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What on earth happened in the early sixties 'cause before my National service in 1958 the concensus of opinion at Telford ST. Grant Street and Kingsmills was to amalgamate and have one strong Inverness Team to challenge the big headed Southern teams that thought we still lived in black houses up here. I for one who was a staunch Caley man am delighted that the name lives on in the Inverness team and proud of the progress the merger has brought. Long may ICT reign in the top division as the pride of the Highlands and if the native Invernessions can't grasp that we have something really good going here then it is their loss. The up and coming generation will surely have a bit more savvy and they too will share my belief that one day Inverness will be the top Scottish Club and turn out in their thousands to urge them on to that peak in Highland history. Never forget Caley....never forget Thistle but rejoice in the Inverness Team that has been made by uniting. Edited to say you too I H E

I'm not sure whether I've commented on this sad and negative thread before, but as it is now over 600 posts long I think i'll say my bit. Not having been born and bred in Inverness I never developed a particular alleigence to any of the inverness teams. When I moved to Inverness in 1975 I would watch any of the three teams to fit in with when I was free or if there was a game that had a particular attraction. For me, supporting the merger with the prospect of entry in the Scottish league and progress within it was an exciting prospect. From a purely footballing perspective supporting the merger was a no brainer. On the face of it, it seems absurd that over 20 years later this is still something people feel compelled to talk about. I can well understand that at the time many people were very unhappy with the prospect of a merger and about the way things were handled. But whatever issues may have caused hurt then are over and done with. What we now have is a new team which is far more successful than either of the merged teams ever were and which deserves the support of all local football fans. I am not going to speculate on how many refusniks there are because I neither know nor care. Whilst I can understand the passion these folk may have had for preserving the identify of the team they had supported over the years, I fail to understand why, if they are genuine lovers of football, they don't give their support to ICT. OK, so they were deeply upset about the merger but ffs, get over it. Just what is the point of denying yourself the pleasure of supporting the local team as it progresses over the years? These are the sort of people who, if a Marathon bar had been their favourite chocolate bar would refuse to eat a Snickers because they didn't think the name should have been changed. But I suspect that many of the so called refuseniks were actually never particularly keen on the football. For them it was an identity thing and supporting either Caley or Thistle was like being in a big gang. When the gangs disappeared there was nothing for them but to mourn the loss of their gang and they are mourning still. Asking them to come along and watch ICT was a bit like expecting gang members to trot along to the boys' brigade (if it still exists). Refuseniks. Either stupid or not interested in football. Yes, they may influence their offspring (if they're allowed access) but youngsters are also influenced by peer pressure and increasingly this pressure and the good promotional work done by the club will reduce the impact of any refuseniks on the youngsters to an insignificant level. Of course, this continual obsession with the merger merely keeps the poison flowing. The refuseniks have cut off their noses to spite their faces and they aren't going to start supporting ICT now. There is nothing productive to be gained by continuing to speculate on their numbers and the potential loss of support they represent. We will progress better as a club if we ignore them - just as they have ignored us for the last 20 years. Hopefully I'll do my bit by not posting on this thread again but it would be much more productive if Dougal stopped posting his nonsense on the subject.

I am being totally serious in my statement that the merger has been responsible for a lot of potential ICT supporters. It is not a few it is considerable. The delusion that it is minimal is my frustration and it is being shown on the Facebook page as these are not the voiciferous refuseniks but are Joe Soaps - and they influence their offspring. I clearly do not give a feck but get feckin pisssed when some peeple are blind to the facts.

Im not on that particular fb page, however me an quite a few boys who were aged between 11-15 used to go to telford st in the Howden end and we still support ICTFC now, go to as many games as possible and furthermore have introduced our kids to the pride of the highlands and they don't support anyone other than ICT I still think our success at least crowd wise is about 10ish years away

Do you think Ross County had all these arguments twenty years after their merger?

Hmmm I think your nose is growing! Lol The intro was evidently a bit of a wind up to get people's attention. The responses are getting more and more interesting and show that there continues to be a real opposition to ICT related to the merger. In all honesty it really is quite concerning - would you not agree ? I do wonder tho if the merger is the reason with a lot of folk tho? I think folk maybe just moved onto other interests/hobbies etc and use the merger as an excuse because it sounds good?Folk grow up and spend their money on other things? I also think moving the football out of built up areas to the longman has something to do with it! There are true refuseniks my brother being one but I'm not sure they're in huge numbers. I also think success has brought its own problems with a lot of peeps sticking with their traditional 'big' teams instead of actively supporting the local team. Again some using the merger as an excuse. Therefore I'm not sure I believe some of the replies on FB in all honesty! Just my thoughts. Edit Just went back to look and actually more than 50% that replied do support ICT so not as bad as you thought?

For two gentlemen with a combined age well into three figures, the level of this 'debate' is distinctly primary school playground. You may wish to refresh your memories as far as the site rules are concerned. Maybe we should also include one banning tedious repetition.

Dougal is but a mere mortal with less intelligence, less charm and less appeal. But at least he knows the facts about the merger and it's longstanding effect on attendances. Ther has been an interesting thread on the Inverness Facebook forum where a piccy of Telford Street was posted and apart from adores boy and myself there is nobody who used to go that is now following ICT.

John Hughes should be sacked over this shambles.