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If anyone gets any bother from Celtic fans, scare them with fruit and vegetables http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd_NSbZOLsU&feature=player_embedded

We'll probably face Dundee, with the most appropriate neutral venue being deemed to be Tannadice.

Don't fall for it. He is setting us up for something! Don't trust them. BEWARE OF THE ENEMY WHO TRIES TO LULL YOU INTO A FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY!!!!!!!!!

Celltic should hold no fear. that is the poorest Celtic team since certainly the mid 80s. no pace...no penetration.....a lot of dodgy players...and a shambolic back 4. Im confident of getting something on saturday

Graeme Shinnie is a fantastic footballer. It terrifies me just how much ground he covers in a game. I'd love to see a heatmap of where he runs during the course of a match.

Ross Tokely and Grant Munro will always be ICT legends. That can't be taken away. I was one of the doubters when Munro was released but Butcher was spot on! Recruiting Warren and integrating a young Josh Meekings into central defence then merging them into a partnership has been a master-stroke! Munro/Dods were good but I reckon this pairing is even better.

The is a press release just in from Dingwall explaining County's new long term strategy. It reads 'Derek Adams confirms that his confidence was sky high when a reporter caught up with the Ross County convoy at Ballinluig on the way to their opening day jolly in Glasgow 'It's the opening day of the season, the flag gets unfurled for the champions, and we provide a guard of honour for them.'' However, he admits that after the next game against Partick he confirmed that the game was the lowest in his career in Dingwall. 'Our groundsman cut the grass too low and we could still see the sand!' He has now also confirmed he did indicate last week (quite wrongly as it turned out) that 'Richie Brittain can handle the heat' and then after the crushing defeat after some fisticuffs in the dressing room 'Derek Adams challenges senior players to stop leaking goals.' Derek adds 'After three defeats in a row for the mighty Staggies after a great pre-season jolly to Holland at the millionaire chairman's expense, I said 'Dad, what do I do next?' as I held back the tears. Dad said 'Son, why not play a few games where the grass is always greener.'

What a difference this season, the forum has never been as happy as this since I first started reading it. Steel, strength and style yes and what does the second letter of each word suggest Togetherness it is all there and everyone is noticing. Am I right in thinking too that there have been a record number of recruits to this forum this season ? each time I sign in I seem to see new names appearing. Just goes to show success breeds success. Long may it continue on and off the field! New theme song ''Happy days are here again''

no idea of the demographics ... just assumed they were from that neck of the woods given the comments about Clach, working class, and Grassa (who of course is/was associated with a company whose boss was involved at Grant Street). Really - after 20 years, I think it is better to focus on those who are or want to be ICT fans and leave the 'haters' to their own devices. Some may have legitimate 'reasons' in their own minds and I respect those, whereas others may be bandwagon jumpers or excuse makers .... and you just cant reason with them so no point wasting energy ! Anyhow - back to the positivity of this wonderful start to the season ... our best ever in the SP(F)L.

Sorry I thought as the title said it was about Celtic v Inverness and anything that would be connected to the game.

Most of it sounds like BS !!! I am assuming from the overall response that they may be Merkinchers given the Clach, Grassa, and Working class answers? I know you are just the messenger, but here would be my response ! 1 - Clach chose not to be involved. 2 - If that were the case would there really have been so much venom from the Caley 'anti-merger' brigade? 3 - Not sure he has much control. influence perhaps, or visibility in the media at times, but control, nope. 4 - fair point but the other option (perhaps even the better option) was even further away. 5 - Dont really understand this point? Sounds more like jealousy that some of the board drink/drank in posh bars, or in hospitality and not the Clach Club, Lochiel or Thornbush? DFS and Ken Thomson did buy a few of us beers in the Caley Inn if that counts !!! 6 - Again, not sure what is meant by this ... Define 'working class' ? Over the years our players have not exactly been on high wages compared to most other teams in Scotland. I would say both teams are 'working class' considering they are made up of lower paid players with a point to prove who will eventually move on to a higher level or for higher wages - plenty of examples !

Oh well, with Celtic you never know if they will play good or bad but after a 2-0 defeat in Kazakhstan (with a long flight home too) I think we might have a better chance of getting something from Celtic Park.

Unless he has done something in the game that is blatant - like the Le Tissier example - then its nigh on impossible to prove. In our game (assuming it is the one on the first date in the complaint) he got booked but not sent off by a ref who had a shockingly inconsistent performance that day. He also had a header cleared off the line that looked like it may have been over the line so it doesnt sound like he was trying to fix the game, just maybe (naively) using "insider knowledge" of injuries and/or other issues in predicting we might lose ..... given his well publicised second career while at Hearts, doesnt sound like he was a very good gambler anyway, otherwise he could have lived off his winnings !!! Having said that, I have a feeling he will get hammered for it despite the clear indication from the SFA that they dont believe he tried to 'fix' games. The 3 times he bet against his own team will see to that, and he probably deserves some punishment for what could be viewed as a lack of sporting integrity rather than criminality. Personally, I have no issues with the other '10' bets involving his registered club as he appears to have bet on them to win (assuming the 'not to win' in charge 1 includes both losing and drawing) ....and I certainly have no issue on the 147 games not involving a club he was with ... that just makes him a punter like anyone else, albeit one who may be better informed than some.

It was fine until Celtic arrived

I am still on the feckin prowl Bughtmaster and heading North for both the Cellic and Hearts games. I have always said that I will say is as I see it. I have posted that this pre season planning has been verging on excellence and our management appear to have learned from past mistakes - many pointed out and chastised by myself and several other posters. We were fully prepared, had a confidence building performance and result at Charlton and we have taken nine points from the opening three games. That at the very least is valuable points on the scoreboard. I would take three from the next two games, four would be a bonus and six would be remarkable and not out of reach in the least. I also can't see ICT getting any more than a home average of 3500-4000 this season due to a variety of reasons, well discussed on another thread. Away fans have now got over the novelty of Sneck and soon will of Tinkerville - the trip North has now become an expensive trek for many. A successful Aberdire will bring in a big crowd, Tinkerville will hit about the 5000 mark and Hearts early doors may bring in a similar number. And lets face it most grounds in the SPL have woeful home supports but I felt that the North Stand was improving late last season and the more yoof that we encourage to join the choir the better.

Celtic apparently stayed in 5 star luxury in Kazakstan. In addition they chartered a jumbo with double bed seating according to ITV4 today so will be back in Glasgow early tomorrow. The main problem they have is that they were too cocky today so must now win at Celtic Park on Wednesday 28th or I am sure many of their players will feel the season will have little challenge left. I hope that they now focus entirely on next Wednesday as an absolute must win game or they may lose £20m according to commentators. That said, they sent their reserves out in Inverness last season on their Euro campaign and gave us a doing. He who dares wins this Saturday. Their defence does look vulnerable through the middle.

Terry Butcher is : the longest serving manager in the Premiership (4 years 200 days at current club) the oldest manager in the Premiership (54) Looking at the whole 42 club SPFL : only Gardner Speirs, Dick Campbell and Ross Jack have been at their clubs longer (5 years 202 days for Speirs is the longest) only Jim Jeffries and Dick Campbell are older I'm not sure what conclusions, if any, can be drawn from this, but I like stats anyway.

I'd rather he'd kept his mouth shut and we can just carry on quietly going about being top of the league and rest of the campaign.

Yes, but I doubt if she bets on them losing!!!!

So over a 7 year period he placed a bet not in favour of the club he played for 3 times, but in favour of the club that he played for 10 times and placed another 147 bets on other football matches over a number of years. At this stage it looks like he has just been stupid placing football bets when its forbidden to do so. Looks like hes more stupid than devious or I should say unlucky, last year ICT were I think 125/1 to win the league excluding Celtic, ew odds gave you 1/4 back for coming 3rd in the league. so if anyone involved at ICT placed that bet because they believed they could finish 2nd or 3rd, would they would be as bad as Blackie ? Until more information comes to light theres nothing to prove that he has deliberately chucked a match, ffs even the queen bets on horses including her own.

Im loving the positive vibes around the place, both on this site and indeed on match days, ive never experienced anything like it in my time as fan of the club, no question about it that the ICT ride is as fun as its ever been. I agree that attendances are a tad disappointing and i hope it dosent bring the players down because with the way they are playing they cant do much more to get people through the gates, for those that do not attend games regularly i urge you to start doing so, the way we are playing just now is a sight to behold. You are definitely missing out.

Just seeing there what the outcome were in similar cases, and I see ex-Dundee United player Grant Brebner bet AU$2.48 (probably about £1) against Melbourne Victory winning a match, while he was playing for them. Strangely he also attempted to cancel it out by betting in favour of them winning or drawing the same Asian Champions League game against Thai side Chonburi FC! He was banned for four matches and fined about £3,000. Kevin Muscat and Craig Moore were also fined, but their bets didn't involve their own teams. Swindon Town were also denied promotion once due to them all betting on themselves to win the play-off. Wonder what the outcome will be for Ian Black then if he turns out to be a serial better againster.

I always thought he was shady!

How to get more people watching this team is something I scratch my head about on a daily basis. The club are pretty good in terms of pricing, access, taking supporters points on board and trying to get more kids along on the grounds that they are tomorrows paying customers. Then I see stats that suggest that the picture is pretty stable (by and large) over a number of years and you begin to think that maybe that's just the crowds that we will get. I also think that there's a growing disconnect between people and sport at a local level. They don't play, they don't contribute, they don't support. Participation seems to range from playing FIFA or football manager and then graduating on to buying a sky subscription, and that's it. How local clubs compete against the draw of watching Barcelona or Bayern or PSG or Man Utd on the telly I don't know. Factor in a tightening of economic belts and watching televised football as well as going to games becomes the territory of the affluent. It's not the "working man's game" it used to be and it suffers for that. All that everyone connected can do is to keep turning up, keep shouting our name from the rooftops and supporting whatever initiatives the club comes up with - especially this year. Try and drag one of your mates along, bring the kids. I'm of the opinion that this might be the best ICT side we'll ever have, who have a real chance of finishing even higher than last year. Ok, it could all go pete tong but I have a feeling that it won't. I just wish there were more people there to see it.

Looks like I got this all wrong, all replies are verging on the negative side Lol. What I am saying is that on this forum things have been looking so much more positive. Maybe we are only three games into the league but wonderful results to date and the team and management should be proud of that. So should we be! I doubt anyone is clever enough to guage all the reasons for non attendance at Tulloch Stadium and come up with the solutions for that but at least we are getting increases in the numbers on the forum and that alone may lead to increase at the ground, even if it is only fractional. Scotty you repeat it here, it is so perplexing given all these positives you mention why the crowds are staying away. It struck me when I first returned to the Highlands just how apathetic a huge percentage of the locals were towards todays football and especially ICT. Going to the ground even the home support that were there were quiet or critical about what was happening on the pitch.There was no real noise backing for our club, just shouts of derision at any mistakes that were made by our own players. When we scored they got a polite clapping in way of applause. My God how things had changed from the old days. Gone were the shouts of encouragement, gone were the local worthies that would chip in with their catchphrase humour. Gone were the fans hoarse with their roars of laughter at the other teams expense. Crowd self entertainment had vanished. from the scene, will it ever return? who knows. Where have all the 'characters' gone ? The IHE's and Scarlets of old with their fun quips, are they all in their armchairs now? Back to the Positive We have enjoyed a great start, keep on lauding what is happening and maybe just maybe people will get the message and turn out for the Team.

Swo't

£26 a ticket no wonder people cant afford football games

Interestingly too, the Rangers seem to be on a one-way trip to administration.

No it bloody isnt! Its absolutley hilarious.