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I say thanks to our vocal support! I really believe our 'vocal' fans have come of age this season. All the derby home games were terrific. The derby away games were phenomenal, and yesterday was off the richter scale! I stayed behind with about 200 others for 40mins yesterday, the noise and passion was unreal! But the atmosphere at other home games has been improving also, if not quite at the same level. I absolutely love the european 'ultra' songs that have become popular in recent weeks. I do believe these new, catchy and arguably easier to learn songs have helped the noise increase. In the P&J today,ICT fan David MacIver said "its great to hear so many youngsters singing for Inverness, the merger seems so far away now". Yesterday in the singing section I was one of the oldest there at 24 yrs old. I don't remember the pre-merger days at all. I'm starting to believe the further we get away from the merger, and as the 'new' generation of Invernessian fans get older, our problems with not having a passionate, loyal and vocal support will be a thing of the past!

Highlights of our marvelous season

Just as it says on the tin...................Thank You. I have just witnessed a season that has given me pleasure and hope and I want to say thank you. Despite what some threads and posts seem to suggest, we have just seen the most successful season in our short but eventful history and even though finances were very tight the management team put together a side I was proud to support.... Thank you! The players have grouped and bonded like no other squad we have seen and have given their all for the cause........... Thank you! The Board have run the club in a sensible way and have listened to the fans despite, at times, causing financial detriment to the club.........Thank you! To the general public of Inverness and the highland region.........You do not deserve this club or team and when we are having inquests into the apparent "failure" of not qualifying for Europe it is in this direction the finger should be well and truly pointed..............No thanks in this direction. I look forward to follow our club next season (and many more after that thanks to the way the club is run) which is more than can be said for fans of much bigger clubs than ours who don't know if they will have a club to follow.

Given Terry Butcher's comments immediately after our defeat in Dingwall yesterday, I am assuming we will be concentrating our efforts next season on winning the League Cup which has the 'blessing' of no longer attracting a European place. As, far as the Scottish Cup is concerned, we will be going all out to reach the semi finals but will not want to risk reaching the final as, depending on league placings and who else is in the final, being runner up could run the risk of the curse of European qualification. We certainly don't want to win the thing. With regard to the league, this is our bread and butter and we want to to as well as we safely can. Accordingly, our aim will be to finish fifth. It would be nice to try to emulate this season'e record fourth position or even better but, depending on who reach the Scottish Cup final, fourth place can often carry with it the risk of European qualification. What a blessing for us that it didn't this season ! Come think of it, we could do worse than adopt St Mirren's season as a template for success but strive to do a little better, but not too much better, than them in the league.

Exactly, it's baffling that some people seem so keen to perpetuate the myth that he said it was a blessing, or that he is somehow relieved that we didn't qualify and doesn't was us in Europe. All he said in a "brave face" context is that we aren't really geared up for European football yet. But anyone who thinks he or the club don't share the fans' desire to finish 3rd and qualify for European football needs to think again.

I don't think it's as much as that - it's probably nearer £80,00. I saw the figures once and I think the drop between 2nd and 3rd is over £100,000 but 3rd to 4th is rather less. Certainly what he said to me was that the club isn't geared up for Europe (and I would suggest nor should it be, given the remote chance each year which came a lot closer this time.) What I would be wondering is how the team would get wherever. For instance chartering planes is expensive if scheduled flights don't work out. Then there could well be visas to be acquired, accommodation to be paid for. Is there an entry fee for the Europa League? Are there any implications for hosting the home leg? And to echo the arguments surrounding that Diddy Cup whose name escapes me for the moment but which was given consideration in Charlie's time, what are the implications regarding being fit and ready to play by mid July - and the possible consequences for the next season? How much money is to be made from this stage of the Europa League? I am not saying that ICT qualfying for Europe would necessarily have bee a bad thing. But I would suggest that, alongside the kudos and the novelty, there would also have been a significant down side.

I notice Roy was on the TV tonight as part of Cove Rangers League winning side, well done to him.

Would ICT arrange a wee pre season trip - Ireland, Eire or across the North Sea to whet the appetites of all concerned fer next season ?

SPL also unable to ascertain whether or not the Pope is Catholic.

Sincerely hope we're left with a decent team - a "descent" team is the last thing we need!

The cost of not aspiring to qualify for Europe is enormous. It sucks out one of the few aspects of this league that retains serious competition. It tells fans that they shouldn't hope or dream of anything beyond survival in the SPL.

Fly up to Orkney and play a friendly up there. I think Ross County did something like that. Then we can all have a night out in Fusion.

Can't believe some of the posts on here and elsewhere. At the start of the season what do players and fans look fer. SUCCESS. So we celebrate the fact that we fecked up a League Cup semi final and a place in the Europa Cup - bollicks. Those comments were made in an attempt to avoid talking about the ridiculous tactics and selection and the fact that we were completely outplayed, outfought and outthinked

Why have ICT been at the top table for so long while other more established clubs, with much bigger backings and advantages have finished below us and struggled? Luck with managers? Good scouting? while other clubs have driven themselves into unmanageable debt and their future is bleak, we are surpassing them in every area. RC must be paying some of the players I saw yesterday a lot more than what we are, I could be wrong, but I doubt it. I'd rather miss out on Europe because we were fiscally responsible than drain our resources on January signings, as that is what I saw yesterday.

Sack Butcher, sack the team, sack the board - none of them deserve to be there and associated with ICT. They should all be ashamed of getting us to a cup semi and our highest ever league finish. Perhaps the inquest should be why we have the lowest SPL budget yet people expected us to punch so far above our weight all season with youngsters and journeymen who have never been in that position before. The real inquest should be why when we are playing attractive football, scoring goals and fighting in competitions are we not filling seats to at least give us a budget to keep and build on the quality players that the club are unearthing year after year!!!!

St Johnstone's progress mirrors that of ICT over the past few years, hasn't it? They have done very well indeed but, apart from their sojourn into Europe having been an emotional blast, what did they actually gain financially? Little if anything? And many of their players, like ours, just move on after the season ends--I mean it's not like every player is going to stay with ICT for years to come so the lasting benefits are difficult to assess, except, perhaps in the lives of the individual players. But we are thinking more of the lasting benefits to the club right now aren't we? ICT are not exactly in a commandingly-strong financial position. Just hanging on and trying very hard to get out of debt, more like. So, going into Europe may indeed be a negative thing at this stage. And a big challenge. You don't want this team to come home beaten, you want them to impress and be noted around the football scene. That way we will be more of an attractive target for up--and-coming young talent from all over the place which is what will keep the roster fresh, interesting and very good for our Manager, Terry, to get his teeth into and keep him challenged and here for the foreseeable future. The last thing we need at this stage of our progress is a series of new managers coming in one after the other , confusing the players with their different methods and personalities. Stability and steady progress with a manager who is respected for his achievements and drive is what we need for the next few years. It's a different situation if we get stronger and stronger over the next three years and then are ready for the European stage. The average Canadian lives from pay cheque to pay cheque and feels that going into heavy debt is their right to satisfy their sense of entitlement about getting all the stuff of a modern existence. ..cell phones, cars, large TV,.'s, house, holidays etc. Now the price of houses is falling like a stone and the picture does not look half so rosy economically with all businesses crying the blues because prices are so high for everything and people just don't have the resources to go out and spend now like they used to. So, if they do not have savings to tide them over, then what? Likewise, overspending and ambitiously over-reaching by the management of ICT does not seem to be the correct course for the team at this stage. More like Mission Impossible if the reserves are not there for the rainy day. The correct course for ICT is to continue to make steady, cautious progress and prove that ICT can now continue to compete with the best and continue to finish high in the league. Hopefully crowds will get larger and when we venture to put our tootsies into the hotter water of Europe we can at least afford to buy Welly boots to protect them from burns. Plaudits for everyone in the team , the Management and the fans who have supported this team this fantastic year.

Here's a rather left-field idea; I know he's leaving, but should we have recalled Gavin Morrison and played him in midfield? Surely he'd have been better than Devine in there and is at least more natural in that position.

I think Kingsmills in post 19 and Yngwie in post 21 have hit the nail on the head. Of course we should all be delighted that we have ended as high as fourth, reached a semi final, scored loads of goals and had players called up for international duty but if we are going to build on what has been acheived we have to look beyond that general picture and look a bit more at the detail. It has been a season not so much of 2 halves, but of three phases. We started playing a more attractive style but not getting results. In the first 7 games we only got 5 points and failed to win a single game. We then went on a terrific run both in the league and the cups, success which led to Terry being courted by Barnsley. There was joy unreserved when he turned Barnsley down and the response was to thump Aberdeen. During that great run we took a massive 32 points from just 15 league games. Then reality set in. Since then we have lost both cup matches and have got just 17 points from 16 matches. In that time, we have only won 4 games and all of those by a single goal margin. We did not just "bottle" it today or last week, we have missed out on a European place because of a marked loss of form over a prolonged period. The reality is that since the turn of the year when Terry announced he was staying, our record has been very mediocre at best, In fact, during that period our form has been that of a team struggling to avoid relegation. If we want to have any hope next season of emulating or even surpassing the overall success of this season, we need to face the reality of what our recent record has been and try to understand the reasons for it. My own view, for what it is worth, is that having the manager heading down to Barnsley for talks really knocked the confidence out of the players. I argued at the time that he had won nothing yet, but if the season produced as much as it promised then he would suddenly be a far more marketable commodity. By making it clear that he wanted a move away sooner rather than later, he gave the message to the players that he did not have the belief in them that they would achieve. Once the euphoria of his "I'm staying " announcement was out of the way, the reality set in and all of a sudden, the players lost their belief and stopped playing with the kind of confidence they had been before. We need to be clear that if we pick up next season from where we have left off this season, we will not be 4th next season - we will be relegation candidates. That sounds depressing I know, but the positives of the situation are that we have a lot of our better players already signed up for next season and the brilliant period up to the defeat by St Mirren proves that the team is capable of winning whilst playing great attacking football. Because of the overall success of this season there will be an expectation that we are top 6 next season. But we will not achieve that unless we can get that spark of confidence reinstalled at the beginning of the season so that we can get off to winning ways from the outset. Yes, it has been our best season ever overall and it is right to celebrate that, but there is some serious thinking to be done behind the scenes if we are to match or better it next season.

James succesfully completed his walk today and was in great spirits when we met him pre match. Well done Sir!

I thought we improved in the second half but overall County probably deserved the win. Doran put in a great shift as did Raven. Dissapointed but still happy with the season in general. We fell short at the last hurdle but thank you Terry, the rest of the management team and all the players for our best ever season! Roll on the next one!!! I must say thank you to County for allowing the Highland Marchers on to the pitch. We were in the Jail End pre match. Surreal experience but great banter. Thanks to the County fans who made us welcome and the great reception we got from the ICT fans. I cannot wait for the next Highland Derby. The greatest derby in Scotland!

Here's a crazy thought for you. If we had made it to Europe and had,say, 500 fans willing to spend £500 each following us on our travels....that's £250,000 that those people could now donate to the player budget instead!

Overall delighted with the season. Some great performances and some we will want to forget. Considering we had lots of a new faces at the start of the season, 4th is amazing. Anyone who can't acknowledge this needs to wake up and smell the coffee!! For the size of the club it's Been great and we need to remember that we will get carried away when we do anything better than expected, but If we don't get to that next post (e.g. Europe today) it's amazing that we were even close! Looking forward to the pre season and see who we will sign and can't wait for the return of butchers boys in August!

This makes my blood boil. This ICT team has improved immeasurably this year and has eclipsed teams like Aberdeen and dundee United and It's because the other teams are poor? really? We have improved because we brought in better players, played better football and beat teams that were previously able to match us simply because we had got better in a league where the football has been of a better standard than many previous years. And if you could tell me what this "souness revolution" was, I'd be happy.

Superb season or not for ICT I am absolutely gutted at missing out on Europe. We can have no complaints from today (aside from the glebe who told every one that Motherwell had scored) as County absolutely dominated us in the middle of the pitch both when they had the ball and when we got it. Our players were swamped by blue shirts and the intensity of the pressing from County was incredible. They were clearly up for it. Taylor and Devine in the middle just didn't work and Pepper was being completely torn apart on the County left before he went off in the first half for Nick Ross. Pepper later appeared on crutches but I'm not sure what's happened to him. As you might expect it was a incredibly tight game with the sides separated by a wonder strike by Hainault who got a loose ball ever so sweetly and lashed it back across goal and into the roof of the net. County probably had the better of the first half with ICT seldom threatening. Meekings, I think, turned a cross beyond the post but that seemed to be as close as I can remember us coming to scoring. We seemed a bit more up for it in the second half and had a fair bit of early pressure. McKay nearly scored an audacious equaliser when he turned a wayward Raven effort back towards goal but it spun wide of the post and Raven sent in a good cross that just eluded Andrew Shinnie but in truth we never really worked Gallacher to the extent we could justifiably claim we deserved a goal. From our end of the ground I couldn't see just how close County came to getting another goal but Reguero appeared to pull off a fine save with one hand to deny what looked a certain goal and Vigurs cracked a wicked free kick off the post later in the game. All in all a pretty disastrous day. If you had offered me all of what ICT have achieved this season back in July / August I would obviously have taken it with both hands but it's still a huge wrench to miss out on Europe on the last day of the league campaign especially losing to your Derby rivals in the process. I'm not sure if we'll ever get as good a chance to challenge for Europe again any time soon as you would have to imagine the likes of Aberdeen, Dundee United, Hibs etc can't be as hopeless as they have been this season but we'll see. Not really sure what to do with myself on a Saturday (or Sunday as the case may be) afternoon now...

What we have achieved this season is nothing short of magic. We are a small town, City, team and this season has been our best ever in our short history, we have come a long way in a short time. We don't have the finances of any of the teams we have finished above but we still finished above them. We have comprehensively stuck it to our closest rivals for years and again this season have lost only one game in six to them. That one on a midden of a pitch with a much reduced player pool. I have a hard time understanding the negative comments. i understand that we are a little disappointed with today's result but nothing can, in my mind, take away from our best season ever. Can we not just thank the team for how well they have done and stop the negative comments. Well done the team and thanks to you all for all your efforts.

I Remember how much we have improved and don't think an inquest is required, it was good season by Terry and his team. I was unhappy with today's result but not with our season. Finishing in the top six for the first time is a huge plus, remember how often we have just missed that. Most importantly we still have 'them' in our shadow. It also leaves us with the core of a descent team and a realistic goal of a European place next time up. Knowing our management team as we do I am full of confidence for the future. Overall then our best season yet and something left to aim for next season.

Yep good on him. Liked Roy a lot. Always gave 100%, rarely gave a slack pass and probably should have had more starts.

Sometimes what Butcher says is best taken with a pinch of salt. I think we should call him Tequila Terry.

Going by the interview last week with Butcher, he seems to suggests a big striker for McKay to feed off is one of the things he's after. Rory Fallon would fit that mould but apparently he only goes to clubs God tells him to! (No really, I'm not making that last part up!)

Compensation for what? Having the most successful season in the clubs history? Keep the pre-season to whatever the club can afford and for those who want the club to provide a holiday iternary for them........ why not come to the Highlands of Scotland and tour towns like Brora, Wick and Inverness and then travel to exotic Morayshire and visit Buckie, Banff and Elgin all of which have bars in which you can embarass yourselves.

With the benefit of hindsight, we now know that we actually became safe from relegation on 22 December. That day we beat Dundee 4-1 at home to move onto 33 points, in a season when the relegated team ended up with 30 points. I'm pretty sure that must be the earliest we have ever crossed the survival line. And with all the fears last summer about our ability to stay up, being safe before Christmas is something that none of us would have contemplated.

To me it was the first derby which would have been even more memorable had Rosscoe found the net with his first minute header

It was worth going just to be part of a fabulous support. I love being part of caleyaway but yesterday we the fans were exceptional.

Putting a brave face on, that's all IMO. TB's as gutted about it as anyone else. Onwards and upwards now...

Good post from Doofers Dad - it was a good season but it could have/ should have been a great season. Butcher's tactical naievity was shown yesterday. To be fair to him he had a very weakened squad but he basically fecked it up and tried to redeem himself by being Coco the Clown after the final whistle.

Very sad comments and quite insulting to the fans. One of the things that has made this season so exciting is that we have been chasing a prize until the very end. To turn round afterwards and say that we didn't much fancy the prize anyway makes the whole thing feel a little empty. I also find some of the projections of financial burden a little far-fetched. The idea that we would need a bigger squad is just silly. We were looking at probably 2, at best 4 extra games - no more than you face in a good season in one of the cups. As for the costs of travel etc., I don't know the details but there are many clubs smaller than ours competing in the competition and they seem to cope. It's been a great season but there can be greater seasons. Talk to any fan from the numerous small Scottish clubs that have represented this country in Europe and they'll tell you it was one of the proudest moments of their lives, not to mention the fun some of them had following their team abroad. If we don't aspire to that then what are we doing?

Aye aye, thats the story - OTJ is off today was feckin PYSH, absolute FECKIN PYSH, to start with Pepper, Taylor and Devine in midfield was criminal, a feckin disgrace of a selection by Butcher, and yet he milks the crowd at the end - ***** Ross should have started, as should have Shane, at least they were match fit which is more than can be said for the 3 misfits that started. I am gutted with the performance today, truly let the fans down big style. This was a huge let down to an amazing support today, they deserved better.

Can we get away from the "you're being negative if you're disappointed" line? It's not wrong to be feeling we could have done better in the latter part of the season. There are some valid points in the posts above regarding performances in some key games. We have found some good players who can on their day be very good but there is room for improvement on basic aspects and without spending money: we must work on improving corners and especially freekicks (the last four have all gone straight into the wall) we must stop lobbing high balls to wee forwards (obvious I know but we still do it) a striker like Billy needs the ball coming in from wide and to his feet and when we do that he gets goals we must have a plan B when games aren't going our way - in some of the games mentioned above, we haven't I don't think it's choking that's a problem as the guys can battle as we've seen in several come from behind games, but we are very vulnerable when teams play us close in midfield (Hearts semi-final) like County did today (admittedly much easier for them today as we had such a makeshift group). Any team needs a decent amount of possession in the middle of the park to have a chance, therefore I think a priority should be a strong combative midfield tackler to get in opponents faces and dig the ball out - Fergie's (and Pele's) teams always had one. Ross Draper can put in a good shift but we don't get the best out of Richie in that role. None of the above is negative just personal observations from a viewpoint of improving. For me a good season. I agree some of the leagues 'bigger' teams have been pretty poor of late and there's been some disappointing results after the turn of the year, but a good season that can be built on (2013/14 season ticket tucked away and ready)

Thank you! Thanks for the great reception we got on the pitch pre match as well. Was absolutely buzzing!

The bright side for me is that I don't need to shell out on getting my expired passport renewed, for another year at least.

Butcher would have had a very different view if we had won today or if Motherwell had taken anything from Perth. Can we take it from his comments that we will be trying hard not to qualify for Europe next season. I quite like Terry but that comment was ridiculous. The big man has gone down in my estimation. Blessing my ar*e.

An inquest into the second half of the season is indeed required. I don't subscribe to the view that this has been a great season irrespective of what has happened in recent weeks or months. While it is true that we have achieved our highest ever league position and that the vast majority of us would have been content with that at the begining of the season, the fact is, considering the position we had put ourselves in at the turn of the year, the season must be considered a disappointing anticlimax. At the winter shut down we were well placed for either second or third in the league, in the semi final of the League Cup and still in the Scottish Cup with a reasonably favourable draw against a Killie side who were hardly setting the heather on fire. Since then we went out of the League Cup, despite taking the lead, to a Hearts side who were in the course of imploding both on and off the pitch and who showed just how mediocre they were by losing in the final to a side who were battling relegation until the third last game of the season. We tamely lost to Kilmarnock in the Scottish Cup. In the league since the split, we have been woeful. We capitulated in the second half at Parkhead. We were always second best against St Johnstone even before being reduced to ten men, we very nearly throw away a three goal lead against Motherwell and were only saved by Ojamaa's sending off. Last week we contrived to lose in the last minute against a Dundee United side who could hardly muster a e recognised defender despite taking the lead and dominating possession. A United side, I may add, that didn't gain a single other point post split. Today, we were almost always second best, A Ross County side even more ravaged by injury than we were by injury and suspension looked like the side chasing European glory while our lot looked like they were the ones who had little to play for. I do genuinely believe that we have assembled a very competent group of fairly young players and am pleased that we are retaining the bulk of the squad for the next campaign but there is something missing. We lack mettle (bottle if you like) I don't know where you get that from but we desperately need to find it otherwise our otherwise committed and talented players are always likely to stumble whenever they have sight of the finishing post.

It's all very well putting a positive spin on our 'great season', but truth be told we should have been miles clear of St Johnstone by this stage. Looking back at all the games we dominated, all the sitters we missed, all the sloppy late goals we've conceded. We will never have a better chance to qualify for Europe, it was there on a plate for us and we totally blew it, allowing a much weaker team to trundle over the line ahead of us.

good season not a great match but our away support was fantastic 70% stayed a sung until we got thrown out and terrys wee speech at the team bus "we will be back" made it worth the trip I will upload a video of our support going mental in an empty golbal warming stadium when I get home @ 6ish

As far as my last post goes, yeah, we have done well this season. We can only beat what is put in front of us. BUT.....i would say....this seasons SPL standard has been pretty unremarkable. As poor a stanrd in the whole league as i can remember there having been, since pre "Souness Revolution" yrs I think we will be doing amazing to emulate this seasons feat in the future

Glad to come on the forum and people still positive about our season on the whole, and what a season it has been. Today, or even the whole of the post split fixtures (bar Motherwell) where the damage was done aswell as not beating St Johnstone all season, won't take the gloss off the season for me. Now that we have retained a lot of the squad for next season, and no doubt big Tel unearthing another rough diamond or two again, I can't wait for next season.

Gutted Just wasn't us the day. Long balls going out of play. Cant make a good pass to save ourselfs. Missed 4 key players but surely we should have cover for something like this happening. Pepper just seemed lost in the squad. Taylor and Danny did there best in midfield but i think they can stick in defence. Even looking at the bench the day it wasn't strong. Top six finish, 4th place, Only lost once to the gypos, Great games 4-4 Dundee United, 4-3 Motherwell, 3-3 gypos Bring on season 2013/14

Poor Pepper, being hooked before half time is never good (wholly justified as it was). It was a half-squad really, out of position, young & rusty players, it was a big ask. RC bossed that game, and we just hoofed and hoofed. But it's done and the positives have to be put to the forefront. If you'd said before the season started RC were to be in 5th place, we'd have been mightily worried. But alas, they are still in our shadow. The beach balls will be back, Derek

Cant really add any more we threw it away last week. Always difficult to win at Victoria park as it is very tight giving us very little width and of course a terrible surface. We knew it was like that before the game but we never got to grips with it and being understrength meant we were always against it. But i am proud to support ICT and with the season we have had it is hard to be overly upset. We have the core of the squad signed up and if we can get hold of a few more players in midfield and attack then i dont see why next season cant be similar if not better. Rangers wont be in again motherwell will be losing a lot of very good players, dundee utd are now reverting to cheap buys and kids, hearts are in financial turmoil, aberdeen and hibs also have to go cheap and kids so i cant see why we cant feature again. Shinnie maybe off but im sure we could find someone like him so lets right today off and get ready for another great season.