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I think the thing that annoys me is not the loss, it's the manner. What's going on at this club? On Sunday the players didn't seem up for it, against Celtic in the cup the players didn't seem up for it, against St Mirren the players didn't seem up for it. The question needs to be asked here, what's the deal? This "it was the Old Firm we lost to" mentality doesn't wash with me. Sunday's lot was a shadow of the team they once were, even from earlier in the season and it was back to the old "concede a goal and the heads go down" kind of thing. I think the fact of the matter is this - the "Butcher Revolution" was far too much of a jump in the dark and it never should have happened and sadly with the current climate, we'll probably have to go through the same again which again will distrupt things. People are talking about not being entertained. I can only agree. The football being served is not value for money and is as dull and as lifeless as it was with the team Brewster had when he was fired. Butcher said last season, that the style of football was going change, it hasn't. If anything it's gone backwards. I now look to next season. For now I think the club is safe this season, but with the strong likelihood of County being in the SPL next season, I worry for our chances of staying up. County will be no Dunfermline, Hamilton or Gretna. I won't be at all surprised if County have a better team than us next season as well - if they don't have one already. We'll have a hard season next season if things don't improve and I'm not sure I have faith in Butcher to do so.

Those players and others associated closely with the club who read this site must wonder why they bother - maybe they won't bother in future and who could blame them. Yesterday we were outclassed by a very motivated Rangers team who played very well on the day, but this seems to have spawned a constant stream of completely OOT negativity. You can't judge a team or a manager on a single performance so let's look at a few facts. People are concerned we might still be relegated. We are 8 points clear of Dunfermline with 2 games in hand. If Dunfermline accumulate points for the rest of the season at their average for the season so far, they will end the season 2 points behind what we already have. We are not going to be relegated. People say our current form is poor. Since Rangers defeated us at Ibrox in December only Celtic have beaten us until Rangers beat us again yesterday. Looking at the longer term picture, we have not lost to another bottom 6 club since we lost 2-1 to Aberdeen on August 20th. People say the defence is poor. In the 7 games between the 2 defeats to Rangers we conceded ony 4 goals. We have been particularly hard hit with injuries this season. We must all understand how hard that makes it to field a consistent side and we all know that you need a consistent team to get the best out the players. It has also meant that for much of our season we have been without players we would regard as first cloice. People say this season's pish is a continuation of last season's pish. Memories are short. Last season we equaled the best ever finish by a Highland side in the history of Scottish football when we finished 7th - 9 points clear of the 8th placed team. Looking at the broader picture this is all pretty impressive. I might not always agree with what Terry does and to be honest some of it baffles me, but at the end of the day you can't argue with the overall record of acheivement. We are a small club with limited finances and to be in the SPL at all is good, Yes we can hope for a top 6 finish and / or european football but to acheive that will require a number of things to come right at the same time. We will hopefully savour it when it comes but we have no right to expect it. Just staying in the bottom 6 of the SPL is hard enough and to acheive that, the players, the manager, the club need the support of the fans. It is reasonable to express opinions which are critical from time to time but this constant tirade of negativity is not support. Typical of the nonsense is the comment in a post above which states "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." It is astonishing that the poster repeats this nonsense a year later in the knowledge that his assertion was emphatically disproved by the fact that we equalled our best ever finish last season. It really is beyond pathetic. Just what do some people expect? If you want your local team to play breathtaking, silky, attacking football week in and week out then I suggest you move to Barcelona. As for me, I'm proud of my local club, of what it has acheived and what it still is acheiving in very difficult circumstances. I'm not suggesting everything in the garden is rosy; the lack of goals in recent games is a concern, for instance, but the bigger position is good. Exchange of views and opinions is healthy but please, can we have that debate against a background of realistic expectations for our club, realistic understanding of what we have acheived and realistic understanding of what we are currently acheiving. This is a supporters' forum. Come on folk, let's get behind the guys and show some real support.

To be honest, that's not my problem. Nor is it any supporters problem. As I said originally, I went to games last season in the hope of being entertained. You can trot out whatever nonsense you like about last seasons league position, the fact is at home we were absolute cannon fodder and that's not what I paid to see. If the club want to retain or possibly even build on attendances, then they better start looking to bring proper talent to the club and not the English back-water pish that has mostly come through. David Davis was a fantastic signing, yet we couldn't keep him. What's the ratio of gems to dross that we've seen being signed for this season? Butcher can say what he likes about the season starting early, but he knew that this was the case and he didn't prepare adequately for it. Jay, I think your logic's a bit hazy on this one. Davis was a loan, he was always going to be going back to Wolves. It was just a question of when. As for those signed this year, I wouldn't count Golobart, Williams, Tudur Jones as "back water pish" (more like proper talent, especially Tudur Jones) and the only real dross might have been Eldred. I wouldn't say that Butcher could have accounted for serious injuries to two of the above either, but there you are. I'm not that happy about recent displays against the OF either, but remember this is also the team that put 6 past Kilmarnock. Things are simply not as bad as you insist that they are. Neither is the "nonsense trotted out" about last season. Those looking at it in a different way to you are giving you facts here - we finished better than in any previous SPL campaign. If you considered us to be "cannon fodder" I'd be interested to find out to whom. Finally, Doofers Da is right - it is your (and every other ICT fan's) problem what happens here - if you are a fan, you are connected to the Club. It's a two way street as far as supporting a club goes and if nothing positive goes in, you can be fairly sure that nothing positive will come out.

To be honest, that's not my problem. Nor is it any supporters problem. As I said originally, I went to games last season in the hope of being entertained. You can trot out whatever nonsense you like about last seasons league position, the fact is at home we were absolute cannon fodder and that's not what I paid to see. If the club want to retain or possibly even build on attendances, then they better start looking to bring proper talent to the club and not the English back-water pish that has mostly come through. David Davis was a fantastic signing, yet we couldn't keep him. What's the ratio of gems to dross that we've seen being signed for this season? Butcher can say what he likes about the season starting early, but he knew that this was the case and he didn't prepare adequately for it.

I must have missed him trying. As a matter of fact, can anyone confirm he was playing today?

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

Esson Piermayr Tokely Williams Gillet Tansey Jones Foran McKay Tade Hayes Subs - Tuffey, G.Shinnie, Sutherland, Winnall, Ross, Meekings, Gnakpa

Back By Popular Demand The ICT (NON) Travel Club Users of the Travel Club bus and those who attended the evening last time around have indicated a desire for us to, once again, take the game to the Fans and provide a get together for those unable to travel for the Dundee Utd fixture on Monday 5th March. Match Kick Off is at 7:45pm, but you are welcome to come along earlier to secure your seat and have a few drinks pre-match. In order to do this we will be hosting a night at the ICT Social Club where fans can come along and watch the game together. As before....No "you must sit" rules will be in operation and you can even enjoy a drink while taking in the game. And yes, we will be doing FREE PIES again Open to everyone. No Age Restrictions. No charge for entry. No need to book or get tickets. Just turn up on the night. So as nobody misses out on a qualifying trip for the Travel Club Italy Trip Draw then anyone who already has a qualifying trip who attends will be credited with 1 additional qualifying trip (make sure to add your name to the register on the night). CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO ON THE ITALY TRIP DRAW For those looking to travel to the game, see for the Travel Thread

Its fairly obvious that you havent seen Golobart in a while then Jay_7. He was arguably one of our best players up until he got injured and is probably the reason that our defence is struggling now. Had Tudur Jones not been injured he wouldve been a key player for us this season, id happily bet money on that. Im not going to stand up for all his signings as it wouldnt be worth the trouble. Every manager signs duds, it happens and we are hardly Man City, not all the players we bring in can be top quality. We have a budget to stick and sometimes circumstances result in us settling for what we get rather than getting what we want. The Home form was a problem long before Butcher came in. Cast your mind back to 08-09. We were already struggling at home with only 1 win when he took over. I may not agree with everything he's done and i may think he is not doing some things correctly at this present moment and time but the fact is i have faith in him and still believe he is the right man to carry this club forward. He has already achieved so much here in his time anyway and should circumstances e.g injuries galore not keep happening i believe there are still many good times ahead for us. Think its all about putting 1 very bad game behind us and recapturing the form we were showing a month ago.

I would also like to say something. Take your head out of the sand and see the reality of the situation. I'm all for happy clapping, but theres not much to clap about at the moment. That does not make me a worse supporter, but it does not make me a happy bunny either.

How do you work out that Butcher "ripped the heart out of the club"??? You say he did it by doing things "his way"...is that not what a Manager is suppose to do? Were you not one of the ones getting their knickers in a twist when their was talk/rumours of various Board Members/Share Holders interfering with how the team was run? How should things be done if not in the way of the person who is employed to do the job? I suspect we're just going to come back to the "He got rid of Duncan and Munro" argument...but humour me anyway!!!

The Good times will not return under the leadership of Butcher, Im pretty sure of that. He has ripped the heart out of the club with his insistance to do things his way....and the result is, things are as dire as they ever were for ICT fans. But the players have to shoulder blame too...as they are supposed to be Professional, and in the dozen or so games i have seen them this season, they have been pathetic and lacked desire, passion and effort. I am a realist, and while i would concede, ICT are currently roughly in the position i would expect them to be.......id be a lot happier if they were to get beat...they did so with at least a bit of fight about them

I'd rather wait until the 25th anniversary for any commemorative top. The blue home and red and black away top is not a good idea and never will be IMO, we are ICT not 2 Highland League teams anymore. We should be celebrating the red and blue stripes - that is ICT. I do like the idea of an embellished crest on the tops that year tho, that is a good idea.

To be honest, that's not my problem. Nor is it any supporters problem. As I said originally, I went to games last season in the hope of being entertained. You can trot out whatever nonsense you like about last seasons league position, the fact is at home we were absolute cannon fodder and that's not what I paid to see. If the club want to retain or possibly even build on attendances, then they better start looking to bring proper talent to the club and not the English back-water pish that has mostly come through. David Davis was a fantastic signing, yet we couldn't keep him. What's the ratio of gems to dross that we've seen being signed for this season? Butcher can say what he likes about the season starting early, but he knew that this was the case and he didn't prepare adequately for it. Jay, I think your logic's a bit hazy on this one. Davis was a loan, he was always going to be going back to Wolves. It was just a question of when. As for those signed this year, I wouldn't count Golobart, Williams, Tudur Jones as "back water pish" (more like proper talent, especially Tudur Jones) and the only real dross might have been Eldred. I wouldn't say that Butcher could have accounted for serious injuries to two of the above either, but there you are. I'm not that happy about recent displays against the OF either, but remember this is also the team that put 6 past Kilmarnock. Things are simply not as bad as you insist that they are. Neither is the "nonsense trotted out" about last season. Those looking at it in a different way to you are giving you facts here - we finished better than in any previous SPL campaign. If you considered us to be "cannon fodder" I'd be interested to find out to whom. Finally, Doofers Da is right - it is your (and every other ICT fan's) problem what happens here - if you are a fan, you are connected to the Club. It's a two way street as far as supporting a club goes and if nothing positive goes in, you can be fairly sure that nothing positive will come out. Best finish was 2005/2006 under Charlie Christie ~ 58 points against last seasons 53

Butcher picks the team, the players produce the performance, both are to blame, both need to rectify.

How disappointing was that? Like most ICT folk I had high hopes for this game. For them to be dashed within 20 minutes or so through lack of defending was just too painfull to watch. Not too many pass marks for our players today. I didn't think Hayes was as bad as many have made out. He had a few good runs and created some chances. Ross, Shinnie, McKay all too lightweight for me. McKay MOM - what was that about? Tade for me was his usual bustling but clueless self. We were actually a bit better in second half when Proctor, yes Proctor, came on. He had a good 45 mins. Can anyone explain the sense of only giving Tudor Jones about 5 mins at the end? If he is fit he could have been on at the start, or early first half when our defense was non existant. Anyway, the weather was nice.

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

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.!!!!!!!!!!!

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!!!

Can't argue with any of the critical comment here today, totally hapless performance and the management team need to take a long hard look as themselves as well as the players. Like a lot of regular diehards I'm at the stage where boredom and frustration are pushing me away from TCS. That coupled to rumours of another rift involving Tokely this time, it seems the last of the old guard is on his way out. If that is the case I just hope Butcher has thought this one through, none of his cheap imports will ever match Rosscoe's achievements or the respect in which he is held by the faithful. "Live by the sword, die by the sword".

Someone pointed out to me today that if you put the top four in the SPL in reverse order the first letters spell HMRC. And Rangers are caught in the middle. There is no escape!

Personally I think the whole "Caley" home kit/"Thistle" away kit, sounds like a dreadful idea, unless all homes featured said top and all away games featured the other top. And anyway, why Caley at home? Why not Thistle at home? Sounds like the old Caley bias still exists to me to some degree if that were to come about. The anniversary of ICT, should be about ICT. While we must acknowledge that the club came from a merger of two others, we have one club now and that's what it should all be about.

I happened to drive past the Clach Park today and couldn't help but be impressed by how neat and tidy it looks from the outside - or at least the part still owned by Clach. The exterior wall at the front of the ground has had a brand new coat of whitewash (or its modern equivalent) and looks really good. It would be even better if there were more advertising signs outside than simply two from Orion but I'm sure they're working on the commercial side. Add to that the disappearance of the eyesore which the Wineshed had become and it very much looks as if progress continues to be made down at Grant Street Park. Unfortunately the former Social Club, which has been taken over by the religious group, has had no exterior work done on it at all and looks a lot duller and really quite tatty with various bits of graffiti in comparison with the sparkling football ground.

Sounds just like the Howden End.... especially during the Merger! But on the subject of changes to the Clach Park over the last 20 years or so, they have indeed been massive. I suppose it all started in the late 80s when the grandstand (ahem!)"burned down". I don't believe the cause was ever determined. (But by the way, that means that the grandstands in all three Inverness HL grounds burned down - Telford Street in 1950 and Kingsmills in 1995 after it had ceased to be as football ground. "Was it ever?" I hear former Howden Enders cry! :biggrin: ) But to return to Grant Street, the chunk of land on which the old stand stood and a fair bit more was sold off to pay debts as part of the 1990 rescue. The 1997 rescue then involved selling off the pitch, initially to ICT Properties who then sold it on to the Common Good Fund but that at least involved no physical change. Now end on to the 2011 rescue, the Social Club has become a place for worshipping God and not Carlsberg while the Council have bought the car park area and the Wineshed has disappeared. As far as I am aware, the club still owns the Boardroom/changingroom areas and (I'm fairly sure) the land on which the Wineshed formerly stood but that is all. Basically Clach have had to sell off the family silver in stages over the last 20 years in order to prop up what has for decades been a fundamentally non viable business. Off the top of my head, these three rescues have between them disposed of a total of something in the ballpark of over half a million pounds worth of debt. Now there are only a couple of little teaspoons left from that family silver so I really hope the new Orion regime can turn things round because Clach are very much drinking in the Last Chance Saloon (which is probably the only pub left down the Merkinch these days!)