Latest news with #Dingwall
BBC News
a day ago
- Business
- BBC News
Ross County relegated: How will it affect life in Dingwall?
Highland club Ross County's battle for survival in the Scottish Premiership fizzled out with a 4-2 defeat to Livingston on Monday has left the Staggies - and its home town of Dingwall - facing a potentially challenging season in the Championship, both on and off the and pubs have enjoyed a boost to takings from hosting large crowds of visiting fans from teams like Celtic, Rangers and Aberdeen. Will a move into the lower leagues have an impact beyond football? Raffael Santos owns The Mallard - a pub on Dingwall Station's platform and a few minutes walk from the stadium. It is regularly packed out on home match days, with about 35-40% of business coming from visiting fans. But like many Ross County fans, he is hopeful their spell in the Championship is short-lived. "A lot of the town's businesses survive from big games like Rangers, Celtic and Aberdeen," Mr Santos said. "We'll need to work hard to make the business keep going, but hopefully next year they are back into the Scottish premier league." Big games were also profitable for The Legion chairman Mike Murray said: "We got coaches of supporters booked in - like Hearts, Aberdeen and Hibs. They'd tend to phone two-three weeks before a game. "We could have 150 to 200 supporters through in the function room, and a good Saturday was a boost to the club." Leia Stephen, co-owner of the National Hotel, is experiencing the effects of relegation for the first time. County was last relegated in Stephen said home games have been helpful to the business during quieter winter tourist seasons."Football fans usually just stay one night but sometimes make a weekend out of it," she added."Our bar and restaurant host away and home supporters." The Championship is a highly competitive league, but experts say it will not match the financial benefits of playing in the big league brought to a small Maguire, a University of Liverpool football finance lecturer, said County will miss the revenue near-capacity attendances that visits by bigger clubs said the Staggies could lose at least £500,000 because of lower gate receipts, having fewer televised games and less prize with an already tight wage bill, he warned there is "not a lot of fat to cut" to help make savings. But councillor Graham MacKenzie said one of County's strengths was that it was deeply rooted in the he worked as a teacher he was impressed by how many young people chose the Staggies over a bigger club."It's come as a bit of a blow to everyone," Mr MacKenzie said of relegation."It's not so many months ago we had high high hopes we could finish in the top six."But he believes both town - home to about 5,500 people - and club have the resilience to cope with the coming season. Bruce Ritchie, one of many Staggies fans in Dingwall pondering the future outside the Premiership, said football was important to the town. "I'm really proud of the fact that we've been in the top division for so many years. "It's going to be a big miss."Other Staggies fans might be hurting, but they are far from sore losers. "I just felt Ross County weren't good enough, I'm afraid," conceded fan Panja Bethune."It's a shame that they've been relegated. "Livingston were the better team on the day."George Meiklejohn agreed his club were beaten by a good, strong added: "But they've bounced back once before and I'm sure they will again." Another fan, County Kebab takeaway manager Alex Toward, says regardless of where the club is in the leagues it should be proud."This area is not big and not very well-known - yes, everyone knows of Scotland and the Highlands - but not many think of Dingwall specifically," he says."I think the fact they (Ross County) are trying so hard to make a name for themselves and have come so far, they should be impressed and proud of their achievements."
Press and Journal
3 days ago
- Sport
- Press and Journal
Ross County: Scott Allardice and James Brown to leave Staggies
Ross County have begun the process of preparing their squad for Championship football next season – with Scott Allardice and James Brown to leave the Staggies. County suffered relegation from the Premiership on Monday, following a 5-3 aggregate play-off final defeat to Livingston. County ended the campaign with a dismal run of 11 matches without a victory, with their last triumph coming at home to Kilmarnock on March 1. Manager Don Cowie indicated following relegation that he believes he remains the man to lead the Staggies' push to return to the top flight. A number of discussions are ongoing this week to pore over what went wrong for the Dingwall outfit this season, but also with a view towards setting foundations for next season. Two players who will not be part of the plans next season are midfielder Allardice and defender Brown, who have spent the last two seasons with the Staggies. Allardice joined County in 2023 following a three-year spell with Highland rivals Caley Thistle, however injuries have limited his impact to 39 appearances during that time. Allardice said: 'Whilst it was the worst possible ending, I would like to say a big thank you to everyone at the football club from the fans through to the staff off the field. 'Whilst it has not gone the way I would have wanted over the last two years, I have always tried to have a good impact on and off the park. 'I hope the club gets back up at the first time of asking.' Irishman Brown was also brought to the club by Malky Mackay two years ago, after leaving Blackburn Rovers, and has gone on to feature 73 times for the Dingwall outfit. Brown said: 'I would just like to say thanks for everything the club and staff have done for me over the past two years. 'It is a shame how things finished with the relegation but I have no doubt the club will bounce back. I wish everyone nothing but the best going forward.' Seven players who were on loan at Victoria Park have now moved on, with Zac Ashworth, Jonathan Tomkinson, Nohan Kenneh, Will Nightingale, Jack Grieves, Eli Campbell and Kacper Lopata returning to their parent clubs. Along with that, defender Connall Ewan has joined Elgin City on a two-year deal, having previously had a spell on loan at Borough Briggs. In the meantime, we look at the remaining six remaining players who are not under contract ahead of the new campaign. Signed from Wycombe Wanderers in 2021 64 appearances Signed from Salford City in 2023 58 appearances Academy product 13 appearances Signed from Airdrie in 2024 11 appearances Academy product 6 appearances Academy product Yet to make debut
BBC News
3 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Brown and Allardice exit County after 'worst possible ending'
James Brown and Scott Allardice have left Ross County following the end of their contracts with the club relegated from the Scottish joined the Dingwall club in summer 2023, 26-year-old defender Brown after leaving Doncaster Rovers and 27-year-old midfielder Allardice from Inverness Caledonian Brown made 33 appearances, 23 of them starts, this season while Allardice made only seven starts and 13 off the said thank you to County on the club said: "It is a shame how things finished with the relegation, but I have no doubt the club will bounce back."Allardice described it as "the worst possible ending" and added: "Whilst it has not gone the way I would have wanted over the last two years, I have always tried to have a good impact on and off the park. "I hope the club gets back up at the first time of asking."Seven players who were on loan with County have also returned to their clubs - centre-backs Will Nightingale (Wimbledon), Elijah Campbell (Everton), Kacper Lopata (Barnsley) and Jonathan Tomkinson (Norwich City), left-back Zac Ashworth (Blackpool), midfielder Nohan Kenneh (Hibernian) and forward Jack Grieves (Watford).Meanwhile, 20-year-old defender Connall Ewan has joined League 2 club Elgin City on a two-year contract having ended the season on loan to Caley Thistle.
BBC News
4 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Dingwall St Clement's School move consultation seeks approval
Councillors have been asked to approve the start of public consultation on plans to relocate Dingwall's special school, St Clement's, to a new have been campaigning for a replacement to the 100-year-old building for more than 20 school has about 50 pupils and some of them have multiple disorders affecting their speech, hearing or sight as well as physical agreed in March that St Clement's should share a site with a planned new Dingwall Primary, rather than push ahead with a previously planned stand alone school. Highland Council's education committee will be asked next week to approve the consultation process.A new St Clement's forms part of the local authority's Highland Investment Plan.
BBC News
4 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
County 'fell short' and will suffer 'financial hit'
Chief executive Steven Ferguson admits Ross County "fell short" this season and concedes the Highland club will take a "financial hit" as a finished the season with a dismal run of 11 matches without a win, culminating in a dramatic play-off decider where a rampant Livingston side came back to win 5-3 on aggregate and snatch the final Premiership slot from their is a result which ends the Dingwall side's six-year stay in Scotland's top flight."There's no excuses from anybody at Ross County – we fell short," said Ferguson."But it's a collective we. It doesn't just fall on the manager, it doesn't just fall on the players, we need to look at the whole club and everybody that's involved and we need to take responsibility for it and we will do that." Ferguson insists "it's very early" when asked about manager Don Cowie's future, but that he "is in all the discussions we're having just now"."First and foremost we'll need to look at the playing squad and guys that are out of contract will need to be spoken to so they know exactly where they stand," he March, County were one of several contenders vying for a final top-six berth, a battle that quickly turned into a slide towards the Championship."We have underachieved this season and that's not something that happens too often," Ferguson said. "In my time at Ross County we've always managed to get to where we want to be."We'll look at it, honestly appraise it, see how we can pick the bones out of it and move forward." 'There needs to be smart investment' As jubilant Livingston supporters engulfed the Dingwall pitch, there was no hiding the sorrow on the faces of their dejected hosts. The hurt was visible on local boy Cowie's face as he watched the elated visitors celebrate on their turf, a pain according to Ferguson that will be felt throughout the club and wider community."We aren't a big staff up here," he said. "Everybody feels it and it has a ripple effect."What we need to realise as well is that it's not just on the pitch."To not have any representation for this area has a real knock-on effect for everybody, not just the supporters, but the local business and the revenue that comes into the Highlands because of Premiership football."And like most clubs who suffer demotion, Ferguson said County will pay the price, although he hinted chairman Roy MacGregor will provide funds in an attempt to bounce straight back up."There will be a financial hit, you can't hide the financial hit from dropping out of the Premiership," he said, explaining they will look to minimise the "pain regarding people's livelihoods"."To be successful in the Championship there needs to be investment. You also need to be really smart about how you go about your business as it's an extremely difficult league with clubs that deserve a lot of respect, big fan bases and city clubs in there as well."Ferguson has been here before, of course. He was part of the management duo that achieved that very task in 2019, when he and Stuart Kettlewell navigated County back to the Premiership in one season. Something they are obviously hoping to replicate again."That goes without saying," he said. "The clubs in the Championship are big clubs and they are clubs with ambition and we'll need to match and better that if we want to be successful. That's something we'll need to work out how we do."At the moment it's obviously really raw, Monday's result, and we'll need to let the dust settle. "We need to be really honest about what happened this season and we need to find a solution and find how we can do it better." 'No less than abysmal County deserved' - fan reaction to relegation Stephen: Got what we deserved and saw it coming weeks Abysmal form, overreliance on loan players. Aside from Josh Nisbet, Ronan Hale and Jordan White there was a lack of fight across the team in our most important game of the season. We deserved to be relegated unfortunately. Sadly we'll need to cash in on Hale as well. If Don Cowie goes, hard to see who would want the No less than we deserve. Our defence is shocking. It's the fact we were 2-0 up which makes it painful. It's a loss for Highland football in Being 2-0 up before half an hour, then losing 4-2 at home tells you all you need to know about County. We've been circling the drain for months. Dozens of 'must-win' games prior to this loss. Nothing more than we Hope County do not follow in footsteps of ICT. Looks like they will have to improve drastically to bounce back up but a harder league to do that. Don Cowie is just too nice, they need a manager who says what it For the best part of three months, we have been rancid. Three relegation play-offs in a row suggests there's something broken in the football side of things. This has to be the worst one yet, given we were in the hunt for the top six until the final game before the split. Hale aside, we have been so, so poor from back to front and it's finally caught up with I thoroughly disagree with Don Cowie. He most definitely is not the right man for the job. I do not have any belief in him as manager at all and it appears neither do the players. He must surely be sacked now after this. He should have gone weeks ago. There is no place for schoolboy kick and rush football at this level. Livingston, well done. You thoroughly deserve to be promoted. County could not lay a glove on you.
