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It's been pretty grim being a season ticket holder this season. Only four wins, but dull tactics and mediocre performances in abundance. In the big games against the Old Firm, we've had terrible luck as well. Today was maybe the last chance the players had to produce a big performance and get their names in the papers, as well as give us a rare opportunity to cheer. Last season, against Celtic, the players rose to the occasion. Today was the complete antithesis of that Celtic match in May. That was the weakest and most vulnerable Rangers side I have ever seen at TCS, containing several players who couldn't even make their bench last season. And yet they ripped us to shreds whilst barely moving out of second gear. I shudder to think what they could have done to us had they played particularly well. Not one of the Rangers goals required even a shred of guile or quality - every time it was just one half-decent pass which cut through us like a knife through butter. We were a tactical shambles. I defy anyone to explain what our gameplan was - I simply don't believe there was one. McCoist did his homework and got his attacking players to press us high up the pitch, knowing that we would end up punting high ball after high ball at our 5ft 8in centre forward. When we did get the ball in decent areas, our final ball was almost invariably hopeless in the first half; when we put in a few decent crosses in the second half, our strikers fluffed their lines. Defensively we were an absolute joke. Could Esson have done better with the fourth? He certainly wasn't culpable for the others, and made one tremendous stop in the second half. Subbing Meekings at half-time was akin to putting down an injured animal. His positioning was terrible and he kept being caught by balls in behind him. His refusal to go beyond the half-way line also meant that Hayes was easily double-teamed whenever he got the ball. As for our other full-back, Graeme Shinnie will have nightmares about Sone Aluko, who just destroyed him. I'm not sure Shinnie managed to tackle him once. Aluko wasn't even that great at Aberdeen; it's galling that he looked so dangerous today. I love Kenny Gillet to bits, but he had a shocker today, to go with a poor performance at East End Park. Williams wasn't great, but he didn't appear obviously responsible for any of the goals we lost, and at least he got one. It was in midfield that we really lost the game today. Foran was absolutely overrun by Edu and Davis. He got no help from Tansey, who kept giving the ball away even when he wasn't under pressure and who frankly chickened out of several 50-50 balls. What was the point of bringing on Jones with 3 minutes left? Even if he only has one leg, he should be on the pitch from the start. Hayes and Ross tried their hardest but whenever they got the ball they invariably had no support. Tade was utterly wasted out wide in the first half, and only got into it when he moved into the centre. When McKay got announced as MOTM, I wondered out loud what he'd done to earn that - the response from a guy behind me was that "He's run about a lot". That seems to be fair,and it's a sad indictment of his teammates. To say he fed off scraps would be an understatement. On the rare occasions he got the ball, he had zero support from teammates. I was impressed by the fact he kept trying, even though he bounced off Goian every time. When was the last time we laid down to an Old Firm team like this? It's not just the lack of quality that worried me, but the lack of fight and the lack of spirit. It's deeply concerning, especially as it's not been the first time this season. I haven't been this disillusioned with ICT since the dying embers of Brewster's second spell. We probably have enough points in the bank to hold off Dunfermline and stay up, but given our recent performances I wouldn't bet my mortgage on it. As much as I love this club, and as much as I love the banter I get from the folk I sit with, I am seriously questioning the wisdom of renewing my season ticket. £300 a year for this dross? Pull the other one. As far as I'm concerned, the starting 11 and the coach can throw themselves off the Kessock Bridge for all I care.

Stop protecting Tansey, he has been useless practically all season. Came here with a reputation for banging home spectacular free kicks and long range efforts, and well, I'm still waiting. 99% of his free kicks have been atrocious. His corners more often hit the first defender, ( not alone there) and very little exciting happens when he is on the ball. He has had maybe two games where he was better than average and other than that, not worth staying here for another season.

FFS, we lost to Rangers - not Dunfermline. Reading this thread it's like the end of the world is nigh and the R word is being used again. Had we won today it would all be about top 6 and even Europe and Terry would be a God. Several players did not play well and tactically we were very poor - but this is just one game. We are 8 points ahead of the pars with 2 games in hand. Get a grip, folk!

WTF is it with people on here lately... "real fans?" surely if they were real fans they would have bothered to find out prior to the game that there would be no tickets on sale at the gate. but no these are the same fans that will moan if they were on sale that the home end is full of old firm fans. i am getting really fed up of people on here whining and moaning about the club.... there is a hint in what we are supposed to do..its called support..that means we back the club up. through thick and thin. maybe the "part time fans" are to blame for everything as the "real" fans aren't getting in to support the team or maybe its about time that certain people on this forum grew up and got behind the team instead of belittling everything the club does to try to bring people through the gates... i for one think the club work blinking hard to put on offers and entertainment to put cash in the coffers to fund the team but then maybe im wrong. maybe the club should do what i want as i am the most important person.or hang on a minute.. maybe the club is trying to look after the club so that we still have a team to watch. if it was as easy as people on here make out then we would all be chapping at the door of premier league teams saying gimme the managers job im great and whats more ill make you a few hundred million while im at it... get a grip folks and get behind the team rant over

Whilst we are all obviously disappointed I think folk on here are being overly harsh and TB, as sadly is often the case, is heaping the blame elsewhere when his own tactical failings were a significant factor. McCoist had clearly out thought him tactically and the players he brought in did very well. Terry's game plan seemed to be that the longer we could hold out against a Rangers side with fairly limited fire power, the more they would push forward and the more chance our hoofball would work. This is a tried and only occasionally successful tactic and it is not good to watch. It could have worked but it was blown apart after 20 minutes due to a combination of woeful defending from Meekings and the composure of Rangers front line to create and take their chances. I personally wouldn't criticise the players for effort with the exception of Meekings and Tansey. I thought the rest were all up for it and challenged and harrassed Rangers pretty well. The problem was what they did when they got the ball. The only tactic seemed to either get it wide to Jonny (who was poor in the first half and a lot better in the second) or just hoof it for Tade and MacKay. I thought Tansey was very poor today, Foran was just OK, and Nick Ross seemed to offer a little more potential but Rangers defenders read him very well. Both McKay and Tade huffed and puffed to little effect. McKay had a good first touch but had no options. Tade looked more sluggish than I've seen him - perhaps his achilles tendon is still asleep. Terry was right to replace Meekings with Proctor. Meekings had a nightmare of a game and I think Proc did OK when he came on and better than Tokely would have done at right back. Having gone three behind and then pulled one back we looked for a time as though a second could very easily come. Had we got a second then we would have had a very nervy Rangers side and it would have been game on. I was therefore suprised when he withdrew Ross and astonished when Gnapka appeared. Immediately there was confusion about who should be where and immediately Rangers exploited the space and were up the park to score. Instead of being game on it was game over. And then to bring OTJ on right at the end! What was that about? The game was crying out for a bit of quality in midfield and that is just what he can offer. With Tansey being so poor, he could have replaced him at half time. If he is fit enough, he should be starting and if he isn't he should come on for a reasonable stint - but just the last 3 minutes? Baffling. Yes, Rangers were the better side but I don't think it was a fair reflection of the game. I do think it was a fair reflection of the nouce of the two managers though. And remember, Rangers will have been hurting after the Kilmarnock match and players are playing for their contract. There is no way they were not going to be 100% up for this. Some people seem to think Rangers were there for the taking but that was never going to be the case. As I say, I cannot fault the effort of the players. Rather than bring them all in for more running around I think Terry should let them keep their day off so that he can study the videos of the game and learn where he got it wrong.

Not posted in a long time because I very rarely attend the stadium these days partly due to financial constraints. This season I have attended Motherwell, Dundee Utd and now the Rangers game. Pish, every last one of them. There's really no other way to put it, either for the sake of being nice because one of the players might look at this thread or because it might upset a poster. As has been touched on by a couple of folk, the other part of me staying away is the grade A pish being served up to the punters. I paid damn good money last season to be entertained. Yes I may have had a nice discount for having endured our time in the First, but was that nice discount really worth having to feel like it was a chore to attend to watch us be gubbed by some two-bit SPL welterweight? During last season, I regularly pointed out that our defence was no where near good enough for this level. A remark which, whenever I brought it up, was equally as regularly told that I was being too harsh and I expected too much of the team. Fast forward to now, and we've got rid of two of the players I regularly gave heat. In losing Munro and Duncan we got rid of the two players who most regularly gave possession away. Now I honestly couldn't tell you who our first choice defensive lineup is. All I know is it regularly contains the words Tokely and Proctor and therein layeth a problem for me. Proctor is just plain crap. There's no other way to dress it up. He needs to go and has needed to go since our season in the First where he was even shown up at that level. He is not an SPL player. Tokely is just past it. He might have the occasional flash of defensive brilliance but is that really enough to justify including him in a lineup to face some very good, fast paced attacking lineups that the SPL contains? It worries me and it should worry everyone else that we have not one, but two former international level defenders in charge of this team, and it seems neither one of them can see the problems that I for one can. I will take the time to say that from what I have seen this season, our wide and attacking positions are adequately covered for this level, same for goalkeeper. However the attack only works well when the centre of midfield play well which leads me nicely to my next point. What the hell?... Can anyone explain to me what's going on in our centre of midfield? I noticed today that Foran didn't seem to be his usual whinging, "blameless" self but was that just today? He's lost his ability to jump completely or at least time his jumps well enough to win a header. He did display some nice touches and some accurate passing, usually to Tansey who invariably gave the ball away, fell over, or ran (very slowly) in the wrong direction. What exactly does Tansey take to the team? I guess I hope more than anything that a Foran/Tudor-Jones pairing will work. I also guess Butcher is really sweating, hoping that this will work as well. As for everyone giving it the "that was one of the Old Firm" argument, sorry that's not washing with me. What we just saw was by far the worst Rangers side we have seen for a generation at least tear us apart almost at will. If that doesn't make you pissed then I worry for our support. As things stand, it's going to be a very long, long time before I ever pay to get back into that stadium again. I imagine I'm not alone in this.

As usual some over the top reactions after todays game> Sure we didn't play well and too many players had a bad day. Rangers won this game without over exerting themselves and down to our poor defending. However many of those slagging off Meekings have been saying that he has been good on other games and let's not forget he is only 19 and still learning.Again, I am getting a bit fed up with many posters continually slagging off team and performances but oblivious to the fact that we have rarely been able to field the same team two weeks running due to injuries. You will only get consistent performances when you can get a consistent team playing week in week out. Having said that, the substitutions today, apart from Proctor, who played well when he came on, were baffling. I am getting less impressed by Gnapka, who is to attacking what Djebi Zadi was to defending. We needed someone to play alongside Mackay but Gnapka isn't the one. Tudor Jones, if fully fit should have been on sooner as well. All in all, a bad day at the office but some of the postings on here really mae me question if some posters actaully want to be supporters of ICT or simply want to look for the latest excuse to slag off the management and team.

Another terrible performance but whats new. I can't remember the last time i've looked forward to/enjoyed going to a game. There is little to no quality on the field (from either side), the atmosphere is beyond bad and the price to get in is a mind boggling £25 or £27 or whatever it is. Its the same at most SPL clubs, no wonder fans from every team are turning away in their thousands. The product does not justify the cost and its only going to get worse and worse. The game is dying in Scotland

Are we talking about worst or biggest here? It might be the biggest defeat but it was not the worst. We've played worse and won. Of course, if you are talking about the worst performances in losing there will be large numbers of people who would not be able to make an objective comment on that because when we are losing they b*gger off home before the end. Today was a case in point. I know I was coughing and spluttering a bit at the match but to see the way the seats emptied all around me you would have thought I had bird flu. Those that left early will have missed a superb bit of skill from Jonny which very nearly led to what would have been a great goal. Just be grateful you're not a Spurs fan today!

Gnapka has been here for under 2 months, and we have people writing him off? Do we expect him to gel into a team that quickly? Tudur Jones is just back from (another) injury, has a history of recurrences and yet we want him on from the start? Rosscoe, who has blundered spectacularly on a couple of occassions this year is our saviour in defeence? C'mon people. Today was poor, and there were times in the first half when I was afraid that we would be overrun. It is credit that we played better in the second half, due in no small measure to Proctor defending impeccably when he replaced Meekings. Greg Tansey was poor today, as was Foran and our midfield was obliterated because of that. I'm not sure that tactically, anything would have survived that first twenty minutes, so you can't blame Butcher for this one. We were toothless up front, and we miss Andrew Shinnie more than I thought we would. Top six? Probably not. Relegated? no chance, so against a Rangers side wounded and cornered we just got what we deserved today.

I would accept that we are not playing particularly attractive football and we got well beaten today. But in the recent form league (last 6 matches) we are 6th. If, after 6 matches at the start of the season we were lying 6th having played and lost to both Rangers and Celtic I think we would be pretty exited at the prospects for the rest of the season. Whilst I am critical of the manager today, I think his outburst at the players is because he knows we actually are good enough for a top 6 finish and the facts bear that out. Given all the injuries we have had and the inconsistency this has forced on starting line ups, a top 6 finish would be an absolutely wonderful acheivement. Crisis? What crisis? Dougal, you have made some half decent post in recent weeks. Your contribution above is not one of them.

butcher:''oryt ally'' ally:''oryt terry'' butcher:''you know what ive not seen you in months but im not gonna give you a warm welcome cause it might offend 'dougal'" ally: "who?" butcher walks off to his perch in the main stand **** sake get a grip

I am stunned, not so much by the loss!!! as by the depth and harshness of critcism given by many of the posters in this forum! All the hype and expectancy pre match must have gone to their heads or else the number of bevvies outnumbered the brain cells. ICT were up against a highly paid, highly skilled bunch of guys playing for their own futures, they showcased themselves at our expense, the initial shock of recent defeats and entering administration has sunk in and manifested itself in giving us a hiding. They soon 'sussed' out our weaknesses and made us pay, after that first goal the win resolve was there and they gave of their best. Aluko for example played better than he ever played before. unfortunately It needed more than heart (which we can normally muster against the O.F.) to beat that team today, it needed higher skilled players which we cannot afford. Have a rethink lads and lasses and get your support back behind the team and management.!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh for the days when fans could accept a loss on the basis that the other team just played better!!!

We got beat.....in fact we got torn to shreds. That was nothing to do with Butcher having once played for Rangers. Indeed it really riles me that some folk can think that way. Terry took their wages for three years. Why should that make him a Rangers man any more than anyone else who's ever played for them. He done a job at the time and thats it. We got beat because we didn't go out there and play football. In fact we didn't go out there and play anything. Whether thats to do with tactics, poor quality players or the choice of players on the field I dont know. What I do know is that we have a squad of very good players. Players who can turn it on and play as a team. Yet for some strange reason it aint happening. Is there some underlying reason akin to to demise of Brewster. I hope not and I hope they will all give each other a kick up the ass and come out fighting in the next game.

Am i missing something here?? Can you explain the above.......................and who mentioned the bench having anything to do with Tokely's rift. e.g. Tokely and Butcher fall out because Tokely ate the last biscuit and Butcher wanted it....as opposed to Tokely and Butcher fell out because Tokely doesn't think he should be on the bench. One shows that a disagreement resulted in him being benched...the other shows that the disagreement is the result of him being benched. One would be Ego on the part of Butcher, the other would be Ego on the part of Tokely....both perfectly plausible (well, not the biscuit thing, but the scenario). As Tokely is a fans favourite then it's automatically assumed that he can do no wrong. For what it's worth...and Tokely is my favourite all time ICT Player...I don't think we miss him on the park, or that he should be a show-in for a start, as he has been just as culpable as anyone else in defence this season.

DD, the manner and regularity with which we are capitulating this season is disturbing. It must rank as our poorest defensive statistical performances yet. Am I concerned, yes. Our goal difference is not good and it took a hammering today. Knee jerk............not from me, this has been coming all season and I don't see an end to it. We should stay up though because Dunfermline are pathetic. Top-Six. We can forget that for a long time at this rate.

Not sure why you'd need a ticket on the day if, as you claim, your an ST holder but your statement is very untrue. It was well publisised that tickets would be on sale till 11 am today. This was an all ticket game, as requested by the police, and all purchasers of tickets must be registered. That can't be done if pay at gate. As for your statement at the lack of 'real fans' get a life and learn about life mun. We were about 1400 short of a full house. The game is being played on a sunday at a ridiculous time. We actually have fans who follow their own religion and will not go at such times. We also have many fans, like myself, who dont live in Inverness but who couldn't get to the game because public transport on a Sunday is totally crap. Your so called 'real fans' of ICT are the 2500 or so who turn out for every game regardless of wind, weather, time or tide and that will never change. All the rest, every other week of the season are the 'jonny come lately's' you refer to. Thats the real world.

What a load of pis*. If there's a rift then it's because Tokely is upset at not being played...understandable with any footballer with a desire to play. Butcher is the manager, he picks the team...some people agree with his choices, some people don't. Saying that any disagreement is the reason he is on the bench as oppose to any disagreement resulting from him being on the bench is putting the cart before the horse. Amazing how all this crap only ever crops up after a loss!!!

Very poor today. Rangers didn't even look that good, only our defensive errors made them good. For a player like Kerkar to rag-doll Meekings like he did today, questions need to be asked of that defence. We're missing a proper leader in the back four. Williams is good but needs a stronger partner and I literally cannot wait for Golobart to return. Why isn't Thomas Piermayr getting a game ? Owain Tudor Jones. The last 20 mins against Dunfermline, He completely changed the game. He should of got longer game time in my opinion. I don't think Gregory Tade was fully fit today, I think we rushed him back way too soon. Another game goes by and I still asking myself the same question. Why is Sam Winnall getting overlooked, He's turning into Aiden Chippendale Mark II. I'm pretty sure Winnall is a better option than Gnapka. I'm sorry, but I don't see the point. Gnakpa doesn't bring anything productive to the game. He can dribble the ball but then gets tackled and he's pretty slow too. Long Balls need to stop and fast, they don't work. Anyway, just have to write it off. Bring on Dundee united and hopefully a well earned 3 points

and again we play the old firm and everyones saying 'aw we are ****'! anything we get from the old firm is a bonus administration or not. i thought we started the game quite brightly getting the ball to johny and tade getting balls in the box. then in typical old firm fashion they scored with their first and second attempts on goal after that we seemed to lose confidence. tade didnt seem to want to take perry on and hayes never seemed to get the ball billy mckay stood out for me ran the channels better than i ever seen him do and put in a shift after that its time to regroup prepare for next monday and give dundee utd a thrashing!

I could argue every point you have made thus far...but I see little point as you seem determined to just add a new one every time you get an answer to a previous "complaint". Damned when they do, and damned when they don't...try telling us exactly what you do want to see instead of just coming up with a list of moans.

I struggle to believe people are crediting Hayes and Ross with a better game than Tansey. I don't think Tansey played well, not at all. But he was way better than the missing-most-of-the-game Ross and couldn't-cross-the-road Hayes. Those were the two worst players on the park for me.

came away from game thinking-------------------- could have hooked any 3 from back 4 meekings too slow and needs more than one touch to get ball under control shinnie very poor. gets ball, does not drive forward, usually waits for player to come onto him before punting ball away to other team gillett has the touch of an elephant enough said thats just the back 4 take too long to go through the rest of the team the 4 rangers goals were so easy. men against boys when we got the ball we were so slow in our build up it allowed rangers 2 banks of four to reset making it very difficult to break them down............. wishful thinking on my part then it was high balls to ross and mackay againt probably the biggest centre back in scotland after watching the subsitution of tudor-jones changing the game in our favour last week at dunfermline thought he was a certain starter this week. someone who can control the ball with first touch and then find a team mate with a pass. would have allowed foran to play up front instead of haddie (when i called him that my 4 year old grandson said " dont you mean baddie" told him baddie and haddie are same thing) tade today same as usual runs about like a headless chicken, he had two good situations early on in the game only to loose the ball both times. there is absolutely no end product from this guy. yes he will score the odd goal but surely there is more to a footballer than that. we never looked like scoring from open play today poor poor poor from now on we should take throwins from wrong place, take from 3 yards inside pitch anything to make ref give it to the other team. we must be the worst team in history both right and left side to take a throwin. why not try just throwing it as far as we can down the line, it cant be any worse can it ?? then when i got home------------------- we were playing against quality players today and we are a team of rejects from lower league english clubs. injuries have not allowed us a settled side, back 4 especially the people on this forum who discuss top six need to get a grip. "if we can get so many points from next games we can push out dundee utd" and get to the promised land. what a crock of sh1t. du are the form team in scotland just now and they have scotlands best player ( could have been ours if tel took a chance on him) as i have said before mackay-steven is jonny hayes with skill who can deliver a ball tel is always talking top six. i know he is trying to talk up the players, but surely even he does not believe this team with such a poor defensive record and no goal scorer could ever make it. we need to be looking below not up. starting to wonder now if 8 point gap to the bottom is enough time will tell

It probably was a little optimistic to think that we had a good chance of winning today - that's still a pretty decent Rangers team when you put aside the upheavals at the club - but the ICT performance was disappointing by any standards. Given the fact that so many of our current squad are on short term or loan deals anyway, we won't have much choice but to overhaul the squad for next season, but it's frustrating to think that we could be in this sort of situation for the foreseeable future and possibly never return to the sort of settled, gradually-evolving squad that we had for so long.

I have to say.....the football i have seen on show this season....is as dire as anything i have ever seen from an ICT team. Really Bleak...no wonder punters are staying away...they are not being entertained!

Deep breath.................AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHHHH That's better, just needed that. We are like headless chickens, yet we still had a few half snippets that went abegging. The usual crap passing, poor shooting, aimless punts and inability to finish off moves, it's so frustrating it really is annoying.

Tansey the weakest link in this line up so far!

Really disappointing. They look far stronger than us physically and are keeping the ball better. Not impressed with Tansey's use of the ball at all so far.

An investigation has been launched after the Rangers v Kilmarnock match as a £1 coin was thrown onto the pitch. The police are still not sure if it was a missile of a takeover bid!

No it isn't. ST holders make a saving of around £5 a game over pay at gate. This offer, if I was to take it up, would give me a discount for uncovered section of main stand only if I could find a couple of kids to accompany me. The other part of the offer, if I was lucky enough to be one of the hundred, would be cheaper for me but the full price would still be paid to the club. And if I was a 'real fan', as you so put it, I wouldn't be complaining about schemes that get ICT fans through the gates.

Well this particular list of visitors to TCS seems to have run its course, so time for the next one - let's name all the homosexuals who have played at our stadium. I'll start things off with...............

a few of those 'borrow' others' songs .... and so did my effort from a few years back which was to the tune of Fields of Athenry (long before we reached the SPL and based on the actual folk song, not the bigotry assigned to it in ensuing years) By a low seafront wall, I heard a young man call We're going to watch the CaleyJags play, Through the wind and the drizzle, We will follow Caley Thistle, At our fortress on the fields of Longman drive .... Chorus Low lie the fields ...... of Longman Drive Where once we watched all the dolphins dive Tokely, Mann and Christie, Barry Wilson turning and twisty, At our fortress on the fields of Longman Drive. ..... had other verses but cant remember them now ....