Read this article, and Mr Edwards you are a top bloke for writing this.

http://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/news/fu...loom_large.html

Well said Mr Edwards!

A Sports Journalist writing an honest, fair and anti-Old Firm article....whats the world coming to, lol..

wise words Mr Ed and ones i hope to come true

Nice One

Aye, Mike Edwards is spot-on with his article. We'd be far better off without Rangers and Celtic, mainly for all the hateful baggage that's attached to them. In fact, Scotland would be better off without them.

:015: :thumb04: :018: ;)

A brave article in which I can find little to argue with.

A brave article in which I can find little to argue with.

Top bloke, went to school with Grassa.

Mike's a good man and a Caley Thistle supporter to boot despite being transplanted to Glasgow in his working life.

Saw mike edwards on scotland today live from manchester on the night of the rangers v zenit game. He was interviewing 3 rangers fans who all spoke with inverness accents. Having read mike's article i think it is fair to say this interview would have created a mixture of emotions for him.

Edited August 13, 200817 yr by Big Mac

Can't take issue with any of it.

Top bloke, went to school with Grassa.

Do you not mean Grassa went to school with Mike Edwards? :thumb04:

As Andy Gray would say.......top drawer.

Find it amusing that he uses the Caley-Thistle merger as some sort of indicator of sucsess. Fact is...there is still a rivalry within our own supporters base 14 years on and there are still a lot of Stay Aways from both sides

I think the so-called "rivalry" between fans of the pre-merger teams is a bit of a myth and what issues might have existed have turned in to no more than good hearted banter between guys in the pub before the game.

As for the "lots of stay away fans"...that's a total myth. The real die hard stay aways can probably be counted on the fingers of one hand...the rest are mostly guys who had another "big team" at the time of the merger and decided to follow them instead....the merger is just a convenient excuse for them to head off down to Glasgow or through to Aberdeen on a Saturday instead of coming to to TCS.

Thanks Caley D. You have saved me the tedium of once again having to demonstrate how completely wide of the mark this hardy annual is, and indeed has been since before the turn of the millennium.

I think the so-called "rivalry" between fans of the pre-merger teams is a bit of a myth and what issues might have existed have turned in to no more than good hearted banter between guys in the pub before the game.

As for the "lots of stay away fans"...that's a total myth. The real die hard stay aways can probably be counted on the fingers of one hand...the rest are mostly guys who had another "big team" at the time of the merger and decided to follow them instead....the merger is just a convenient excuse for them to head off down to Glasgow or through to Aberdeen on a Saturday instead of coming to to TCS.

There is still a high number of fans of Caley from HL days that i knew who never come to watch ICT, I can assure you of that

Edited August 13, 200817 yr by SMEE

Their loss... we could do with their money though.

There is still a high number of fans of Caley from HL days that i knew who never come to watch ICT, I can assure you of that

What is "a high number" ? 10, 20, 50 ?

I know a few who have (or have had) varying degrees of hatred towards ICT because of the merger. Some like Kavs or Mr Douglas have stuck to their guns and vowed not to set foot inside the stadium and I can respect that, others have found they couldnt do without football despite having varying degrees of animosity towards the way the merger happened and some of the figures involved and I can respect that too.

At the end of the day, ICT is not Caley nor is it Thistle, it is the product of their union. ICT has its own fans and has no right to expect or demand that followers of the former teams fall into line and support them. I and many others chose to move onwards from following Caley to supporting ICT and I would hope that those who chose not to can respect my decision in the same way that I respect theirs.

There is still a high number of fans of Caley from HL days that i knew who never come to watch ICT, I can assure you of that

That's a line I've often heard used, but when you ask someone to name these "high numbers" it starts of with about 3 or 4 and dwindles into an...."och, I cannae remember all their names".

I said a high number of the fans that I knew. I know of more that dont go to the games than those who went on to follow ICT .

I always found it difficult to understand why caley fans chose not to follow ICT. The merged team played at Telford St, in what was basically a caley strip, the team was full of former caley players and most of the media and fans even referred to the merged team as 'caley' !

Jags fans found it much more difficult to adopt the new team for exactly the aforementioned reasons! Indeed it took me 6 years before I was to attend an ICT match ....and even then I was coerced into it!!! However, 14 years after the merger and here I am an ICT fan.

I wouldn't say that there is a rivalry amongst former jaggies and caley fans in the ICT support, but it does disappoint me that the club does still adhere to 'the predominantly blue' agreement from the merger, when the hardcore of caley rebels that it was designed to appease are not now ICT fans!!! As it also irks me when I hear media and pundits refer to ICT as 'caley' !!

Personally I do know Jags fans, and some caley fans, that refuse to acknowledge ICT but they number only a couple of dozen !

Do you not mean Grassa went to school with Mike Edwards?

Actually they both went to school with me. :thumb04:

i think that no matter what any of them think,we are inverness caledonian thistle, like it or not we are the best team in inverness,and we are the local team,so if you dont support your local team wether or not you agree with the merge support your local team instead of the old firm!!

i think that no matter what any of them think,we are inverness caledonian thistle, like it or not we are the best team in inverness,and we are the local team,so if you dont support your local team wether or not you agree with the merge support your local team instead of the old firm!!

hereh,here!