Happy New Year

 

I hope we will all have a great New Year and are looking forward to getting back to business as usual. For Inverness Caledonian Thistle that will be a case of steadying the ship, not dropping any further in terms of league positions, sorting out the massive black hole where the finances disappeared into, hopefully a new buyer with the interest of the club and the community at heart and the process of building bridges with the local business community and fanbase can be reborn and flourish. Alan Salvage, as we know him on here, has gone a long way to restoring the good name of the Caley Jags. There is, however, still a long way to go.

Duncball, relegation, reign of tyranny, oligarchy, lies, deceit destruction and administration. This last season has seen our darkest moments on and off the park and one that showed that Immortality is real as one of our legendary supporters moved on to a spiritual level to oversee our resurrection from the ashes of administration. It's been a difficult time for the club and it's supporters who now have one of their own, Scott Kellacher trying his utmost to repair the damage done over the years of mismanagement. So far it's been a steadying process and recent results have been encouraging as he adopts a more positive approach to the beautiful game, something that has not gone unnoticed amongst the fanbase who are seeing the improvements from a year of Duncball, all possession and limited entertainment. 

On Saturday, we face Cove Rangers at the Caledonian Stadium in the last game of our Annus Seasonal Horribilis. It's scheduled for a 3:00pm kick off before Dumbarton first foot us on 4th of January 2025 bringing coal, shortbread, their own administration and a wee dram. To be honest, I'd rather have the three points instead.

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Match/Ticket/Supporters Info

Half Season Tickets

Administration Topic on CTO

 

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Last 10 of 11 Competitive Meetings

0 - 2 (A)

2 - 1 (A)

1 - 1 (H)

2 - 1 (A)

6 - 1 (H)

1 - 0 (A)

4 - 1 (H)

1 - 1 (H)

1 - 3 (A)

3 - 2 (H)

INVERNESS CT:  D L  D D W D D D L   / W L(11)D W W W L  W 

That's our League1 season so far, almost half way through the campaign for us. Scott Kellacher came in at matchday 11. His winning streak bookended by the losses at Dumbarton and the loss at home to Arbroath before last weeks stirring late drama at Stenhousemuir where Charlie Gilmour was credited with the goal after full time. 

We have played Cove Rangers three times this season and it's one win apiece and a draw. Cove's win was a Scottish Cup tie.

1. Drab Draw: 1-1 Inverness hosted Cove Rangers and were without Flynn Duffy, Lewis Nicolson and Ethan Cairns. Paul Allan and former Cove players Luis Longstaff and Charlie Gilmour had returned to the squad with Gilmour and Longstaff starting. Cove had won their last two outings and put three past Kelty Hearts last weekend with Mitch Megginson always a threat up front. Adam Emslie tapped in at the back post to open the scoring after twenty minutes. Substitute James Nolan levelled five minutes after the restart following a corner. A replacement official was required to complete the game and despite fifteen minutes added on, there was no further scoring.
2. Caley Jags Get Vital Win: 1-2 Top versus bottom ended in victory for the Caley Jags who climb into positive numbers at the foot of the table. Cove had made one change from the win at Dumbarton as they looked for their fifth win on the trot. Findlay Marshall replaced Arron Darge. For Inverness, graduate Sam Reid took his place on the bench with Lewis Nicolson missing. On the field, Charlie Gilmour returned to midfield to bolster the squad with Connal Ewan out injured and boss Scott Kellacher would be looking to get into positive numbers with his positive team talks. However, it only took Cove ten minutes to get in front through top scorer Mitch Megginson. Megginson failed to convert a first half penalty with Dibaga saving and two minutes later it was all square when Adam MacKinnon drilled high into the net. With 25 minutes left, Keith Bray popped up with a much needed and deserved winner.
   This was a great result played out at Cove, sharpened at Inverness but made in the Isle of Lewis.
3. Cup of no Cheer: 0-2 Jake Davidson, Keith Bray, Charlie Reilly, Connell Ewan and Lewis Nicolson were all missing for the The Caley Jags on Scottish Cup 3rd Round action at Balmoral Stadium, Cove. Fraser Fyvie was out for Cove. No scoring in the first half, not for the want of trying, but two very late goals, one from the spot after a dubious handball attributed to Danny Devine put Cove into the draw for the 4th Round. Substitutes Glass with the penalty and McGrath with a strike into the bottom corner sent the Caley Jags tumbling out of the cup after it was looking good for soooo long.

 

Pos	Team	Pld	Gd	Pts
1	Arbroath	18	7	31
2	Kelty	18	11	29
3	Stenny	18	7	27
4	Alloa Ath	18	4	25
5	Cove	18	3	25
6	Montrose	18	1	23
7	Queen of S	17	-5	21
8	Annan Ath	18	-16	18
9	Caley Jags	17	0	10
10	Dumbarton	18	-12	04

 

Latest Team News

Inverness have limited options as is the norm these days since administration. No new injury worries that we are aware of and Robbie Thompson will be available after his suspension last week. Charlie Reilly will hopefully be getting closer to a return. Jake Davidson will miss out.

 

Cove Rangers Last Six League games: L  L  L  D D W 

A poor recent run by Cove saw them drop from the top spot but they had a good win last week as they beat Alloa Athletic 2-0 in front of a mere 323 fans at Balmoral Stadium to get back on track. This was their squad for that encounter.

Arron Darge scored his first goal for Cove with a header after twenty minutes. Substitute Myles Gaffney sealed the points in the second half with a couple of minutes to spare. Everyone is beating each other as Arbroath sneak their way to the top of the table. Cove are sitting in fifth place only six points off the pace. 

Ones to watch: Mitch Megginson (7 League ⚽), Adam Emslie (4 ⚽), Findlay Marshall (3 ⚽) Connor Scully and Fraser Fyvie along with Emslie are able providers.

Saturday will be manager Paul Hartley's 200th game in charge and it coincides with his 500th game in football management overall. 

 

 

 

 

Back in for a quick forecast for this game after my successful scrabble and yahtzee predictions we used the seasonal ELF game to predict our fortunes.

 

With my nephew playing the blue elf for cove and myself playing red for ict  Cove surged into an 8-7  early lead in the first part of the game but as always by eating two gingerbread men worth five jelly beans caley overtook cove for a 12- 8 win.

 

Using my seer sense i think this means a 3-2 win for caley thistle.

Good luck. Enjoy the game....

 

 

 

 

 

 

24 minutes ago, Moogthurso said:

Cove surged into an ...  early lead in the first part of the game

You got that right     

Please eat more gingerbread men.

All turned to *****! 2-0 down already. How is it we can beat teams at the top but get one mid table and we just roll over. 

16 minutes ago, snorbens_caleyman said:

You got that right     

Please eat more gingerbread men.

I'm eating gingerbread men for all of us now.

Don't panic. We will recover second half.

Lucky to be 1-2 down. 

FT 1-4 and Cove should’ve scored a couple more. They were just better than us all over the pitch and our players looked a bit lost and aimless at times.

Looks like a poor result. 

 

Did we miss Thomson in midfield. Or was it more defensive frailties.

 

 

Outworked and outfought.

Quality up front...

Nae defence (literally), nae attack, nae bovril!!

Positives 

# Dibaga - saved us from a thumping.

# Longstaff - our only real threat.

# Didn't rain. 
 

We had some spurts of nice passing in non-threatening areas, but that was it. Outfought, outclassed and out-thought.

Put down to a bad day. Move on! 
 

 

Edited December 28, 2024Dec 28 by big cherly

Halfway through our season, we are 9 points behind Annan.   If we hadn't had 15 points deducted, we'd be 6 points ahead of them.

Survival in League One must be our main goal this season.  So, assuming that Annan's form remains the same, in the New Year we need to be a bit better than we were in the first half of the season, if we are to reach safety in 8th spot.  Just a wee bit better - not a complete turnaround, about half a point a game better.  

Given that we no longer have Ferguson holding us back, I think that there is a fighting chance of achieving that! 

A bad day at the office. It always happens. Regroup and move on. 

Fans turned up, pity the players did not.

Seen some really good performances in the last couple weeks at Cove ,Montrose and Stenhousemuir but that was just woeful.

Feeble defending set the tone for a terrible afternoon in a game we were never in.

Hope it's just a bad day, but said that after Arbroath turned us over a couple of weeks ago.

 

Ouch - didn’t see that one coming! 

Edited December 28, 2024Dec 28 by CaleyCanary
.

Rant incoming!

I am totally appalled at the complete boneheads in the stand who were booing the team off the park today. And no… I don’t buy into the entitled “we’ve paid our money so we can do what we want” nonsense. Sorry, if you have a self esteem problem or similar, creating some fundamental need for the regular gratification of witnessing sporting success that prompts the need to boo when you don’t get what you want… then please go and watch American Wrestling or something else where booing is considered to make a contribution.

This is a football club that is fighting for its life and the team and management have been doing a damned good job of helping to rescue it from a situation that isn’t of their making and was created by persons now mercifully no longer here. Sure, today’s performance was very poor and that was willingly acknowledged during post match interviews - where one interviewee, without being prompted, volunteered that the squad had found this idiocy very unsettling.

If these clowns claim to be genuine supporters of this club, as opposed to entitled glory hunters, then they need to get a grip and realise that the only thing behaviour like this is going to do is to demoralise and undermine this young, progressing side - to the detriment of the club.

OK… that’s my say on this appalling nonsense which is putting this club in danger of slipping back in its gallant fight against oblivion, and if anyone is offended at what I’ve said or would seek to justify what happened, I would reply “Tough… and maybe take a damned good look at yourself.” (And please desist from spouting cliches about Happy Clappers.)

These players and coaches need all the constructive support they can get.

Edited December 28, 2024Dec 28 by Charles Bannerman

Get what you are saying, but rightly so, fans have a right to be angry. OK maybe some have gone over the top, but that was 4 going on 5 or 6 today.

FFS we were completely battered at home by Cove, a team we completely dominated only a matter of weeks ago in the last league fixture.

 

1 hour ago, Charles Bannerman said:

Rant incoming!

I am totally appalled at the complete boneheads in the stand who were booing the team off the park today. And no… I don’t buy into the entitled “we’ve paid our money so we can do what we want” nonsense. Sorry, if you have a self esteem problem or similar, creating some fundamental need for the regular gratification of witnessing sporting success that prompts the need to boo when you don’t get what you want… then please go and watch American Wrestling or something else where booing is considered to make a contribution.

This is a football club that is fighting for its life and the team and management have been doing a damned good job of helping to rescue it from a situation that isn’t of their making and was created by persons now mercifully no longer here. Sure, today’s performance was very poor and that was willingly acknowledged during post match interviews - where one interviewee, without being prompted, volunteered that the squad had found this idiocy very unsettling.

If these clowns claim to be genuine supporters of this club, as opposed to entitled glory hunters, then they need to get a grip and realise that the only thing behaviour like this is going to do is to demoralise and undermine this young, progressing side - to the detriment of the club.

OK… that’s my say on this appalling nonsense which is putting this club in danger of slipping back in its gallant fight against oblivion, and if anyone is offended at what I’ve said or would seek to justify what happened, I would reply “Tough… and maybe take a damned good look at yourself.” (And please desist from spouting cliches about Happy Clappers.)

These players and coaches need all the constructive support they can get.

Everyone can / should have a rant! That’s part of the joy of attending matches. Yes the team/club is fighting for its life, but let’s not condemn any criticism from what was a rotten performance today with very few exceptions. 
It was a no-show by our team today and that happens, so let’s recognise that and hope we learn and move on. 

Big game coming up next week. If I have a choice I would take loosing today against Cove if we win next Saturday.

bc

Edited December 28, 2024Dec 28 by big cherly

39 minutes ago, Charles Bannerman said:

Rant incoming!

I am totally appalled at the complete boneheads in the stand who were booing the team off the park today. And no… I don’t buy into the entitled “we’ve paid our money so we can do what we want” nonsense. Sorry, if you have a self esteem problem or similar, creating some fundamental need for the regular gratification of witnessing sporting success that prompts the need to boo when you don’t get what you want… then please go and watch American Wrestling or something else where booing is considered to make a contribution.

This is a football club that is fighting for its life and the team and management have been doing a damned good job of helping to rescue it from a situation that isn’t of their making and was created by persons now mercifully no longer here. Sure, today’s performance was very poor and that was willingly acknowledged during post match interviews - where one interviewee, without being prompted, volunteered that the squad had found this idiocy very unsettling.

If these clowns claim to be genuine supporters of this club, as opposed to entitled glory hunters, then they need to get a grip and realise that the only thing behaviour like this is going to do is to demoralise and undermine this young, progressing side - to the detriment of the club.

OK… that’s my say on this appalling nonsense which is putting this club in danger of slipping back in its gallant fight against oblivion, and if anyone is offended at what I’ve said or would seek to justify what happened, I would reply “Tough… and maybe take a damned good look at yourself.” (And please desist from spouting cliches about Happy Clappers.)

These players and coaches need all the constructive support they can get.

 Chill oot Charlie !!!

Today’s performance was as bad as I’ve seen in a very long time! Hopefully it’s just a blip on the radar. If it wasn’t for Musa that could have been 6 or 7. Ethan Cairns did well when he came on, hopefully he gets a run in the team. Serious question. Do our players do gym work? Keith Bray, Adam Mackinonn and Robbie Thompson to name a few get nudged off the ball far too easily. Surely the club should be putting these guys through strength and conditioning programs. 

16 minutes ago, LisleRightPeg said:

Serious question. Do our players do gym work? Keith Bray, Adam Mackinonn and Robbie Thompson to name a few get nudged off the ball far too easily. Surely the club should be putting these guys through strength and conditioning programs. 

I don’t know what strength and conditioning they do, but certainly the players seem to be lasting the 90 minutes a bit better now than they were a couple of months ago (which is a different issue.)

To achieve strength gain, you really need at least two specific strength sessions a week. It’s maybe also worth remembering that many of these players are still young boys who won’t yet have reached their full strength capacity.

A game of 2 halves and we were sh!te in both.

Perhaps too much Christmas pud was had by those in red and blue!

Couldn't keep possession - either pushed off the ball far too easily or passing to an opponent.

Cove came prepared and soaked up everything we threw at them with ease, and with similar ease strolled through our defence whenever they fancied a shot at goal. 

They wanted it so much more than we did and could have won by a much bigger margin.

If this is the level of desire that ICT are gonna be showing then perhaps I should be looking elsewhere for my Saturday entertainment!

(For what it's worth, Longstaff and Dibaga joint MotM - that is of course if we exclude the Cove players!)

Edited December 28, 2024Dec 28 by buckett

I was wondering when we last conceded 4 at home - had a look back and it seems to be v Celtic almost 8 years ago.

Happy New Year

 

1 hour ago, Charles Bannerman said:

Rant incoming!

I am totally appalled at the complete boneheads in the stand who were booing the team off the park today. And no… I don’t buy into the entitled “we’ve paid our money so we can do what we want” nonsense. Sorry, if you have a self esteem problem or similar, creating some fundamental need for the regular gratification of witnessing sporting success that prompts the need to boo when you don’t get what you want… then please go and watch American Wrestling or something else where booing is considered to make a contribution.

This is a football club that is fighting for its life and the team and management have been doing a damned good job of helping to rescue it from a situation that isn’t of their making and was created by persons now mercifully no longer here. Sure, today’s performance was very poor and that was willingly acknowledged during post match interviews - where one interviewee, without being prompted, volunteered that the squad had found this idiocy very unsettling.

If these clowns claim to be genuine supporters of this club, as opposed to entitled glory hunters, then they need to get a grip and realise that the only thing behaviour like this is going to do is to demoralise and undermine this young, progressing side - to the detriment of the club.

OK… that’s my say on this appalling nonsense which is putting this club in danger of slipping back in its gallant fight against oblivion, and if anyone is offended at what I’ve said or would seek to justify what happened, I would reply “Tough… and maybe take a damned good look at yourself.” (And please desist from spouting cliches about Happy Clappers.)

These players and coaches need all the constructive support they can get.

I understand your anger and whilst not a booer myself, I can also understand those who are.

Professional footballers are paid to entertain. That's why we pay to go and watch them perform. When they appear careless, over-casual and generally disinterested in their performance then the paying audience is bound to be disenchanted and perfectly ENTITLED to express their disapproval.

If actors on a stage fluff their lines all the time the audience will make their feelings known.

That's the entertainment industry!

Credit where credit is due.  Cove came with a game plan and executed it brilliantly.  They knew that we would come out looking to be positive and they pressed us really hard giving us very little time of the ball and forcing errors.  Our approach left us a little short at the back and this was exploited by quick, well supported breaks.  It was a high energy, high risk strategy and with just 5 subs on the bench it probably took us by surprise.  It paid off for them with 2 early goals helped by some rather panicked defending.  Their high energy pressing game was not sustainable and they were happy to sit a bit deeper and soak up pressure after the 2 goals.  We pulled one back and had we been a bit more clinical we could have got an equaliser before half time.  Had we done so, I would have fancied us to win.  Alas it was not to be.

We then conceded a very soft 3rd goal early in the 2nd half which knocked the confidence out of the team.  Just when the team most needed the support of the home fans, many of our "fans" turned against the team, further denting the confidence.  Time and again players would simply pass square, or back so that the responsibility for trying to do something positive was passed on with the ball.  Only Longstaff was showing any real attacking intent.  Meanwhile Cove continued to press aggressively whenever we did find a bit of space.  They also deployed the tactic of feigning injury whenever they were tackled which allowed the rest of the team to have a minute or two to catch their breath.  Their attitude was exemplified by Doyle who went up for a set piece late in the game with them with a 2 goal advantage.  The ball went out for a goal kick which Musa was looking to take quickly.  Doyle got his head down and literally sprinted back into his own half, shouted instructions to his team mates and then won the header from Musa's long kick.

We were far from our best today and the way Cove  out-thought, out-fort and out-played us will have damaged the players' confidence.  As Charles so rightly says, these young players desperately need the support of the fans in this particularly difficult time for the club.  Late in the game one of our lads got behind the defence and put a ball into the box.  It wasn't a great ball and the keeper comfortably gathered it, but at least the lad had got into the good position and played the ball into the box.  Next time, a better ball might result in a goal.  Some of us applauded  his effort but one loud voice several rows down shouted "You're f***ing useless" at the young lad.  How the hell is that going to help anyone?  Next time the lad might not run into the space  or will look for a safer ball to play so he doesn't get abused like that.  If you are moronic enough to abuse your own players, at least have the decency to do it from the South Stand.  After all, it only helps one team - and it is not ICT.