This could turn into a bit of a ramble...

I've been on CTO for the best part of a year now. I've searched the forums but haven't found any posts where members explain why they came to be ICT fans. It struck me that as the club is only 31 years old there can't be anyone who (like many clubs fans) have been a supporter for generations. I do appreciate that there were two clubs before with a rich history, and I guess most will come from one of those two backgrounds but there has to be some who have made a choice. I've read Charles Bannerman's book "Against All Odds" and have no intention of dragging up any acrimony from the time of the merger, just wondering what made you choose ICT?

For me, the seed was sown 20 years ago when I took a summer holiday in the Highlands (a 10 hour drive from where I live), although that seed took a long while to germinate. I've been a West Ham fan since April 1980 (I did it for a bet) and held a season ticket for 26 years, some of which I travelled home and away every week supporting the team (over 800 matches and 42 current English grounds visited, plus another ten or a dozen no longer in existence). It was against this backdrop of visiting football grounds that travelling up the A9 and seeing a stadium, that you could see into, right next to a main road took my attention [the only other one that springs to mind is Walsall next to the M6]. After this if it ever came up in conversation about having a Scottish team, ICT woud be who I "claimed" although I never really followed any results, just the occasional glance at the tables.

I regularly listen to "The Price of Football" podcast, and in the late summer of 2024 heard Andrew Moffat from "The Wyness Shuffle" when he was on as a guest discussing the club's precarious financial position. I then downloaded and listened to a number of episodes of TWS, chucked a few quid in the pot of the crowdfunding effort, joined the ICT Supporters Trust and bought a shirt in an effort to try and help the club survive (clearly I'm no Alan Savage, but every little helps, right?). Administration then hit and I was invested in the survival battle, both on and off the pitch. I gave up my west Ham season ticket at the end of 2023/24, so following the ICT results from afar helped fill Saturday afternoons, and still do with few Premier League matches at 3pm on a Saturday.

Maybe I've been lucky in my short time being invested that I didn't really have to endure Big Dunc's tactics, and have only known Kell's gameplans. That in itself is like a breath of fresh air to the, frankly quite boring Premier League down here. OK so the players may be more technically gifted but the "Guardiola" possession tactics that everyone seems to want to employ are dull. I'm really keen to get to some ICT games this season (maybe the 10 hour round trip to QoS next weekend will be my first). The crazy thing is that a plane to Inverness, match ticket and B&B are no more expensive than a train to the London Stadium and a match ticket, such are the PL prices.

Anyway, enough of me, what's your story?

Well well, another supporter south of the border...English too? I am a Crystal Palace supporter of 50odd years [and we have finally won something!], but have supported Caley properly [i.e. going to match] since 2013. How did I get here? It was the famous 'supercaleygoballistic' cup win against Celtic that first brought the club to my attention, I later fancied supporting a Scottish club, then a highland tour trip with my eldest daughter inc' a cheeky stop by our driver at the stadium sealed it [plus ICT playing in the same colours as Palace]. I manage two to three trips year up to either 'home' or 'away'. My wife sometimes comes up for the 'home' games I am doing an 'overnighter' which she enjoys and Inverness and the area is lovely. I live in South London, so usually fly from Gatwick, but also Luton [Thameslink helps] I have even taken the train to Edinburgh [from Kings Cross] and last January did away to Queen of the South [Dumfries] mid-week stopping at Carlisle. I once did an overnight Megabus sleeper from London Victoria to get to an early kick off Cup semi-final [we beat Virgil van Dijk's Celtic] , and have been known to get an overnight coach home after games near Glasgow or Edinburgh. My family laugh at how I like to plan the logistics of trips [how many modes of transport can I use], but I do love doing the away games as you get to see more of Scotland, and the away support is fab [Dumbarton away this year was simply superb]. I tend to plan well ahead to get good deals on hotels/fares. I have just retired but start University this month so funds are a little tighter, but I am flying British Airway to Inverness from Heathrow and back in the same day this November having got a great deal on fares! Our recent history has been chequered to say the least but things are looking bright again, I absolutely love supporting Caley and have been to three cup finals, along with trips to places like Dundee, Ayr, Livingstone, Airdrie, Dunfermline, Partick Thistle and Stenhousemuir [although it was Queens Park playing us...don't ask!], Covid cost me a trip to Kilmarnock, and gales cancelled my visit to Hearts.

So welcome aboard, you'll enjoy the ride...maybe see you in East Fife next spring

Great topic !

I am one of the locals (or ex-locals) and grew up supporting Caley. I lived in Dalneigh, which was the traditional hotbed of Caley support and from my home in Hawthorn Drive we used to see the players run down the street on their way from Telford Street to what they used as a training pitch at the park beside Dalneigh Primary School a few nights a week.

I am an IT guy so when the club was formed in 1994 I started this website which has gone through many incarnations in the last 31 years, including a 10-year spell where it was either the "almost official" and then the "official" site of the club before reverting back to being fully independent. Met some great characters through this website over the years whether at the club, locals, ex-pats, or indeed those who decided to follow the team for some other reason and from some other place. Back then the people travelling from afar were deemed as "InterNutters"! and we often met up when they travelled first in the Caley Inn when Don and Brigit were the landlords, then, latterly in the Innes Bar where Colin offered us a home.

Had what I thought to be the best season ticket seats in the stadium, right above the tunnel in the main stand and over the years our initial group of 4 dished out some very spicy 'banter' which nowadays might get us kicked out of the stadium! As many know, one member of our group is no longer with us, and I became an ex-pat myself in 2003 after moving to Canada.

I kept the site going because Caley Thistle is in my blood, I will always be an Invernessian, a Highlander, and a Scotsman (in that order). It also keeps me in touch with friends and family from the UK. My voice may now have an odd twang of Canadian in it at times, and I may have fallen into using some North American words but a couple of pints back in Inverness and the old accent and vocabulary is back. Where possible, my trips home are timed with one eye on the football calendar as much as anything else.

Over here, I have been a Toronto FC season ticket holder since they formed in 2007. I was actually committed to a season ticket in 2006 before the team was officially formed, before there was a manager, before the stadium was built and before we had any players. Much like supporting ICT, supporting another acronym like TFC has also been a roller coaster ride of epic proportions. I have seen lots of highs and lows with both teams, whether it was winning the Scottish Cup as an ICT supporter or winning the MLS Cup and Supporters Shield as a TFC supporter or finishing dead last as TFC or being in the Caledonian stadium the day we were officially relegated from the Premiership.

The experience is different, but oddly, despite the difference in scale, and the fact that the owners of TFC have more money than we can dream of (they own TFC, The Toronto Maple Leafs, the Toronto Raptors and multiple concert and sporting arenas around the city as well as lots of other stuff) some things feel weirdly like they are happening in a parallel universe they are so similar. There are also another few ICT fans at TFC. Some I have converted as they are mates (including one boy who is also a West Ham fan - and West Ham did play the All-Star game in Toronto a few years ago BTW [link1] [link2] ) whereas one or two are actual ICT fans who have travelled back to Inverness (and to the cup final as well) to watch the mighty ICT! Perhaps @luvgravy will reappear to tell his own story.

My son (12) is currently forging his own pathway in football. He was on the books with Toronto FC Juniors until COVID hit and after that programme did not get restarted afterwards, he now plays what they call 'Rep Soccer' over here . Rep is competitive football from ages 4-13, probably closest resembling the Inverness Street League ... but his team travel all around the Northern suburbs of Toronto so 1-2 hour drives are not uncommon. This summer we had tournaments in Niagara Falls and Montreal which were fun. We were just at his tryouts for the season that starts next month for his next age group (U13) and looks like he will get into what they call the High-Performance / Talented Pathway program. For me that means twice the cost and twice the travel as we may have to go as far as Niagara Falls (2.5hr drive one way) or Ottawa (4 hr drive one way) for games instead of just around Toronto, but he loves it. If he enjoys it and can develop his talent, then that's what matters! Realistically, he is more Messy than Messi and for some reason he supports Spurs and Real Madrid (mainly because of Son, and Vini Jr) but he will learn 😉! I would love to see him run out at the Caledonian Stadium in a Caley Thistle top as a player, rather than a mascot, which he did on that fateful day we were relegated, but there is a long road to travel before he does that for any senior team ... we can dream.

Anyhow - will wrap this up now and say I am looking forward to reading more potted histories from others ...

I too am an Invernessian now living in Forres. But I was down in Sheffield - torn between Blades and Owls - when ICT Were formed as a result of the merger. I was also from Dalneigh so I was a Caley fan. I remember my first game - a win - against Buckie Thistle standing at the Howden End aged 7 with my Dad. This was around 1962 and the team I remember featured the Van Dijk -like Alan Presslie, the goal machines Chic Allan and Davy Johnson, the Neild brothers, and later on, my school mate Gordy Fyffe.

Returning to Scotland in 1997 my first ICT game was like a dream. I went alone and delighted in the familiarity of supporting my home team. For the last 10 years or so illness and disability have reduced my supporting to the armchair variety but having been an early Internutter alongside the late Gordyfromsneck and Mr Biro I delight in keeping connected via CTO and now the Supporters Trust. All the best to supporters old and new wherever you come from.

1 hour ago, Mr Eager said:

having been an early Internutter alongside the late Gordyfromsneck and Mr Biro I delight in keeping connected via CTO and now the Supporters Trust. All the best to supporters old and new wherever you come from.

from the archives (2003) .... [click to view full size]

I got into Caley Thistle back in 96 when the new stadium went up. At the time I was living in Tain and I only knew one other Caley fan in my school. Everyone else was County daft. It wasn’t exactly easy being the odd one out, but back then we always seemed to get the better of them, so I didn’t mind too much. If anything, it made the wins even sweeter.

My dad was the main reason I followed Caley. He’d been an old Caley fan before the merger, so he sort of nudged me that way. He used to take me to games, and that’s where it stuck.

I’ve been in Paisley for about twenty years now, but I still get to my fair share of games. I still try and head north a couple of times a season.

Being a Caley fan has never been the easy choice – and it still isn’t – but that’s what makes it. You take the rough with the smooth, and when the big moments come, they mean ten times more. For me it’s always been about more than just football. It’s family, it’s identity, my connection to the Highlands and it’s that little bit of pride knowing you stuck with your team through everything. The one thing that really annoys me is missing out on those first two years, and not seeing Telford Street.

I was born in Cheshire in the North West and have moved around the country a fair bit. One of these moves happened in 2001 when i was just about to leave for High School and moved to Caithness on the very North Highland coast. I grew up a Man United fan and my only football game i'd ever been too was at Crewe Alexandra my home town. After moving to the Highlands me and my dad went to watch ICT play Ayr United with just over a 1,000 supporters and three parts of the stadium being terraced. I Remember Barry Robson was playing as someone made an unsavoury comment to do with his hair and thought it was aimed at me haha. We continued to go to the odd game and then decided to go to the promotion game vs St Johnstone in 04. We hadn't bought tickets and only found out it was sold out listening to Moray Firth on the way down. We were distraught and annoyed at my dad for presuming but we ended up having a great day. We spent the day with about 50-100 others standing next to the A9 watching partly from the Bridge. When Caley were promoted and they opened the gate we ran inside to see the trophy lifted.

From then I was hooked and went to a few games in the top flight when Caley returned to Inverness for half a season. Their first full season in 05/06 saw my purchase a season ticket with my mate from school and we travelled down from Caithness on the bus for every home game. My mate stopped going and my sister took his seat eventually and we both continued to be season ticket holder until 2012. By that time I had moved to Stirling for university and continued to travel up by train for home matches, while adding some away days to the card. I wrote match reports and previews for this site. After i graduated in 2012 my family moved back to Cheshire for a few years temporarily as part of my dads job. I had to give up the season ticket but i continued to go to the big games with the League cup semi win over Hearts with nine men and the final against Aberdeen. I returned a year later for the Scottish Cup semi vs Celtic and subsequent final vs Falkirk. I missed the small trip to Europe and will remain a regret as not sure if that will ever happen again. I came up for the final vs Celtic 2 years ago and met my sister at Hampden before returning home with her to see her get married up here.

My family moved back to sell our house in Caithness but loved the lifestyle of the highlands too much to leave Scotland and ended up moving slightly further South to a small place near Portmahomack not far from Tain. I regularly come home to visit and even my sister moved back here with her wife after covid. I came up for the final vs Celtic 2 years ago and met my sister at Hampden before returning home with her to see her get married up here. It gives me the great opportunity to get to a home game and I am currently up North and attended the Alloa match 2 weeks ago. I am in my mid 30's now and live in Ipswich, I have made lots of friends through going to watch Ipswich Town and becoming a ST holder there. I went to some fun League 1 matches that reminded me of some the grounds in Scotland that i went with following Caley and eventually got to take in the premier League last season albeit for one season. I have a mate through Ipswich, who is also a Caley fan and happened to be working in Glasgow on the week of the famous Scottish Cup upset. He bought a ticket for the away end and ever since has been hooked. He has also done the NC500 but has not been to many matches in the highlands so I am trying to get a small band of Ipswich supporters that I am close too, to come up and see the highlands and take in a game for a long weekend. Ever since the first time I went to watch I was hooked and continue to support the club afar with the Wyness Shuffle Podcast being a great listen to keep me connected with everything Caley Thistle and hope that the bad times are behind the club and that soon it can again punch above its weight and give some of the more established names in Scottish football a bloody nose once again.

Not a very exciting story for me! Born in Inverness always lived here. Always liked football but really got into it when Euro 96 was on, in November my uncle asked what I wanted for my birthday i said to go to a local football game, (didn't even know who the local team were!). We went to a game mid November for the home Ict v County derby and I was hooked from the first minute and had a season ticket ever since.

For most on here my story is well known. However, there are a quite a few now that don't know the history, in fact, some probably weren't born when I went to my first Caledonian game.

My interest in the club started back in 1978 during a motorcycling holiday. We'd entered Inverness from the North and as we came over the Caledonian canal I saw the Telford St ground to my right. Once at the B&B I asked the land lady what she knew about the club. I was then informed that Inverness actually has three teams. The penny dropped when I recalled seeing these Inverness clubs in the Scottish Cup.

Anyway, I'd challenged myself to watch a game at Telford St but they were never at home when I returned. In fact I saw Thistle and Clach before the famous Caley.

Bringing up a family and working curtailed long trips away and it wasn't until Jan 1990 before seeing first Caley match. This was Airdrie away. A Scottish Cup Tie that Caley should have won 2-1 if it wasn't for all that injury time.

Sat 1st Sept 1990 was my first home game. A 4-0 win over Rothes. I was given a tour of the club and my eldest son and I were guests of the club. An amazing day.

With the advent of the internet I found this very forum and it wasn't long before I was visiting the Caley Inn where we met @Scotty and others. I always remember him introducing himself and he mentioned to this giant of a man - [Big Stew ❤️] - that I was English. I nearly shat myself as he approached but, wow, what a man he was. Never let me buy a drink and ruined my liver. Mrs G and my two boys were with us at the time. So many friendships have stemmed from that day and some are, sadly, no longer with us.

Travelling from Coventry a home game was always a weekender. Some away games could be done in a day depending how close to Glasgow / Edinburgh they were.

Too date I have been to 213 games and there was only one season when I never went to a game.

My record: P 213; W 97, D 50, Lost 66, F 367, A 264

There were also nine other games that I'd travelled up for. 8 were postponed and 1 when the train broke down at Beattock.

And, before you ask....No...I'd don't have a figure for the total miles travelled.😂

My story is simple. Born in Lewiston. Reached 16 and struggled to find work other than family farming which didn't really appeal. I spent a year learning the noble art of stone walling on a YTS (Do you remember those?). On day release at college, I walked past the army recruitment office and found myself applying for the Queen's shilling - all these years later, I'm still taking the shilling. I've been all over the world but always found time to take in games, home and away, sometimes involving 1000 mile round trips. My dad used to take me to watch Caley at Telford Street until the merger then it was a natural progression to carrying on with ICT. My claim to fame is during my final year of my degree, I had to undertake a sports psychology study of the first team - including the likes of Bobby Mann, Charlie Christie, Barry Wilson etc. I scored a first for my project - and that was my love for the club cemented. A proper family club that I am glad to see has regained the ethos that made the club great in the first place - long may it continue!

Edited September 13, 2025Sep 13 by ClickbaitProponent

Nothing to see here to be honest

I was a massive Jambo fan when I was young and long before Inverness had a team in the big boys leagues. When I moved to Inverness from Grantown on Spey to work for BT, I always favoured the underdog. At that time it was Clach. I even travelled to Glasgow in 1975 to watch them in a Scottish cup tie against Dumbarton when they played at Boghead. It was a pretty dreich day when we got to the station at Glasgow but were told the game was still on. Off we hopped to Dumbarton to be met by a sign at the station that the game was off. Meh! Clach eventually lost the replay 2-1. Some team Clach had back then before half went to County and the other half went to Caley.

Scottish Cup (3rd Round)
Wednesday, January 29th, 1975
Boghead Park. Att. 4,000
3:00 PM Kick-off

McDonald Allison A. Kennedy Stuart Giles Corbett MacIntosh ⚽ McLaren C. Kennedy McLennan Stevenson

As fickle as I was back then, I was nearer to Kingsmills and also took in many of their games. The big one being the 3-0 thrashing of Kilmarnock in the Scottish Cup 1985 at Kingsmills Park. Inverness Thistle 3-0 Kilmarnock is a result still considered to be one of the worst in Kilmarnock’s history. Thistle were in the Highland League and Killie were struggling. The win earned Inverness Thistle a money-spinning tie at Celtic Park in the next round, where they lost 6-0. The ground was demolished in the 1990s. (Jimmy Calder, the young brickie from Grantown was a reserve striker for Thistle in that game.) Having coming out of Parkhead at the end of the game, a Glasgow cabby shouted over to me "what was the score Jimmy" 6-0 I retorted "who fur" was his dense reply??? Oddly, Caley were my least favourite Highland side but I did the odd bit of glory hunting for the big games.

Anyway, when the Caley Jags entered the Leagues I would go to Inverness or Dingwall on alternative weeks before my son said that's plenty, I'm no going back to Dingwall unless we are playing them.

The Jambos were relegated to second choice by now and my main focus was Inverness Caledonian Thistle. So much so, that I went on a (family) holiday to Denmark which just so happened to coincide with Craig Brewster's Caley Jags pre-season tour....... in Denmark. Talking of Brewster, enjoyed siting a banner made from the best wallpaper on the bank near the bridge with paint declaring Brewster Out. Looked good on Sky TV for the televised game that day. Caley100 and Zogg were the other perpetrators. 👀

My other son moved to Guildford with his work and when he was on the forums he was known as Guildford Caley Fan. He kept asking me how the games were going from afar and that is when Guildford Caley Fans very own match reports were born which resulted in me being asked if I could help out with doing some articles for the website. I thought hey ho, I'll just make them a wee bit bigger and they have since grown arms and legs and after something like fifteen years you seem to have drawn the short straw and are unfortunately stuck with me. He is now known as Crusher but is not a regular visitor on here now.

So that's me, seen us through the highs and lows from nothing to Scottish Cup winners to administration and back (just). Always support local and since we have a team in that bracket since 94/95 that is where my allegiance lies.

Met many good friends through my association with this forum. Cheers all.

ps, still enjoyed yesterdays result at Ibrox though

Inverness all my life. Born in grant street in the late 50’s, growing up in the bught, moving in teens to new housing in merkinch, I suppose clach were my team.

As young kids we would Jupe into games on a Saturday to watch whoever of the 3 that were at home.

Back in those days you got in for free after half time, I was told a funny story once, might have told it in another thread, a guy went at half time for a pint to the heathmount and as he turned to his side a Brora player in full kit was standing next to him at the bar drinking a pint, muddy boots and all. I believe he had a great game second half. Don’t know how he managed it as back in 85 I was training for the Glasgow marathon. Mate and I did a 15 mile run one evening and as we neared home we passed the fluke, fancy a pint he said. We had 2 each and it was some struggle running the 400 yards home with 2 pints bouncing around in the belly.

Back then clach park was the place to be on a Saturday. The shed had some characters in it. Fridge, Dundee and mapleback would roast the linesman.

One Saturday, half time whistle went and mapleback was standing at the far goal line, Dundee was on the half way line, and another guy had maplebacks whippet at the railway end goal line . Dundee started legging it pissed as a fart, but the whippet passed him before the 18 yard box.

Another week, streaking had just arrived in the uk. Half time whistle was just about to be blown, I saw Dundee, wearing an overcoat and wellies behind the railway end goals. As the players left the pitch he hopped over the wall and removed the coat and ran bollock naked in wellies to the far end with the tannoy announcer screaming “ we know who you are, you won’t get into this ground again” . Hilarious stuff for the fans.

At 15 I was caley 2nd team regular for a couple of seasons, never going to make 1st team. Playing reserve games with 1st team players who were returning from injury or needed game time we would play mid week under the lights. A couple of experienced players turned up one night and said I am still not fully fit, ran the big bath, got in it and smoked cigars until the rest of us jumped in after training. My first game at Telford st as a skinny 15 year old I got the kit on. Top was too big and the shorts wouldn’t stay up. I had to grab the waist and fold it back and secure it with a safety pin. It was like a nappy on me.

At 17 the clach manager approached caley wanting to sign me, trainer at the time hamish Munro had a chat with me and said he hoped I stayed at caley but I knew the score and headed off to clach. Turned up for training on the Monday night I entered the home dressing when a guy said who are you. Told him the story and he said he got sacked yesterday I am the new manager, Jim Fleming ex Dundee player. I said ok and turned round to walk out. He said wait, come join us. He obviously didn’t fancy me and it was 2 years as a regular in the second team. I had to sign for clach as you needed to be registered to play 2nd team games. I got asked to play for a welfare league team. Ignorant of the rules I played a cup semi final against a team who were managed by someone I knew. We beat them 2-1 but he knew I signed semi pro and complained to the welfare league. We lost the game and I got banned. So there I was nearly 19 and retired from football, I took up golf.

That was me until 94. I didn’t see the point of watching highland league football as the players were guys I either played with/against in school or played with/against in the caley/clach 2nd team games v RC, Elgin, thistle, clach, caley. Was great though you being on the same park with great players with or against.

After the merger my father asked one day do you fancy going to watch the new team, I said no, I play golf and then cut the grass on Saturday. Wife heard me and gave me a good talking to. So that was me, ict when at home and when ict away watch RC after a couple in the national, as old boy was Dingwall born.

When he passed on 2001 I packed in the football again, didn’t think it was fair me going, him not. Wife intervened again saying my 1st grandchild wanted to go to games, so bought season tickets and that lasted a couple of years until she got fed up, but then 2nd grandchild was at an age to go and him and I saw the glory years up to the cup final win.

I now take the youngest 2 grandkids of my 15. Hopefully we will see us rise up again.

Got season tickets also for RC but ICT is my team.

Some great stories here, from locals and not so locals. Thanks to those who have contributed so far.