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You are right Charles. But a word of warning. If I ever turn on the radio and hear you use the word "fairytale" (like your BBC colleagues felt obliged to do every single time they talked about Gretna) I will get in my car, find you at whatever ground you are at, and stick your microphone into that unpleasant stinking place where where the sun don't shine. And I don't mean Dingwall.

The point about stagnation is a fair one. However any club will stagnate in the joke of a league that is the SPL. Once you are in it, the finance dictates that you must stay there. I would like to see the '10' grow some gonads and invite the top 6 from div 1 to form a league with them, giving the twins of evil nowhere to play except against each other. Aah Dougal, you were doing so well, then you throw in this garbage. Many people might justify one season getting beyond the last 16 of the Cup and reaching the final (and then not showing up), as outweighing all ICT's giantkilling (if I recall, 11 seasons outwith the SPL and 12 teams from a higher division beaten), and 2 semis plus 1 replay. I can just about swallow that, but it's a bit like the County banging on about their big win at our place about ten years ago, as if it mattered amongst all the routine 3-0 hidings we dished out. Then you're saying that 10 seasons to reach the SPL is poor (and then reach it again 6 years later), but then of course those record breakers from OTB did it in 18 so they must be getting something right. Seasons in SPL - ICT 7 County 0 - FACT ***ICT PLAYING in TOP LEVEL FOR NEARLY 40% OF THE CLUB'S HISTORY*** Seasons in div 1 - ICT 6 County 11 - FACT Seasons in div 2 - ICT 2 County 2 - FACT Seasons in div 3 - ICT 3 County 5 - FACT Why don't you come out the closet Dougal. You're not our old pal Buenos as it would be some achievement to make such a great show of hating the Rangers (sorry, 'Orcs'). If you truly are a Notts County diehard and relative newcomer to the fair city then somebody has been feeding you drink and indoctrinating you since I do not believe you have any first hand experience of the events of 1993-4 or the subsequent (Paterson-inspired) seasons. Yours etc The Mantis (formerly anti-merger and definitely not a happy clapper).

For those members here who support ICT now, for whatever reason, but are not Invernessians, have never seen Caley or Thistle playing.....or only ever seen them playing against the Highland League team they supported (and then they could cheerfully have consigned the whole of either Inverness team to the lower reaches of hell on matchdays), the regular "I wish we hadn't merged.......Caley or Thistle could have done it on their own.....and fantasising about what might have been" posts are getting even more wearing than the "we should never have released Grant Munro ones". Acceptance of facts on the ground which cannot be changed is the sign of maturity. As my mother used to say.what can't be cured must be endured.

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.

Theres a wee article on the main page to welcome Ross County to our world. http://caleythistleonline.com/page/index.html/_/news-2011-12/the-highland-derby-is-back-r935

As the OP says, they deserve credit where it's due. Winning that division is no easy feat (as we know) but they are about to find that staying out of it is a whole lot harder. I'm personally rubbin ma wee hands at the prospect of winding up the gadgies in the mallard before skelping them at Viccy Park. I'm looking forward to seeing how the OF react to Dingwall, Wimpy and all. I'm looking forward to seeing if they upgrade the "vengabus" (rich club solution that one) I'm looking forward to going to an away game that doesn't involve a hundred miles minimum on a bus to some identikit central belt sh*tehole. I'm looking forward to increased income for ICT and increased interest (even of the curiosity kind) from Sky.What's not to like?

Lots of people are engaged in hanky clutching, tear flecked breakdowns on this forum about County coming up. We spent years in the same league as County and finished above them just about every season, attracted far better players than they did and won twice as many derbies. This was despite them spending a great deal of money for many years. I don't buy the argument that them being in the league will mean we are competing for players with them. We are just as likely to compete for playes with other SPL sides, St Johnstone, St Mirren and the likes. The scope of the transfer market for clubs like us and County has expanded into England and connections are more important than simply trying to buy up Scottish players in the way that happened in the past.

Surprised he hasn't already been on but MrCaleyjag backed Bubba Watson, £2.50 e/w at 40/1. He also says that its the last time he's going to bet on golf cos he spent Sunday night like this lol

That's just daft! We'll be top 6 and they will be bottom 6. So we'll get 9 points off them.

Dougal must be the man with the biggest chip on a shoulder. Pre merger this pre merger that. None of it would have been relevant if Thistle had got in instead of Ferranti, as it happens they didnt, and who is to say if THAT merger didnt happen then County still got in with Gala!!!! You cant change our history, so banging your head of the wall for 17 years aint done you any good. Put the hammer and violin down and either join us or take the caravan on offer over the bridge

Well done to County for ensuring all the moaning central belt teams, refs & pundits have more travelling to do next season! Cant wait for our Derbies!

totally agree the goalscoring potential is there it just has to be brought out in them through a creative player aka andy shinnie, jonny hayes. i dont think its any coincidence that our worst goalscoring form of the season coincides with andy shinnie being out injured.

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.

Good post. The whining from some posters on here is a joke.

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...?

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.

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.

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?

Wonder if the bookies will give odds on Proctor going to Crawley Town?