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This all goes back to Bruce Hare's 1993 report on possible stadium sites which initially looked at 11, seven of which were very quickly rejected leaving West Seafield, Inshes, Stratton Farm and East Longman. West Seafield (police reservations and infrastructure costs) and Inshes (where the land was too expensive) also departed the contest, leaving a head to head between Stratton Farm (which miraculously went from bottom of the four to top of the pile in a second appraisal by Hare!) and East Longman. This led to a head to head in the spring of 1994 between the club (who favoured EL) and INE (who strongly preferred SF which was on the Golden Mile which they wanted to kick start.) After many convolutions, EL became the designated site and the rest is history. It's all very well to talk about relocating the stadium - but where to? The original report itself shows that there are very few suitable places in Inverness. You will note that NONE of the short list of four is on the west side of the river and of the original eleven the only one west of the Ness was.... Torvean Quarry!! Quite simply west of the river offers very little choice in terms of stadium location and that's before you even consider the fundamental of getting traffic across the Ness Bridge in the absence of an extended distributor road. Remember that Caley (sic) spent much of the pre merger years looking at alternative sites on that side of the water and failed at venues as diverse as Kinmylies, the Bught, Canal Field and the Carse. I'd also just like to comment on the extensive discussion earlier in this thread about the funding of ICT and would suggest that two dominant factors are the way that football goes about its business and the nature of the game in Scotland. In the case of football as as a whole, so much of the available funds are going into the very biggest clubs that there is not a lot left for the rest to pay players etc and apart from that just about every club in the land lives beyond its means in order to try to compete. This leads to the expectation that rich individuals will in effect make large donations to clubs to allow them to operate in a fundamentally lossmaking manner which no sane business would contemplate. Also, specifically in Scotland this is much worse because we have two clubs which have been able to acquire black hole proportions because they are based in the largest conurbation in the country and also function as focal points for the religious and political divide which has largely been imported from across the Irish Sea. (By now Highland News readers may have identified this as an argument I expressed in my Sportsview column a couple of weeks ago.) Black holes of course suck in a great deal of surrounding matter and Rangers and Celtic are able to do this because of the critical mass they have been able to acquire (yes, I know I'm slightly mixing my Physics metaphors!). As a result, vast amounts of money pour into the Ibrox and Celtic Park coffers in the armadas of buses and cars which converge on these places on Saturdays from all across the land. Now for some reason, despite these massive advantages, the Old Firm are still ***** in Europe but that's their problem. However the effect on the rest of the country is that local clubs - such as ICT - are left disproportionately under supported and under resourced. The way I see it is that ICT has got three options or a combination of 1) and 2). 1) Increase income. 2) Reduce expenditure. 3) Accept a long term existence outwith the SPL. Hoping that one off windfalls will continue to come along indefinitely to keep the wolf from the door isn't a realistic strategy and there aren't really any assets left to sell off. The family silver cupboard is now more or less bare.

Can't understand what all the fuss is. Education, including higher and further, comes under the control of the Scottish Parliament. The government that we elected (and unlike the Westminster elections we really did!) have chosen to subsidise fees for Scottish students. It has been identified as a clear priority by those in power and they are choosing to fund out of the settlement so kindly passed sown to the serfs from the laird's table. Now, because all English universities insist on charging everyone who attends their universities (as the body empowered to delivering education in their country doesn't see it as high up the list of priorities as, for example, funding soldiers to abuse Iraqis) some chose to label our government racist when, in reality, they should be praised for starting to reverse some of the despicable damage forced on our nation by Thatcher and her ******* love child Blair! Be clear about one thing. Not a single elected member coming from Scotland to Westminster has every opposed abolishing tuition fees for English students attending English universities. It isn't on the agenda as the English politicians do not view it as important. The LDs (Lib Dems or Lap Dogs you decide) once did but.........the lure of the chauffeur, company car and cosy flat proved too much. Delighted that some pompous individual from elsewhere in the UK is taking the issue to court. If it is ruled illegal, then the ability of any devolved part of a member EU state to vary their policies from elsewhere in the member state boundary must be under threat. It will cause mayhem throughout the territory. It will also stick another two points on the opinion polls for those supporting independence. Gae on yersel Rupert!

I have no problem with the way it is Dougal. Quite like the fact that the 'mods' can tell but we can't. Strengthens the rebellious nature inside me and feeds my paranoia .............. Good idea for a poll!

you have watched every game this season to know this have you? I think the league table tells us all we need to know.

I'm going to abstain from the voting as i personally don't see the point in the poll, TBH. It would seem more appropriate for the poll to be changed to "should moderators have the power to remove posts/threads/users that bring nothing, if not only negativity, to the forums" EDIT: Is expecting a few red dots here, and can no doubt guess who from too

Aye, and if you're any good they won't sign you. dont give up your day job to be a comedian

You are starting to sound like a Septic fan Alex I'm certainly no fan of said referee but its wrong of you to say he has some sort of anti-ICT agenda dougal

I'm with Dougal on this as I thought Alex was giving us the statistics to reach the same conclusion he has without being too obvious. Fact is that in the games that WC (most appropriate initials eh?) has issued 3.19 yellow cards per game when ICT are not involved yet this jumps to 3.75 when we are. On the counter, the red cards are 0.33 when we are not involved and 0.25 when we are. Conclusion. WC loves giving yellow cards to us but not red...................

I haven't done a Poll for absolutely ages so here goes Not sure what forum this should be in so mods feel free to move it if you want but it effects all ICT fans on here IMO Whats everyone's thoughts on this reputation voting system on this site? IMO it seems to have been shamelessly stolen from Pie & Bovril but I stand corrected if i'm wrong What I want to know is what exactly is the point of the whole thing? As far as I can see certain users(me included) get targeted by the red dot brigade, while certain other users and their amigo's just green dot each other no matter what they post Surely it would be better for each individual poster to see who is dishing out the green or red dots, that way there is no secrecy and underhand voting I've voted option 3, keep it going but change it so it lets us see who is green or red dotting each post The mods certainly seem to be able to see who dishes out the green and red dots so why can't we???? Thoughts dougal

Bit of advice sotonict I wouldn't put your mobile number up on here, ask folk to pm you that way you hopefully won't get targeted by weirdo's I'd steer clear of IHE if I was you as there is always a danger you'll either not get into the ground or get ejected not long after the game starts Get a ticket for the main stand as there are a lot more knowledgeable football fans in there like myself dougal Yeah, Dougal might even give you a sweetie and let you share his blanket!!! and of course also bore you to feck with inane football bullshyte!! Come to the Innes ( funnily enough on Innes street ) meet likeable fans and have a few beers!

Our management team of course could not wait, like you can, to make a decision BUT no doubt if they are wrong the same pundits that are waiting to pass judgement will offer "I knew that when we signed them!"

Bit of advice sotonict I wouldn't put your mobile number up on here, ask folk to pm you that way you hopefully won't get targeted by weirdo's I'd steer clear of IHE if I was you as there is always a danger you'll either not get into the ground or get ejected not long after the game starts Get a ticket for the main stand as there are a lot more knowledgeable football fans in there like myself dougal