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Losing the early (or at least first goal) is a MASSIVE issue for us. We've conceded the opening goal in a staggering 74% of our matches this season and have been in a losing position at half time in over 60% of our games so far. We're being outscored by a factor of 2:1 in the first half. Unfortunately as soon as something goes wrong the fans are on top of the players and seldom get behind them. Obviously some of the stuff served up recently has been mince but it is a bit disappointing that some seem to be more than willing to be vocal in their criticism but seldom give the same amount level of support to the team.

I would never have chosen that Font.

Im actually feeling a bit more upbeat today and believe we can turn this around. Richie has now joined the rest of us in realising we are in a fight. No more top 6 mentions. Lets hope everyone can pick themselves up, roll up their sleeves and work hard to get us out of this mess!

Whilst searching through my old photos of the Town, it was interesting to see how grand some of the buildings are. I suppose most of us just walk along and don't see what is just above our viewpoint. (Of course it could be argued that if you didn't look where you were going......!!) Anyway, here's a few to see if you can identify them.......

my son and I are first time season ticket holders and do try to sing along with the young team, but it really surprises me that most don't bother, but in fact boo every miss placed pass or tackle, we all need to get behind the lads, hopefully if we can provide some atmosphere on Saturday they might just feed off it!

Based on the poll about management we should definitely be keeping our shoes on. We as a majority are backing the manager and let that sound loud and clear. We are not at crisis point yet and we are all trying to live on a small budget to be sustainable. Keep believing, imagine ourselves pulling out of this situation and how daft you might feel calling for the managers head having escaped relegation. No team EVER escaped relegation by negativity, so keep the head up and dont forget that. Any business that survives adversity visualised itself in that position of better times. Think of the euphoria of winning the playoff. Positive and passionate grit is a very dangerous weapon indeed, so lets use it when we are given the chance.

I believe the club have been trying to gloss over this as he varnised without a trace after getting the brush off from the management. All very emultional.

As a club before the cup success we took in players and integrated them into a team over a period of time, gradually progressing up the league with it - taking 5 or 6 of these players out at once them expecting to remain at the same level or continue to progress when we were well above our weight was never going to happen. Perhaps if only 1 or 2 left we could have continued to build and seen more from his new recruits - unfortunately after a period of stability we became like every other SPL team which changes half its squad every year with limited continuity or success. Being honest I'd hardly suggest every player signed by managers before or since have been a success either - not everyone that comes in is comparable to those leaving - under current circumstances you'd have written off the likes of Billy Mckay as a replacement for Rooney as he took ages to get going.

I haven't voted, results are just as good as a poll. This season I haven't been overly concerned, or should really say worried, regarding the points on the board, until now. The points tally to date is irrelevant if another 6 teams are mediocre then they will never be far away, it's just the other teams are all beating each other and creeping up the table. It really is time for action on Saturday not kamikaze but a well thought well planned gutsy performance. Get the fans on side. I want to see the Richie who scores goals with his face, I want to see the Richie who shouts his mouth of on the pitch, I want to see the Richie who I thought was going to get sent off for grabbing Hayes by the throat for not putting enough effort in against Dunfermline. Its time for that guy to make an appearance. As for the players if we go down the club can't afford your wages next season. Inverness is a horrible place to come. That long slow awful A9. That exposed cold miserable stadium. Worst of all our awful mouthy fans, let's give Dundee as hard a time as we can and let Foran get on with his job of getting stuck into his players. A passionate expressive match will go a long way to calm things down. But we don't want to settle for that, we go again the following week and every week from now on. Just get stuck in.

I think it is now evident that the risk in appointing Foran, especially on a 4 year contract, has failed. Are his assistants also on 4 year deals? Even if the management team resigned en masse, there will still be hefty compensation deals to agree, but for the longer term good of the club, this is a bitter pill that the club will have to swallow. Give another management team the chance to rebuild , get the squad sorted out, and get them playing with some passion. I fear saving us from the drop would now need a miracle, and the new management team's primary role should be aimed at preparing us for Championship football. From the Board's point of view, they have the difficult challenge of running the club with significantly less income where just making ends meet would be an achievement. I know many will say we did that before as we climbed through the leagues, and then again when we got straight back up after our relegation. But, I fear, it will be a lot harder next time (if or when) we go down. Sorry if this sounds ultra pessimistic, but I think we have been overachieving for a long time in recent years and now reality has caught up.

I honestly don't think our players would know what to do if they scored first!

The problem, which you've kinda highlighted, is that regardless of how poorly some have been playing, they will still be viewed as the 'best option'. Which would then, once again, make Richie's post-match interview just completely meaningless.

OFW's form is very concerning he certainly doesn't look like an international over the last few games but I suppose he's been affected badly by what's going on in front of him I would imagine a fair amount of that euros would have ended up with him but any cash injection no matter how small is very welcome at the moment considering attendances are down and hence match day income is on the decline Dougal

With the 1960s buildings on Bridge Street in need of a good wrecking ball.

Can I just say how much I hate these happy clappy memes some people come up with.

Remember that Hughes took over when we were flying in 2nd place. He left us 5 places lower. During his tenure Ross, G Shinnie, Watkins, Vincent, Mckay, Devine, Williams and Christie left. Can you name any outfield players he signed who have remained for Foran to work with and who could be regarded as replacements of equal or better quality? (Keeper excepted OFW in, Brill out - much of a muchness). This despite the significantly higher player budget than Butcher had. Don't get me started about the style of play. Last season was the most boring football I have seen anywhere, any time.

Why did Richie keep a pet Walrus fer six months when it was clear that he would not survive in the Moray Firth. Should be reported to the WWF.

Esson Brad MacKay Warren Meekings Tremarco Draper Tansey Doran King Anier Mckay

If the board sack RF does that mean they are admitting to making a monumental balls up in awarding a 4 year contract to a former player with no managerial CV. Personally I hope Foran can turn it around, relegation would be an absolute disaster that we might struggle to recover from.

Personally I think the board gave the job to RF to save their own skins. Whatever the ins and outs with JH they should have had a contingency plan in place when they realised things were going sour. For some reason this didnt happen, in fact was the job advertised and any other applicants interviewed ? What was on RF managerial CV that impressed the board so much that they awarded him such a generous contract ? Being a 'Club Legend' is not grounds to taking on a managerial position. If that was the case Grant Munro had more of a shout to being appointed, he at least had a managerial CV.

What depressing reading all this makes. There is barely a positive word, but then there is not a lot to be positive about. What there is to be positive about is that we do have a good squad of players (and great to get Billy Mckay back) but the big negatives are that they are almost all under-performing and our tactics are wrong. The question is - why? Lets look at a few issues regarding management and players. Whilst there have been issues up front, our problem this year has been shipping goals at the back. We have had options up front but precious few at the back. Yet in the transfer window we bring in 3 strikers but just one teenage defender. We remain very short of cover at the back. Strange. We have been increasingly reliant on the long punt despite the lack of a decent target man or having someone to play off him. Time after time the long punt up the park is easily mopped up by the opposition defence and our response is to do it more and more. Is this the manager's tactics (and if so, why?) or are players doing it as the easy option because nobody else is making themselves available? Meanwhile in Cole, Doran, King and Mulraney we have creative, pacey players who are capable of causing chaos in defences and the more we need their kind of influence on the park, the less they are played. Only recently Foran had been talking of Cole's qualities and the club seemed really anxious to extend his loan. He has been one of our best players in recent games and yet yesterday he was dropped to the bench! Why, when Foran pledged himself to "attack, attack,attack" is he not using his most creative players more? It is a basic truth that you should play to your strengths but it must be pretty obvious to everyone that we are patently failing to do that. That failing has to be down to management. But the players are not exempt from criticism. Richie said after last night's game that too many players seemed not to want the ball. That echoes what I said after the Partick game in that players just don't seem to be making the movement to either get into space to receive the ball or to make runs to disrupt the defence and make space for others. Performances have lacked urgency for a while and whilst you could say it is the manager's job to motivate players, I would say that players should not need anybody else to motivate them to give 100% every time they step onto the pitch. There are exceptions from this criticism, of course, and Carl Tremarco is the stand out here - player of the season by a country mile so far. When Graeme Shinnie left and Hughes was asked about how this would affect the captaincy and leadership on the park, he replied that he wasn't worried about that because he had leaders all over the park. One thought of players like Draper, Tansey and, of course, Gary Warren who actually took over the captaincy, It is the performance of these players which causes most concern. We need real leadership from Warren in particular both on and off the park, Has he got the confidence of his team mates? What is his relationship with Foran? What role do the players themselves have in influencing game plans? There are clearly some issues behind the scenes and the Chairman really needs to knock a few heads together, get to the bottom of where the problem lies and sort it out. After Richie picked up a Manager of the Month award things have gone steadily downhill and I think we are now probably at a tipping point. Get the tactics right, play to our strengths and enthuse the players with the approach and we can turn this round. Carry on as we are and this time next year we will be involved in another relegation battle - in the Championship. Over to you, Kenny.

I'm still of the view that appointing an inexperienced manager to a top flight club was a wrong move. I always hoped that I was wrong in this assumption but twelve games without a win kind of strengthens my views.

Can you provide evidence re this tho? Just because Richie is a good guy and a club legend it doesnt mean he is bomb proof!!!

Is it possible to throw the towel in now and save further embarrassment on national TV?

The current situation that we find ourselves in reminds me of the time when we could have got Paul Hartley in as manager. I recall being told that Kenny Cameron was reluctant to go ahead appointing Hartley due to his inexperience of handling a team in a relegation battle having only seen his Alloa team promoted twice in his tenure there. It will be interesting to know what Kenny Cameron's thoughts are towards the current run of form but I can't help but think Richie's managerial inexperience will be our own downfall. If we are keen to stick with Richie, he needs experienced help in the form of a director of football and Terry Butcher is that man.

It appears to me that Richie is trying too hard to win! The games against Dundee away and Rangers away were great performances, but without the 'composure' or 'luck' in front of goal. In his desperation to pick up a win, he has abondonned what was working! All that was required was a shoring-up of defence plus a bit of a cool head at the other end. it now appears that tactics, morale, composure and effort have all been thrown out the window-hoof it up the park for whoevers up there. Essentially the team that held on to the ball too long, now won't keep the ball at feet at all. Depressing stuff. Glad I didn't do myself out of wages for that! and if the players have lost heart and confidence in their manager, they need to remember who they play for! They need to play for the shirt! For the club! For the fans! For the little kids that cry when we lose! They need to remember who 'pays their wages'

Saturday was the most frustrated I have been at a game in years possibly ever . Apart from tremarco who has shown total commitment all season the rest of the team need to take a long hard look at themselves. Our tactics were poor again however that in no way excuses the complete lack of effort of tansey, Polworth, draper etc. They didn't commit to tackles track back or look remotely interested. Mistakes are forgivable lack of commitment is not and I don't buy the virus stuff and if it was true why on earth play then. Makes no sense. Tansey has a very short memory . It sounds like more of the same tonight and doing nothing is not an option. Feel really sorry for Richie but we won't get out of this with hit and hope football and someone needs to support/advice on tactics. Why on earth play four four two with the same hopeless midfield as Saturday when he had to change it after 25 mins on Saturday? That said if he has lost the dressing room the players and ringleaders need properly dealt with as trying to get your manager sacked by not performing is unforgivable!

****** it now. Even if you ignore the rumors coming from Inverness that Foran has lost the dressing room to the extent that players do not want to turn up to training, there was no greater proof of it than tonight. How can he continue to play Vigurs and Polworth out wide? He may think the players have bottled it, in my opinion he is the one that has bottled it. Hard to have any respect for him when he claims before Partick that it is a must win....until of course we scrape a lucky (was not at game, going by what fans have said) draw and it suddenly becomes a great point. Our relegation is as inevitable as Butcher's Hibs - we are a sinking ship. Cannot take one positive out of tonight.

I would rather have TB (Tuberculosis)

Terry Butcher still doesn't have a club...

I will wait to hear what those at the game have to say but it sounds as though Richie has learned nothing from his mistakes. We know that the players are good enough. The squad is the core of the squad which has stayed in this league for years. The problem lies with the management. I, as have most of us, have been supportive of Richie to date but the situation has become dire and we may have to do something before it's too late. We have another vital game on Saturday. Fail to win at home against Dundee then, with great regret, the manager's position will have to be seriously considered.

The old firm probably don't know what a 3 pm Saturday ko is anymore and they just get on with it, we can too. A lot of Celtic fans will want to see us get beat so I'm expecting a near full house. Let's just put up with the early fixture put this one to bed and hope for a better time in the next round.

Other than financially it's a terrible draw, but; - It was a draw full of terrible draws. Other than Stirling/Clyde or Ayr/QPFC I'd have been feart of any other team at the moment. Celtic is at least predictably terifying - It was, other than financially, a terrible draw in Feb 2000. Other than financially, it was a terrible draw for Denzil's winner at TCS. And it was the worst possible semi-final draw, and we all know how those turned out. Like, I suspect, many on here, I have no hope at all on current form, but history is on our side. Kinda.

It's a great draw for us. For a start it will bring in some money. If we win then we will get a huge boost and even more money. If we lose then at least we go out to a side which is expected to beat us. We would be able to focus on league survival without the distraction of a cup run and without the morale sapping knowledge that we have gone out to a side we should have beaten. The danger is that we get totally hammered. Celtic are very strong and we are somewhat vulnerable at the moment. Getting beat 5-0 would be very deflating but there is no real reason to think that is going to happen. Given our record against Celtic in the cup I would imagine that they would rather have avoided us. They know they should beat us comfortably but they also know how embarrassing it would be for them to lose to us yet again. As long as we make a good account of ourselves then we can be happy with that and can then focus on the main business. Actually it is a decent draw all round with a potential Edinburgh derby, County v the Dons and a guarantee that 2 sides from the lower divisions reach the last 8. By the way - any chance of signing Paul Sheerin in the January window?

Shocking display of defeatism from some ICT fans. Bring on the Celtic!

Saw this on tw@tter

Looks like CaleyD has had a busy day Dougal

Just putting it out there. Would it work if TB came back as a DoF role to mentor Richie? Both guys have a great relationship or they did anyway

I think I'm going to keep out of this having been to..... well you can't really say "Damascus" these days... for my holidays, so let me just describe myself as having had a moment of Epiphany! In order to perform an administrative function with an organisation I'm involved with, I've had to join Facebook - with the collateral effect of having become aware of comments on the Facebook pages of the likes of the SNP, Nicola Sturgeon, Humza Yousaf and the National "newspaper". So, having taken a few scans through that lot, all I can say to the people on here is - sorry folks... I have probably been far too scathing of a lot you have said on here about the nationalist question, now I have seen the emanations of some of these other pages! I am actually being quite serious here by saying that. Compared with what I have now seen elsewhere from far more SNP supporters than you would ever find on here, the Nats on CTO present well argued, literate (especially literate!), polite cases with not an expletive, term of abuse or outburst of paranoia in sight. So with the genuine observation that Oddquine is actually a relative moderate, I will bid you all good night again and return to a much happier hunting ground for winding up nationalists!

Richie's love of the club or our love for him has nothing to do with it, can he do the job or not, all evidence to date says he can't. Further, blaming the backroom staff is nonsensical, the Manager is in charge of football matters, he can overrule coaches if he thinks it necessary. Coaching is about fitness, pre set routines you are likely to encounter in matches, drills to cement good practices and improve touch, set plays offensive and defensive. The Manager sets out the team and tactics.Frankly, failure to track opposition runs would see you dropped from teams at almost any level especially if repeated and I have seen it time and time again this season.This sloppy, lazy defensive work should have been nipped in the bud but has been allowed to continue throughout the season, who carries the can for that?

DD Shinnie, McKay, Watkins and Christie would have gone irrespective of who the manager was, JH had no say in these, Vincent and Devine were bit part players whom the Directors were presumably happy to let go.These players had cost us nothing so the "Budget" was nowhere near sufficient to go and buy replacements which was JH's main beef with the board. Had replacements been available don't you think the club would have signed them in the summer break before RF took over? Despite the loss of those players JH still managed 7th in the league whatever you may have thought about the style of play.I have said in other posts the current squad should have been good enough for a mid table finish with an experienced manager which we don't have.

Quote If you want to make a political point please post in the appropriate forum,....then again, we don't have a forum for bizarre and ridiculous conspiracy theories. Kingsmill,a) I was not making a political point. b) it's not a conspiracy theory it's a conspiracy fact clearly you watch too much BBC propaganda http://www.ukcolumn.org/article/bbc-media-action-subversion-broadcasting-house-kazakhstan