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There will doubtless be a few other old buffers on here who will remember the ghastly, clusterboorach that the Council got itself into on a previous occasion when it was involved in a decision that had existential implications for Caley Thistle - namely the £900K grant towards the stadium road in 1995-96. There’s no need to detail the Town Hall obstructiveness,, QCs’ opinions, scandalous rearguard action by Council officials and nitpicking about Dave Stewart’s use of the word “payable” in a motion to the Council that eventually saw IDC go out of existence under an ignominious cloud before the money was paid from the Common Good Fund… but it was desperate stuff. Unfortunately, we now already have a bid to contest a quorate planning decision - which the club manager yesterday, deploying delightful metaphor, eloquently described as trying to keep replaying the game until they get the result they want - and that rearguard action already looks ominous. But what really worries me is that if we thought that the Council back in the 90s was bad…. the current local governance of Inverness is a whole lot worse. History is making me very uneasy about this one.

Just a shot at goal would be a welcome addition to our boring possession football

Huge game tomorrow at EEP, results depending over there, we could be 2nd bottom or only 3 points off the bottom spot with a game more played if we dont pick up something. 3 points badly needed and a home win for some confidence, but expect PT to sit in knowing we will be insipid and a nervous afternoon all round.

Jags on Jags Third place Partick Thistle come calling at the Caledonian Stadium this Saturday for a game scheduled to kick-off at 3:00pm. The sides can't be separated so far this season with both fixtures ending all square. Partick will be looking to hang on to the coat tails of the top two who face each other on Friday night whilst we are in desperate need of points to avoid being sucked into the hub of the relegation play-offs. Both sides exited the Scottish Cup last weekend against Premiership opposition, but it's back to the grind on Saturday with a tough encounter expected. Off the field, the Battery Farm project is still a cause for concern with the local council doing a U-turn. You couldn't make this up, what an omnishambles. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket Info ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ H2H v Partick Thistle Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 26 12 7 7 39 33 +6 Away 25 6 7 12 26 40 -14 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 51 18 14 19 65 73 -8 Home team is normally the best indicator in these fixtures. We suffered a couple of heavy away defeats a year or two ago but other than that most of these fixtures have been close affairs and usually favour the home side. Both games this season ended all square, although it's fair to say that Inverness shaded the play but our lack of penetration in the final third is a continuing problem. Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Partick Thistle 1 - 1 (A) 0 - 0 (H) 1 - 0 (H) 1 - 5 (A) 1 - 0 (H) 1 - 4 (A) 1 - 0 (H) 2 - 1 (A) 0 - 1 (A) 3 - 3 (H) FULL TIME: 0 - 0. Thistle be the day: This will be the day that Duncan Ferguson made his bow to the Caley Jags fans. The weather might have dampened the atmosherics, but inside the stadium it was a warm welcome for Big Dunc. He was without the long term absentees (MacGregor & Nicolson) plus more recent victims in Sean Welsh, Danny Devine and Wallace Duffy. After the first win last week, it was an unchanged starting XI that took to the sodden turf. Partick had our olde foe Brian Graham up front. Enough said. Neither side can complain about a point apiece but Partick will now know that they can not expect to pick up easy points against us. In fact had Gilmour placed his shot within the bounds of the posts then we could have taken all three points. Meh! Another step in the right direction for Inverness who matched high scoring Partick Thistle all over the park. Best for Inverness were the tricky Longstaff, the unflustered Ujdur and the driving force of Gilmour, with Ridgers doing his bit at the end. Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Big game on Friday night: Raith v Dundee United 1. Dundee Utd 22 14 6 2 45 11 48 2. Raith Rovers 22 13 5 4 40 31 44 3. Partick Thistle 22 10 7 5 43 34 37 4. Morton 22 9 5 8 32 27 32 5. Airdrieonians 21 8 4 9 20 24 28 6. Queens Park 23 7 5 11 31 41 26 7. Ayr United 23 7 5 11 30 41 26 8. Inverness CT 23 6 6 11 26 28 24 9. Dunfermline 22 6 6 10 24 32 24 10. Arbroath 22 5 3 14 23 45 18 FRIDAY 16TH FEBRUARY Raith Rovers v Dundee Utd SATURDAY 17TH FEBRUARY Airdrieonians v Ayr United Dunfermline v Arbroath Inverness CT v Partick Thistle Queen's Pk v Morton Last Time Out Both sides fell at the 5th round stage of the Scottish Cup. We went down 3-1 to a seasoned Premiership side in Hibs. Defensive blunders, a deflected goal and a bit of extra quality saw Hibs through to face Rangers in the next round. The goal of the game came from Aaron Doran in stoppage time. A mere consolation, but a cracker nonetheless. <<click watch on X to start video>> No disgrace really, but the disappointing aspect of this defeat, as is the case most weeks, is our inability to break down a defence and get a shot on target. However, with Alex Samuel injured, we lost our only form of aggression up front, and with it, any hope of causing an upset. Partick had cheered us all up when they knocked County out of the Cup in the previous round, however, surprisingly they found Livingston to be much more resilient and went down 2-3 after extra time. McInroy and Fitzpatrick had put the Harry Wragg's two ahead on the hour before Livi produced a match winning comeback to win in extra time thanks to Kris Doolan's untimely substitutions. Latest Team News Inverness will be without Luis Longstaff for a couple of months with a knee injury. Alex Samuel missed out last week with a fractured hand and misses out again. Morgan Boyes fell out with a post against Hibs and will be out. The post escaped without injury and will be back in action on Saturday. Danny Devine and Nikola Ujdur have had limited training this week. Partick Thistle manager Kris Doolan lamented making the two substitutions in the five minute spell between Partick going 2-0 ahead and Joel Nouble starting the Livi comeback in the 66th minute. My Bad he said Speaking on BBC Sport: "I'm gutted. We put so much into it, but to be 2-0 up and lose is tough. We pushed them the full way. I take responsibility, I made two subs quickly, took off two key players. Maybe they should have stayed on the pitch. "We caused them problems, but we just couldn't deal with their physicality at the end of the game. It's heartbreaking when it comes down the last 20 seconds and you lose a goal, but there are positives to take." Team v Livi in Cup: Sneddon McMillan Williams 71) Muirhead (McKenzie 100) Neilson Milne Bannigan Stanway Lawless (Diack 64) McInroy (Alston 87) Fitzpatrick (Ngwenya 87) Graham (Adeloye 64) Subs not used: Mitchell; Stewart; Lyon

Totally agree Alan we have to have a real go for a change and win a home game.

Loans in general are good, and if you get the right areas filled with the right qualities then everybody's happy. Not finding a suitable replacement of wotherspoons class is the glaring deficiency.

Unfortunately, in a situation like this, tough tits. The club have every right to be pissed off at the current situation. They did everything the Council had asked to bring the project up to scratch, and it got approved, sealing a future for the club for however many years/decades to come. But now, because the council haven't done their job properly, the club's back creeping towards deaths door. It's like if you won EuroMillions and when you go to cash it in, they start babbling incoherently about how you didn't win because the machine that was giving out the numbers started playing up. You're not joing to stand there and say "oh, okay then" and periodically check in and say "hey guys, hows it coming along then?", you'd be kicking up an absolute storm demanding your winnings and readying up for a legal battle against them. Have to remember it's not just football thats at stake here, it's people's jobs, before and after school activities for kids, leisure for seniors and this, that and the other that the Council are ready to send down the Ganges then sit on their hands when people start complaining.

Club are also forgetting thousands of people and of which I am sure loads are fans of the club , live around the area earmarked and do not want this near themselves or their children and schools alike . It’s funny how our chairman ( who funnily does not live in Inverness ) is making such a loud noise when he wants to . When you’re looking for a football voice of him or his CEO they go back in to their shell . I was beginning to think he couldn’t speak or didn’t understand our highland twang. Run the club in a football manner like it used to be . Stop paying excessive wages to Gardiner would be a start . Jobs for boys becoming tiresome and wasting so much money no wonder the club is in a mess . It’s been run by amateurs .

Should we change the thread heading to “Abandon Hope”?

Most teams in our division would love to have a Roddy McGregor. Why would you not play him ? Been on that bench apparently fit so why is he not getting a game ?

Could be a cracking pair for league 1.

I’m not convinced that the quite aggressive approach taken by the Chairman on the front page of today’s Courier is the best way to win friends and influence people when there’s another, much bigger, Council vote to be negotiated next month.

I think this is a reasonable and understandable metaphor to deploy in the cicumstances. However, let’s not kid ourselves - the club are being hypocrites on this. They have made it quite clear all along in public that they intend to appeal if/when things don’t go their way.

One thing to note, regardless of anyones view of the Battery Park or the Board / CEO, is that the club is required to submit its accounts by the end of February. With the planning decision now delayed until March, the club may not get the necessary sign offs from their Auditors given the Battery Park is by no means certain. That threatens the very future of the club, as administration (or worse) become real possibilities.