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It’s a long term way of life up here of which there are several instances in football alone. My favourite one is when Graham Spiers wrote in the Herald that he would eat his hat if Caley Thistle survived a season in the SPL. When they did, a mate of mine who was the athletics correspondent at the paper at the time asked me if I could get a Caley Thistle hat for him - which I duly did and even got Craig Brewster and Malky Thomson to sign it. This was duly presented to Spiers in the full glare of a very full Herald newsroom.

Yes, that was my point. The football gods do indeed work in mysterious ways.

Big Dunc's comments about our club and the fans show him as a little man in terms of taking responsibility for his own failings. He criticises the club's facilities as a disgrace, and whilst we all know they are pretty poor, he should have ensured he knew what facilities the club had before he took the post. Or was he just so desperate for a job that he didn't even bother to find out the first thing about the club before taking the money? He criticises the fans for not liking his style of football. He suggests we would rather see a caber being tossed but that he likes his teams to play football. Well, the problem was that the fans want to see a footballing team and we weren't getting that with his over-emphasis on possession. Not only has the football been far more entertaining since he left, it has also been far more successful, despite his successor having to lose players due to the administration and having restrictions on what players could be brought in. He also criticises the fans for abuse of his son, Cameron. Now, I don't condone the abuse young Cameron got in any way, but he wouldn't have got any abuse if he hadn't have been here. Big Dunc seems to take no responsibility for his nepotism of putting his son into a team well above the ability of the poor lad. He wasn't good enough and he shouldn't have been here. He criticises the Board (fair enough!) but makes absolutely no mention of our former CEO who took the credit for signing Big Dunc and who therefore would have had a responsibility for appraising him of the facilities and circumstances of the club. It seems Big Dunc isn't big enough to say anything about the person most people feel is most responsible for the club's problems and consequently for his redundancy.

That comment really got to me too, but I love your 'patronising central beltism' phrase - it absolutely nails exactly why it is so insulting.

Excellent post Long Man! You are absolutely right about Duncan being a very decent bloke (albeit his “caber” comment is typical patronising central beltism which I resent) who was drawn into a job that was beyond him. This was result of money the club didn’t have being thrown at him by a narcissistic CEO who turned everything he touched into dust. I would also contend that part of the stick Duncan got from the fans was actually a product of growing frustration at the pig’s ear and the toxic atmosphere that were created by Gardiner. You make an intriguing point about what might have happened if Billy Dodds had stayed, and I agree that the team would probably have stayed up… but I believe that this would have prolonged even further the catastrophic Gardiner - Morrison regime to the extent that by the time it did collapse, the club would have been beyond saving and the only outcome would have been liquidation. As a result, Scot Gardiner’s ego trip appointment of Duncan Ferguson not only accelerated Gardiner’s own welcome demise, but also brought the club’s situation to a head just in time to save it from disappearing altogether.

I find it impossible to dislike him as a person. He is a happy-go-lucky affable guy who has been in plenty of scrapes and has charmed a lot of people along the way, as well as playing some great football. Very entertaining to listen to. Clearly, however, he is not cut out to be a manager, and I place the blame on his hiring on the person who thought a big name character would be a managerial coup. Well, it was, just not in the way he thought. Any other manager, including the maligned Dodds would probably have kept in us in the championship. The funny thing about that is, though, that might have prolonged the dysfunctional running of the club and in turn might have made matters even worse than they turned out to be. In other words, the relegation under Duncan might have been the catalyst for everything that has happened since, ie the resurrection of a club in imminent danger of extinction and the hopeful survival on a more stable and financially responsible footing. So every cloud.. etc. That decision to employ Duncan might have been, perversely, the saving of us, in the long term. It's a funny old world. No point in remonstrating against Dunc, though. He was the fall guy for a bigger fish.

East Fife are in League 1

NPL Stats – 2024/25 Total individual entries: 835 Total correct HT: 184 Total correct FT: 53 Total correct 1st Scorer ICT: 114 Total correct 1st Scorer Opp: 92 Crowd - 10 pts: 3 Crowd - 5 pts: 317 Highest individual points tally: 26 - Gringo Most correct HT: 14 - Gringo Most correct FT: 5 – Ictross, Caleyjag and Scotty Most correct 1st Scorer ICT: 10 - Doofer Most correct 1st Scorer Opp: 8 – Jodie Carnie Most correct Crowd - 10 pts: 2 – CDN Girl Most correct Crowd - 5 pts: 21 - CaleyCanary The 100% club (entered all 43 games):- CaleyCanary Caleyjag DoofersDad Gringo Jodie Carnie MrCaleyjag Mrs Gringo noho old caley girl Robert But there's only one stat' that really matters.... NPL CHAMPION 2024/25 – CALEY CALUM

Yeah, his real playing days are over. I expect he is signed-on as a player as a fall back or last ditch for games where emergency calls. His experience will be valuable in some games when called on. More a holding position I expect than relying on him as the team’s main goal threat. He will be of use I’m sure as the season rolls on. bc

According to the P&J today, Davidson, Nicolson and Corner, who all have long-term injuries, have been offered deals to January 2026 So the current squad status is as follows (contract expiry in brackets; players who haven't played for the first team not included): GOALKEEPERS Szymon Rebilas (summer 2026) DEFENDERS Daniel Devine (summer 2027) Sam Nixon (summer 2026) Matthew Strachan (summer 2026) Jack Walker (summer 2026) MIDFIELDERS Ben Gardiner (summer 2026) Shae Keogh (summer 2026) Luis Longstaff (summer 2027) Adam MacKinnon (summer 2026) Calum MacLeod (summer 2027) Robbie Thompson (summer 2026) FORWARDS Billy Mckay (summer 2026) OFFERED CONTRACTS: Musa Dibaga, Jake Davidson, Lewis Nicolson, Remi Savage, Paul Allan, Charlie Gilmour, Ben Corner LEFT CLUB: Ethan Cairns (released) LOANS ENDED: Alfie Bavidge, Ben Brannan, Keith Bray, Connall Ewan, Marcus Gill, James Nolan, Alfie Stewart

I actually found this a stark reminder of where we're starting from for next season. Of the guys who have signed so far, I'd only have Devine, MacKinnon and Longstaff down as League One starting XI quality (maybe I'm being harsh on Strachan?). Everyone else aside from Mckay, who is of course also assistant manager, is still very much developing. Think we may have to really push the boat out if we want to keep any of the Big Four there. All have done enough to attract offers at a higher level than this. We will have a lot of work to do in the summer, which is why we need to nail down that CVA pronto and make sure we don't fall behind in the free agent market. And we need to be as good at using the loan market as last year too!

He will forever be able to say that he lost his job due to administration, but after a 2-6-2 record in 2024/25 (12 pts) and some horrible football, I think he would have been long gone had the administrator not saved his bacon and sacked him. To be fair, he did only lose two games in 24/25, but his style saw us turn potential wins into 6 draws in 10 games. His replacement put up a 14-4-8 W-D-L record over the rest of the season, still losing games, sometimes when we shouldn't, but those draws turned into wins and that was a huge factor in staying up. I wanted to like DF at ICT, and some of his banter was - and still is - entertaining to listen to, and I even appreciate him taking a pay cut before administration, but if he had been left to continue the season, even for another month then I think we would have been relegated or at least in the playoffs again. Kell's record in his first 10 games was 6-1-3 (19 pts) ... which was 7 points more than Dunc's first 10 games ... and we missed the playoffs by 7 points! If he did not get punted on the first day of administration, the conversation we are having now might have been very different.

From the darkness and despair of the last October it is brilliant to be looking forward to having a team on the field for next season

Same old from him

Pleasantly surprised to see Longstaff agree a contract until 2027!

Thanks Caley D. We certainly intend to continue our bit to support ICTFC and can’t wait for season 25/26

I haven't used a supporters bus in a long time, but they've been about the only reliable thing involving ICTFC for the last few years. Long may it continue.

Thanks for that. We are really looking forward to next season - ICT are going to smash it.

Congratulations to Mrs Gringo, 2024/25 NAPs Champion A fantastic last week pick predicting Partick to beat Livingston saw Mrs Gringo jump from 3rd to 1st and claim the title. A round of applause also for @Jodie Carnie and CDN Girl for taking it down to the final week. It's been a better return this season whether that be genuine good predictions or luck is still to be seen, on the whole I'd be slightly happier leaving you to bet on my behalf , probably a better option given where I finished up. The wooden spoon unfortunately is handed to @Gringo, better luck next season. I'm away for a rest and to reflect on my own sub-standard performance but will be back for the 2025/26 season, hopefully you'll all be back as well and maybe we can attract others to take part also. Mrs Gringo: 312.90 Jodie Carnie: 302.10 CDN Girl: 292.70 Scotty: 256.30 Robert: 247.20 TheCaleyOne: 241.20 SOS: 213.00 MrCaleyjag: 196.10 Caley Canary: 182.60 Caleyjag: 178.90 Noho: 131.50 The Mantis: 113.80 Gringo: 5.00 - Bankrupt

Yes, well done Mrs G and credit to the ladies in the top three. It seems ironic that I, of all people, influenced Mrs G's choice of Partick. Sorry ladies. Thanks again MrCJ for keeping this going. Yes, it would be nice to attract more punters for next season. My season was a complete and utter disaster....must do better.

A great ‘double’ at Gringo Towers - congratulations Mrs G, cracking finish and bragging rights for some considerable time …and many thanks MrCJ for keeping this great comp going - I just love the frustration and disappointment most weeks seem to bring

Yes thanks @MrCaleyjag it’s been great fun even finishing in the Annan spot

Thanks for running this again and well done Mrs Gringo who’s got the bragging rights!

Brilliant , winner of post of the season for me!

If it stops halfway and then starts going backwards, we'll know that he DID write it