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There have been a few posts on various threads regarding 'if Dundee this, Dundee that..', but the reality is, they had double our average attendance last season. 3,733 v 6,966 rounded to 3700 v 7000 Our gate on Sat of 3.3k is equivalent to how many more fans go to Dens every (second) week. It's hugely significant over a season - effectively, with 19 home matches, it's around 62,500 more 'bums-on-seats' than we currently get. Even at (say a conservative average) of £20 match day spend = 20 x 62,500 = £1,250,000. Over a million quid - a lot of money, and far outstrips our cup win profits. Aside from the outrageous TV revenue the clubs in England receive, at our level, gate receipts are a pretty good indicator of where clubs will be in the pecking-order. Regardless of managerial prowess, it's 'all about the money' and clubs will eventually 'default' to their natural level. Rich benefactors can sometimes temporarily distort a club's standing but occasionally, when everything comes together, clubs can punch-above-their-weight, and achieve great things. I find it outrageous that some folk think we can 'go to the next level'. Last season was the ultimate. It simply won't ever get any better than that! We are fortunate to have witnessed it!

Isn't there some kind of new rule that punishments for going into administration increase exponentially with each repeated occurrence? IIRC Dundee have 2 strikes, and if they were to go into administration a third time they would be sent to the bottom tier of the new pyramid system, which given their location north of the River Tay, would be the Highland league. Spending above our means isn't the answer, it's the equivalent of living large on a credit card and never ends well. We have a more than adequate squad IMO. Don't see the point in paying over the odds for a short term stop gap. Each player that returns from injury will be the equivalent of a new signing. It's too early to write any of our new recruits off. As others have stated, it took Mckay a few months to even break into the first team, then another season to start hitting the net regularly. G Shinnie was a fairly average bottom 6 left back for years before he became as good as he is now. Patience is key, and a hallmark of our progress. Some elements in our support have gotten drunk on our recent success and now act like OF / Aberdeen fans. We need to temper our expectations. Staying clear of the relegation dogfight is our first priority. If other clubs want to bankrupt themselves to reach the top 6, that's their prerogative. As we've seen with Rangers and Hearts recently, those who live above their means are destined to live beneath their means. And when that day comes, well run clubs like ICT and St Johnstone who didn't get involved in the self-destructive spending race are there to fill the void, as we've seen in the last 2 seasons.

Think a few of you need to watch this and relax. We were abysmal on Saturday and our lack of goals is concerning, but it's times like these we need to get behind the club we love and be real 'supporters'. http://youtu.be/rBLGZ0EwF1w

We also need a hellava lot more people to attend matches to pay for some of the dreams supporters have after last seasons amazing success on a very tight budget. Austerity - look at the crowds Celtic, Dundee United and Hearts had over the weekend!1

I see no melt down just concerned fans expressing legitimate concerns in generally moderate terms.

The fact that this thread is up to 27 pages illustrates what a concern our lack of a decent striker is. I am loathe to make an opinion on players until they have had time to adapt to their new team's style of play and get themselves to full fitness but whatever Lopez's attributes may be, he does not look to me like a main striker. When Billy was not scoring, he always looked as though he might. Lopez doesn't. Excuses have been made for Lopez that he is not really match fit but if that is the case then it really shouldn't stop him getting into goal scoring positions - it would stop him coming back from those positions! Loy scored a brilliant poacher's goal for Dundee at the weekend and it reminded me that Billy could score goals like that. Unfortunately I just can't see Lopez scoring that sort of goal because he does not appear to be an instinctive striker. It may be that he is playing deeper than he usually would because of the lack of service he is getting, although when we did manage to get the ball in the box, he was often absent. There was one incident late in the 2nd half, when we should have been pressing for an equalizer, when good work from Mutombo down the left led to the ball being played in to the box. The ball hit a defender and ballooned up as it was diverted. The keeper came to collect at the edge of the box and, if I remember correctly, had the luxury of allowing the ball to bounce before collecting it. Someone near to me asked incredulously "how is the keeper being allowed to collect that!" Lopez was nowhere to be seen and there was no other Inverness player close enough to make a challenge for a slow looping ball at the edge of the box. That to me sums up what our problems are And the worse our injuries are at the back, the more important it is that we create and convert chances at the other end. Personally, I would like to see Christie play more forward. Amongst all the players he is the one who has the awareness, anticipation and turn of pace to get in the right place at the right time. He has demonstrated he can shoot but sometimes lacks composure in front of goal. Getting one or two under his belt would help in that regard. If we can't afford or can't find a new striker we have to work with what we've got and in Christie I think we have the potential for an instinctive goals scorer.

Was listening to the news headlines on Radio 4 earlier and was astonished to hear that our injury woes had made the UK national news! But then I realised they were reporting the latest on the Calais crisis.

That, unfortunately, is history. The reality is that so far we have not invested in the squad and are one of the teams that appear to have regressed. I hope we are still active in the market, because what we have will not get us through the season without disappointment.

But did we actually get any place money as no sponsor for the league?. As someone has already said, we continually run at a loss and surpluses in good years have to balance this out. The only real way we will compete financially with some other clubs is to get more people attending matches and that seems to be impossible to achieve. Having said that, I do think we need new blood on the board. I may be wrong, but it does seem that replacements for the board seem to come from the same/similar sources and we need some more dynamism from the board including a more aggressive stance on issues.

I do not believe we have had a weak transfer window this year, the only issue for me was they were brought in too late IMO. I personally think that players like Jordan Roberts, Owain Fon Williams, Nat Wedderburn and Andrea Mbuyi-Mutombo have shown early signs of promise and of course it will take them a little bit of time to get used to playing a higher level of football and also a quicker game than they have been used to in the lower leagues. End of the day, if we want to have many players from higher leagues then the club will need some serious investment and I doubt that's going to happen unless some rich arab is looking to buy ICT for his son to play with. If you look at majority of other teams in the Premiership outwith Celtic, most of their signings have come from lower league teams. Wes Fletcher who scored the winner for Motherwell last Saturday came from York City of League 2 in England. I'm fairly confident that the club are doing what it's in the best interest of Caley Thistle but like many others I'm concerned that we have no funds left for emergency scenarios like the current injury list. There's only so long that you can get away with having players playing out of position.

I'm sure the last player the club paid money and as far as I'm aware, the only cash Butcher ever paid for a player was around £10,000 for Danny Williams from Kendal Town. If finances were so tight, why didn't the team fly commercially to Romania? I and many others did it and per person it wasn't extortionate. As many previously, the wages of Shinnie, Watkins, Baptie, Kink, Ofere and Ross will have been freed up. I can't see the likes of Wedderburn and Roberts being on megabucks. Are the club paying off Russell Latapy as was rumoured? I certainly find it hard to believe that accumulatively Roberts, Fon Williams, Wedderburn, Mutombo and Lopez are on the same wages as the ones who left, even considering the likes of Horner and Polworth would be on slightly improved deals. Hughes said in an interview at the start of pre-season and after Wedderburn signed, that he wanted a keeper, another defender, another midfielder and two strikers. So far (counting Mutombo as a midfielder) we're still short of a defender and a striker. Now seemingly there's no money left. Why did he say it if there was no budget for it? And didn't the club post a profit last year? And what happened to the link with the agency down south Terry Butcher use to use so much? I was under the impression it was still going. This also involves what one would presume to be the club's best selling merchandise, the shirts, not even being on sale yet, with the launch date still unknown and even then won't be on sale, at all, at the club. Bizarre. There's just a whole air of strangeness about the whole saga. Or is it all in our minds? Will Yogi be our Ivan Golac? This is the season we'll really find out what the club is made of.

I know you were probably very disappointed when you posted this but that is an unwarranted slur on someone who served the club well in two highly successful spells with the club and who remains a club legend. Barry is developing well as a summariser and is a breath of fresh air compared to many of the inarticulate Glaswegians employed by the BBC in similar positions and has been quick in the past to shower us with praise when it's due. We were woeful on Saturday and, although I did not hear what he had to say, I am sure if he made any negative comments they were not borne out of any non existent sour grapes but the honest and accurate views of someone who is a fan and who was probably as frustrated as the rest of us.

We're not bottom of the league. We're above County in the table. We didn't ship 4 goals like Killie and St Johnstone. Our attendance was more than Hamilton's. Owain Fon Williams and Mutombo.

I still have prize money waiting for 5 winners of the ‘Time of First Goal competitions’ from the bus convoy. I know two of their names are Shona MacGillivray and James Vallano and the other 3 should have winning slips with the 0-0 result printed on them. Can anyone that knows Shona, James or any of the other 3 who did not get their prize money in Romania please get in touch with me so I can get their money to them. We managed to reduce the cost of the coaches so we have £640 left over which, after discussion with CJT, we have decided to donate to a Romanian charity on behalf of ICT fans. We are currently trying to establish which is the best charity to give the money to but it will be one that helps homeless children or orphans - I will let you know the name of the charity as soon as we decide and will make sure that ICT fans get some recognition for the donation. Finally – thanks to everyone who made the trip and contributed to a fantastic few days in Romania. Hopefully we can do it all again next year – maybe someone else will be stupid enough to book the first minibus next time……

This is what I heard being shouted before half time yesterday at the match from a so called ICT fan in the North Stand. This was shouted during a quiet spell when people on and off the pitch could clearly hear him. This negative rhetoric does nothing to help our teams performance but undermines morale and the confidence of the players. At the same time it gives a lift to the opposition, which is not really what you want! Yesterday's game might have been poor, however not our worst home home performance against Motherwell, I was at the match in Nov 2012 when we got thumped 5 goals to 1 by them. Gutted - you bet I was but still did not find it necessary to add to the players despondency by taunting them or booing them off the pitch which happened yesterday. Caley Thistle - simply unbelievable............ Scottish Cup winners, 3rd in the League AND European Football. This makes me proud and very happy to support my local team through the highs and lows. Remember yesterday was only 1 game in a whole season, both Mutombo and Williams having a good game, Mutombo with his pace and clever footwork and Williams for keeping us in the game. To the man who shouted the above words and others like him, maybe you should find another team to support - in fact there is a team just over the bridge which might suit you more!!! Let's get behind the lads!

Lots of moot points - Alex is quite right about so many unrealistic expectations this season. We punched way above our weight last time out, this year was always likely to be a disappointment and patience is required. On the other hand, the Immortal one is also right. It's very strange that currently we seem to be the architects of our own downfall. Financially, last year's success has not generated a large wad of dosh we can spray about but surely we must be in a far better position than we have been at the start of previous campaigns. What I can't understand is the failure to secure the services of a half-decent striker since the departure of Billy. It was fairly obvious even when Billy was still with us that we needed additional cover up front and the situation has gradually deteriorated with pressures now becoming more acute in other areas. So yes, my expectations for this season are realistic but I'd really like to know why we seem to be shooting ourselves in the foot.

have to agree with Bughtmaster. I only caught the post match comments from BW but very negative and no or little mention of the injury situation we have and how that impacted. It was as if that did not matter or have an impact.

I honestly can't believe that some fans are actually defending the club if there are no further signings! We have gone without paying a transfer fee since 2008? It is amazing that Butcher & now Yogi have managed to achieve any sort of success with no financial support Last year was without doubt our most successful season and we also received our highest ever financial fee for a player (even if it was a pitiful £150,000) We are no longer paying the contracts for our club captain and 4 other first team players (inc. Mckay) Our attendances have always been what they are ... we have the unfortunate situation that Inverness doesn't keep a high number of young adults between 17 - 30 and I suspect this is the normal demographic for regular attendees for other clubs round the SPFL. The players signed this season haven't been playing at a high enough standard to demand wages that would even hit the sides of the players wages that left. IHE's spot on ... the club needs to explain to the fans why they are not backing Yogi if no more players come in to help him out

I could accept the "cutbacks" if the financial situation was made clearer. I appreciate that there are mega financial pressures in running a club BUT last season must have brought in more money than ever before. So why the struggle. I also accept to a degree the reluctance to open the books to the public eye but WE really need an explanation.

Absobleedinglutely. Graeme Shinnie being the prime example of this. After his short 3-4 month loan to Forres in 2010 he came back a much improved player ready for his breakthrough season and since then he hasn't looked back.

Aye, saw I put Polworth twice! With the lack of available players to make a full bench at the moment, I can't understand why MacKay or Hoban aren't included in the squad, especially for away games, when they travel with the squad anyway are involved in the warm-up. We've got nothing to lose by putting a second keeper on the bench and you never know when you might need it. After all, Formartine had to use four different keepers last weekend!

Fon Williams Raven Devine Wedderburn Williams Draper Tansey Polworth Christie Lopez Mutombo Subs: Esson, Brown, Horner, me and a few other volunteers

Earlier Hughes had said that he was looking to bring in a striker and a defender ( Left Back) so if you say Mbuyi-Mutombo is the striker where has the money gone that was available for the defender Playing Raven out of position nor using Williams as a makeshift Full Back is not the answer- now with Warren out we desperately need a defender as well as another striker we have only played one league game but I already see us in a relegation struggle with probably Hamilton /Partick/Kilmarnock. The most annoying thing for me is that we have known since January that we had to replace Shinnie/Mackay and ye have done nothing about it surely we should have been identifying replacements and getting them on board , instead of bringing in trialists

What I find more worrying is what has happened to us scouting players? Other than wedderburn who apparently we looked at, everyone has been brought in as trialists or who yogi thought was good 2 years ago. I thought after last seasons achievements we might just loosen the purse strings a wee bit, have a little faith and back the manager. Also maybe replace the quality we've lost with people of decent quality themselves. Sadly I'm not sure we've done that. Most clubs looks like they've maybe stretched themselves budget wise this season looking at the players that have been brought in. Perhaps due to the deal with ladbrokes giving them a little extra to play with. Sadly we don't look like one of those clubs.

It differs deal by deal. Some will paid 100% by the parent club, some 100% the receiving club. Others will be a mixture of the two clubs.

Of players we know are fit - Fon Williams Raven Devine Wedderburn Williams Draper Tansey----------Polworth Christie Mutombo Lopez Subs - Esson, Polworth, Horner, Sutherland, Brown, Howarth, MacKay

Plus Dean Brill of course. We're not far away from having a pretty strong XI on the teatment table!

Suggested alternatives - Caley you are disappointing - Thistle you are sh!te

The biggest worry is we've known since last December we need a striker with Mackay going. Watkins was a good stop gap, so why sign all these midfielders and no sign of a striker?!?!

Sounds like a guy we were sitting near at the Astra game in Romania and just repeatedly shouted the same thing during the second half when we only needed 1 goal to put us to extra time. If it is the same person then he didn't look like he's kicked a football before in his life!! He also came out with some other classic encouraging quotes, such as "do something with the ball" and "Lopez you're a waste of a shirt" "Do something with the ball" If you don't know what should be done with the ball and you have a better view of the whole pitch, then how the **** do you expect "something" to be done with the ball by the player that is being pressurised by the opposition and has limited time to make their decision? Not every pass can be a world cup pass ... if football was that easy it would be a basketball score every game! "Lopez you're a waste of a shirt" I've only seen the guy in video clips and the game out in Romania but it is embarrassing that a new signing is getting absolutely no help from his fans. He was pretty dismal in the first half in Romania but in the second half he looked as though he could have something to offer the club when he was dropping deeper. Even if he does turn out to be a donkey do you actually think that telling a player he is having a shocker is going to help him?? Or worse, telling him that he isn't good enough for this level when he might be having the same doubts himself is going to help in anyway?? I'm not a happy clapper by any means and could write a very long list of the things I think the club could be doing better on all fronts ... but honestly what do some fans expect?? Everyone gets frustrated.. especially when it's not going our way but surely Yogi has bought himself half a season at the very least before fans start turning on him. He won us a Scottish Cup FFS!! His methods have been proven successful so any argument about style of play is way off the mark... but he is now having to deal with losing 5 first team players and a barrel load of injuries so I definitely think the board need to give him a hand and get a couple of landmark signings. To this day the largest transfer fee we have ever paid for a player is £25k for Barrowman (I think) .. we now NEED some investment. End of the day if a fan pays money for a ticket it's their right to express their opinion but I would prefer to think that we have enough educated fans to weed out the others.

This is probably true...my only beef here is that you'd think the club would have spent what they had on a striker....or shall we say more than one. Even non-league teams ensure they have some strikers! Am I being unfair, is Roberts a striker? 6 goals in 42 appearances last year and 10yellows+1 red, suggests an interesting contribution if he gets fit Unfortunately what is also true is that signing players on short term contracts means the best players like Shinnie and Watkins go without us getting any compensation....does a three year or four year contract cost that much more at the outset? If we had needed to sell either of Shinnie or Watkins early for budgetary reasons people would understand.

Couldn't really have had a worse start, 2 of our main players injured, a loss at home and a shocking performance! That made the Astra games look like they happened years ago!! Fair enough we're down a few players due to injury but to still not have a striker, winger or left back at this stage is pathetic! Everyone else that wanted to recruit has recruited...even county so there is no excuses! It could well be a long season after that performance but maybe it's what they needed to bring them back down to earth and Scottish football! But those who are saying Hughes out are clearly pathetic and idiotic...supporting your club means supporting your players and management, no matter how hard it gets!!!

I dont normally find Barry negative ... I would say he is realistic. he is sounding like a frustrated fan.

Best of luck lads. Go fer it and ignore the taunts of the sad sweetie rustlers. As fer me - my participation will be as an interested observer and not as an active participator

I think to put the blame on the centre forward is a bit mean. The game plan didn't get the ball up to the front man. We should put a sign up at each end with the words " kick the ball this way", Every time the attack got going the ball was thumped out wide to back up wide men and the move broke down. The strikers never got into the game. If we had , had Wayne Rooney up front it would have been the same story. Lets get some useful wide outs.? With some crossing ability, who keep the moves going. When a ball is sent to the wing, the full back or winger has to run with the ball , not kick it back into traffic.

Barry Wilson being his usual negative self, as a player I liked him but a poor summariser and commentator. I think there is a bit of sour grapes there for his being released by ICT.

Here's an idea. Why don't all ICT fans march to the club shop first thing on Monday morning and buy the new kits so the club can loads of money to sign more players? Oh wait........it's not on sale yet....or in the club shop. Ah well, just as the club got its priorities in order. I mean, with a new striker so badly needed, surely they wouldn't do something mental like sign a third keeper. Uh oh.....

An unstoppable strike that was possibly a keeper error? It's one or the other, it can't be both! The only positive is we can't be as poor as that again......I hope.