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Is there not an element here of wee boys going behind the bike sheds to compare willies, but with the strange twist of each secretly hoping his will be the smallest so he can find something to blame his parents for? Following a miserable 2016-17 which produced nothing more concrete than relegation and then a big struggle to make an impact in the Championship this season, Inverness Caledonian Thistle is now less than 24 hours away from a National Cup Final.... and what do we see on its fans' forum? Some people still looking for anything at all to moan about and for somebody else to blame for perceived shortcomings of governance - most recently, Cup Final ticket sales - when the focus should really be on the game itself and the chance of a potentially corner-turning cup success. Well done to Huisdean for an excellent post about 10 above this one.

Over the season various posters have howled at us for not getting behind the team. Their righteous indignation at any criticism levelled at the team sometime stung. Where they right? As a supporter you are there through thick and thin. We have had a meteoric rise in 24 years and enjoyed much success. We have consistently punched above our weight. Can anyone really believe, right now, that we were in Bucharest a couple of years ago. Now we quake at the prospect of a trip to Brechin (God bless them).. Our success was largely down to unearthing a succession of largely unfancied managers who , in turn, unearthed a steady stream of quality players. We knew those good players would be poached......its what happens. Time and time again we replaced those that left and maintained our lofty position in Scottish football. It was, in retrospect, unsustainable. We have downgraded our expectations this year. I sit here,unable to sleep, and probably typing the obvious, but, I am concerned at my apathy over tomorrows Cup final. I could have done other things tomorrow but I wont. I'll be there...hoping. It has , to my mind, not been a great competition. A few years ago we would have approached such a match with great expectation , excitement and pride at having reached a final. Not any more.The fact is that we know our players are good enough........they have shown how they can play in brief bursts. We should be winning this. My conclusion is that it is up to them. We deserve a performance. All any employer can ask is that their workforce tries their best. That should be good enough tomorrow. We have too many under achievers. I would not name those that I think have let us down ,but I think we all know who they are.. I like Bell.....Oakely gives his all.......Ridgers is probably our most improved player...........Donaldson has a future. A recent night in Dunfermline was tortuous and I don't want to sit through that again. The only joy that night was the Ryan Esson chant...a small band of committed supporters trying to stay warm and enthused any way they could. I applaud the foot soldiers of smaller clubs who turn out every week no matter what......imagiine being a Brechin supporter just now. Momentum is a great thing. There was a time this season, not that long ago, when we had momentum. We were on a run and all manner of play-off predictions were being bandied about. I fear that our momentum is now in the opposite direction. It is still mathematically a possibility but the players have to step up to the plate. It is up to you guys now. You are good enough. You can do it and you should prevail. Don't let us down. If you try your best......play as you can................we are going to win a Cup!! C'mon ICT. Make us proud of you again.

It does seem the club is damned if it does and damned if it doesn't on this. Some fans okay with what is happening and others obviously displeased. There does seem to be an air of constant negativity over many posts these days, much of it stemming from, in my opinion, unrealistic expectations of some fans. We are where we are this season, need to avoid relegation, which I am confident we will, and put in place a team and plan for next season. The current board has to be given a bit of time to sort this out as they are picking up the pieces from poor management at every level within the club including promoting occasions like this. A bit off topic in places I know so apologies.

A letter has been delivered to CJT today (22nd March 2018) instructing the existing board to convene an EGM. The letter is backed, in name, by 37 society members. The purpose of the meeting shall be... to vote on the removal of all persons from the Society Board. to hold a fresh election to appoint members to the Society Board in accordance with the society’s rules. As I have said to people I have spoken with about this recently, it's not a witch hunt. The reason we are asking for the removal of everyone on the board at present is due to the numerous concerns and doubts over the legitimacy of their position/s. The first step in the society moving forward must be a board properly appointed by the membership. If those currently claiming a position on the board believe they are the people to take things forward, then there would be nothing stopping them standing for election along with anyone else who wished to put themselves forward. CJT now have 28 days in which to convene the meeting, communicate it's happening to to the membership and implement the process for the election.

Quite bloody right!

The important thing tomorrow is for those of us able to make it to get right behind the team and help get the right result. With that in mind I reckon 3-1 caley. Bell scoring opener followed by Oakley and Mackay a late third. ?

I heard about these Lisburn Lions. They moved them to Belfast Zoo to stop them roaming the streets at night.

I’m in Madreed right now and saw Ronaldo score 4 last Sunday but I’ve chartered a helicopter which will land in the centre circle at 1600 hrs in time for Oakley’s day of days. Viva la tap in.

To me this is yet another memorable "occasion" for Inverness football - again one that I would never have expected. Lets make our own feckin T-shirts heralding the greatest days in our history.

I completely and utterly disagree with this "punching above our weight" stuff that people come out with. We've spent the majority of our existence at the top tier of Scottish football and comfortably so for the most part (albeit in the bottom half of the division). Saying that we were punching is pandering to the central belt consensus that only the historical biggest teams should be in the top division. I'm absolutely buzzing for tomorrows game. Initially I was slightly apathetic but the closer it's come to game day the more excited I am getting. Bring. It. On.

Wow enjoying watching yhe schoolboys leading england 1 0 . Daniel is playing well.

Basically butcher can recruit good players but can't coach them. Hughes can coach good players but can't recruit any. I'm glad we experienced them in the correct order.

International cup final! 3rd most prestigious cup in Europe.

That's the spirit. Will be happy for any ICT goals but if Mackay got a goal it will be magic.

I will be glued to Alba cheering the team on, wishing I could be there (missing out due to a family birthday). With tickets on sale at Perth, hopefully some more make the decision to go. I've been to our last two finals, will never forget either, particularly Hampden, and I really hope tomorrow can spark a positive end to the season. To all of you going, have a great, noisy, successful time!

Perhaps we should be looking at our experience as Brechin to Bucharest and back - or Arbroath to Bucharest historically - (the Circle of Life) - but don't forget some of the "stop-offs" on the way - Old Firm slayings, cup semi-finals, cup finals, league winning escapades and off course Europe. Sometimes it is the fans OFF the pitch that create an occasion. I will be doing my feckin best AGAIN tomorrow.

They all were mentioned in a post on Caleythistleonline.

I would suggest the only club in the SPL smaller than us is Hamilton and boy the PTB wish they would get relegated? In our league, I would suggest Dundee Utd, St Mirren and Falkirk have inherently larger supports than us, am going by cup final attendances. From the lower leagues possibly Dunfermline also have a larger support. Ross County at the SC final probably had around 10-15,000, the same for StJ. The point I am making is that we have found our level for now and a long rebuilding programme is needed to get us back to being serious challengers, it wont happen unless we find the next highly motivated young manager who is prepared to put in all the hours necessary to find and build a squad capable of surviving in the SPL. The sad bit is no one sees ICT as a long term project where they will remain for any length of time, we are destined to be a yo yo club. That said I am immensely proud of what the club have achieved from very humble beginnings we were a genuine thorn in the side of the major clubs during our spell in the SPL, I think they were all glad to see us go down, as were the west coast media possibly due to the travelling.

3 games in hand against Morton who are currently in the playoffs. Win all of those and we sit 3 behind Morton and still to play them. Promotion is still in our hands. Will it happen? Probably not but I'm still not going to panic just yet.

Should read the CJT Stand ?