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Why do you support ICT ?


IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER

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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. 

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1 hour ago, Kingsmills said:

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.

I perhaps should have clarified that I meant Clach serve no useful purpose to ICT.  It is really rather self evident that Clach serve a purpose for those who choose to support them!  But when people resist change because of their loyalties to the status quo, they tend to forget that what they are remaining loyal to only came into being in the first place because others were willing to embrace change and create something new.  No doubt there were those opposed to Clach being formed all those years ago who felt people should continue to do what folk had done for generations past.

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15 hours ago, Jaggernaut said:

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!

I have a clear recollection of the "Eureka Moment" in the summer of 1993 when Clach announced that they had withdrawn from the merger discussions and wished to remain on their own in the Highland League. It was at that point that my middle of the road uncertainty about the whole notion of a merged club switched to wholehearted support. 24 years on, it's a bit difficult to explain why, because you have to look at the whole question in terms of the values and perceptions of that time, and in particular the clout that the Highland League had in people's thinking before the North had any association at all with the SFL. In other words, the 3 club merger involved a complete departure from what had been at the centre of Inverness football for over a century in order to embrace an objective which, although clearly worthwhile, was never remotely considered at the time to have the potential to yield what it has. For me, the thought of the town in which the HL was founded and which had provided between three and six of its clubs for over a century wasn't very attractive at all, and Clach's decision solved that problem.

Remember also that in 1993, Clach themselves were only three years down the road from their own personal salvation of 1990 and were a limited company whereas the other two clubs were member owned (although it has since been suggested to me that the latter wasn't as big an issue for Clach as claimed at the time.) There's also the question that if merging two clubs turned out to be such a marginal process, might the whole project have foundered if three had been persisted with?

And then there's the factor which not only supports Clach's withdrawal but also goes a long way towards justifying its ongoing independence in the Highland League. Although Thistle and Caley both identified reasonably strongly with the areas of Inverness where they were based, this never quite compared with Clach's identity with the Merkinch. That hugely important consideration was very evident during all three of Clach's financial crises and still is. It does, however, have to be conceded that the level of support and empathy for Clach in the Merkinch area often isn't reflected in home gates - but indeed the same can be said of ICT and Inverness. This is possibly the clincher, though... the Merkinch needed its distinct community symbol. Clach's indelible identity with the strongly defined Merkinch community is probably the defining factor which justifies, and made inevitable, that club continuing to go it alone in the Highland League.

Edited by Charles Bannerman
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3 hours ago, cif73 said:

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. 

Very eloquently put - couldn't agree more! 

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As a Glaswegian I moved to the Highlands at the beginning of the Patterson era, loved the style of play and the players which SP brought to the club, enjoyed just turning up at the gate and paying in and would still enjoy standing at a match (proper football) and enjoying the banter with your fellow fans. That all changed with promotion,I had a season ticket in the main stand , but did not enjoy it to the same extent, plus the enjoyment of winning as the underdog had largely gone. Got very excited when JH changed our style of play after a very rocky start (I knew this could be the start of something different) and possibly could be a template for ICT sides to come, players with the courage to take the ball short and protect it and then find a man, the way the game should be played. Greatest moment obviously the SCF I had a lump in my throat when I thought back to where the club had come from. Best performance was against Astra at home after we had lost our best two players, controlled football just lacking a finish and lost a dodgy goal, OFW's first serious game. Then it all turned to mush, JH sacked, his style of play abandoned and a rookie given the opportunity to take us down, no style, no system, no idea how to manage a game which is where we are now. That said, we are where we are, we have no right to be in the top flight and even that top flight is pretty poor in European terms. Unless you have a great scouting system that can spot diamonds in the rough you can't get out of the lower divisions without money. I believe this is our level for some time until a mercurial manager (SP) comes along to build the squad that can take us back to the "top" level. Enjoy your football whatever the level remember where we came from.

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Well I was in the past a big Ranger football supporter I got bored of football for a wee while then I stopped paying attention to football  I met someone nice  who I went to quite a lot of Caley football matches during the time Terry butcher  was at Caley and after all that I supported  Caley .

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On 19/09/2017 at 1:03 AM, sipage said:

despite also going to Claggan Park back in the day

I'm guilty of that too!

I spent my school years in Corpach, when Fort William were not a Highland League team, and despite being brought up playing shinty and rugby, I always went to their occasional big cup games against Highland League teams.

I still look for their results, more in hope than expectation, but my loyalty is now to ICT and I have been a season ticket holder since returning to live near Inverness a few years ago.

I'm a realist, not a happy clapper, and have enjoyed the good times, and will continue to give my support no matter what the future holds.

As a football fan from Fort William........

Edited by Robert
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Main reason I support ICT? To coin a phrase:'is is because I is Invernesian'?!

I, like a lot of people pre-1994, supported one of the Inverness Highland league teams (Inverness Thistle, in my case) & a 'big' team (too embarrased to say who they were now...!). 

After 1994 (I fully supported the merger - I just saw how much my home town deserved to have a team playing in the senior leagues), think a lot of people just wanted to have their 'local team' (go to games, have a laugh, etc) and the 'big team', who won things. I went through a few years of following ICT & a certain other team, but after we played together in a cup tie, I though 'nah, I'm a proud Invernesian - I need to get right behind my local team' - I saw the possibility of us playing in the same league as those ' big teams' ....and we did it & then some!

ICT may not have been my 1st footballing live, but they are definetly my true footballing love (despite recent events...)!

As for the 'big team' I used to follow? Can't stand them now...

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54 minutes ago, Robert said:

big cup games against Highland League teams.

We used to have them in Inverness as well! The biggest day of the season arguably used to come in October with the quarter finals of the Qualifying Cup because the four winners got Highland League's places in the 1st/2nd round draw for the Scottish Cup. At this point, you hoped for an East League team like Gala or Spartans at home since in these days (unlike now, I suspect) the Highland League sides were hugely superior, but sides like Stenhousemuir and Clyde were also beatable.

Success here could, on occasions, see you through to the likes of Kilmarnock, St Johnstone, Hearts, St Mirren (the season they won the Cup), Celtic or Rangers (these are all actual examples from between 1984 and 1992).

But one of several reasons I support ICT is that you no longer have to survive the first paragraph to access the second!

Edited by Charles Bannerman
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Sorry Charles - Brief mention of the Merger in response to Jingsmonty - The majority of pre-merger fans had alliances to "bigger" clubs. That is probably why many of the so called "refuseniks" stayed away as they had another "bigger" team to follow. That is what I did initially but when I first forced myself to watch ICT I suppose the Invernessian in me came to the fore. I don't see why anyone should be embarrassed about the fact that they used to follow another team. I have a tattoo which I am proud of. I had some great times in the 70's following both my teams. I don't hate the other team now but I dislike their stadium, their bigoted support element and it was the greatest feeling (on a number of occasions now) to beat them. CaleytillIdie - ICT forever - Hail, Hail :happy:

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2 hours ago, IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER said:

Sorry Charles - Brief mention of the Merger in response to Jingsmonty - The majority of pre-merger fans had alliances to "bigger" clubs. That is probably why many of the so called "refuseniks" stayed away as they had another "bigger" team to follow. That is what I did initially but when I first forced myself to watch ICT I suppose the Invernessian in me came to the fore. I don't see why anyone should be embarrassed about the fact that they used to follow another team. I have a tattoo which I am proud of. I had some great times in the 70's following both my teams. I don't hate the other team now but I dislike their stadium, their bigoted support element and it was the greatest feeling (on a number of occasions now) to beat them. CaleytillIdie - ICT forever - Hail, Hail :happy:

You don't know what team I used to follow though.....! I wasn't that old when the merger happened (early 20s), so maybe was easier for me to break ties (eventually) & follow my local team...we should all, as proud Invernesians (by birth or location) get behind ICT...the refuseniks still irritate me inordinately!

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47 minutes ago, jingsmonty said:

You don't know what team I used to follow though.....! I wasn't that old when the merger happened (early 20s), so maybe was easier for me to break ties (eventually) & follow my local team...we should all, as proud Invernesians (by birth or location) get behind ICT...the refuseniks still irritate me inordinately!

I wouldn't waste time getting irritated, inordinately or otherwise, about three or four dozen bitter and increasingly middle aged souls, who were marginalised a quarter of a century ago and who are all but irrelevant now.

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Certainly being born and bred in Inverness is a good reason to support ICT, especially if you are young enough not to have had any allegiance to the 3 Highland League teams before Caley and Thistle merged.  For us oldies however (and I know that at 76, I am one of the oldest on the forum), it was not just a case of being born in Inverness, but which specific part of the town you came from which determined in many cases which team you supported.  Obviously the Merkinchers supported Clach (and still do), those from 'up the hill' supported Thistle, but Caley's catchment area was not so well defined.  I suppose the growth of the Dalneigh housing scheme provided a good number of Caley's core support.

But my own case was different.  Living near Holm Mills, and with parents uninterested in football, it was only when I was about 9 or 10 that a neighbour just a few years older took me and a friend to our first Highland League match.  It was Clach v Caley at Grant St and Caley won 2-0.  I was hooked from that day onwards.  I still remember the wonderful Caley team of the early 50s.  Willie Bruce, the keeper and Donnie (Ginger) McKenzie, the inside left, were my favourites..  In fact Donnie's sister and one of my much older sisters were best friends, and I can still remember how thrilled I was to meet him socially on a few occasions..  Many years later I was a guest of him  and his wife in their home in Winnipeg, Canada, and I well remember chewing the fat about Caley well into the wee small hours.   Very soon after that first match, my parents and I moved to Hilton, where most of my friends , and also most of my school friends right through my six years in the Academy, were Thistle supporters.  So, but for that fortunate trip to see Clach v Caley, it is entirely possible that I could have ended up a Jags supporter.

Leaving school at 18, I then studied in Glasgow, followed almost immediately with a couple of years in Canada, so I never really lived  in Inverness again except for college vacation periods, and a few months in 1964 when I returned from Canada, before, later that year, moving down south, initially to London and  about 3 years later,  to Twyford in Berks where I've been ever since.  My love for Caley never waned however, even though I only got to see them a couple of times a year when on holiday back in Inverness.  Well do I remember these 13/14 hour drives  through the night with the 3 kids stretched out in the back of the Morris Traveller. (Couldn't do that these days!).  

I was not in favour of the merger in 1994, and would have voted against it had I been in Inverness at the time.  However, I soon embraced the newly formed team. And, that year, 1994, coincided with me leaving the corporate world and going it alone as a computer consultant.  Some of my clients were in Scotland so I'd arrange Friday meetings when possible so that I could incorporate an ICT match.  Also, my children were 'off our hands' by then, so getting up to Scotland at short notice was a lot easier.  So, I probably managed to see ICT at least 4 or 5 times a season, and even a bit more frequently after we made it into the SPL, by which time I was retired.

I've not managed as many trips in the last couple of years as BA have changed their schedules and the last plane from either Glasgow or Edinburgh to London is now about 19.30 which makes it just a bit tight for getting up and down in a day. So my trips north nowadays usually have to incorporate an overnight stay as well, which for both  time and cost reasons, make them less attractive.

But my love for ICT remains.  I have never had a 'big club' either in Scotland or England.  I just hope that we can survive these terrible times we are going through at present (and all last season) and that we can regain at least some of our former glory.

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Pretty much reprising what I've written elsewhere....I'm a South Londoner born and bred, as far as I am aware I don't have any Scottish blood in me (just in my soul!), although one ancestry firm suggested my surname (Lyon) was linked to the Farquharson, it could be tosh but the tartan's pretty! I first became aware of ICT one night listening to the radio, now who were they playing?...ah yes Celtic, in that famous victory. I gradually took more notice of Caley over the subsequent years, having a strange desire to find a Scots team to support (although I once toyed with Partick!), I remember being surprisingly upset that Caley were relegated in 2009. I have supported Palace since I was 14 (I'm 59 now) and once I discovered that Caley also play in Red n Blue stripes that sealed the deal.

I first saw the stadium in October 2012 whilst on a tour of the Highlands with my eldest daughter, persuading our guide to take a wee diversion. My first live game was Ross County at home 16th March 2013 (we won 2-1 with Charlie Taylor being brought down for the resultant winning penalty). That first trip really did cement what is now a love affair.

My first away game was Charlton in a friendly, I've been to two Cup finals, and memorably did the Celtic cup semi final having watched Palace v WBA on the Saturday then taking a Megabus sleeper upto Glasgow where I met up with CaleyMad for the early kick-off.

My wife has been up to Inverness twice with me for matches, we both love Inverness, personally I find a walk along the Ness never fails to stir a sense of wellbeing! My eldest daughter nearly got to see Hearts away with me in December a couple of seasons back, but the match was called off due to high winds.

Not being from Inverness the pre-merger stuff is very much alien to me, it's clear there is still a legacy that still seems to affect how some people see the club...that said many years ago Palace and Wimbledon toyed with a merger which definitely raised the hackles of most supporters, and of course the infamous relocation of the Wimbledon to Milton Keynes, and subsequent rebirth of Wimbledon localy as AFC underscores what local loyalties mean to people.

I think my work colleagues think I'm ever so slightly bonkers, but they enjoyed the celebratory cakes when we won the Cup. I've never seen Palace win anything (unless play-off finals count). Obviously it takes a bit a planning to come up for games working round Palace home games and stuff, but Easyjet are pretty good price wise. Watching Caley is a strange release, certainly different from the madhouse EPL, I really like the stadium's setting and the weather always seem half decent when I come up (although the Celtic home match last March mid-week was effing cold walking back).

BTW I'm sure I mention Palace a bit too much on this site, for which I apologise, I'm quite at ease with supporting two teams, and despite the EPL millions, I see both teams in the same light, not necessarily glamourous, perhaps punching above our weight at times, but any honours or success is treasured, and it's always great to get one over the bigger boys!

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Enough of this romancing the stone, lads. My eyes are moist because I will never forget the final when Caley Thistle won the Scottish Cup.That final goal propelled me to leap off my comfy couch, jump at least two feet in the air and missing the hanging ceiling fan by no more than two inches and punch the air beside one of my former employees who has remained a friend of myself and my son. If I had had a tenant in my basement suite at that precise moment I am sure she would have ran screaming out the door because the sound I made was a cross between a shriek and a bellow from ma banshee.

Anyway, no doubt about it, that kind of experience cements loyalty like no other ever could. And Very fond memories too. It's like having an organism --- which is either a small beastie or a small orgasm.   Sooooooo....:wink:

Eagle --I can look it up but the surname Lyon is a pretty pukka Monicker unless I am mistaken.   The lord Lyon King at Arms is a rather famous accolade for a VIP isn't  it. O.K I will deffo look it up for you under a clan surname website that I like a lot, is well researched and  interesting.

Caley Mad in Berks, yes you are definitely old at 75.  But once you reach 79 you get a second breath and another kick at the cattie,  you hope your eyesight improves, you now hope that your constantly very tight and sore lower back would relent and when your wife has a coughing fit, because she swallowed a prune stone, you think she is laughing at, and abusing,  you since she is 20 years younger than you are. :wink: Your sojourns across the Atlantic interest me too since , like you, I have spent a large part of my life outside the U K, you In Winnipeg (where the snow is deeper and the frosted snowpersons more rigid than in the far reaches of the USSR )  trying to recover from that affliction called  "frozen brass b.lls on a  monkey" and me for liking it so much in the very beautiful city of Vancouver, British Columbia that I stayed  there against all odds. for the last 43 or so  years. Where, incidentally, I am more afflicted  by ice hockey than I am about the local NASL football team, the Whitecaps. 

So, to wind up this blether,  my loyalty to ICT which was first germinated  in the stand at Telford street when I was introduced to senior Highland League soccer for the first time by a dear friend of mine who is now 89 years old and still gong strong, will always pull me back to the birth of the Blues (no pun intended) and the last exciting and wonderful few years  and probably until the end of time. 

 

 

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12 hours ago, Kingsmills said:

I wouldn't waste time getting irritated, inordinately or otherwise, about three or four dozen bitter and increasingly middle aged souls, who were marginalised a quarter of a century ago and who are all but irrelevant now.

Doesn't help that I work with a couple of refuseniks & am pals with another one (who professes undying love for The Sheep - even went to an ICT v Partick game in Inverness...in the away end!).

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I ran line at caley park and Thistle at kingsmills park so I was always impartial of all the team's I had soft spot for Clach. So the amalgamation didn,t really impact on me that much, so I watch and support the New team Caleythistle

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Charles Bannerman said:

I think "being a refusenik" in Inverness is rather like Celtic fans having "been in Seville".

Funnily enough, I and my wife were actually in Seville that weekend, along with 2 business colleagues and their wives, having booked the week end ages before, knowing nothing about the Cup Final.  Our hotel, along with most others was inundated with Celtic supporters, and there were, apparently, several thousand others who had no accommodation at all.  I can well believe this as the city was overrun with Celtic supporters.  I have to say I saw no trouble at all, and I had the greatest banter with those Celtic fans in our hotel when they found out I was an ICT fan.  I usually have not a lot of time for the supporters of either of the 'ugly sisters', but I must say that week end the Celtic fans did Scotland proud, from what I saw anyway. Fair play to them.

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17 hours ago, Caley Mad In Berks said:

Funnily enough, I and my wife were actually in Seville that weekend, along with 2 business colleagues and their wives, having booked the week end ages before, knowing nothing about the Cup Final.  Our hotel, along with most others was inundated with Celtic supporters, and there were, apparently, several thousand others who had no accommodation at all.  I can well believe this as the city was overrun with Celtic supporters.  I have to say I saw no trouble at all, and I had the greatest banter with those Celtic fans in our hotel when they found out I was an ICT fan.  I usually have not a lot of time for the supporters of either of the 'ugly sisters', but I must say that week end the Celtic fans did Scotland proud, from what I saw anyway. Fair play to them.

No fan of either of the Ugly sisters but it has to be said that when it comes to attendance at Europa League finals, the Celtic fans who went to Seville, however many of them there were, certainly conducted themselves rather better than the Rangers fans who made the somewhat shorter trip to Manchester a few years later.

A great pity, for all concerned, that when their team died our football authorities made it so easy for them to start up a new one

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