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Pretty much reprising what I've written elsewhere....I'm a South Londoner born and bred, as far as I am aware I don't have any Scottish blood in me (just in my soul!), although one ancestry firm suggested my surname (Lyon) was linked to the Farquharson, it could be tosh but the tartan's pretty! I first became aware of ICT one night listening to the radio, now who were they playing?...ah yes Celtic, in that famous victory. I gradually took more notice of Caley over the subsequent years, having a strange desire to find a Scots team to support (although I once toyed with Partick!), I remember being surprisingly upset that Caley were relegated in 2009. I have supported Palace since I was 14 (I'm 59 now) and once I discovered that Caley also play in Red n Blue stripes that sealed the deal. I first saw the stadium in October 2012 whilst on a tour of the Highlands with my eldest daughter, persuading our guide to take a wee diversion. My first live game was Ross County at home 16th March 2013 (we won 2-1 with Charlie Taylor being brought down for the resultant winning penalty). That first trip really did cement what is now a love affair. My first away game was Charlton in a friendly, I've been to two Cup finals, and memorably did the Celtic cup semi final having watched Palace v WBA on the Saturday then taking a Megabus sleeper upto Glasgow where I met up with CaleyMad for the early kick-off. My wife has been up to Inverness twice with me for matches, we both love Inverness, personally I find a walk along the Ness never fails to stir a sense of wellbeing! My eldest daughter nearly got to see Hearts away with me in December a couple of seasons back, but the match was called off due to high winds. Not being from Inverness the pre-merger stuff is very much alien to me, it's clear there is still a legacy that still seems to affect how some people see the club...that said many years ago Palace and Wimbledon toyed with a merger which definitely raised the hackles of most supporters, and of course the infamous relocation of the Wimbledon to Milton Keynes, and subsequent rebirth of Wimbledon localy as AFC underscores what local loyalties mean to people. I think my work colleagues think I'm ever so slightly bonkers, but they enjoyed the celebratory cakes when we won the Cup. I've never seen Palace win anything (unless play-off finals count). Obviously it takes a bit a planning to come up for games working round Palace home games and stuff, but Easyjet are pretty good price wise. Watching Caley is a strange release, certainly different from the madhouse EPL, I really like the stadium's setting and the weather always seem half decent when I come up (although the Celtic home match last March mid-week was effing cold walking back). BTW I'm sure I mention Palace a bit too much on this site, for which I apologise, I'm quite at ease with supporting two teams, and despite the EPL millions, I see both teams in the same light, not necessarily glamourous, perhaps punching above our weight at times, but any honours or success is treasured, and it's always great to get one over the bigger boys!

Certainly being born and bred in Inverness is a good reason to support ICT, especially if you are young enough not to have had any allegiance to the 3 Highland League teams before Caley and Thistle merged. For us oldies however (and I know that at 76, I am one of the oldest on the forum), it was not just a case of being born in Inverness, but which specific part of the town you came from which determined in many cases which team you supported. Obviously the Merkinchers supported Clach (and still do), those from 'up the hill' supported Thistle, but Caley's catchment area was not so well defined. I suppose the growth of the Dalneigh housing scheme provided a good number of Caley's core support. But my own case was different. Living near Holm Mills, and with parents uninterested in football, it was only when I was about 9 or 10 that a neighbour just a few years older took me and a friend to our first Highland League match. It was Clach v Caley at Grant St and Caley won 2-0. I was hooked from that day onwards. I still remember the wonderful Caley team of the early 50s. Willie Bruce, the keeper and Donnie (Ginger) McKenzie, the inside left, were my favourites.. In fact Donnie's sister and one of my much older sisters were best friends, and I can still remember how thrilled I was to meet him socially on a few occasions.. Many years later I was a guest of him and his wife in their home in Winnipeg, Canada, and I well remember chewing the fat about Caley well into the wee small hours. Very soon after that first match, my parents and I moved to Hilton, where most of my friends , and also most of my school friends right through my six years in the Academy, were Thistle supporters. So, but for that fortunate trip to see Clach v Caley, it is entirely possible that I could have ended up a Jags supporter. Leaving school at 18, I then studied in Glasgow, followed almost immediately with a couple of years in Canada, so I never really lived in Inverness again except for college vacation periods, and a few months in 1964 when I returned from Canada, before, later that year, moving down south, initially to London and about 3 years later, to Twyford in Berks where I've been ever since. My love for Caley never waned however, even though I only got to see them a couple of times a year when on holiday back in Inverness. Well do I remember these 13/14 hour drives through the night with the 3 kids stretched out in the back of the Morris Traveller. (Couldn't do that these days!). I was not in favour of the merger in 1994, and would have voted against it had I been in Inverness at the time. However, I soon embraced the newly formed team. And, that year, 1994, coincided with me leaving the corporate world and going it alone as a computer consultant. Some of my clients were in Scotland so I'd arrange Friday meetings when possible so that I could incorporate an ICT match. Also, my children were 'off our hands' by then, so getting up to Scotland at short notice was a lot easier. So, I probably managed to see ICT at least 4 or 5 times a season, and even a bit more frequently after we made it into the SPL, by which time I was retired. I've not managed as many trips in the last couple of years as BA have changed their schedules and the last plane from either Glasgow or Edinburgh to London is now about 19.30 which makes it just a bit tight for getting up and down in a day. So my trips north nowadays usually have to incorporate an overnight stay as well, which for both time and cost reasons, make them less attractive. But my love for ICT remains. I have never had a 'big club' either in Scotland or England. I just hope that we can survive these terrible times we are going through at present (and all last season) and that we can regain at least some of our former glory.

I wouldn't waste time getting irritated, inordinately or otherwise, about three or four dozen bitter and increasingly middle aged souls, who were marginalised a quarter of a century ago and who are all but irrelevant now.

P & J today OFW stakes his claim for ICT return after playing against Brora on Tuesday night where ICT won 2 nil goals from Oakley & Danny Mackay, Tremarco played full game as did Susan.

Im not sure, given our prices, we are in position to criticise other clubs pricing tbh

Brechin don't set Dumbarton's prices.

Enough of this romancing the stone, lads. My eyes are moist because I will never forget the final when Caley Thistle won the Scottish Cup.That final goal propelled me to leap off my comfy couch, jump at least two feet in the air and missing the hanging ceiling fan by no more than two inches and punch the air beside one of my former employees who has remained a friend of myself and my son. If I had had a tenant in my basement suite at that precise moment I am sure she would have ran screaming out the door because the sound I made was a cross between a shriek and a bellow from ma banshee. Anyway, no doubt about it, that kind of experience cements loyalty like no other ever could. And Very fond memories too. It's like having an organism --- which is either a small beastie or a small orgasm. Sooooooo.... Eagle --I can look it up but the surname Lyon is a pretty pukka Monicker unless I am mistaken. The lord Lyon King at Arms is a rather famous accolade for a VIP isn't it. O.K I will deffo look it up for you under a clan surname website that I like a lot, is well researched and interesting. Caley Mad in Berks, yes you are definitely old at 75. But once you reach 79 you get a second breath and another kick at the cattie, you hope your eyesight improves, you now hope that your constantly very tight and sore lower back would relent and when your wife has a coughing fit, because she swallowed a prune stone, you think she is laughing at, and abusing, you since she is 20 years younger than you are. Your sojourns across the Atlantic interest me too since , like you, I have spent a large part of my life outside the U K, you In Winnipeg (where the snow is deeper and the frosted snowpersons more rigid than in the far reaches of the USSR ) trying to recover from that affliction called "frozen brass b.lls on a monkey" and me for liking it so much in the very beautiful city of Vancouver, British Columbia that I stayed there against all odds. for the last 43 or so years. Where, incidentally, I am more afflicted by ice hockey than I am about the local NASL football team, the Whitecaps. So, to wind up this blether, my loyalty to ICT which was first germinated in the stand at Telford street when I was introduced to senior Highland League soccer for the first time by a dear friend of mine who is now 89 years old and still gong strong, will always pull me back to the birth of the Blues (no pun intended) and the last exciting and wonderful few years and probably until the end of time.

You don't know what team I used to follow though.....! I wasn't that old when the merger happened (early 20s), so maybe was easier for me to break ties (eventually) & follow my local team...we should all, as proud Invernesians (by birth or location) get behind ICT...the refuseniks still irritate me inordinately!

Oh and I see his brother Ally Ridgers must've voted too...

Be interesting to see if that performance has any bearing at all on team selection for Dumbarton. Somehow I cant see OFW being ahead of Ridgers, but to even see him on the bench would be a good start. I really hope Robbo will not do what Foran did and ostracise players purely to avoid admitting he might have been wrong. OFW had his clangers last 2 seasons, but overall he looked the part of a confident and competent GK with perhaps a little extra coaching required. Ridgers looks more like the backup that's never used and hasn't played any competitive football for a few years

Spot on.

Vigurs played really well in the first half hour. As well as the ball for the goal, he also played a bute in for Baird in the first minute - these are the kind of killer passes that should win games - and this praise from Vigurs biggest critic last year (when he was truly mince, except for the last few games). Polworth at least shows some heart: With about 10 minutes left, he charged back from an attacking pisition to put in a challenge on the edge of our box, while everybody else gave Livi the freedom of the park. Trafford, Vigurs and Polworth would be my first picks on the teamsheet. The rest are the problem...

A few thoughts: As I wrote on the Livingston matchday thread, we have a real lack of quality at the back and up front. Out of the back four and keeper that played on Saturday, only Raven can be trusted. Tremarco is a huge upgrade, both defensively and going forward, on Chalmers. In the centre we have a real problem; Warren and McKay are both really struggling - I worry that the former's decline is now irreversible (much like Grant Munro around the time County binned him), while McKay has the physical tools but can't put a solid 90 minutes together without several errors. However Elsdon doesn't look ready and Donaldson is a bit of an unknown quantity so I don't know what we can do here. Moving Raven or Tremarco inside would weaken us in the full-back areas. As for in goal, Robbo needs to make his peace with OFW, and fast. Up front, part of the issue is players seem to have been brought in without a specific role in mind, as shown by the frequent changes in formation between matches. The lack of pace is a real weakness - Baird used to have some but, like Warren, he looks to be past his best. Cooper is neat and tidy but offers very little creativity or threat. Bell looks a clever customer who could work well with a partner, but I was disappointed by how knackered he looked after an hour on Saturday. Oakley? He had a good hour against Dundee United; I often feel it is harsh to criticize sub strikers for a lack of impact as it can be hard to pick up the pace of a game. If we were to play him along with a clever creative player and a pacy winger (Bingham-Ritchie-Wilson anyone?) I think that would be a decent combo. Which brings me to Mulraney - I'm going to go against the grain here and defend him a bit. Too rarely is he put in a situation where he can make a major impact - 20 minutes against a packed Livingston defence is no good for a player who is all about building up speed and dribbling past players, as there is no space to operate in. His few good performances have been against teams who have been playing wing backs (Accies in May) or have very adveturous full-backs (Rangers in January) - Livingston fell into the former category and in hindsight he would have been a far more useful option than Cooper from the start. He's not done a lot to justify my faith but I do feel that he shouldn't be written off until he's actually started a few games in succession, rather than a cameo here and there. And he's the only quick attacker we have. When Doran is fully fit I'd play him, Oakley and Mulraney as the front three. (Puts on tin hat, awaits incoming...)

I was about to post on this thread but you have said it all for me and said it very well. We have been very fortunate indeed to spend almost a decade and a half in the top division beating every leading team in the land. That's something that few of us could have dreamed of in the Highland League days when away trips were to Rothes or Brora and a huge target every season was to reach the semi finals of the Qualifying Cup to reach the tournament proper at get 'glamour ties' against the likes of Queens Park or Stirling Albion. I recall the season that the Jags beat Kilmarnock and we all boarded the football special train to Glasgow and a match against Celtic at Parkhead. I didn't much care that we were beaten 6-0. I was watching my beloved Jags play one of the then best teams in Europe and truly thought it would be a once in a lifetime experience. Little did I think then that there would be another visit to the East End of Glasgow that would shake Scottish football to it's foundations and would lead to us going toe to toe with the most mighty teams in the land for the majority of the next two decades beating all of them with some regularity. Yes, the last two seasons have been disappointing and this one is looking far from promising but that has to be put in context. Look where we've come from and look where we still are compared to that. The very good times will come again although it may take a few years but, in the meantime, we all need to stick with it as true supporters should. That goes for everyone from us old stagers still dewy eyed about memories of Titchy Black or Billy Urqhart or even Jupie Mitchell or Bobby Bolt to the young crew who have only known the good times so far. We are Inverness Caledonian Thistle and we may no longer be the 'pride of the Highlands but we are here still and hugely proud of what we have achieved so far and what we will go on to achieve in the future.

Inverness FC would have been good. Personally, I can't see that having a Highland League team in Inverness as well as ICT serves any useful purpose. All it does is reduce our gates and income a little bit more making success that little bit harder to achieve.

Dont agree with this at all. Seedorf, Zak, Trafford ,Calder, Bell , Oakley when fit all look like decent prospects at this level who will develop. Polwarth is now being Used correctly. Chalmers I think has had a couple of decent touches and looks fitter than the first few games. Think Ridgers baird, and elsdon are very suspect. This is a much better ratio than last years donkeys to winners ratio.

In the 1960s, and in common with many Dalneigh kids, I started out as a Caley supporter - one of those who "jooped in" over the gate at the Howden End and then collected the Mackintosh's empties for the 3d refunds at the club shop. Like IBM, I also drifted away during the 70s (drifted away, as opposed simply to being unable to remember that decade ) partly due to an "educational absence". Many will be aware that athletics is my number one sport, and it's also fair to say that match reporting for the BBC helped to bring me back to football. I was never a totally partisan Caley fan and always also had a lot of regard for Clach and Thistle, which was probably a result of my commitment to Inverness as a whole. As a result, the merger, plus importantly leaving Clach to represent the town in the Highland League, was always a very favourable outcome for me. I've always reckoned you can trace the historical roots of the formation of this club back to around 1987, so this means that, as a sports journalist, I have now for 30 years studied on an almost daily basis the rise (and latterly the fall) of ICTFC. This has very much included behind the scenes goings on but I have to say that, rather like Lord Palmerston and the Schleswig-Holstein Question and despite a number of privileged insights, I have still never been satisfied that I have understood it. How come a relatively poorly supported and resourced club which has only ever had one major sugar daddy some years back, and that in response to a £2M+ debt, managed to win the Scottish Cup, play in Europe, reach the SPL and its criteria in a decade, finish 3rd in the table etc etc. And equally, how come, following an incredibly successful three years or so which culminated in winning that Scottish Cup, there has been such a frighteningly rapid fall from grace? Despite constant exposure to the underlying issues, I still feel that I really don't have a secure handle on this at all.

I thought Chalmers was one of our better players on Saturday. In my uninformed opinion we need to go with a more defensive setup. I would go with a back 5, at least for the time being to shore up our position. We have the pace to hurt teams on the counter attack and score more than our fair share from set pieces. As such, we should be quite content to sit back, allow our opponents to dominate possession and put the impetus on them to break us down. Ridgers MacKay Raven Warren Chalmers Tremarco Vigurs Mulraney Polworth Calder Bell