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Showing content with the highest reputation since 11/19/2016 in all areas

  1. This has probably all been posted before but We aren't having a bad season, we are having the worst season. Unless we have some sort of stunning turnaround we are relegated and relegated as one of the worst teams to play in the top flight of Scottish football in decades. Gretna, who were a bankrupt shambles in their top flight season, won five games. That's the level this team are at. Every area has been a failure: - Recruitment - Has Foran signed a player who has improved the team? I don't think he has. Maybe Billy Mckay but improving the team by signing him isn't exactly a managerial masterstroke. We have signed bench-warmers, who bat about Scottish clubs trying to find a good season to get a few more contracts. Guys like Brad McKay, Billy King and Henri Anier fall into this category. While watching the game the other night Billy King forced a corner and I said to my mate that his agent will be putting that in his highlights reel when he tries to get a new club - that's all these guys are interested in and that's how bad they are. We were starting Doumbaya in "must-win" games then we released him a day later, who is planning this? - Team selection - It's bizarre at times the sides that we are putting out. I think that Foran and his team are over-thinking things, trying to tinker because they are panicked at what is happening. In February we chanced upon a couple of good performances with a midfield trio of Polworth, Tansey and Draper but almost as soon as we found that we moved away from it. To drop Draper and Billy Mckay for a derby game and then complain that we don't have enough "nasty lads" is beyond belief. To make Vigurs captain is the same (we've got others just as bad as Vigurs btw). - Coaching - The players don't know what they are supposed to do on the pitch. What is this team's identity, how do we play, what are we trying to do? Do we want to pass it, are we direct, do we want to play on the counter? No-one knows. We don't have anything underpinning lobbing players onto the pitch and hoping it works out. This means the players don't have any confidence, it means they make mistakes, it leads to stupid decisions - the game on Friday we literally handed County three goals, the first goal and two penalties. Terrible decision making but what help and direction are the players getting? None. We have poor players badly set up and badly coached. - Organisation. I've heard that the day-to-day running of things on the playing side hasn't been great, that there's been problems with training and that all isn't well behind the scenes. We have a goalkeeper who lobs the ball in his own net every few weeks but we loan out our back-up keeper out without a clear option to recall him so are reduced to effectively bringing Esson out of retirement when we shell OFW out of the side for the second time this year? We have the worst season in our history, have directors resigning and the response is to bring back our former assistant manager as a coach? With five games to go when we are five points adrift? It's ridiculous. I'd be amazed if we sack Foran and it's dangerous times. If we go into next season with the same rag-tag squad on far less money, our crowds will reduce. If people think we are going to bounce straight back and go on a First Division tour then they need their heads examined. Dundee United were in a better situation this season and they are in no way guaranteed to come back up. I wouldn't be surprised for us to be nearer the bottom than the top of the First Division given our current form. I don't really have much hope even if we did sack Foran. Who are we going to bring in as a replacement? If we'd got rid a few months back we would've been a more attractive option than a lot of other clubs now we'll be a floundering Championship club with a reduced budget and a demoralised squad and fanbase. Best case scenario if he stays is that he shows a capacity for learning, we manage to keep together the bones of a competent squad and build on it. I'm not hopeful.
    25 points
  2. I see that Kenny Cameron has announced he's stepping down as Chairman. Personally I'd like to thank Kenny for his years of service and helping to give me some of the best football memories I have. I've met Kenny on many occasions and he was always a genuine guy who had time to chat and I've never doubted that he had the best interests of the club as heart. All the best in your retirement.
    24 points
  3. I suppose that Kenny Cameron’s resignation had a ring of inevitability about it after we were finally relegated. It’s a sad way to end a Chairmanship that delivered a degree of success that might never be bettered. Scottish Cup winners, League Cup finalists, Championship winners and UEFA league qualifiers. That’s a hell of an achievement for what, in anyone’s definition, is a relative football backwater. That all of this was done on the back of a small support and an almost complete absence of financial backing makes it even more noteworthy. I’ve read a lot on here in the past couple of days that bears no resemblance to the man that I know. Uncaring? I’ve witnessed the pain when things have gone wrong. Uninvolved? I’ve seen the tears of utter pride and joy at Hampden. Uncommunicative? Time and again I’ve struggled to get a word in edgeways. There’s a tale of someone fetching up at the stadium looking for a “tour” and being shown around by “this old guy”. Time and again he’s chatted to our mascots, patiently explaining about why we couldn’t sign Messi – at least not this week. He didn’t take a salary. This is not a man who didn’t care. As a former Chair of CJT, he helped us achieve things that we could never have done without his support. He was instrumental in getting funding to charter the trains that took our fans to the League Cup Final against Aberdeen. As far as I know, it’s not been repeated. Any initiative for pricing and ticketing, he always involved us. Sticking up for us against the League’s central belt bias? Every time. I know that Kenny was incredibly well regarded by others in the SPFL as someone who was both engaged and genuine and the club benefited from that influence. However, if things go wrong there are fewer more exposed positions to be in than a football Chairman or Manager and when change happens it’s usually sudden, unpredictable and pretty brutal. That’s where we are right now and why there’s been the amount of anger expressed here over the last few weeks and months. Mistakes have undoubtedly been made but now cool heads are required to identify a clear plan to take us back to the Premiership and this year – of all years – it’s achievable. There is no Rangers, Hibs or Hearts to mount a challenge against and the club will rise to the challenge with the support of all of us, including Kenny’s successor. On a personal note, Kenny was a stranger to me when I first met him through the club. I now count him as a friend and I’m a happy boy that we shared experiences from Glasgow to Bucharest. Enjoy your retirement with Christine. You’ve earned it.
    24 points
  4. All opinions are valid. An echo chamber is never a good thing. If you feel the current regime are right with their stellar record of - failed concerts, failed live streaming, awful commentary on said live stream, alienating the volunteer media team, souring the relationship with the local authority, failed battery farm application, employing Robertson as a Sporting Director (we're still paying him) where he did virtually nothing, extending Dodds' contract then sacking him 6 games later, promoting Raise the Roof and then closing the stand, releasing a WATP orange strip on the 12th of July, paying Ferguson £4k a week with a past record of failure (then failed to keep us up when the manager we turned down kept his team up), failed hospitality, ignoring and alienating the Supporters Trust, damaging our reputation with local businesses, having our lowest finish in a quarter century, stopping all family activities like Christmas parties and end of season events, not having player of the year, having no openness or even basic communication... If you think after all they've achieved in the last 5 years, they're the ones who have the answers, that's your perogative.
    22 points
  5. Signed back on here with an extra S on my name to pay my respects to my great friend, my best friend - Bronson... aka Simon Macdonald. You gave me many laughs mate. You were an absolute rock for me when I went through my own separation. You pulled me back up. You had my back. You held me up. You were a true, true friend & one of very few people I trusted with my life. We had a brilliant night on Friday. Laughing, smiling, joking, drinking, talking about the future. I am so, so, sorry from the bottom of my heart that I never saw the signs from you. I'm sorry I never saw your pain or your turmoil. I just saw Simon, laughing, smiling, joking.... My heart is hurting like hell for you. I am riddled with guilt I never saw your internal pain & my own pain is growing each day that I failed you in your own time of need. RIP Simon. It was an honour to call you my friend.
    20 points
  6. Although this is not (yet) posted on the official site I am posting it here as the source is pretty legit (Nicola McAlley). Assuming this is indeed legit then a huge pat on the back to the club for doing this. This is a tremendous idea and one they should be praised highly for. GOOD JOB !!!
    19 points
  7. Tonight's sale of Draper to Ross County has (hopefully) concluded the worst summer of the clubs entire 23 year existence. starting with relegation, we've seen the following. - We sack Richie Foran after the end of the season, which was the right decision but taken so late that the rightness or wrongness of it becomes secondary. Why persevere with someone for so long when he obviously wasn't good enough, suffer the consequences and then take action when it's too late? The fact someone with his history at the club was despatched with a two line statement was also a joke. - The club then reshuffles the boardroom, with a load of Inverniessian estate agents, solicitors and whatnot leaving and joining. No-one really has any idea who any of these people are, none of them have any experience at running a football club whatsoever. The only chink of light is appointing Danny MacDonald, who does know about this, as COO last week. - Following relegation we don't reduce season ticket prices and issue unbelievably arrogant press release about getting promoted as champions. The tin eared idiocy of this is made more apparent by subsequent events - we ask fans to stump up money to ensure we can cover costs but then release and sell our high earners? Surely someone must've realised how this would go over? The 'apology' afterwards is nothing either, don't get into situations where you have to apologise. - The club then embarks on the most nonsensical summer of PR idiocy its possible to imagine. The only way it could be worse is if Finlayson invited a few Japanese trawler boats to dock outside the stadium and slaughter some of the dolphins. First we get rid of stalwarts like Duncan Shearer by text message, then we adopt radio silence from our social media team, then when we get someone to man the Twitter account, they accidentally like filth and our club outs out the stupidest statement in our history about it. It's been said that lots of this stuff was done by volunteer but you could employ a 16 year old media student and they'd do a better job. - In between this we praise the candidates who applied for our job and were interviewed and then... appoint someone who didn't apply, hasn't worked as a manager in five years, hasn't been particularly successful at this level in 13 years and was shocked to get in. I hope he does a good job and he's at least a positive person but looking at things logically the odds are stacked against him. He's also working with people he hasn't brought in, no doubt due to cost, and will be under pressure very soon if we don't go on a run. The fact that he's already started slating the team and players doesn't bode well. - In terms of playing we've lost some stalwarts, as you'd expect, and replaced them with jobbers. Being absolutely honest about it we've signed raw youth players doing the trialist rounds, jobbers who've been released for being no good or guys who've most likely come from agents. We don't have a solid defender and we don't have someone to score double figures in this league. We also someone got into a war of words with an ex player managing a HL club that we have loads of links with over us trying to sign their best player and captain for no money. An utter embarrassment. i don't really mind about us selling players or who they go to, all players leave evenuslky and it's better to clear out players too soon than too late. Our squad was stale and under performing. It's the fact we are certain to sign utter useless jobbers to replace the players who've left that is really concerning. I don't think I've missed anything. I don't know if the board or the manager or the Chief Operating Officer wants to give us an update on what the plan is with all this but it's difficult to see where it's going. We don't have an identity as a team, we don't have a structure to ensure that we succeed as much as possible. We have made investment available but no-one is going to invest, apparently. Is this it for the foreseeable? As fans we need something to look forward to, more than a win against Forfar, although that's probably going to be as good as it gets these days, I just hope that at least somebody in charge at the club realises what a state we are in because it needs to change. We are more likely to leave this division down the way than up at the moment and if the people in charge don't get that then we are in for a hard few years until they do.
    19 points
  8. This is so comprehensively absurd that I’ve only sufficiently recovered from the shock to comment on one aspect. One of the biggest contributors to the mess the club has got itself into is its failure to relate to and inspire the local community. In fact it’s far worse than that because a multitude of issues - not the least the Concert Company collapsing leaving local traders out of pocket while the club trousered a generous ground rent - have resulted in public perception hitting rock bottom (or at least so I thought until this emerged). There are also strong messages that the local business community has become greatly disenchanted with Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Then consider that supporter morale has never in 30 years been as low as now and and that there is unprecedented dissatisfaction with certain individuals in the club’s employ. All of this makes for a clear, urgent and overwhelming need for the club to rebuild bridges with all layers of the local community adds also to restore internal morale. So what do they do? They suddenly unplug the first team playing squad and management team from Inverness and send it 140 miles down the road to share facilities with a rival League One club - a direct competitor whose own promotion challenge will be greatly strengthened by the considerable rent…. from an arrangement that Inverness Caledonian Thistle tell us they are “delighted” (I did read that three times just to check) to announce. In other words they have selected one of the club’s big weak points… and taken the single course of action that’s guaranteed to make it even worse.
    18 points
  9. An honour to play with Herchie and proud to call him a pal, played with his heart on his sleeve, a real winner and leader, I'll never forget you! RIP Big Herch.
    18 points
  10. I will be there in spirit as a paid up Trust member. Just my Tuppence worth, but it is time for everyone to put aside the distrust that comes with this type of situation and make it clear to whoever represents US when it comes to any talks with the club that the current situation is untenable. The Trust should be the conduit to organising or requesting an EGM if the current board remain invisible and ineffective. We cannot have a CEO, board and SLO who won't talk to fans. In the case of the SLO that's his feckin job FFS. We cannot have a sporting director who spends more time in Dingwall than the team bus or directors seats at whichever location we are playing. You were supposed to be an important cog in the wheel. If you are not there then it's stealing a wage. We can't have a manager and coaches who see something isn't working so try the same thing again and again to see if they get a different outcome. That's the definition of clueless. Teams.know how to play us, we don't have a clue how to play a pub team. Dodds has to go. He could reclaim some dignity by resigning rather than getting sacked. No package required or requested. His backroom team need to go with him. Gardiner needs to go. Too many day to day issues, problems and ill will for his position to be anything other than untenable. I know many examples of situations where suggestions have been made to the club, even at their own request just before COVID, but these suggestions or money making leads were completely ignored seemingly because they were not his idea. No idea how true that opinion is other than personal knowledge of one really good lead given to him - by me - that was never followed up on. Ross Morrison may have been a supporter of the club long before he was chairman, and seems like a decent guy when I have encountered him, (or.passed.him that lead) but he is making the same mistake with Gardiner that Kenny C did with Richie Foran. Too much faith and misplaced trust. Time for eyes to be opened and difficult conversations to take place. If he can't show SG a P45 then he needs to award himself one. This is the lowest point our club has been at on its 30 year existence and if we want it to reach any more milestones the rot has to stop NOW.
    17 points
  11. Amid all the doom and gloom, let’s take a moment to praise Billy on scoring his 102nd goal for us and becoming our all time record goal scorer. Its a shame goals 101 and 102 came in defeats, but he continues to show his value and commitment to the club. His work rate is immense and he is a great role model for our younger players. The achievement is well deserved and I hope there are many goals in him during the rest of his time with us. Well done Billy!
    17 points
  12. It is with heartbreak and sorrow that I must announce the passing of well-known ICT supporter, my great friend for many years, and the best man at my wedding Stewart Anderson. Stewart, his brother Ross, another friend Calum, and I sat directly above the tunnel from the second season of ICT at the Caledonian Stadium and even if you didn’t know him, you likely knew of him or encountered him. It will always be an unforgettable sight to have seen the big man in full swing shouting “encouragement” to opposition players, managers, and referees! Those tickets changed hands over the years as paths crossed and uncrossed or personal circumstances changed, but always within people who were a part of that group with Stewart at or near the centre. The banter and ‘encouragement’ on a Saturday afternoon were all just football. Away from the stadium, Stewart was the proverbial gentle giant, a 6’5” teddy bear dedicated to family and friends who was also hardworking and conscientious. He would never knowingly do you any wrong and would give you the shirt off his back to help you if needed. I had the privilege to know Stewart for nearly 30 years. It started through football but transcended into far more areas of our lives. Stewart became a close friend before I moved to Canada, and when I did, he was the best man at my wedding, his dad Blair was our piper, and his mum Mary and brother Allan were also in attendance. He gave a speech at the reception that made even the ministers blush (we had two ministers – a husband and wife team from Nova Scotia who were very broad minded). I think I still have the handcuffs and blow-up sheep somewhere! Over the years we had some memorable times in Scotland at ICT games both home and away, starting or ending in either the Caley Inn or the Innes Bar. He came to Toronto a couple of times after the wedding and we had a fun time travelling through the Rockies from Vancouver to Edmonton, then to Calgary and back to Toronto. Another time he came to Toronto then with us to Cuba where he celebrated mine and my wife’s 5th anniversary in style, looking and feeling equally happy as he relaxed with a Pina Colada and a Cuban cigar at the beach in Varadero or sipping a Mojito in Hemingway’s bar in Havana. He also came with me to a couple of Toronto FC games that year and managed to get an entire pub singing “Bridge and Castle”! (see video). He made friends here in Toronto who still ask for him after all this time. Friends who I will now have to break this tragic news to and who will feel the pain like everyone else. Stewart was a bit of a technophobe, who just about managed to work his way around Facebook, so you won’t find him as a previous poster on the site. However, you will find many on here who knew the big man, respected, and loved him, and will miss him dearly. I am seldom lost for words, and even though I have a thousand stories I could relay about fun and crazy times with the big man, I am honestly and truly at a loss for more to say right now other than that I am thinking of his parents Blair and Mary and his siblings Blair, Ross, and Alan. I offer them my sincere and heartfelt condolences which I know will barely make any dent in their loss, but hopefully at some point, they can take comfort in knowing that my feelings are reciprocated across thousands of people whose lives Stewart has touched over the years whether from his travels, work, family, or football and every one of us sings the same song about his warmth and generosity. To Stewart, what else can I say but ‘Jeezo Big Man - Rest in Peace. I love you. I cherish all the happy memories we had together. I even cherish the times we disagreed. It made our friendship stronger, and you truly were the best man, not just my best man. You were one of a kind and I will miss you dearly. I and many others in several countries will raise a ‘peedy’ to your memory and look back on your life with great pride to have known you and been a part of it. Rest in Peace my friend. //Scott.
    17 points
  13. Pathetic attacks on the team and manager on here. Tactics may or may not have been correct. We were on top before the first goal for quite a period and if Tom Walshs strike had gone in it would have been a very different game. To sit deep against ( Scottish International) passers like Scott Allen giving them time on the ball like he got in the second half after the sending off would have been catastrophic imho. Our forwards troubled the hibs defence , we scored 2 goals and could have scored 4 but for some superb goalkeeping from marciano. Our defence played to their level with some great last minute tackles from brad mackay Rooney ,and tremarco. Mchattie gave away a silly penalty and showed some inexperience but thats who we are. A team of developing players getting better under robbie rather than worse under Foran. Midfield were outclassed by a great hibs side coached by jack ross who made the most of their forwards amazing movement. Ridgers was a rock. Hibs are the form side in the premier league since Jack Ross took over moving from one point of the bottom to sixth place and too hear the same tired refrain of its all Robbos fault is disappointing to say the least. I think yesterdays game and the match against other premier league teams this season shows that even after losing Mcart and Coll we can challenge the premier league teams in the playoffs especially if we have our best team on the pitch. We missed Sean Welsh yesterday but I see hope not despair that promotion is possible. So support the team rather than attack the people working to that success.
    17 points
  14. It is with great regret and deep sadness that I post this note to pay tribute to Ken Thomson, former director of Inverness Caledonian Thistle who passed away earlier today (Friday). Personally I am happy and privileged to have been able to call Ken a friend as well as someone who always tried to do his best at Caley Thistle, sometimes under very challenging circumstances. A man who also liaised with us here at CTO to foster the excellent collaborative relationship we had with the club in recent years. Many people will have known him not only from the football world where he came to the club around 1999/2000 but also from the shinty world where he was president of the Camanachd Association in the early 90s. He was elected president in 1990 but served his time in that association well before coming president. He was on the executive committee in 1978 at the age of 24, and was also a former president of the Camanachd Referees' Association, a former secretary of the North of Scotland Shinty Association, and an organiser of the Aviemore Indoor Sixes. He was goalkeeper for Aberdeen University in the 1973 Sutherland Cup-winning team before turning to refereeing, and also sponsored Strathglass, the club from his home village of Cannich. Ken was an extremely important part of our relationship with the club. I would go as far as to say that he was the primary architect of the bond we forged over nearly 20 years. In the same season where Super Caley went ballistic, Ken reached out to me and we met a few times to discuss how the fledgling (5 year old) CaleyThistleOnline site could help the club communicate with fans and act as a two-way conduit directly with, and to, the board as the internet became a more and more important communication tool. He recognised the significance of the internet before many others did and was open minded enough to embrace it and ourselves and not worry too much about keeping things as insular as they had been for the first few years the club existed. He may have been more AOL than iOS when it came to operating the technology but he understood the importance. In modern day terms he was a supporters liaison officer (SLO) before anyone had ever coined the phrase or even thought supporters were that important ! He was instrumental in helping setup "Boardroom Banter" both times we ran it. He was the man responsible for the live chat sessions we had with the likes of Graeme Bennett and others and he helped us facilitate a number of events where club officials and fans mingled in social settings in the Caley Inn, Caley Club, Innes Bar and even on away trips at times. Over the years he dragged along the chairman, other directors, chief execs and other folk to these get togethers and I believe his input helped forge a bond with many supporters that can never be broken. There are not too many clubs that were as open as Caley Thistle during his time on the board and he is to be applauded and lauded for that. Goodnight my friend, you will be missed, but you will never be forgotten.
    17 points
  15. Quite frankly never seen anything like this in football. Liam Polworth has come through the ranks at Caley, 25 assists last season, clearly the only one with the ability to unlock a defence and yet the abuse he gets from some sections beggars belief. It hardly matters what kind of game he's having either. So many "supporters" seem worryingly ready to rail on him at the slightest thing. This isn't in my head, hear it all around me every home game. Yesterday as an example, Mackay came on and took a touch that would've resulted in an outcry had it been Poli. But because it was Mackay? Total silence. Get behind your players and learn something about the game you're supposedly watching, you know who you are, absolute disgrace. You only need to listen for a while to the people talking ***** about Poli to realise they don't have much of a clue how the majority of the game works, really seems like they're there to vent. I for one really hope he stays unlike that wee lemon Daniel ict or whatever his name is on Twitter who's going about delighted at the prospect of losing our only playmaker to a premier league club. That wee crew are such a stereotype, are more or less only at games for the homoerotic camaraderie, know **** all about football and I hope they see this: nothing wrong with your reasons for being at the football, that's your business, but when you're dishing out that kind of abuse expect it to come back and bite you. Aside from that lengthy rant, we've got a very good side here if they could up the tempo at key moments and were able to add a player who can finish consistently. Still hoping Austin can be that player myself. Roll on Tuesday.
    17 points
  16. Thats parochial and insular bullshit. We have signed plenty of players from outwith the HL and local area who have done loads in the community because they have embedded themselves in the community. Carl Tremarco is a great example that jumps to mind but there are a load of others I could come up with depending on what you class as being "embedded in the community". Carl went on to stay in the local area long after his ICT days were over and them being over was a decision made for him not by him. You can represent the city and be present and active in the community even if you come from somewhere else, and even if you go somewhere else after your ICT career is over. Where you come from is irrelevant. Wanting to play for ICT, who are based in Inverness, Scotland, is the minimum requirement. I would agree however that the club has become less "community" focused over the last 5 years. Prior to COVID it was all about #TogetherNESS and working together to try and make sure the club could function properly. Fast forward 5 years, and after one commercial disaster after another and dragging the club name through the mud with the battery farm, we get a statement 3 days after relegation asking for "UNITY" then another statement today that completes rips out any semblance of COMM-UNITY from our club. There is no unity without comm-unity. Moving training to Fife because it will make recruitment of players - who do not want to move to Inverness - will, in my opinion, have a far greater long-term impact on us than relegation. I actually just 'liked' a tweet by "Jailender" calling County the only team in the Highlands. I liked it, not because I will change loyalties, but because, right now, he is correct. We cant let this happen. Central to our success over the years has always been community and a sense of team spirit fostered by our distance from the central belt, which even led to the use of a bunch of hashtags a few years ago like #TogetherNESS . The current regime seem to be trying to reverse all that progress at an astonishingly rapid pace and for many fans, any move outside of Inverness, even for training, will be seen as the final straw.
    16 points
  17. It strikes me that there must still be this small, sad group of individuals who have been sitting around for the last 30 years, desperately waiting for a misfortune so they can attempt to say “told you so”. Meanwhile everyone else has been enjoying progress to the SPL in just a decade, further progress to the Top Six, winning the Third and First Divisions, winning the Challenge Cup, and (in anticipation of some smart-ass comment about that), I’ll add winning the Scottish Cup, reaching the League Cup final, bringing European football to the Highlands, beating the Old Firm home and away including Celtic three times in the Scottish Cup, raising attendances to a peak of 7 and still 3 times what Thistle and Caley combined were taking in pre-merger…. and even after this weekend’s misfortune, Inverness football is still two leagues above what it was before this club came around. One difficulty is that there’s also this small caucus of ex-Caley fans who seem to live in some fantasy world, hallucinating that 6000 people packed themselves into Telford Street every second Saturday right up to the bitter end in the Highland League and 5000 of them still resolutely refuse to go near the Caledonian Stadium. Meanwhile the reality is that the biggest number of Caley fans that ever voted against the merger was 226, many of whom still became regular ICT attendees, and that the biggest number that ever attended a Thistle meeting was (off the top of my head) 45.
    16 points
  18. Hi everyone, I attended my first Caley game last weekend on a complete whim as I was visiting close to the area. My hometown is Blackpool and I support Blackpool (I loved seeing Nathan Shaw score that third goal as a product of our academy) but as life has taken me around a bit I now live in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, not far from Leeds. I also follow Pontefract Collieries home and away because of this. 8th tier of English football. I wanted to join the site to firstly say I really enjoyed the hospitality of your club. We spoke to a few locals around the city before and after the game and they were very welcoming us of foreigners. Secondly, the football was brilliant. Now, I know I may come in to some criticism for this but it was like watching lower league English football but with an immaculate pitch. However that is EXACTLY what I want to see in a football match. Lastly, and my only criticism of your wonderful club would be the home atmosphere. I expected booming when the third goal went in last week but it fell flat. Even at 2-0 up it was very quiet. I’d love you to create more of an atmosphere. Get that drum banging and get singing guys!! It’ll make a massive difference to your results! I’ll be forever keeping my eye out for your results now. Hope you manage to string a few wins together and get up the table. Come on Caley. Cheers
    16 points
  19. Gardiner/Morrison will be hoping that takes the heat of them for a bit. We can't let it. The club is rotten to the core and whilst Dodds needed to go, so do the aforementioned.
    16 points
  20. It is with great sadness that we let everyone know of the passing of one of our site moderators 'Kingsmills'. Colin had been a member of the site for many years, definitely someone you would consider one of the originals. He was also a moderator on the site for much of his time here. Like all mods, he had his fair share of run-ins with some posters but as far as I am concerned always handled things pretty fairly. To my knowledge, I had never met Colin in person as I had already moved to Canada when he became a mod and we never (knowingly) crossed paths at the stadium but in email or PM dealings with him it was always pleasant. Condolences and respects to his family and friends.
    16 points
  21. Whoever will be at the helm next season we owe Neil McCaan and Billy Dodds a huge Thank You for getting us to where we are now .They did a great job in the short time they were here . Wishing them All the Best for the future ....Hoping the managers position can be announced soon .
    16 points
  22. 3 hours old and already in the strip Northstandfan super proud of you and my new grandson. Future Northstander sorry if it’s not appropriate for this part of the forum but just had to do it.
    16 points
  23. I don’t understand fans staying away because they don’t trust the Board. Most fans don’t give a stuff about the Board - they, like me, go to watch football and support the players of ICT. It’s like saying you’re never going to buy in M&S because you don’t like their board members.
    16 points
  24. The team has just equalled the club record for the number of league games undefeated (22) and moved back into the play off places. It's a great achievement. Yet some of the "support" choose to boo the team at the end and to hurl abuse at our leading scorer who happened to score the 2nd equaliser tonight. It can't exactly encourage players to want to play for us if that is the kind of "support" fans give. Of course the recent draws are frustrating and we've lacked penetration going forward, but you don't go 22 games unbeaten if you are a poor side. The players themselves were clearly gutted not to have got a win from the game tonight. Perhaps if some of the folk who were constantly on the players' backs all night had shown a bit of support instead, then the players may have felt less pressured and played better as a result.
    16 points
  25. As part of that media team for a long time, I can safely say that without @CaleyD there would have been no media presence at the club and what you are getting now is what you would always have had - or worse. Another guy who took nothing out of the club - no pay, no freebies, nothing. Someone who drove the team all over the country in his own car, sometimes at his own cost. A guy who drove a clapped out club minibus to Charlton and back with @ANDYCAM. Someone who singlehandedly got the team progressing from written previews and reports to pre and post match video and then on to match coverage with commentary. Someone who occasionally bought equipment that was needed. Someone who put our club twitter account into the realms of national coverage and recognition and facilitated the main star of that twitter account into accomplishing things that he never thought he could. (In the spirit of the "stig", that bit will remain cryptic) Put the club and CJT's web pages together and maintained them. All of this was done in circumstances that were far from ideal, sometimes with little cooperation and appreciation and occasionally at detriment to his health. Of course, being club media, it was never our job to hold the players or manager to account. We were there to support and the MSM could do the other stuff. It has been difficult sometimes to see the carping and personalised rubbish written on here and directed by people who, if they had put in half of @CaleyDs effort would have made a real difference to the club and it's suppporters. Still, it's easier to snipe. As @Fraz says, sometimes you just don't know what you've got until it's gone. Thanks for a great experience Don. You'll be missed.
    16 points
  26. Over the last couple of weeks, my favourite expletive seems to have become the word 'Horsesh*t" and this falls into the biggest pile of it I have seen. ever. How do we get enough people or voting percentage together to force an EGM? This cannot be allowed to happen. It will kill the club completely. Supporters Trust? I thought Gardiner could not top his previous debacles .. Pixellot, the Concert, alienating staff, players and supporters, not to mention relegation but f*ck me, I underestimated the man. This puts a cherry on top of the whole fu*king lot, a really huge feckin' cherry! Funny how, for the most part, the players that end up staying in the area after their careers wind down came up not from Scotland, but from England. The central-belters, for the most part head back down the A9 to Glasgow/Edinburgh or some commuter belt outside of those cities. We are only 1 hour from London or Manchester by air and I bet there are plenty of hungry players down there who would not whine about the A9 as much (other than on match days). Hop on EasyJet and its all sorted. Happy to have another David Raven, Carl Tremarco, or Gary Warren out of that kind of scenario. To me its all about the sell-job. We may be a career club for some players (Tokely for example), but for others, who clearly won't make this their long-term club, we have previously used it, and should continue to use it, as an opportunity to sell the player on getting a career back on track or putting themselves in the shop window to get a move. Even if that move is (currently) to a higher league team across the Black Isle where they would not even need to move again. If they don't want to come here, then they don't want to come here, its that simple. Geography is simply an excuse. Look all over the rest of the world and a 140-mile relocation in some countries or for some clubs is called a commute! As for accommodation costs ... why are we paying these? My employer doesn't pay my mortgage, not directly at least, but they do pay me enough so I can afford it. Its my responsibility to get a house in a location I can afford that allows me to get to work to earn my wage. Back in the days when we were in the third tier before, players like Bobby Mann came to the club and literally stayed in B&Bs whose owners had an affiliation to the club and no doubt gave them a deal for a long-term rental. That may be an avenue to explore again. The bigger problem is that we are no longer in the Premiership or even the league below, we are now back down in the doldrums so attracting any player, regardless of where we train will be exponentially more difficult. Don't forget there will also be added costs. Presumably all the first team players (including young players in the squad) who currently live in Inverness and have houses will need to be brought down to Fife and either stay for the week for training or travel back on a daily basis? The first will cost money, the second is unsustainable. What about the youth players? How do they fare in this. Will they be brought to Fife or will they - as suspected in some circles - be abandoned and put an end to our youth system. How will players travel to Inverness for home games? In their own cars and claiming travel expenses and maybe a night in a hotel the night before? or will we hire a bus at considerable cost to get to our home-away game thereby doubling our transportation costs for the year. I could probably rant on for pages but I will stop here. This has got me more raging than the relegation so well done Gardiner. Now Get the F*ck out out of our club and take your cronies with you !!! Utter Horseshit!!! This cannot be allowed to happen. As others have said ... how can we be a community club when we are not even in the community on a day-to-day basis?
    15 points
  27. I'm finding myself in agreement. Talks a great game but what has he actually achieved, other than alienate a lot of local businesses from wanting anything to do with the club after the concert fiasco? All that orange kit and 12th july nonsense was the final straw for me, the club should never have let itself be lowered to that level! Seems like the chairman has given him free rein of the club to run it as he likes? Might his final act have been, what's becoming blatantly obvious, the mad decision to award dodds another 2 year contract?
    15 points
  28. If he had his dream job as Sporting Director of Hearts, do you think their fans would acquiesce to his continued employment by the club if he was commentating on Hibs games every time Hearts were playing away? Enough is enough. Time for the broom of change to sweep through the club.
    15 points
  29. I hope after reading and hearing what the man went through with his illness people get off his back. He genuinely wants to help our team do well and he's if nothing else not short on effort as well as being our current top scorer this season. Let's for once try and get behind all our players at the business end of the season, we still have a great chance of the playoffs and his goals are going to be crucial.
    15 points
  30. I'm as happy clapping as they come but I've not renewed mine (or my daughters) Early bird period is far too short not going into next payday so I can't afford it. It's even less appealing at the non EB price. Plus we have no manager, barely enough players, no vision for the future direction of the club or anything regarding investment. In fact no communication whatsoever aside from asking for money. Finally I can only reiterate what others have said regarding the price. To keep it the same price in a lower league with one less game, no derby or any big game is inexcusable. There should have been a £30 to £40 reduction. At the very least they could have thrown in the first home cup game but no. After a terrible season watching dross this is what the new administration come up with? Unbelievable. I love going to the football and have never not had a Season Ticket since I moved back from Glasgow nearly 9 years ago but I can't feel anything other than were being taken for granted on this occasion. Honestly feeling very torn at the moment.
    15 points
  31. Everyone will have their opinion but for me, the ones defending this decision have been caught hook, line and sinker. Everything that you state as a defence is a regurgitation of the board and previous managers since Foran. First they have to convince people that there's a problem, make it out worse than it is, push the agenda, repeat, repeat, repeat before convincing you that they have the answer to something that didn't need changed in the first place. It's of no coincidence to me that we have a manager with central belt historical ties, who from day one spouted about poor home form, constantly on repeat and still will, but yet never questioned. The man before also with central belt historical ties, also spouted the same lines but never questioned. Planting the seed about poor home form but clearly with an underlying meaning. We hear how difficult it is to attract players up to Inverness, have done since after Foran, on repeat, constantly, the same lines over and over. It must be Inverness! By gosh, how didn't I figure it out myself, I feel so stupid having to be told on repeat before I realised. Dwindling investment, dwindling income, disengagement with the fans, alienation of the local business community, picking fights with local government. It's always been the fault of others, make people believe it's others. Could it just simply be that those who are in positions of power and decision makers just aren't good enough? If this next ridiculous venture fails, who's fault will it be then, will they claim travelling distance is the problem? The biggest issue in everything is staring us in the face, we all know it, and it falls firmly at the hands of the board.
    14 points
  32. That non-statement statement is utter shi*e and says NOTHING except a desire to buy time to see what they can say, or to see emotions die down. Gentlemen - that emotion and sentiment will NOT die down.
    14 points
  33. A big Thank You to the Clubs new Supporters Liaison Officer, Scott Young, who chose a very positive way to meet ICT fans in the away end at Dundee. Before ko he went along the rows of fans, chatting to all and sundry. I don’t know if everyone knew who he was but I think it was a great gesture and, well done to him.
    14 points
  34. As a regular subscriber to ICT PPV I wanted to congratulate the club on providing an excellent product. Iain Auld is a very talented commentator and by far the best one I have listened to online. He has a fluidity and professional sounding commentary that really is top class. Ross Tokely is also superb and every comment he makes I find I agree with - his tactical insights and passion as an ICT fan make our PPV a joy to watch. The camera angles and replays are good with only a few minor glitches. Well done Iain, Ross and ICT!
    14 points
  35. Tragically Bronson is not the first site member of ours to have passed away over the 25 years the forum has been active, and unfortunately he wont be the last, but the news this weekend seems to have affected a lot of us deeply as we have known him a long time even if we all had different degrees of closeness to him. I have been thinking about things a lot since I heard about this and would like there to be something positive to come from his passing. The Bronson Legacy referred to in the title of this post if you will. I do not know what fits, how best to phrase it, or even if we are able to do something lasting and beneficial on the site but FFS we need to look out for each other somehow .... I have seen comments on Facebook and elsewhere where members of our site have posted the offer to be there for others who might need to talk. I also hold my hands out and say the same thing to anyone on this site whether we know each other or not and whether we have crossed swords or are best of buddies. If you need to talk, I am here. If you need to vent, I am here. If you need a second, third or fourth opinion, I am here. I am no expert or psychologist, but I can do two things quite well ... listen and give an opinion. Many of us are the 'strong silent type' and that stoic Highland reserve is how I used to deal with things as well. It's a man thing, it's a Highland thing, and it's most definitely a Highland Man thing. Over the last two years my personal life has been less than perfect. 2018 started (on Jan 1st) with the suicide of someone I knew from the Toronto FC supporters group who didn't realise how much he was loved and revered (and still is). After watching an uncle die from Prostate Cancer, I was then diagnosed and treated for cancer myself and will live with some side effects forever but the crucial thing is that I will live. I also lost my mum in June 2019, two days after returning to Canada from our last visit to see her. Through it all I had the support of friends on both sides of the Atlantic, family and colleagues and this helped. I was in a dark place a few times but someone was always there with encouragement or a quick word. Its amazing how even asking how someone is doing can be uplifting and bring you out of that slump. It also helped me shed that stoic reserved approach. I now view life as too short and bottling stuff up is less of an issue now. I now participate in Movember each year and one of the key cornerstones of this is mental health (along with Prostate and Testicular cancers). I have talked openly about my cancer and told colleagues at work that if anyone is scared to go for testing or wants to know what happens after a diagnosis, I am here. The same applies for trying to remove the stigma over talking about mental health. I have added the MikeysLine link to our site pages over the weekend and there are a couple of other links below to sites that may help or form the basis of some small thing we can do for our little community here .... because thats what we are, a community, and community means looking out for each other even if/when we dont always get along. Please use this thread for comments, links or brainstorming anything you think we can do here. https://uk.movember.com/mens-health/we-need-to-ask https://letstalk.bell.ca/en/ways-to-help
    14 points
  36. Ridiculous that people call for Robbo's head. Can you imagine the budget of Hibs compared to ours, especially these days. Who exactly would you replace him with? People forget we've got to a cup final, quarter final, and are well in contention to be promoted to the premier league. Totally clueless.
    14 points
  37. Personally, I'm so sick of this constant and unending talk of 'the board' on here. I support my team, have since I was young and always will. As long as nothing is going wrong financially, I care not one jot who the board are or how/what they communicate with me. I just want them to pick the correct manager, support him as well as they can within budget, and that’s pretty much it. The only real disconnect I have with the club at the moment is with this site, and the few helmets who take every opportunity to bleat on about perceived issues with the board and seem to think they’re speaking for us all. I go to games, and it’s good crack watching the team (well sometimes…) and seeing folk I know, few beers etc. Come on here however, and it’s always the same few folk constantly whining, and for a fans forum it doesn’t reflect any actual match going fans I know or have met. Personally, I have no interest in events like this or anything to do with our supporters’ group solely because of individual posters on here who seem to be running or involved with these things (see ridiculous SLO debacle for reference). It’s very clear they have personal issues with those running the club, and seem hell bent on proving points and highlighting any negativity to further their own egos over and above actually supporting the club. You can say that events like this are not attended because of a disconnect with those running the club, but maybe the reason fans don’t turn up is because a lot of us are just happy to go to games and have no idea what it is you guys actually want? That’s the case for me anyway, it’s not apathy, I just find this all incredibly boring. I’m even bored with my own post here, this is what CTO has driven me to and I feel ashamed.
    14 points
  38. I really don’t see the problem here. The bottom line is that if his contract needs to be honoured, it will be. But as part of a process of urgently necessary cost cutting, an alternative option is being sought. The financial reality is that each and every means of cutting costs has to be pursued. There is, unfortunately, no room for sentiment when the future of the club is at stake. I don’t know the intimate details of Gary’s current contract but would guess that it was, a la Foran, a fairly long one given under the previous boardroom and managerial regimes in the Premiership. We need to thank Gary for his huge contribution (for which he has been remunerated) and regret the earlier failure which has made it necessary to try to terminate his engagement.
    14 points
  39. Despite how it ended, we have a very great deal to be thankful to Kenny Cameron and, before him, David Sutherland for. Prior to those with Tulloch connections taking the helm, the previous regime under Doug McGillvray had almost run us into oblivion. We were over two and a half million pounds in debt, the bank had pulled the plug and had it not been for our famous cup win at Parkhead and the money from the two subsequent TV games against the Dons we would have entered administration at the very best or, at worst, been liquidated. Instead, under first Sutherland and then Kenny, we became a debt free established top tier club no strangers to national cup finals and still the only team north of Aberdeen to win the major cup tournament in the country. Yes, mistakes were made this season and probably last and, no doubt, with the benefit of hindsight, he would have done things differently but for that wonderful, unforgettable afternoon at Hampden alone he deserves our thanks and good wishes. The immediate future might be a difficult one but were it not for David Sutherland and Kenny Cameron there might not have been a future at all.
    14 points
  40. A very tough day yesterday. I want to thank everyone this season i have met up with had a drink with and went to games with. Been a long hard season but the crac has been greatno matter what. Amazing club with amazing fan's. Very proud to call myself a caley jag. Roll on next season so we can begin the fight back
    14 points
  41. Why, what on earth were the two of you doing? Oh wait, I see what you mean!
    14 points
  42. I might be missing something here, but is anybody complaining about an atmosphere being created. It's the extra curricular activity that's not being condoned. Someone enlighten me. The young team make a noise, that's a positive. Somebody starts a fight?, that's a negative.
    14 points
  43. CB has already made some decent points, but let's see: The club has spent half its existence in the top flight. It's had half a dozen visits to the national stadium in the past decade or so, a national cup win, another national final, and has beaten the ugly sisters multiple times even on their own midden. A top 3 finish and a nice wee trip to Bucharest (thank you very much). Not to mention some of the best football I've seen in a lifetime, under Pele in the lower leagues (during that time, a few of us were happy to buy season tickets and travel up from Edinburgh and the Borders, and I'm speaking as somebody who has seen Cruyff, Law, Beckenbauer, Dalglish etc). Give Ayr Utd a 3 goal lead? No problem. Give Hearts a goal lead and 2 man advantage? No problem. The championship is chock full of clubs who have greater resources than we have. Supporters of Falkirk, Dunfermline, St Mirren, Raith, not to mention the big two at the top, would give their right hand to have the success that we have been spoiled with, and yet in the fastest-growing city in Europe or whatever, fewer than 3k are willing to get off their arses/sofas to support a club which isn't much short of a miracle.
    14 points
  44. So...you have nothing against Richie's appointment. Nothing against Brian Rice's appointment. But the Board need to go?! Wise Up fer fecks sake mun! Is it the board that picks the teams, formations, tactics, training regimes? Is it the board that decides when to run with the ball, or whether to pass? No, it's not! The fact of the matter is, Richie hasn't been great, and the players haven't been great. Although at times, they have been excellent though! And and inch here or there on some passes and shots and we could quite easily be fighting for that 3rd place spot. I just don't see what causing turmoil throughout the club is going to achieve? To me, these seem like reactionary, heat of the moment comments due to where we currently find ourselves....but if you didn't see this hard slog coming then you were living in cuckoo-land! I've been to every game this season, except Well away, and I haven't witnessed a relegation team. At times, they've been amazing and at times, far from it, but I don't think they are deserving of their current position. And to say the players or Richie don't care, or are not trying hard enough, is just tosh. You can see it in their body language, hear it in their voices, and see it in their play, but when you find yourself in this position, you get zero breaks of the ball and none of the 50/50 decisions. Now, when the chips are down, we need to get behind our team. Behind our manager. Behind our Board. Because We Are Caley(thistle), Super Caley, no-one likes us, we don't care!
    14 points
  45. All the best to ICT and all concerned Roddy
    14 points
  46. Billy Ferries, Gordon Connelly, Neale Cooper, Alex Smith, Owen Coyle, Liam Boyce, Stuart Kettlewell, Richie Brittain, Sandy Ross, Steven Ferguson, Chris Somerville, Deek Adams, Jamie MacPherson, Brian Grant, Steven Hutchison, Ian Maxwell, Don Cowie Sr, Don Cowie Jr, Kenny Gilbert, Brian Irvine, Iain Vigurs, Michael Gardyne, Mark Hateley, Alex Bone, Deek Adams, Dick Campbell, Julian Broddle, Billy Herd, Willie Furphy, Derek Holmes, Jimmy Calderwood, Deek Adams, Willie McStay, The Jailender, Scott Leitch, Uncle Roy, Coll Donaldson, Hector MacLennan, Deek Adams, Jim McIntyre, Darren Henderson, Tony Dingwall, Tony Bullock, Karim Boukkra, Conor Gethins, Mark Perry, David Winters, Brian Graham, Scott Morrison, Deek Adams, Ross Draper… Your boys took one hell of a beating!
    13 points
  47. The team should be holding their heads high after that result today. Not off to the best start granted, but then Stm were straight off the starting blocks and were pressing us heavily all over the park. We needed to settle and build the confidence and it never happened before the penalty was awarded. That could have easily killed off the game, but it never and the players still tried to match stm at every opportunity and did well to go in at HT 1-0 down. To have shown so much fight and then lose the 2nd would have broken many a team but we kept going, even against the absolutely ludicrous level of refereeing. I have never been one to slate referees too harshly, but in this case every insult thrown at him from the stands was completely justified. The guy was 100% biased and should be sacked for that performance. To not only fight back against a stubbornly good stm side and the referee from hell and secure a draw, we very nearly topped it off with a fine glancing header from young mckay that just a foot or do higher would have sent the TCS into chaos. Fantastic atmosphere and brilliant resilient performance from the players. Get the win on Tuesday and we jump back into 7th. Least we deserve. Ridgers was absolutely phenomenal.
    13 points
  48. Absolute garbage. Just because you like going on the pish in Ayr, Dumfries, etc.doesn't make this good for the club I'm any way. Relegation would be an absolute disaster, even more so if our neighbours stay up. The real blame here needs to reside at the door of the clueless, faceless board who are utterly invisible and show no direction, vision or aptitude to manage a Premiership club.
    13 points
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  • Our picks

    • Player of the Year 2023-2024
      The winner for this season voted for by you is our very own local player Cameron Harper. Will that ever happen again I wonder?

      CTO PotY with 69  points is Cameron Harper  

      2nd with 68 points Alex Samuel
      3rd with 58 points Cameron Kerr
      4th with 53 points Billy Mckay
      5th with 51 points Max Anderson
      6th with 50 points Nathan Shaw

      • 4 replies
    • Kelty Hearts Training Statement
      What a farce we have become, a laughing stock: Did you hear the one about the footbal team from the Highlands of Scotland that want to train at Cowdenbeath? Unfortunately, unlike our board, this is not a joke. Our board are trying to rip our identity from the Highlands and replace it with shared training at Kelty Hearts. I kid you not, this is not a drill and the clowns that run our club appear to be delighted at this coup.
        • Thank You
      • 4 replies
    • Relegation Statement
      RELEGATION STATEMENT: This could have been said ten minutes after our defeat to Hamilton three days ago. So far, this is not the news that we on Caley Thistle Online wanted to hear. Pleased that we will still function as a club, disappointed that resignations have not been offered yet. Keeping fans waiting in silence for three days is unforgivable and relationships are drifting further apart than ever before. Silence is not the way forward, we deserve better as fans.
      • 2 replies
    • Inverness CT 2-3 (3-5) Hamilton - Play off final (relegation)
      RELEGATED: Despite Inverness needing to get off the mark quickly, it was Accies that killed the tie inside the first fifteen minutes with strikes from Kevin O'Hara and Lewis Smith. Cammy Kerr reduced the leeway with a good strike from distance, but O'Hara struck again with a penalty before the break to diffuse the revival. We struggled to create anything of note and this reporter could not stomach any more and left the stadium. I'm told Alex Samuel pulled a goal back in stoppage time, but like the rest of the season it was too little too late.
      • 1 reply
    • Hamilton 2-1 Inverness CT - Play off final 1st Leg
      A better showing from Inverness in the second half, especially with Lawal and Pepple on the park but it's Hamilton that take a one goal advantage up the A9 on Saturday. Lawal has been the standout performer in our last few games and surely he must start on Saturday. Pepple also did well, scored the goal, had an effort saved and got in a few balls across the box from tight positions.

      Still, a shocker of a first half and we must be up for it from the start on Saturday.
      • 0 replies
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