Caledonian F.c. Thread

[CALEDONIAN108]

Welcome on board, Caledonian 108. Look forward to reading some of your memories of supporting The Mighty Caley. The Howden End - great atmosphere

"Caledonian FC - Primus inter Omnes"

To be fair PRS think you have more memories than myself

I started supporting the Caley in the mid/late eighties when i was a youngster

First real memory was our last league championship win, unbelievable to think at that time in the late eighties that it would be Caleys last ever

The scottish cup games were also very memorable especially all the victories

The 2-2 game against Airdrie at broomfield when they were leading the first division,they equalised in injury time to take the game to a replay

Then came the replay at Telford St on a cold snowy evening,again we matched them in every department and drew 1-1 aet

Penalties it was and Hamish Morrison sent the Caley fans wild with celebration after saving their last penalty

Unbelievable atmosphere that night in the Howden end and that will live with me forever

A couple years later we hammered Stenhousmuir 1-4 away from home then beat Clyde 3-1 at home,remember the abuse dished out to Frank McGarvey that afternoon

Then the 2-2 Draw with St Johnstone at Telford St which was an unbelievable result considering they were a premier league side at the time

The replay was another memorable occasion ok we were defeated 3-0 but we still played some good football and certainly never disgraced ourselves,quite an amazing support Caley had that night with 4500-5000 travelling down the A9

Can also remember the bigger scottish cup defeats but not so clearly

1 The 0-6 defeat to Rangers at Telford St

2 The 6-0 defeat to Hearts at Tynecastle

3 The 3-0 defeat to St Mirren at Love St

Have to mention the Jags never thought i'd say this but i miss them now too,always loved the derbies with them at Kingsmills and Telford St,(When did they last win a league game at Telford st was it in the sixties??

How much abuse did fat jim calder take over the years?

Apart from the jags though always enjoyed the games against Ross County and Elgin city

Always good games that attracted good crowds

Unfortunately theres lots of bad memories too mainly though in the final season 1993/1994 which to be honest i'd rather not go into as i would be typing for hours

Very sad end to a great football club but the memories live on

Caledonian FC RIP

[PRS]

What I would give to be in the Howden End on a cold, wet February Wednesday night watching the likes of Rothes again...

Me too, mate, me too.

Edited October 27, 2007 by PRS

[PRS]

"Have to mention the Jags never thought i'd say this but i miss them now too,always loved the derbies with them at Kingsmills and Telford St,(When did they last win a league game at Telford st was it in the sixties?? "

Think you have to go back to 66-67 season for that, Jags winning 2-0. Do have vague memories of Jags winning a game around New Year time at Telford Street 4-2 in 72-73 season with Gordie Fyfe and Jim Buchan getting Caleys goals, but not sure if that was a league or a cup game

Edited October 27, 2007 by PRS

[Jimmy Shaker]

How much abuse did fat jim calder take over the years?

Has he always been this size then?

[RayBees]

"Have to mention the Jags never thought i'd say this but i miss them now too,always loved the derbies with them at Kingsmills and Telford St,(When did they last win a league game at Telford st was it in the sixties?? "

Think you have to go back to 66-67 season for that, Jags winning 2-0. Do have vague memories of Jags winning a game around New Year time at Telford Street 4-2 in 72-73 season with Gordie Fyfe and Jim Buchan getting Caleys goals, but not sure if that was a league or a cup game

Jesus PRS you've got an encyclopaedic memory there that Bob Crampsie would be proud of. I don't think i ever experienced a Jags league win at Caley Park but I'm sure you can tell us the story of Hitler lookalike and Caley enemy Fraser Taylor's "gesture" to the Howden End after scoring a rare derby goal??

Also, glad to see that, after being a away for a few days (i was having Caley nostalgia withdrawals after 1 day), we have another Caley fan aboard the thread. Good to have you with us Howdenender and i'm happy to see that the good word is spreading.

[RayBees]

Have to mention the Jags never thought i'd say this but i miss them now too,always loved the derbies with them at Kingsmills and Telford St,(When did they last win a league game at Telford st was it in the sixties??

How much abuse did fat jim calder take over the years?

I miss the J*ggies too. I never considered them too hateable and felt it was a fairly good natured local rivalry. I disliked County and Elgin a helluva lot more than Thistle. I miss going up to Kingsmills to visit the fools on the hill and also feel a slight twinge of sadness when i walk past where the ground used to be although not nearly as much as Telford Street. They had a proud history.

As for Jim Calder, I know his wife who is a lovely person but there was nothing better than having a go at fat Jim whenever Caley were shooting his way. A proper Caley enemy.

[PRS]

Has he always been this size then?

Fair to say, Mr Calder has always looked like a salad dodger. Although he was a reliable keeper in the HL, he was never really quoted amongst the best. Started life as a centre forward

[PRS]

Jesus PRS you've got an encyclopaedic memory there that Bob Crampsie would be proud of. I don't think i ever experienced a Jags league win at Caley Park but I'm sure you can tell us the story of Hitler lookalike and Caley enemy Fraser Taylor's "gesture" to the Howden End after scoring a rare derby goal??

Mr Ray Bees, you are far too young to have witnessed a jags victory in the league at Telford Street. In fact, season 66-67 was even before I watched Caley. Now as for Fraser Taylor scoring at the Howden End, nope don't remember it, must have been ears ago. Do remember Wad scoring at Telford Street when he played for jags, in December 1990, a cracker of an OG passed Calder as Caley strolled to a 4-0 win. As you have recently started re collecting LSM, try to get issue 4 as the goal is immortalised on the cover - a photo of Wad turning to Calder,just after the goal, with the caption " Look fatty, I'm sorry alright, but you just don't understand, once a Howden Ender, always a Howden Ender"

Classic stuff

Edited October 29, 2007 by PRS

[RayBees]

Mr Ray Bees, you are far too young to have witnessed a jags victory in the league at Telford Street. In fact, season 66-67 was even before I watched Caley. Now as for Fraser Taylor scoring at the Howden End, nope don't remember it, must have been ears ago. Do remember Wad scoring at Telford Street when he played for jags, in December 1990, a cracker of an OG passed Calder as Caley strolled to a 4-0 win. As you have recently started re collecting LSM, try to get issue 4 as the goal is immortalised on the cover - a photo of Wad turning to Calder,just after the goal, with the caption " Look fatty, I'm sorry alright, but you just don't understand, once a Howden Ender, always a Howden Ender"

Classic stuff

I remember that issue and i remember that game and goal as a matter of fact, despite my aforementioned young age. I'll take a look on Ebay now.

[RayBees]

Wow, 11 pages of the Caley Memorial Thread - great stuff.

Now for a new topic: Who was the greatest Caley manager?

In my time, and this will be true for Dirty Arab, Caledonian108, and Howdenender, there were only 3: Peter Corbett, John Docherty, and Sergei Baltacha.

Clearly, the worst of these was Baltacha who, although by all accounts a nice guy, his crap tactics and negative football played their part in the mediocre final season. I believe he was also poor coaching some other outfit...

Doc was a Caley legend but proved to be less popular with the fame hungry fans and i remember him getting some right abuse before he left. As for Corbett, all i can say is he came round to my house once with a birthday card signed by all the players, so he wins my vote, also he may have won a few trophies.

Edited October 30, 2007 by RayBees

[CALEDONIAN108]

Wow, 11 pages of the Caley Memorial Thread - great stuff.

Now for a new topic: Who was the greatest Caley manager?

In my time, and this will be true for Dirty Arab, Caledonian108, and Howdenender, there were only 3: Peter Corbett, John Docherty, and Sergei Baltacha.

Clearly, the worst of these was Baltacha who, although by all accounts a nice guy, his crap tactics and negative football played their part in the mediocre final season. I believe he was also poor coaching some other outfit...

Doc was a Caley legend but proved to be less popular with the fame hungry fans and i remember him getting some right abuse before he left. As for Corbett, all i can say is he came round to my house once with a birthday card signed by all the players, so he wins my vote, also he may have won a few trophies.

Corbett for me too,Doc certainly was a legend a real winner on the park as a player but unfortunately struggled as manager

To be fair to Sergei it was never going to be easy managing the side in the ill fated last season

The management,players (well some of them) and all the fans suffered greatly due to what was happening off the park and this certainly had a knock on effect

[PRS]

Corbett for me too,Doc certainly was a legend a real winner on the park as a player but unfortunately struggled as manager

To be fair to Sergei it was never going to be easy managing the side in the ill fated last season

The management,players (well some of them) and all the fans suffered greatly due to what was happening off the park and this certainly had a knock on effect

Okay, I'm a bit older and have more to choose from and whilst Peter Corbetts record is good, for me, the best manager has to be Alec Main, whom I think took Caley to 4 titles(76-77,77-78,82-83,83-84) over two spells in charge. In between these spells, Caley had Willie Hunter, a Hibs legend as manager and right mess he made. Alec Main returned and quickly reassembled a great Caley team. Doc was given a lot of money to spend at the beginning of 92-93 season, but did not use it wisely. Ally Jappy - anyone remember him? Well cost Caley £5K from Elgin and played about 15 games before diappearing. Jimmy Gilmour might have been a good player, but he had put pen to paper before the club found out that he could not drive, making him unavailable for midweek games. Someone did not do their homework.

Edited October 31, 2007 by PRS

[RayBees]

Okay, I'm a bit older and have more to choose from and whilst Peter Corbetts record is good, for me, the best manager has to be Alec Main, whom I think took Caley to 4 titles(76-77,77-78,82-83,83-84) over two spells in charge. In between these spells, Caley had Willie Hunter, a Hibs legend as manager and right mess he made. Alec Main returned and quickly reassembled a great Caley team. Doc was given a lot of money to spend at the beginning of 92-93 season, but did not use it wisely. Ally Jappy - anyone remember him? Well cost Caley £5K from Elgin and played about 15 games before diappearing. Jimmy Gilmour might have been a good player, but he had put pen to paper before the club found out that he could not drive, making him unavailable for midweek games. Someone did not do their homework.

I remember Ally Jappy! I thought he would do great things at Caley but it just didn't happen. Jimmy Gilmour was a good player, make no mistake. Not surprising to see gross incompetence from the b*stard committee though.

Edited October 31, 2007 by RayBees

[Loki]

Segei Baltacha was easily the best Caley manager of all time. He was also ICT's best manager also. A true County legend!

[Guest HowdenEnder]

Wow, 11 pages of the Caley Memorial Thread - great stuff.

Now for a new topic: Who was the greatest Caley manager?

In my time, and this will be true for Dirty Arab, Caledonian108, and Howdenender, there were only 3: Peter Corbett, John Docherty, and Sergei Baltacha.

Clearly, the worst of these was Baltacha who, although by all accounts a nice guy, his crap tactics and negative football played their part in the mediocre final season. I believe he was also poor coaching some other outfit...

Doc was a Caley legend but proved to be less popular with the fame hungry fans and i remember him getting some right abuse before he left. As for Corbett, all i can say is he came round to my house once with a birthday card signed by all the players, so he wins my vote, also he may have won a few trophies.

I was still in primary school in the early 80's but still remember Alec Main's great Caley teams. Peter Corbett had a good record until her left for, who was it Clach?

Doc was a good player but didn't cut it in managemet. I think that was the 'Fat John Skinny John' era though some of the other chants at that time were not so nice. The Jappy signing was either going to be brilliant or crap. Sadly it was the latter but coming from Elgin City didn't help matters I think. On a different not I met John Teasdale on a night out in Inverness about a year after the merger and you couldn't meet a nicer guy. All his comments about Caley and the Highland League in general were spot on. Honestly, I'm not making it up!

Baltacha came in at a time when things were starting to get messy. He had all the credentials but his negative football was never going to win over the Howden End.

Overall, Alec Main gets my vote for the fantastic teams he produced in the late 70's early 80's .

[Dirty Arab]

Have to agree with HowdenEnder Caley in the early eighties were a quality side.

Remember the Ally Jappy signing as well he was the folks insurance man, I remember leaving my Caley scarf out when he was at Elgin to noise him up and he took it all in good jest was an awful signing by Caley but to be fair there were a few at the time.

Spot on about John Teasdale was it Barbazza (Babarouskies) you spoke to him in ?

Remember Baltacha for his negative football as well particulary a game in Rothes one day where he was shouting at Kenny Taylor to stay back and defend at a corner ........we were about 4/5 up at the time and ended up winning 8 - 0 !!! Don't think he came to manage Caley in the Highland League either pretty sure he was here for the murder of Caley and the introduction of the plastic mob down the dump .

[RayBees]

Ok lads we can now change our team from Spammers Utd or Other to the mighty Caledonian FC!

[Jimmy Shaker]

Ok lads we can now change our team from Spammers Utd or Other to the mighty Caledonian FC!

Hmph! Lossie still exist and I don't have that privilege!

[RayBees]

Hmph! Lossie still exist and I don't have that privilege!

Send a message to Div and he'll get a Lossie team name set up. That's what i did.

[RayBees]

Have to agree with HowdenEnder Caley in the early eighties were a quality side.

Remember the Ally Jappy signing as well he was the folks insurance man, I remember leaving my Caley scarf out when he was at Elgin to noise him up and he took it all in good jest was an awful signing by Caley but to be fair there were a few at the time.

Spot on about John Teasdale was it Barbazza (Babarouskies) you spoke to him in ?

Remember Baltacha for his negative football as well particulary a game in Rothes one day where he was shouting at Kenny Taylor to stay back and defend at a corner ........we were about 4/5 up at the time and ended up winning 8 - 0 !!! Don't think he came to manage Caley in the Highland League either pretty sure he was here for the murder of Caley and the introduction of the plastic mob down the dump .

John Teasdale in Nice Guy Shocker - I'll believe it when i see it. Where is he now?

As for Baltacha, i agree with you that he was brought in for one thing and it wasn't to manage Caley in the Highland League.