Play Off Final 1st Leg

 

It's the second time we have faced St Johnstone in a crucial promotion encounter at the Caledonian Stadium. This game kicks off on Friday night on 20th May at 7:45pm. The last crucial one was back in 2004. It was Saturday 15th of May when Inverness beat St Johnstone 3-1 to top the League on the final day of the season. It took a bit more wrangling to finally clinch promotion after a legal battle, but we got there. 

We are an appealing side: Inverness have lodged an appeal to overturn the red card awarded to Danny Devine by the incompetent Willie Collum for not fouling Jack Hamilton. Danny was sent off after 66 minutes as he challenged for a high ball with Arbroath's Hamilton. TV evidence showed little happened but it was of course the Wilie Collum show. Red card for Devine. We will know on Wednesday if the appeal has been successful. He also gave Wallace Duffy a second yellow. Unfortunately, due to some archaic rule, that means we can't appeal against that one despite it looking like the second tackle appeared to be a clean one. Cheers Willie.

***Latest News*** Devine Intervention by Willie Collum: We will have to do it without Danny Devine as the equally incompetent SFA have upheld his decision to issue a red card. Absolutely total incompetency shown here by the self preservation society.

Helicopter Saturday

CTO Report from 15th May 2004 - 3-1: A triumphant end to a fantastic day, season and decade. The sun shone, the ground was packed, there was tension in the air and the First Division trophy was waiting in a helicopter at Braemar. It just remained for the team to make one last major effort and they did just that. Clyde were leading Brechin 1-0 before the Inverness match even started but this changed nothing as it had always been clear that a win was essential. David Bingham headed a Liam Keogh corner past in the second minute then Craig Nelson tipped over a Stuart Golabek shot from 18 yards. A Bobby Mann header from Keogh's corner scraped past the post. In 14 minutes Barry Wilson raced to stop the ball crossing the bye line but Paul Ritchie touched his cross past. The home pressure finally paid off on the half-hour mark in bizarre circumstances. Stuart McCaffrey's free kick reached David Bingham and his overhead kick fooled Nelson; the keeper backtracked but could only help the ball into the net. This was what most of the crowd wanted and they went wild. It was back to earth just before half-time when Keigan Parker raced through and hammered an equaliser past Mark Brown from long range. Seconds later Wilson scored with a low shot but the offside flag was up. Steve Hislop came on for Keogh in the second half. Saints began to play some good football, particularly through Parker and Simon Donnelly, but ICT always looked more like scoring. In 56 minutes Bingham's through ball set Wilson heading for goal and, as he waited for the moment to shoot, Nelson brought him down. The penalty was a certainty and the pressure was all on Barry Wilson. A trademark short run and it was 2-1. A male streaker joined in the celebrations and was promptly evicted. As the excitement reached fever pitch all that was needed was a third goal to calm the nerves. Roy McBain tried to provide it in 64 minutes with a neat lob over Nelson but it cleared the bar. Bingham headed a Wilson corner goalwards in 71 minutes but Mark Reilly hit it off the line then Stuart McCaffrey headed wide. A third goal came in 76 minutes and fittingly it was from Paul Ritchie who was playing his last game for the club. Wilson took a corner from the left and Ritchie stooped low to head home his 63rd goal in three years. The title was a certainty and the final period was all about waiting for the whistle. Wilson shot wide in 86 minutes then the ball spent vital minutes deep in the Saints half and around the corner flag. The final whistle went, the crowd invaded the pitch, the cup arrived by helicopter, Bobby Mann stepped up to receive the trophy from Lord Macfarlane and the whole of Inverness went ballistic. Now for the SPL........maybe. (Crowd: 6092)

Venue H2H (all comps)

Pld

Won

Drn

Lst

For

Agst

+ / -

Home	18	10	3	5	21	15	+6
Away	16	3	4	9	10	20	-10
Neutral	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	34	13	7	14	31	35	-4

As the stats show, the home sides have had the better of these encounters over the years. However, it's over five years since we last played the Perth side and on that occasion we lost 3-0 at home as relegation loomed large.

CTO SUMMARY APRIL 8TH 2017: On the brink:  Inverness are on the brink of relegation after a shambolic, hapless and gutless performance against a mediocre St Johnstone, who themselves were without two of their stalwart players after an altercation last week. As it turned out, it mattered not a jot as we slumped to an embarrassing 0 - 3 defeat after Larnell Cole was sent off for dissent. We crumbled thereafter. 😠

Here's how we got here

 

 

Latest Team News

Shane Sutherland, Tom Walsh and Roddy MacGregor are all out through injury, although rumours of a face mask for Roddy are circulating. If he get's one, let's make it a Lionel Messi mask. Time will tell. Wallace Duffy misses this one after his two yellow cards. Danny Devine ????? Wait for the Wednesday reveal  or 

There will be a lot of tired bodies both physically and mentally after that emotionally draining shoot-out win at Gayfield. Our bench was thin prior to that game, it will have less bums on it now. Duffy will miss this game but might return for the second leg at Perth if its only a one match suspension. Scott Allardice has been on the bench in the previous play-off games, however after his long lay off, i wonder if we are still protecting him, or best scenario, keeping him fresh for these final two games. What a bonus that would be. To be honest, should we be competitive after all this, it really would be a Roy of the Rovers finale to a rollercoaster of a season.

St Johnstone limbered up for this game by resting more than half of their regulars in an abject 4-0 defeat at Easter Road. I wouldn't read too much into that result as they were obviously preparing themselves for the play-off finals which are infinitely more important than a dead end of season game against Hibs that would have gained them nothing. So, no fresh injury worries for Callum Davidson to worry about, and know doubt a full bench to fall back on.

We will be able to renew acquaintances with a couple of former players in defenders Jamie McCart and Shaun Rooney who had cult status at the Caledonian Stadium with his marauding Ross Tokely style runs down the right flank. In Zander Clark they have an imposing presence and top quality keeper. Scoring goals has been their downfall this season, but let's not forget they have been playing in a League a notch or two above where we are at just now. They also have the experienced Nadir Ciftci  in the squad who has a trick or two up his sleeve. Michael O'Halloran and Liam Craig will also add more experience and quality to the side, so plenty of options for the Super J's.

Having watched our performances in the Play-Off semi's, I doubt Callum Davidson will have lost much sleep. However, we are at our best when the odds are stacked against us. 

 

 

 

View full article

 

26 minutes ago, tm4tj said:

Emotions are running high, but why should we let them walk all over us without replying. 

What else could we say? Rightyo chaps, Danny is out, let's get on with it.

Yip. 

I have no problem with the last paragraph frankly. How many times have clubs - not just our club - had ridiculous decisions imposed on them or reasonable appeals rejected unless you have one of the larger support bases ! It may not be right, but there are too many examples to say it is not true. 

Willie Collum has been an incompetent and notorious whistler for years as have many of his colleagues but there is ZERO accountability within referee circles ... FFS even at amateur level you cant question referee decisions. I sat on the committee of the Inverness Amateur association for years and the instruction we got from Glasgow was that the referee report is sacrosanct. It is unquestionable, regardless of what others, multiple others, might say (even when that report is known to be fabricated) and that pervades right to today all the way up the chain to the top. It is one reason why, on the whole, we still have such bad referees. Good referees get jaded or lost in the mix with all the dross, and of course the headlines all go to wallopers like Collum who revel in it and have no repercussions for their self-serving narcissistic tendencies .. and because he is a headliner, then he must be our top guy in organisers eyes .. no he is not the top guy, he is an embarrassment to Scottish football and to the referees association. 

Same with the suits at whatever acronym association you want to quote. Like referees there may a few good ones that come into the association as club reps or as workers over the years but once again, they get jaded or lost in the mix and its the self preservation society and the wallopers that rise to the top. We have played around at changing the names or acronyms every few years but until there is root and branch change - which will NEVER happen - its just shuffling deckchairs on the Titanic. 

So come Friday, yes Danny is out, so lets get on with it. We have turned outrage into motivation before, we can do it again. Lets not get mad, lets get even! The best medicine for these incompetents is for Caley Thistle to do what they do best and upset the applecart when the odds are against us. Anecdotally, Stevie Paterson put the newspaper with the 18-1 odds on his whiteboard in his team talk on Feb 8th 2000 and used that to fire up the team ... a picture of Collum or the letter from the appeals committee might just do the trick on Friday (hopefully).

 

 

2 hours ago, RiG said:

The end of the statement is utterly embarrassing. I appreciate emotions are running high but the final few lines are absolute drivel.

Disagree.  It is the perfect follow-up to what I had said without having read the club's statement: "Every player, manager, coach and everyone else associated with a club tries their hardest and does their best.  But some self-important clown with a whistle ruins everything, safe in the knowledge that his chums will back him up.  That's when everyone must ask "What's the point?".

To which a very appropriate response is: "The Management, the Players, the Staff and just as importantly, the Caley Jag support will now need to pull together over the next two crucial games ....".

They’ve made some  shambolic decisions but this must top the lot ……Ok boys you dug in last Fri. with 8 men and came out on top so go out there and show them what you’re capable of .We are all behind you .It was always obvious no referee ever wanted us in the premiership when we were in it .Beats me what they looked at there’s not one pundit who I heard on TV or radio could believe his decision .Sorry about the rant but I’m so angry .
C’MON. CALEY THISTLE YOU CAN DO IT …. Willie Collums day will come 😡😡😡

15 minutes ago, snorbens_caleyman said:

Disagree.  It is the perfect follow-up to what I had said without having read the club's statement: "Every player, manager, coach and everyone else associated with a club tries their hardest and does their best.  But some self-important clown with a whistle ruins everything, safe in the knowledge that his chums will back him up.  That's when everyone must ask "What's the point?".

To which a very appropriate response is: "The Management, the Players, the Staff and just as importantly, the Caley Jag support will now need to pull together over the next two crucial games ....".

The statement would have been better ended with something along those lines rather than a few lines of drivel that could easily have included a few Great Britain flag emojis as part of it.

Absolutely nothing wrong with our Club statement. Another unjust  SPL decision....  Collum should admit he was wrong but he hasn't got the guts.

34 minutes ago, bughtmaster said:

Absolutely nothing wrong with our Club statement. Another unjust  SPL decision....  Collum should admit he was wrong but he hasn't got the guts.

*screams into the void* 

 

I say, that's a hat trick of 'bell ends' in a week,

1. Dick (head) Campbell

2. Willie (the penis) Colum

3. SFA panel 'knob heads' 

Eh what? 🧐 

Ok that’s the ruling. WTF is the team now?! 

3 minutes ago, FrontRow said:

Ok that’s the ruling. WTF is the team now?! 

Deas in the middle, Harper at LB at a guess

5 hours ago, Kingsmills said:

We are all disappointed most of us think it unfair but the club has embarrassed itself with that statement.

Not at all professional.

I dunno? It's certainly a siege mentality type aimed at the fans. 

4 hours ago, izzy said:

They’ve made some  shambolic decisions but this must top the lot ……Ok boys you dug in last Fri. with 8 men and came out on top so go out there and show them what you’re capable of .We are all behind you .It was always obvious no referee ever wanted us in the premiership when we were in it .Beats me what they looked at there’s not one pundit who I heard on TV or radio could believe his decision .Sorry about the rant but I’m so angry .
C’MON. CALEY THISTLE YOU CAN DO IT …. Willie Collums day will come 😡😡😡

I was just about to add my twopennyworth, to the red card fiasco, but Izzy, you have taken the words out of my mouth. Well said! 

Our boys seem to triumph in adversity, and so use this lads to give you the strength to battle out a win on Friday. We'll be right behind you - We believe.

The sending off was wrong.

The appeal decision was wrong.

The statement is spot on. It is designed to motivate everyone, on the park and in the stadium, to ensure justice is done by doing everything possible to secure promotion.

We now need to put this behind us and focus on the final.

By my reckoning, given the injuries and suspensions, we will only have 15 players available, so there are few decisions to be made about our starting line up unless we have any miraculous recoveries.

The interesting bit will be who the front 4 are. I’d go with:

Ridgers

Carson Broadfoot Deas Harper

Welsh McAlear

Samuels Doran Chalmers

Mckay

with MacKay, Allardice, Hyde and Hardy on the bench. 

Edited May 18, 20223 yr by Robert

Credit where it's due.  At least they stopped short of signing off the statement with "We Are The People!!".

Over the almost 3 decades now since we were formed we have got many things right.

We have often got the playing side right, we have, by and large, got the financial management right, usually with limited resources. However, in my opinion, we have never managed to get the media and communications side of things right.

4 minutes ago, Kingsmills said:

Over the almost 3 decades now since we were formed we have got many things right.

We have often got the playing side right, we have, by and large, got the financial management right, usually with limited resources. However, in my opinion, we have never managed to get the media and communications side of things right.

Even with a communications man on the board?

10 hours ago, Robert said:

The sending off was wrong.

The appeal decision was wrong.

The statement is spot on. It is designed to motivate everyone, on the park and in the stadium, to ensure justice is done by doing everything possible to secure promotion.

We now need to put this behind us and focus on the final.

By my reckoning, given the injuries and suspensions, we will only have 15 players available, so there are few decisions to be made about our starting line up unless we have any miraculous recoveries.

The interesting bit will be who the front 4 are. I’d go with:

Ridgers

Carson Broadfoot Deas Harper

Welsh McAlear

Samuels Doran Chalmers

Mckay

with MacKay, Allardice, Hyde and Hardy on the bench. 

In addition to Hyde there might be a couple of youngsters to put on the bench we might need them. 

32 minutes ago, IBM said:

Even with a communications man on the board?

That has been particularly disappointing.

Gordy is a lovely guy, but he's a total dinosaur and (as with our CEO) a dyed in the wool blue nose.

It's not surprising our comms have got so cringeworthy and our social media so bland and generic.

Back on topic. Getting increasingly excited and increasingly nervous.

Have not felt this way about a football match since the Scottish Cup final.

Anyone travelling to using public transport might want to check the "temporary" timetable from Scotrail as you may not be able to get back home after the game due to a number of train services being cancelled.

3 hours ago, RiG said:

Anyone travelling to using public transport might want to check the "temporary" timetable from Scotrail as you may not be able to get back home after the game due to a number of train services being cancelled.

Maybe the missing Scotrail staff will be back from Seville by tomorrow.

Ticket sales still look a bit disappointing given just how huge a game this is.

Hopefully, a late surge and numerous walk ups tomorrow.

If only we'd had a bit more time between the matches then everyone would have forgotten about the performance and been encouraged to attend based solely on their memory of the result.

Whats the parking like at Longman these days. Havent been up for a couple of years. Can you still park up on the pavement across the road? the dump?