Leaderboard

That was frankly desperate. I cannot think of a positive tonight.There was no fight,desire,or endeavour and we made Ayr look semi decent..Ayr first attack and they get a goal.Realistically we could play until next Saturday and never look like scoring.If it wasn't for the penalty we were never going to score.Credit to Billy for taking it and scoring. Never mind,Dundee United next week!!! We are so lucky that Arbroath are worse than us. Now that must go down as one of the worst games this season,although there is a lot to chose from.

A lovely day for a game of football but the storm clouds are gathering around the stadium. On the whole, I think the players put a lot of effort in and tried their best, but the sad fact is, that as a group, they just aren't good enough. Again we started brightly and with a bit more quality could have been 2 up in the first 15 minutes. Ayr were no great shakes, but once they settled into the game, we rarely found any space where it mattered. There are times when we pass the ball neatly in midfield and keep possession, but when we get into the final third and and are put under more pressure, we either lose the ball or pass it back. We create very little. It is clear that Fergusson has his preferred way of playing and he ain't going to change it. He wants us to play out from the back and through the park. It's brilliant to watch when Manchester City do it, but with all due respect to our lads, they don't have the vision or skill to do it. Time and time again we start to play out from the back and are just too slow to make progress, we allow the opposition to regroup and organise their defence and we can't find a way through. It's just boring.

Well that was my first home game of the season and probably my last. Having said that we could have been three up after 15 minutes !! No leaders and it looked like many having a pop at each other - no width whatsoever - no real sense of urgency - no apparent training field preparations or ploys. Worst for me was that we were bullied by Ayr not outplayed. Afraid that Dunc is employing an English League 1/2 mentality. Absolutely obvious that we are a patched up side with no sense of understanding how our peers play. Final summary is that I witnessed more dog sit today than I did walking along the Battery Site !!

Sat through every home game so far this season, and my god it’s been a miserable experience. Under Dodds we were awful, but I have to say since Ferguson took over it has been worse. No idea what the on field plan is (if one exists), but there is no fight, no pace, no urgency and no clue. It’s not as if the opposition is anything special, but they don’t need to be. We look nailed on for the relegation play off place, and there is precious little to give confidence that we could survive that.

That was absolutely dire. Another must win game we failed to win. I'm no longer despondent. I'm totally scunnered with direction we're headed in. Dodds had to go but I think we've gone backwards since then.

But they didn't really go through the proper process if they didn't use the Council's pre-application consultation process. This might have allowed them to fully address the issues of concern and have the application go through with a "better look" which would not have triggered the subsequent process. The subsequent process might be very unusual, but I assume it is a legitimate one or else the Council officials would not have allowed it to be used. No doubt the club will, quite rightly, take legal advice on this. Whether it got through the planning committee vote or not is actually not really relevant in terms of judging how the club behaved. Clearly the application had some issues associated with it and there was a significant risk it would not go through the committee and get planning permission. They put the application in knowing that it was on protected green space, so, of course there was a risk. The club put the future of the club against that risk and that, to my mind, was reckless. It would still have been reckless had they won the vote yesterday. If you staked your household's life savings on an even money favourite at Cheltenham, then win or lose, it would still be a very reckless thing to to. If you are going to stake all your savings on something, then you need to be like Putin in today's election and get all the necessary arrangements in place to make sure you do win. The club and its partners failed to do the necessary work to ensure the application's smooth progress and then reduced the chances of it going through subsequently by antagonising the very people they needed to persuade. I should add that I am in no way defending the elected councillors here. It does appear that there are some who have some kind of agenda. Others on both sides of the argument could barely string two words together and were utterly incapable of making a coherent argument to support their voting intention. The whole episode is just a shambles all round.

Since we have no wingers in that Shaw and Longstaff are out, maybe it's time [if he's actually fit] to give Austin Samuels a run out wide, a couple of seasons back, he and McKay had a purple patch, where they looked dangerous together. This time run Billy probably needs to sit deeper so that Alex Samuel can lead the line. I'm hoping Boyes is fully fit too as he strikes me as someone who could play out from the back. We do seem to suffer from a lot of injuries, what happened to McAllister, he scored two game ago, then is out injured. MacGregor suffering another set back. I still think we should recall Keith Bray from loan if we can. I am flying up for the Dundee United match next week, which could be interesting given their shock [?] defeat to Dunfermline. It's an away match which might be in our favour

Terry Butcher was a guest of the club today. Did I miss something or was he not invited out and introduced to the fans? I was rather looking forward to giving him a good round of applause as a "thank you" for some of the best and most exciting football we've seen in the 30 year history of the club.

That was utter crap. But WTF happened at the end. Ferguson shook hands with the Ayr manager and went straight up the tunnel and to top it off the only player that bothered to come down near the north stand and show any kind of appreciation for the fans was Alex Samuel and he’s a Ross County player.

He has contacts at the lodge

The Police? What's that about?

This club is so unbelievably finished. And its all thanks to that muppet upstairs. Getting the police to silence the critics isnt a good look either...

Not sure when they started doing it, but the ICTST has business cards at the West Stand kiosk. Get yerselves joined up

The club did address the green space issue. It takes up 2 percent of the total space of an overgrown and unkempt field of grass. It also results in a net biodiversity gain. The judgement call was left up to councillors as to whether kids using their sledges in winter was more valuable than 3 and a half million for a local business, 125K business rates for the council. And contribution towards net zero.

Maybe people are misjudging his personality? The style of play we are playing is his style of play. In his pre-match interview he said he wasn't going to change that.

Interesting discussion about the impact of Ferguson on A View From The Terrace tonight. In brief, they felt we are existing in the Championship, playing defensively and not matching his personality. Can’t argue with that.

I don’t think anyone thinks promotion is an option for us. We all just want to finish no worse than 8th.

3 points a must tomorrow with tonight's result... Realistically 8th will be fine but if we can convert draws into wins, I haven't given up hoope on 4th.

Why not go to the game? Maybe your presence will turn our fortunes around.

The BBC are always about 5 minutes behind. Free apps such as LiveScore let you choose favourite teams and inform you instantly, so fast that they have to correct the score if the goal is disallowed

Should fence it off and charge folks entry to zip their sledges round mounds of dug *****

Ayr we go again Unfortunately it's another home game this Saturday as fellow languishers Ayr United make the long trek North to face home strugglers Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Ayr are one of only two teams we have beaten at home in the Championship this season. However, in the presence of one of our highest profile managers ever, it would be rude not to think about the possibility of a seven goal barrage. Terry Butcher is in the area doing a gig with Richard Gough and will pop along to the stadium for a look at the current side. It has to be said that they are not a patch on what Tel Boy built before being lured to Leith for a custard cream, a team we beat in our next match, however, that is history and the mess we find ourselves in now is a sad indictment of the times we live in now under the present regime. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket Info Battery Farm - Rejected ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 25 11 11 3 42 27 +15 Away 27 13 6 8 50 33 +17 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 52 24 17 11 92 60 +32 We have always had the edge over Ayr United and the H2H shows that. Even recent form has us on top, and that is not always the same for all of our recent opponents. Only three defeats at home. Our prime objective this weekend is a win and would be a bonus but avoiding defeat is an absolute priority. Maybe even scoring a goal might ease the pain... Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Ayr United 3 - 1 (A) 3 - 1 (H) 0 - 1 (A) 1 - 2 (H) 2 - 1 (A) 2 - 2 (H) 1 - 0 (A) 2 - 2 (A) 1 - 2 (H) 2 - 2 (A) Inverness ease away from the bottom: 3 - 1 Inverness added Sean Welsh to the ever expanding longer term injury list suffering from a recurring back injury, but Luis Longstaff was fit enough to make the bench. Ayr United had Logan Chalmers, Jamie Murphy and Anton Dowds as a triple threat up front. Despite this, Inverness cruised home without having to get out of second gear. Three goals inside the last ten minutes of the first half ended the game as a contest. Two from David Wotherspoon and a penalty from Billy Mckay. Ayr got a consolation penalty in a poor second half, but it was an important three points for the Caley Jags and Big Dunc. As comfortable as it was it was still a poor second half where we should have gone on to put Ayr to the sword. As it was, the result was huge in the context of our season and we can overlook the turgid performance in the light of three excellent points and a step up the table to eighth place with games in hand over some teams. FULL TIME: 3-1. Interesting to note that we only had five of the team that started against Ayr back on November 11th available for selection last week with Carson & Wotherspoon away and the rest injured. Still here: Mark Ridgers, Cameron Harper, Danny Devine, Max Anderson, Billy Mckay (subs C Mackay, Wallace Duffy) Gone/Unavailable: Morgan Boyes, Nikola Ujdur, David Wotherspoon, David Carson, Charlie Gilmour, Nathan Shaw (subs Delaney, Thompson, Hyde, Sheridan, Longstaff, Lodovica, Brooks) Last Time Out Inverness failed again at home last Saturday against one of the two teams they had already beaten at home this season. The other being this weeks opponent Ayr United. The Airdrie game ended scoreless, and that was no surprise to those at the stadium. Plenty of effort, plenty of passes, however our Achiles Heel of creating and scoring chances has haunted us for most of the season. Last Five: D D D W D Ayr United were idle last weekend. Their last game was a 2-0 defeat at East End Park on 2ndMarch. Two goals just before the interval by Chris Hamilton and a first for loan signing Chris Kane was the difference between the sides.Scott Brown's best result was a stunning 4-3 win over Partick Thistle (McAllister, Willoughbyx2 and McHugh were the scorers in a see-saw game). However, Ayr have shipped a massive fifty goals in the League and that's something that we need to capitalise on. They have also scored thirty-eight times, so it's important to keep our fourth clean sheet in a row to give us a platform to build on. Last Five: L W L W L Table ahead of Friday nights big game Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Dunfermline v Dundee United Friday night @ 7:45 1. Dundee Utd 28 17 7 4 55 17 58 2. Raith Rovers 28 17 6 5 49 36 57 3. Partick Thistle 28 10 10 8 53 48 40 4. Morton 27 10 7 10 34 31 37 5. Airdrieonians 27 10 6 11 28 30 36 6. Queens Park 28 8 8 12 41 47 32 7. Dunfermline 28 8 8 12 30 38 32 8. Ayr United 27 9 5 13 38 50 32 9. Inverness CT 28 7 10 11 32 32 31 10. Arbroath 27 6 5 16 28 59 23 SATURDAY 16TH MARCH Airdrie v Arbroath Caley Jags v Ayr United Partick v Morton Queen's v Rovers Latest Team News Inverness: Still have massive injury worries ahead of this one with most on the bench still nursing knocks. Long term: Gilmour, Longstaff, Big Harry & Lewis Nicolson. Out: McAllister, Macgregor, Shaw, Ujdur. Struggling: Carragher, Boyes... Have I missed any Duncs pre-match still to come Ayr United: One glaring alteration at Ayr United since they were last here is their manager. Former Hibs and Celtic midfielder Scott Brown is now in charge after Lee Bullen was relieved of his duties on the 15th of January a few days after we had beaten the honest men 3-1 at Somerset Park. He was replaced by Brown some ten days later. Brown has 3 wins to his credit since then from seven games ( QP, Airdrie, Partick), losing to Dundee United, Rangers (cup), Raith Rovers and last time out at Dunfermline. Ayr's January sales deals. In: Nathan McGinley, defender (Motherwell) Loan in: Jack Sanders, defender (Kilmarnock); Josh Clarke, goalkeeper (Celtic); Harry McHugh, midfielder (Wigan Athletic); Kurt Willoughby, forward (Oldham Athletic). Logan Chalmers was a big threat last time we met and with players like Murphy and McGeady on their books plenty of experience at a higher level. On loan forward Kurt Willoughby looks handy. Ayr team @ EEP Clarke McAllister (Tomlinson 90+1) Sanders McGinty Musonda Bryden (Chalmers 45) Dempsey (Smith 76) McHugh Murphy (Syla 76) Dowds McKenzie (Willoughby 56) Subs Not Used: Albinson; McGeady, Stanger, McGinley Good to see that bullying in the workplace is alive and kicking in the Highland Council

Yes that’s his business partner and his wife is also involved in the running of it. He’s still involved but not named as a director anymore

Someone corrupting and it’s nothing to do with SG ? Having this guy at the club until any appeal would be heard is disaster itself . The club and fans cannot continue association with this guy any longer than is necessary . Waiting a year or even months with this clown running things down will just finish the club totally . Things are as low as they need to be and we all need a lift . Getting rid should be the start of the way forward . Should never have been employed in the first place .

Butcher had also been at Rangers the other night. Somehow I don’t think his tour of former clubs will include an invite from Hibs.

He was there in the directors box. Along with Jamie Carragher.

He was supposed to be there Did he turn up or thought better of it. Wise choice if he stayed away.

Fan got lifted for yelling to Scot Gardiner about how it is. Will definately try to claim its cos he was pished, but when its one of the regulars who doesn't tend to put a toe out of line against stewards, and the fact the chants about Gardiner from that section stopped after he got hoofed and the other stewards had a go at the rest of them, its not hard to put 2 and 2 together.

Why can nobody in this team run? Everything is done at walking pace! At no point in the game did we look like scoring. I even thought we'd miss the penalty - which certainly didn't look like a penalty from where I was! We're going backwards!

1-2 FT. That is a terrible result. Our home form is abysmal and I seem to say it regularly but i feel so sorry for our home fans having to endure so much p1sh.

Yes, Arbroath are now winning

The original decision was taken by the South Planning Committee comprising councillors from south of the Kessock Bridge. Some of these failed to attend the site visit so were disqualified, some declared an interest and it’s said some couldn’t be @rsed, leaving 5 as against a quorum of 3. The decision was then referred to the full council, also including members from 100+ miles away from Inverness and that attracted an attendance of 56, with no apparent concern about declaring interests or not having done a site visit.

Not true. They approved plans for the changes after Everlast Gym made the decision not to renew their lease. Rejecting the planning application would not have kept Everlast Gym open, and would possibly have meant another commercial space laying empty.

As long as Butch shifts their arses into gear with a rousing pre match pep talk, I'm happy

Telling someone you don't think something is important is not addressing the issue.

So they shouldn't have gone through the pre-application consultation because all it would have done is to tell them what they already knew, that the site is on green space and could not be supported by the planning department. So, instead they are supposed to just submit the application in full knowledge that it is not going to be supported? Hmm. A "pretty low risk project"? When you know the Planing Department cannot support it? I don't think so! Back in November, the chairman posted a rambling video prior to the original planning committee meeting on 22nd November, in which he urged councillors to vote for the application. He told them it "doesn't make any sense" to reject it and it would "be a travesty if it is refused". He was prompted to do this after having what he referred to as the "devastating news" that the planners had recommended refusal on 4 grounds - 3 of which were easily resolvable. The Committee subsequently deferred the decision in order that the applicants could provide the further information required to satisfy the planners concerned. In his video, Morrison stated that there had already been a two and a half year planning process, so I really don't think going through the pre-application process would have resulted in delays. To the contrary, having engagement with the planning officials would surely have flagged up the issues which resulted in a delay to the application and inconvenience to the Council. The other thing that is evident from this is that after 30 months of planning, they simply arrogantly assumed that because the BESS scheme would make such a positive contribution to net zero targets, this would override any objections about the loss of green space. It would appear that there had been no discussion with anyone at the Council as to what might be required to overcome an issue which, apparently, requires the planning department to recommend refusal. Whilst Morrison is not using any belligerent language in this video, being told it would be a travesty if the application does not get approval will also not have gone down well with Councillors. People want to be persuaded by reasoned argument; not lectured to. Had there been better engagement with the Council and a case presented which robustly addressed the green space issue, this application could have sailed through in November. Instead it may well not get the go-ahead at all.

It’s not a sphere, it’s an oblate spheroid. Prof Pedant.

Some of that criticism is somewhat unfair and overlooks the fact that the club went through the proper process got it through planning permission, they did it. Nobody could have predicted the highly irregular manoeuvre that happened next.

Not as funny as the others

Highland Council were happy for five of them (Councillors) to make a decision on this one,until three of the five voted in 'favour' and went off script. This was deemed a bad look. Then they scrambled about,broke a few rules and arranged the vote to go to the full Council. At this meeting we have the laughing show piece of Councillor MacPherson versus the Convener,three Councilors abstain,six cannot take part because of their interests ,or what they previously said or discussed on the issue,23 voted for and 30 against and this is deemed a good look. They are a laughing stock and it shows us all that when you put a group of unqualified people in a room and ask them to make key decisions on our future and that of the community,anything can happen. This is a classic example of you get what you voted for. Just a pit more people would not show an interest in local elections and vote for people that can do the job. In this case we have an area of 2% of the land available,which I understand is waste ground that could be turned into something thatwould generate income for ITC,but as important all the community work they do.In fact it would allow them to enhance all that and better serve the community at large in many ways. Unfortunately I guess politics came into play and blinded the views of some of these Councillors who were unable to open their eyes to the bigger picture. As for the club, credit where it is due for pursuing this idea, just a pity that they had to come up against the great and good of HIghland Council.

Very sad times for the city. Looking into this it seems personal to some councillors. I live close to the site and trust me it a dumping ground for dogs to empty there guts. For the council to say its utilised by kids and dog walkers then they need to visit the site as there's no official entrance to the land. As for fire risk of course there's risk there's a risk to allowing asda to build a petrol station in a residential area and next to a school. Most houses in the area have gas thats a risk but its all about management. If the rules are followed the risk should be no more than any of the above. As for the green space the whole area was green space. Most recently they didn't have a problem extending the gaelic school onto green land used for dog walking and picnicking area. The land where shakes and cakes is got planning no problem as is the land at the roundabout next to asda and fairway. My personal opinion is the council are not interested in projects like this in the area. Building new houses generates council tax. The building contractor is then made to subsidise new schools, Road and other essential services in the area. The west link has to be justified some how.

Surprised we have had no statement but on the other hand I suspect any statement issued on the day of the decision would have been written with fury. They have probably been in discussions about an appeal. Hopefully we get a measured response very soon.

THATS WHERE I GO SLEDGING DAMNIT!

New site for the Battery Storage ? https://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/news/former-inverness-college-site-sold-to-local-businessman-345039/

Can't wait to see the turnout in 5 years time when they discuss turning it into a housing estate

From "The Knowledge" column in today's Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/mar/13/the-knowledge-have-any-footballers-refused-to-play-second-half If you were going to buy it, you'd have done so by now, so I don't think this will deprive them of any money "“Have there been any situations where a player has refused to come out for the second half?” asks Peter Clarke. “If so, what retribution was taken by the club or country?” There are plenty of examples of entire teams refusing to play the second half, the majority in response to racism, but it’s quite rare for an individual player to do so. Let’s start with a famous night in Glasgow: “Back in February 2000, with John Barnes’s Celtic trailing Caley Thistle 2-1 in a Scottish Cup tie, striker Mark Viduka refused to play the second half,” begins Stephen Toal. “Viduka took offence when he was asked by Barnes’s assistant Eric Black: ‘Is it too cold tonight? Do you not fancy it?’ “Celtic went on to lose 3-1, and within 48 hours Barnes and Black were sacked (Viduka kept his job). Perhaps more significantly, the match spawned the greatest newspaper headline of all time: Super Caley Go Ballistic Celtic Are Atrocious." Click on the link above to read the rest of the column.

Jagster is injured just now but will be fighting fit for the playoffs if we make fourth!

Think that is the plan. Going forward I suspect we will again see a large number of loans possibly from much bigger clubs who are unlikely to care whether we contribute to salaries so long as we guarantee game time. Financially that model would make sense given where we are? Reckon it'll be a revolving door every window unfortunately

Tm4tj, IBM, Robert, Yngwie, Rig, Scotty, Mantis, jagster, caley100, IHE and possibly Dougal

We must do no worse than 8th. 5th, 6th or 7th bring a few more pounds in. We should be aiming for 4th until it is impossible to get there.