Brought down by £270,000 of debts, the club had collapsed into administration and there were no white knights on the horizon waiting to rescue it from oblivion.

But administrator Gordon MacClure of Johnston Carmichael managed to steady the ship and fund raising by fans helped ensure the side completed its fixtures. Last week creditors - who include the Inverness Common Good Fund - agreed to accept 37p for every pound owed and once the social club is sold to the Highland Bangladeshi Association Clach will be able to make a fresh start, debt free and with a £15,000 a year sponsorship deal agreed with engineering group Orion.

Today new chairman Brian Urquhart, an Orion director, spells out his vision for the future. First and foremost he promises to pay the bills, with income largely derived from selling advertising space and hospitality packages to local firms.

He also plans to build on club's enviable youth set up to make Clach a community club for the whole of Inverness, a move which will be helped by the decision to give fans a 75 per cent shareholding through the Inverness Clachnacuddin Football Trust. At the same time, Mr Urquhart hopes to give the club a global profile by promoting it through Orion's 32 offices worldwide.

Clearly there are major hurdles to overcome, the largest of which is the quality of the product Clach is trying to sell. The Highland League has lost much of its gloss and relevance in Inverness since the days when several city teams were vying to be top dog, and attracting crowds will continue to be a problem.

This could be helped if officials from the different leagues co-operated to ensure that Clach and Caley Thistle home fixtures did not clash, but that seems beyond them.

Competition for the football pound is another factor. Caley Thistle's return to the SPL with a high profile manager makes it more likely to pull in the casual supporter and increases its marketing punch. Meanwhile Inverness City is going from strength to strength despite its problems finding a home ground and is about to launch a youth team.

Nevertheless, a new season brings new hope and Mr Urquhart's plans appear both bold and realistic. It will not be easy, but we wish the Lilywhites all the best, on and off the pitch.

Realism reigns

THE stark choices facing Highland councillors yesterday illustrated the difficult decisions our politicians are going to be grappling with for some time to come.

Should they spend money building five new care homes for the elderly and fulfil a pre-election promise, or commit the cash to a host of other schemes, including £36 million to replace or refurbish Inverness Royal Academy?

Despite intense lobbying, they chose the latter. Whether they were correct depends on your viewpoint, but we believe they were. Budgets are simply too tight now for the local authority to put all its eggs in one basket.

The size of the majority in favour revealed the new sense of realism at Glenurquhart Road. As recently as a month ago it seemed the Lib Dem/Labour/Independent coalition might tear itself apart over this issue but in the event only one coalition member - Independent councillor John Holden - voted against the motion.

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