Following on from the Quietly Confiden post, i thought id make another thread.

I for one cant wait for the start of the season with us in the SFL. It gives us something to work for, rather than settle for being mid table every year, and not getting the best of cup runs.

Id much rather be chasing promotion, getting a decent cup run in all 3 big cups we are in now, and the rest that goes with it. However, i do want us back in the SPL...maybe not this year (im not into this bouncing-back malarky talk), but eventually.

Which gets me to my point - I always remember Alan Shearer speaking of Newcastles relegation, saying it was eventually going to happen. I think the same of ICT. I think with the managers we were picking (Brewster), and some of the boards decisions, we needed a kick up the arse. Now we then got a respected manager in Butcher, who only JUST missed out on keeping us up.

I think we had to go back, to go forwards. We need to start getting locals on our side, support their local team, get higher support numbers. Im from Fife but i try my goddam hardest to get to as many games as possible, taking in all the last 12 games of the season, aswell as some throughout. Now in the SFL itll probably be easier for me to make away days.

Which brings me to this - do you ever think we could be a big, big team? Even recognised as a big team? Im not talking Old Firm, but i am talking Hearts, Aberdeen, Hibs i suppose, teams like that, or will we ponder on as we are for years to come?

No, i think he said it because if you look, theres a big bit of water seperating inverness from the north. So i hope to god they dont start building houses to the north.

It is very difficult to accurately say what %age of a town or city are fans of the local team. Indeed many residing in Inverness are County fans. What I have tried to do though is look only at the hard core fans who attend their team week in week out. Yes Aberdeen had an attendance average of 13000+ but take away the away fans and you'll find the home support is about 11000. In Dundee its 8000 for Arabs and 3000 for Dees. Hibs have a hard core of about 11000 whereas Hearts is about 16000.

As Scotty says the area of Inverness has a greater population than the city and many fans travel from outlying areas. As is the case with Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh. At the same time that travelling support is also ofset by the numbers who travel from all those cities and towns to watch other teams, mainly OF.

If I were to design the questions for the next government census I'd include the question 'Which team do you support'?

Mahonio, I was referring to the areas where Inverness, the city, can be expanded. The city cant expand north because that would take them into Ross-shire.

And into the water.