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Was it a Special Needs school ?

There we go, cast iron proof that Mr Bannerman is wrong about the number of refuseniks. I mean if someone lives in Inverness now, then it goes without saying that they must have followed, without necessarily attending, either Caledonian or Thistle 20 years ago mustn't they. All im saying is, crowds SHOULD be a lot healthier than they are but the merger turned a hell of a lot more people OFF ICT than just those who attended games in the Old Highland League.Caley Used to get BIGGER crowds in the Highland Leage (back in the day), when inverness was about 1/3rd of the population, than ICT gets in the SPL. Thats a FACT!! Fecks sake, in 'those' days there was feck all else to do in Inverness, and men did not go shopping or do anything with their families, to compare attendances now to 45 years ago is stupid.

"Pride of the Highlands" Stand

I don't know plenty of people who don't know if they supported Caley or Thistle but now they don't know if they go to games in Inverness or Dingwall. But to be honest I don't know.

(CUE THE HORLICKS MUSIC).... eeh lad... ah remember 't day when 15,000 Caley fans signed Buenos Hornell's petition against 't merger and 83% of nicked copies of 't Courier 'ad 't coupons filled in saying "nay lad"! Seriously, though, I think we now have claims of more refuseniks than ever went to Telford Street or Kingsmills in the first place However probably the most revealing statistic of the lot is that the most bitter year of the whole fraught affair - 1994 - saw the biggest ever percentage increase in attendance at matches. When it was Thistle and Caley, typical combined home gates, which were in decline, came to about 600. Then the first season of Caley Thistle - despite Baltacha's uninspiring tactics - average attendance more than doubled to 1275, which of course has gone onward and generally upward ever since. So in the face of all these alleged "boys at my work who don't go any more" (so what did they do instead - go off on holiday with Shergar and Lord Lucan?), crowds actually doubled in the first, controversial season of the new team. The last 20 years to a large extent boil down to the following single sentence - As a result of two clubs joining forces, Inverness progressed from the Highland League to the top half of the SPL and attendances rose almost seven fold. So quite frankly, if progress like that has been made, I don't actually give a flying toss about anyone who might have thrown the rattle out of the phone box and decided not to share in the magnificent experience. If 40 ex Jaggies and a few more Howden Enders have taken the hump, then that's a tiny price to pay. It's a wee bit like spending a pound to earn a hundred. And I really wish the Flat Earth Society would stop banging on with their wishful thinking about numbers which simply don't add up by continually returning to this now tedious and redundant subject. ICT is a top six SPL club - job largely done but progress still in process.

Its whats known as 'BANTER' in football terms. Iain Vigurs probably is a decent person. He has certainly improved his football and his attitude to the game and has done very well at RC. He is also someone who likely enjoys the attention. He smiled and gestured at us when the chants were directed at him. He reacted in good spirit with a smile on his face and he gave as well as he got. Thats BANTER.

Pic from Sundays game showing the love the Caley fans have for Iain Vigurs

Oh feck off - I'm just doing it before someone else does... We've another 3 months of this chit to put up with yet!

Golly and Juanjo got the goals in our first win at Pittodrie. think he means our first win against aberdeen at pittodrie Inspector Gadget better not give up his day job with you around!

I tell you what's quite funny this season is the way that County have marketed themselves as one big family. And indeed, they've done that well - a classic dysfunctional family. You've got the Sugardaddy, the ultra-Christian assaulter Derek Adams, the driving banned Kovacevic and the breaking and entering Rocco Quinn . The only person missing is Jeremy Kyle!

It was a very good season, the best ever, the best achievement and a considerable improvement. What some people are trying to point out is that it should have been a great season, one that may not have been better and despite the presence of much more positives had a couple of major disappointments.

I wonder how much the stadiums location accounts for lack of support. It would have been interesting to see attendances had the stadium been slap bang in the middle of a community. As far as locals go, many ex Caley "fans", Many of whom never attended many games, if any...but since the merger, many many of these people, have changed allegience to Ross County. I see it all the time on my facebook. Like last weekend....the amount of Invernessians revelling in County beating ICT

I seem to remember we "pinched" Greg Tansey for free from Stockport because of a FIFA rule that a young player can transfer across borders without the usual under 23 compensation being payable, if his current club did not offer him an extension more than 3 months before his contract expired. I also think that when using that rule, you can't actually sign the player before 1 July, but you can get them to agree that they will join. It's something like that anyway. A complication here might be that Vincent had apparently made enough appearances in the season to automatically trigger a new contract offer from Kidderminster - but when was it triggered?

How do you know there's plenty more if you don't know them? Pure class!! The perfect answer! Or maybe Forza meets them at the annual congress of the Walter Mitty Society. But is it not now time to set aside 20 year old fantasies and move on?

I know a very personable Howden Ender who continues to cherish his past but doesn't mind socialising with Jeggies and would never ever follow Ross County or Elgin City because they were the old enemies.

Yeah i understand the banter between ex players and fans but still there is a line that shouldn't be crossed. I think some of our fans have a genuine hatred towards him, its all fun and games but when people start to comment on a personal level without knowing the guy it just shows ignorance. Anyway its only a minority but sometimes it goes a wee bit far. We are still in a small enough city where fans and players can be friends etc so we never no who we could be offending. Lets keep it banter between fan and player and not cross that line. I know this won't stop it happening the comments I've made but sometimes gotta just put it out there. Anyway amazing season, lets talk about that instead of talking about another teams player. Seems a little petty don't you think.

Im embarrassed when i read some of the comments about vigurs on here, being a caley fan but also a friend of vigurs and his family i can't believe some of the rubbish that our fans come out with as he is a top genuine guy, i don't post on forums usually but this deserved a reply. I think some of the comments about vigurs are completely childish and lack backing, going on about how much he hates us, but really its our fans that waste time making up pathetic songs about him and boo him every time he gets the ball. He's just doing a job and does it well, all we do is sound bitter and jealous. Some of our fans should show more class, however, class probably eludes them.

Seems like we are working hard to get our business concluded as soon as possible, having most of the current lads already signed up i assume will have helped them focus on new targets. Glad we are strengthening the wide areas, apart from Doran no one really impressed out on the flanks this season and thats us already got some decent options. 1 or 2 strikers are required now i think.

Happy to announce that Pat Munro and Highnet are sponsoring the game. Both have given generously to cover the pitch hire and cover the match officials. Thank you to both!

Ifs buts and maybees. Only our 2 last games have been mentioned, looking deeper a draw against Perth or turning 15 of our draws into a win would have got us to 3rd. Europes gone now ( for this season ) how about looking back to the Motherwell game any saying that game secured 4th place

Martin Lisle thinking...you wouldn't last 5 mins if i was on the pitch

Please let's not contaminate this thread by introducing the myth of ' ex Jaggies' or Caley rebels heading over the Kessock Firth in their hoards to swell the coffers at Ross County. Anyway,there is no such thing as an ex Jaggie. Once a Jaggie always a Jaggie

It never fails to amaze me how much people get drawn in by what is printed in the press. Direct quotes are often shortened or portrayed out of context in order to sensationalise them because journalists know that in doing so they generate conversations such as this which provide exposure and (potentially) increase readership. I get that some people are a bit down, I am/was too....but does anyone seriously think for one second that Terry, the players, the Chairman or anyone else didn't/don't want the club to be achieving as much as possible? Nobody ever heard of trying to look on the bright side when disappointing things happen?

Ex player Martin Lisle doesnt look to happy in the background, at least I think its him

After the poor performance on Sunday it was good to see the highlights of the season which has been great with some fantastic games which outweigh the bad! With a small budget and support TB and his team have done very well this season. It will be harder next season to improve on this but with a few more good additions to the squad I hope we will. Again well done and thank you to all at ICT. :ictscarf:

Some folk are reading too much into Terrys comments. As others have stated, it was a tongue in cheek comment, I hear football managers all the time making sarcastic comments about the board. Terry and all the guys at Caley Thistle were desperate to finish 3rd. Ok, it didn't work out, but I doubt any person at Caley Thistle (Chairman / board included) are happy about losing the game. It was a tongue in cheek comment and we shouldn't be worrying about it at all. I am disappointed we lost the game, and disappointed we missed out on Europe on the last day. However, I am delighted with the season in general and the 4th placed finish is still an incredible achievement.

And finish on a downer? These players and the management team have just finished the best season in the club's history. I'm sure the easiest, most obvious, and most honest answer for TB was to criticise the performance, but was that how he or the club wanted to round off their best ever season? No. All he did was put on a brave face, and save face for the players, who, for 90% of the season, have exceeded expectations. It was one game, maybe two, where they fell short. That doesn't mean you discredit a year's work and leave your staff with a negative. you applaud the positives. As for the chairman being relieved etc. it's all a bit tongue in cheek. Don't do a disservice to the main body of work, however disappointing it was to every single person.

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.

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?

Always had a problem with the family Enclosure being named after Kevin Bissett. I no the guy has went through hell, but in health he never represented the club and to my knowladge had no part in our history.Very harsh i no but true.It was a great gesture by the club but if we are to do it again fans should have a vote.

"The Andy Barrowman Goalmouth"