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Just saw this on the BBC website http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/26488401 Realy sad news for former British number one and daughter of ICT''s first manager. She's clearly got one hell of a fighting spirit and she will certainly need that now. Treatment is improving all the time but that is not a good cancer to get. Let's just hope she can pull through and devote herself to what she recently said she wanted to do - coaching youngsters at the game she loves.

Be fascinating to see if you get a response, GoldenDelicious! Using a very unscientific method based on assumption and ratios, there could well be roughly 10 ex-Pat ICT fans in Sydney. UK population 63,000,000, Inverness 63,000 (1 in 1000 are Invernessians) Estimated UK diaspora population in Australia = 1,300,000 (1,300 Invernessians) Population of Sydney (3,500,000) relative to Australia (23,500,000) = apprx 15% 15% of the 1,300 Invernessians = 195 in Sydney With ICT's average home support being around 1 in 20 of the population of Inverness, 1/20 of 195 = 10. Just a rough 'ball park' guesstimate! Good luck tracking them down!

To the Caley Thistle faithful, I have a Celtic bar 2 mins walk from the stadium. I am looking to make my bar the official home for your good natured fans come the big day. I will open all day long just for Caley thistle fans, good music and a large selection of drinks. We are called 'Paradise Bar' and are located at 65 tollcross road, Glasgow. Good luck and enjoy the day!

Us fans have a great opportunity to use the United match as a dress rehersal, to have a bit of fun and practice cheering on the team, so I would really like to hear some singing from all areas of the stands on Sunday and show the team what a good support they have. Just like at the final its up to you to take ownership and start some singing. I think this will also be our first home game 20 years on from when our two Highland clubs joined forces, so how about making this weekend a wear your colours weekend starting tomorrow and turn out in good numbers for the quarter final, its only £10 per adult and £5 for children.

Took delivery this afternoon....been chasing my tail all day but will aim to get a picture up later.

I think what is happening in Aberdeen is more of a reaction to how far Aberdeen have slumped from their glory days than about specific enthusiasm for a league cup final. They are hungry to return to that and see this as a stepping stone to bigger and better things. They need to get the public back in numbers to boost their income and be able to mount a serious challenge to Celtic in the league and to be competetive in Europe. This final is their opportunity to revitalise their support and they have grasped the opportunity superbly and really galvanised the public. On the other hand, for us to get into the final is a great achievement and almost an end in itself. The fact that it is new to us should be sufficient for anybody who might be inclined to support the team to make the effort and go. Of course it would be great if there was 10,000+ but it is still a good number for a club with no history of big crowds. I suspect that should we reach the Scottish Cup Final there will be a much bigger buzz about the place because it is the main cup competition. I would expect ticket sales to be 50% up on the League cup final. That to me is why this Sunday's cup match is more important than next week's.

Actually, I have to agree with this. I don't tap into Inverness media that much (more a WHFP man) but the local BBC news her in NE Scotland has something referring to the sheep being in the cup final in every sports spot - it may be that the news is Highland and not Grampian and so with two SPFL teams they are not as keen to promote one over the other, but it is getting wearing hearing the red update hourly just because I live on the east coast. If MFR and the Courier are not running a nightly briefing on ICT to stimulate interest then they are missing a trick. For comparison, what did they do when C*unty were in the Scottish Cup Final?

THe biggest game in the clubs history and hardly a cheep about it from the club in the local press , they should be shouting from the rooftops to try and encourage as big a support as possible but if your happy with that then more power to you .

Why is everyone so worried about those who aren't going? Surely those of us who are going are more important than those not making the trip.

A poem wot I wrote: History in the making? History, there for the taking! Giving ALL for the cause BE the cause Because It's time Your time OUR time A time to NEVER forget This is THE time for COLLECTIVE-ACTION! W McGonigle

Not living in Inverness any more, I've not seen the local press coverage, but assuming this is true, then I couldn't agree more. When Aberdeen were reaching finals regularly in the 80s, the P&J was a real fan sheet - my memories might be distorted through the prism of time, but the build-up seemed to go on for weeks. Given that there is a Highland edition of the paper, and that this is our first major final, surely they should be really pushing how big this day is for our club and encouraging everyone in the area to get behind us. Re Sneckboy's post above, I reckon that, for the fans at least, this is definitely the biggest day in our history. It's true that a high finish in the league, or a potential Scottish Cup final appearance, might mean more to the club in terms of finance, but we are one game away from having our name on one of the three major trophies in Scottish football; a trophy that has been competed for for 70-odd years (I think); something that even a well-established, regular top-flight club like St Johnstone has never won. Walking into Celtic Park at 2.25 next Saturday will almost certainly be my best experience as an ICT supporter to date; if Richie Foran lifts the cup at the end of it, it definitely will be the greatest.

Yes that is really so sad. This is almost a thread which could be on "ICT" given that she is the daughter of a former manager who, although not especially successful, was a complete gentleman and holds an important place in ICT's history. A sad time for Sergei between this and what is happening in the Ukraine.

The players have been out in local schools this week. The club has been encouraging local businesses to get involved by dressing their windows in ICT stuff and the castle/bridges will be lit up as Fraz states. Lots of stuff going on but I don't think the club can control what's being reported or not as the case might be.

That wouldn't be out of place on the inside cover of the much anticipated CD-single, 'The Red and the Blue'!

We can all play our part in making this a recruiting success, wear your colours tomorrow, go and buy your transport tickets in the Eastgate centre, be seen in your colours, the United game is on tv. show the armchair specialists what a noise we can make. As for the final 5,000 fans or 10,000 Im going to have a great day, don't loose focus on why you want to go. were all going to support our club and our city. A huge amount of pressure is being placed on the Dons team, they are going there to see a cup being won. Im going there to support my team. By the way extra tickets have now been released for Aberdeen, Im assuming their own top sections.

London Road Tavern is gonna be an ICT pub for the day, not sure where else. Anyone?

We have bridge......and a Opera House.... Bridge and Castle.... Sydney style!

Thank you to those who offered encouragement. yes the pipes are a bit twee as someone said and we debated whether to include them or not. Re the Chorus we did have a catchy chorus but it would have been difficult for the fans to replicate on the terraces, so we decided to inlude a chant to replace the boring Ca-Ley clap clap clap. We "borrowed" the current chorus from the French national team fans of the 70's (I'm not that young Alex) They sang allez allez allez allez allez to the exact same tune and in a covered stadium with the echo it provided it sounded great. The "ay" vowel carries a long way, and with a large crowd in a covered stadium it's rather like call and response which has a long tradition in highland music. I accept as regards the song it's not a rousing chorus but as a chant it works very well and I hope the fans use it even if they don't sing the song. Someone has asked me for the vocal track so I presume they are going to rejig it with a different accompanyment and chorus which is great, the more ideas the better. Have written a more upbeat song with a much more highland feel to it and a proper chorus, which I may be able to put on u tube before the Scottish Cup Final if we get there.

Glad I'm not a manager when it comes to team selection for this and Hibs - all are importnat for different reasons! On the one hand, you can give "fringe" players an opportunity to shine with the carrot of a place in the cup final day, on the other, you want the guys who are going to play in the final as much time together as possible.....and then there's the issue of 3 games in quick succession: fatigue and injuries..... For what it's worth, I'd do something like this for DUFC: Brill Raven Devine Meekings Shinnie Foran Tansey Doran Vincent Watkins Mckay And for Hibs: Brill Raven Devine Meekings Tremarco Foran Tansey Doran Ross Williams Watkins........don't want Shinnie or Billy getting injured!

Four and Twenty Virgins The Muckin of Geordie's Byre Terry and Mo Away There is only one Craig Brewster

I have got a skunk called Derek Adams.

Caleyjagstogether don't have an input/knowledge of match ticket sales Dougal. Last time I looked we were all fans! No he's talking about Caley Jags Forever, they're all infomed about sales on an hourly basis. In my defence Fraz I was half asleep when I read Dougals post....lol

I will be wearing my new dress - it is a mid length floral outfit made for me exclusively by Chris Benz. I may not join in the singing as I wish to avoid drooling on the dress.

We have bridge......and a Opera House....

Caleyjagstogether don't have an input/knowledge of match ticket sales Dougal. Last time I looked we were all fans! No he's talking about Caley Jags Forever, they're all infomed about sales on an hourly basis.

Sitting beneath say Kilmarnock or Partick fans would probably be fine. Unfortunately Aberdeen have a fair few mutants in their support who'll take great delight in ruining it for everyone.

Sitting below opposing fans not something I would endorse. Being recipients of "gifts" from above not nice. Wouldn't take many idiots to ruin a lot of our peoples day. And looks like what aberdeen have left is the people with no buying history....mmm iffy.

No! The league cup is the lesser of the 3 competitions we are in. Both because we are still in with a chance of winning the main cup competition and because there will be significant financial benefit in progressing against Dundee Utd, this Sunday's game is actually more important. Wednesday's game against Hibs is also more important as defeat there could have a serious impact in our bid for a top 3 place. Winning the final on Sunday would be a landmark for the club and obviously very nice but we need our strongest teams possible for the two games ahead of it. Agree. The quarter final of the premier knock out competition is every bit as important as the final the following week. We are only two games away from what would be an even more significant landmark in our history. No way should we be experimenting against United or using the match as any sort of rehearsal for the League Cup final.

As mentioned elsewhere on this forum, I am coming from Brisbane Australia for the final. Flight leave tonight. Also going to get to the Hibs game which is a bit of a bonus. Cant wait.

Dougal, a rocking chair for the composer and an electric chair for you.

Heard it's a done deal. They are changing their name to Council of Upper Northern Territory of Scotland and paying us to have their acronym emblazoned across our shirts.

Inverness Tyres - they are feckin loaded.

Definitely NOT a loan shark - e.g. Wonga. Our club should not associate itself with companies that cause misery to the public. What about Harris Tweed? A world-recognised brand...

I wouldn't want their name on our shirts but Tesco should give us a multimillion pound deal as an as an apology for ruining the city. Their colourway would fit in well too.

No loss from a company who want to get out of an independent Scotland. There will be plenty interest for our top next year.

"Okay, I'll have 3 carvery dinners and 3 pints of cider please"!!

I didn't think it welcomed anyone!

I was in town yesterday morning and I saw Joe Gorman being locked in the stocks in Falcon Square.