Leaderboard

I agree partially with you about people who already have allegiances with other clubs when moving to Inverness. People who have supported Scottish clubs i can understand but maybe people with English teams may be able to embrace Scottish football and more importantly Caley Thistle. I am testament to that. I was born in England and was brought up supporting Man Utd like my dad did. When we moved to Caithness me and my Dad went to watch Inverness play ayr united at TCS when we were still a first division team in front of just over a 1,000 fans. We ended going to a few random games which included a great day out at Hampden for the Scottish cup semi with Dunfermline before watching from the Bridge the most momentous day in the clubs history. I missed the first season in the SPL due to being at pittordrie but i got my season ticket and never looked back for the next six years. My sister joined me we travelled every second saturday from Caithness to see a team we had fallen in love with lose the majority at home but we still kept going back. I even continued when i was based in stirling during my University days. I am not Ivernesian or even scottish but i will aways remain a Caley Jag even if i cant get to games regular atm. We can still progress, we havent even had our 20th anniversary yet while most clubs are over 100 years old. But it can happen people from outside can come inside and fall in love with everything the highlands have to offer including the top Highland football side. It wont go up by huge amounts in the short term but we may see things improve as time passes. It is up to us supporters now to get behind the team and cheer on a team that is unique but magical aswell MON THE CALEY JAGS

What is it worth - a great day out fer the faithful - a place in the history books - prestige and potential attraction of more fans.

Just come back to the forum after a wee break,(about two years) just thought it was time to provide some perspective on the attendance situation at the home matches. Inverness according to the 2011 census has a population of some 61,000 perhaps now in 2014 this has grown to around 63,000 probably just in the Top 10 of largest towns / cities in Scotland (albeit one of the fastest growing). Stats lesson over! It has to be said that ICT pull in fans from beyond the hinterland but this is counter balanced by the fact that many folk in Inverness support one of four clubs ICT, Celtic, Rangers and Ross County, add Clach and its a five way split this I believe is fairly unique in Scotland and supports my theory that ICT are still doing well to have a hard core of around 3000+ home attending supporters. Maybe just maybe this 3000 average figure could rise to 4000ish but that's up to the club to make the match day experience just that bit more attractive for the punters (answers in a postcard?). Basically what I'm trying to say is that we will never compete with the City Teams in terms of attendance's so let's not get too hung up about the current crowds we have a lot of competition out their and if say all the county supporters living in Inverness saw the light then we would attract another 1000+but that's never going to happen is it? I guess we might just have to wait another 30 odd years for Inverness to have a 100,000+ population to attract 7000+ attendance's.

It's not a "boooo" you are needing for him lizi, it's a boot....size 9!

To establish a training facility would cost ten times that.

Why don't you go away, Theeagle, your time has come and gone. Booooooooo

Either I pay too much Fifa, or £10,000 is bloody cheap for a player. O_O

Kendal Town had already accepted "a four figure sum" from Chester when we made our move. When was the last time we outbid another team?!

£10,000 for Danny Williams i believe

I wish people would stop talking about the final before we're in it. This usually comes back to bite us on the erse.

I don't have one ! Not surprised as you came across as a labouring peasant type. Perhaps you will steal one in the future. Oh Dear. Anyway I will just have to ignore the now boring troll henceforth. Agree that Hughes now has to start showing his worth but that has to be watered down by the fact that the side is being hit with the injuries and suspension which we all - specifically Butcher - knew was round the corner. What I am looking for from Hughes is his selections - hopefully changes - how he tries to adapt to the losses, less goals conceded and especially a feel of that togetherness factor. I also would like to see some sort of hint that he is now in charge and not following the suggestions of the Butcher era. I am not expecting anything great from his media chat as that was one thing that Butcher was a master at but hopefully Hughes will not point the finger at everybody else if the slump continues. In all honesty I feel that any pluses in the next two games would raise hope but I am looking fer a marked improvement at Killie and two wins in the cups.

Would prefer someone with a good deal more experience than either of them.

Why wait till 2015? Lets put Foran and Wilson in charge right now, couldn't think of a more popular pairing from a fans perspective, short of my childhood sweetheart Liam Keogh coming back.

"....mostly bred from the North of Scotland..."!!!! I am struggling to see how most of the squad that returned us to the SPL are from the North of Scotland!? Grant Munro and Stuart Golabek are the only two I can think of. Tecnnically, Ryan Esson, Ross Tokely and Russell Duncan were born and bred in the Aberdeen area. But the rest of the squad were guys like, Jonny Hayes Nauris Bulvitis Dan Stratford Lee Cox Dani Sanchez Lionel Djebi-Zadi Adam Rooney Robert Eagle David Proctor Richie Foran Dougie Imrie Eric Odhiambo

Just to clarify something regarding the scouting at ICT....as I understand it. Marsella was not the only scout, he was the chief scout. What this meant was that ICT's other contacts would highlight potential targets and Marsella would then spend time travelling around to have a look at them for himself before giving the nod to TB on the ones he thought were worth consideration. Yogi has added a few of his own contacts to that network and I believe there's 2 or 3 people he trusts in the same was as TB trusted Marsella. Only time will tell on how effective the setup remains, but with Yogi looking inwards as well as outwards then hopefully we'll see more opportunity for our own youngsters and a reduced dependence on bringing players in from afar.

Can't agree with that. It is after all only a handful of players from the 50s and 60s who are talked about as "greats". The 3 exceptional players Dougal mentions undoubtedly bear comparison to the likes of Ronaldo and Messi in the modern game but bear in mind we are not comparing like with like as the nature of the game and the level of media exposure is so different now. Eusebio, Puskas and Pele played in a much harder era. Pitches were much more uneven and referees did not afford the kind of protection flair players receive these days. Flair players were targets for the defensive hard men who not only tackled hard but who routinely kicked and dead-legged opponents off the ball. They got away with that because there were few games being televised and even when they were, there might only be one or two cameras following the ball. It was only exceptional players with a mental and/or physical toughness to go with exceptional ball skills that came through these handicaps to shine. Remember also that the limited TV coverage of matches means that only a fraction of what these players did on the park is recorded and therefore it sometimes gives the impression that their fame is based on just 2 or 3 outstanding performances. Make no mistake, the 3 players Dougal identifies were exceptional players in their day and would have been exceptional players in any era.

Butcher won 1 game in 9 last year as CapitalCaley pointed out. The previous year he won 1 game in 10 at one point. He was by no means a saviour and Hibs will find that out too. Hughes won't be as bad as people think, despite our run of bad results. We are 7 points from second with a game in hand and still in all the cups. If we get knocked out of those and drop to the bottom six then bring on the negativity, but truth is we are still in a rosy position and unless it's scuppered folk need to calm the FECK down. Hughes promoted Falkirk and kept them there for four years and got to the Scottish Cup final. He guided Hibs to Europe and fourth in the SPL, it was a hostile fan reaction that finally axed him there following bad results. We tolerated horrendous form under Butcher and look what we got as a reward in the end! I for one would be delighted if he could replicate the results he achieved at either Falkirk or Hibs. BELIEVE!!!

Would you stop going because of a name change ? I doubt it. Plenty did stop going because of the MERGER, and the identity crisis many - like yourself - hold onto keeps those wounds well and truly open. I had a colleague, a Thistle fan of over 30yrs, "I aint supporting a team with the word Caledonian in it", he said, and who to this day watches Clach instead. Want more people thru the gates imho you're going to have to eliminate the barriers that restrict that desire, and your identity is one big barrier. Many years ago, John Boyle proposed a merger between Motherwell, Accies and Airdrie. Had he called it MotherwellOniansAcademical and played in claret/amber/red/white no one would have entertained it. Had he called it Buckfast Utd and played in Blue n Yellow for example ...... it just may have stood a chance. How do you know 'plenty did stop going because of the merger' ? By the end of our Highland League days the combined hard core of Thistle and Caley fans was circa 500 and while a number of those shunned the merged club, the vast majority followed ICT. Whatever the reason for our somewhat disappointing crowds it's not the name which has a unique stamp compared to the ubiquitous City or United and reflects over 250 years of combined heritage nor is it the fact that a handful of bitter and vocal anti merger brigade stay away and shout loudly about doing so. For goodness sake that was two decades ago and the initial 150 or so refuseniks are outnumbered ten to one by fans who if the think of Kingsmills or Telford Street at all, think of houses or a retail park,

Strewth - it's like Lord of the Rings on here recently

Gosh Dougal, do you think there may be an issue regarding the merger ?

Here is an updated psychological perspective - many evidently did not take the time to read or consider my previously posted Aftermath of a Narcissist post. ICT had become Terry Butcher - he was in control of EVERYTHING. He had his co-dependents entrenched and wholly loyal to his cause. He manipulated others and bullied if necessitated. To be fair he was and is an impressive and characteristic individual and has learned a lot from the psychology that he has trained and invested in. I suspect that many of the players - especially many who feel indebted to TB - are still grieving. This was never going to be the case of a new manager coming in all around the club trying to impress and results being positive. Irrespective of who got the job they were in fer a very, very difficult initiation. I am informed that one of TB's main "beefs" was that he recognised that the squad was threadbare and wanted more funds which were never going to be available. He is adept enuff at seeing that the writing was on the wall and fecked off to Embra before he was the one that looked like a failure. The promises of Leith added to the lure. And from my perspective - what has Hughes changed since he arrived - the answer is feckin nothing - becos that would have totally upset the remaining co-dependents and many of the blinded fans on this forum. He is still playing the Butcher system and the TB selection, even down to the subs. He has really kept a back seat as he does not want to make waves. We had INCREDIBLE L.U.C.K in avoiding injuries and suspensions and we were always going to struggle when we did. Well that may well be Yogi's saving grace. I reckon that if we make the league Cup final and a top six finish that will be a success. Lets blood some of the youngsters instead of playing the TB/Vaseline selections from Down Saff. Hughes would not have been my first choice but I can see the logic and this forum is not helping in feeding the negativity and the anger - which again psychologically - is more about the loss of a Judas and a false hope that he had cleverly instilled rather than the arrival of a journeyman, an honest man and somebody who would die for a cause. This is ICfeckinT not Real Madrid.