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Ok. So it was poor fare yesterday and folk are right to be disappointed - I'm disappointed - but if we are disappointed in the performance of the team just think how disappointed the team must be with the "supporters". I know the subject of the lack of atmosphere at home games has been done to death in the past but I really think we reached new lows yesterday. I honestly can't remember being at a match anywhere where there was less noise. I was late arriving and as I walked to the ground I could hear nothing other than the passing cars. I walked into the ground and it was like walking into a bloody library. There were a couple of half hearted attempts to get some chants going but that was it. The rising noise of expectation when we broke forward or had a corner was strangely muted. You could hear a Werthers Original wrapper at 20 paces. And finally when Utd scored their second there was the biggest mass exodus I have ever seen. If Celtic had just lost 2 - 0 at home to Hamilton and gone bottom of the league then a mass exodus might be justified but FFS we are a small team and we are 7th in the SPL.! If we finish the season in 7th then that will be the highest position any Highland team has finished in the history of Scottish football - but yet several hundred walk out in disgust! Yes, the season has had its ups and downs and we are certainly on a down at the moment, but overall the team has done well and deserves our support. Last night it did not get it and as a result we got what we deserved. I really feel for the players because they deserve better than that. I'll repeat it - we're 7th in the SPL. That's good. Let's applaud that fact and get behind the team :ictscarf:

You are, as usual substantially right aged immortal. There was a false dawn, there was a period where results were better than our ability merited, especially when the depth of our squad was shown to be shallow as when the injuries kicked in. But the men in charge have to share some culpability in that we have been shown to be tactically naive at times. Tuesday was a case in point. United brought on Bauben, which meant that Cox had to face up to him and Gomis in midfield. He had played Gomis well to that point, but with the two of them it took Utd. 4 mins to score. Cox was overrun, and TB's response - bring on Alex MacDonald. He's a fine player in the making but he ain't no holding midfielder which we needed at that time. There was one sitting on the bench, who I hope was (justifiably) frustrated. There have been other instances this year of substitutions that were too late, playing people out of position etc. But you know what? It's OK. we are 7th right now, we're in the QF of the cup. we won't go down barring a bigger collapse than a chilean mineshaft. They have got far more right than wrong but they ain't perfect. I'm still a fan.

As a showcase for Scottish football, this was a disgrace. Strangely enough I didn't think the ref had a bad game. Whittaker's first yellow a bit harsh, but no complaint with any of the rest. Lennon and McCoist should have had cards too. Djouf is clearly unstable and the sooner he fecks off out of Scottish football the better. Glad to see two of Celtic's team will miss the QF against us.

I was disappointed tonight that we lost. I even toyed with the idea of driving up for it. To come on here and see this thread makes me feel sad. I love going to watch ICT. I like the fact that the players don't get paid ridiculous wages which I subsidise. I respect the manager - he comes across as a gentleman. I think the backroom staff do a tremendous job and go out of their way to help - they'll go an extra mile to help people and make visitors to the stadium feel welcome. There are too many people who expect to be 'entertained'. Are you watching just any game, or are you there to support ICT? Scottish football is part of our culture. ICT are a worthy part of the game and anyone who you speak to who is involved with the game at the highest level have only positive things to say about the club and the way it is run. This negativity is putting a lot of people off posting on here and it's time to take a big reality check.

To add to the tongue-in-cheek nature of this thread, isn't it strange how it's always the stand-side linesman who's accused of incompetence?

Does this mean that we will have to start practising weekend binge drinking in early June ?

Mmmm - That is why I chose to post in to a New Topic as most responses are to the original post or are peeple simply not debating the points that I made. In most vocations you are in a continuous learning curve and taking criticism and responding constructively is a positive "skill" in itself. Why are peeple appearing so protectiely defensive _ it wouldnt surprise me if Terry and Mo werent prepared to admit to making mistakes. It just frustrates me that blame is regularly being apportioned to individual players, the skill levels of some players, pitches, the fans, funding and the media - fer fecks sake the peeple in charge have to take some of the accountability. I was even contemplating another post but better add it on here - I feel that we are really suffering from not being able to play regular B team or reserve fixtures in a more competitive nature. I keep on hearing about individuals performing well on the training grounds - I know some skilled individuals who looked like world beaters on the training grounds but could not bear that out when it came to the nitty gritty. You just cant wholly rely on the training ground to look at yer options for a game in the SPL. The training ground should be where dead ball and set plays should be practised.

What a loathsome man. Take your pick. Either of them will do. Season-long bans all round.

Having just watched the highlights i felt i needed to say something about it. The old firm derby is supposed to be the highlight of scottish football when the best two teams come head to head and fight it out for the bragging rights of the best old firm teams (as well as 3 points or progress in the cup of course.) That game was nothing short of a disgrace. Although some of the football was good (mainly by celtic)the off the ball antics by some of the players was just pathetic. The 1st sending off was harsh as the 1st booking should not have been one, however, you dont go flying into a tackle like he did on a booking and not expect a 2nd. Why rangers got diouf in january i will never know. He's not very good IMO and has a fuse shorter than a dodgy firework. Niel Lennon is appealling a 6 game touch line ban i understand, well i cant see that being revoked, if anything it will get extended, the mans a joke and an embarrassement for scottish football.

I would say that overexpectationitus epidemic has hit the highlands. It first appeared in Dingwall with County reaching the cup final and the overexpectationitus started to spread with the belief they would win the league the following year. Derek Adams became infected and moved on as his team weren't going to win every game, the fans caught the overexpectationitus believing that their team would do no wrong, the team caught overexpectationitus believing that they were so good they didnt have to try as hard (also known as Barrowman syndrome). The epidemic has now spread to Invernessshire with overexpectationitus affecting large proportions of the ICT fan base with ICT slowly climbing the league, getting closer to 4th place and thoughts of a place in Europe next season. I caught overexpectationitus but I'm on the mend now so will be glad to get back to normal and cheer on ICT against Motherwell. Hopefully the Barrowman syndrome isn't affecting the players too much, maybe a bit more is required that just clearing the zone and booting it up the park,maybe your team mate needs a bit more help,maybe you have to be a wee bit closer for a more accurate pass, maybe you have to think more of whats going on in the game and not the league table. Well I'm almost over it.

Utter disgrace! The Old Firm are out of control as they feel they own and run the game in Scotland. They need seriously brought down a peg. It was great to hear us mentioned so much at least. In the words of Keegan " I really hope we beat them!"

Superb! (I need more green-dots, mods/admin/whomsoever.)

I wonder what Coisty whispered in Ned Lennon's ear? what ever it was, ned went ballistic ' you might have won, but by feck i'll never be as ugly as you, minger '

Three red cards for Rangers! Passions obviously run high when the prize is a trip to play the mighty ICT

I wonder if the cup game has been a distraction for the players in regard to league performances. Hopefully they'll be out to prove their worth for a place in the starting line-up for the QF against the 'well on Saturday. I kind of hoped the blue Huns might have scraped through tonight. McCoist would probably have been in their starting line up in the QF. The green huns are definatley beatable though. Time to go ballistic again... I want to see ICT lift that trophy.

Saw the goals on BBC news, it was Innes that slipped (not pushed) for Gawdwilly to set up the opener. :irritated:

The OP asks, Have they taken the club as far as they can? I'd say NO! I'd then ask. Have the club taken ICT as far as they can? We are a small club with a small fanbase. The players we have work their socks of to achieve success but many of them are not of a standard to win that success on a regular basis. We are troubled by injury within a small squad. We're having to start players who aren't match fit. We can't afford a big enough squad to cover every eventuallity. As was said on another thread, we are a Div 1 club punching above our weight. Butcher and Malpas came in too late to rescue the drop, though they were only a goal away from it. They took us straight back up. They've taken us beyond the relegation zone and they will take us to as high a position as they can in what is their first full season in this league with this team. They will have learned a great deal on the way to where we are and they will apply that learning as long as they remain with us. This season is far from being over and there are a few opportunities left to reach somewhere we have never been before.

These type of threads were always going to come up when our amazing start to the season cooled off. If we were in the same league position and had this many points but had gained them in a slow and steady manner rather than lots at the start and very little lately I doubt we'd be having this discussion at all. We are in a good, if not better than good position for who we are. TB and MM have done a very, very good job since they came in. All of these set backs and trials will only help them improve and get better as a management team. So to question the management teams abilities or plant the seeds of 'The management must go' rubbish is just that... rubbish. I think Doran was a very good signing for us in January and with the many injuries we have had we have coped pretty well considering, some credit to TB and MM here surely. As for this talk of "when we attack we win", I have to disagree, so many points we gained away from home were gained by defending well and attacking on the break. I think that our biggest problem is that we don't seem to know how best to play at home. Many of our home crowd are w@nkers expect us to attack and entertain at home, we are just not good enough to take many of the other SPL teams apart like this and I feel we just don't quite know how we should play. For what little it's worth I believe that we don't use the width of our home pitch to our full advantage but what would I know, I'm not a manager, nor have I ever played at any level worth any merit, I am merely a (biased) fan. Let's not start all this "The management don't know what they are doing" rubbish as it is just rubbish and if you disagree then just who do you think would do a better job?

For what its worth ... and to answer the question posed in the original post, NO, I do not believe they have taken us as far as they can. They were heroes last season and for most of this season so far ..... so we have lost a few games, and the manner in which we have lost may not be pleasant but its way too early for this Brewsteresque shoe-waving rhetoric. However, I am not going to give the OP a red dot as its a valid topic on a valid subject and although I disagree with the content, the post itself is a valid opinion and question. Where I do take issue though is the comments I quoted above !!! This is something that has been thrown at me (or more specifically the site) for the past seventeen years !!! "Ach I dont go there,its full of neggy b******s", "Nahh, too many folk who are quick to criticise", "cant be a**** getting into an argument", "I hate you, you fat b******" (oops, that last one wasnt meant to get in there !!!! just a little bit of self-deprecating humour so you know I am not offended, just frustrated at the usual excuses !!!) My answer now is the same as it has been for each and every one of those seventeen years ..... If you dont post because of the negativity (or crap), do you not think it somewhat hypocritical to post negativity about the site itself ? I always tell people the same thing ..... if you want it to be full of more positive posts, and you have a positive attitude, then instead of bitching and moaning about the perceived negativity of the site, come in and contribute rather than reading the posts and being negative about the site yourself. There is plenty of room for a multitude of opinions be they positive, negative or somewhat neutral .... some of us can actually hold a reasoned debate and even respect opinions we may not necessarily agree with ... and hell, you can even choose to be anonymous and hide behind a pseudonym if you want !

Thanks Top Six Next Year. Thought I was the only one who can see some kind of sense! This sort of crap is why I don't bother posting on here too often!

It's perhaps worth noting at this stage that if the mother has been charged, then there are severe legal constraints as to what can and cannot be said in the public domain. I'm not an expert on law and journalism, but Smee does appear to have made a comment which presumes guilt and which could, as a result, be illegal. Not sure why someone gave you a red dot for this comment but I gave you a green one to balance it up ..... because you are correct. Everyone is entitled to their opinion about this case and given that it involved a young child, emotions are likely to run extremely high. Many may claim to have "inside info" and perhaps they do but the simple fact of the matter is that charges have been laid and a criminal case is pending therefore legally our hands are somewhat tied in what we can say, and what kind of statements we can allow to be posted. Please consider what you are posting before you post it and save us the trouble of deleting controversial posts. There will be plenty of time for discussing this well after the criminal case has been completed ! This stance is done not to stifle debate, its a hot topic in Inverness at the moment obviously, and we are more than open to letting the thread continue. However, my priority has to be the site so this reminder, and any actions we take on individual posts is done to protect the forum and its users from any potential hassle from the judiciary. I know its unlikely that we would get any nasty letters but this has been site policy since well before our SportNetwork days on any topic where criminal proceedings are in the works. I have hidden/deleted/edited any posts I think may breach our policy and any responses to them that may now be out of context. No warnings or bans are being handed out, and the fact that a post is being hidden or deleted does not necessarily mean we disagree with the opinion expressed in it ... we are just covering our arses !!!

Classic :rotflmao:

The reason that I posted on new topic is that my "point" differs significantly in context to Mr Magic Roundabout - although fer once he has offered an understandable statement. My post does not allude to whether Messrs Butcher and Malpas have taken the club far enuff but relates more to constructive criticism and apportioning of some blame to an apparently protected dynamic duo - in many ways it is an observation that, if heeded and followed, could actually lead IMHO to the Messiah and Miss Marples actually taking the club to a higher plain.

I'm bitterly dissapointed not because of the result as United were the better team but it was the way we lost, I lost count how many hoof up the parks were played tonight by Tokely and Munro There was very little football played on the deck, there was no passion and to be honest very little if any entertainment Our home performances have been nothing short of an embarrassment this season and I now really have doubts about our management duo and the tactics they seem to be deploying I am in no way calling for their heads(not yet anyway) in this thread but I believe its about time they tried something new tactic wise because if they don't they are going to see dramatic reductions in attendance at the Caledonian Stadium for the remainder of the season I shudder to think where we would be if we hadn't had such a good start and picked up all the points we got on the road C'mon Terry & Mo i'm afraid what we are having to endure from November time isn't good enough dougal

we may be 7th at moment, but hibs, aberdeen and st johnstone are only 2 points back and sj have a game in hand. our remaining games prior to the split are all above us now motherwell h dundee utd a celtic h kilmarnock a hearts h maybe 2 points at most to be got in these games the way we have been performimg for the last 15 or so games with aberdeen and hibs now winning more than they lose 10th place is our best bet. depending on who st mirren have to play heres hoping they dont start picking up too many points or it could be 11th. heres hoping that hamilton dont start winning or 12th is a possibilty. if hamilton do, it only means we will be playing 1st div football a year early as we definately will not survive a 10 team spl. terry has talked up our league position all year stating the amount of cash that each place brings, which could be used for new players. maybe the players want to keep their jobs by staying just above the last place and the paltry sum that will bring the club

To the folk who dished out the red dots for my last comments, would it not make for more constructive debate if you were to actually say where you think I am wrong?

McCoist and Lennon hardly made it into the "handbags" category with their outburst of petulance. I can't believe the over-reaction by the Scottish Media to what was a pretty typical, and fairly boring OF encounter. They're all whinging on about Scotland's shame, Glasgow's horror, etc, etc... There was even a debate in the Scottish Parliament this morning with one MSP claiming that domestic violence rises by about 50% throughout Scotland after an event like this. Calls for all future OF encounters to be played behind closed doors. What a load of crap! It's only a couple of weeks since the AC Milan - Spurs game, with the Gattuso/Jordan spat which was 100 times worse than anything that happened last night. Was anyone calling for all their games to be played behind closed doors? The only thing I would have taken exception to was the Rangers's players reaction to the ref over the red cards - he would have been well within his rights to issue more red cards for some of that stuff.