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I could obviously post this in the SACKED thread...but I hate seeing negative thread titles about managers (in capital letters!) so here goes So we had a bad run in March...but we had a great run in February; when we were unbeaten, why doesn't that count?, if everytime a club has a bad run they sack the manager that would see a couple of changes every season (like Fulham this season in the EPL) Managers have to be allowed to work things through sometimes, getting out of a hole is often more instructive to a manager than a run where nothing goes wrong....sadly this too often isn't allowed to happen (in the EPL especially, yet Norwich and West Ham probably will stay up because they didn't panic and sack the manager) Many posters on here have said that Terry Butcher didn't have a plan B..... given that our entire striking option for the last two seasons has been Billy McKay, and the board haven't provided any alternative, and most SPFL clubs know what to expect. Hughes is trying something different, but getting this to work consistently wont happen overnight The likes of Marley Watkins and Ryan Christie (and Williams to a lesser extent) are being given their chance under Hughes. In additional Aaron Doran seems to be thriving under Hughes stewardship Under Hughes we will surely finish in the top six for a second year running, which I think is a massive achievement. He does seem to have be able to maintain the team spirit. We got to the League Cup final, and in my opinion did very well against the club second in the country (in a great run of form), I think Hughes can take some credit for that All our key players seem to be very keen to extend their contracts, Vincent in particular was a good result along with Draper...the players must have some faith in Yogi? A couple of 0-5 reverses are disappointing, but don't discount the fact we were so close to a Cup Final (does strange things to the mindset of a player), the manager can't do too much if key players who have been playing well all season make a couple of mistakes...it's a long season for a small squad. The same can happen to more fancied teams (Like Arsenal in the EPL, 0-6, 3-6, and a 0-5) We won yesterday so surely everything is alright again....but seriously; stability is a good thing for a club to have, and provided the club do something about getting a decent alternative/additional striker to McKay (preferrably one who is taller, and can also hold the ball up) then I think Hughes should be in charge for next season and we will see what he is capable of. We should only consider a change if there is evidence that 'all the wheels have fallen off the cart', and that Yogi has 'lost' the dressing room There rests the case for the defence, M'lud

I will continue with the Batman theme, some people just want to watch the world burn. It was a fantastic video - it was not so long ago that ICT was in splendid isolation, nothing came out of the club, good news or bad. I find it more than a little annoying that this has not got positive recognition across the forum, I don't get it. The movie Nixon perhaps was on TV recently? Anyway, I hope the media team don't go under the parapet, as some would like, and keep going for the vast majority of fans for who this is a rare chance to learn more about the goings on at ICT.

Making distinctions between fans based on your prejudices is the sort of attitude that will only result in potential fans staying away. Anyone who pays their money and cheers the team on is a real fan and should be made to feel more welcome than at times seems to be the case judging from previous posts. Time to ditch these chip on the shoulder insular attitudes. And yes I was born in the central belt but my kids are born and bred here have been brought up to support ICT. Is that not what we want?

We'll have a new home strip for next season anyway...and the current away strip will remain and just have the sponsor details changed. Would be nice if it was a home strip that went some way to reflecting our heritage rather than being a Rangers tribute act.

Looking forward to the next one....

Fair play to the guy, he's doing his best to ensure they still have the Edinburgh Derby next season.!

HT: 0-0 FT: 1-1 1st ictfc: Foran 1st opp: Mackay-Steven Time: 62 mins

This, in my opinion, is our strongest XI Brill Raven Meekings Warren Shinnie Draper Foran Doran Tansey Watkins Mckay

What a wonderfully refreshing topic, well said E4C. The man deserves a summer to work on his own approach and get his own idea across to the boys, as well as bring in a few of his own signings, the latter shall be watched with great interest. Point 7 is the one that has hit home with me in particular. Vincent spoke to Hibs and Draper im sure would have had interest from other teams and both have committed their long term futures to be here. Having worked under Yogi since November I cant help but think he must have had some influence in their thinking.

Lazy copy and paste from P & B. ----------------------- Great post from SLJ. Can't really argue with any of that. Partick definitely had the better of the first half. We struggled to get to grips with Erskine, Taylor and Higginbotham who all found space in behind our defence on a number of ocasions. Only some good goalkeeping from Brill kept us in it. We had actually started the game the better of the two sides but after about five minutes Partick dominated. Our best chance fell to Draper but his tame pass / shot was easily gathered by Gallacher. Partick had great chances for Taylor when he cut inside and left Warren on the floor before smashing it straight at Brill. He also forced Brill into a great save from a free kick and was denied a third time when Brill again was equal to another effort after he again cut in from the left. Tansey had a good chance when he hit a quick half volley but he pulled it wide. Up until this point we had been playing 4-1-4-1 with Foran appearing to be playing as the slightly deeper midfielder. At half time Hughes, thankfully, moved us back to the old 4-2-3-1 which saw Tansey move further up field and support Mckay who was an incredibly isolated player in the first half. At one point when he had the ball about 35 yards from the Partick goal there were no other ICT players in the same half as him. The formation chance quickly paid dividends as Tansey started to link well with Mckay and Williams was able to offer more width than he had done in the first half and although Vincent continued on the left side and was always cutting in Shinnnie got forward in support of the attack much more effectively than he had done previously. A neat one two between Mckay and Tansey played in the midfielder who lifted the ball over the onrushing Gallacher but sadly it landed on the roof of the net despite Mckay being convinced that it was going in. Soon after Mckay had his best chance of the game as some patient, probing passing eventually played in Mckay who found himself in behind the Partick defence but he sliced his shot well wide of goal with just Gallacher to beat. However Mckay finally grabbed our first goal in 19 years of football when a lofted free kick from Shinnie found Draper at the back post and he nodded the ball back across goal to Mckay who bundled the ball home. Partick were much reduced as an attacking force in the second half. I can't recall any real chances for them although Taylor was denied a goal again this time by the assistants flag as he had strayed offside. Despite the away side being somewhat more toothless it was stil a nervy end to the game for ICT. Hopefully now Hughes will persist with the more settled 4-2-3-1 style that the team are so used to. If he is desperate to change the style we play then I hope that he waits until the end of the season because the team just doesn't seem ready for it just now. It's really disrupted us recently and could, come the seasons end, be looked upon as a major reason for missing out on the League Cup and / or a place in Europe.

I thought Foran was lucky to stay on the park. He is fast becoming a liability with his predictable lunging challenges. Just as well McKay scored after that shocker of a miss. He would have been as relieved as the fans that bothered to turn up were. Already been said a dozen times, but shocker of a first half with Brill keeping us in the game. It really was Brill versus Partick for forty minutes. Poor crowd again considering Partick had their usual 400ish.

This is only my view. Get off the matchday thread and start a topic about the European places

Royal Ordnance to the Crit to the Glenalbyn to the Barrel Vault to the Caley Club to the Thistle to the Muirtown to the Caley Inn and repeat in reverse. Did that route a few times irrespective of whether we feckin won or lost.

With all due respect this season has already outdone last year in terms of success - against bigger odds! Get behind the whole club to see if we can secure a place in Europe or beat last year's points total - 6 to go to equal it. In retrospect, we lost our way because of the pressure of the Cup Final.

Basically opinion seems to be broken down into several camps Those who didn't want Hughes at any price and wanted him sacked regardless of what he may achieve Those who were prepared to give him a go and who now think he should be sacked Those willing to give him a chance I will admit to being part of the third option for several reasons. Does anyone seriously think changing the manager now would instantly change things?. Hartley would have been just as much as a gamble as anyone despite some posters thinking he was the new messiah (what track record did he have?).All managers have periods when results do not go for you (Arsene Wenger anyone) but you do not build stability and the platform to take things forward but chopping and changing managers. There were no really outstanding candidates queuing up for this post despite what people might think. We are not such a big club that we will get such candidates applying (Butcher was a big name but with limited managerial success). Unless we get more supporters behind us, which was the most disappointing thing about yesterday, we will be a yoyo club, some good seasons and some not so good ones as you cannot keep overachieving year after year, as we are currently doing.

Good 3 points yesterday and great to see Billy score.

At last some sunshine in amongst all the doom.

What everyone seems to be gorgetting is that apart from celtic we have beaten all the other top 6 teams this season. So I'm not settling for some hopeful euro route just yet. Hoping cup semi's go to lots of replays and our fresh squad can nab the points to get us to at least 3rd under own steam.

Russel Latapy left the sunny climes of Porto and a cushy number at Boavista for inverness, all at the behest of one man. I'm looking forward to seeing what this group of self-policing players can achieve with a managerial set-up that respects them enough to allow some freedom.

I wouldnt worrytoo much........Aberdeen will be wondering where 30 000+ of their supporters have gone

In all seriousness.......as long as ICT keep their place in the SPL then Yogi would be meeting my expectaions. if we finnished 10th....then he is still meeting my expectations.....if we finnish top 6 then he is exceeding my expectations. ICT are no longer a big fish in a little pond.....we are in with the big boys. We need to be realistic about our expectations. For that reason, id have to say that just being able to stay in the SPL each season is sucsess for me

19th and 26th April. 3rd, 7th and 10th May. 12th/13th April Scottish Cup semis

How can anyone not have Tansey in the team after yesterday!?!

The story so far....

05/06 Season.......................13/14 Season 7512 v Rangers....................No Games 6704 v Hearts.......................4034 6809 v Aberdeen,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,4810 7382 v Celtic.........................6384 7017 v Hibs...........................4261 7380 v Rangers....................No Games 5027 v Hearts.......................3392 7368 v Aberdeen..................Only 1 home game 05/06 was very much a novelty trip for many away fans. I've said it before and I say it again. Our home gates will always average a little over 4000. We have a core support of less than 3000 and the visitors can't afford to travel. Thats the reality and no amount of discussion is going to change it. Highland region is an area where football is not the be all and end all of spectator sports. Professional football in the region is very young and other interests were chosen many years before. Nobody can suddenly change attitudes and expect mass involvement overnight. One day in the distant future we may well exceed our current averages but I dont see that happening by very much in my lifetime. It is also a fact that gates are down at every other ground in the country barring the two faced with extinction.

Top work from two hardworking and loyal guys and a motivated Manager. Time to give credit where credit is due--it takes a lot of time and work to just get this all set-up and running. OOPS! I've just intoned what has actually been facing J Hughes after he has come in to this club . He's still just getting his feet under the table for goodness sake. The two interviewers weren't scared or nuffink because they were there solely to get J. Hughes to talk not trumpet the sound of their own voices. Lastly I want to hear ClacherH2 offering to do the next interview with John. If he doesn't run out of H2O then I am sure John will adroitly deal with him kindly and with a smile on his face. As a one-time employee said to me after I fired him for not doing the work allocated--" Sniff! You get more with honey than vinegar" ---I couldn't top that since by then I had run out of expletives.

Back in Brisbane now after a great trip home for the final.... how about an Australian/Queensland/Brisbane ICT supporters group. I know there's a few supporters in Brisbane.

Would love a top like Crystal palace/FC Basle, red and blue on either side, failing that then the stripes back. This seasons top is honking, needs more red in there!

Would like to second Roughi's comment. I thought Williams was really good today...mainly cos he was played in his natural position, on the wing! Good pace and a decent cross, only drawback is he is very one footed but still another who there could be more to come from. We have the luxury of having 4 quality players to play through the middle and Yogi seems to be struggling to pick who to cut from the starting 11. While he may have been poor today I wouldnt drop Foran. He is still far too influential to have out of the time. For me Id keep him in midfield and stick Tansey just off Billy or put Vincent back there, he will NEVER be a winger. Alternatively with the season more or less over it would be great to see Ryan Christie get a longer run in the team, think he is perfect for the role just off the striker.

As long as it's stripes, please let it be stripes again... and i'll buy it.

Brill Raven Meekings Devine Tremarco Vincent/Draper Doran Shinnie Ross/Foran Christie McKay I would love to see Shinnie playing further up the pitch. He has great pace and can take people on. Christie has so much potential and needs to be given a game from the start to show what he can do. i think an attacking 5 of Doran, Ross, Christie, Shinnie and Mckay could have defences running scared. There is so much talent and pace there, the potential is frightening

I think it was probably tactics for him to play left and come inside, allowing Shinnie to run down the left. It didn't work. I've never been a fan of inverted wingers except Hayes. Not many can do it. I think a few a pre judging Richie a little early. He's not long back from injury and like Hughes said, still a couple of games away from being right on his game. The same goes for Vincent, him more so, as he was out a while. Neither are fully match sharp and that'll only return through game time.

The first half was very poor and we were very fortunate to go in level. The second half and the change of formation and attitude was a clear improvement and credit must go to the manager for the change although it could perhaps have been done earlier. Not the most convincing of wins but very welcome at the current time. That's effectively three monkeys off our back. The manager's first home league win, the end of the collective goal drought and, from the point of view of his confidence, the welcome end to Billy's personal barren spell. Special credit must go to Dean Brill today. There is no doubt that he has been enduring a sticky spell but today he kept us in the game in the first half while Partick were in the ascendancy. Finally, regarding Richie Foran, there's no doubt that he is not as sharp and consistent as he was before his injury lay off but I think those who are suggesting that he's past his best may be just a tad premature. Just because he's 33 doesn't mean that his loss of form isn't temporary. Personally, I would not be surprised to see him back at his commanding and inspirational best next season. Vincent has, for whatever reason, not been in the best of form lately and is maybe in need of a spell on the bench.

Agreed with what others have said. We were far better in the second half when we went a wee bit more direct and up and at them a bit more. Good management by Hughes to change the formation and the approach slightly. That's the way that suits us and they we should play all the time. One thing I noticed in the first half was while we had more of the ball, Partick seemed to create more with it in the times they did have it. We were more like that in the second half. One thing though was that James Vincent was a passenger today. Quite simply, he is not a winger and I'd have hooked him for Watkins at half-time. It's a bit like playing Tansey or when Butcher used to play Draper out wide. He should either be played in the middle, or not at all. A winger he ain't. Thought Danny Williams was quite good mind and I was surprised when he was the first man taken off.

Yes. I don't think that was in the game plan. I thought Richie was our poorest player in an overall disappointing performance. He picked up a justified booking for a rash challenge and just couldn't pick a pass at all. It says a lot about Yogi's strength of character that he took him off. Bush makes an excellent point in that we can't have Foran, Draper, Vincent and Tansey all playing at the same time. In my view, Foran is the one to make way. There are times when he is excellent (he was superb against County) but those times are becoming fewer and fewer. He seems to have lost a yard of pace and he's not winning balls on the back post in the way he used to. I doubt he'll be captain next season.

So on the basis of a single game, you have decided Hughes should not be sacked. So next week, if we lose, it will be back to 'sack Hughes'? Hope you're never my boss. It'd be like getting stuck in a revolving door.

Comments taken on board and will be considered. The idea was to get away from the normal interview setup. Manager and Players have had mics and cameras stuck in their face almost constantly for the last 3 weeks and I thought it would be good to do something more relaxed which wasn't being totally lead by the interviewer and allowed Yogi to talk more openly and in a bit more depth about stuff....and to do so without fear that it would be inappropriately edited and/or spun. Where you use the word "cosy", I'd see it more as relaxed...and that was the aim. Not sure why you would want to see anyone upsetting anyone else...and that will never be what we set out to do. He covered off many of the points being discussed by fans without the need for more direct questioning and we all have to remember that there's only so far he can and will be expected to go in terms of talking about changes in tactics or plans for future games as that merely provides the opposition with information that can be used against us. Given that this has been well received we will look to build on and expand the idea with Yogi, and to also involve other members of the coaching staff and players.

Really good interview and insight into what goes on behind the scenes. And if further inspiration is needed then look no further than the big man behind the media operation. Someone with a true passion for the club and appreciation of our situation. Someone who, though a falling out resulted in him being relieved of his duties as announcer some time ago, persisted in his quest to give the fans what they were screaming out for as far as transparency and information output were concerned. I'm also sure the big man hasn't yet achieved the full potential of what he's aiming for and that there's a lot more to come. A big well done and thank you to Caleyd and his media team.

As with Batman, maybe he wasn't what ICT fans wanted, but what they needed. Inverness have arguably built more of an identity in this season than any other, and JH is very much a mirror of that. He seems to be a man who has found a kindred spirit at this club, perhaps after seeing the more ruthless Hibs and Hartlepool suits at work. Great video, can we have a Christie-esque focus on the asst. manager next time, I'm interested to know more about how he complements JH.

There is a LOT of resentment and negativity towards ICT in the Inverness area. I have my own theories as to why....but its old ground, but it certainly has a bearing on the p1ss poor crowds we see at ICT games to this day!

I'd of really liked to have seen what Butcher would have done any differently considering our small squad and fixture pile up, especially since he's completely revolutionised Hibs failing side into this winning machine we see before us. I do wonder where this thread would have been if John's tactics, however negative they seemed, won us our first national trophy. I wasn't a huge Hughes supporter when he first arrived, but surely give the man time to get his targets in the Summer and then judge him. Top six for the second season in succession, a cup final, and a team all signed up on one of the smallest budgets in the Premiership. You can never please some people.

Out of interest here is our average attendance since we came into the league colour coded for the respective divisions and also includes the finishing positions as well. Big jump when we got into the SPL.