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"Hope Richie Foran stays" you are having a joke surely. Have you not been to a game this season, read a newspaper or have access to a TV or radio. We have the worst record in top league football in Scotland & England. With his football tactics, signings, and playing the wrong player in the wrong positions constantly, team selections, freezing players out (Alex Fisher) & instead playing his own signing in Henri Anier( who has been bloody awful ), his cringe worthy after game interviews where he constantly blames his players apparently in the latest he states "Maybe I should have signed a couple of warriors, a couple of REAL MEN". If Richie was a REAL MAN he would have left at Christmas!. Instead dragging the club down to the point of relegation, job losses etc etc. End of rant. We have seen what Richie can do & please can he resign now please!

Sad thing is County have also had an absolutely dreadful season and their fans have also being shouting for their manager duo to be sacked up until the last few weeks To get humped so badly in a derby with no fight no passion and no bad tackles tell me our players have already given up the ghost and knew relegation was already on the horizon Draper and McKay should have been the first two names on the starting line up, the dressing room is obviously in turmoil Also the so called young team, how many times do they need to be told to not let off smoke bombs? Whoever the moron was that threw one on when we were about to take the corner should be banned from ICT games for life let's be honest they have become an absolute embarrassment to this club the fact that some defend them because they create an atmosphere no longer cuts it with me If we do indeed go down let's hope they go and follow either sides of the old firm where their antics will be more welcome Dougal

On Holiday at the moment and didn't see the game... scoreline was an absolute shocker. That win against the Rangers seems such a long time ago! As I said last season when Yogi was moaning about transfer budgets and fans were moaning about 'tiki taka' possession football and looking for him to go over the David Raven non-contract, that we might rue his departure. To be fair to the board they are pretty much running the club on a shoestring....that 3rd place and Cup win was definitely punching well above our weight. I think they probably engineered Hughes out of the club as they couldn't afford his ambition. There's not a shadow of a doubt we're down and I'm sorry to say that RF has made quite a mess of things (was there much doubt about that in reality?). We won't return with him at the helm. Next season Falkirk, St Mirren, Dundee United and Livingston will contest the Championship and unless we sort the management out we will be contesting the bottom places. That said I have highlighted several away grounds that I hope to get to!

The sad and frustrating thing is that many of us saw this coming and have been calling for him to be replaced for months. Here are a couple of quotes of my own taken from posts on 28 January and 1 February ...... 1 "He doesn't look the part, sound the part, or act the part of someone who knows what they are doing. I fear the worst, and can only hope that I am wrong." 2 "Give another management team the chance to rebuild , get the squad sorted out, and get them playing with some passion. I fear saving us from the drop would now need a miracle, and the new management primary role should be aimed at preparing us for Championship football." If we humble fans could see the problem back then, or even before then, I find it beyond belief that those running the club could choose to ignore the issue until it is too late to save us. Are they just naive, pig-headed or incompetent? Whatever the answer, we fans deserve better.

Oh and that silly beard he persisted with just plain embarrassing. Should have sacked for that alone!!!

What was wrong with the way Mo left? He came in as assistant to Butcher. When Butcher was under contract and sitting in the stand beside the Hibs chairman, Mo was in the Inverness dugout doing his best to get a win against Hibs. He then left without any fuss to the same position at Hibs. I see nothing wrong with that. I'd have no problem with Charlie as manager as I thought he did pretty well first time around. However, I'd be even happier with him as Director of Football charged with complete control over the restructuring of the club. I wouldn't like to see him back but I certainly wouldn't say Butcher failed at Motherwell. A dodgy start but soon on to winning ways. I also think he did pretty well at Coventry - a club selling all its' best players, signing almost no-one but still being kept in the (then) First Division. He was sacked as another cost-cutting measure as they could get rid of both a player and a manager salary in one stroke. If it had been Xmas, I would have suggested someone like Jim Duffy but there's no way he would come now. I'd still go for Paul Hartley, who was terrific for most of his time at Dundee. Yep, it ended badly but so has Arsene Wenger. You've got to realise ICT's limits and what a manager could bring, even if he's not not perfect. But then, when you consider the appointments... Butcher: fans not happy Hughes: fans not happy Foran: fans happy Not absolutely sure we should be allowed to choose

The club does not have an overdraft so there is no pressure coming from the bank. I am sure there will be a sizeable loss this season which will cause the Board some problems but I don't think we are any way near going into adiministration.

Again as I said on another thread, you're meant to go forward in life. Have Charlie Christie at the club, but let's have someone new in the hotseat.

Apart from carrying the worries of his home town club I always felt Charlie suffered from the stress of the public scrutiny while we were bottom of the SPL (as was). I'm sure he'd do a more than decent job in the Championship.

Players mentality - once RF lost the dressing room (if he ever had it) the players just don't or can't play for him due to his tactical and management naivety. However they also wont want to be embarrassed by the likes of Celtic, Rangers or even Aberdeen so against the odds step it up - perhaps this lures RF into a false sense where he thinks this can happen every time. I look at England and the Chelsea situation last year and Leicester this as to teams who could step it up against top class teams yet had zero care or motivation to beat those at the lower levels. No idea why but I believe on paper we have a much better tried and tested team than much of the top 6. Remember when we started the season winning in the League cup and looking good, then failed in the league to win for a period then there was a 'clear the air' with the players and we went on a run of a few good results before faltering again. Did the players tell RF how they wanted set up and formation/tactics but then his ego got the better of him and he wanted to implement his own plan which failed then loosing all player respect. Regardless of whats said, 1 or 2 players to loose form for a period is accepted during a season but for a group of proven players to be as poor as we have seen suggests there is something much more wrong.

As they say on Wikipedia "Citation Required". I am really baffled by Alex' statement.

Looking forward to the Champions League final banter. CC has my full backing. A real football guy who had us playing well when he was in charge. A match against Falkirk away seems to spring to mind. Things are not right and good on CC for speaking out. Legend.

Whatever league we are in, let's get Fisher signed up! I've always liked his energy, and backed him in the "Walrus v Fish" debates that seem a lifetime ago. Even as a stand in right back, he was up for it. We need more like him!

It's the benefit of hindsight. At the time I was delighted that the board had stood up and held on to a couple of prize assets. Eighteen months later and we've lost one for nothing and had to pay to get rid of the other, so it's not hard to see why people think we should have cashed in at the time.

Dougal.... for the first time in my life, I have given you a green dot for most of that post!

Ownership of a company is achieved by purchasing its shares and the shareholders are hence all part owners of its assets. To my recollection, although I can't currently lay a hand on my copy of the accounts, the club's share capital runs to something like 3 million £1 shares which are owned by the likes of the ICT Charitable Trust, the Muirfield Mills consortium, the Highland Hospice and also much smaller holdings down to £250 by individual fans although this last category doesn't make a large percentage of the total. £3 million is therefore the kind of money needed to buy the whole lot at face value. A fans' body might want, or indeed would probably want, to settle for less than the full complement, even if the owners were willing to sell them. There's also the possibility that some owners would be prepared to part with their shares at less than £1 each. For instance the late Ian Fraser is said eventually to have parted with over 300,000 shares to Sandy Catto for just a fraction of their face value and these are actually part of what the Catto family then donated to the Highland Hospice. As a result, there are possible ways for a controlling interest to be acquired for a lot less than £3 million, but a lot of money would still have to be raised. The raising of further share capital by way of a share issue would be another opportunity for fans to acquire some interest. On the other hand, fan ownership also brings with it responsibilities such as the running of a business turning over anything up to £4 million a year and with many employees. Inevitably there's a lot more to that than meets the eye and a supporter led board would have major responsibilities requiring significant expertise and time, as previous boards have had.

Jesus mun are you on the glue?

Why would CaleyD have anymore idea than the next punter? Like Caleyjagsforever he seems to disappear from CTO when there's no topics available to happy clap on Dougal

Hartley refused to live in Inverness when last interviewed or he would have been our manager. Not likely to relocate and anyone who would not live up here should not be offered what would in effect be a part time position.

The problem is in the board who are a bunch of muppets! Kenny Cameron is David Sutherlands puppet! Until the board is displaced the club is doomed! It's been on the cards for a long time relegation. It's not forans fault it's the board for 1 giving him a big contract when he was long term injury and then putting him in as manager to justify his wages . It's a MESS.

The writing was on the wall for me last August when we lost to Partick, were knocked out of the League Cup by Alloa, lost to County and hammered 5-1 by Hearts. Something was wrong and alarm bells were ringing. These were audible warnings just above the sound of happy clapping and Foran love-ins breaking the otherwise silent Highland air. The images of Ostriches burying their heads in the sand is one that typifies our board, refusing to a man to identify any shortcoming. Therein lies the problem.

Could we manage next season with Cameron Mackay as keeper, Esson as sub-keeper/coach and then Hoban as third choice? It wouldn't be a disaster IMO.

I would have much preferred watching 11 U21 Squad players giving their all than (mainly) the journeymen we dredge from down south. I really liked Charlie's vision for the future and his outlook for the club. 7th-10th in the SPL on a regular basis with solid cup runs and occasional forays into the top six would be a sustainable model provided we have a throughput of home grown, value added talent. It's easier to love local lads which connects the club to the city. He is absolutely spot on in saying that when you import up to 28 players at some point your luck will run out because you have scouted duds.

I've got a feeling Terry and Mo will be the management team for next season. Can we forget whats happened in the past?

In a game starting at midnight (can you believe?), Canadian time, Ryan Williams scored his first goal of the new season today, for Ottawa Fury in a 2-2 draw with Charleston. Also, I have just noticed that Alex MacDonald left Oxford United at the end of January for Mansfield Town in EL2. So far he has scored once for his new club.

At this present moment, 12 months compensation feels absolutely like a price worth paying for the long term benefit of the club.

Is there a similar clause stating he can be released if he is a liability in goal.......

This is Sunday. Is Foran still employed as the ICT manager?? If so, Why??

Yngwie.... on that one I would quote Greavsie: "It's a funny old game". This is one of the ironies of which football is full. One thing needs to be said of the aftermath of this joint worst defeat by County - the questions to be asked have become a lot clearer. Top of my list is (totally objectively) - How far does lack of money go to explain the current predicament? Is there more to it? Majority opinion seems to think so and the extent of that answer may go a long way to defining the future of Caley Thistle. When I hear people of the calibre of Charlie Christie and Barry Wilson saying what they have said, I have to take this very seriously. These are highly intelligent guys, ICT playing legends and, in their different ways, intimately knowledgeable, who have come to separate but quite consistent conclusions. The appraisal of the state of Denmark in Hamlet painfully appeals. This prompts the supplementaries: Would the Board, in a hypothetically revisionist situation, change any previous employment decisions? and ...Does the Board regret having shrunk into a shell of uncommunicative anonymity in recent years, relying only on a "Hitler in The Bunker" unworldly Twitterfeed to support its position?

You're completely obsessed with independence. Give it a break.

Only scorers today (Sat 29 Apr) were both for Brora in their 3-1 North of Scotland Cup win at Nairn :- Andrew Grieg got two and Zander Sutherland the other one. Also, I missed a hat trick on Thurs night (27 Apr) by Ibra Sekajja for Dulwich Hamlet in the Ryman league. How we could have done with him this past month. He has scored 8 goals for DH in April alone!

He's had a whole season to show us what he can do. He's shown us.

Could someone check if Ewen Mackenzie is still available? Couldn't do any worse, and he should have more experience under his belt now. Although I see he wanted RF as assistant... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-36387520

The problem with the club predates Foran's appointment by a number of years. Since Butcher left, we have been entirely incapable of replacing the class of players that have left. We should have let Hughes go speak to Dundee United and should have sold Tansey rather than letting him go for free. We should have probably held on to Billy McKay while he was in form, rather than letting our top goal scorer leave for a (in football terms at least) tiny fee. At a club of our size, that can not go on cup runs season after season, we really need to be making smart decisions regarding turning over players. Why are we so incapable of scouting? Football is a business and we really need to be buying cheaper players and selling them on later giving the club some form of income to re-invest in young talent. Yes, I agree that now is the time for Foran to leave on his own accord, as I can't see the club being in any position to release him of his duties, but the board really need to answer for the years of neglect in the business side of things. We've had some fantastic players over the years go on free transfers. Why not (when a players contract is running out) speak to the player and ask where they want to be next year, and if they are hesitant in any way shape or form about staying with Caley, offer to put them up for transfer in January? A large portion of our best players came from the lower leagues in England where the transfer fees are arguably less than the average in the SPFL (maybe not by much, sometimes). Ryan Christie's sale could have brought in a whole bunch of players to rotate the squad, or maybe one or two players with a bit of class that could have been sold in a season or two.

I would appoint him as DofF now but I don't see much support coming from Cameron and his cronies

Please let this be true

GTF = Get To Fort william fc Which is the level Richie should be managing at

Get him out and get him out today. The result has ruined my weekend already, it can only improve if I hear Foran has left the club. A joke of a manager.

Aye............Richie Foran's MASSIVE EGO!

Let's get somebody in charge with some footballing sense. What pisses me off is that everybody is having a go at Foran NOW whereas most punters saw this coming at Xmas. The backers of Foran - our Board - are to blame. Foran has been the sacrificial cheap joint of lamb but the Board have to admit that ultimately 1 star is not enuff. if Foran goes so should Cameron

That could do with a blue armband for the Caley fans

The way Terry and Mo left us shouldn't be forgotten, there wasn't an ounce of dignity in the way they acted. I'm not saying people returning to their old jobs is a bad thing (in fact it can be a great boost!), but they completely sh@t on us and I dislike that. The fact Mo is back doesn't sit well with me.

Too late - Does not matter - to me if the gutless board sack him and appoint Malpas - that will be simply the last feckin straw - A Judas for a plant ?

JH's public criticism of the board was his way of manufacturing his exit. He had the biggest budget of any ICT in history and was moaning publicly about the lack of money. He did well with Butcher's team but couldn't bring in talent himself. He had to go.

Agreed JH had to go He worked the situation to his advantage and left the club with money in his pocket (money the club could ill afford).That's why the cheap option was taken in appointing Ritchie. In private industry and you were promoting somebody into a more senior post, but this person was untried in and lacked experience, it would be on a trial basis of 3 or 6 months (a common practice) and not 4 years, Ritchie must have been smiling all the way to his Bank Manager asking for a mortgage. This is why the Board must go and go quick. Let's try and get proper businessmen in to run our club. IT IS THE BOARD WHO ARE RELEGATING OUR CLUB