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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.

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 !!!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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 .

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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!

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

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.

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.

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.

Just to let you all know that Eric Davidson (ictewd) passed away this morning 1st March 2023. He was admitted to the hospice on Friday and he said "at least I will get WiFi in there and will try and do team lines etc as it will give me something to do". Unfortunately he was unable to manage anything and passed away this morning. Eric was a keen follower of rugby in his younger days and would have been a regular at the Barrel Vault. Eric was not a prolific poster on here, but did a tremendous amount of work in the background. He was a quiet unassuming man and after joining BT he did some studying to make his way to being a precision tester at BT, and a good friend since the 70's and along with Iain (IBM) has been working behind the scenes to help keep the site stats ticking over. Typical of Eric, he was happy to work in the background whilst others would get the glory and went about his CTO business in a dilligent and professional manner. I will miss him greatly for his contributions on here, probably unnoticed by many. More importantly, he will missed by all who knew him. Condolences to all friends and family, especially his wife Anne. x

I want to take a few moments to say a huge public thank-you to 3 specific forum members who have been toiling behind the scenes to update our entire stats program during the course of the pandemic. Its mind-numbing and repetitive work but it helps us immensely. Step forward: @IBM @ictewd and last but not least @tm4tj We are now at a stage where, if you go into any of the sub-menus from the main menu items shown below, the data you are presented with should be complete. This was a truly gargantuan task with every ICT game needing to be entered, team lines added, checking for yellow/red cards, substitutions and all sorts of other data. It also involved going through every single season and entering ALL the results for every team from that division for every season so the league table in the match report area showed the weekly table within a tab in the match stats .... If you want to check how it works ... go back to the fixtures page for season 2009/10 and relive Dundee's bottle crashing by viewing the table for each week as the season progresses ... its fun : https://caleythistleonline.com/team/fixtures.html/. Ross Tokely, for years had the wrong number of appearances in our stats as some of the earlier seasons had incorrect or missing data. Not anymore. He is rightly at the top of the charts with his 589 appearances and 36 goals. 36 goals! That makes him our 10th top scorer of all time ... With Dennis Wyness now showing his 101 goals as the top scorer ... These stats have all been checked against Ian Broadfoot's stats which are and will forever remain the gold standard for ICT data, so I know the guys have done a tremendous job when it matches with those stats. A big benefit of having all this data up to date is the TM4TJ can have confidence to use our own stats in the previews and reports instead of having to go searching multiple sources to verify any information, which has meant that more recently he has had these online either in real-time or barely 10 minutes after the match has ended. I cannot thank these guys enough for all this effort, because I know how much it takes to keep it up to date. Separately to the stats stuff, TM4TJ has also spend a s***load of time going back many years and entering and updating match reports which is why you might see them on your feed as new items every so often. Whilst I have not been completely active in the data entry process, I have been around in the background tweaking and adjusting the coding within the stats program and trying to see if I can pull more data out of the database using my somewhat limited PHP/SQL skills. This work will continue because the guys - after taking a well-earned break - are hoping to go through the player data and get the player profiles entered/updated and up to date. We ask for volunteers all the time but this time around we hit the jackpot with @ictewd and @IBM. If anyone else wants to get in on the act and help us to enter player data or other info or offer help with other stuff, then please let myself or @tm4tj know. Those people who keep an eye out for EX-ICT scorers for example may want to help with highlighting a player's other clubs in their profile. I also know TM4TJ is always looking for people to help with articles, and I would be especially keen to hear from anyone with PHP/SQL skills, especially if you have knowledge of converting PHP5 to PHP7 as that's another project I have in the works for the stats as they were originally written in the earlier version. Once again THANK YOU guys. It truly is appreciated.

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!

Best of Luck Greg - Thanks for the great memories ?

Well it is part and parcel of my job and has been for 45 years. Taking calls two nights a week at the moment. BUT calling a NHS run Mental Health "Crisis" Line is not the whole answer unless you are in Mental Health Services, have a recognised diagnosis and the "Risk" level is deemed "High". I am mainly sought to action Section 136 presentations or MHA Assessments. Of course that is usually urgent and needed. But it is often life events, loss and potential loss that eats away - leading to guilt, hopelessness, worthlessness and helplessness - and often when we "bottle" it up another kind of bottle is a coping mechanism. Many people who call want to maintain strict confidentiality and often anonimity, many are still put off by the stigma and most just want to talk and be consoled. Primary Care Mental Health has been overloaded and waiting lists are "ridiculous". I have heard good and bad feedback from the large number of helplines available. Over the years I have found that it is usually the ones who have perfected the "cover" or act impulsively, that often choose the suicide route. I bet that word made people shiver. Should I have used it ? To me the only way to ask about "suicide risk" is to be direct and blunt. Not at all easy but I would say - Ask the question. Well I am now off to an assessment. A young 19 year old who made a serious attempt at the weekend. The aim will be to establish the risk and to try and establish the precipitators. But as Gringo succinctly pointed out - Tell someone - In fact identify somebody close to you NOW and get them to be your "buddy" and make an agreement to act when necessary. As the tears begin to fall again - I wished that you had called out mate - there were so many who would have answered the call.

We didn't 'bottle' it. We overcame a very talented and rather highly paid development team of a club with close to twenty five times our income in horrendous weather conditions and in the face of two terrible officiating decisions one of which deprived us of a penalty and a player for a large chunk of the second half and the other of a perfectly valid goal. A little more positively on reaching a national final might not go amiss.

I feel obliged to start this thread in praise of John Robertson and how he set us up today, imho, he got it spot on. As most of you know, I am not always Robbo's biggest supporter so by starting this, I'm kind of admitting my errors regarding that. I spoke with the site manager last week and basically apologised for some of my posts and reactions in the past and we came to a mutual agreement that, after a bad result, I will leave it a day or two before posting, in order to calm down. I thanked him and all the mods for being reasonable with me so, I promise them all that I will not be a pain anymore. Anyway, back to today, I say everyone involved with the club deserve credit for this cup run :ictscarf:.

The negative; that we no longer have a chance of promotion but we knew that, in our heart of hearts, at five to five last Saturday. The positives; despite our poor financial position and despite what the scaremongers and agitators are trying to imply, we are not entering administration any time soon. We have a manager who was clearly rusty after more than a decade away from the game but who now seems to have rediscovered his mojo. We have a squad of players who, after disastrous start to the season and a mediocre middle, have now gelled and have built up considerable confidence and momentum to carry into next season We have, at last, not just one but two forwards capable of scoring with a third young striker full of potential waiting in the wings. We also have the advantage of, as early as April, knowing exactly where we will be next season and with what budget so have months to prepare accordingly and, by the looks of things, already are. All in all much to look forward to and feel positive about next season, including the increasing likelihood of derby matches. I, for one, can hardly wait.

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.

Don't agree with all the negative comments on here I thought the boys did okay especially the first half. I thought ourback three of Mullen, Savage and Carracher did well enough and looked solid its our final third where we are struggling. 3-1 flattered Hibs,the first two goals were a deflections and a mistake. Dorans goal was quality. We need to up the tempo and be more proactive. I agree we need a striker and just a shame Samuel was out injured.

How is this helping the team. It seems that we have a core of "supporters " who profess to support the team but won't actually attend any games as they believe, in that doing so, they give support to the board. What garbage, if more fans actually attended games, instead of finding reasons to not attend, we may be in a better position financially and be able to challenge the board more robust. Whatever you think of the board, the majority have invested substantially in the club, with little hope of any return. True, they have made mistakes and communication is terrible but they have put their money into the club. It's a pity some fans don't want to put theirs into the club because they don't like the board or CEO.

He became manager there five days before the transfer window closed. Not that easy to sign an entire squad in that time. And the few signings he did make included Onyango from Everton (who has been on the bench several times for the first team) and Robbie Savage's son from Man Utd, who had been considered good enough to play once for the first team there. Given our previous managers include Baltacha (first managerial job), Paterson (only managed in the Highland League), Robertson (first managerial job), Brewster (first managerial job), Christie (first managerial job), Brewster again (had been a disaster at Dundee United), Butcher (did great at Motherwell but rotten in Australia and at Brentford before coming to us), Hughes (hadn't been great at Hibs), Foran (first managerial job), Robertson (hadn't managed anyone in forever) and Dodds (first managerial job) I don't particularly see why Ferguson should be considered less qualified than so many of his predecessors.

Let’s all put and end to these rumours about Roddy. He’s been hit by Covid pre Christmas quite badly. When he got back he tore his thigh. He should have received a scan but didn’t and ended up coming back to training too early with the result that he damaged it again. He has been at the gym every day since he’s been out. He’s absolutely gutted about what’s happened and is desperate to get back to help the team. A situation very far removed from the “refusing to train” bollocks I’ve just read!

For example: In the Jailend- where your brother is your dad In the Jailend- where your team is just so bad In the Jailend - Caley always make you sad In the Jailend, in the Jailend

AND THE MORAL OF THIS CHRISTMAS FAIRY TALE IS – WE ARE ALL FROM DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS – WE ALL HAVE DIFFERENT PERSONALITIES – WE ALL HAVE OUR DIFFERENT VIEWS – WE ALL HAVE A RIGHT TO AGREE OR DISAGREE BUT IT SHOULD BE DONE IN “THE BEST POSSIBLE TASTE” – BUT AT THE END OF THE DAY – WE ARE ALL INVERNESS CALEDONIAN THISTLE SUPPORTERS – TILL WE FECKIN DIE – AND WE SHOULD ALL RESPECT EACH OTHER FOR PURELY BEING THAT.

Club representatives have recently indicated (to others) that they have no confidence in dealing with any group, organisation or body that has any association with or involvement from Don (@CaleyD ) ... whether that is CTO (where he has not held any role for many years other than being a member like most users), whether that is the Trust (where he is the democratically elected Chairperson), or it would seem with InTorNet Design, our jointly owned hosting and website design service, where the club will not reply to our emails (but will make factually incorrect statements about us to un-associated third parties). I will leave the Trust and Donald to address the issues involving them as they are not my concern, but I will defend both this site and perhaps more importantly my business by any means necessary from both scurrilous rumour and downright defamation. However, I will not go into further detail on that subject for now. Based on the above I would say not to hold your breath for any answer on here. To get an answer would require dialogue and as much as I personally reached out to both the chairman and the CEO in an attempt to maintain the cordial and mutually beneficial dialogue we have had with every single board of ICTFC since the club and this website were formed in 1994 - regardless of sometimes fraught interpersonal relationships with those involved - it seems impossible to continue to attempt to do so in such a one-sided fashion and be completely ignored by those who have been put in place by our shareholders to bring good stewardship and responsible governance to our club. The crux of the issue, in my opinion, seems to be power and control. It would seem that the current incumbents think that ceding any responsibility or involvement to others outside their tight circle erodes their power (the reluctance to put a named person in the SLO position is a prime example) or that groups like the Trust or CTO seek power and/or influence over them. This is not new, other people in those roles viewed the Members' Club, Supporters Club, CJT, CTO and others suspiciously in the past. However, it has been shown time after time that these relationships are intended to be symbiotic and collaborative in nature and can (and have) actually help(ed) them in many ways. I cannot and will not talk for the Trust as I am not involved, but I can say that CTO has no interest in having any power or influence at the club. What I do, and have done for the last 25 years is simply to provide a platform for supporters of the club to talk about issues, good or bad, surrounding the club. I did this initially as a hobby because there was no other platform available, and although other platforms now exist and all are equally valid, I continue to do it from 3500+ miles away as it keeps me in touch with Inverness, ICT, friends and others. We still get between 500-600 unique users per day, nearly 2000 unique users per week and upwards of 25,000 page views on an average week so although this is less traffic than our heyday as some prefer the other platforms or social media, and there has been a drop now we are in the championship too, its still not insignificant viewing numbers. Sometimes what is posted on the site are good things that draw praise, other times those are negative things that draw criticism, but through it all I think CTO has been shaped over the last 25 years by the users and we have, by and large, set our own standards where users more or less self-police the system and dont let things go too much in either direction. Look at some other football fora or indeed the various social media platforms to see discussions that spiral dangerously into territory our users do not allow. If the club choose to read the views of individual supporters and reach out to them or to change things at the stadium based on suggestions posted here - or indeed sent to them by any other means - then more power to their elbow, if they choose to ignore requests sent via any format then that is their right, but also their risk. As a supporter I will call them out when I think they get it wrong, but I will have no hesitation in praising them when I think they get it right .... and despite what is posted above, I do think there are many things they have got right and are getting right and which I hope to see them continue to improve and get right as they move forward. (the e-Programmes and the recent stadium commentary initiative to name but two) As the club appear to have made a conscious decision not to acknowledge or respond to my emails, I will once again make this clear in a public forum ..... I remain open to working with the club, and having CTO be one of those avenues they (continue to) use to help communicate with the fans as they have stated on the website, in the matchday program, as part of their recent email blast, and on social media .... but I will do it in the same manner as I have done for the last 25 years. I don't do bullshit, I don't do politics, and I don't accept bullying behaviour be it overt in nature or passive aggressive. I am also not going to sugar coat my responses to anyone in email or on here. I have the ability to separate the personal, professional, and leisure aspects of my life and will happily work with others who share that ability and don't let personal grievances bleed over into other areas. I am more than happy to enter into public/private dialogue with the club, be it the chairman, CEO, a named SLO, or anyone else ... can they say the same ?

Tell you what. If you had chanted in public that my sister was of dubious morality, I’d have been a damned sight ruder back to you than Liam Polworth was on Saturday on twitter. I’d have slaughtered you publically. For a guy who, according to weekly shouts from the stands and in these forums, doesn’t care and is downright lazy, it’s a common shout that has its origins in a pack mentality and precious little to do with reality. I’m lucky. I’ve been granted access to our players over the years in a capacity that has allowed me to see the reactions to success and failure close up and personal and Liam Polworth is a player who gives everything for this club. Not one of you saw the absolute roasting he was giving himself at half time for missing that penalty. He does that a lot and I’ve seen on here before that this is him “moaning” at others. Wrong, it’s at himself. I’ve heard it said frequently that he is lazy and drifts in and out of games, doesn’t track back and can’t place a pass. What is happening is that he has to hang back, look for the big picture and try the unexpected. That’s his role. It may or may not come off but look at his statistics – he’s created more in this team than any other midfielder in years. Those with short memories might like to look at the similar treatment Vigurs got when he was here. What both missed was a foil – a Tansey or Draper who would share the burden. Polworth doesn’t have that luxury. I’ve watched him go from possibly the quietest and least assertive lad in the dressing room to one who will now step up and represent his team when asked to. He is surprisingly vocal at times. A lot of this has coincided with his becoming a parent. He’s grown up. However he’s grown up in an environment that is judgemental, unsupportive and is now becoming abusive despite him being one of the players at the club of genuine premier league quality. Why do you think St. Mirren are alleged to be interested? Brian Rice knows this boy, how he trains and performs , what his strengths are and the best way to enable him. No wonder they are interested. Rice knows that Polworth is a player, a performer whose confidence can be fragile. Nothing can destroy that confidence quicker than your own fans constant (and it is constant) criticism and now abuse from our own fans. What worries me most is the air of resigned disgust from some for this – it has gone beyond creating a siege mentality for the team and has become corrosive. I'm heartened to see the support from his boss and fellow players and fans that he is getting now. It's just a shame it had to come to this. Liam Polworth can do nothing to alter this situation and if it was me, I’d make him captain for the game on Tuesday night, identify the people leading Saturday’s chants (it’s not difficult) and change it. The only people who can alter things in the stands, however, are the supporters; challenge the abusive ones, temper the criticism and maximise the encouragement. It’s called being a fan.

Even more reason for our fans to get behind the team next season. Grab a season ticket, get along to some more games, buy the new strip do whatever you can to get behind the team and help them get back to the Premiership scudding County along the way

Who would I like to see at ICT next season? About 2,000 more fans would be good.

A brave attempt. Strengthen in the summer and get off to a flyer next season and see where it takes us. Remember what an absolute mess ICTFC were in only 36 games ago. Special credit goes to Robbo. He came into a toxic club, with barely a team to talk of. He took a shedload of flak from many fans, then turns things around dramatically, with a Cup Win and narrowly missing out on PLay Offs.

We are back on the 'body language' / 'attitude' stuff for Polworth again I see. Liam Polworth has had an absolute beast of a season. He has had 16 assists in the Championship, six more than the next best player, more than gjuys like Lewis Morgan, Stephen Dobbie. That's playing in a team that's been in the bottom half the table for practically the entire season without a striker who has a decent number of goals. On the run that we've had at the end of the season he's scored or assisted eight of the twenty goals we've scored.

Well i enjoyed yet another memorable ICT away day. Those who i expected to see i met and saw. Nowt wrong with the atmosphere. As fer the game it was poor but both teams set up defrnsively. Loads of positives to me. Ridgers has cemented his place and really is a solid keeper. Donaldson was immense, Tremarco is the Duracell Bunny, Polworth ran his socks off as did Oakley and we appear to have unearthed a wee cracker in MacKay - simply has to be signed up - with sell on clauses - and given some real game time. We never looked troubled, defensively we kept it tight and shaped, thought we played some pretty stuff a times BUT as all season lacked the killer touch in the last third and lack of a proficient striker. We deserved to win. Our heads could have gone down after that deplorable penalty kicked but we kept to the age old adage of keeping going to the final whistle. Respect to the team and the loyal away support. Just need to get out of the play off spot and start planning gor nect season. Cant believe that so many are whingeing. To me it was a last gasp winner, just as stimulating and enjoyable as the Vincent clincher at Hampden - and giving most fans a well deserved, albeit wholly unexpected cup winning experience in the worst season in years. We are still alive and kicking and the only way is up dudes. Have a nice day ☺

What an extraordinary statement from CJT. CJT held an AGM on 5th December 2017. As is evident on a very lengthy thread elsewhere, very short notice was given for this meeting and many members received no notification. Due to the short notice, I was unable to attend but it seems as though the meeting was a shambles. I am not aware that CJT have issued any report or minute of that meeting but Caley D summed up his impression of the meeting by posting "Long and short of it.....the society is currently in abeyance due to having insufficient board members. An EGM will be held at some point in the future (no timescale was given) to rectify this and bring it back into proper operating order." In CJT's statement above there is reference to a Board meeting being held; that the Board is now up to 6 members and that this Board is now seeking 4 more members. But there is no mention of holding an EGM. Why not? The statement says "We need to know what’s important to you". I would have thought what is important to us is clear from the 6 page thread elsewhere on the forum. We want a supporters' body which is representative of the supporters, which actively works in the interests of the supporters and which keeps the supporters fully informed. Instead, we appear to have a self-appointed group who, over many years, appear to have done very little in representing supporters' interests, have consistently failed to communicate with the members and who appear to be acting unconstitutionally by simply ignoring what I understand was an unopposed call at the AGM for an EGM. The statement goes on to say "We are actively working to update membership records so we would like to encourage you to respond promptly." Just what exactly are people supposed to respond to? Is this supposed to mean that yet again members are expected contact CJT to tell them we are members? And if we don't, will we be deemed not to be members? The statement refers to a proposed meeting with Graeme Rae. Surely it is quite inappropriate for such a meeting to take place before the EGM takes place? It is vital that communication with the club on behalf of the supporters is carried out by people who have a remit from the supporters. It seems strange that after weeks of silence, this anonymous statement should appear so soon after Davie's recent post in which he stated that he would attempt to call an EGM with the aim of calling for the resignation of the existing Board membersand electing a new Board to take CJT forward. I will be interested to hear what progress Davie is making in due course. But one thing is clear. This mess has to be cleared up ASAP both to protect the voting rights and to give the supporters a genuine voice within the club. We have to have an EGM as soon as possible to establish a new Board to take things forward. That will provide a platform for the existing Board members to state their case and argue as to why they think they should continue in post. It will then be for the members to decide.