"I don't see why we can't go further" – Loch Ness manager Shane Carling eyeing future tilt at Highland League after lifting first North Caledonian title
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Saturday was a landmark moment for Loch Ness as they got their hands on the North Caledonian League trophy for the first time.
The match itself against Alness United was academic – Loch Ness had already secured the title seven days earlier with a 5-0 win over Fort William.
It has been a remarkably quick rise for the new champions, who only stepped up to the sixth tier of the Scottish football pyramid from the amateur ranks a couple of years ago.
Really, because of the pandemic's effects on organised football, this is only their second proper campaign in the North Caley ranks, and they can already call themselves.
For now, that is the highest crown that can be won. As Loch Ness are not fully licensed with the Scottish FA, they are ineligible for promotion to the Highland League.
However, manager Shane Carling – who has been at the club since day one and masterminded both their rise into the NCL and their title triumph – has not ruled out a push to break into higher tiers in the future.
In fact, with Loch Ness having led the way for most of the North Caledonian League season, some groundwork has already been laid to help make a push for the Highland League a reality in years to come.
"We've done quite a lot over the last four or five months to see if we can get a ground-share with someone," Carling revealed.
"If it's Caley, if it's the rugby club – these are the places you need to go to become a licensed club and meet all the criteria to get into the Highland League.
"If we had the opportunity to go into the Highland League this year, we would have taken it, 100 per cent.
"We've had meetings with the council to try and get a park or a bit of land that we can build on, so that's still ongoing. What the outcome of that will be, I have no idea.
"If the rugby club or Caley turn around and say that we can ground share with them, we would have taken that in a heartbeat and we would have gone into the play-off to try and get into the Highland League.
"If we're going to go into the North Caley, I don't see why we can't go further. Unfortunately we can't do anything about it right now, but it's definitely something we'd be interested in for the future."
Always looking forward
Carling has never been shy of having big ambitions for Loch Ness.
Even long before taking their current step into the North Caley fold, he had been eyeing up potential glory in the division.
Already a well-established club in the Inverness and district amateur football leagues, it seems with the benefit of hindsight that the question was never if Loch Ness could be successful in the NCL, merely just when.
"I've been involved with this club since I was 17, and this is the 23rd year we've been together, so to spend all that time in the amateur leagues and do this is great," he enthused.
"I was having conversations with people after the game we won the title, and they still remember me saying 10 years ago that I wanted to take Loch Ness into the North Caley and win the league.
"We've done it. All the hard work that has gone in, and not just from me – the committee members, the players, my wife with all the work she does, it's an every day thing.
"I line the parks, I cut the grass. I'm there at 9am setting the pitch up, and doing all that you sometimes think 'here we go again', but it's worth it.
"Every single day, there's always something. It could be paying for buses, organising trips, getting the players organised for training, it's every day.
"You're on the phone every day about it, having discussions with coaches and assistant managers, trying to pick a team. It doesn't end, there's always something.
"To come away as North Caley champions makes every second, minute and hour into this club worth it.
"Not many teams can win the North Caley in their second year in the league. When the final whistle went and confirmed us as champions, we were all jumping about and celebrating – as you do when you win a league."
Next steps
While it will take time to get the infrastructure in place to push for the Highland League, Loch Ness will have more immediate challenges to take care of.
The 2022/23 season saw a marked improvement on the year before, when Loch Ness were again challenging for silverware but ultimately fell just short to Invergordon.
As well as bidding to retain their newly-won title next season, then, they can also look forward to a first ever run out in the Scottish Cup by virtue of their status as champions.
"It's mind-blowing, the fact that we're a club who were only amateurs a few years ago, and now we're going to be playing in the Scottish Cup, I don't know how to put that into words," Carling added.
"It's brilliant, the boys are absolutely buzzing for it and it's a massive achievement.
"Last year I said if we could finish in the top three, I would be over the moon. To go 90 per cent of the season at the top of the league, coming close to winning the league and finishing second, the ambition this year was to do better than we did last year.
"We wanted to get to a cup final. We got to two semi finals, and unfortunately that's football – you can't win every game.
"Winning the league has obviously made up for not getting to a cup final, but even if we finished second this year I had said to the boys that it would still have been a great season.
"Look at the points Invergordon and Loch Ness have this season – it's almost 20 points more than we had last year.
"I know there's an extra team in the league, but to get as many points as that on the board it's a big step up in level from what we did last season. You can see how much we've improved, so I'm buzzing.
"Next season, nothing changes with the club. In terms of coaching, management and everything, we'll keep doing what we're doing.
"Hopefully we'll be able to take in even more experienced players to make our team better again. We'll lose players, but that happens every year.
"We're looking to keep 90 per cent of the boys we've got now together, add a few more in, and there's only one target – to win that league again.
"To do better than we've done this season, we're looking at winning the league and getting to a cup final. It's going to be difficult, and we don't know what can happen between now and the league starting up again in August, so we'll just keep working hard.
"A lot of the boys are sticking together to play in the amateur leagues. Hopefully they will keep playing well, but whatever happens happens – I'm not that fussed, it's just about keeping the boys ticking over. We'll make sure we're ready for next year, definitely."
