GALA Fairydean are considering going to court in a new twist in the
row over Caledonian Thistle's elevation to the Scottish League.
With the wrangle over the transfer of assets from Inverness Caley and
Inverness Thistle to the new club still rumbling on, the Borders club
feel the goalposts have been moved since the votes were taken on the
original applications to join the league.
Gala missed out on one of the two places for the new third division,
with Ross County and Caledonian Thistle winning the slots.
It is now understood Gala are looking at taking out an interim
interdict which could prevent Caledonian Thistle playing next week's
Coca Cola Cup match against East Stirling.
The club has written to the Scottish League claiming that Caledonian
Thistle's original application to join the league is now void because
they have been unable, as yet, to fulfil the full criteria for
membership.
Gala feel it is an ''injustice'' to long-established clubs such as
themselves and Elgin City who failed to gain entry to the league.
Mr Matt Hall, the chairman of Gala, said: ''The package put forward by
Caledonian Thistle at the vote for new clubs to be admitted into the
league has not been fulfilled. Clubs voted on it in good faith but now
it is clear that it has not been put in place.
''The Inverness consortium's application was based on the formation of
an amalgamated club but they have still not achieved this status.
''We now hear there is a meeting to decide on assets being transferred
to the new club on August 11. But that is two days after their opening
match in the Coca Cola Cup.''
Gala have told the Scottish League that they have sought legal advice
on the matter and proceedings may be implemented if the current position
is not rectified before Caledonian's match with East Stirling.
Reacting to the legal threat, Mr Scott Byrnes, a Caledonian Thistle
director, said last night he was disappointed to hear that Gala were
''adopting such desperate tactics''.
He added: ''They obviously do not understand that Caledonian Thistle
Football Club are already up and running. The team played their first
game against St Mirren last Saturday.
''The new club are on schedule to meet all of the conditions set by
the Scottish League. On Monday July 25, Inverness District Council
agreed to make available land immediately adjacent to the Kessock Bridge
to permit the construction of a football stadium. Plans are being
prepared and the club will be applying for planning permission very
shortly.''
Another club director, Mr Doug MacGillivray, said: ''I do not
understand what Gala are up to.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article