Month: January 2023

AWAY MATCH v BRECHIN CITY FC
BREEDON HIGHLAND LEAGUE
GLEBE PARK, TRINITY ROAD, BRECHIN DD9 7BH
SATURDAY 28 JANUARY 2023 KO – 2pm

If you are making your way to Brechin for the match please be aware of a 2pm kick off.

Well …..lets hope we’re not singing the soul classic from Johnny Johnston & his Bandwagon on our long way back from Glebe Park this Saturday evening…

As is now,  Brechin are sitting second in the Breedon Highland League, only two points behind leaders Buckie Thistle and with two games in hand, which is more or less diametrically opposite to our position – eighteenth out of eighteen!

Early days yet though as we have still thirteen games to play.

Having missed last week’s match owing to snow and ice on the Wick Academy pitch, Thistle caretaker manager Brian Richie says in this week’s local paper “The Strathy” that the Jags can’t realistically expect to get too much out of Saturday’s match as Brechin are proving weekly they are an excellent team, especially at home, but as long as the Thistle boys give 100% and play for the jersey such as we did in our last game, the management team will be content with the progress we are hopefully beginning to make.

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CLUB LOTTERY

The jackpot has reached £3000 and if you wish to take part and buy a ticket online please click here and you will be taken to the webpage.

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That’s all this week sportsfans – back next week with the preview of our next home game on 4 February with the very much in-form Nairn County…

AWAY MATCH v WICK ACADEMY FC
BREEDON HIGHLAND LEAGUE
HARMSWORTH PARK, WICK, KW1 5NH
SATURDAY 21 JANUARY 2023 – KO 3pm

It wasn’t madness that some clever person invented the NC500.
On Saturday, The Jags will be on the team bus travelling the A9 – the part of the NC500 between Inverness and Wick This is one of the longer journeys we make – approx 135 miles and upwards of 3 hours – on a good day – and then do it all again for the way home – but Wick are doing this every other week…so no more moaning!

,Having put in a strong performance last week against Breedon Highland League leaders Buckie Thistle, the Scorries will be ready to face a rejuvenated Jags.
We also put in a decent performance last Saturday against Lossiemouth – losing 3-1 with Lossie scoring two in the last minutes – most spectators thought a draw would have been a far fairer result.
Wick Academy sit in twelfth position in the league – fourteen points ahead of us – so lets hope at five o’clock on Saturday its only eleven.

BAD WEATHER
As I write this there is about twenty cms of snow on Seafield Park and with all the bad weather going about if you are planning travelling to the game please check our social media pages – Facebook and Twitter for up to date information – and a safe journey!

LAST WEEK MOTM

Congratulations are due to the Cairngorm Gin MAN OF THE MATCH Award from last week’s encounter with Lossiemouth – Alan Kerr.
Alan, who joined last summer, has played all his matches as centre forward but the interim management team must have seen something in training last week as he took the field as centre HALF ! Watching him you would have thought he had played there all his life ……and I would imagine he will be at the back again this week….honourable mention was our stand-in keeper from Alness, Nat Valente who’s first job was to save a penalty in the first five minutes…and continued to have a really good game. As Mike McCallum is unavailable again this week, I would imagine Nat will be back between the sticks.

LOTTERY

As is usual in this part of the weekly JagsWeb production, we entice you to have a go in the weekly Club Lottery game – this week’s jackpot is £2900 and to play click here.

DATE FOR YOUR DIARY

Friday 17 February – 7.30pm Grant Arms Hotel…..Club historian Rob Clark will be giving a talk all about the history of football in Grantown.

HOME MATCH v LOSSIEMOUTH FC
BREEDON HIGHLAND LEAGUE
SEAFIELD PARK, GRANTOWN, PH26 3HF
SATURDAY 14 JANUARY 2023 – KO 3pm

Leaving the silver sands of Lossiemouth behind them, the town’s football team head towards Grantown’s Seafield Park on Saturday afternoon and a Breedon Highland League clash with the Jags – our second league meeting of the season  – please note it is a 3pm kick off this weekend. Both teams had very disappointing results last week and will be striving to get back to a winning game mentality. Lossie currently sit in 15th place in the league with sixteen points.

When interviewed by our local paper The Strathy, with regards to last weeks game against Forres Mechanics, Jags interim manager Brian Ritchie was not at all happy complaining bitterly about the attitude of the team after the break. It was a very disappointing second half performance after being very much in the game at half time – an attitude hopefully to be improved greatly this week.  Lossie won their home fixture in August against us – let’s hope we can match that and keep the three points at Seafield Park.

We usually welcome a good turnout of Lossiemouth supporters and if any of them want to find out more about Grantiown click here

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THE JAGS ARE LOOKING FOR A NEW MANAGER

As advertised in our Facebook and Twitter pages and as well as in some printed publications we are in the hunt for a new manager.
Applications for the position of Team Manager are now invited.
Any interested parties please contact :
strathspeythistlefc@highlandleague.com
and/or
Ian Anderson – ST Vice Chairman 
07876025538

CLUB SPONSORS

MKM – the UK’s largest independent builder’s merchants, and one of our major sponsors, are celebrating opening their 100th branch nationwide by “The 100 Good Deeds
Campaign” throughout the UK.
The Aviemore branch will be taking part and will be supporting the Aviemore British Legion’s local community involvement. – the full story is in this weeks Strathy –

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CLUB LOTTERY

As ever we finish with offering you a chance at winning £2800 in the Club Lottery which will be drawn on Sunday night – play here.

Thanks again sportsfans…see you next week

AWAY MATCH v FORRES MECHANICS FC
BREEDON HIGHLAND LEAGUE
MOSSET PARK, FORRES, IV36 1AU
SATURDAY 7 JANUARY 2023 – KO – 3pm

That’s the festive season over for another year and for the first time since the beginning of December we are ready to go. This Saturday our first match of 2023 is away to Forres Mechanics FC at Mosset Park in Forres, the town famous for its’ superb and winning summer flower displays.

The Can-Cans are going pretty well this season and currently sit in seventh place in the league with twenty seven points from twenty games – a tally which shows how tight and unpredictable it has been for the middle league teams this season – everyone seems to have upped their game and unfortunately we have been left behind a wee bit.

But hopefully a new year will bring us a change of fortunes – and will see us take some points after a blooming good and hard game!!

Over the past couple of weeks we have featured heavily on the back pages of our local newspaper The Strathspey and Badenoch Herald, and as we have not had a game since December 3, it has given our new interim management team some time to assess the playing squad. 
The management team of Brian Ritchie, Craig Ireland and Robbie Flett have used the enforced break well and have been hard at work preparing the squad starting with this weekend’s match,  with sessions on Nairn beach and at Ross County,  and also using Aviemore’s Dalfaber indoor facilities. 
Much to the delight of everyone at the Club we have secured the services of Ross Logan from Clach on a permanent deal – Ross was with us for a couple of months last season on a loan and we were very sorry to see him go – and Ross will be joined by midfielders Seamus McConaghy and Rory Williamson who have signed until the end of the season on loan from Nairn County. Also joining us is local lad Cairn Giles who has impressed the management team with his work in the Community team….
There was however a setback in preparations when Elgin City FC recalled their very promising youngster Aiden Cruickshank – Aiden who scored three goals in his spell with us is a fine prospect and we wish him all the best for the future.  

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CLUB LOTTERY

It’s all back to normal this weekend with the draw as usual on Sunday night – last play online is 6pm – and if you want to play here and have the chance of winning this weeks’ jackpot of £2700 – please play here.

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Thanks very much for supporting the Club and all the best for 2023.

3^rd   Another low point in an already disappointing season with a 7-0 thrashing from Rothes.  A familiar start of being two goals down in the opening ten minutes said it all and there has to be some serious soul searching amongst everyone connected with the club, including the players, as to our future in the SHFL.

8^th   It was confirmed that our home game with Lossiemouth on January 14^th would kick off at 3pm.
During the afternoon the club announced that our team manager, Charlie Brown, had stepped down with immediate effect. Charlie admitted in the Press and Journal that after some of their defeats this season he has barely been able to speak to his family with his mind occupied by problems on the pitch. ‘It puts a toll on your personal life’ he said.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for the help he has given to me over the last season and a half, and wish him all the best.

9^thOur first snowfall of the season and minus overnight temperatures has resulted in tomorrow’s home game with Buckie Thistle being postponed.
Until the club finds new management, Brian Ritchie, Craig Ireland and Robbie Flett will take charge of the first team. We wish them well.

15^thA good article in The Strathspey and Badenoch Herald sets out what Brian Ritchie expects from players with regard to attendance at training. This week has seen very cold temperatures and snow with no sign at the moment of any thaw coming. Our visit on Saturday to reigning Champions Fraserburgh is currently on.

16^thFraserburgh have confirmed a pitch inspection for 8am on Saturday. The club have confirmed the signing of midfielder David Ross, who has previously played for ‘The Jags’, until the end of the season.

17^thFraserburgh had monitored their pitch and in the afternoon informed us that tomorrow’s game was off as certain parts of the pitch remained unplayable. Fraserburgh had planned to stream the game live, cost £8. Maybe the way forward?

20^thThe club have decided to advertise for a new team manager.

22^nd Santa has decided to visit us early with the permanent signing from Clachnacuddin, on a two and half year deal, of Ross Logan, an exciting signing. 

26^thBoxing Day snow and frost means a pitch inspection at Rothes at 09.30 tomorrow.

27^thAnother disappointing postponement as pitch frozen. We now have three games to be re-arranged, Buckie (h) and Fraserburgh and Rothes (a).

29^th The club has agreed with Nairn County to take on loan, until the end of the season, 18 year old defender Rory Williamson and midfielder Seamus McConaghy, 22.

31^st   We come to the close of a very eventful year for ‘The Jags’ with all to play for to the end of the season. It is also the end of the second year publishing this newsletter which I hope you have enjoyed. Any feedback would be appreciated. Happy New Year to all.