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.
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