those terraces, hanging on for dear life to a crush barrier after every goal for fear of being swept away in the crowd.
28
Oct 09
Clachnacuddin’s demise for the Common Good?
Highland League outfit Clachnacuddin where last night forced into adminstration following a hike in its debt repayments that would make a Mafia loanshark blush.
The Inverness club are facing a £46k debt to the Common Good Fund over the lease for its Grant Street Park ground. The club had outlined plans to sell its social club to a property developer (a sale that would wipe out the clubs debts to the council, as well as to the Royal Bank of Scotland) but for whatever reason, The Highland Council felt that the only way to recover the debt was to increase the monthly repayments from £400 to £3,800, a move that would clear the debt in 12 months.
Given the perilous financial situation at the club, Clachnacuddin directors where forced to put the club into administration. They’ll continue to play its fixtures until a way out of administration can be found, but given the current economic climate, finding the funds to secure the future of Highland League football in the town will be a tough job.
Clachnacuddin are founder members of the Highland League and are the divisions most successful side, having won the title on 18 occasions, with their most recent win coming in 2004. The side, managed by Iain Polworth, are currently in 13th place.
The Common Good Fund, to which the club owes debt in question, is essentially an endownment established through gifts of land and property from institutions and individuals with the intent on “creating a community chest for the future”. Established some 800 years ago, money from the fund has been used to finance public executions (including the cost of the rope). More modern uses include the installation of CCTV cameras and the installation of the Christmas lights in the town.
The use of moneys from the Fund – the value of which was approximately £7m according to the latest figures available in 2006 – has not been without controversy. The £250,000 paid out to stage a torchlight procession and fireworks display to mark the end of the Highland Year of Culture caused uproar in the town.