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I have chosen to ignore this comment, but really feel the need to respond. First point is that this organisation is newly formed and were not at the stage of organising events last November. Secondly, it was the date that was picked first and then, realising it was so close to St Patrick's day, they added a theme. They are a very enthusiastic group of fans who are enjoying being part of a supporters group and I applaud the effort they have all put in to organising tonight. So instead of sarcasm, why not get down their and part with a fiver for a good cause.

[quote name='CaleyD' timestamp='1300389874' post='302773 If you challenge the post and not the poster it makes for a more interesting discussion. Which comments is it you disagree with and why?

Had a bit of fun by doing some custom decals for my new RC Hoverjet.....

We have? You do? Finally you get to the point and we all learn what the real agenda for this thread has been.

I know where your coming from....i too would have stuck with Caley in the Highland League had Thistle gone it alone. In fact...i may face ridicule here..but...id rather have stuck with Caley in the Highland League than ICT in the Scottish League. I just dont have anywhere near the same love for the merged team. Still....its what we got...so...i will support them

The word "refusenik" was the term created to describe Jews who were refused permission to emigrate from the Soviet Union. So I suppose one thing they have in common with the people we are debating is that there aren't many of them in Inverness.

It was quite interesting to deabte this one the first four or five... or even six!... times it popped up on this forum. But it's now got quite tedious and I'm not even going to dignify the question with a vote on the poll. But let's look at it this way. After the Howden End and a lot further afield was trawled again and again and again for Caley "anti" sentiment for the 1st December 1993 Rose Street vote, 226 people voted against the merger. This is the biggest anti merger vote that there ever was. We also know that a great number of that 226 subsequently became regular attenders. But let's be conservative and say that half the "NO" voters didn't attend matches. That's 113 and if you make a very generous addition of 87 from the much smaller Thistle support, that get's you to what I suspect is a vastly over generous 200 refuseniks compared with the 1500 or so fans which was the average gate in the early days. 17 years on, a significant proportion of that generous 200 are either dead or have left the area. There MAY be 100 left which out of a core home support of about 3000 is a VERY small price to pay for the formation of a club which represents the whole of Inverness. Had Caley gone alone, I don't think the support would have been anything like as large and the financial backing from the Council and the community and business certainly wouldn't have been.

I have little doubt that Caley would have held their own in the lower reaches of the SFL had they alone gained league status, as indeed would have Thistle had they not been snubbed in favour of the Ferranti works team in the seventies. However, I am in no doubt that they would not have attracted the fan base or sufficient financial imput from the commerecial or public sector to have ever had the resources to to finance full time football and thus reach the dizzy heights of the SPL. That was a task that was challenging enough and almost bankrupted the club as things are. I may not be typical but myself and my family would still be supporting Thistle in the Highland League rather than following the fortunes of Caley oscilating between the first and second divisions.

Lion Rampant is worse than the Union Flag given the fact that it is owned by the Monarch and only ever flown as a token of loyalty to the crown.

From the radio commentey it sounded like a 2-1 was about right. From how they reacted to forans miss you could tell just how close it was and that he should have scored. Seemed as though there was a good effort but just letting celtic have to much time on the ball and not pressuring them hard enough. If you pressure teams like celtic then they dont settle into the rhythm they like and its easier to play them. Think doran and hayes should have been brought on soon after celtics 2nd goal to give them the chance to make an impact. Now we can focus on the league and i just hope the team works there socks off to try and break into the top 6.

I didn't see this luckily but if it makes an appearance on Saturday I will be very p*ssed off and may have to set fire to it. We are a Scottish team uninfested by sectarianism . Note to self - take box of matches in pocket.

While we appreciate your input Kingsmills we have already came to the unanimous conclusion( well apart from Alex) that Thistle would probably have been no more unfortunately had Caledonian FC gone alone I find the poll results very interesting reading and I thinks it safe to say that there are a lot more refuseniks out there than the average ICT fan likes to admit Anyway I've done a bit more research into the merger over the last couple days and I've unearthed some very interesting points which maybe explain why there were refuseniks and why they still exist today I find it staggering that both teams fans who were not season ticket holders were not polled regarding a proposed merger, surely this could have been done quite easily by handing out a small questionaire to all home fans as they came through the turnstiles Why was it allegedly suggested to both memberships at the first vote that the Scottish league preferred a merged team and that a league place was guaranteed when this was definitely not the case at all? Why did they allegedly not accept proxi votes from members that lived outside Inverness and could not attend in person? They also allegedly failed to to inform the memberships that had the first vote gone against merging there would have been a second vote for a solo bid therefore misguiding them into believing that they were voting on a take it or leave it scenario? IMHO mergergate didn't appear to have been handled very well by both previous clubs committees and as a result the refuseniks on both sides of the divide were born Maybe Mr Mantis or Old Caley girl can confirm whether my findings were valid or not dougal

This subject seems to rear its head now and again so i'd thought it was time to set up a poll so the subject could get put to bed once and for all Its probably more appropriate to older ICT fans but younger fans can join in as they may have fathers/relations etc who were involved with Caledonian Fc or Inverness Thistle at the time of the merger Think it safe to say that we all know that there are fans of the two parent clubs who refused to watch or support ICT in any way but just how many are/were there??? From what I can make out from this forum there are very few Caledonian or Thistle fans on here and the majority seem to be younger fans who have only supported ICT in their life time I've stated before i've experienced hostility from pre-merger fans when the topic ICT is mentioned so I know it exists in our city A few questions to maybe ponder and debate 1. I'm not an expert on the merger as I wasn't in Inverness at the time it happened but would we have a higher average attendance had Caledonian FC gone alone? 2. Buses leave Inverness for Pittodrie,Ibrox and Parkhead every weekend so did numbers dramatically increase on these coaches once both pre-merger clubs ceased to exist? 3. Do any on here personally know any refuseniks and if so are they as anti ICT now or have they mellowed as time goes by? 4.Were any posters on here in the Caley Rebel group? 5.Were and posters on here involved in any of the meetings when the voting on the merger took place and if so what were your memories and recollections? 6. Were you a pro merger or anti-merger voter? No doubt I will get slated yet again for posting this thread but this is by no means a wind up or a fishing trip, its a subject i'm genuinely interested in and to be honest i find the whole subject quite fascinating dougal

Good to see a Union Jack in the home end last night celebrating our colours of Red,White and Blue. The lads in section G actually ran the idea past me last week and I agreed would be a good way for them to show their support for ICT.