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Oh My! Caley dawson My two eyes don' t read at the same pace. One forges ahead whilst the other one is lagging behind and grasping at straws, So I misread your post and thought you had said.......in terms of a lawn mower we don't know what the Dons will be paying" ..... and immediately assumed in a flash of inspiration that they were looking for a groundsman.. But now, using my newly-built-in eye adjuster, I figured it all out . Me? I like Willo Flood's style. Have you noticed that, once he's on the ball, his distriburtion is controlled and effective and he raerely loses it when he gets it. And the last goal I saw from him was a belter and a thing of beauty; dynamic like,. And just a mention ------ Rooney is surely belting them in --winning awards and so forth. Other than that I don't particularly rate Aberdeen. Methinks ICT has more class, more oomph, more crowd-pleasing moves and more skill. YESSSSSS!

A lot of people on here seem to be under the impression that strengthening the squad somehow means bankrupting the club or spending money we don't have. Butcher in his time here strengthened the squad each year without bankrupting the club, Pele did it every season he was here without bankrupting the club, why cant Yogi? I have never said that we have to splurge money we don't have on adding to the squad I am merely saying that to have a squad ready for domestic and foreign pursuits then we have to bolster the squad. Yogi has stated himself there will be around 4-5 departures over the close season. We will be losing our captain who will be a huge player to replace, we have no senior strikers contracted to the club beyond the summer so this team will require replacements and additions and I have full faith in the board and management in doing this within our means. The whole point of the thread wasn't to discuss a shopping list of European superstars, it was to see if and where we need to look at strengthening for next season

Why the fuss ?.......leave it to our management team.............They have done a marvellous job up 'till now and no doubt they will do so again. Whoever remains from our current playing squad at the end of the season deserves a crack at playing in European football..... they earned it This is our first venture so let all enjoy it, players, management and supporters.....Do not expect or demand miracles........It took us 21 years to get this far............This is bonus time for all, another piece of history and another brick in the building.... be content with cementing this one in,............... enjoy it..........and the kudos it has brought us.............no need to bankrupt the Club or even overstretch the budget........ We have the means to do things in our own modest way. Hail ICT you have done us proud....players, management, staff, supporters and special mention to Away guys/Gals and singing section.

Strengthening for Europe.... Strengthening. For. Europe STRENGTHENING FOR EUROPE Sorry but im still struggling to believe we have actually done it. Cant believe those words are even bein uttered. Feelings of pride and emotion these past few days. And thats for someone who started watching football/ICT at age of 7 when we were in 3rd division. I cant imaging how it must feel for those who remember the pre merger days of the 80s when the mere thought of a merger was astounding never mind an Inverness team in the Scottish League. Now look at us!

What a strange thing! It seems that outwith the realms of politics, I have quite a lot in common with Kingsmills! Two very important points from that post. * In terms of balancing the books, or almost doing so, it looks to me as if for several years now, Caley Thistle has relied, for Premiership subsistence, on a series of windfalls ranging from Cup runs to the Muirfield Mills investment to selling the Social Club. This season also there are relatively modest windfalls such as the McKay transfer and Cup money, although how much of that would be included in a balanace sheet to 31st May is another question. In recent years it has needed almost £4 million a season to keep Caley Thistle going. With most attendances in the 3000 - 3500 range, a large amount of other activity is needed to raise that. It therefore appears to me that there is NO room for financial manoeuvre - especially against a big on-field gamble. * Many will recollect the apparent sense of relief two seasons ago when ICT didn't make Europe which, I was told at the time, would have had serious financial implications. I am led to believe that the situation is somewhat different now, but I would suggest nothing like what would justify speculatively splashing out on players in the manner suggested. The history of Caley Thistle (with a single major blooper in the late 90s/ early 00s) is one of measured progress up the ladder in several limited steps whilst keeping the books more or less balanced. Rather than, suddenly and at great expense, trying to forge the club's way through Europe faster than General Patton after D Day, I would suggest that it would be much more prudent to enjoy this debut European opportunity as far as current resources can sensibly permit. Or to cut a long story short..... please don't get too carried away chaps!!!

The Europa qualifying rounds are a total lottery - Lets just go with what we have got and feckin enjoy - win, lose or draw. Does anyone actually have the expectation of getting to the group stages ??

They will sell what they sell. What I would like to see though is youngsters getting down and back as simply and as cheaply as possible for their Hampden 2015 experience.

Libero I think you may have made an Errea of judgement

Never mind strengthening for Europe, how are we going to replace Shinnie?

I'm not saying we should deviate from the secure operating system that the board has in the place, nor am i saying that we should put ourselves into debt signing numerous players for an assault on Europe. Remaining sustainable is what we are about and many if not all clubs aspire to that. I have no issue with that and encourage it. All I am saying is that the club is venturing into new ground and potentially prosperous ground at that. Surely adding a couple of loan players or having more than one recognised striker at the club is worth the moderate outlay?

I would prefer we kept faith with the guys who got us where we are. The players who qualified for Europe should be the players who play in Europe. We should reward them with long contracts before we go out looking for new signings. Let us also not forget the club's philosophy up until now, to sign hard working young(ish) players from the lower reaches, and give them the platform to fulfil their potential. Shinniesta is the classic example. He certainly wasn't the finished product when he broke into the first team, in fact he was arguably the worst left back in the SPL. But persistence paid off. Today he's the best left back in the SPL. Would we have been better off shelling out for an 'experienced' player like Gary Naysmith back then over the green, rookie Shinnie? I think not! Let's not deviate from the strategy that has brought us so much success.

I personally feel that we could do with getting a couple of experienced players that have already played European football to help out our guys when it comes to big game qualifiers. I also appreciate for us to do that would take the club to spend money that we most likely don't have but maybe there are a few feasible options out there. Scott McDonald done it all with Celtic in Europe and seems to be having a really positive impact to Motherwell this season. His contract will be coming to an end next month, could do no wrong in enquiring IMO On our day we have a squad good enough to compete with a good European side but as I say, a couple experienced players wouldn't go a miss.

We didn't pay anything for Big Eddie and he is probably on a lower wage than Billy was, so really we have done better I doubt very much indeed whether we are paying Edward Ofere less than Billy McKay on a weekly basis. On the contrary.

We would no doubt love to 'strengthen for Europe' but there are a few harsh realities. Firstly our cup exploits, even if we win, will not lead to great wealth, what it will mean is that we are likely to post a modest trading profit rather than a circa £300,000 loss. Secondly, even with the new payment from UEFFA, European participation is not likely to generate more than a very modest five figure profit. Finally, history would seem to suggest that our adventure is unlikely to last much beyond August at best so it would be lunacy for the club to risk hard won financial stability chasing European success.

Aye because the wages we can offer will be the same as Aberdeen. In terms of a loan mover we don't know what dons will be paying Still would be much more than we could ever offer. If we had more money than Aberdeen, Shinnie would be with us next season.

Aberdeen are keen to get Stevie May in on loan, so i don't see why we don't try and get him on loan aswell. We will both be in the same boat in terms of what we have to offer.

Apparently The Celtic Shop wanted to move to that unit in June but we got in there before them on a temporary basis and they're raging that the walls were painted blue. GIRU them, again.

I ordered mine on Monday the 4th early pm and had received the tickets by the Thursday. You will probibly have them by tomorrow

Brand Snob...!!!

Indeed! I'm far from sure how many Inverness fans would know how to get to Lyon or to Sociedad It seems many Invernessians can't find the TCS!

Dundee report published with video added http://caleythistleonline.com/page/index.html/_/reports-2014-15/dundee-v-inverness-ct-spfl-r1272

Great idea you could maybe have David Ravens pic in a pet shop, Ross Draper in a curtain fabric shop and Richie and Aarons pic in the police station :rolleyes:

Didn't Ali Crawford sign a long term contract after he scored against Celtic? Would be expensive to break him out of that one I would imagine. I still think Gavin Reilly of Queen of the south would suit our mould and would definitely have long term value for the club if sold on etc.

Maybe he just fancied a Nardini's icecream...