Always been a big fan of the Highland League, and Lossie are my team (my mum is from there). Used to go along to Grant Park as a kid in the days of Fraser Kellas when they were one of the best teams in the league, and remember in particular beating Peterhead to secure the club's highest ever finish of 3rd. Another memory was the trip to Forfar in the Scottish Cup. Sadly I lost touch with Lossie - the club and the place - during my teenage years. So what I'm really trying to do is ask the Lossie fans on here -

What the f**k happened?

I can only assume rotten management from the very top is to blame. Can anyone elaborate?

A bit of a downward spiral unfortunately. Lossie have always struggled for investment and that meant that holding onto the great players we had during the mid 90s was always going to be difficult and a slip down the table was inevitable after Kellas left and things had to be tightened further. Lack of investment from the local business community was compounded as a team winning less and less was also attracting less fans. Since then we've kept on slipping and now we've bottomed out. I doubt we'll fall any further as Fort William are in more of a mess than us just now.

Losing Elgin from the league has also been a blow as it used to give fans a focal point for rivalry (the derbies were always crowd pullers for both clubs) and that has never been recaptured, despite Forres increasingly getting on our nerves.

I don't know if it is mismanangement from the top down as such - but there is a lack of inspiration to engage the local business community more and also to attract the fans back to Grant Park. There are no longer any match posters around town informing you of the fixtures and that, IMO, is a bit of an oversight.

A new manager recently hired gives us a bit of hope. If he can get us mid-table in the next year to two years I would be delighted.

On the positive side, things on the internet are going better for us than on the pitch.

That's a pity. I can see your point about the derbies, they were cracking occasions, and with 70-goals a season man Iain Stewart I always fancied our chances. The lack of advertisement re. games is in my experience a problem at towns throughout Scotland, which I've never understood because it doesnt exactly require a lot of effort.

It actually crossed my mind to go to Harlaw tomorrow to see the boys in action (I live in Aberdeen). I'm not convinced I've seen Lossie this decade. I notice the LFC website calls Harlaw "Overpriced Park." How much d'you reckon it'll be the morra? EDIT:- £7 to sit, £6 to stand according to their website.

Seven pound to get in at all, going by the league game at Harlaw in December.

The LFC website is no bastion of fairness and accuracy where Locos are concerned. The webmaster is a bit of a bark as well.

You shoud give it a whirl. If you see a drunk pile that will be the Shaker Crew, and they shouldn't be too far from DM, whose voice you'll recall from watching Lossie in the 90s.

You should have a look around our messageboard some time as well. We have a Locos fan on there who hates Stirling Albion, so be warned.

Pity he supports a jumped up, pretentious, perennially second, no-mark newbie club then eh?

*I've just remembered why he'll hate us - Scottish Cup 2nd round, 2005/06, SAFC v Locos at Forthbank. 1-0 Binos after a scrambled 94th minute winner which took about 5 deflections. John Gardiner lost it at full-time, had a shouting match with the main stand - seem to remember giving him a few choice words of my own. Ah well, he's at Formartine Utd now I believe, fanny.

Marry me.



John Gardiner was, is, and will always be a prize ringpiece. No wonder the Locos loved him so.

We bought all your best players. You shouldn't have gone and won that day.

I think that along with the loss of your local derby with Elgin the decline of the fishing industry played a part. The "fishing" teams of Lossie, Buckie, Fraserburgh and Peterhead were always well supported by the boats and when the money went out of the fishing it affected the football too.

Was the 8-0 game the day we secured third? I was there as well.

The decline of fishing has affected Lossie, but the town itself is twice the size of Dingwall, bigger than Huntly, Keith, Forres, and comparable to a few others, yet still lingers at the foul end of the league. It is something of a mystery as to why they aren't a bit better than they are, but Lossie can rise again. Somehow. It might take a while tho. If it means I'll see football like I did back in my youth, I'll happily wait a while.

How many do you get through the turnstiles these days Jimmy?

Always enjoyed going to Lossie in the old days although the crowd was always quite sparse,we would always stop in Helgin before and after the game for a few beers just to wind up the natives

If we get a home crowd of more than 100 its a good day. The travelling support seems oddly healthy (in terms of size anyway), but the locals will only come out if we are winning. Mercifully, the likes of Buckie and Vale haul a lot through with them, plus we don't cost much to run so its balancing out so far.

There are other reasons why folk wont come to watch Lossie and prefer Lossie United instead (other than their recent successes), but I'm not going into that. Yet.

Thats a shame,having said that don't think Clach get much more than that either by the sounds of it on other threads

Has your ground changed much over the years,bearing in mind i haven't been since the early nineties?

Its disappointing that more folk don't come out to watch, but the club make little effort to pull them in and essentially are getting back what they put in. It could be worse, min, there are recent title winners who get similar to us.

The ground remains identical. Although the stand is decaying slowly, not helped by freeloading pressmen falling through it on occasion.

Might just pay a visit one of this saturdays just for nostalgic reasons

How much will the pleasure be to watch Lossie?
Do you recommend any of the up and coming visiting teams?

Any Lossie game in March should be interesting. We play Keith away this Wednesday, Cove at Grant Park next weekend, who are challenging for the league, possibly Brora or Wick at home on the 15th, travel to Fraserburgh on the 22nd and finish the month with Inverurie at Grant Park on the 29th. £6 entry at GP.

The Cove or Locos games will definitely have goals. Probably lots.

CALEDONIAN108 (and this goes for other Caledonian fans), I take it you're no ICT fan. Purely out of interest, mind if I ask why?

Can anyone tell me the Lossie score today (if they were playing)?

Without going through the whole story again, ICT killed the club that people like Caledonian 108, RayBees and myself loved. To put it perspective, how would fancy Albion merging with Falkirk?

Fosters Highland League Cup 1st Round:

Inverurie 2-0 Lossie
Brora 1-3 Wick
Buckie 2-3 Rothes
Forres 1-3 Deveronvale
Huntly 9-2 Fort William
Keith 3-2 Fraserburgh
Nairn 0-2 Cove

Point taken.

We now have an enclosure with a bit of concrete terracing opposite the stand - I can't remember what season it was built (it was sometime in the 90s), but it used to run virtually the whole length of the pitch until the wind f*cked it and it got reduced to half the length when repaired.

More accurately, how would Albion like merging with Falkirk, keeping the Falkirk name, playing at Falkirks ground in Falkirks colours and being forever referred to as the Bairns?

True, but thats from a Thistle point of view.

Anyone interested can see photos from yesterdays game at Harlaw Park by clicking here.

Report will be on later when I work out what happened. And where I left the car.

Never been to Harlaw Park, looks a tidy ground.

Some good shots. What size of crowd was there?

About a dozen short of 400. They usually get bigger, but the locals don't like the big noisy boys from Lossie.

One of the better ones, and its size gives it more of an atmosphere than the superdome sized efforts at Buckie, Keith and Elgin. You can't really get a handle on the slope from the photos tho.

Watched Lossie v Brora in Lossie towards the end of last season and Lossie were absolutely appalling. We used to get a doing there not that long ago but it will be a few years at least before that happens again. Got to say the ground was looking very shabby as well and the social club was almost as bad. A club in decline.

Whit? The social club is one of the best in the league, if not THE best. The grounds a shitehouse tho.

Are you bothering yourself to come down if we have to play Brora on the 15th of March?

Won't make it down this year unfortunately. Last season was brilliant though. The ref didn't realise he'd booked your striker twice until one of our players pointed it out. Then our keeper called an irate fan of yours, and I quote, 'a daft cvnt!'.

Borrowed him from the junior side for the day. Way to make an impression on your third debut for the club.

The grounds in a terrible mess, I will give you that. Mostly not helped by the shocking stand we have.

Think you must have got the wrong social club as Lossie's one is a superb facility - one of the best in the league, if not the best. I like Brora's social club too - watched the Scotland v Ukraine match there after you cuffed us earlier in the season.

Thought the social club was a bit manky but we'll have to agree to disagree.

I think we'll all agree that you are speaking out of your arse.

Yes the ground needed a paint and the social club needs a good clean i am afraid. I was there at the very same game.

Very much a club in decline

I don't recall playing Spammers United any time recently.

No mate i know it is meant to Aberdeen

Anyway back on topic The social club was a decent size but needed a clean i would have said and the ground needs a good paint and the main stand needs refurbishing

Think that game was the day of the Grand National last year.

Lossie certainly needs a good few better players

Is that a polite way of saying "bulldozing"?

Thank you for concurring. You'd have thought the social club was like Gleneagles Hotel the way the Lossie boys have totally overreacted to my criticism of its cleanliness. That said when your team and your ground are pish you have to cling on the fact that something about your club is half decent.

Even the lager was flat that day and the Coca Cola was out of a bottle those standards are best left to places like the Clansman in Craiglang

Lossie is not a place i will be visiting again in a hurry

I honestly don't get this criticism of our social club as it is bright, airy and modern inside - as well as being large with excellent facillities and I've never experienced a bad pint there. I'm no Aggie by any means, but it looks fairly clean too.

Are you sure you're not confusing us with Clach?

The ground (especially the stand) deserves all that's coming to it though. The stand makes the team look good, and that's saying something these days.

The lager is indeed shite, but cola has NEVER been served out of a bottle. Who do you think we are, Elgin?

Excuse me, but aren't you a Brora supporter? Your grounds as big a lavvy as ours.

The Dungeon is actually looking ok just now. And we've got the best playing surface in the league.

No you don't. That would go to Nairn or Vale.

You've got to be joking?! Unless things have dramatically improved recently! As Shaker says, Vale and Nairn must have the best surfaces in the league.

Broras pitch looks better than usual this year, but it'll have to be pretty special to be better than Vales or thon bowling green in Nairn.

It's not bad going by those photos.

It's still in good nick at the moment.

Victoria Park always had the best surface in the old days and is certainly the best park I played on.

Edit to say I tell a lie. Claggan Park was the best surface. Not as picturesque a setting as the Lossie ground mind.