Leaderboard

Not surprised by this decision, Easy option really, Continuity I suppose is the key, no hunting for manager/staff and the back room will no doubt stay the same. Wonder If Mark Ridgers is ok with this? Anyway i'll be in the North stand supporting the team and hoping Dodds sorts out this shyte hoofball tactic.

I think a squad built on £3.50 and a packet of crisps has done remarkably well. Play off last year, few points off second spot this year and a cup final…plus getting through the group stages. He hasn’t been able to have a settled squad over the two years but has remarkably got them to within touching distance. Yes it’s brutal to watch when half the squad were missing but there were glimpses of what could be done with the right players. They have to take risks in the injured/unheard off player but they seem to have a decent grasp - Allardice, Duffy, Deas, Shaw - who had heard of them before? Hopefully few more of the young lads goals a step. Need an older warhorse on there and a few more rough diamonds and I think we’ve got the making of a decent team.

Not surprised that they gave him a deal ( the cup run saved his job), but two years!!! We will be in the same position of not being able to afford to sack him, if we are struggling by Christmas. Let's hope he goes on a tactics course before next season, and recruits the correct players to play Hoofball, although I hope that that style of football is done with, most of what was on show last season was brutal.

The extension was, in my opinion, inevitable if Dodds wanted to stay. Now is the time to get behind him and whoever is in our squad as the decision is made. We need to hit the ground running after what will be a short break compared to most of our rivals due to our cup run. Clarity on Robbo’s situation would be welcome.

I know it won't please everybody but we've got to be realistic. Dodds is happy to stay and he's no really that bad. Better the devil you know! Getting somebody new in is risky and probably costly. As mentioned before, Dodds knows the squad, knows what's needed to improve it and I think is a safe bet. There seems to be an expectancy among some supporters that we should be a Premiership team because we once were. We are in fact a Championship team - that is our level - and the occasional foray into the Premiership is not out of the question, although to stay in the top league we would really need a generous benefactor. Get behind Dodds and who knows what'll happen!

Congratulations Gringo and thanks for doing this again.

The long wait is over Having lain idle since the 5th of May Championship flop against Ayr United, the long wait for the Scottish Cup Final is over for the Caley Jags. The Semi-Final was played out on the 29th of April, a 3-0 win over Falkirk guaranteeing our place in the final where we will face the daunting task of stopping forty time Cup winners Celtic from winning the treble. Not an easy task I hear you say. However, you've got to be in it to win it, and we find ourselves in our second Scottish Cup Final in eight years. We have a long way to go to catch up with Celtic though as this will be their sixtieth appearance in the final. I imagine the stattos amongst us will be searching their Guinness Book of Records to find out the biggest winning margin in the Scottish Cup Final. I'll save you the bother. Renton 6-1 v Cambuslang on 4th February 1888. Or, ominously, Celtic 6-1 Hibernian on 6th May 1972. Are we about to re-write the record books? Check all the records at Scottish Cup Records. Win or lose, I hope you all enjoy the occasion. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The route to the final Inverness struggled to overcome a stubborn Stirling Albion side at our entry level in the Scottish Cup 3rd round. Dale Carrick had opened the scoring in the 27th minute but Wallace Duffy levelled five minutes later. Max Ram then put us ahead five minutes before the break and we all breathed a sigh of relief. However, the Binos were not finished and Carrick scored a second in stoppage time before the interval. With twenty minutes left Aaron Doran scored what proved to be the winner, but credit to the visitors for making us work extra hard to get through to the fourth round. The 4th round tie with Queens Park turned from gloom to joy. After beating Inverness 2-0 on the pitch, Queens Park were dumped out of the Cup for fielding an illegible player in the shape of Euan Henderson. How fortuitous. Has anyone ever won the Cup after being knocked out? The 5th round saw Inverness face Premiership opposition away from home at Livingston. Fear not as Billy Mckay scored a brilliant brace to add to a Sean Welsh header to put us into the quarter final. 6th round was another Premiership scalp with Kilmarnock visiting the Caledonian Stadium on a snowy March evening. Despite suffering an early setback when Vassell scored in the third minute, the Caley Jags dug deep and overcame Killie with a Billy Mckay penalty and a superb Sean Welsh strike in the middle of a snow storm. Semi-Final: It was a re-run of the 2015 final with Inverness taking on Falkirk for for a place in the final. Inverness proved to be too clinical for the Bairns with another brace from Billy Mckay and a superb header from Dan Mackay. Always a step ahead of the Bairns, it was a relatively comfortable passage into the final, where one would imagine Celtic will provide a much sterner test. Hampden Calling....Again Celtic's route to the final: 4th Round: Celtic 5-0 Morton - Mooy x2, Furuhashi x2, Turnbull. 5th Round: Celtic 5-1 St Mirren - Maeda, Hatate x2, Hyeo-gyu, O'Riley. 6th Round: Hearts 0-3 Celtic - Mooy, Furuhashi, Vickers. Semi-Final: Rangers 0-1 Celtic - Jota. Celtic seemed to scrape through their ties scoring fourteen goals for the loss of only two. Surprisingly the bookies see Celtic as favourites to lift the Cup. Meh, what do they know! Inverness warmed up for the final with a hastily arranged kick-about against Dungannon Swifts in County Tyrone on 20th May. It ended 3-1 for Inverness and the whole squad managed to get a kick of the ball at some stage of the game. There was also an alleged closed doors practice against Nairn County. Incidentally, Swifts secured their top league status with a play off aggregate win 3-2 over Annagh United, having come from 2-1 down after the first leg. Congratulations to them. Celtic's month was somewhat fuller. After defeating Rangers in the semi-final on 30th April, they beat Hearts 2-0 at Tynecastle. They followed that by losing 3-0 at Ibrox in the final old firm derby of the season then drew 2-2 with St Mirren. A midweek game at Easter Road on the 24th May resulted in a 4-2 defeat for ten man Celtic. Looks like they're knackered now and we will be full of beans after a month off However, a week before the final, they played their last Premiership game of the season against Aberdeen at Parkhead. That's Aberdeen, the third best placed team in the Scottish Premiership. Looks like they were out in full force this week having rested half their team over the last couple of games and they trounced Aberdeen 5-0. Just let these stats sink in against Scotland's third best football club this season. Celtic--------VVVVVVVV--------Aberdeen Celtic 76% - Possession - 24% Aberdeen Celtic 20 ------- Shots ------- 0 Aberdeen Celtic 8 -- Shots on Target -- 0 Aberdeen Celtic 10 ------ Corners ------ 2 Aberdeen On the plus side, we have knocked Celtic out of the Scottish Cup on three occasions. Contrary to popular belief we did not get to keep them for that. There was the SuperCaleyGoBallistic in 2000, followed by the week after beating Liverpool in the UEFA Cup in 2003 (Henrik Larrson and all), and who can forget the Hand of Josh thriller in the 2015 semi-final before we went on to lift the Cup against Falkirk. Overall, we have beaten Celtic seven times in competitive games and drawn seven times. Stats will show that Celtic have won thirty-four times. Fortunately, stats don't win games. Latest Team News Inverness CT have a full squad to pick from after a month off apart from Sutherland and Walsh. In saying that, the likes of Roddy MacGregor has had little game time in his recovery from injury, so some may not be 100% fit. ***Look back in later in the week to hear from Billy Dodds ahead of the final*** Celtic have a squad full of Eastern promise and full international players. Let's not dwell too much on that. Furuhashi took a knock against Aberdeen but it's not a major concern? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Player of the Season Awards In some sort of clandestine ceremony on Monday night, the seasonal awards were handed over, cloak and dagger style at the Caledonian Stadium. Unsurprisingly Billy Mckay was the big winner. Is it written in the stars for Billy to move level with the legendary Dennis Wyness in this Scottish Cup Final. Now that would be some story! Congratulations to all the winners. Well deserved Player of the Year Awards 2022/23 Tonight the winners of our Player of the Year awards were presented with their awards. Players’ Player of the Year 2022-23 was Billy Mckay, as presented by Head Coach Billy Dodds! Players’ Young Player of the Year 2022-23 was Cameron Harper, also presented by Head Coach Billy Dodds. Fans Player of the Year 2022-23 was Billy Mckay, as presented by Laura Grant from the Supporters Trust! Fans Young Player of the Year 2022-23 was Nathan Shaw, as presented by Lady Kath Fraser from the Supporters Trust! Goal of the Season 2022-23 was Billy Mckay’s second goal v Livingston, as presented by Barry Wilson. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On yer bike Steve Message from Joonya Many of you may remember The Highland March - a walking event between the final two league matches of ICT's season, of which took place every year from 2003 to 2015. Well, two of us former marchers have come together to do something different in the build up to the Scottish Cup Final. Steve 'Yompa' Taylor (formerly known as 'InterTheNet') will be donning the lycra to cycle from Caledonian Stadium to Hampden Park IN A DAY. Steve sets off at 3am on Tuesday 30th May, and I will be joining him as the support driver. We'll be doing this for charity, with all monies being split equally between MikeysLine and the Celtic Foundation. Both of these charities provide mental health support to people of all backgrounds, in and around Glasgow and the Highlands. We invite you to follow us on Twitter (@Road2Hampden) where you will find the Just Giving page. Please donate what you can, if you can. Thank you ICT have supported MikeysLine since their inception in 2015, and John Robertson is an ambassador for the charity. They provide Mental Health support to people across Inverness and the Highlands. But why Celtic Foundation too? Over recent years, supporters of the foundation have helped Yompa raise money and awareness for the Solving Kids Cancer charity. It's his way of giving something back, at a time when two teams with history in this competition come head to head in the final. Mon everybody, empty yer pockets to help Steve's designated charities after this superb effort. Just Giving Link Every donation helps, and we'd like to thank everyone for their support ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FANZONE Here's Scooty & the Skyhooks plus good luck messages The Wyness Shufflers have been busy and here's your Cup Final podcast 'Back to the Future' from the guys RIGHT HERE What's in it for you: Two and a half hours of all things Caley Thistle. The pre-match venue, memorable games with Celtic, ICT Legends with Stuart Golabeck, Ross Tokely, James Vincent, Dennis Wyness and current captain Sean Welsh and don't miss Sandy's Scottish Cup Final tune. Well done guys, a great effort. Your pre-Cup Final entertainment for Caley Jags fans. Provided by the fans for the fans: Get yourself along to The Ferry before the game for some pre-match Shenanigans & Schiehallions. Three bars available Food available Families Welcome Face painting Doors Open: 11:00am Entertainment from 12:00 > 4:00 Bus to game (maybe) BUY TICKETS £4 Where? The Ferry 25 Anderston Quay Glasgow G3 8BX Alternatively, here's SirSandman92

How many grounds have you seen Caley Thistle play at? Saw this discussed on P&B, thought it was an interesting question. I have seen us play at 40 different grounds. Premiership - PIttodrie, Celtic Park, Dens Park, Tynecastle, Easter Road, Rugby Park, Almondvale, Fir Park, Ibrox, Victoria Park, McDairmid Park, St Mirren Park. Championship - Excelsior, Somerset Park, Tannadice, East End, Cappielow, Caledonian Stadium, Firhill, Stark's Park League One - Recreation Park, Falkikr Stadium, New Douglas Park, Palmerston Park, Forthbank League Two - New Bayview, Borough Briggs, Ochilview. Non-league - Station Park (Nairn County), Christie Park (Huntly), Mosset Park (Forres Mechanics), Grant Street Park (Clach), Princess Royal Park (deveronvale), Grant Park (Lossiemouth), New Victoria Park (Newtongrange Star) and Cliftonhill (Albion Rovers). Neutral - Hampden Park (cup semis and finals) Grounds that no longer exist - Telford Street, Brockville and Love Street. I've also seen us play as the home team at five different grounds - Telford Street and Caledonian Stadium, as well as Pittodrie (2004/05 ground share), Tannadice (1996 cup tie v Rangers) and Victoria Park (January 2005 cup tie v St Johnstone).

Best of luck to them, they always tried hard when given the chance. But both will be completely forgotten by the time next season starts.

Not necessarily, it depends on the terms of the contract.

Fixed it for ya!

Pleased to hear his contract has been extended. Needs a stronger support team tho.

2 years will make it too expensive to sack him at Xmas if we have another mid season meltdown...

After the Ross County financial statement last week it’s interesting to read this today. PT were desperate to get up and nearly bankrupted themselves last season. Can’t see them doing same thing this season coming. Just shows you how precarious the whole set up is. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65833197

Dodds 2 year extension ! What a joke ! Interesting to see how many Don’t renew the season ticket .

Two year deal for Dodds announced.

Well done Gringo!! Knew I'd blown it on Saturday.....lol Thanks for all your hard work over season. It's much appreciated in the Macdonald household

My thanks to you all for playing the NPL this season. It's been one of the closest in NPL history. My commiserations to old caley girl in losing out in the final few weeks. She had been in top spot for 40 games hitting number in game 7. Former champion CaleyCalum put up a good fight to retain his title but couldn't quite make the finish line. Meanwhile, I can now take a few weeks off before it all starts again for, what could be, my final season of doing the NPL. Thank you all for playing.

A while ago, ok, a few years ago, probably around the time of Forans tenure, there seemed to be a small handful of posters who would criticise the opinions of others without engaging in healthy debate. It was like it had to be their opinion or nothing. That, to me, put me off from getting involved and over time I just haven't bothered to re-engage. The NPL and Betting Fourm keeps me coming back, but having recently returned to the main forum, maybe it's time to be a 'regular' once again. I think we can all agree that, if it wasn't for CTO, some of us may never have the friendships we have now. For that, I'll be eternally grateful

Just thought I'd add my tuppence worth. Got back Sunday evening after two glorious days (weather wise) in Glasgow. As some others have said I was actually proud of our performance, firstly in holding off Celtic for most of the first half, and then again by scoring the best goal of the game to give them a fright for a few minutes before the end. So, not the drubbing that many predicted. Spotted one couple in our section who were probably Celtic supporters. One of them continually was looking over towards the the mass of Celtic supporters to our left (behind the goal) and at times waving towards them!. I was actually disappointed with the group of our own supporters who stood up for most the game , making it very difficult for our row (who did not stand up) to see anything at all. In fact, my son watched most of the game on his phone because of those thoughtless (some would say, selfish) fans in front of us. Again, as some others have said, all the Celtic fans we actually spoke to, before the game, and especially during the long walk back into Glasgow centre after the game, were friendly and respectful. Not sure how I feel about Ross County saving themselves with that late comeback! I was sort of looking forward to the return of the Highland derbies next season! Anyway, onwards and upwards

Tbh I don't think there's a better candidate we could realistically get at the moment, if we're going to change manager then the board needs to have plan and then get someone who's style aligns with that. Next season will be worse if we just let him go with the expectation that there's someone better ready to take the job instead of doing any sort of research prior to this point. I'm not thrilled about another season of Dodds but he's now got 2 years working with the squad so knows what he needs in terms of recruitment, and hopefully his match management improves with experience. Luckily next season our bogey team in Hamilton are gone so that could 3 of our league losses turned into points instead

Attendance 47,247 - so where were the 5,000 empty seats?! A few hundred where our section and Celtic section met, the rest seemed full from where I was at least.

Regardless of the score I thoroughly enjoyed the day and match day experience. It's looking like Dodds is staying which does not excite me and lacks ambition from the club. Big rebuild job required.

Me too, and this could just be the difference between us scoring one goal, or two or three. It makes me furious that players (especially 'big club' ones) get away with this.

Duplication Dan

You know when you think someone is a ***** then they prove it?

Obviously the plan was to hold them for as long as possible. Almost got to half time like that. Slightly more adventurous in the second half but they are the top team in the country. Nothing to see here. Big team beats wee team. Move along.

Tears of Pride Celtic were big favourites to lift the Cup and with it complete the Treble. Inverness have been here before and have put Celtic out of the Cup on three previous occasions. However, it's a big ask and the bookies agree with Celtic's favourites tag. Scotland's number one side against this seasons eighteenth best side. It was pretty much a clean bill of health for Billy Dodds after a month of relative inactivity for his squad with just long term casualties Shane Sutherland and Tom Walsh missing. Celtic were without Aaron Mooy and Cameron Carter-Vickers but such is their wealth of talent it would matter not a jot. At the end of the day Celtic would win the treble and lift the Scottish Cup. Inverness stuck to their game plan and battled hard, but it was one scalp too many. However there was only tears of pride at the end. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After the pre-match entertainment enjoyed by the fans the game kicked off in bright sunshine. Celtic got the game underway in 21 degrees Celsius. Could anyone outdo Man City who scored in 12 seconds in the FA Cup Final. The answer was NO. A tentative opening from both sides as Inverness tried to play their way into the game with Celtic trying to force the pace. Fifteen minutes gone and the pattern remains the same with Celtic forcing the pace but over eager with their final ball. O'Riley bounced a volley wide in the first half chance of the game with almost nineteen minutes gone. A defensive misplaced pass offered Celtic an opportunity but Jota ran out of space as the defence recovered to shut him down. Ten minutes before the break Ridgers made his first save as he dropped on a low strike from 15 yards. A minute later Celtic went in front when Kyogo smashed in from eight yards. He almost added a second five minutes before the break but he chipped wide of Ridgers right hand post as Celtic turned the screw. Half Time: 1-0 Inverness were looking to get forward more at the start of the second half but Celtic were still dominating possession although Nathan Shaw was a half yard away from getting on the end of a low ball into the Celtic box. However Celtic were starting to flow better and the danger signs were there for Inverness. In the 65th minute Celtic doubled their advantage. They rode a couple of rash challenges before Abada stroked the ball into the net. VAR took a look and after some deliberation the goal was given. It was tight, but 2-0 it was. Ridgers made amends for a botched clearance when he clutched a shot out of the top corner from O'Riley. Cue plenty of substitutions with the game seemingly safe. Inverness got a lifeline with five minutes to go and it was a replica goal from Dan Mackay from a Wallace Duffy cross. Absolutely tremendous bulleted header again from Dan. Ridgers saved with his legs as Celtic looked to finish the tie off through Haksabanovic. They did moments later when Jota scored from close range after good work by Abada. Game over, maybe Ange's last one in charge but Celtic march on and we head back to the Championship with our heads held high. Full Time: 3-1

All ready here. Just coffee for now but the beat up old cup which I have had for years could only be bettered by the one on offer today

Someone said to me Laura organised this venue and can’t make the game. If that’s true Thank you Laura place is great and atmosphere building

Link to P&J magazine about the Caley Jags Cup Final (Cheers Robert)

One Man One Bike One Aim Just Giving Link

Well done Donnie, good effort with all you've put on there. Hope everyone enjoys their day out!

Lowest league placing since 2002. We've never finished lower than 6th in this tier and this season was the weakest we've ever seen it. Massive opportunity squandered. Get rid.