Season kicks off early with tough opener at Well

A new era begins at Inverness as Terry Butcher starts season 2011-2012 with only one of the old guard remaining after the end of season cull that saw only Ross Tokely earn a wage for the new campaign. 

Part of the fixtures and fittings have departed as Butcher has sought to take Caley Thistle into the top-six and only time will tell if his decisions to axe Grant Munro and Russell Duncan were the way forward or a backward step.  With striker Adam Rooney off to the Championship with League Cup winners Birmingham City, there are some pretty big boots to fill at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, and new recruits Tom Aldred, Gregory Tade and Greg Tansey have  hard acts to follow to convince the hard to please ICT fans that the rebuilding is heading in the right direction.  At least one familiar face is coming back, Aaron Doran has signed on again so maybe all is not lost as we head into the abyss without our backbone that has served us so well over the years.

With the new season kicking off a couple of weeks ahead of the norm, the early start has it's critics, Butcher amongst them.  He feels that like most other clubs, Inverness have not completed their squad and this has somewhat short-changed the paying public with everyone being kept in the dark; so what's new I hear you say. 

Positive news leaking out from the club has been the mention of new contracts for our management duo coupled with the possibility of some overseas investment being pumped into the club by former local lads made good. 

Our editorial team has opened it's doors for the new season and we welcome some new recruits who will be providing us all with these articles, as well as our more experienced wordsmiths.  Hope you enjoy our offerings.

Themidgetmaestro is first up with his thoughts for the Motherwell game and the trepidation is evident in his quill.

As the Scottish football season starts after a shorter summer hibernation, the nation gets ready to prepare itself for what is guaranteed to be a rollercoaster ride of thrills, spills and plenty of talking points. Inverness on the back of one of their most successful seasons prepare their challenge this campaign without talisman Adam Rooney and the long serving pair of Grant Munro and Russell Duncan plus a host of other names. However Terry Butcher has been kept busy in the transfer market with the likes of Gregory Tade, Andrew Shinnie, Greg Tansey, Tom Aldred, Billy Mckay and Josh Meekings all making their way North. Also making a return is Aaron Doran who signed on a 2 year deal and looking to build on a very promising start he made since joining on loan in January.

A tricky opening encounter for Inverness as a trip to Fir Park beckons against a Motherwell side that have not lost at home to Inverness in 6 meetings. The Scottish cup runners up clinched that final top 6 place last year but still managed to finish 7 points behind Inverness thanks to way the SPL is worked. Motherwell have also had a busy pre-season losing striker John Sutton to Hearts but bringing in Michael Higdon from St. Mirren. Also coming in for the Steelmen the relatively unknown pair of Nicky law from League 1 Bournemouth and Nicky Devlin from Dumbarton.

Both sides enjoyed a fairly productive pre-season with Inverness picking up three comfortable wins against local sides Clach, Forresn and Elgin before drawing against Livingston. Next stop was south of the border where Inverness were made to comeback from a goal down to earn draws against Aldershot and Bristol and picked up a win against Yeovil. The final pre-season match saw Caley come from 3-1 down to salvage a draw in a charity match against Buckie Thistle.

Motherwells’ short pre-season kicked off with wins over Morton and Dumbarton before Stephen Craigan’s testimonial against Partick Thistle provided another win. The Steelmen ended their friendlies with defeat in a “glamour tie” against Leeds United.

As Saturday approaches the adventures of Inverness Caledonian Thistle and it's fans starts a new chapter. More tales of glorious winners and crushing defeats will be written, more stories of sublime feats of brilliance followed by devastating acts of dreadfulness will be told. The tedious journey down the A9 beckons once again and the complaints of over priced tickets, abysmal catering, stewards who are out to ruin everyone’s lives and everything else which is written about Scottish football, all I can say is I can’t wait for it all to begin. The hope is that “second season syndrome” won’t hit the Highlands, but dare I say it......possible top six this year?, yeah, why not, it’s bound to happen one year surely.

Thanks Midget, and a more familiar trend below as Alternative Maryhill opens his account with a blockbuster.

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Motherwell v Inverness Caledonian Thistle, 23rd July 2011

How time flies. It seems just yesterday that the ICT team bus was wending its way between the pit-bings and Buckfast-bottle-strewn byways of North Lanarkshire en route to a season-ending victory against Hamilton, while the away regulars brought the curtain down on a year of loitering in dubious pubs with a visit to the Academical Vaults. Can three months have passed so quickly?

No. In an effort to reduce the number of midweek league games, improve the chances of our European representatives (that went well, didn’t it, Dundee United?) and give the national team more time to prepare for Euro 2012 in the unlikely event that it qualifies, the SPL’s chiefs have chosen to bring the start of the new season forward by three weeks, reducing the close season to ten weeks, and Terry Butcher is Not Happy: the extra-large three lions rattle has fairly flown from the pram in his press interviews this week. And really, who can blame him? Ross Tokely has hardly worn his Kiss Me Quick hat, little Nicky Ross has had to cut short his donkey ride and anglin’ Richie Foran has barely had time to get his rod wet. This can’t be good for team morale...

Moreover, the fixtures have thrown up Motherwell away as the first game of the season, and it will surely conjure up a slightly depressing sense of déjà vu as the team bus once more ventures into this benighted part of west central Scotland. For about half of the players that is. Such have been the changes at TCS in the last ten weeks that seven of the squad which travelled to Hamilton have left the club altogether, and only five of the team that began that match are likely to be in Terry Butcher’s first starting line-up of season 2011-2012. The ICT manager was careful to stress that he believes the decision to reduce the close season was unfair on all SPL clubs and supporters, but his bold choice to overhaul a reasonably successful team so radically despite knowing how little time he had available must now be making him more nervous than most managers about the imminent start to the new season. Slightly mixed messages have come from within TCS in the past few weeks, with Richie Foran asking the supporters for patience in the event of a poor start, as the new team will need time to bed in, while claiming that he is optimistic about a top six finish this season. What seems clear is that both manager and captain expect a team that is now very much Terry Butcher’s to come under close scrutiny from the ICT supporters, and that neither is yet entirely confident that the squad is ready.

A History of the Fixture

On paper, the opening day fixture looks quite kind: it is against a side that finished only one place ahead of ICT last season, with a goal difference of -20 to ICT’s +8 and, thanks to the vagaries of the split, with seven points fewer. Yet despite a fairly modest fanbase and well-publicised financial problems over the years, Motherwell FC are the great survivors of Scottish football: 2011-2012 will be the club’s twenty-seventh consecutive season in the top flight of Scottish football. On top of this, they are a team with a winning record over Caley Thistle. In twenty one league encounters, Motherwell have come out on top in eleven, with ICT winning seven and three being drawn. Motherwell have also won all four of the clubs’ League Cup meetings, while ICT have won both of their games in the Scottish Cup. It is also worth noting that most of ICT’s league successes against Motherwell came in our first three seasons in the SPL – ironically during the period Motherwell were managed by Terry Butcher, then by Maurice Malpas – and that a subsequent shocking run of league results against them only began to be halted in January of this year.

The first competitive match between the clubs, in round 2 of season 1997-98’s League Cup, was a game that epitomised the spirit of ICT under Pele Paterson: only three days into the team’s first season in the second division, the Caley Thistle players travelled to Motherwell to take on a vastly experienced top flight side, and within twenty-two minutes were two goals down, courtesy of Willie Falconer and Owen Coyle. Motherwell could have been forgiven for expecting to score a few more. Instead, they were subjected to a classic ICT second-half comeback, with a penalty from Brian Thomson and a calm finish from Wayne Addicoat taking the game into extra time. Despite having Brian Martin and Billy Davies sent off for throwing spectacular tantrums in extra time, Motherwell ultimately went through on penalties, but this encounter surely marked a few cards and made Motherwell aware that Caley Thistle were not a team to be taken lightly. This impression was confirmed in the Scottish Cup quarter final of 2004, when Barry Wilson’s 35-yard looping shot sealed another famous Cup victory against higher-league opposition and took ICT to their second consecutive Scottish Cup semi-final.

In the club’s first season in the SPL, Caley Thistle continued to cause Motherwell problems, chalking up two wins and a draw against a team that finished in the top six. In the following season honours finished even, with each team achieving two away wins – Motherwell’s second coming courtesy of a solitary strike from current ICT captain Richie Foran. In season 2006-07 the spoils were again shared with each team winning twice, and Foran repeated his feat of the previous season by scoring a ninetieth-minute penalty at TCS to secure a 1-0 win for Motherwell. That season also, however, contained Caley Thistle’s finest league performance against Motherwell to date: a 4-1 away victory, with goals coming from Ross Tokely, Craig Dargo, Grant Munro and Rory McAllister. This game was one of the high points in ICT’s best-ever start to an SPL season, with only one defeat (away to Hearts) in the opening twelve games. Charlie Christie’s team would add a 2-0 victory, with both goals coming from Dargo, in the first post-split fixture of 2006-07, but this would be ICT’s last league win against Motherwell for almost four years.

The fixtures in the following season – all wins for Motherwell – emphasised the Jekyll and Hyde nature of ICT at the start of Craig Brewster’s second spell in charge: a dreadful 3-0 home defeat in November seemed to provide the players with a much-needed shock to the system, as the team went on a run of five straight victories; by contrast, a 3-1 defeat at Fir Park in February came halfway through a horrific run of ten games without a win, during which many ICT supporters began to have premonitions of the relegation awaiting ICT in the following season. Unsurprisingly, Caley Thistle again failed to record a victory against Motherwell in 2008-09. Both home games ended in 2-1 defeats, while the 3-2 away loss in December, a fifth consecutive league defeat, was one of the most miserable spectacles I can remember enduring: when Adam Rooney scored a last-minute penalty the away supporters could barely raise a cheer, most only too aware that the scoreline would make the game appear as if it had been a close-run thing, when the reality was that it had been a deeply inept performance by the Inverness side. ICT’s second trip to Fir Park that season began in much happier circumstances but ended with a similar sense of foreboding. This midweek fixture was supposed to be the game that would see Caley Thistle secure SPL survival and the remarkable turnaround under Terry Butcher completed, and when the team came back from the loss of a twenty-sixth minute goal to take a 2-1 lead, it looked like the supporters’ expectations were being met. However, the team was unable to prevent John Sutton scoring a seventy-ninth minute equaliser, Falkirk managed to win away at Hamilton, and two defeats later, ICT had taken the drop.

As the final SPL table suggests, last season there was little to choose between Caley Thistle and Motherwell, and this was borne out by results. A 2-1 home defeat for ICT in November was an unexpected blip, the only defeat in a glorious twelve-game run which included six wins, seeing the Inverness team in fourth spot in the SPL in mid-December. By contrast, a 0-0 draw at Fir Park in January was one of an eleven game run of games without a win, as injury to Jonny Hayes coincided with a collapse in ICT’s form over the Christmas period. The final 2010-11 fixture between the clubs, a classy 3-0 home win for Caley Thistle with goals from Shane Sutherland, Richie Foran and Alex MacDonald, provided ICT with some hope of beating Stuart McCall’s team to the final top six place. Ultimately this didn’t happen; yet it ended a prolonged winless run against Motherwell and ensured that Stuart McCall is still to record a victory against ICT as manager, Craig Brown having been in charge for Motherwell’s only win against us last season. Hopefully this will continue this weekend.

Team News

Among ICT supporters, discussion throughout the close season has been overwhelmingly dominated by the changes to the first team squad, and what these will mean for the forthcoming season. Leaving aside all debate about whether it was correct not to renew particular players’ contracts or whether more concerted efforts could have been made to keep others – ultimately, we will not know until the end of this season – simple statistics highlight just how daunting Terry Butcher’s rebuilding project has been. Five players no longer with the club – Grant Munro, Russell Duncan, Adam Rooney, Stuart Duff and Eric Odhiambo – chalked up 164 competitive starts and 34 goals between them last season. Bearing in mind, too, the SPL experience of Duff, Munro and Duncan, and the latter two players’ in-depth knowledge of the club’s history and workings, this is a massive hole for any manager to fill. Terry Butcher’s strategy, which if successful should bode well for the future of the club, has been to focus on signing young, promising players predominantly from the English lower leagues, and to continue developing young talent from within the club. Greg Tansey, a former Stockport County player of the year, looks to have been a shrewd signing, with his performances in the pre-season fixtures suggesting that he will be a more-than-able replacement for Russell Duncan. The apparent replacement for Grant Munro, Tom Aldred, has also looked promising: a powerfully-built, strong-tackling centre half perhaps more in the mould of Darren Dods than Munro; hopefully, if he proves a success, his six-month loan from Watford can be extended. It is less clear who Terry Butcher sees as his new Adam Rooney, or indeed, if he really feels such a prolific goal scorer can be replaced like-for-like. Gregory Tade, signed from Raith Rovers, is quick and powerful but has never had a goal scoring record to match Rooney’s even at lower-league level; Shane Sutherland came into the squad more as last season progressed and scored a fabulous goal against Motherwell but has also yet to prove himself a natural goal scorer; Billy Mackay, a young striker signed from Northampton Town, is very much an unknown quantity and it is not clear yet whether Terry Butcher regards him as ready for a first team start. With Tade and Sutherland having been injured for much of pre-season, it may be that Butcher opts to start with Richie Foran as a lone striker, or even pairs him with Andrew Shinnie, recently signed from Rangers, who despite being nominally an attacking midfielder played in a more advanced role in several pre-season matches. Another intriguing position is right back. With Stuart Duff no longer at the club and Ross Tokely likely to start in central defence, it seemed until last week that former Ipswich youth player Josh Meekings and utility man David Proctor would be contesting the role. However, Meekings has sustained an injury that will keep him out for several weeks and the position might yet be filled by Thomas Piermayr, an Austrian under-21 internationalist who has been on trial for the past two games, if, as rumour suggest, he is about to sign for the club. The left back role should be taken by Kenny Gillet, one of last season’s successes despite a prolonged absence through injury, while ahead of him ICT supporters will be delighted to welcome back Aaron Doran, captured on a two-year deal from Blackburn after a successful loan spell last season. His talent is in no doubt; if he can impose himself on games a bit more then he could be a very important player for us this season. Finally, another player who everyone will have high hopes for is Nick Ross. Last season he divided opinion to some extent, but there is no question that Terry Butcher rates him very highly and with a season of SPL football and a free-scoring pre-season behind him, and a burgeoning under-21 international career to try to develop, perhaps this season he will emerge as a truly influential player at the heart of midfield.

From the information I’ve managed to glean from our friends at Pie and Bovril (the official Motherwell site being worse for updates and current news than even the official ICT site), the Motherwell starting line up should be along more familiar lines than the Caley Thistle team. Only three players have been signed: young defender Nicky Devlin from Dumbarton, midfielder Nicky Law from Rotherham, and the experienced striker Michael Higdon from St Mirren, who has caused us plenty of problems in the past, including scoring the goal for Falkirk that sent Caley Thistle down in 2008-09. Most of the players departing Motherwell did not create the impact that might have been expected. Despite their vast experience, Maurice Ross and Francis Jeffers contributed little; of the two players whose loans are ending, most of Steve Jones’ appearances came from the bench and while Gavin Gunning was a regular starter, he also seemed to be a regular committer of hilarious defensive blunders. By far the most significant loss, however, is the sale of John Sutton to Hearts. People may argue about the extent of Sutton’s abilities as a footballer, but there can be no disputing that he is a very awkward player for defenders to deal with and that his goal ratio of one in every three appearances and the opportunities he created for others will be missed at Fir Park. Yet despite this, the Motherwell side can still boast a strong mix of SPL experience, in the likes of Stevie Hammell and Keith Lasley, and proven young talent in the shape of Tom Hateley, Chris Humphrey and particularly Jamie Murphy, and the last season ending with the disappointment of a defeat in the Scottish Cup final, they will be determined to begin this season brightly.

Prediction

History has shown that it is tough at the best of times to predict any Caley Thistle result, and with a team that is likely to be so different from the one that finished last season, so lacking in SPL experience, and so unfamiliar to most of us, that task becomes even more difficult. What we can be sure of is that Terry Butcher will have the players fully motivated, and the new players should be determined to prove their worth to the ICT supporters. But as this is an experienced and talented Motherwell side, and as my Motherwell-supporting wife will give me an awful doing if I predict an ICT win, I’m sitting squarely on the fence:

Motherwell 1 – Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1

Wow, that's some read guys, the benchmark has been set.