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I cant help but think that a large number of the posters on here now are post merger and have become accustomed to on-going success and a guaranteed place in the top leagues. To me the last 24 years have been a total feckin mini-miracle. I followed Caley (OK Celtic as well) since I could walk. I have followed them all over the Highlands and wherever the cups took us. I always dreamed of being in the higher leagues and winning Cups!! In those Highland League days it was a case of away days with your mates, winning was a bonus and fortunately in the Highlands it usually was. You practically knew everybody around you at games or they introduced themselves to you. It was an extended family. What we have achieved is mind blowing. I will cherish every feckin minute - well at least the minutes I can remember or hadn't been chucked out I have met so many newbies and established so many great friendships. I HATED some of the SPL away days. They became boring. I actually looked forward to this season. I am worried but I still look forward to many away trips. We have made great unions with the likes of QOS and Dumfermline. I will be there even if we go down. I will be there next season and I will be there until my head is chopped off by another Immortal. The Away Day crew differs in numbers but it is still great craic. There is always a friendly face to have a dram or two with. Peeple are all trying to pinpoint blame. To me the club has been mismanaged over the last two seasons. So the damage has been done. This year to me is all about survival first and a sign of revival next. We are again a little fish in a big pond. We always were and always will be. I suppose that you will all now note that I am cheesed off with a lot of the negativity on here. Hopefully this may strike a note with some.

I was about to post on this thread but you have said it all for me and said it very well. We have been very fortunate indeed to spend almost a decade and a half in the top division beating every leading team in the land. That's something that few of us could have dreamed of in the Highland League days when away trips were to Rothes or Brora and a huge target every season was to reach the semi finals of the Qualifying Cup to reach the tournament proper at get 'glamour ties' against the likes of Queens Park or Stirling Albion. I recall the season that the Jags beat Kilmarnock and we all boarded the football special train to Glasgow and a match against Celtic at Parkhead. I didn't much care that we were beaten 6-0. I was watching my beloved Jags play one of the then best teams in Europe and truly thought it would be a once in a lifetime experience. Little did I think then that there would be another visit to the East End of Glasgow that would shake Scottish football to it's foundations and would lead to us going toe to toe with the most mighty teams in the land for the majority of the next two decades beating all of them with some regularity. Yes, the last two seasons have been disappointing and this one is looking far from promising but that has to be put in context. Look where we've come from and look where we still are compared to that. The very good times will come again although it may take a few years but, in the meantime, we all need to stick with it as true supporters should. That goes for everyone from us old stagers still dewy eyed about memories of Titchy Black or Billy Urqhart or even Jupie Mitchell or Bobby Bolt to the young crew who have only known the good times so far. We are Inverness Caledonian Thistle and we may no longer be the 'pride of the Highlands but we are here still and hugely proud of what we have achieved so far and what we will go on to achieve in the future.

Like you, I followed my team from 1970, in my case Inverness Thistle, in the Highland league before the merger, going to all home and most away games. I also supported Celtic, I think every Highland League supporter had a big team and their local team. It was always such a big deal when Scottish league teams used to come up for pre season and testimonials, to see these players in the flesh was such a thrill for us, never thinking that the city would end up with its own Scottish league team. The heights we achieved have been unbelievable, more than I could never have imagined, but we are where we are now and we have to firstly survive in this league and then push on. Due to my poor health I can only manage home games now, but bit the bullet to make the semi against Celtic and the final against Falkirk, two days I will never forget. I followed the Jags through the good times and bad in the Highland league, and there were a lot of bad times over the years, but I was there because they were my team. I see too many people turn their backs on ICT if things don't go well, the glory hunters, 15,000 fans to Hampden! If we had a quarter of them now what a difference it would make. There have been glimpses of how things could be this season if we could get all our better players back and fit, and if we can tighten up at the back. I am an ICT supporter now and will follow them through the good times and bad.

Yogi is a good manager if you have a settled team - that's what Yogi had and he added to it when he brought Greg Tansey back, who would've known a few of players anyway. It's when he has to re-build a side though that things start unravelling, as we saw at Hibs and grinding out results isn't really his forte. Despite having one of the biggest budgets ever here, he was unable to scout players capable of truly replacing the likes of Watkins, as well as misguidingly blowing parts of the budget on hapless midfielders like Liam Hughes when we were in dire need of another striker. In 2014-15, Yogi was the right manager at the right time. He had a settled squad and was able to implement his style of football with some very good players to give it the cutting edge it needed. We and he took advantage of that window of opportunity but it quickly closed. Good on him though for taking it when he had a chance.

Great posts ihe. Love it when talk about positive things on here. My family came from paisley but i was born and raised in thurso. Seen my first football match at love street when 12 and supported st mirren from afar for twenty years . Lived in london and managed to get my dad down to games at chelsea and fulham. It was then he told me he attended the 7-3 real madrid final in glasgow and how he gave up football to bring kids up away from glasgow. From this point on i tried to take him to as many games as possible and caley became his/our local team . As he became ill the people at the club were amazing and it was at the stadium where he was able to enjoy simple things like invading the pitch when promoted. Terry and yogi talking to him. The players saying hello and getting to lift the scottish cup. So i support caley because they supported him and because every week before a ball is kicked there is hope that this week we can win.

In the 1960s, and in common with many Dalneigh kids, I started out as a Caley supporter - one of those who "jooped in" over the gate at the Howden End and then collected the Mackintosh's empties for the 3d refunds at the club shop. Like IBM, I also drifted away during the 70s (drifted away, as opposed simply to being unable to remember that decade ) partly due to an "educational absence". Many will be aware that athletics is my number one sport, and it's also fair to say that match reporting for the BBC helped to bring me back to football. I was never a totally partisan Caley fan and always also had a lot of regard for Clach and Thistle, which was probably a result of my commitment to Inverness as a whole. As a result, the merger, plus importantly leaving Clach to represent the town in the Highland League, was always a very favourable outcome for me. I've always reckoned you can trace the historical roots of the formation of this club back to around 1987, so this means that, as a sports journalist, I have now for 30 years studied on an almost daily basis the rise (and latterly the fall) of ICTFC. This has very much included behind the scenes goings on but I have to say that, rather like Lord Palmerston and the Schleswig-Holstein Question and despite a number of privileged insights, I have still never been satisfied that I have understood it. How come a relatively poorly supported and resourced club which has only ever had one major sugar daddy some years back, and that in response to a £2M+ debt, managed to win the Scottish Cup, play in Europe, reach the SPL and its criteria in a decade, finish 3rd in the table etc etc. And equally, how come, following an incredibly successful three years or so which culminated in winning that Scottish Cup, there has been such a frighteningly rapid fall from grace? Despite constant exposure to the underlying issues, I still feel that I really don't have a secure handle on this at all.

I started to support ICT because I was living in Inverness when they were formed and bought into the club believing this was the best way to bring a better standard of football to the town. Having bought into the club and supported them since then, I will always support them through thick and thin. I must say I get a bit hacked off with those who seem to think that because we have had the success we have, we now have some divine right to remain in the top echelons of Scottish football. We don't. We are a small club with a small core fan base and no rich benefactor to buy success. Without going into my views for the reasons for our rapid fall from grace, the fact is that we are where we are and we are probably in a more precarious position than many folk seem to realise. As a result of poor management over the past 2 seasons, our financial position puts us at serious risk of a second relegation. Immediate promotion is not and never was on the cards. But we will only get stronger again if people continue to support the club and support the team on match days. We get success because core fans support the club through the good times and the bad. If we are realistic about our place in the grand scheme of things then that makes success all the sweeter when it comes.

Spot on IHE I am with you on that Jaggernaught I followed Caley at home after moving to Inverness in 1968 only attending home games, drifted away during the 70's for a while and returned back in the 80's. During the times coming up through the leagues I did attend a good number of away games which were great. Now just home games apart from the big cup games away which were fantastic. Having seen the best days I don't think we will win the Scottish cup again but for our younger fans lets hope we do.

I accept that those that know much more about what goes on behind the scenes at the club tend on the whole, to have a less than positive view on the contribution Russell Latapy made while he was here. However, from my position of almost total ignorance, I still find it difficult to overlook the objective fact that when John Hughes first took over our form and success nose dived but began to improve almost immediately after Latapy's arrival and steadily improved throughout the period he was involved culminating in our Scottish Cup triumph our highest ever league finish and a place in Europe for the only time in our history Immediately after he left our decline began and has persisted ever since. If that is merely coincidence it does seem a very odd one.

I too am glad that Inverness still has a presence in the Highland League, I always think that if they had been part of the merger the name would be too long, Inverness ClachnaCaley Thistle!

There are any number of downbeat negative threads on the go just now, in all fairness, with some justification. Why don't you post your negative thoughts on one of those instead of corrupting one of the very few positve threads started in recent months.

Can't argue with what IHE says. I was a caley supporter from the age of five (I think), getting the 2 o'clock bus from the Leachkin to Telford Street for a 3 pm kick off-- Great days! My big team was Aberdeen. I am now 72 years of age and will always be a ICT supporter, even though I hate everything that has gone at the club in the last two years. I would like to think I would see success again in the next few years if I am still around. Europe here we come!!

Top post IHE. With you all the way. My association with Caley began in 1978 but it was many years later when I actually got to see a game. From Highland to SPL I've been there despite the distance from my home. I'm also with IHE here on the SPL away day experience - had a strong dislike for the league in general but the away trips were woeful. I must confess I've not seen ICT this season but hope to put that right next month. This diddy team of ours has given me so many highs over the years that I will never forget. Our current situation is just awful but we will recover.

Anyone willing to bet the only player that will be dropped will be Raven?

It is a coincidence. Latapy was seldom there and those who seem to be falling over themselves to try and portray him as some sort of coaching maestro have become tiresome in the extreme. He had nothing to do with our success that season. Nothing.

I believe both Trafford and Vigurs deserve a start in this ICT team. What better alternatives were you thinking of ?

There have been some great games between these 2 clubs over the years, but yesterday was not one of them. The standard of football was higher in the Pele / Leishman days. Livi had players who looked half a stone overweight, and played like a pub team for the majority of the 90 minutes, their tactics seemingly consisting of parking the bus, hoofing the ball out the park - or lining it at best. Fair play though, it was good enough to win comfortably yesterday. They were well organized, hard working, and played to their strengths. Inverness have too many players low on confidence and unwilling to take responsibility with the ball. Vigurs apart, everyone seems to want to play it safe all the time. Take a man on, gamble with a risky pass, have a dig - it's not as if we're up against Sergio Ramos and Manuel Neuer at this level, know what I mean? The more questions you ask, the more errors your opponents will make. That's where the majority of goals come from at this level - defensive errors. Let's stop trying to score the perfect goal all the time.

I think as Big Sam said " Respect the point", If we are to get out of trouble - play for the draw , and hope for a win, maybe an option, Do a John Hughes keep possession and not give the ball away. Desperate times call for a more conservative approach, maybe ? One point from 9 at home is not what any of us expected . 3 points from 9 away from home is still not acceptable. I didn't boo at full time but a lot of people around me did. It wasn't just a defeat it was a diabolical performance, dished out by an opponent that went about their business in a professional workmanlike way. A team who had a plan, like Morton before did against us. We can't underestimate these teams. They might not have superstars, but they are well organised and will not give up. I was impressed by Livingston, they tackled hard, counter attacked and basically made our life a misery. My mind went back to last season and the Celtic match at home, how ICT was one of the only teams to get a result against the unbeaten champions, how have we sunk to this level I will never know. No point crying over spilt milk , life must go on, I.C.T has to rise from the ashes and concentrate on a simple game and try to keep the ball or these teams in this league will have us for breakfast.

Far too early to pull the trigger but if things are no better by December the board will have to be much more proactive than they were last season. Robbo has had one decent spell as a manager almost a decade and a half ago but he has no track record at all of recruitment having been fortunate last time around to inherit the fantastic squad of players assembled by Steve Paterson who, by that time, pretty well managed themselves. I realise he was working in constrained financial circumstances but those players he has recruited, particularly in defence, including the goalkeeper, have been woeful. He was not at fault for losing his job at Hearts, he quit at County and quit again at East Fife who again were playing very poorly. He does deserve more time, at least another two months but, if things are no better then, then a decision needs to be made instead of just letting things drift and hoping for the best like last year. Relegation into the Championship was a bad enough blow but to then drop down another division would be catastrophic, leading inevitably to part time football. It almost happened to St Mitten last season and would have had they not made a timely managerial change. I sincerely hope that we don't but, should we find ourselves in that position come December we will have to do the same. That said, I don't want to see a manager sacked and hope that in two moths time the improvement in the team will make such thoughts redundant.

How is that they are charging £20 when Brechin away was if I remember correctly only £15.

I am going to get so much abuse for my last choice.