A little-known fact about Caley Thistle’s first week as a new club 30 years ago this week was their first competitive game was in the North Caledonian League.
Yes, the records show the ICT first-team kicked off life as a Scottish league club with a 2-0 Coca-Cola Cup win at East Stirling on Tuesday, August 9.
Richard Hastings scored Caley Thistle’s first competitive goal… against Bunillidh Thistle
However, following the merger of Inverness Highland League outfits Caledonian and Thistle, legendary Thistle defender Dave Milroy accepted the job of running Caley Thistle’s reserves, and he explained: “The first competitive Caley Thistle game would have been in the North Caley League against Bunillidh Thistle at Brora (on Saturday, August 6) – and Richard Hastings scored the first goal in a 7-1 win.
“I took a couple of experienced players with me to play for the second team that year, Kevin Sweeney and Martin Murphy, which was a help, because that side had a lot of young boys in the North Caley League.
“We won the North Caley League quite comfortably, as well as two or three cups on top of that, which was probably expected.
“We had younger boys at that time, such as Mark Holmes, Bruce McCraw and Davie Buchanan, while Richard Hastings played some games at the start of the season.”
Milroy resisted offer from County
Milroy, who played more than 900 matches for Thistle, reluctantly stopped playing as Caley Thistle moved into Scottish Division Three alongside Ross County in 1994 – although he had an offer to keep playing… in Dingwall.
He said: “I was offered the chance to join the Caley Thistle coaching team, initially with the first-team, but it worked I coached the reserves and the under-18s.
“I had been offered a short-term contract by Bobby Wilson at Ross County after Johnston Belshaw had broken his leg.
“But the Caley Thistle coaching job was already on the table.
“I was 38 at that time, so was at the end of my shelf life (in playing terms). That (Ross County playing stint) would have been going up a level from the Highland League to the Third Division, and I didn’t feel I would have been able to do myself justice.
“Longer term, the coaching job was a better option for me.”
Milroy on bench twice for Caley Thistle in Scottish leagues
Yet, Milroy did close to playing for Caley Thistle, but he got no further than the bench (twice) as a back-up.
He said: “I signed forms and I remember being on the bus for a cup game at Dundee, as well as for an Inverness Cup tie against Ross County in Dingwall – but I never got on, so I wasn’t happy.
“No, but both games were quite tight, so I could understand.
“I didn’t therefore get to play for Caley Thistle – even for two minutes at the end of a game.”
Milroy on mixed final year for Inverness Thistle
Milroy recalls the climate of both excitement and anger playing for Thistle in their final season with the merger on the horizon.
He added: “I would possibly have stopped a year earlier had I not known it was going to be Inverness Thistle’s last season, although I was not put in a position where I had to make that decision.
“That final season with Inverness Thistle was quite hard going, but having said that we knocked Caley out of the Qualifying Cup and won the Inverness Cup, so it wasn’t a write-off – although we finished well inside the bottom half of the Highland League (15th out of 18 clubs).
“It was a bit of a problem to get guys in to play for us with the way things were going, so we had to make do with what we had.
“The younger guys would have been worried what the future held for them. We didn’t really know until the last minute really who was being invited to join the new club.
“It was just Jim Calder and Steven MacDonald (from Thistle) who were offered playing contracts (at Caley Thistle).”
Forres Mechanics call led to Milroy moving on from Caley Thistle
His time coaching with the new club lasted until 1996 when a call came for him to manage back in the Highland League.
He said: “I spent just about two full seasons coaching at Caley Thistle.
“By that point, (first boss) Sergei (Baltacha) had moved on, and Pele (Steve Paterson) had come in.
“I ended up managing Forres Mechanics.
“George Cowie (the former Can-Cans boss) was emigrating, and he recommended me for the job.”
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