Leaderboard

Keeping it off topic for a minute or 90..Alan, you will find these 'novel's' far more entertaining than any you will find in the press. These fine folk that write these reports do so at their own free will and time. I'd sooner read these reports, be they short or epics, than any other in mainstream media. I'm sure you didn't mean to hurt anyone's feelings bud and I hope you haven't because I'd hate it if they stopped writing these novels

Cheers! And thank you for taking the time to offer a few suggestions for future pods. We have been taking turns to do player ratings at each match, so a player of the month is potentially something we could do, as is goal of the month, of course. I think we'd all really like to do more episodes like the Dunfermline game one, so hopefully there will be others - the biggest barrier is the fact that all the recordings then needs to be edited into a coherent episode in a fairly short time-frame. And among ourselves, we have already discussed the possibility of trying to set up interviews with past players, so fingers crossed that could happen too. Thanks again for the kind words. To address the comments about swearing that have come up, obviously we've no desire to offend or alienate any ICT supporters, and I don't think that we set out to swear in any given episode (direct quotation from Paul McGowan in Ep 3 aside), but in a 60-75 show that is pretty much unscripted apart from the intros and links, and in which we are speaking pretty much in the way we might speak to each other in everyday life, it's probably inevitable that the odd swearword will emerge. And there are times when a more restrained, mannered word or phrase just doesn't seem adequate to capture the emotions involved in a particular topic or recollection. For example, when I was discussing John Hughes' quoted predictions for Dani Lopez versus the reality of his contribution, a couple of s-words slipped out; that wasn't pre-planned, but I can't regret it either, because it reflected the way I felt far more accurately than anything else would have done. In any case, there were, I believe, fewer swearwords used in the most recent pod than in the previous one, so maybe we're getting better! And as Caley Stan pointed out above, while the other three of us might be able to rein it in successfully, it would probably be a lost cause trying to persuade RiG to tone down his language, as he's so intractably foul-mouthed.

then dont read it ...

Loved it! Keep up the good work. A wee Connolyism now and again never hurt anyone.

Listened on way home on Saturday after the game on Spotify. Another excellent show. Some ideas.... Player of the Month Goal of the Month Do more Episodes like the Dunfermline game Try get some interviews with players (present/past) and do a QA with them about there careers etc.... Best away days Strangest thing you've seen at a game of football

That's us up on Spotify. The feckers made us work for it.

Best points total we have achieved after 8 games since being relegated 17/18 = 5 points 10 goals scored 16 conceded goal difference minus 6 18/19 = 14 points 10 goals scored 5 conceded goal difference plus 5 19/20 = 16 points 14 goals scored 8 conceded goal difference plus 6 Reasons to be cheerful at this stage in the season.

An extra 2 points from last last season and an extra 11 points from 2 seasons ago Alan ?

CTO report online

I agree with Gringo that the swearing lowers the class of the PODCAST. Otherwise it's just outstanding and clearly the contributors are well versed Caleywise and very smart cookies as well.

Not sure if I misread it before, but didn't the club say the Away Fans would be in the South Stand for the rest of the season? How come the Alloa fans ended up in the main stand?

I’m just in from night shift and I’ve listened to this from start to finish. Brilliant lads. I’d encourage all ICT fans to have a listen and to enjoy the comprehensive and banterous chat herein. I think I recognise spit-dis as the band who make up the fill-in spots, that makes for great listening. I look forward to the next one chaps!

All we need now is IBM to tell us the feckin makes ?

I missed the first 10 minutes, when it looks like Ayr could have gone two or three ahead, because I was standing queuing at the ticket portakabin with @RiG for quarter of an hour and then we found that they'd closed all the turnstiles and we had to get let in through the main entrance. Struggling a wee bit to see how that's supposed to improve efficiency, tbh. It was a really disciplined, hardworking performance from ICT. It looks like Robertson and Kellacher are more focused on coaching players on their individual roles than either Foran or Hughes were: Doran is tracking back and covering Tremarco far more then he used to, and Storey did the same really well on the opposite flank and provided real strength there, which is obviously necessary for us when Rooney goes off on his peregrinations. I thought Storey would be absolutely useless if not played through the middle, but he did an excellent job yesterday. Vincent worked his socks off in the middle and Trafford did fine when he came on, although it is going to be a big blow for us if Welsh does turn out to be long-term injured again. I thought Ayr played some lovely stuff going forward - some great interplay between Forrest, Kelly and Moffat, and McCowan looked dangerous too - but Donaldson in particular dealt with them really well. And Rooney is just an absolute force of nature at the moment, and looks like he's loving playing for us. He's probably always going to struggle defensively if he's up against a fast, tricky left winger, but those rampages forward have been getting more and more audacious and basically made the difference between the teams yesterday. It's an absolute nap that he's going to get caught out at some point soon, and some team is going to ruin us on a counter-attack down our right, but it's worth it. Biggest cult hero we've had since Tokely. When I first saw the tweet about him getting abuse about his mum's death, my instinct was to not to believe it, simply because why on earth would anyone want to shout that sort of thing at someone else, but if it was his partner who tweeted it then it must be true, as she's not going to say something like that lightly. I'm sure, though, it'll just have been one or two utter morons who don't represent the attitudes of ordinary Ayr supporters in any way, shape or form. It would be nice if it was reported so the club was able to act appropriately.

That was a lot of fun. Didn't look like it was going to be early on as Ayr cut through us twice in the opening 10 minutes - really smart goalkeeping from Ridgers saved us on both occasions. By the time Sean Welsh went off injured the game had settled into the kind of attritional midfield stalemate that turned out to be perfectly suited to the skill-set of Charlie 'Harum Scarum' Trafford who went on to have an excellent game as did Vincent alongside him. I didn't get a great view of the first goal but it seemed that a Rooney cross found Vincent in the box who knocked it home (?deflection) while White was on the ground - Ayr fans are claiming he was offside and intefering with play. We kicked on from there and were the better team for the remainder of the half. Ayr went at us at the start of the second but we defended well on the edge of our box. Donaldson grew into the game after a shaky start and sparked what will surely go down as one the best moments of the season when he lashed a clearance up the line shortly after the hour mark. I assumed that it was going out for a throw-in and would've been happy enough with that outcome, but as the ball crossed the half-way line we were shocked to see Shaun Rooney lingering around the touch-line, comfortably further forward than any other Caley Thistle player. "What's Rooney doing there?", was the first reaction, but Shaun knew exactly what he was doing - he pulled the ball out off the air, drove past his opposing full-back and steamed on into the box without ever considering anything other than cooly slotting it past the keeper. Wild celebrations ensued. Ayr kept coming at us, there was a bit of desperate defending and another couple of very good saves from Ridgers but we had the better chances on the break (McGregor took a touch too many when through on goal just before Rooney's majestic moment, James Vincent missed a sitter when clean through after) and ultimately saw the game out through sheer fight and desire. White picked up where he left with Ayr last season - they really can't handle him and while he didn't contribute much on the ball, I thought he was key to getting us back in the game by unsettling the Ayr defence. IHE will be on shortly to disagree. Storey had his best game so far, playing wide right and finding more space than anyone else seemed able to. But today belonged to Rooney - that boy definitely has the makings of a 'Highland Hero'.

Highland football has lost another famous son following the passing of former Caledonian Football Club Chairman Hugh Crout. He joined Caledonian Football Club initially as a committee member in 1970, a period in which David Birrell was club chairman, his second spell in the chair. Hugh took over the helm at Telford Street in 1973, and would go on to serve the club for a decade, by which time they had amassed a treasure trove of silverware along the way. A superb ambassador during his tenure with the “Blues” he formed a superb partnership with then Manager, the late great Alex Main, and together they would go on smash records throughout the Highland League. The silverware haul included: five Highland League Championship titles 1976-77, 1977-78, 1981-82, 1982-83, 1983-84: Five North of Scotland Cup: 1973-74, 1974-75, 1976-77, 1981-82, 1983-84: Three Scottish Qualifying Cup victories: 1981-82, 1982-83, 1983-84: Two Highland League Cup successes: 1976-77, 1977-78: Two Inverness Cup victories 1977-78, 1982-83 Hugh was very much a real gentleman and made numerous friends throughout football, a man of integrity, who will be sadly missed.

As a real golden oldie (as announced by tannoy last Sat)(thanks ICT for 3 points on my birthday) I have loads of memories but my best memory ever has to be “The David Raven” v Celtic in Scottish Cup Semi Final. Nothing tops that for me, ICT such underdogs, Celtic going for another treble, teams level, AND then that goal. What euphoria! Made this old bird soooo happy!

I'm not intrested in seeing us gradually find our feet in this division I'm intrested in us winning the title and getting out of it before the club goes bust! Nothing to be crowing about spending a 3rd season in the ***** but no that bad wev an extra point from last year promotion this year or we are fcked part time football will follow