SCOTTISH football made the correct decisions yesterday when two

Highland League clubs, Caledonian Thistle and Ross County, were voted

into the professional fold, which will now be increased to number 40,

allowing the new set-up of four divisions of 10 teams each to be

implemented at the start of next season.

Surprisingly, the newcomers were admitted after only one ballot at the

special general meeting of the Scottish League in Glasgow.

The club which emerged from the amalgamation of Inverness Thistle and

Inverness Caledonian secured 68 votes, and Ross County took the other

place with 57. The minimum number of votes required to win league status

was 44 of the 86 votes cast for each vacancy, but there were a few

surprised people around when the result of the ballot was announced.

No-one expected the Inverness club to fail, but it had been thought

Gala Fairydean, from the Borders, would have pushed Ross County hard for

the other place. Yet, Gala polled only 35 votes with Elgin City, another

Highland League side, fourth with 10 votes and Gretna last of the five

applicants with two votes.

Immediately after the announcement Matt Hall, chairman of Gala, whose

presentation for admission to the league was regarded by most members as

the slickest and best, was deflated. He appeared bemused by the numbers

and could not understand what had gone wrong.

''I had spoken to clubs and the indications were that we would be

close with Ross County,'' he said. ''We put a bloody lot into this in

terms of work and finance and I just can't see what we did wrong.''

If he did do anything wrong it was to listen to the whispers of

support. Scottish football is full of people who say one thing and do

another, and promises delivered down phone lines or through

intermediaries often are forgotten.

''But I just can't see what could have gone against us,'' Hall

continued, although the word in the corridors of the meeting place had

it that Hearts and Hibernian, who as premier division clubs had four

votes each, may have gone against Gala. It was being said that Hearts

were wary because they have fan clubs in the Borders, while Hibs may be

looking in that direction for sponsorship deals.

Since it was a secret ballot there is no way of knowing how clubs used

their votes, but if the Edinburgh sides did go against Gala for these

reasons, it would be a sad reflection. Surely things cannot be so bad at

Tynecastle and Easter Road that the people there were running scared of

Gala Fairydean?

''You know, I really am shattered with this announcement,'' Hall

added. ''The team will be, too. We had all hoped to be going to Alloa on

Saturday for the Scottish Cup tie as a new Scottish League team.''

Gala's depression is understandable, but common sense has prevailed.

The Highland League clubs are better teams and have a greater potential

for attracting crowds. They have been deserving of league status for

years while Gala are in rugby country and would have to compete against

that sport as well as public apathy which has become a problem for

football.

Only a couple of weeks ago 2500 turned up to watch Inverness

Caledonian and Ross County in a league match, and interest in the

northern areas will be stimulated further by what happened yesterday.

However, the danger now is that the Highland League could suffer with

the loss of three of its best teams, Inverness Caledonian and Thistle

and Ross County. Elgin would be entitled to believe they will dominate

the league in the future, but that might not be healthy and interest in

other Highland clubs could diminish.

If public interest falls so, too, will sponsorship and that would

destroy a good and competitive league, not that the winners of

yesterday's election will be too concerned. All of their attention will

be focused on preparing for the start of next season and improving their

grounds.

Caledonian Thistle intend moving into a new stadium next year, while

Ross County are already committed to upgrading Victoria Park, Dingwall,

and when work has been completed, their capacity will have fallen from

9000 to 6000, which will be more than adequate. Their average home

league attendance is 800, but they expect a substantial increase when

they start playing in the big league.

They and the Inverness club also expect to make strides in the

Scottish League and former Inverness Thistle chairman John McDonald, who

is chairman of the new club, said: ''A lot of work has to be done, but

we intend to do our best and we have all seen that clubs from smaller

towns than Inverness have been in the premier division.''

The amalgamated club have 35 to 40 players and say they will honour

the contracts of all, but ways of off-loading will have to be looked at.

''We can't use all of these players,'' said McDonald.

Ross County, whose 4-0 win against Forfar in a Scottish Cup,

second-round tie on Saturday was timely, were represented in Glasgow by

chairman Hector MacLennan and manager Bobby Wilson.

''We intend to go as far as we can,'' said MacLennan.