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In a surprise attack yesterday, special forces commanded by military chief Sir Terence Butcher were finally successful in their mission to assassinate Grant Munro and Russell Duncan. It is thought that Munro and Duncan had been hiding out in a remote and mountainous part of Scotland for the last 10 years. Much of that time was thought to have been spent at a training camp east of Inverness, where the football fundamentalists attempted to radicalise other recruits into believing passionately in their cause. In addition to reading sacred texts from the Kerrang, the pair were known to pray 4 times a day in the direction of Mosstodloch in honour of their mastermind, known simply as “Pele”. Pele is understood to be the spiritual leader of the group of known as Al Qaholica, for whom the Highland region has long been a fertile recruiting ground. In a bizarre ritual, sympathisers and followers are understood to congregate regularly in known meeting spots, chanting “Qhali” repeatedly after consuming vast quantities of intoxicating liquor. Another of Pele’s henchmen, known as Ross Tokely, is understood to have escaped. “I’ve been after Tokely for years” sighed a disappointed Butcher. “We located him and sent in the helicopters to take him down, but he swatted them away like flies. I then implemented plan B, which was to call in air strikes. At first we thought they were having an effect, but then it became apparent that Tokely’s reaction was simply laughter because the missiles were a bit tickly. He’s got away for now, but believe me, I’ll be doing everything I can to get him as soon as I can, and the same goes for any other Pele sympathisers I come across. Roy? Golly? Nobody is a better manager than me, is that clear?” Butcher himself had a long and distinguished military career, seeing active service in warzones such as Govan. He notably received a commendation for bravery after losing all his limbs in the midst of a battle but insisting that a simple bandage would enable him to carry on. Commenting further on yesterday’s successful operation, Butcher added “This mission to get Munro and Duncan was a long time in the making, and Tulloch Caledonian Stadium will be a better place without them. Munro thought he was getting a new contract but it was a simple misunderstanding after I said was I was taking out a contract on him. He was the one I really wanted because he was leader of this cell and I’ve tried to take him down before, but Duncan had been protecting him for years, thwarting numerous attacks. I’d also seen horrific videos on the web of these guys in action. Some of the ones featuring Duncan portray absolutely shocking scenes of heading.” Another detail of the operation to emerge is that the initial plan was for it to be carried out by a crack Israeli unit. “But sadly, he got injured.....again“ said Butcher. “In fact even when he’s not injured, he’s actually pretty ineffective, but we’ll see, I might give him another few years just cos I hired him and he’s not one of Pele’s followers.” The whereabouts of the remains of Munro and Duncan was the subject of much speculation, but Butcher confirms that they were taken out into the Moray Firth at night and pushed out of the back of a dolphin cruise boat, in accordance with strict local custom. But this hasn’t stopped conspiracy theorists speculating that the two will somehow “come back to haunt” Butcher. When asked if his next mission would be to tackle a group of Irish Republicans believed to be a potent attacking threat operating in the Inverness area, Butcher quickly gets up to leave the press conference and makes for the door with fear evident in his eyes. “’Kinell, I ain’t messing with the likes of Ritchie Foran! Fundamendalists, no bother. Mentalists like that, no chance!”

Was miffed with a 6 O'clock kick off, miffed with rushing to get back to Inverness,had a quick bite to eat and miffed with getting bogged down in the traffic, with thoughts of a demoralized ICT side as players are leaving. Once in a life time was being played on the tannoy on arrival, I got a wee shiver and had a feeling that something special may happen tonight. That for me was my most enjoyable game of the season, we really whipped their asses not just slightly but well and truly, Shane made the player of the year look like a ball boy!!!! Stand up and take note Levein, I saw many players worthy of a call up tonight and if you need any more guidance they were all wearing Red and Blue, what a perfect team performance, the only thing that was missing were more goals as we deserved to bag a few more. You have all done yourselves, your team, your manager, your club, your fans, your city and the Highlands proud, very proud, well done.

Fixed that for you. Next time you are in Inverness going to give the Sectarian songs a miss and try not to destroy the seats in the South Stand?

The Rangers management team behave appropriately, thats the only real reason I want to see them pip Celtic to the title. Tonight was all about ICT

No disrespect, but we certainly didn't do it for you lot.

Granty's goals will be missed - 6 from a centre-half not a bad return - surely a 12 month extension is not too much to ask for....

"Neil Lennon looks bemused. I don't think he believes what he's seeing. This is not a fluke scoreline. It should have been much worse for Celtic." BBC Scotland pundit John Robertson Thanks Robbo.

I think a major difference here, in terms of the quality of signings mentioned by some posters, is that this time Terry has had a fair bit of time to identify what is required and who is available. I may be wrong but i think the decision on the majority of players freed was made some time ago, and being honest, most supporters would only disagree on maybe a couple of those freed if they were honest. It does seem that TB has the ambition, maybe lacking from previous managers, to move us from a bottom six to a top six club and that will be a gamble and hugely dependant on who is signed. I do think we need to wait before passing judgement on what has just happened as some of the posts on here have been ridiculous concerning what "might" happen next season. Everyone needs to get behind the team for the remainder of this season and the start of next. If things do start to go wrong, then we can moan but at this moment, get behind the team and manager.

Butcher clearly has the vision that others have lacked in the past. While sad to see such a large cull, im in 100% agreement with him on the players released. I dont want to see the team i love finish between 7th-12th every season in the SPL. We are not a 1st division team anymore ( despite the 2009/10 season) and i want to see ICT break up the stranglehold that other clubs have on the SPL in terms of where they finish season after season; and i dont just mean the OF. Butcher is our own Jim Maclean IMO; and i can see that he wants to remain a permanant fixture in the SPL, so lets kick some arse! Im f***ing fed up with being a diddy team in other supporters eyes. The time is now to show them all that we can mix it up.

I was ashamed at the behaviour of some of our support on Saturday! Told to sit on their rear end by the stewards, only resulted in a total 'face up' to them and this was justified by the fact that some fans were standing in the Aberdeen area. For Heavens sake - we see this at all OF games and realise that there is one law for some and not for others .. BUT this does NOT justify bad behaviour. 'Throw out' resulted in some 'fans' anyway being seated at the back of the empty section next to the Aberdeen fans but under the watchful eye of the stewards - enjoying possibly a better viewing spot than we had, seated as we were above the goal line. The upshot of their behaviour resulted in some ladies around me being most concerned for the 'ejected' fans BUT the 'Bouncy, Bouncy' brigade was NOT there to watch the match but on a wind up mission and they blooming well wound me up and others around me as we missed part of a game due to stewards having to invade our space to get at the 'fans'. A lady on my right gave the proper response as one silly wee laddie was being led out past us with a BIG smile on his face ... " I suppose your richt proud of yursell now!!" (Wicker accent) I could not have put it better!! Action in the shape of a 'skelped dock' is called for by parents of some of their offspring's as they may think they are big enough to make trouble but their wee brains have yet to mature, in my opinion! Please grow up and behave as ambassadors of ICT!!

Yep I'll sign this petition ! Russell Duncan also .

To the op was not totally one sided. Yes we have some that are not angels but stewards were rude on saturday and seemed to revel in the fact there was no police in attendance. I was sitting down and turned round at one point to see what was going on and was told to f........ turn round or I would be f..... next and the aberdeen fans were allowed to stand up for the whole match!. Then at half time a few folk moved into the sunny section beside us including the bus drivers and were all moved back when they were doing nothing wrong. It is about time that clubs treated paying customers as such. didnt realise that G4s bus in the same gang of stewards no matter where we go and despite what the op says the bigger supports dont get treated like this. If the no standing rule is to upheld well ALL the teams should get treated the same for Fairness. Anyway in really happy mood tonight after the result and had a laugh after the game with our own professional stewards so moving on but wont go back to pitodrie again.

Whats better than a bakers dozen? a Butcher's eleven!

We sat near the front away from most so i didn't see any of the goings on, shame folk pay ?22 quid to see a match and can't just watch the football without acting like muppets.

Is that top Six without the hat?

Jesus! Looks like we will end up on more points than Motherwell Hope Lennon gets in trouble for encroaching the pitch before he kicked the babies bottle Ferking great result, Rooney was constant trouble, Munro lead by example, Esson on top form.. I love my team a bit more tonight!

Completely agree with CaleyD and absent friend on this one. Mr CaleyJag and I enjoy the banter as much as the next person but choose to sit nearer the front so that we know that we will get an uniterrupted view of the game. Don't get me wrong Mr Caleyjag likes to shout encouragement at our players and shall we say advise linesman and referees when he feels they need to open their eyes but he has never been approached by a steward regarding his shouting or the fact that he sometimes stands to shout. Compare this to one guy I heard shouting behind us around 3 times in the first five minutes 'You f****** c***'. What does that achieve? How is that supporting our team? I get that folk want to stand but the fact of the matter is that we're not supposed to. The majority of our fans can enjoy a game sitting and the others are just ruining it for themselves.

I was having a conversation with someone last night (non ICT supporter) and they pointed out to me that several times during our chat I had used the statement "could still do a job" in reference to guys we were releasing. The point he made was that is "doing A job" good enough and is "good enough" all we want to be as a team/club? Surely, he said, if the ambition is top six then what you need are players who "can do THE job" that is being set out before them and we should want more than to be just "good enough". I didn't entirely agree with him but we did have a long and interesting conversation about players and how being in an SPL team and having SPL experience, even for a few years, does not make them SPL quality and how our mantra of being better than the sum our parts is really only us trying to justify the fact that we were surviving with players who we perhaps knew deep down were never going to bring us anything more than the hope of SPL survival and occasionally flirt with the idea of making top six. Has this become so engrained in the ICT psyche that the players believe the same thing and was this the reason why they seemed to shut down and go a little off the boil once they were in a position where survival was all but guaranteed? In all honesty, the conversation did raise more questions than it answered, but it was interesting to get an external point of view/opinion from someone who is not an ICT fan but is a football fan living locally who keeps tabs on, and occasionally comes to watch, the team. Who knows, it may well be that Butcher has identified a problem and hasn't been able to put his finger on the reasons. We know he had those clear the air talks with the players not so long ago which didn't really seem to improve things on the pitch. Perhaps, not being able to get to the root of the issue, he feels the only option that remained open to him in dealing with it was to have a mass clear out. Maybe we'll never know, maybe there's no more for us to know than has been said. Being someone who doesn't like the "because I said so" style answer then it'll probably bug me for a bit longer before I can draw the line and really concentrate on looking forward to what's to come instead of what's past.

TB has my full support yes some stalwarts of the club are leaving, but they are all the wrong side of 30 and apart from Russell are any of them in a position to improve the team and move it forward? As for others players like Eric & Dani have had a chance, they were in my eyes average D1 players when we were there and have failed to step up the way we needed. Others havent performed consistent enough. I hope with the money saved we can bring in some quality in terms of signings & loans, retain younger players like Rooney, Hayes, Sutherland & Ross on longer deals. The nucleus of a competitive squad is here, now we need TB to bring in a spine & some flair. Its not just ICT who are having big culls or clear outs - Hibs, Hamilton, Dons have already started, D Utd have a good few players out of contract and I expect many otehr clubs to follow - Scottish football is feeling teh financial squeeze so its all about VFM - harsh as it may seem, TB is doing the right thing IMO

P&J says Rooney has only been offered a 1 year contract. Seems a tad short sighted to me.

Kencar is spot on and has highlighted a huge worry for me. Whilst it is correct that TB has signed one or two gems, his conversion rate is shocking. How many players will he have to go through to replace those (those who made a contribution that is) that he has released? Going by his current track record I would suggest around 16 to fill 4 places. How much will this cost in comparison to at least keeping low cost (which they are in today's market) options like Granty and Peds? If he has aspirations, like all of us, to make the top 6, them maybe these guys don't play every week but are part of the squad. Can he get better value? I doubt it. The other major concern is that of those he has offered a contract to how many will accept? It scares me that Rooney won't. It scares me even more that Duff will.......... For every Hayes how many Blumenshites, for every Foran (and it wasn't as if he was unearthing some unknown gem here!) how many Stratfords? All very well to clear out but let's hope he has a very cunning plan, after all it\'s not as if every single free player, and their agent, won't know that we are absolutely desperate for bodies as we have no one!

The big question now is will TB be able to attract new players up here to fill the big gaps in the squad? No doubt he's got a few targets but things are getting tougher out there and with a bare squad and the inevitable new SPL set up we will struggle to stay in the top flight never mind break into the Top 6.

OMG OMG! Just saw TB on STV! He said we WILL be top six next year!!! 'bout bloody time. I've been sayin it for years...

Having initially reeled from the shock of this I decided to try to see things from TB's perspective. I opened a bottle of wine and have gone through a couple of cycles of glass full, glass half full, glass half empty, glass empty and am now at the the glass and bladder full stage. Much as I am sad to see the likes of Munro and Duncan go, I accept that there is probablty a brutal logic in this. The aim of the club must be not just to stay in the SPL but to move us on to the top 6. This needs to be done on a static budget. So what are the options? Status Quo? No chance. Some players in that scenario will not progress and we simply cannot afford players on fairly significant contracts if they do not have what it takes to step up to the next level. That applies both to legends like Munro and Duncan and younger players like Blumenstein and Odihambo who have been given a chance and who have not made the grade. There are others who have made the grade or who the manager feels have the potential to step up. Of those who are staying are a number of youngsters with real potential. Not just Ross and Sutherland but Cox and Rooney as well who we sometimes forget are still very young. Some of the emerging talent such as Shinnie and Morrison will presumably not be costing the club a lot but are keen to stay because they see the club as a great place to develop and to showcase their talent. When they move on they should be able to maximise their earnings. This leaves a small number of quality players who the manager is keen to keep and who the club can afford to offer better contracts to in order to encourage them to stay. This still leaves a gap - a big gap, but I think Butcher sees this being sorted by short term contracts and loan deals. He has stated before that the club is attractive to players who have undoubted talent but are not quite realising their potential elsewhere. He feels some players see Inverness as a good location for rejuvinating careers and players will come on short term contracts to gain confidence and put themselves in the shop window. Better still are loan deals where clubs want to have players getting regular competetive football to help develop them. In this way we can, on a short term basis, get the services of players we could not otherwise afford to sign. By making the statement before the end of the season, Butcher is giving players released the best chance of attracting attention from elsewhere but I don't think he and the club are doing that just to be decent. I doubt that they would be letting these players go if they were not pretty confident of getting decent players in on loan or short term deals. There may also be one or two more significant signings in the bag. So a mix of a small number of proven players on good contracts, emerging youngsters and players brought in on short term deals/loans seems to the way forward and will be the pattern for the future. With very limited resources, this may be the only sensible option. I doubt anyone at the club has taken any pleasure from the hard decisions taken but they could well be the correct decisions. Yes, I'm sure we all have views on who we would have kept and who we would have let go but we have to back the manager on his decisions here . The proof of the pudding will be in what emerges at the start of next season and the time to judge him will be this time next year. It is certainly the start of a new era and should be interesting!

That's dangerous talk.

I am shocked and disgusted with the way Grant (especially) and Russell have been treated. Both have given great service to the club but now discarded even though they still have much to give. To do this to Grant, a local boy who lives and breathes Caley Thistle is beyond belief. I only hope both can find new clubs quickly as mortgages etc don't pay themselves. The least the club could do now is offer Grant a testimonial to reward the loyal service he has given. I don't think releasing Golly and Roy was unexpected as they are both in the twylight years of their playing careers.

gonna join in the chorus of shocked voices. at least in munro's case anyways. Really feel letting an experienced head in the centre of defence leave is a big mistake. Innes is leaving too (not really a big loss when you consider the number of games he has played) and Rosco, legend and all, is actually not a centre back lest we forget, although he has played a blinder this season, and hogg isn't contracted to next season (yet?) and could easily be seen to go anywhere. i would have a first choice pairing of rosco and hogg but feel that munro's experience will be sorely missed next season. Some of his perfomances at the start of the season were brilliant. away at kili if i recall right he made some great timed challenges but he has faded towards the end of the season, as they all have. I think this is a mistake and not the way to treat a local lad who as has been pointed has done a lot for this club over the last decade. to look at it from a playing perspecitve, which is what were about in the end, What is the difference between him and golly/mcbain? it could be asked. well simply age and fitness. munro still has both on his side, the others don't at this level unfort. Golly and McBain, yep their time had come unfortunately they were kept on this year and only used when the youth players got injured. So best for all that they move onto find somewhere to play regularly at a lower level. For some reason terry didn't rate duncan and we'll never really know why. We only got into our stride and promotion form last season when duncan was partnered with Cox and the best of our results this season game before christmas when the line-up was still roughly the same. However something had changed in the team's playing dynamic and I guess terry thinks it resolves around duncan. So be it. Cox is by a very able successor and i do feel duncan would have spent most of it on the bench next season, but someone has too. lets hope morrison steps up well next season. Caley Thistle is a highland club and in my book it has always been important to have a sense of community about the club and for local players and youngsters to be integral to the club, in both ups and downs. This has been the case since our birth. We are well placed to continue this with the youngsters coming though (ross, shinnie, shane, morrison as well as some of the youth team in the scotland set up) but having 4 such experienced legends and long time servants moving on at the same time will be a massive upheaval on the club. and removes some of the players that these lads looked up too and want to emulate. I see why it is necessary to refresh the playing staff but feel it is also a big risk.

Watch this space scarlet. It's inevitable that when the clearances start not everyone will be happy about it. Until we know who will be staying and who will be added, then we won't know the full implications of these stalwarts leaving. Trust me, there will be more names on the list, but rest assured, every other club will be doing the same, it's not just us. It's hard, but that is the nature of the beast. Best of luck to all four of these guys wherever they go, and thanks for being here I also wondered about the morale within after telling these guys now, especially before the Celtic game that they are no longer required, does not make for a great motivational tactic, unless you are a Celtic player. This could be disastrous for our results, on the other hand, those that are staying will maybe pull their finger out.

Interesting times. I guess part of me is as amazed as most other posters. Roy, Russell, Grant and Stuart have all made a massive contribution to Caley Thistle in the last decade. On that point, I think, we are all agreed. Playing time must be nearly up for both Roy and Golly but Munro and Duncan both have a few years left and clubs will be interested in them. It's very easy for fans to get a bit sentimental about players who have been around for a long time. As ICT fans we have been used to previous managers tinkering with the squad each summer - two or three out and in. Terry's approach seems to be different and that doesn't mean it's wrong. The manager has got to be asking himself how he can improve Caley Thistle. How can he take them to the next level. If he's not doing that then he shouldn't be in the job. All of these players have never been able to get ICT to the top six. With each passing year they will be less likely to contribute in a manner that will move ICT forward. No doubt there will be others moving out too and everybody about to go out of contract will be feeling very nervous right now. It looks like we could have a good few unfamiliar faces in place come the start of 2011-12 and the challenge for Butcher is twofold. First of all he need to be find players who are better than the ones he has disposed of. Secondly, he needs to ensure his new squad gels together quickly enough to make a reasonable start to the new season. The SPL can be a very unforgiving place for a club making a slow start.

Duff is a waste of a wage. Not surprised about Golly and Roy but letting Grant leave is going to **** of the majority of our fanbase. I hope he knows what he's doing...

Not saying that I like to see such things happen, it's never pleasant when someone who has been a good servant to the club is moved on, but we probably have the tightest budget in the league and can't afford to keep players just because they are nice guys or have long service, they need to be contributing. It's part and partial of Butcher building his own squad. Players may suite the way we have played now or in the past, but the Manager might have a different view of the future, one where these players don't fit or are not required. As fans we can sometimes find that hard to swallow, but that's life when it comes to football.

Visitor here, Would like to say a massive thanks to the Caley Thisle lads and big Butcher for a magnificent result tonight from all at Rangers FC. Pendulum has swung back in our favour thanks to yourselves and would like to congratulate you on a wonderful battling performance against the forces of evil :) Your team played well tonight with some cracking goals, especially the second. You had the backing of the blue half of Glasgow tonight and you produced the goods. Play like that more often and you'll do well next season. Again, cheers ;)

If hes going to sign of course he will only sign for 1 year, this is a good idea IMO. The chances of him signing at all are quite slim and the one year option gives him another year to improve his footballing skills before moving on to bigger things.

I'm with you on this one Dave.

The way things have been handled in this instance beggar's belief. Obviously there was no prior inkling that the players in question were being released as both Grant and Russell appear shocked by the decision. The other two I'm not surprised at due to their age. They will all find clubs though. However, the timing seems to be a bit off considering we still have four matches to play and those players will be needed for all those matches. The P&J does indicate they will be away at the weekend so where does that leave us for the run in. We need at least five points from the next four to ensure we stay seventh and our league position is crucial to our finances for next season so I would have thought it would have made more sense to keep the squad happy and wanting to play all those games before making this decision. Grant could do well to try for a position at St Johnston. They need players of his quality and he would easilly be able to commute from Sneck.

Couldn't get to the game but listened to the 2nd half on the BBC. Obviously it was a terrific performance from the whole team, but I have a question for those who saw the game either live or on the box. Foran was not in the side today and I wonder whether others think that was a factor in a better team performance? Over the season there have been differing views regarding Foran and his captaincy in particular. Would the team be better if it was Munro who stayed and Foran who left?

There have been very few players in the short history of Caley Thistle that are as influential and as prominent in the team as Russell Duncan. There is no doubt in my mind that the team are far superior on the field when he is present. I have no doubt about that. Sadly though, Butcher doesn't seem to see things that way. Ever since he came in, he has seemed obsessed with not playing him and signing other similar players to give him a reason not to do so. First there was Brian Kerr, then there was Stratford, there was Stuart Duff, then Duncan got back in when none of these showed to be up to the same standard (and surprise surprise about the same time after he retained his place, ICT started their meteoric rise for the title). Even now, it can be seen that Butcher would rather play Nick Ross and Lee Cox in the centre of field instead of Duncan. Now as promising and up-and-coming that these two players are, both combined don't bring the same bite, presence, experience and hunger to that area that Duncan brings. Any successful team have a player like that in the central midfield area and Duncan brings that to ICT. And this isn't the first time players seem to have disappeared under Butcher. McBain is another example. I've heard on the grapevine that he and Butcher didn't speak for months! Today somebody posts (and obviously it cannot yet be said how reliable that is) that Duncan has been told he can leave. Sadly, that wouldn't surprise me and if this is true then it would be a grave mistake on the part of Terry Butcher. It's time for him to get regain his rightful place in the ICT starting eleven because his loss would be another club's gain.

No disrespect, but we certainly didn't do it for you lot. I dont, for one minute believe you did, just saying a wee thank you ;)