Leaderboard

Bar me all you like. This has to be the absolute tamest most nanny state moderated football forum I have seen. If I am to be barred I will make it worth my while and publically state that Charles Bannerman is a complete moron Adios

Whatever the result on Saturday, for the lads to keep this alive until the last game is nothing short of miraculous, given where we were in the depths of the winter. Short on confidence, inconsistent and with poor discipline, it looked like the only play-offs in view were for league 1. So while there's a chance, there's a chance. Dunfermline could not deal with the pressure and make a frolicks of it - who knows! In the meantime, we should be thankful that our season has been kept interesting to the end.

It’s 140 miles away, but if you listen carefully you can hear all those squeaky bums in Dunfermline.

Some of the long-winded posts on here are just a frustration to read - often they have lots of words but no real meaning or content - I think some really do like to try demonstrate or give the impression of intellect through these in a manner that most politicians would be jealous of. Regarding Administration - yes the big A word. I have no affiliation to Caley D or anyone else but given its been mentioned, it wouldn't be a surprise for the following reasons and most astute fans will see it too No longer in the Premiership, so prize monies & revenue are down and going to drop further next season Players on high wages probably outwith any sensible model for the club given its position - OFW, Doran, Warren, Mulraney, Tremarco & possibly Vigurs & Polly - not their fault and perhaps some did take cuts but these are/were Premiership quality players at last contract renewals/awards Paying out wages to ex-employees - for how long did we pay Hughes (12 months?) and we see with Foran he still has 2 years on his deal to run if the 4 years was accurate - if he's not being paid then somewhere a lump sum was found The way previous players were shipped or forced out - Raven, Draper and OFW (although he never left) - any means necessary to cut costs The board have already stated this season we have minimum £400k losses We have ever falling attendances and the previous team form, on pitch product and general lack of engagement is driving fans away The behind the scenes board movements & dealings - what financial costs have these involved with parties Add all those above together doesn't and wouldn't lead to any surprises of financial troubles if not now, heading there in the near future

Great that we've taken it to the last day. Too much to expect that Dumbarton can do us a massive favour., but.......... "the fat lady has not yet sung"..... So I live in hope. What pity we could not have performed like this earlier in the season.

Here we go again with the argumentum ad hominem. Come on Charles, let's have an intelligent discussion where you provide proper information/argument to backup your thoughts, views and opinions; instead of trying to undermine mine with personal attacks and poorly crafted attempts at character assassination!

So when is this alleged "announcement" actually going to come? In fact, what's the most likely next announcement? At this time of year, might it not be about 2018-19 season tickets which must surely be due to go on sale within the next two weeks? Maybe the board will even get Gordy Fyfe's uncle to do the official launch? Inevitably, this thread's extremely vague, open ended, unsubstantiated OP was going to kick off speculation, and one form in which this quickly emerged was through "The A-word". So let's look at just how that sinister notion was inserted into this thread. The first to use "The A-word" was Fraz - but only in one of a number of scenarios which were clearly humorous and satirical to the extent that 11 other posts followed in which this idea was not pursued. And THEN we get the first serious and completely unprompted reference to "The A-word"...."Hypothetically speaking" of course - aye, right. And it comes from that one-time Arch Happy Clapper and Cheerleader In Chief for the former board, CALEY D, who not only makes serious reference to the concept but also tells us "it would come as absolutely no surprise" to him. Well of course it wouldn't, given that those he went to such pains for so long to present as The Infallible Ones have vacated the boardroom, to be succeeded by people with whom he no longer has any working relationship. Speculation... destabilising speculation... about Administration is hence the creation of CALEYD and we now await whether this has any more substance than what the rumour machine told us about it some months ago. Donald... it's time you came clean about the nature of your agenda. Some years ago you waged a relentless campaign on here against the administration of the time. Then, by means which remain unclear, you suddenly not only took up the said Arch Happy Clapper and Chief Cheerleader roles, you also waged an equally relentless campaign telling us how absolutely wonderful the whole thing had suddenly become. This also created a conflict of interest, making it impossible to tell whether CaleyD was speaking or whether this was the official view of the club. And now, after you made more departures and comebacks than Frank Sinatra, you seem to have had a second holiday to Damascus, which appears to have prompted the dissolution of your relationship with the current board. And with that, you have reverted to your earlier status of "Caley Thistle BAD". (This may be pure coincidence, of course???) I therefore think it's time you explained to us the agenda motivating the tone and content of many of your comments - on this forum at least.

C'mon Caley Jags. C'mon Dumbarton. Best of luck to both on Saturday.

You'd be well suited to a position in politics with your whataboutery and inability to deal with the point at hand. My post was not about whether or not their was any truth in the rumours....it was debunking the claim that they had no substance, by referencing the irrefutable comments from both chairman and manager. On that basis, there is justification for the fan expectation that the board make some kind of announcement/statement to clarify the situation. In fact, to quote the club board (as I have done previously).....http://ictfc.com/news/club-news/1974-board-statement-14-08-17 So they have identified that there is an ongoing issue about their actions (or inactions) in regards to communication fuelling speculation....and they haven't (yet) moved to dispel it. I've never once claimed the previous board were infallible....find a single instance of me stating that and I will delete my account from CTO and never darken it's door again.

Dennis Wyness plays his last ever game of professional football on Saturday assuming he is selected by Huntly at the grand old age of forty one. One of the most talented and entertaining players ever to wear our shirt. His cheeky step overs will live in the memory forever and there was seldom talk of a striking crisis when he was on our books in partnership with Iain Stewart, big Brian Thomson and others. Thanks for those great memories Denzil and enjoy your retirement from the game.

Yes we do courtesy of Hastie & Dyce, one of our generous sponsors.

Key quote for me is : Very raw but has all the physical attributes to be a real talent with the right coaching. If he has talent/skill then the rest can be taught/learned if he is willing to work hard at it and has the right attitude.

Young players need regular first team football and a manager who believes in them. Most of the best Caley signings over the years weren't highly thought of before they came. Not too concerned about negative comments from Queens fans. 6'3, rough around the edges, rampaging runs from right back - sounds like we're signing a 21 year old Ross Tokely!

I didn't see any of our games against Queens this year so have no idea if he's any good or not. If he has two legs and can walk ten yards in a straight line he's an upgrade on Seedorf.

Interesting that the club have, or will soon have, registered two new players this early on. Very good that they are keen to register new players before the start of next season or indeed the end of this one, especially when finances were adjudged to be a sticking point. Two new registrations and maybe more to follow?

Was it real banter or just rumoured banter? ...and what was your agenda?

Well at least by signing him we will at least get Charlie's "Willie"..that's good too. Right?

It did go through my mind that perhaps this announcement is in regards to a new signing. With us announcing Rooney and probably soon Beith, could it be someone else coming in that would send fans into hysterics. Someone on another thread mentioned Goodwillie and if he were to sign, I for one would not be pleased if someone as unsavory as him was to sign for us.

You can disagree with content without resorting to personal abuse. Any more and you will be barred from posting on this thread at the very least.

Charles Probably better for you to try really hard to avoid the personal attacks hidden behind the superficiality of lengthy soliloquies emanating from Hamlet. Just disagree with the member and not try to dismember him under the guise of dismembering his past statements. He is not your competition and I thought that hitherto you should be on the same team, eh? If your attacks, and that's what they come across as, carry weight you might win the day but winning gracefully trumps maybe being perceived as a tad vicious and uncontrolled. Plus the fact that I often can't comprehend what your point really is. It's fact or opinions that we need not a contest of wills and the ability to survive in a hostile world where the other guy's opinion doesn't matter ...... I think!

Major monetary injection needed then to salvage this club and promote a resurgence of past glories. Right? So maybe at this point in time we should invite Blair to comment upon his ambitions and intentions re bolstering the strength of the club. Since by now he will, no doubt, have generated some definite scenarios in his mind as to the advantages of supporting the club financially. And with what actual goals in mind ? Remember Guys, "the tide, if taken at the flood , leads on to greatness" . It's now or never to take the plunge. The risk may be high but with the right investment accompanied by energetic support in other ways this energy could work wonders for this club. The players have shown their passion and energy and they will continue to do so if a resurgence of support occurs. Continue to inject positive energy into this club and the sky may be the limit. ESPECIALLY if we win our last league match of this season. We have a good Manager now so we have to try to support him. And then figure out what the crowds in Inverness actually want? Find it , work on it, ,try things and see what happens. Could be a real challenge I guess. But nothing ventured , nothing gained. The Yanks know how to get the enthusiasm to fever pitch and, yes they DO use Dancing Girls, pulsating marching bands and a lot of "Hoo-Ra". to get the blood going. And it works and the coffers fill up with spondoolacks . so ....? If you don't want that then what do YOU think the crowds will respond to? Certainly NOT water-logged pitches and frequent postponements, cluttered fixture lists etc. etc. Or of course the complete opposite:- wring our hands and do very little?

Yaaaasss wer defo finishing the season on a high we outplayed the pars at the wkend now this looking good for nxt season hopefully keep our main men and add a few low budget rough diamonds !

The one in the middle was quacking on Saturday, someone must have swapped a pair

So proud tonight to be a Caley Jag. When virtually all hope is lost we still pull out an away result against the Championship runners-up! We ... are ... ICT!

We will probably lose out to the Pars but, considering where we well just a month ago, we have done incredibly well to take our push for a play off place to the very last day. If we can somehow keep the bulk of this squad together we can make a real push for the title next season.

Well done guys coming back after Saturday's late equaliser. Just a pity Dumbarton are unlikely to do us a good turn. Two months ago who would have predicted an 11 game unbeaten run, cup win and 24 points out of 30 in the league. Just a great shame our slow start and the bad run with the sendings off have done for us, we should have been comfortably in the play offs. At least there is hope for next season. Hopefully we hit form before March next time.... I will definitely be renewing my season ticket.

1-0 full time. We've taken it to the last day, can't ask anymore than that.

All I can do is to reiterate that this now lengthy thread - on the strength of an unsupported, speculative post, with no substantiation whatsoever - began with a claim that an unspecified announcement was allegedly imminent. Very quickly indeed, this has been extrapolated to equally unsubstantiated speculation that this announcement will be about administration. Now is this a new administration....or the same one that rumour said this was imminent two or three months ago? Please note that I am NOT saying that administration, or indeed any of the other speculated subjects of this alleged announcement, is NOT going to happen. (And I will quote that last sentence in the event of any future "I told you so".) All I am saying is that what we have heard makes none of the speculated outcomes more or less likely since it is not accompanied by any evidence. For instance, a guy in the gym changing rooms has been telling me with total confidence that Dougie McGilvray is on the point of taking the club over. The trouble is that the guy has been telling me this regularly for the last three years or so. If Dougie ever were to do so, then I'm sure my informant will remind me that I heard it from him first..... in a manner similar to some newspapers when a managerial appointment is confirmed - conveniently ignoring the other 19 names they sprayed about that were 100% wrong. This present rumour may - or may not - follow a similar pattern. On the performance of the current board, I suppose it's inevitable that CaleyD should find so many deficiencies in it, especially compared with the previous one ....... of whose complete infallibility he spent so long advising the world.

Just what we all need to safeguard the future of the club, a museum

Caleyboy has clearly been addressing the same question as I have - and with the same dilemma over "want" as opposed to "deserve". Does the Inverness public "want" a full time football club? Well, given that maybe half of them won't even be interested in football and many of those who are will follow teams from outwith Inverness, the number of people in Inverness who actively want full time club - possibly from the level of following the score on Saturday nights or even Monday mornings upwards - probably isn't that big a slice of the population. In other words, to be brutally realistic, most people in Inverness couldn't give a toss about Caley Thistle - and that also reflects what I've seen on the streets over the years trying to assemble ICT voxpops. It's actually quite difficult to find enough people interested enough to comment. So does the Inverness public "deserve" a full time football club? Well to deserve one, you have to want one first and then you need to behave in a way which morally justifies your desire. But given that most people aren't interested, then the question doesn't actually arise. I used to think that Inverness actually didn't deserve a full time football club because of the lack of support for a body which publicised the city, brought some trade into it and, for instance, provided a road to open up the harbour etc. However I've changed my view on that over the years, in that the founding fathers of the club put it there to promote football in Inverness, not to create collateral benefit - however much they used that to gain brownie points in the early years. So, in conclusion, a relatively small number of people in inverness want a full time football club but, while the concept of deserving one becomes redundant, you do have to wonder if there are enough of them to make this a sustainable, viable option?

I'm not so sure about that, Fraz. Over the years, there have been regular derogatory remarks about the recent donor of £250,000 who is still the man dismissed as "the builder", and also much cynicism about his former business concern whose £6M has, over the years, variously staved off financial collapse, bankrolled progress to the SPL and provided the wherewithal to comply with its requirements. Now the flak is turning to the MM-controlled board, MM having donated over £0.5M, including £150,000 over the last year as part of the summer bailout. If the club is looking for "investment" - a useful euphemism for donations - then it really is going to have to hope that prospective "investors" don't scrutinise CTO or listen too much to "the word on the street", since they will be presented with plenty of reasons to place their money in places which will give them much less grief. It's understandable that people are disappointed about relegation and now also that the playoffs suddenly look so much more unlikely. However a lot of the focus seems to be on trying to criticise what has been got wrong rather than highlighting the great amount which has been got right over the years. It's my belief that it was a minor miracle that ICT reached the SPL in ten years and a major one that it stayed in it for 12 of the next 13. This is because I believe that what we have is a product which is fundamentally loss-making in its market environment. In other words, especially with a heavily subsidised competitor 15 miles up the road and with increasing competition from other activities, not enough people are prepared to part with around £20 to sit outside in the cold watching an hour and a half of entertainment of quality which is no more predictable than in the rest of football - and that's before you even consider the added difficulties of being 150 miles detached from other sectors of the market. This is the intractable situation that successive board have wrestled with - and largely done a good job of staving off for as long as possible. Edinburgh and especially Dundee have had difficulties sustaining two top flight football clubs in recent years. Glasgow could well be losing one of its three and Aberdeen has at times sailed perilously close to the wind with its one. So where does this leave the two clubs so close together in the sparsely populated inner Moray Firth, on the extreme periphery of national football? (One very possible answer to that question now being "playing Highland Derbies in the Championship") As we approach the 25th anniversary of the election of Caley Thistle and Ross County to the SFL, I have been benefitting greatly from hindsight to the extent that I am now wondering if it was all that good an idea after all that both local clubs got into the league; and also - although I still believe that it was the "least bad" solution in the mid-90s - whether the siting of the Caledonian Stadium has now for some years been a significant liability?

Fair point. I can certainly think of one previous board member who donated £250,000 to keep the club afloat several months ago - and that despite the abuse he got from some off the back of the £6M he previously arranged for his former company to subsidise the club by over a period of years. What must be said of the board which was in place on relegation is that, despite acknowledged mistakes, they did their honest best to keep the club in the Premiership despite its fundamental lack of capacity to earn enough to do so. But it's strange how credit so seldom seems to be given for that.

What planet are you on? It’s not a good result, it’s a dreadful result which could well have dire consequences for the club going forward.

This meeting has been requested by the CJT board "To clarify the points that need to be discussed to allow us to move forward to an SGM" and is not an open meeting. As we have no means by which to contact members directly (other than those who requisitioned the SGM), we will continue to keep the wider membership updated as best we can via this forum. The requisitioners became entitled to call the SGM themselves following the boards failure to do so....and this doesn't change that. However that can't be done until 1 month after lodging the original letter with the board. In the meantime, communication between the board and members (even via 3 appointed reps) is welcomed...IMO.

2-2 didn't show how well we played should've been 5-2!

I don't think the importance of providing background and context to comments on here which have of late suddenly transformed from abject sycophancy to outright hostility (and therefore in a sense become ad homines in themselves) can be overestimated. Given their potentially destabilising effect upon the club, the background to such comments urgently needs to be understood. As for poor Ferben, Mods - PLEASE don't ban him! Just as, according to Margaret Thatcher, "every Prime Minister needs a Willie", similarly "Every Forum Needs A Ferben", simply to remind other users of the coherence and articulacy of their own contributions. So please don't deprive this Forum of its Willie!!

Do us all a favour and take a break from here and also your crap highland news column.

Robert....what I was saying was "will either finish first or second" is a bit premature since there is still a permutation which would exclude that.

Won’t the candles melt the dummy?

If they do put in a museum they can have a wax figure of John Hughes put in place so wynthank15 can create an official shrine to him and have candlelit vigils every home game.