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In my head and in my heart ICT are the reincarnation of Caley and I relish joining in (or starting!!) some of the ditties of olde. There are times in the Notth Stand that I wander back to the Howden End and there are probably more times away from home that it feels just like the seventies again - only thing missing is those brilliant Football Train Specials which were jam packed with Caley supporters. As many know I couldn't give a toss about the anti-jags nonsense as it never feckin existed. It was pure feckin banter and thankfully still feckin is - if not better !! What gets on ma tits is ex-Caley boys following County. Stay away is understandable, crow at ICT failings is understandable but singing Anti-Caley songs from the Jail End is beyond feckin belief. Yes Caley WITH the same financial backing would have been a big club- much bigger than ICT - but ICT would now be a bigger club if many of the old Howden Enders had buried the hatchet and gradually moved on. So it is Caley in ma head and heart but ICT now til I die. I always agreed wiv much that Dougal said but this season has began to bring new young faces to the games, I walk through the streets of Sneck and I see more ICT shirts than Old Filth ones. The times they are a changing and ICT in current mode will grow and grow. - and in 5 or so years may emulate the Caleywho could have been.

You know, I've just been reflecting for the last little while on where this thread is going.... or rather isn't. Once again we have a member of the blue phonebox brigade with much of Torvean Quarry on his shoulder posting his usual complete drivel and succeeding in promoting dissent which really isn't there. As a fairly keen but not fanatical Caley supporter from the mid 60s, I have been happy enough to move into the ICT age with fond memories of a lot that was very good taking place at Telford Street on the part of one of the top clubs in the Highland League. I am usually quite happy to accept that without being over analytical about it. As an Invernessian I also take much satisfaction from what Thistle did and what Clach continue to do. Rather than dissect this to death, I'd prefer simply to look back with a lot of satisfaction on these great past days. But then, instead of celebrating all of that, and the more recent achievement of ICT getting to within 90 minutes of Europe, you find yourself instead almost talking down the old days in defence against Dougal's latest irrantional rant and 20 year old hissy fit of pique. I might ask - why do we keep rising to this rubbish? And I have to admit that I am as bad as anyone for doing so. It's just that I can't bear to see blatant drivel talked without shooting it down. But every time someone shoots holes in Dougal's latest wafer thin gallon can of p!sh, they are actually supplying him with attention which far outweighs any fundamental support for what he (or she) is ranting on about. Once again I have to say... is Dougal REALLY a member of the blue phonebox brigade? Or is he actually:- A - An 80 year old staunchly pro-merger retired social psychologist indulging in some later life research OR B - A secret agent in the pay of a rival SPL club with a mission to attempt to sew discontent among ICT fans OR C - does he just need to get out a bit more? Maybe someone should start a poll. And maybe we should make a pact not to rise to Dougal's nonsense.

James Vincent deal confirmed - 1 year deal, with option of a 12 month extension.

Seems he's signed a 2 year deal there. After rescuing him from a career that was seriously hampered by injury, and sticking by him after his 1st season in which he done his other knee, I really hope I'm missing something as I'd have liked a little bit more loyalty returned. A good player, shall be missed I think. No doubt hubs will ruin him like they do everyone.

Mantis, that actually occurred to me too when I looked in the book for the quote in question. When I wrote that back in 1996-97, my perception was that the 1980s, arguably their best period ever, was a time for Caley which was a cut above a background of otherwise fairly consistent success, It was only a couple of years ago when I started researching the preliminary online chapter for the book which went on this site that I began to realise that there were actually more gaps in Caley's past record than I had previously appreciated - such as in the 50s and 70s. Rest assured if the book were ever to be reprinted, that could well become "the standards to which the Caley support had become accustomed during the 80s" (But you will have read that already since the carrier pigeon I sent to the Hebrides will probably have got to you before this electronic version does )

Fabulous! How many of those involved Foran in some way?! My fav?... Foran's in the cup against the tinks!! I doubt I will EVER get tired of watching that one.

Not entirely true......I'm on holiday so doing this from memory (my memory not being what it was but I still have a few years on ol' Central Belter). Caley won the Q-Cup in 1991-2 and went on to have a superb Scottish Cup run, ending in a Round 4 replay at the end of February at McDiarmid Park. While County had been humbled 7-4 at Berwick in their first tie, leaving them more or less free to concentrate on the league, Caley suffered a bit of a backlog which probably cost them the League title. A tired-looking Caley team lost 3-1 at Dingwall, leaving them with the task of winning their final 3 matches to take the title. As I recall they lost at home to Fraserburgh in midweek which put paid to that.

Confirmed fixtures (all away) - July 6th - Keith (3pm) July 9th - Forres Mechanics July 13th - Elgin City (3pm) July 16th - Brora Rangers July 17th - Clachnacuddin (7pm) July 23rd - Arbroath July 24th - Wick Academy Kick-off at 7.30 unless stated. Apparently, Butcher's also looking to go down to England to play some opposition down there but nothing is yet confirmed.

Hmmmm... Yes. I do like this one. Although maybe just keep both stripes red eh...

What a crock of disingenuous mince from the usual suspect! Dougal seems to have forgotten (if he ever knew it in the first place) that during its last six years in existence, Caledonian FC never won any of the Highland Leagues major honours contested by all the clubs - ie the League, the League Cup or the Qualifying Cup. The last of these was the league which was won in the spring of 1988, a few months before Caley were routed 3-0 on their own ground by Jags in the Q Cup final replay. That doesn't sound much to me like a team which had "outgrown the Highland League". But unfortunately Dougal does seem to suffer from this delusion which afflicted a minority of Caley fans that they were in some way invincible and a much bigger cheese than the club really was. Maybe Dougal wasn't at Kingsmills Park in April 1988 to see the outright jubilation when Wilson Robertson scored the only goal of the game to give the three points which were needed to keep Caley in the title race. And presumably he wasn't at Grant Street a few nights later among the large presence of Caley fans who celebrated hysterically when Clach finally extinguished Buckie's challenge on their behalf with a 2 all draw. These celebrations (and I witnessed them both) didn't sound much to me like the Highland League title meaning "absolutely nothing". And what these Caley fans were actually unknowingly celebrating was Caley's very last Highland League title, all of six years before the club became part of ICT. Because these last six years actually yielded very little - the Inverness and North Cups to be precise - as Peterhead, then (sorry to say it chaps!) Elgin then Ross County took control of the Highland game. Get used to it Dougal. Caley were simply one of the bigger players in a provincial semi professional league. Five or six years into a phase of decline, they joined with Thistle and now, 20 years later, crowds have increased seven fold to watch Inverness football in the top half of the SPL.

Good article from Duncan Shearer about Robson's 'wild' days at Inverness in the Record. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aberdeen-icon-duncan-shearer-reckons-1925443

Think you could be right with that one. These two photos add together and look like the same material.

Flights to Wales direct from Edinburgh - mystery solved

He's a lot better than bang average. Flood has won a player of the year award with Utd and if the fans are now saying they are not bothered then that just reflects the typical reaction to fans when good players leave. Of course they are bothered. Flood played very well against us and it could be that had he not been in the Utd side for our last home game, the result would have been different and we would be looking forward to Europe with OTJ still in the squad. As for OTJ, I am sorry to see him go. He was more effective than many gave him credit for. He certainly looked as though the work rate was not as good as some but he read the game well and generally his distribution was good. I did, however always feel he should have delivered more in an attacking sense, particularly with his poweful shot which seemed to come from very little backlift and which therefore could catch keepers off guard. He's a bit like Shane - seemed to promise a good bit more than he delivered. We just have to hope that neither delivers on the promise at our expense.

We're all talking about it, and we are all gagging to see it. So the marketing is obviously working. :) nothing wrong with the teasers.

Unfollowed on Twitter. That'll teach him.

Either he failed a medical or he was not the kind of persona the manager wanted. Did he cup his ear when they told him to get on his bike?

He's no big loss in my opinion, I think he'd probably re-sign with us if we got Europe but we never. The sad thing about the whole situation is that Hibs are even in Europe, fair enough if you win the cup but to be honest they barely even had a shot in the final. To be rewarded with Europe for losing and a team that were top in November and finished in the bottom 6 doesn't reallly seem fair. I'm saying that regardless where we finished, even if we got relegated.

Russell Duncan was decently a unsung hero for us over the years

No Juanjo either - Bingham to me was a bit of a luxury but the best playmaker and match winner ever. No Russell Duncan either

My mate has a mate that lives in Italy and his mate knows someone that works in the Errea factory and he says he's not supposed to do so but he sneaked one of the new away shirts out of its packaging and took the following pic of it - I quite like it !