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I’m on board with you C1C3 in getting fully behind the club and supporting the team and AS et’al going forward. It’s a tacit acceptance of DF as part of that journey whilst he’s with us. IMO if there was ANY club ‘out there’ that would have remotely considered taking DF on as a manager (or coach, youth trainer or gopher) at any mid England club during the summer break we wouldn’t have seen DF again. His complete absence, comment or simple courtesy of interest in the players position at this time was telling for me. This latter ‘fighting spirit’ rhetoric is shallow and artificial for me. If he could have found a way ‘out’, he would have jumped at it! So in closing, ‘yes’ to the club support from me and that includes DF. But don’t take us as mugs. The jury is still out for me!! bc

This idea that if we can get a striker then everything will suddenly be great is a bit delusional. It was similar thinking that got the club into the trouble it is now. Once we get the battery farm we'll be good. Once the carpark deal kicks in we'll be good. Once the Makwana deal is done we'll be good. Once we move everything to Kelty we'll be good. Hoping for things changes nothing especially when they don't transpire and just gets in the way of taking action now and stopping the slide. Recent revelations about Ferguson considering not coming back are also alarming. He's essentially told us that he was off sulking and not dealing with the player issues we had over the summer. The phrase for that is dereliction of duty and most of us would be fired for such behaviour. I think most of us would agree we have a squad capable of achieving more than it has been. It's not the tools and materials that are faulty it's the person using them.

I get that Ferguson is trying, and there is likely more going on behind the scenes than we know, and that brings added pressure all around. I also get it that we cannot afford to sack him as his buddy likely gave him a contract that made it too costly to do so. I do also appreciate the fact that he took a pay cut after relegation, so his wages are not necessarily the millstone around our neck that they used to be. I want to like him, I want him to succeed. I don't care if he was associated with Rangers, Queens Park Rangers or the Texas Rangers, it is good for our club to have a known name at the helm. With apologies to our other managers, most of whom have been far more successful, he is second only to Terry Butcher when it comes to name recognition outside of the small bubble we operate in. When I am trying to explain ICTFC to someone over here who only knows the names of the big two and never watches SPFL football, the bullet points tend to be Scottish Cup Finals in 2015 and 2023 as well as SuperCaleyGoBallistic and then Butcher as our manager and more latterly (despite performance in the job) DF. By the end of that part of the conversation, there is usually some recognition, and then the sad story starts about how things have gone in the last 5 years. In my opinion, DF has to start listening to people and adapt things. He has a hard task, with scant resources, but maybe he needs to quietly chat to a few folk around the game who have been in the lower leagues, who have navigated clubs out of those leagues, and learn from them. Doesn't Pele still come to our games? Perhaps he can be humble and pick his brain? Doesn't have to be a media event, just do it on the QT and try to see results improve. If not, then surely there are those around the game who he trusts and looks up to and whose advice he would take? If he can do that, and turn things around, then he can turn the support around too. If he can't, then he will never win the fans over. The other thing DF has to do in my opinion is to both acknowledge, and apologise for the treatment given out to Doran, Ridgers, Esson, and others who were treated shabbily by the club in more recent times. It doesn't need to be effusive, or again a media event, but some sort of acknowledgement that mistakes were made, communication was p1sh, and they apologise and will learn from it. It may ultimately not have been (entirely) his fault, but as the manager and leader of the footballing side it is his responsibility to both make hard decisions about the squad (and to communicate those decisions), and also to stick up for them if an errant executive tries to shaft them. Sounds like he did neither this summer. We can get behind the club with AS at the helm on the business side, and we would like to get behind Dunc on the footballing side, but things have to improve.

Warriors up for the Battle The second home League1 game in a row has Stenhousemuir visiting for the first time since 1998 when we won 2-1. Mike Teasdale scored both goals as we came from behind to win that relegation battle after Ian Little had opened the scoring early in the first half. It's a standard 3:00pm kick-off this Saturday afternoon apart from Cove v the Smokies which can be seen on BBC Alba at half past five. The revamped 94' Bar will be open at mid-day for both sets of fans with Supporters Trust members and helpers at your service and if you are free around 10:30am on Saturday morning, pop over and help with the tidy up around the Stadium. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket Info ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 3 3 0 0 11 3 +8 Away 5 3 1 1 10 5 +5 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 8 6 1 1 21 8 +13 Brian Thomson We have only met Stenhousemuir eight times in total, winning six and losing once, a 3-2 reverse at Ochilview in August 1997. Our top scorer of all time against Stenny is Brian Thomson who has scored seven in all competitions including a hat-trick in a league cup encounter in 1997 at the Caledonian Stadium. Get yer boots on Brian, we need someone to put the ball in the net. Alas, Brian can't make it, he's washing his hair this weekend. Signed from Huntly - Position: Forward Previously with Fraserburgh, Motherwell, Peterhead & Arbroath Debut Played: 16 Dec 1995 - Last Game: 2 May 1998 Third Division Championship medal 1996/97; Joint top Second Division goalscorer 1997/98 (20 goals) Scored a barrowload, including the vital goal v Stenhousemuir which gained access to Rangers in the Scottish Cup in 1996 and he was a star in that quarter final at Tannadice as well. He made a stunning debut v Ross County in the Inverness Cup Final in December 1995. First Goal: January 13th, 1996 - Alloa Athletic 0 - 2 Caley Thistle (Div 3 "The first goal came in 30 minutes - a header by Brian Thomson after a cross from Richard Hastings) Born: June 19th, 1966 (Fraserburgh) Height: 1.83m Position: inside forward Signed: July 1st, 1995 Left Club: May 31st, 1998 Career Stats: 93 appearances, 34 goals Full Debut: December 16th, 1995 - Cowdenbeath 0 - 0 Inverness CT (League - ) First Goal: January 13th, 1996 - Alloa Athletic 0 - 2 Inverness CT (League - ) Also Played For: Arbroath, Buckie Thistle, Fraserburgh, Huntly, Motherwell, Peterhead Season so Far INVERNESS CT: D L D D W D D Our season got off to a slow start with a draw at home to Dumbarton followed by a penalty defeat at Annan. Another two draws against Montrose (h) and Kelty Hearts (a) before our first win of the season over Queen of the South at the Caledonian Stadium. We beat Stirling Albion 3-0 to send us into a fourth Rnd tie away to Livingston thanks to a brace from Adam Brooks and a strike from Adam MacKinnon. That was followed up by us throwing away a two goal lead at Alloa to end up with a 2-2 draw six minutes later. A Danny Devine volley and Calum MacLeod with his first goal for the club were the scorers at Recreation Park. Last time out we had a disappointing 1-1 draw at home against Cove Rangers who opened the scoring through Adam Emslie. James Nolan on loan from Manchester United's youth squad levelled the game before the hour. Stenhousemuir: W L L W W L D Having been promoted as Champions in season 23/24, the Warriors opened their account in League1 with a 2-1 home win over Arbroath but lost the following week at Kelty (2-0). Another loss followed at Alloa (1-0) before a 3-2 home win over Cove Rangers. The highlight of their season so far was a 5-1 thrashing of Annan Athletic at Ochilview. Bilham, Anderson and a Blair Alston hat-trick did the damage as Stenny took their chances whilst Annan only took one of their many opportunities. Montrose brought them back down to earth in the next League game with a 3-0 win at Links Park. Last week a no scoring home draw where Queen of the South dominated the game as Darren Jamieson earned the Warriors another vital point. They also knocked Falkirk out of the Challenge Cup on penalties after a 1-1 draw. Jamieson was again a standout for Stenhousemuir denying Falkirk half a dozen times. Blair Alston is their top scorer in the League with three goals followed by midfielder Michael Anderson on two. Former Hearts defender Gary Naysmith is the Warriors manager. It's difficult to assess the teams this early in the season with everyone capable of pulling off wins over all the other challengers.... except for us with our waltzing slowwww slowwww slowwww slowwww slowwww approach to the game which must be easy to set up against and our lack of penetration in the final third. Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Table ahead of this weekends game with Stenny two points above Inverness. 1. Alloa Athletic 7 3 4 0 8 5 13 2. Montrose 7 3 3 1 7 3 12 3. Q.O.S. 7 3 2 2 6 4 11 4. Stenhousemuir 7 3 1 3 10 10 10 5. Kelty Hearts 7 2 3 2 9 7 9 6. Inverness CT 7 1 5 1 6 6 8 7. Cove Rangers 7 2 2 3 10 11 8 8. Annan Athletic 7 2 1 4 6 12 7 9. Dumbarton 7 0 6 1 10 11 6 10. Arbroath 7 1 3 3 6 9 6 Saturday 28 September 2024 Inverness CT v Stenhousemuir Kelty Hearts v Annan Athletic Montrose v Alloa Athletic Queen Sth v Dumbarton (BBC Alba) Cove v Arbroath (17:30) Latest Team News Awaiting team news from the Caley Jags. Tom Jones said it's not unusual. Here we go! Flynn Duffy, Lewis Nicolson and Ethan Cairns are still out and Keith Bray has not trained all week. We remain toothless up front with Billy in a withdrawn role and little other attacking options available. Striker for the weekend anyone? Here's Dunc talking about his young team, strikers (or lack of), grass, defence and goals; the hardest part of the game isn't it>>> <<<This was the Stenhousemuire starting XI that Gary Naysmith went with in the home draw against Queen of the South. Nat Wedderburn was a sixth minute sub for the Warriors as Kyle Jacobs went off injured. With six yellow cards last week, looks like the Warriors will be up for the battle. Last week was an open game with Queens more than matching their hosts who were thankful for keeper Jamieson pulling off a handful of great stops. Assistant manager Brown Ferguson bemoaned a number of injuries during this game and was pleased with the battling point against a full time team in QotS. Alston, Taylor, Steele, O'Reilly and Jacobs were all substituted against Queens. Maybe Alston for his own good having just been booked in the closing stages of the game.

P7 won 1. I'm after Dunc's job.

On a more serious note, if you didn’t make it to Bar 94 last week, it is well worth popping in tomorrow to see the improvements that have been made by the Supporters Trust volunteers. The atmosphere in the bar was excellent last Saturday, chalk and cheese from the old bar experience. It was great to see so many fans using it. It opens at 1200.

These guys are the real deal. I have seen them three times and they are probably the greatest thing you will ever see live on stage playing all of the Classic Rock tunes. Absolutely brilliant. This is all you need for your own rock concert in your own house from all your favourite bands all rolled into one. Crank up the volume...

We're on this programme tonight, BBC Scotland, 10.35 or now on Iplayer. This gives us a flavour of what to expect: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20px74pk73o?at_bbc_team=editorial&at_format=link&at_link_type=web_link&at_campaign_type=owned&at_campaign=Social_Flow&at_medium=social&at_ptr_name=facebook_page&at_link_origin=BBC_Scotland_News&at_link_id=5962418A-7CBF-11EF-8FB0-E817ADFF6A2C&fbclid=IwY2xjawFjdjJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHfKXJdlxB8GaR6ukIf0f5vfFk86YnTWOiTVcY4RfZY-rU1hnTUBiZyM0-g_aem_TIQT3UiWwW3pxG0A61Hp9A

Regardless of the circumstances, and yours or my opinion about his criminal record, its a simple fact that he is known further afield than Scotland based on his footballing record at Rangers and more especially his playing record with Everton. His on-field hardman reputation (and it has to be said his off-field 'detention' of burglars more so than the assault victims) mean people know who he is. Heading slightly off topic here but .... I prefer to focus on the Scottish Cup exploits, rather than current situation when talking up the club to people here, and if it is TFC supporters, then I talk about being proud to have been present at the birth of two football clubs, not just one. (ICT in 1994 and TFC in 2006 where I committed to season tickets before we had a team, a manager, or a stadium) and the parallels between the two clubs despite the massive gulf in financial stability. The thing that resonated with someone over here that I spoke with to try and help the club back in 2019 was our youth development, with me citing Ryan Christie as a shining example, and later on, mentioning his dad's commitment to the youth setup and as someone who told me once how he fondly remembers a youth trip to Toronto which I think would either have been street league or Caley (many years ago). This got the guy interested, but of course it came to nothing in the end as it wasn't followed up.

Hopefully many of us who have expressed frustration and criticism of DF and others will shortly bury the hatchet and join the rescue boat by accepting difficulties in the re-float. It is easy to criticise and boy were there good reasons as more information on the management of the club emerged. But life is and if we do sign a good attacker we saw last week how four good chances went begging. Take pressure off Billy and some good results could follow. DF and supporters would then get a sense of relief. I now feel more optimistic that results will improve. By definition we are all grateful for those behind the scenes trying to make this work against adversity.

If we win tomorrow, I deserve the credit and you read it here first. I’ve missed three home games this season and they are the games we have won! Bonnyrigg due to my wedding anniversary. Queen of the South due to being at a gig in Aberdeen. Stirling Albion due to being on holiday. Now I’ve got Covid so won’t make tomorrow’s game as it stands. So if we win, will I be banned from home games ?

It's very telling as to the competency of the SG era and the relationships the club has with local businesses currently when we have zero corporate hospitality bookings and the club couldn't even (or even bother to?) get a table or two sold. Keith H is the commercial director and doesn't have the contacts/ relationships to sell a few seats for a curry? That's concerning.

The only tribute band that I've ever seen, playing the music of one band only, is Think Floyd. Have seen them twice - the last time they did "The Wall" in its entirety. Without any animations, puppets, and the wall itself, it's not the easiest thing to sit through! I generally avoid such bands because if I wanted to hear slavish renditions of album tracks, I'd play the album. Having said that, Think Floyd had a female singer - I don't know if she's still with them - who absolutely nailed "The Great Gig In The Sky". Live versions of it by later Floyd and by Gilmour's band - I've never heard Waters live - never quite sounded right. It starts at around 6:48 in the video below.

But they are not like for like? Kelty give 4 drinks and a buffet for the £50. QOS are FT and these packages offer much more for the extra money. Another issue is our friends across the bridge offer Premiership football and packages not much more than ours. This hospitality didn't sell enough we agree on. I was part of a group that was cancelled. A lot of work was put into gathering a group of 20. However you have to question why the club themselves couldn't actively sell another couple of tables??

…and the table retains Chez Gringo bookends!

A hair-raisingly accurate take on the live version of Highway Star from Made in Japan. Except that Blackmore would never have had another guitarist on stage with him Going to see the real Purps in November. A few days after I see Caravan. Can't be many more chances to see these guys now. I saw The Story of Guitar Heroes once, and would recommend them if you're really into guitar music. Everyone from Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly up to Slash and Steve Vai. All the usual suspects in there, and they even included Rory Gallagher when i saw them. https://www.storyofguitarheroes.com/ https://www.setlist.fm/stats/average-setlist/the-story-of-guitar-heroes-63fa1a13.html?year=2024

Goodness me, played 7 lost 7. I'm worse than Big Dunc. Should I sack myself?

DF can't even park his car well outside the stadium (Have you seen it? Across 2 spaces and 6 feet from the fence ) So not sure how he manages to tactically 'park the bus' on the pitch every week without fail. Taxi for DF and GB

Please get this so called manager away from this club. Got us relegated from championship and we continue to under perform in league 1. A full time team in a predominantly part time league!!!!!!!! , we are wining nothing with this overated clown in charge!!!!

The rot stops this week...

Looks like he will be here to see out his contract. Inverness Caley Jags' Ferguson and Savage on relegation turmoil - BBC News