Elton John has his day in Inverness, while Caley win away

By: Ian Rose | July 16th, 2007

The day has passed. The day that could have been such a joy for me. Since I blog about the UEFA Cup and love Inverness Caley Thistle with all my heart, think of the joy that it would have given me to see Caley participating in the Intertoto Cup, a possible route to UEFA Cup glory. But, thanks to one Elton John, it was not to be. Inverness was forced to withdraw their bid for Intertoto when they realized that their stadium was already booked - by Elton John. That’s what they all say. They all say Doh.

So, the rocket man had his show, and by all accounts, it was enjoyable and all, especially given that the sun came out for about the first time this very rainy month. I thought it was especially interesting that Elton apparently gave a little speech about Caley Thistle, about how well they’ve done to get to the SPL and stay there, and how proud they make the Highlands. Nice consolation prize. I’d still prefer the football.

However, there has been football from Caley, and good football at that. The team has won its first two friendlies, and perhaps more importantly, new striker Dean McDonald, the heir apparent to the departed Craig Dargo, scored in both games, giving us all great hopes for the former Gillingham man. There was a scary moment in the recent friendly against youth side Craiova from Romania, as one of the Romanian players tackled McDonald hard, resulting in a red card. Hilariously, the Romanians then snuck another player in to replace the red-carded one, a move that apparently went unnoticed by the ref. Sneaky. Regardless, amongst all the diving and fouling from the Romanians, who seemed unaware of this match’s complete lack of importance, Caley made it through to a 2-1 win. It seems that Charlie Christie is mostly interested in workouts rather than serious challenges on the team’s Italian preseason getaway, and we’ll see how that strategy works out when the level of competition rises a bit on August 4th, as we host Rangers.

And, just in case you were afraid I forgot to check YouTube, here’s some Tulloch Caledonian Stadium love, featuring dinner, dancing, and Mr. Elton John: