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Not sure Hughes encourages crossing, tbh. From what I've seen this season, he's much keener to play narrow and for the wider players to cut-in and retain possession rather than go on the outside and hit a cross (presumably becuase that gifts away possession more often than not). I don't subscribe to that philosophy because good crosses can creat goals (Tremarco against Motherwell, Roberts against Aberdeen, Williams against DU, as stated above). you need a bit of both to keep the opposition guessing. Vincent is a really importnat player for the style of football that Hughes plays - you need loads of movement to always have an out-ball and Vincent does that fantastically. His workrate is the highest in the team and it creates space for others. This has been missed when he is absent. That said, he has spent a lot of time on the treatment table, which is never attractive to managers. I still think (no evidence) that Hughes' comment about playing through knocks was aimed at Vincent; if the player thinks the same, a parting of the ways was inevitable.

I have heard tales that Dundee have far greater resources at their disposal, courtesy of their American backers (a good source tells me that Rory Loy is on £3k/week, for example!) and so I'm not surprised that they could offer higher wages to both. I like both Vincent and Williams, and I'd be disappointed if either left. However, part of my anxiety is that, whilst it's possible we could replace them with superior players (maybe, in Ryan Williams/Liam Hughes, we already have) they are proven commodities - we know what we are getting from both. Vincent, it must be remembered, was signed by Butcher for a particular role - to play in an advanced midfield position and bust a gut, doing the running so that the likes of Doran didn't have to. And he did that very well until that injury. When he came back, Hughes had come in and Vincent certainly took some time to adapt to the new style - but he has managed it and was playing well this season until he got injured again. He has a great engine and has a wonderful knack for being in the right place to pick up the second ball. The downside is very much the injuries - he's only played 67 games in 2 and a half years, which isn't great, and he has had too many periods where he has been unavailable for 2-3 months at a time. Williams is actually quite a limited player, but one who works so hard that he is a far greater asset than many naturally gifted contemporaries. And players with his sort of pace don't grow on trees. He does feel to me like a jack of all trades and master of none though - not quite good enough at beating a full-back or crossing to be an out and out winger, not quite robust enough for central midfield, not defensively savvy enough for left-back (though I thought he might grow into that role given time). But you can trust him to put in a shift and do the job he has been given. To lose either would be a shame. But neither are anywhere near irreplaceable.

I'm starting to get a bit tired of this attitude that the merger is something to forget, something to cover up and something to feel embarrassed by. The merger is an interesting historical event that took place here and that's something to be remembered. Mergers are nothing new on football, but ours is one of the few that's happened (probably worldwide) in the last few decades and it's undoubtedly been a big success. That's something to be celebrated......as are the achievements of the two clubs that came before.

With it looking very likely that we will be subjected to a referendum on Brexit in June. Up till now I've never really taken much interest in EU politics and budgets etc. Indeed I'd never really thought much about what they do with there budget. Doing a little googling I found that UK pays between £7 billion and £11 billion each year. Amount varies depending on state of economy and GDP I believe. CBI claim here http://news.cbi.org.uk/campaigns/our-global-future/factsheets/factsheet-2-benefits-of-eu-membership-outweigh-costs/ that between £62 billion and £78 billion of benefits are accrued by UK membership of EU. It would also appear that some 42% of UK exports and over 60% of imports are with EU countries. I know that UK has also had funding from EU budget to help with many major projects across the whole UK but I dont know how much. Immigration seems to be the big issue for Brexit supporters yet from what I can research there are possibly more British citizens living in EU countries than are EU citizens in UK. I believe there are some 2 million Brits in Spain and 700,000 in France. Haven't looked at other countries. What annoys me is that EU went from European Economic Union, which is what I voted for way back when, to this very big law making conglomerate that is the present day. Don't get me wrong, many of the laws such as employment, environmental, quality standards and human rights were necessary and should be supported but others are pretty stupid. Remember a debate a few years ago about setting standards for how straight a banana should be. So what is the thinking of the CTO community. Charles, please do not spoil this thread with nat bashing. It's a UK referendum thread about an EU issue and my views on this subject are not influenced by party politics but by whats best for UK

Kingsmills and CB - how many posts on this thread ?

Fair enough you could argue it is but it is one establishment I've not had the misfortune to enter in years Even in highland league days it seemed to attract some of the biggest roasters in Inverness Suppose it's a good place to store the cake ingredients though what with its catering facilities Dougal

Nowt to do with your memory you just consistently post pure p1sh, any normal person would do some research at least if you weren't even at the game What an embarrassing mess!!!!! Dougal

On balance I would take a risk on Brill. In my view, while Fon Williams is a decent 'keeper, Brill is a better one.

I really like Brill, but his injuries are a worry. If I remember correctly, it was the opposite knee that went the second time, which is either really bad luck or a fundamental issue. On balance, I'd suggest that Brill would be more of a risk.

As you wish. The merger's history. Two fine clubs with a proud history merged and we now have a bigger and far more successful club. It's called progress and is something we should celebrate.

Feck me all we need now is fer Doofers Dad to quote and reply.

Pardon me if I nitpick benevolently and only slightly about this and Kingsmills' post which has just gone up. The original name was indeed Caledonian Thistle, first publicly mooted in December 1993 and agreed soon after as the only politically acceptable solution to one of several problems which threatened to sink the m****r deal, and with it SFL football for Inverness. The "Inverness" was added in the summer of 1996, not as a quid pro quo for the £900,000 Common Good Fund grant but for the earlier Highland Regional Council agreement of 1994 to grant a 99 year lease of the current stadium site. That agreement had included a "best endeavours" clause about the name - in effect once any addition at all became politically possible, which happened to be in 1996. The £900,000 CGF grant wasn't actually given by the District Council but by the new Highland Council as one of its earlier acts after it was formed in 1996. There had been a very belated IDC agreement late in 1995 to award that money from their own funds, but opponents within the council fought a temporarily successful wrecking campaign on this, based on QC's opinion of what the word "payable" meant in an IDC motion to pay the money put down by David Stewart. This delayed payment past IDC going defunct on the formation of HC which, in the face of earlier threats of possible legal action, very quickly - and indeed willingly - agreed to pay this from the CGF, control over which also transferred to them in April 1996. As for what this money was for, let's start with HRC's planning committee's requirement that the club also paid for an access road for the stadium. This resulted in a severe curtailment of the stadium itself and road + stadium being classified as a single entity - the "stadium project", with a budget of £5.4M, and defined as such by then Chairman Dougie McGilvray. Hence, when the £900,000 application came along it was in practice for the global project, but was presented as being specifically for the road to make the request politically more acceptable. But one way or another the road from roundabout to stadium, which was put there at ICT's expense to allow access to the stadium and which was then "adopted" by the Council, has indeed been of massive economic benefit to the area by way of it being linked by an extension to the Harbour which opened up the entire seafront. Councillor Clive Goodman was, I think as Chairman of the Harbour Trust, the first publicly to moot this extension and illustrate its potential benefits, and that was certainly one "Eureka moment" during what was a very tortured process.

Memories!!!! And a classic shot too with a man in the chair and Diggar nowhere to be seen! He would either be in the back shop or sorting someone's coupon or out on the street shouting amiable abuse at someone - often not of either of his own two "blue" persuasion. The "D and D" is, I think, Diggar and Dennis, after Diggar took "young" Dennis into the business, maybe mid-late 60s. However Dennis didn't fancy it and I think went and drove buses instead before returning. Note the advert for the next Caley game in the window.

On 21st Jan he tweeted: 2 injections in the knee tomorrow, another step in the right direction hopefully! Nothing since

I agree with the poster above. I don't think Vincent has shown anything like the same amount of bite that he showed when he first arrived. Now the cup win was a brilliant moment but I do wonder if it's blurred some people's opinion somewhat. Vincent's not a bad player and I would be pleased if he was retained, but if he was to go, it wouldn't be the end of the world. In all honesty, I would aim to keep Williams out of the two every day of the week. Fast, direct, versatile - he's a great and very underrated player for us. It'd be a blow if he was to leave.

I don't think Vincent has ever fully recovered from fracturing his leg against Hibs. Those first few games I thought we had the ideal replacement for Andrew Shinnie, playing in the hole behind Makay but he has never really done it. Can't fault his work rate and he is immortalised in Caley lore forever more with that goal but if he goes, good luck to him. Williams is a more versatile player and would be a big loss to the squad but he can't cross a ball which is a bit of a draw back for a winger.

Well, If you're playing that 'Look at me!' card, then I'll refer you to my post 2 days prior to yours!

Happy to see the Gellions running a bus - there's enough demand out there. Would be happy to get together when we run low: say this Tuesday to Hearts - we have less than 20, but with your numbers, we would have enough to run a bus. I may bump into you, Ross, at Dundee on Saturday.

Just for you Deano ......https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phhs3DjI7Kc

JV will forever be a legend for his cup final goal. I'd love both to stay

I recently worked alongside a Norwegian, who now chooses to live in Brazil, and he was pointing out that a lot of the goods we take for granted in UK, like alcohol, luxury foodstuffs etc are really expensive in Norway because they, not being EU members have to pay import and export levies to trade with EU member states. That is one area where we could find ourselves punished by Brexit. We are a nation dependant on imported goods, just like Norway, and those goods could cost us a lot more. Yes the SNP view is independance within EU and they are unlikely to change that but it will only ever happen with the will of the majority of the electorate and not just SNP supporters. This referendum debate is about here and now. Its happening in a few short months and is happening without giving us all time to make an educated decision. Personally I believe EU is good for the country but we could find ourselves out because of lies and deceit being spouted by the very right wing anti immigrant people currently running our country

Quality. My first cup final. How times have changed. Great memories but how far we've come. Back then this was the pride of Inverness football while Aberdeen were recent double European trophy winners ... the gap has narrowed somewhat between the cities.

I sometimes wish the Directors had chosen a simpler name for the club, trying to write a song to include Inverness Caledonian Thistle aint easy.not sure why Inverness Utd wouldn't have fitted the bill. Perhaps someone can enlighten me. i'm sure our name must pop up in football quizzes from time to time off the top of my head i can't think of a longer one.

We'll all wish we listened to Renegade when we are faced with the barren, Mad Max style post-apocalytic wasteland that the Gellions Bus v CJT Bus war will reduce our planet to.

A very worthy sentiment but unfortunately, as DD rightly says, the SNP have got there first and already hijacked this issue as a possible excuse to create enough grievance for a second separation referendum. So, although Alex' views are commendably only influenced by what's best for the UK, that is not the case with the SNP who, compared with its sole raison d'etre, fundamentally couldn't give a toss about the UK or indeed any of its citizens on either side of the Border. The SNP have just struck lucky. A separate Scotland would be so shaky that they would absolutely have to join in with some larger entity - and hence voluntarily give up the very sovereignty the currently moan about not having - and it so happens that overall we may get a "leave" vote. Conflict created! So although I also wish that it could be possible to discuss the Brexit issue in isolation, the Nats have made this completely impossible. But to turn to Brexit considerations, I think the EU has gone too far and now restricts national sovereignties far too much. It is certainly a very different and more instrusive institution than the one we voted to join in the 70s. I just don't fancy being told how to run our affairs by a bunch of foreigners. I am also rather dismayed at the anonymous nonentities we are electing to the European Parliament and quite honestly I am completely unable to name one MEP (unless Farage is still there - or was he ever?) On the other hand economic cooperation is absolutely vital and there may therefore be severe economic consequences if we leave. It's therefore a case of damned if you do and damned if you don't. The price of the economic cooperation is handing over much of how we run this country to other people. My heart says that I would be glad to get rid of foreign interference while my head says that there may be considerable economic risks. If I could get genuine assurance that there would only be very limited economic consequences, then I would gladly leave but I'm not sure if that's possible, so I am as yet undecided. On the other hand if some diluted down membership could be negotiated, I would feel quite inclined to accept that. I think the British view of Europe has always tended to be fundamentally different from that held on the continental mainland because here we have experienced none of the warmongering and hostile armies tramping back and forth which Europe has suffered right back at least to the 30 Years War in the early 17th century. I've forgotten which 1950s politician said that he had no particular desire to unite with six countries, four of which we helped liberate from the other two. I think it may have beren Harold MacMillian who, when invited to attend negotiations which led to the original 1957 Treaty of Rome, said that he was far too busy sorting out Cyprus. And although the Dominion status of Australia, New Zealand and Canada probably should have been dispensed with long ago, we do also tend to have a degree of friendly affiliation with states which departed from our former Empire on far more amicable terms that did the former colonies of the likes of France and Belgium.

During the last referendum campaign, I do believe that sentiments of sensible caution like this were simply dismissed as Project Fear!

Along with half the population of the Antipodes!!

Almost thirty hours to post in a thread with the word 'merger' in the title. You're slipping.....

I'm sure you would, but you can always hope that your reading age may, one day, progress to higher things.

Only if you were on the poor side of town !!

You are dead right! Apologies....31 years on my memory fails me since it was indeed the other way round. It was Jags who took the early lead and a Caley wag - hence obviously not Dave Williamson! - who came away with the one liner in question. However I think my memory is intact enough to be able to help you in your request for a Caley victory in that era. I think it was April 1986 in a midweek game at Telford Street and it was Caley 7 Jags 0. I had the misfortune of having to interview Jock McDonald about Jock having been shafted by Wallace Mercer in an attempt to get into the Scottish League... just AFTER that game On the other hand, two and a half years later at the same venue it was Caley 0 Jags 3 in a qualifying cup final replay.