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Admin Derby It's the Admin Derby at the Caledonian Stadium on the 4th of January as fellow Administration adversaries Dumbarton FC come North for what has become a six-pointer already, four days into 2025. There has been a bit of a freeze on since the biblical rainfall early in the week and the covers are on at the stadium. With that in mind the club are asking for volunteers to turn up at 09:00 on Saturday morning to help remove the covers that are protecting the surface from the frost. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket/Bar94/Bus from City Centre What! It's all about Alfies Jack is back from Nairn Latest on the Admin Topic on CTO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The two previous meetings this season shows a draw at the Caledonian Stadium and a defeat at Dumbarton. The first encounter was dedicated to the memory of Johndo, who sadly passed away in 2024. Game of Two Halves: 1-1 :- A rousing round of applause rang out from the crowd on the sixth minute in appreciation of the dedication of John Mackenzie, AKA the Immortal Howden Ender who sadly passed away last week. A fitting tribute as cheering and clapping broke out around the ground and one in which he would have loved to have led the way. Rest in Peace my well travelled friend. You would have enjoyed the first half. The second I'm sure you would have had some choice words for in your after match summary. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It was the proverbial game of two halves. Inverness were miles ahead in the first half and rubbish after the break. Plenty of possession and slick movement with new signings Flynn Duffy and Adam Mackinnon prominent in attacking moves. Charlie Gilmour brought out a tremendous reflex save from keeper Long, however most of the good work petered out when we got into the final third but we took the lead on the stroke of half time when Danny Devine sneaked in behind the defence to nod in unchallenged at the back post from a corner. Hey ho we all thought, lifes not so bad after all. Wrong!!! We allowed Dumbarton to dominate the next half hour and they deservedly levelled through Carlo Pignatiello as we seemed to go back into our shell. Niang was booked a second time for persistent fouling and reluctantly left the field when he was red carded. Billy Mckay had cracked one off the bar and Charlie Gilmour and Remi Savage were denied by the keeper but it was a bit of an anti climax after a promising first half. Jack Newman also had to make a good save five minutes from the end to keep the score level when he denied Mumbongo. The second meeting was Scott Kellacher's first game in charge after administration when he only had three days to prepare his reduced squad for the game at Dumbarton: 3-1 :- Handicap Hurdles: And they're off. With a fifteen point deduction because of Administration, we started our League1 campaign again at Dumbarton under the guidance of Scott Kellacher and Billy Mckay for the first time. Danny Devine and Charlie Gilmour were missing which would make Scott Kellacher's team selection more difficult. The Son's were along similar lines to last weeks excellent win at Arbroath. It would be an uphill battle after James Hilton fired the Sons ahead but Jake Davidson headed us level after half an hour and that's how it was at the break. Ryan Blair restored the Sons lead and Hilton added a third to push the Sons 15 points ahead of Inverness. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Not much to shout about in the opening exchanges until James Hilton smacked in the opening goal from the edge of the box to put the hosts ahead quarter of an hour into the game. Inverness responded with player coach Billy Mckay firing over the bar. On the half hour and it was all square. Jake Davidson scored following a corner with a close range header, Paul Allan with the assist. The visitors upped the pressure on the home goal and Billy Mckay headed over before Adam MacKinnon's header was saved by Brett Long in the home goal. MacKinnon fired wide moments later. Mathew Shiels brought Musa Dibaga into action as the keeper saved comfortably. Five minutes before the break a neat move from a corner ended with the Sons defence having to block from Robbie Thompson as he offloaded. Hilton missed the target with a header just before the break as the ball bounced wide. All to play for in the second period. HALF TIME: 1-1 No changes at the interval. Brett Long saved from Mckay's low shot five minutes after the restart and the defenders mopped up the loose ball. Dibaga again denied Hilton just before the hour. Ryan Blair edged the hosts ahead after a corner was recycled. Blair finished with a curling shot behind the keeper. Hilton had been causing problems and he notched his second of the game and Dumbarton's third after driving forward and shooting into the bottom corner. A late flurry of activity saw Remi Savage head over from a corner and Sons sub Mumbongo shooting wide on the run. The last action had Long saving from Nolan as time ran away from Inverness. FULL TIME: 3-1 Our Season so far at the half way mark INVERNESS CT: D L D D W D D D L / W L(11)D W W W L W L Since Scott Kellacher was handed the reins in game 11, their has been a more positive approach to the games which resulted in improved performances and a more enjoyable matchday experience all round. Alas we were brought back to earth with a disappointing result in our last game of 2024, a crushing 1-4 defeat at home to Cove Rangers. We'll have to put that one down to a bad day at the office and hope we can bounce back in this six pointer against Dumbarton, the first game of 2025. Pos Team Pld Gd Pts 1 Arbroath 19 10 34 2 Stenny 19 9 30 3 Kelty Hearts 19 9 29 4 Cove 19 6 28 5 Alloa Ath 19 2 25 6 Montrose 19 -2 23 7 Queen of Sth 18 -5 22 8 Annan Ath 19 -16 19 9 Inverness CT 18 -3 10 10 Dumbarton 19 -10 07 Latest Team News Inverness have young defender Jack Walker returning from Nairn County after his loan spell at the Highland League side expired whilst Sam Nixon's stay at Forres Mechanics has been extended. Rumours abound that Aberdeen youngsters Alfie Bavidge and Alfie Stewart could be on our radar again on loan deals. No team news available from ICTFC at the moment. ***Update on Latest Team News*** Striker Bavidge, son of Martin, and midfielder Stewart have signed on loan until the end of the season and both should be available for todays game against Dumbarton. Happy days! Dumbarton's Last Six League1 Games: W D L L W W Their last League game in November brought the Sons a 3-2 win over Alloa Athletic. A re-arranged game then saw them draw 2-2 with the same club followed by two crushing defeats to Stenhousemuir (4-0) and at home to Annan (1-5) They have picked themselves up since then with two wins over Montrose (1-2) and a great result against Kelty Hearts last week (2-0). <<<That was their team lines for the game against Kelty where Kalvin Orsi scored twice late in the second half after Scott Allan had been sent off for the Maroons in the 68th minute. Two minutes later Orsi opened the scoring and a minute from the end he fired into the bottom corner to secure the points.

Many thanks to all that have voted so far this season including some new names even through the difficult times. The Player of the Month results are :- July: 1 Keith Bray. 2 Adam Brooks. 3 Calum MacLeod. August: 1 Adam MacKinnon. 2 Remi Savage. 3 Musa Dibaga and Billy Mckay. September: 1 Musa Dibaga. 2 Remi savage. 3 Adam MacKinnon. October: 1 Adam MacKinnon. 2 Danny Devine. 3 Keith Bray. November: 1 Luis Longstaff. 2 Adam MacKinnon. 3 Musa Dibaga. December: 1 Luis Longstaff. 2 Musa Dibaga. 3 Remi Savage. The Player of the Year leaders as of the end of December 2025 are:- 1 Luis Longstaff. 2 Adam MacKinnon. 3 Musa Dibaga. 4 Keith Bray and Remi Savage. 6 Paul Allan. On the votes for the Referee Performance it is clear that they are bad compared to previous seasons The worst being Gavin Duncan (who should not be allowed out on a Saturday according to Caley Hedgehog) and Peter Stuart not far behind are Ryan Lee, Colin Whyte, Gary Hanvidge and Colin Steven Remember it is your votes that count throughout the season so please keep voting

P&J and Record both reporting we're in for Bavidge and Stewart. Bavidge is sponsored by Orion so no huge surprise there. Bavidge has only started three games at Ayr and come off the bench for 11 cameo appearances, scoring 2 goals against ten man Falkirk a couple of weeks back. Stewart was on loan to Peterhead for second half of last season. I believe one or both may have already been training with us. We could certainly be doing with the reinforcements.

If you take all the above posts into consideration, then it is quite possible that the administrators are aware of transfer interest for some existing players which they are mindful to accept to improve finances. This might leave a hole in the squad whereby we could not fill the bench so recalling loanees and adding incoming players on loan, which is not a long-term cost and is likely to be offset either by the parent club, or perhaps by a sponsor, is a sensible approach. It hopefully keeps us competitive and allows us a chance to stay in the current division rather than drop down even further making a buyout of the club even more less likely and of no benefit to current creditors, staff or anyone else. I am sure there are lots of wheels in motion and lots of moving parts that we have no idea about, but if it helps the club's survival then it benefits all the people you (quite rightly) feel concerned about.

If true, that’s very good news

Jack Walker recalled from Nairn County and rumours circulating that we are getting Alfie Bavidge + Alfie Stewart on loan from Aberdeen

The club has issued this plea to fans to help remove the covers at 0900 tomorrow: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1014830164011692&id=100064541535999

Time simply has caught up with McKay as is does with us all eventually. Signs were there before he was given a new two year contract imo. Whilst his mind is sharp enough the body cannot react to the minds request. McKay’s type of game was based on fast running through and feed of, of knock-ons (aka Foran), or incisive pass (aka Doran). He doesn’t have the physique to deal with Doddsball type hoof up the park. McKay will score again for ICT I’m sure, but they will be valued more by him I believe as time runs out. It’s really now what is the type of game and when he participates and can make the most impact. This is and should be SK’s decision, not McKay. It’s the club that matters most, not the player. bc

And it’s goodbye to 2024, a year in which Inverness Caledonian Thistle celebrated its 30th anniversary, but pretty well nothing else. Here’s hoping that 2025 has a lot more to offer than its predecessor - which the illustration here goes quite a long way towards summarising. And a Happy New Year to all CTO forum members!

I’m only catching up on these posts now and this one of Don’s, along with his previous one, look very much on the money (no pun intended). I seem to remember that after Tulloch, round about 2017, offered to return to the club the assets it had acquired as part of its 2000-01 bail out, the fairly drawn out process appeared even more so in the case of the car park lease than the stadium itself. Indeed, there was very little clarity after that as to who actually owned the car park lease. That therefore begs the question - specifically to whom did Morrison and Cameron, both established dealers in land, pay money when they became owners of CT Properties and hence of the car park lease in August 2023. And if it wasn’t to the club, as part of ongoing efforts to assist cash flow, then why did they make the purchase at all since there would have been no benefit to the club? (Unless, of course the Magic Money Tree which the Battery Farm and other subsequently deceased schemes would have brought it all back into the club fold.) The other part of Morrison’s interest is his completely separate £1.65M loan and the security attached to it. The Administrator has publicly questioned the validity of this Charge, but I’m sure it was created in the expectation that, in the event of default, Ross Morrison - who is listed at Companies House as a director of no fewer than 19 companies, mainly in the area of development - would have title to a large slice of the club’s assets in addition to his interest in the car park lease. We also have to take account of the fact that it was to a large on under Ross Morrison’s watch at the club that eyewatering expenditure took place that contributed greatly to the level of indebtedness and the need to spend other people’s money. I am not in any way alleging anything but I’m just not entirely comfortable with the fact that Ross Morrison departed after a spectacularly unsuccessful period as Chairman, leaving behind a situation of massive indebtedness and where he had an enormous hold on what is contained within the area originally leased from the Inverness Common Good Fund to allow Scottish League football to take place in Inverness.