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Couldn't have phrased it better myself! :laugh:

So the ref's like... The jambo's are all... And we're like... Then up steps Nick Ross...

How about a union jack, with, just to increase the amount of red you understand, a big red hand in the middle, to signify the helping hand us fans give the players. We also need a catchy slogan - after Sunday's never say die performance, might I suggest 'No Surrender' because we don't give up?

Then it's back to the pub... :ictscarf: That's all I have to say about that.

After Sunday, I have seen more than enough cards at a football match...

Not this AGAIN! Small crowds at ICT are a fact (but not unique in Scotland). The young age of the club is a factor for all the reasons above. The trick is to get as many as possible to the final - ESPECIALLY those who don't usually go. If you can convert a few of them on account of the occasion, that's a bonus. Win the thing and even more will be converted because their is just that bit more history to buy into....

Aye, it was a stupid/naive thing to say but my god what an overreaction by some people. The constant search by each side of the OF for things to be offended by is embarrassing. He is an ICT youth player for fecks sake, do I follow the tweets of, for example, Partick Thistle youth players to see if they might say something that will 'offend' me? No. No, I don't because quite frankly I couldn't care less about what they have to say. I don't really care about what Joe has to say either to be honest I just follow him because he is a youth player at the team I support. People really need to calm down and get a grip.

Fair play to Roger Daltrey and the boys.

How ironic it is that they played the game on wednesday night to allow Stevenson to play to add more experience when it counts and he was the one that failed to keep the ball in the corner when they had that corner

Good to see an honest and impartial match review!

And the ref's still like... Then it goes to penalties and we're all like... And now the jambo's are... Then it's full time, us and the players are all going...

And we're all...

He is. Here is a picture of Fraz's bedroom

Found this from the build-up last week. Destiny!

Have to disagree with Alan. I don't know about anyone else but if i am not working offshore i will be trying to get as many mates(most of which have come to games before, some not) as possible to come with me to the final and my brother will be doing the same. Would that be a bad thing? It's not like there won't be room and they will be there supporting ICT, their affinity starting through me and my brother and who knows, it might even stick. We brought two mates each to the semi who made (almost ) as much noise as us and we will easily make double figures with close mates and family for the final because it is the kind of occasion that will attract the fans that don't normally go. Like PerfICT said above, if even a couple of them start to attend more often then job done. My parents are fans, live 70 miles away in Fort Bill so only make a couple of games a season due to work, cost and convenience. If there is ever an occasion for them to make a special effort then surely this is it? There are of course more hardcore fans out there than them but i resent the gloryhunter tag a bit for anyone that goes that's not included in the 3000. As for CC's comments, he is right but i agree with the OP in that he maybe could have focused on the positive side which was us bringing along a very healthy crowd imo in the face of a very unhelpful SPFL.

Scot Rail have tweeted that they are in discussions with clubs about putting trains on. ScotRail ‏@ScotRail 1h We’re working with Aberdeen + Inverness FCs to put on extra services for fans travelling for League Cup Final. We’ll update asap.

....was much more concerned by CC's suggestion that an offer of £500k would probably have taken Billy elsewhere in January! That answers the question of the poll on this particular subject. Amazing how Rangers value Wallace at £1.4M and we'd have accepted £500 k for an excellent striker in the top division! Slightly off topic, but still about CC's comments on Sunday!

I disagree with the above post. Whether one sees them as gory hunters or not, surely the more we have at the final the better. There is absolutely no need to issue vouchers at home games preceding the final. Its not as if there will be any shortage of space at Parkhead. Edited I meant Alan's post

I don't think there's much in it to be honest, more than likely a bit tongue in cheek from Charlie, he'll be aware of this sort of chat and think it's as much nonsense as the rest of us do. Considering the time, day, location and circumstances of the game I think the 1900 or so we took was pretty good. And bl00dy hell did we make some noise! Our support is quite good per head of population and I'm proud to be one of them. See you at the final.

They probably do but telling a silly boy not to be a silly boy doesn't mean he isn't going to be a silly boy.

The utter seethe from Sevco fans (no other club's fans strangely enough) is absolutely cringeworthy. Trying to get the police involved and all sorts. What a bumbling mess!

Just took a look at Jambos Kickback and they all seem to be crying over our booing of Nicholson and some of our songs directed at them. The songs we have sung before and yes we may have adapted a few from some other clubs but I believe Hearts fans sing when I was young which s actually a Motherwell song so they can **** off with the stealing of songs. As for Nicholson, maybe harsh seeing the lad was stretchered off but if they players didn't go do down like they had just been physically assaulted each time then we wouldn't be treating like a the boy who cried wolf scenario. The upshot is they just cant find anything else to rant about as they are embarrassed they coudnt see through the job against 9 men only your own fault cretins

Because the first train from Inverness gets in at 14:05. Astonishing yet not surprising that they've again set a kick off time that is impractical for Inverness fans travelling by train. They clearly don't care one jot about our fans.

We knew we were lucky from the start to even be in the semi-final, so the few fans that turned up were very grateful. It wasn't anywhere near Ross County's number for the Scottish Cup final. That may have been because that was the Scottish Cup final in sunnier climes, but we all really knew it was because ICT is really a made-up team with tens of thousands of people ready to turn their back on the club and support a real team, like Ross County. And all credit to the Staggies for being so magnanimous in letting them. From the off, Hearts looked the better side. Their style was very counter-attacking, with some great defensive play. At one stage, Hearts were drawing the Inverness (although not all Inverness as this is a merged team) attack so well, the Hearts' keeper was deeply involved, unlike Brill. So, player-wise, Inverness (if we can really call that a team) were losing 10-11 in players. Even a toe-poke from Tansey couldn't calm our nerves. Warren was sent off very contentiously. Why oh why, the supporters (the ones left after the merger turned most of them away) was Warren sent off when two players blocked off a certain goal? It had to be two red cards but no! Only Warren went. All the fans around me were saying they only wanted to win fairly, not with this referee favouring us. At least, they said, Ross County won their semi-final fair and square. To no-one's surprise, Hearts scored with a brilliant goal. Hammill, amazingly, managed to bounce it off a couple of players. I couldn't stop myself from applauding. Hamill scored again from a free-kick. Well, that's what happens when we try to kick the better team off the park. I applauded again. Meekings then attempted to break the leg of a Hearts player and was rightfully sent off. He was heard whispering under his breath that it was a fair enough decision. I think he also made a swing for the referee but a Hearts player shouted 'Remember Ross County' and Josh was immediately ashamed. Time was up but the referee, as usual, gave Inverness (I won't call them Caledonian Thistle to stop any real fans being offended) the benefit of the doubt, allowing what seemed like hours of injury time. Ross then scrambled in what looked like a foul on the goalkeeper. And he was offside too. It then went to penalties. The most unfair way of winning. Despite Celtic being a better team, Ross County didn't need penalties in their semi-final. So, all-in-all, a win. But in the most unsatisfactory way possible. But then, it is only the League Cup, so it's not like we made it to the Scottish Cup final, unlike our gallant neighbours Ross County. It was probably because of the merger.

Not enough "orcs".

Who gives a feck - let's face it most of the big brass didn't want us to be there - and the "nobody likes us " phrase is practically as overused as "over the moon". Aberdire look at us as being the inferior neighbours and there has been a growing rivalry. And Deano and co are feckin heroes already.

One of favourite bits is in injury time when the joyous Hearts fans are twirling their scarves.

Who is all going then? Me with a few other mad folk on a minibus for starters!

I know it's a rhetorical question, IHE, but thinking back, for a Highland League team to mobilise that many troops was incredible. Likely went some way to convincing the central-belters of Inverness's viability when the League admission vote came a couple of years later. Not sure if it's urban legend, but reputedly some Caley fans were locked out! But anecdotal evidence suggests there may have been as many as 5,000 Caley fans there? It's not urban legend. There were fans locked out.

Indeed they were. I took Mikey Diamond's flag in and the stewards had me unfurl it to check the size.

How about, more accurately, We Are Caley Thistle....?

As much as I would like to see dedicated ICT commentary and/or live video of every single match ICT plays its not really viable financially. You can have all the volunteers you like and donated equipment and all sorts but some costs are unavoidable (infrastructure/bandwidth) CaleyD and others have already commented on this at length in various threads and the media team will do what they can to get as close to that 'dream' as possible but lets face it, we are talking about an audience in the hundreds not the thousands or tens of thousands (and i think saying hundreds is being generous). Neutrals are not going to subscribe and those that would take it up as a serious option number only a handful spread around the globe. If there is a way of the service being provided without negatively affecting the club budget such as sponsorship or it being self financing (unlikely even in a subscription model) then I am all for it. Otherwise, Open All Mics it is (unfortunately). If it were a game where there was going to be a capacity issue then I would agree with the voucher idea. Have made similar suggestions in the past in the days when we did sell out TCS for the odd cup game here and there ..... you reward the core fans and diehards if not everyone will be able to get a ticket. However, with a venue like Celtic Park and no likely ticket issues, I would suggest you think in the opposite direction ... embrace the so-called glory hunters, welcome them with open arms and consider them "casual fans" as opposed to the derogatory term of "glory hunter". Those 'casual fans' who make the decision to go are an opportunity to increase our core crowd on a regular basis. (These numbers are all subjective - feel free to insert your own as they are only used to illustrate my point) If our core is 3000 and we take 10,000 (just picking a number out of the air) to Parkhead then there are 7000 opportunities to convert new fans. OK, some will be fans of other teams who happen to live/work in Inverness or are mates with a fan who is going and like the idea of going to a cup final, or yes, some who are true glory hunters in every sense of the words ..... even if 75% of those casual fans would never darken the TCS gates, that would still leave 1750 candidates who might be persuaded to come on a regular basis. Its occasions like this that we can use to build our fan base

Incredibly naïve, especially as they get media education. Don't want us to be associated with that kind of publicity. It'll be a hard lesson for him to learn - potentially career-ending, not to mention putting his personal safety at risk. Plonker!

No need to discourage anyone whether they regularly attend or not. Given the venue, there will be tickets for everyone. The more the merrier even those who might not watch us again unless and until we reach another final.

The thing is lets look at St Johnstone and Motherwell. Motherwell are a bigger club and have a bigger support but they still struggle to consistently get over 5,000 to home games when they have been one of Scotland's more consistent clubs over the last few seasons. St Johnstone on the other hand have been in Europe and trebled there average gate in the league. Had more at there semi Final on Saturday than they do at McDairmaid and back in 1999 filled the ground playing a big derby vs Dundee to qualify for europe. Even Kilmarnock have more fans that could turn up week in week out but they don't and the stadium is terribly empty. If the media want to pick on teams for poor crowds then have at go at these teams that have the crowds but don't see them every week. We are a Young club and havent had the generational development of support over the years as others have. They should lay off us as we dont have the crowd to turn up these clubs do. I agree with Charlie and everyone else that it is disappointing to not have a larger support that cub certainty deserves but the supporters we do have a brilliantly dedicated lets not take anything away from what we have already got.

Have to disagree, there is no doubt we have a very loyal core of fans especially those hardy souls who go home and away. However, there is no doubt that given the population of our catchment area and success as a club the numbers who attend the TCS is a disappointment and it was perfectly proper of CC to say so.

The 2.30 kick off just adds insult to injury.

Because the first train from Inverness gets in at 14:05.

What a complete joke! Parkhead is tin point stadium in an apache area. Lets be honest here the attendance will be 40k tops. 20k empty seats aye? And no doubt we'll get stuck behind the pillars. Raging!!! Doncaster n co really are clowns. Lawell must be pissing himself again!

Fair enough, answers my question. I would've been very annoyed with the rangers comments. Ex O.F players/managers need to understand strong comments/opinions surrounding the twins of evil need to be curtailed when they are representing another team. Either way the less I have to see of him in the media the better is my view!

Personally I dont care if anyone likes us, We all do and thats all that matters :ictscarf:

I think ibrox will be the chosen venue as well. As much as I detest the Orcs I think it would generate a better atmosphere as the piggery is too big and it won't sell out I reckon we will see 30k Dons fans and possibly 6-7k of our fans which is not anywhere capacity but it would look better in Ibrox Anyway it should keep the likes of Fraz happy Dougal If reports are correct then it it seems I will be left dejected. WATP

What about us all wearing kilts and bearing our erses to the seagulls.

Calling Dougal - Caley winning their first major cup final at Paradise - IHE celebrating in the Jungle - Is that feckin destiny or wot ?

Gotta feel sorry for Capital Caley tho... He missed Nick's goal and ALL of the penalties... Not because he left early but because he broke his specs in the melee after Tansey's strike!

.....interesting: at one of the Killie matches last year, I counted 35 Killie fans before half time and <70 after a 2nd bus arrived late. So, it's shameful that we take 100 down to Ayrshire, but it's acceptable for Killie to send fewer back up the road because it's "only a diddy team". It is what it is and underdog suits me fine....

I don't sense "nobody likes us". I'd agree with comments above that we're seen as pretty irrelevant from a backwater and have an annoying habit of upsetting odds and hanging around longer than expected (in every sense)!

This whole media perception thing really amazes me. As someone with a wee insight into how they work their perceptions are coloured by a hankering after the past, a desire to not have to assimilate new people and a central belt attitude that sees them as the centre of the universe. When something else (like us) muscles in, we get regarded as a distracting amusement (supercaleygo etc.) then progress to irritation (see Hugh Keevins article in the Daily Record about how and why he wanted a Hearts win) Eventually it will settle to grudging acceptance. These guys are, by and large, simply paid versions of the damp grumpy old men who clump together in stands up and down the country remembering the misty eyed "good old days" and waiting for God. they are real "football people" you know? Fans, though, are a much broader church with every perception from a rival's utter derision to being other people's first look for a result because they were up here on holiday or saw the 9 man victory on the telly. That's why the two perceptions don't match up, and players rarely hear anything but the media line when it comes to a (supposedly) neutral viewpoint. Fans? they only ever get adulation or hatred, nothing in between at games so it's not surprising that someone like Dean calls it the way he has. For the record, people do generally like us. Just not the dinosaurs* *it's ok that's not you Chalky or you Graham

Agreed, I do think opposing fans have a good affinity with us, its more the media that dont take us seriously and still see us as some minor backwater team, for that reason its working as a good motivator for the players.

Wow I had a look at hmfckickback there are some amount of roasters on there Nothing but orcs that can't afford the bus fare to Glasgow I feel sorry for all the other sets of fans from the championship next season who have to endure both the full fat and diet orcs Dougal