Strathspey Thistle chairman Donly McLeod confirms club have entered talks with North Caley League outfit Loch Ness about potential merger in the Highland League
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Highland League outfit Strathspey Thistle have confirmed that they are in talks over a potential merger with defending North Caledonian League champions Loch Ness.
The two clubs have appeared to be on quite different trajectories over recent years, with Strathspey Thistle finishing at the bottom of the Highland League table last season and on course to do the same this year – winning just three matches since the start of the 2022/23 campaign.
Loch Ness, meanwhile, played their first full campaign in the North Caley ranks in 2021/22, just missing out on the league title before going one better last year and lifting the trophy.
Founder, chairman and manager Shane Carling had previously spoken of his ambition to take Loch Ness into the Highland League eventually, but it seems he has seen an opportunity in Strathspey's struggles to expedite the process.
"We were approached by Loch Ness," Strathspey Thistle Donly McLeod explained.
"They came to us and put the idea of a merger between the two clubs to us.
"They can obviously see that we're really struggling in the Highland League – the team isn't good enough, it's as simple as that – so they were talking about a merger.
"We met with them on Monday night to discuss a lot of details. Our full management committee wasn't there, it was just three of us, so we have to go back and discuss everything Loch Ness have put to us with our management committee on Monday night and we'll see how things go.
"Hopefully we can some to some form of arrangement. What Loch Ness had to say was quite positive, and from our point of view it was quite positive as well.
"Nothing has been formalised just yet, but hopefully progress will be made and we'll see what we can come up with.
"Everything will be sussed out on Monday, and then we'll meet with Loch Ness again when we'll be able to put out a statement, but I'm not going to speculate."
While Strathspey Thistle's Highland League status for next season has not been mathematically confirmed, as things stand it appears unlikely they will have to contest a relegation play-off, with Golspie Sutherland out of North Caley title contention and Lochee United five points off the pace in the Midlands League even if they win their games in hand.
While McLeod was unwilling to speculate on what a potential merger could look like, he did confirm some vital details – like the team would not be moving from its Grantown base.
"The two clubs would be merging together under a new name," he added.
"It would bring their whole team in under the fold of the new club, with a new name.
"They're still going to play out here in Grantown. Everything will be here, and it will still be Strathspey Thistle's committee that is running the show, but it would be a new manager and coaches.
"It's all pie in the sky at the moment, because there's nothing conclusive. We're going through the processes to see if it could work, but it's certainly something we have to look at.
"We have to do something, otherwise there's no point in us being here.
"We need to sort the team out. There's nothing wrong with the club structure – that's sound, we have a good management committee – it's just unfortunate the way things have gone.
"It has been quite hard on our manager Rob MacCormack, and we've got the players to think about too.
"It's not the end of the world, we're not defeatist. I never quite – I played football for Nairn County and I was always a winner, so I'm not going to walk away, I'll tell you that much.
"We'll move on and look forward to the future, and hopefully it's better than what we have at the moment."
