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Without a doubt, the team of last season did improve individually under the influence of John Hughes and Russell Latapy. The season just gone by has been a total abomination from the start. The fact that we signed Owain Fon Williams 24 hours before our European qualifying match against FC Astra tells its own story. The preparation for the season was so lacklustre, I'm fairly certain by the Motherwell opening game of the season, Hughes didn't know what his squad would be. We knew for months that Graeme Shinnie was going to be leaving the club, did we replace him? - No. Same goes for the likes of Watkins, Mckay, Ofere and Ross. I found the number of midfielders brought into the club this last season quite unsettling. What was the actual point in Nat Wedderburn? What was the point in Liam Hughes, Ryan Williams? The club is crying out for a structed scouting system looking for quality players rather than quantity - says it all when you're signing players from DW Sports, to be fair Vigurs have been fantastic this season. Kenny Cameron has publicly stated that Hughes was given the biggest budget of any ICT manager, he's had all the support he needed and more, end of the day, it's his own fault for pissing it away on mediocre players like Dani Lopez. I will always be forever thankful for Hughes success at the club but he is not bigger than the club. I want and think the club needs fresh ideas and Yogi isn't the man to provide that anymore IMHO.

John is going to find himself stuck up there if he climbs any further. I do think that without the injuries we could have been looking at a very different finish to the season and Yogi has to get some of the credit for that with his style of play, BUT Yogi was not the man responsible for bringing most of these players to the club in the first place and lately especially he seems to be a man who can rub the board, players and fans up the wrong way with his antics. This cannot be good for the club, especially at this time when deals should be being done. And just for the record I think it has been the 'average' players who have been 'incredible', they are my heroes. Also a word for Dean Brill - a fantastic goalie for us until his injury, I'd be sorry to see him go.

The club statement of 28th April stated the club had made an offer to him and that his decision was imminent. The latest statement makes no mention of him and that is a little bit concerning. I don't know if a deadline has been set for Fon Williams to sign but I suspect he is holding out for a better offer from elsewhere on the back of his inclusion in the Welsh squad. A recent interview with Dean Brill made it pretty clear he wanted to stay but that no offer had been made. We could easily find Brill signs elsewhere and then Fon Williams rejects our offer. With offers apparently still on the table to only Fon Williams and Vigurs (and possibly Devine) there is clearly still a lot of recruitment to be done. On a brighter note, I am delighted with the news about Aaron Doran. He was a big miss for us last season and he can get back to his former level and then push on, he will be a really important player for us. Among all the shambles of other contract issues and the unseemly spat between manager and chairman, this is a bit of good news that deserves more recognition than it has received. Good luck next season, Aaron - you deserve it!

Yogis "best friend" also said we played "no football" before Yogi arrived, and apparently he now has us playing "total football". If these views reflect those of Yogi himself, then the man is an absolute tool.

Not a great comparison. 1) This is 'but a few'? 2) Many transfers from County happened when they were in a lower division, not direct opposition. 3) What about those going the other way? Granted they were mostly at the end of their careers, but I can think of Tokely, Munro, Hastings, McCulloch, Duncan, Golabek 'to name but a few'. 4) Look at the timescale. How many players have been poached/approached on McInnes' watch? 5) I didn't have to edit it

If only we had sold them !!

I just wish something would happen to move the Yogi v The Board situation on a bit, because at the moment no business is going to be done with contracts and signing up new players until this is sorted. Very damaging for the club.

http://stv.tv/sport/football/1354498-hughes-would-be-huge-loss-for-ict-and-could-be-celtic-boss-says-collins/ I think John Collins needs to come and watch ICT more regularly - he might change his opinion on JH's brand of football!

I don't know what you mean by "Yogi holding out". Do you mean you think he will quit or that he will be sacked? I'm afraid I find the current situation rather perplexing as it was only in December that Yogi extended his contract. At the time there must have been clarity around the money which is available for players and the role of different people within the club over contract negotiations. Remember, before he signed Yogi had complained about how the club dealt with these matters and therefore there was a particular need for him to be clear on the arrangements before extending his contract. Unless the Board has withheld promised funds or has gone back on their agreed process then Hughes simply needs to shut up and get on with it. If the Board have done the dirty on him then I think he would be a bit more specific in his complaints.

You've hit the nail on the head, absolutely spot on in my opinion and I challenge anyone to argue your points. I think it's firmly the case that the board do not trust JH with his handlings in the transfer market and player recruitment and from the stories coming out it would appear to be true. We simply can't have the board and manager at loggerheads and fighting against each other, the board will protect the club/business at every turn and up to now over the lifetime of the club can it be argued? I think not. The manager in general terms is normally blinkered and has one agenda, himself and the team unless he has bigger control which I doubt he does. I trust the board to make the correct decisions for the club but unfortunately do not trust JH to make the correct decisions for the team. I think Russell Lattapy was a bigger influence on the team than he gets credit for and we certainly looked a lot stronger going forward last season and played better football, that was the start of the fall from where I sit. Some of JH's decisions mentioned in the above post is baffling especially the OFW situation and the timing of him coming in. We simply must get this resolved one way or another, if the board do not see JH seeing out his contract then get him out now before frittering our budget away leaving the next person nothing to work with, if they see him as the man for the next two years then JH has to fall in line and work within the budget, simple!

I can't let Leicester City's fantastic achievement of winning the English Premiership go without mention. Looking certain for relegation halfway through last season and 5,000 to 1 against winning at the start of this season, they have defied the odds and deservedly won the title with 2 games to spare. And they have done it with a bunch of players who are basically the same as were staring relegation in the face last year. This is a team which has been assembled at a cost of a small fraction of what the big name clubs in England spend. It is absolutely remarkable by any standards. It is not often that an un-fancied team comes through to win a big cup competition but this is a much, much bigger achievement than that. Winning a cup requires maybe 2 or 3 excellent performances and maybe a bit of luck. To win a league of 38 matches requires consistency over the whole season. To have done that in one of the strongest leagues in the world is astonishing. This is truly one of the great stories, not just of football, but of any sport. What it shows without doubt, is that the team is greater than the sum of it's parts. Of course you need good players, but you need to play to their strengths and to get the best out of them. That is what Ranieri has done. He has come in and assessed the players and developed a way of playing that suits the team. Leicester have shown the world that football is a team game - and how! But there are some interesting coincidences in Leicester's success. The last time a Midlands club lifted the English title was in 1981 when Villa won. Villa, of course have been relegated this year but back in 1981 Leicester were relegated. The previous time a Midlands club won the title was in 1978 when Nottingham Forest won. It so happens that Leicester were relegated in that season too! A further quirk here is that after their title successes, both Forest and Villa then went on to win the European cup the following season. Leicester surely can't repeat that - can they?

I know what you're trying to do but Esson bumping into Vigurs in DW Sports is top quality scouting.

I'd echo those sentiments although in my case I have to congratulate no less than 37 who came above me . It appears I seem to be the Aston Villa of the league - started poorly and it all went downhill from there. Never mind - I'll bounce back and confidently predict a top 30 finish next season. By the way, do I recall this time last year people congratulating Andrew on retaining his title? If so, is it now 3 in a row? Awesome performance if that's the case!

I would be stunned if any Wigan player in League 1 is earning £30,000! Anyway, I see De Vita was released by Ross County the other day. He's probably within our budget (free) but he barely played last season although he did have a good start to his County career when he first signed. Worth a punt?

Operating with barely enough players to also fill the sub bench for an entire season that including cups could be 46+ games long, isn't a formula for regular top six finishes. And it means that many of the 'subs' need to be utility players. Surely we need a squad of 22, to cover for long term injuries and suspensions. It may well be a dig at Hughes, but to suggest the budget is big enough to get decent quality into the squad, when we barely afford any sort of fee, and our wages offer will also be pipped by most of the teams in our division is a bit disingenuous.... looks like the tension between Hughes and Cameron is coming to a head, and some posters will clearly be happy to see Hughes go....but as every Newcastle supporter now knows....be careful what you wish for!

Always good beating the other half eh Joonya ;) . Thanks gringo for a fab season and all your hard work

You said "ANY league or cup game" as opposed to specific visits of the Old Firm in the very earliest years of SPL membership.

I might be in the minority but I believe Hughes has improved the team. Ok we can be a very frustrating team to watch at times but we do look a far better footballing team under Hughes than we did under Butcher. I don't think Hughes is the problem. His single mindedness with our style of play with what appears at times to be no plan B or C in place to break teams down can be annoying but I think the bigger problem lies within the management of the club and the behind the scenes decision making (or more the lack of). Personally I think Butcher ran the show during his tenure and Hughes is struggling with not being able to get the same response. I for one would be sorry to see Hughes go as I believe if he can get the right type of player in I think he can take us forward. Unfortunately it looks at present like there will be too many pieces of the jigsaw missing and he might indeed walk if he does not get more support within the club with what he wants to achieve.

Is this one of the "money can't buy" prizes that you can win by buying the season tickets early? A squad position for the pre-season?

Fraser McEwan Legal ?

Seems legit.

I'll miss the magic hat song

Woof! Agree with Perf. If he is going to go get it done now so any new manager has as long as possible to shape the squad. If he isn't then let's get on with rebuilding the side and ditch the fighting in the press between the manager and board.

Calm down, we don't need anyone for another 2 months!

Are we all talking about the David Raven who played only 17 minutes on Saturday but still made the SPFL Team of the Week

It's taken a bit of time to assimilate my thoughts on that season! On the face of it, the basic stats make reasonable reading: League position: 7th Points: 52 Goals for: 54 Goals against: 48 Scottish Cup: QF (lost to Hibs 1-2 (h) replay): League Cup: QF (lost to Ross County (h)) Europa cup: lost to Astra 1-0 agg. So, mid-table and 2 quarter-final appearances: what's to be glum about? 1. Style Yogi's persistence with possession football really did my head in! It is not entertaning or effective. In general, we actually did better when we adopted a more direct approach (e.g. games against Aberdeen and Ross County). We had the 3rd lowest number of shots and number of shots on target. Conversely, we had the 3rd highest conversion rate (goals/shots), suggesting that when we created chances, they were more clear-cut. Equally, we were tight at the back, with the lowest % shots on target in the league, perhaps suggesting that teams were forced to take shots from range against us. This also is relected in the number of goals conceded - the 3rd lowest in the league. Summing up - a reasonably effective style that worked well defensively, but made us too slow and predictable going forward. The players seemed afraid to shoot unless there was a clear goalscoring chance. 2. Players Some terrific performance this year, particularly from Ross Draper. I've always seen him as a ball-winner, but this year he was a really attacking midfielder who won us a few pens and scored a few key goals. Fon Williams was generally solid in goal and Tremarco really came onto his game later in the season. Tansey had a really slow start, but was neverthelss a key player in midfield. Warren was solid on his return, but would have liked to see his partnership with Meekings rekindled. Devine was OK, but has the odd crucial mistake in him. Of the guys definitely leaving: Vincent had a really good spell in January, but injuries let him down, Williams was reliable at left back and midfield and Storey was an excellent find from obscurity at Swindon. Vigurs was his usual mercurial self, while Roberts played really well when he got the opoportunity. Mutombo was exciting at times, but lacked a final ball and had a couple of petulent moments early on. 3. Manager Yogi refuses to shift from his principle of possession football. In fairness, it does yield the occasional cracker of a team goal, but too often it doesn't yield even a shot. If he'd just swallow his pride and go more direct occasionally, and encourage the players to shoot and get in the box! Off the field, Yogi has had a shocker IMO. The DUFC debacle was embarrassing: Yogi should be delighted that KC helped him dodge a bullet! All his statement did was to alienate him from the supporters who then doubted his commitment to the club! In addition, what is it with bigging up Auld Firm opponents? How many players has he offered to "drive them down there myself for the money they've bee offered"? The thinly veiled spat that is playing out in public over budget is unhelpful. And what about the comment about injured players playing through pain?? Meekiings wasn't impressed. 4. Injuries If one word summed up the season it was "injuries". There were times when there were more players on the treatment table than the pitch. Easy to forget after the event, but we really were struggling to field a team at times. 5. Recruitment and retention My biggest gripe all year. Everybody was aware that so many contracts were up at the end of the season and yet we failed to recruit effectively during last summer and then continually brought in midfielders when short of defensive cover and attack-minded players. Granted our late finish to last season and early start to this contributed to the problem, but starting the season without a recognised striker was justt shambolic. At least efforts were reported to have been made to keep Williams, but he turned down the offer - the same wasn't true of Vincent, who Yogi didn't rate for whatever reason. The Raven saga was just poor form - here's a player who really wanted to stay and he's punted by the manager.... 6. Attendances In many ways, this was the most depressing aspect. Average attendances almost exactly the same as last season (3,753 v 3,732), despite all the buzz of the cup win! I know these figures hide many things (e.g. who we play more times at home and midweek games, poor form etc), but it certainly highlights that there is no "other level" for us to go to in this respect and that we failed to capitalise on the cup victory. My pipe dream of perhaps 500 extra bods lay in shatters, which is why we find it so hard to retain and recruit!

It's importnant to remeber that Storey was never our player - only on loan. We haven't lost him because we never had him. Yes, you would hope that we might have had an edge in his thinking because we rescued his career, but it was Swindon and Storey's agent who held the cards here, not ICT. I really don't think we can point the finger at the club or management on this one: I've no doubt that there was a desire to keep him, but the speed at which this deal has been done suggests that it has been in the wind for a while, so we migth never have been at the races.

Horner in - Raven out. How can anyone at ICT tell the fans that this is a forward thinking move. Why don't the board or the manager come out and tell the fans what exactly is happening.and why has Raven been shown the door when he is the best right back at the club and wanted to remain unlike some of the other prima donnas who are holding out on re-signing.

The BBC article on Storey http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36314711 states that Goodwillie has been released by Aberdeen - hopefully we are not even thinking about considering him as a replacement

Here we go - back to the old days of squad catch-up. Even if we ignored the Storey situation there is something that appears to be not quite right when it comes to the club's recruitment. Personally I don't rate Lewis Horner as a defensive unit and wouldn't have said he was the type of player that Hughes was stating we need to improve the club. Then again maybe he will prove me wrong.

Do you not think the managers recent conduct in press etc has been distrspectful? Personally cant wait to see the back of him!

How does anyone know a contract wasn't discussed either informally (which is likely) or formally, Storey has an agent and between them its probable that they would have wanted to hold out until end of season and see if there were better offers or where he sits with his parent club. Its very easy now to start blaming Yogi or the board for everything but unless anyone has actual facts as to what happens in any of these cases as there are always 3 sides with football.

Once again you confuse best with with lucky and successful. In my view, as far as their times with us are concerned, Steve Paterson, John Robertson, Charlie Christie and Terry Butcher were all better managers than John Hughes. I would agree that John Hughes is a better manager than Craig Brewster second time around.

Inverness Caledonian Thistle manager John Hughes believes there is no reason why his club cannot win a cup or achieve European football next term. A convincing 4-0 win over Dundee clinched seventh place in the Premiership for Caley Thistle. It was a fifth win in Inverness' last seven games. "The standards I felt we've set were last year. I want to keep those standards, keep driving this club forward," said Hughes. The Highlanders have found form towards the end of a season in which they have struggled for consistency. Now Hughes wants to set his side lofty targets for next season."Don't tell me that a provincial club like Inverness can't go and win the Scottish Cup again, can't go and get third, get Europe," he told BBC Scotland. "I'll not accept that, that's the standards but we all need to be on board and keep driving it forward." 'Let's keep what we've got' Hughes concedes there may be significant changes in personnel, but reiterated the importance of retaining key players. "I keep saying this, let's make sure we keep what we've got, guys like Miles Storey and Greg Tansey," said the manager. "Keep that solid foundation and lets go and add to it. "When it starts off again we have to make sure that we're bringing in or keeping players that we feel will go and take us back into the latter stages of cup competitions." It does seem fans' favourite David Raven will depart, with Hughes admitting he sees Josh Meekings as his preferred option at right-back. A number of players have been offered contracts to stay but the club awaits final decisions.

I find it odd that many SNP people value Independence and Self Determination so highly, yet maintain obsequious support for remaining in the EU, an institution which, at it's core, is anathema to both. Same goes for NATO. Some mental gymnastics at play there.

Don't think your grasping the real point being made here. I haven't actually seen anybody moaning about the league position on here it's more to do with all the crap in the behind the scenes stuff thats the real problem. No loyalty shown to players who are desperate to stay. Permanently talking down the clubs finances the area etc from the manager I could go on but it is definately not the league position that is the focal point.

I'll be renewing. I'll support the club first and foremost, regardless of stupid managerial decisions.

Okay, well, I've not called for him to be sacked, or said he is uninspiring or fit for purpose here but feel free to carry on with your reductio ad absurdum if you so wish. We're not just talking about the ability of individual players here though. It's the approach to the players we are signing like the copious amounts of midfielders we have when we've been needing at least one other striker for over a year. I'm not disputing that some players don't work out. We saw it a lot under Butcher as well where players would arrive and leave within a year, mostly loan signings. But as has been mentioned already Hughes has significantly under performed in his dealings in the transfer market. Both in the quality of the players he has brought in but also the 'types' of players he has signed. The wrong areas of the team have been reinforced over the last few months. And yes, if a player flops then the manager is largely responsible for that. I'm not for one moment saying that Hughes is the only manager to have signed a duffer (look at some of the guff Ferguson signed at Man United like Djemba-Djemba, Kleberson and Bebe (without even seeing him play by all accounts) but, as far as his signings at ICT go, they have been poor and I find it surprising that some posters are so ready to just overlook this.

I have nothing to say....just wanted to have the thousandth post on this thread.....

After initially wondering if Jamie Vardy was in the Fleetwood side that played us in 2010 (he wasn't, he signed for them in 2011) I've been trying to think of connections (however tenuous!) between us and Leicester City. Billy Mckay, Johnny Hayes, Lee Cox and Eric Odhiambo all started out at Leicester Caledonian FC sold Kevin MacDonald to Leicester in the early 80's, leading to a friendly between the sides which Leicester won 4-0 (but we should have had a penalty!). For me and quite a few other Invernesians, I'm sure, Leicester were the first English team I ever saw play. Kasper Schmeichel has played at TCS, for Falkirk Best of all in terms of tenuousness - a former flatmate of Riyad Mahrez has played at TCS! Matthias Pogba for Partick (they played together at Quimper). What other loose connections are there?

Last night I was hearing quite a lot of recognition of Pearson's role in laying the foundation and this is certainly something Ranieri himself acknowledges. There is a world of difference between Ranieri and Hughes. Ranieri went into a struggling club, identified the strengths, built the tactics around those strengths and as a result, vastly improved the team. I'll not get into any analysis of Hughes' impact on ICT on this thread. I take Kingsmills' point about Leicester being a big club but they are still 17th in the Premiership in terms both of value of what they have paid for the squad and what the wage bill is. It would be a bit like making the Scottish Premiership into a 20 club league and having Queen of the South winning it.

It's a bit like Hughes taking the credit for Butcher's work!

Yes, many congratulations to Leicester. In all the adulation being heaped on Ranieri (deservedly), I see Nigel Pearson never gets a mention, and yet, this is largely the same team that he built last season and which, against everyone's expectation, managed to avoid relegation. Funny old game is it not?

I'm not raising any issues, merely pointing out an error of fact in that sellouts at the Caledonian Stadium have never been other than very rare. Otherwise, I'll simply take the quoted observation as coming from the same stable as the notion that so called "sweetie rustlers" are not true football fans.

It's not really valid for you to raise any issues in this thread, given that you don't pay for your entry to an ICT home game!

Well there you go.... let's just sack him now then.... clearly the man that won us our first piece of major silverware and took us into Europe for the first time is uninspiring and really not fit for purpose..... or have you overlooked this without a second thought? Hughes has said himself that we as a club can only afford to sign rocks and try polish them into diamonds.... when you are doing things like that your success rate is going to be small.... not every signing is going to work out. Lopez for example..... What a first touch he had, and clearly the vision to pick a pass was there.... I can understand why Hughes signed him, he saw huge potential and if I'm honest so did I first couple games, but it just wasn't meant to be, he didn't quite fit the way you would of hoped. The best managers and clubs in the world don't get it right from time to time, Man Utd with Falcao and Di Maria, Chelsea and Torres, Liverpool and Carroll and the list goes on and on and on. Are these managers all to blame?

hope he gone bye end of today the way he plays football is not good what about taking terry butcher back he got contacts to get good players

Along similar lines - John Rankin.... Don Cowie.... Stuart Golabek..... Andrew Barrowman...... to name but a few. Pot, kettle, black?

I would guess it's forward thinking due to the ages of the players in question. It is a shame to lose Raven, but I actually think Horner has shown quite a bit of potential this season.