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It's a right damn shame that this forum and the club at times, seemed to be getting ripped apart by constant bickering over Thistle, Caledonian or County. What do we have to be jealous of County over, one single cup final? They got as much media attention for that as we did our semi-finals back in the day. The media attention they are getting as they take the step up to play with the "big boys"? The same we did, twice, for differing reasons? It's a tad pathetic that's what some folk seem to be getting their knickers in a twist over, then carrying it over to spoil the forum, that County are only now getting a moment or two in the limelight, that we too got many moons before them? Looking forward to them coming up and to be honest it'll give us a little something to look forward to in matches to come. 3 or 4 games with a little extra heat and well, though admitingly see them crash straight back down is my superior reasoning for wanting them up, it'll give us something to fight for other than aiming for 7th post-split. Some users on here need to sort themselves out.. there's arguing, then there's just being a whining c*nt that poisons the forums. No wonder folk hate us as fans, when we hate each other.

There are certain things they have been good at, and I don't just mean attracting journeymen has-beens on inflated wages. Some people have always felt they have been better than us at some off the field activities. However, on the pitch is where it matters and after 18 seasons we have finished above them 16 times. I wouldn't want to swap that record.

We'll always be the first to have got into the SPL, they'll be forever in our shadow! As for the merger stuff - it's nearly 20 years ago, get over it... The biggest effect on attendances - everywhere, not just Inverness - is that now the floating football fan, who might have watched his local team 4/5 times a season, spends that money on Sky/ESPN etc. rather than going to the odd game. Who really wants to spend £20+ to sit in a cold stadium in January to watch mid-level football that you aren't that interested in when you can watch the Premiership/La Liga/etc. at home or in the pub? Only those really dedicated are going to! Until live football makes itself more attractive (pricing, summer football, etc. etc.) the downward spiral of attendances will continue, simple. Anyone who thinks the merger has anything to do with attendances nowadays needs to get out more... County coming up is great for us and great for the Highlands and I hope they stay up, as long as we continue to finish above them . Imagine if the SPL engage the brain and we get a double header home and away over Christmas and New Year...?

all you need to play football is grass, a ball, and 4 jumpers who needs fancy training facilities we use fort george 99% of the time and when we cant because of rain or snow we have the option of using millburn academys 3g pitch or charleston. theres no problem with that. there were 17000 thousand 'fans' for the final but the semi final there was 24 thousand fans overall and id put money on at least 17 thousand of them being celtic supporters. so they had no more for their semi final than we did in ours if we got to the final theres no doubt in my mind we would be able to take the same amount of fans. whenever county come up on here dougal you always seem to look at what theyve done and see it as somehow better than what we have done well we reached the spl in 10 years its taken them 83 years, and theyve been past the last 16 of the scotish cup on 1 occasion. the only competition theyve done better than us in is the alba cup wining it twice and theyve had 18 attempts at it and we only had 11. technically theyve done better than us in the 2nd divison but only because they got relegated from the first division and had another chance to win it whereas we have never been relegated from a sfl division. need anymore?

Well done Ross County on winning the Scottish First Division. Looking forward to some good derby's next season.

I don't see why not. It wouldn't have taken long for people in Inverness to see the benefit of the town having a senior football team. Money that was directed at ICT could just as well have been directed at any Inverness team. And without the merger baggage, whichever Inverness team decided to go it alone, could have hit the ground running and perhaps made even quicker progress than ICT. But it's all academic now, although it's always interesting to imagine what might have happened. And I do get a bit tired of reading that "it couldn't have happened without the merger." Of course it could - look at Ross County!

Just a shame you remain so bitter about the merger, Dougal, because if you took the venom surrounding that issue out of your posts on this thread then you'd have a few things left that I would agree on. That's not to say I disagree with your merger related issues, I just don't see the point in constantly dragging them up and they only serve to give people an excuse to ignore the other stuff in there which is worthy of discussion.

No matter what you think of the pegsellers you have to congratulate them on what is an amazing achievement For a diddy non league outfit and that's what they were to reach the top flight really is a huge kick in the teeth to the pro merger roasters within our club who try to tell everyone that without a merger Caledonian Fc would not have achieved the same as ICT Let's not forget they will be the first ever Highland league outfit to have reached the top tier in Scottish football, remember they also reached the Scottish cup final only two years ago and took 17,000 fans with them to Hampden I do think one day we could possibly reach a major cup final in the coming years but I know we could not take as many fans, possibly 10,000 at a push but that would still be decent considering our average attendances since joining the SPL The set up through in Dingwall with the Academy and pitches is really second to none and there can't be many clubs in Scotland that can boast of such facilities The fact we train at an army barracks is still a major gripe for me and is totally unsuitable and not acceptable for a SPL club Once they complete their stadium improvements over the summer this will only enhance what they already have in place As far as i'm aware they were never given any grants or council hand outs like we were when we moved to our so called dream home at the dump which makes their set up all the more remarkable County obviously have a board and chairman who really know what they are doing and prefer action to words I personally can't wait for next season mainly due to the return of the highland derbies but I must add I'm also a tad scared that if we are not careful we will be left behind on and off the field Dougal

Cant get access to stats but i'm sure Rory achieved 4 or 5 goals over three seasons with ICT, albeit not all game starts but still a horrendous hit rate. Tade has nine this season which is pretty good, but he's now reverted back to his early season useless state, Mackay reminds me of Dargo when he arrived at ICT, busy player with a lack of confidence in front of goal, so he might turn out ok but how long can we wait? Hopefully the return of wee Hayes will help us create more chances in the opposition box.

Dougal Said "the vast majority of howdenenders never embraced the new club from day one and even till this day they and their families/friends take nothing to do with ICT" Well.....i used to go to Caley games in the HL with about 5 or 6 others and all of them went on to follow ICT. Im sure we are not an isolated case. And i can tell you....i have stumbled across many ex Caley fans faces in the crowd at ICT games. So i dont think that point holds much water. Also....whether you like it or not, by merging, ICT are getting an average attendances multiplied by 7 or 8 times that what Caley were getting. And this is coming from a man who was Caley thro and thro...way more so than ICT

As I suspected all along - Dougal is in the same mould as Mr Bannerman - a Tink at heart - O2B. The only Tinkerville game that I would ever go to that does not involve ICT will be the game near the close of the 2012 - 2013 season that involves the Tinks being relegated.

Looking forward to the next meeting when we should win zero to minus 1.

County probably have a better team than ICT just now. While they are going to lose Gardyne, they'll bring a few good players in. I expect them to be a difficult team to beat next season and could well finish above ICT.

http://youtu.be/V6GXV0FNEeI This I feel is a very apt song for the in breds from Ross-shire to sing in celebration.