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Showing content with the highest reputation on 09/19/2017 in all areas

  1. Childhood in Inverness for me meant the occasional Highland League game at Kingsmills "round the block" and the even more occasional visit to Kingsmills or Telford Street if a "big team" came to town. It was a really big deal if any league team visited (even the Montrose's or Stenhousemuir's of the day). I remember the excitement of Thistle thumping Kilmarnock 3-0 on a cold day, seeing Celtic at Kingsmills at a midweek friendly game (part of Ryan Christie's dad going to Celtic?) and Aberdeen at Telford Street (part of Liam Polworth's dad going to the Dons?). It's certainly good to reminisce. I embraced the promise of league football offered by the merger and have been a keen ICT supporter ever since, taking in their first ever league game at Telford Street and a season ticket holder for the last 4/5 years up to now. In between, life has intervened (work, location, family) from time to time, making regular attendance more challenging but I'm proud to say that I've seen most of the big events first hand (supercaleygoballistic win in Glasgow, cup semi and finals). All this warm, cuddly stuff is nice to look back on but it's also worth bearing in mind that, from the outset (circa 1994), the feeling amongst the great, the good and the humble supporter was that Inverness had been frozen out of senior football for long enough., that its population etc warranted a team at the top table and that it should endeavour to get there within several years. "Should" is a big word and brings no guarantees but, with sincere thanks to everyone involved, we certainly got there ... and then some, didn't we! It isn't wrong to get frustrated or angry with disappointing team/club performances/attitudes/choices. We shouldn't curl up in a corner and meekly accept dross just because, hey, we used to be in the Highland League after all. Successful people in sport get a taste for success and want more. I'm realistic though. When we won the cup, I told my son to enjoy it because we might not see another one. I'll support ICT whatever division they find themselves in ... in the knowledge that I've been there before.
    5 points
  2. A view from afar here, someone who has no real investment in your club other than enjoyment at its very existence and frankly phenomenal achievements. Always liked Scotland and Scottish football from being a kid growing up in the 70s. Blame Corby's ex-pats, Andy Gray and the Scottish roots of my club. Had a team I looked out for in every division in Scotland (Aberdeen, St Johnstone and Queens Park if you care) and in the Highland League it was the Jags. Saw a game at Kingsmills as a kid and, despite also going to Claggan Park back in the day, Thistle was who I really looked out for. Mixed feelings about the merger in that if anyone suggested merging Aston Villa with anything I'd demand a burning, but loved the idea of Inverness being a city of recognised substance. Having a club in the big leagues spoke a bit of the regrowth of the Highlands. That said, I understand and respect anyone who bemoans the loss of their club to merger. I am still amazed at what ICT have achieved. Even the current position is as high as you could reasonably expect of a small club outside the Central Belt and in a world so obscenely dominated by two extremely odious institutions. To spend so long in the top flight, actually compete there and win the big cup is beyond any kind of wild fantasy. It has been an absolute joy to watch your club rise. Conversely, my actual club is currently at its lowest point for nearly 50 years but I enjoy it more than the drudge of avoiding relegation or being best of the rest; listening to ill-informed cliche merchants pour over every meaningless stat. Competitive football is so good to watch and outside the top flight it's about the game rather than the televising of and paying for it. The not knowing what will happen as opposed to the certainty that Celtic will win the title, or the same over-financed clubs in England will carry off the silver, is the thing that makes sport great. Football at the top can be astonishingly dull, and the Caley Jags have never been that.
    4 points
  3. Only my third post, my first was to wish RF good luck which didn't do much good and number two was about Rory Gallagher playing Telford Street! But I do support ICT, because I moved to the area in 1993 and as a result of the merger with which I had no connection I had a local league team to support for the first time in my life. Previous football had meant traipsing around the various London grounds which at the time were mostly absolute dumps with overpriced entry prices (sound familiar?) with little affiliation to any team bar West Ham which was in truth as much social as about the football (well, it was West Ham!). As a kid between the ages of ten and fourteen I did get to watch Ware Town FC who played in the Athenian League but that was hardly on the same level. Their biggest day out was in the first round proper of the FA Cup having qualified and the result was a 6 - 1 defeat at Luton Town, but it still seemed glamorous at the time. But back to ICT and although it's hard for me to get to games (working Saturdays is normal for me making evening fixtures hugely important and the sparsity of those recently has been a blow) I continue to support as best I can. I admit to being one of those "making up the numbers" at both cup finals but think I claim a degree of entitlement because I have been at games against the likes of Stirling Albion (my mum's hometown and my 'other team') in the lowest level and then all the way through to the top. And back down (again). But I will continue to support, whether by getting to games or driving home from work on a Saturday listening to BBCScotland in the hope that at some moment they will overlook their obsession with the Old Firm and whoever is clinging to their coatails or the politics, and mention something that matters to rest of us even if it's just a score. And I will get to games when I can and smile when things go well and grimace when they don't. I will be frustrated by what seems to be going wrong at the club, and continue to hope that something good will start to happen both on and off the pitch. Why? Because they are Inverness Caledonian Thistle, they are my local team and they have brought glory days and huge great memories to my family and I. What the future holds I don't know any better than anyone else but whilst I am no 'happy clapper' and see the real picture I will not walk away from MY TEAM Andy
    3 points
  4. To be fair, nor are any other threads on this site.
    3 points
  5. 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.
    2 points
  6. Too much bitterness and unrealism there methinks Pump Fake. When you were born no one promised you a painless life and the promised land. And how would you recognise the good without the backdrop of the bad to highlight the former state? i.e. Things are in balance as they should be. Disappointment has been with us now for a good few months but you have still stuck around, right? So I am assuming yer wee heart is still close to this team. So buck up, suck it up and lets all soldier on together to a brighter future with good victories but with a stiff upper lip when we lose. After all, aren't losses supposed to make us stronger? Look at IHE, a waxing sobersides at all the poor stuff coming our way but reminiscing about the past great times and keeping balanced, determined not to spoil the next good times or run of luck when it happens. And we never know what's round the corner do we? Keep yer powder dry I say ad prepare fro future successes.
    2 points
  7. 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!
    2 points
  8. 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.
    2 points
  9. Ridgers or OFW Hmmm let me think.
    1 point
  10. 1 point
  11. Im not sure, given our prices, we are in position to criticise other clubs pricing tbh
    1 point
  12. Very eloquently put - couldn't agree more!
    1 point
  13. A few thoughts: As I wrote on the Livingston matchday thread, we have a real lack of quality at the back and up front. Out of the back four and keeper that played on Saturday, only Raven can be trusted. Tremarco is a huge upgrade, both defensively and going forward, on Chalmers. In the centre we have a real problem; Warren and McKay are both really struggling - I worry that the former's decline is now irreversible (much like Grant Munro around the time County binned him), while McKay has the physical tools but can't put a solid 90 minutes together without several errors. However Elsdon doesn't look ready and Donaldson is a bit of an unknown quantity so I don't know what we can do here. Moving Raven or Tremarco inside would weaken us in the full-back areas. As for in goal, Robbo needs to make his peace with OFW, and fast. Up front, part of the issue is players seem to have been brought in without a specific role in mind, as shown by the frequent changes in formation between matches. The lack of pace is a real weakness - Baird used to have some but, like Warren, he looks to be past his best. Cooper is neat and tidy but offers very little creativity or threat. Bell looks a clever customer who could work well with a partner, but I was disappointed by how knackered he looked after an hour on Saturday. Oakley? He had a good hour against Dundee United; I often feel it is harsh to criticize sub strikers for a lack of impact as it can be hard to pick up the pace of a game. If we were to play him along with a clever creative player and a pacy winger (Bingham-Ritchie-Wilson anyone?) I think that would be a decent combo. Which brings me to Mulraney - I'm going to go against the grain here and defend him a bit. Too rarely is he put in a situation where he can make a major impact - 20 minutes against a packed Livingston defence is no good for a player who is all about building up speed and dribbling past players, as there is no space to operate in. His few good performances have been against teams who have been playing wing backs (Accies in May) or have very adveturous full-backs (Rangers in January) - Livingston fell into the former category and in hindsight he would have been a far more useful option than Cooper from the start. He's not done a lot to justify my faith but I do feel that he shouldn't be written off until he's actually started a few games in succession, rather than a cameo here and there. And he's the only quick attacker we have. When Doran is fully fit I'd play him, Oakley and Mulraney as the front three. (Puts on tin hat, awaits incoming...)
    1 point
  14. Clach are one of the oldest professional clubs in the United Kingdom and thus the World. They may no longer have a substantial fan base but I can assure you that they serve a 'useful purpose' for those that support them following on the many generations who followed them in the past including my late father, who was a proud Merkincher, all his days. I tend, on the whole, to agree with most if your football related posts but that one smacks of arrogance in the extreme.
    1 point
  15. I wasn't at the game on Saturday but am surprised to hear Robbo aiming the public criticism at Oakley and Mulraney equally. From what I've seen of him in other games he seems to have put a decent shift in. Criticism of Mulraney is fair game though. Clearly the lad has pace and great ball skills but he doesn't get any end result out of anything good he does. He's had over a season to prove he can cut it and must be close to the manager saying enough is enough. For all his skills, he seems to lack both the motivation and a footballing brain. At the Q&A session earlier in the year Robbo referred to some of the youngsters and said that if they are good enough they are old enough. Time to give youth a chance I think rather than keep hoping against hope that Mulraney will come good.
    1 point
  16. Look up Catharsis or Reality Orientation. Wholly Agree - but my post was aimed at bringing a bit of reality to the situation. It is still early days and the sensationalism and catastrophic thinking is doing in ma psychologically focussed nut. Oh and Move over Young Team / Under 17's - it looks like there is a new firm on the move - even if it is slowly moving
    1 point
  17. Fully support those comments from Robertson regarding the lack of impact from the subs (excusing Tremarco obviously). Whilst he is still only 21 I am stunned at how easy a ride Mulraney seems to get from our support. For such a potentially exciting talent with bags of pace and a decent bit of skill he has zero end product. I can't recall a time when he has either scored or set up a goal for us. He could be a game changing player for us yet he seems to just let games pass him by.
    1 point
  18. 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.
    1 point
  19. As the bible says it s hard to be a prophet in your home land I am not from this land, so my experience is relatively new. I did for many years when I lived deep into Sussex watch another team, who were known as the Crazy Gang who like Inverness put the fear of God into the establishment, They never really got any credit, winning the F. A cup against Liverpool, Seen as some sort of joke. Their little ground in Wimbledon was condemned as unsuitable, They moved to Selhurst Park and continued to upset the likes of Arsenal, Tottenham, Man City , Liverpool , ( But never Man U Ferguson was too canny for them ) Then disaster occurred their manager, very similar to Terry Butcher, had a heart attack . The powers that be brought in a big name, the manager of Norway, Things stated to go wrong the team was relegated. The club was Franchised and moved to Milton Keynes and obscurity. The supporters started again from the 8th tier of English football , the fans bought a ground the spectators sat on hay bales behind the goal. Now they are back in what is known as league one. AFC Wimbledon, more than a match for the franchised mob MK Dons. My point with this diatribe is to the fans of Inverness, Don't give up. True a younger generation brought up on the spirit of Terry Butcher, know nothing but success . Let's hope we get a leader in the mold of Joe Kinnear or Terry Butcher . Leaders like this don't grow on trees , Maybe long ball merchants but who cares. The purists don't like it, But we are not purists.
    1 point
  20. 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!!
    1 point
  21. 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.
    1 point
  22. 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.
    1 point
  23. 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.
    1 point
  24. Inverness FC would have been good. Personally, I can't see that having a Highland League team in Inverness as well as ICT serves any useful purpose. All it does is reduce our gates and income a little bit more making success that little bit harder to achieve.
    0 points


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