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No way - Austin Samuels is not the answer, IMO only

I agree with the comments above from those at the game. We should have won that quite comfortably, but a combination of our continuing reluctance to shoot, poor attempts and bad luck saw us draw a blank. Kerr was the pick, but the defence was solid and we were largely on top in midfield. The jury is out for me on Lawal. He had some nice touches but was dispossessed too easily on occasions. Game time should help him. I don’t think it changed the outcome, but that was one of the weakest refereeing performances I have seen in a long time. How many times was Samuel, in particular, being held, pushed or fouled and nothing was given. 5 unbeaten, 3 clean sheets in a row but we are still stuck in 9th. Another really big game next week when Ayr come here. A win gets us up the table. A defeat does not bear thinking about.

Considering they hadn't played together before, I though Kerr, Anderson and Lawal combined well in midfield with Cammy Kerr head and shoulders above anybody else on the park. Unfortunately, despite no lack of trying, we are still missing that cutting edge upfront that could turn these stalemates into wins. Came away from today more positive than some weeks though as the boys really gave it their all today. It's going to be a battle until the end of the season but there is enough characters in the team to drag us to safety in my opinion.

I'm off to the Fairways to campaign against the Councill

Groundhog day at Inverness again. Can't remember their keeper having a save to make. Sad !

First half wasn't the best, both teams probing. Whilst I feel we shaded it in terms of controlling possession Airdrie looked dangerous & quick on the counter. Apart from a frenetic first ten minutes in the second half where we continually gave the ball back to Airdrie we pretty much bossed it from there on in. A lot of good performances, notably Lawal in the middle along with Kerr. Also Carragher Devine and Savage looked pretty assured in front of Ridgers. Pepple even had an impact, notably on the keepers head. Only the goals were missing.

I thought we played well today and MOM Kerr.He has made midfield his own. The new lads all did well particularly Lawal. Thought the officials were poor and the standside linesman could have helped more. If I Could tell the boys three words to help it would be Shoot,Shoot SHOOT!!!

Played brilliantly imo, just need players to push down the wing rather than trying to double back on themselves, and players that will actually get a shot off

I'll be heading down too. I'm not going with much enthusiasm or expectation, but you have to endure the grim times to fully appreciate the successes when they come.

I think that the club also needs to remember that this debate/campaign is being held in a very public arena, so overly aggressive communications with Councillors are also being seen by the whole community, and this is bound also to influence the perception of the club by that public. Here we also have to consider that public perception of ICT took a considerable knock after the collapse of the concert company and I fear that further damage could be done here. It’s unfortunate that the dire finances also exclude the employment of some advice on PR.

I’d agree with you danger all that’s missing is WATP to sign it off. Definitely has a no one likes us but we don’t care kind of sentiment and entitlement to it. The club have alienated itself from many local businesses and now seems to be doing the same with the local authority. A very dangerous route to go down if you ask me. Dougal

That last paragraph is an absolute mess; the first sentence does not make sense, and the whole things is brimming with a sense of passive-aggressive entitlement.

Read my whole post: “I can’t see us getting there”. It just shows how tight the league is that, despite how we’ve struggled, 4th to 9th is only a 6 point gap.

Here ya go Caley100. Something for you to read at breakfast time.

Not much to get excited about. Missing having either Shaw or longstaff. Kerr was outstanding at winning the ball, often nicking the ball off an opponent who thought he was receiving a comfortable pass. He seems less able to find a telling pass but that may be partly due to a general lack of movement in front of him. Lawal also showed some real talent. He's got quick feet and looked the most creative of the midfielders on show. I suspect Pepple's strength is in the air, but he was being played in with balls that would have been much better suited to the pacier Austin Samuels. The lads need to look to shoot more often but you can't fault the effort. They deserve our support and need the fans to get behind them, especially at home.

Which other people on their Community Council and 3 other Community Councils have signed up to and put those forward as representatives of the Communities they serve. There are several democratically elected representatives who need to be able to justify their actions to the electorates they represent.

Exactly. Many of us said the same on here earlier this year. Rather than try and win hearts and minds with the merits of the proposal they have gone with a victim mentality and personalised their criticism of anyone who doesn’t agree with them. Over and over and over. At the meeting on Wednesday Morrison responded to your question by saying something along the lines of “what did you expect me to do?”. The answer should have been “be a f*ckin adult about it”.

The so called guardians and a fair number of fans on here should also remember the Highland Council represent the whole of the Highlands not just the city of Inverness. This very blinkered centralised view is not healthy at all. Dougal

Shall we have a game of spot the difference? Read these extracts from the presentation against the project, then read Wilsywilsy’s posts on this thread. Uncanny! “Contrary to multiple statements made… the land is not owned by Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club. “In addition, the applicant emphasises that the ICT Community Trust is a main beneficiary, but fails to explain how ‘the financial benefits accrued from the development will be managed through the ICTFC Community Development Trust’. “Moreover, public statements from the applicant suggest that their primary concern is addressing the football club's debts.”

Diamondonians Promoted Airdrie are sitting in fifth place in the table, just below the play-off places with former Caley Jag Nikolay Todorov getting amongst the goals and he will provide a big test for our central defence. We have found Airdrie a difficult proposition at times this season but we did win the last home encounter against them. Our off-field problems are out in the open now after a meeting with fans on Wednesday evening. See the responses below from the CTO forum page 16 onwards. Suffice to say it is worth a lot of money and it does have a massive part to play in the future of our club. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket Info Battery Farm - CTO Topic Chairmans Response after meeting ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 9 5 0 4 14 12 +2 Away 8 2 2 4 9 17 -8 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 17 7 2 8 23 29 -6 Only this season's games are relevant as prior to the 2-3 defeat in the League Cup group stages, our previous game against Airdrie was in 2002 when a Martin Bavidge strike was the only goal of the game. Not only that, it keeps our record thrashing of 0 - 6 out of sight as though it never happened. (just for the record, Owen Coyle scored a hat-trick, Neil McFarlane planted a header behind Nicky Walker, Lee Gardiner drove in from the edge of the box and Paul Armstrong ended the rout five minutes before the end. Gubbed!) This season's Competitive Meetings 0 - 2 (A) 1 - 0 (H) 1 - 2 (A) 2 - 3 (H) Not much success for us this season against the Diamonds although we did win the last home game against them thanks to a superb finish from the long gone Spoony: FULL TIME: 1 - 0. The fabulous execution of his goal was a great introduction for David Wotherspoon but for me the Man of the Match and new version of Bobby Mann was Nikola Ujdur. The Aussie defender is solid, strolled through the game unflustered and can pick a pass. Good graft in midfield but Sheridan and Big Harry need some work done. Shaw picked up a booking at the end when Big Dunc sent him back onto the pitch to get treatment. Last Time Out Inverness extended their unbeaten run to four games (3xD & 1xW) with an excellent result at Cappielow that ended Morton's 14 game Championship undefeated run. Clinical strikes from Billy Mckay, his 110th goal for the club, and a first from Sean McAllister (video below) ensured we grabbed all three points in a crucial game at the bottom end of the table given Arbroath's unexpected win over Raith Rovers the night before. Last Five: L D D D W Airdrieonians played twice this week. A 1-1 draw last Saturday at home to Queens Park was followed in midweek by a stunning 2-0 win at East End Park. Mason Hancock scored the leveler against QP with two former Dunfermline players Nikolay Todorov and Gabby McGill (video below) sinking their old team. Manager Rhys McCabe said on BBC Sport: "We knew coming here it was about playing the percentages really well, doing the basics really well. We never really felt in danger towards the latter stages of the game." Last Five: L L W D W Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Only four games this weekend as Morton are on Scottish Cup duty 1. Dundee Utd 27 16 7 4 51 17 55 2. Raith Rovers 26 15 6 5 46 36 51 3. Partick Thistle 26 10 9 7 51 45 39 4. Morton 27 10 7 10 34 31 37 5. Airdrieonians 26 10 5 11 28 30 35 6. Dunfermline 27 8 8 11 30 36 32 7. Ayr United 27 9 5 13 38 50 32 8. Queens Park 27 8 7 12 39 45 31 9. Inverness CT 27 7 9 11 32 32 30 10. Arbroath 26 6 5 15 28 55 23 SATURDAY 9TH MARCH Dundee Utd v Arbroath fc Inverness CT v Airdrieonians Queen's Park v Partick Thistle Raith Rovers v Dunfermline Latest Team News Inverness beat the injury woes last weekend to take all three points at Morton. New loan signing Samson Lawal from Livingston remained on the bench. We have a number of long term casualties in Charlie Gilmour, Luis Longstaff, Chilokoa-Mullen, Harry Lodovica and Lewis Nicolson. Roddy MacGregor, Nathan Shaw and Morgan Boyes were shorter term injuries. Austin Samuels has yet to be unleashed after his return to the bench and the similarly named Alex Samuel has been through the wars but has continued to feature despite a broken hand and numerous stitches about his body. He's a warrior. A number of players have also been carrying injuries so we will have to wait and see what Big Dunc is saying. Dunc's Update: Sean McAllister out for at least a couple of weeks (thigh). Boyes and Ujdur might make the bench. Dunc's loon (Cameron) might be a signing option . And surprise surprise, even our trialists are picking up knocks aren't they! Airdrie had a good week picking up four points. Calum Gallagher and Nikolay Todorov are their top scorers this season so far with seven goals each. Despite that, they are the lowest scoring side in the Championship with only 28 goals, four less than Inverness. Defences are similar with Airdrie two goals better off although they have played one game less than us. Airdrie team v Pars: Rae Megwa Watson Fordyce Hancock McCabe Telfer Frizzell McStravick (McMaster 72) McGill (Donnell 66) Todorov (Gallagher 72) Subs Not Used: Hutton; Lyall, Dunlop, O'Connor, Taylor-Sinclair

If (and it’s a big “if” given our home form) we beat Ayr, and the two leaders win, we will be 6th this time next week. It is hard to believe we are only six points off a promotion play off place. I can’t see us getting there, but the way this season has gone anything could be possible!

I’m no nimby. There’s one of these being built within view of my bedroom window, about 200 metres away, and I didn’t object. The nearest house is actually about 80m away I would guess, yet it sailed through planning with no controversy and no objection from the community council. I’d probably rather it wasn’t going there, but it doesn’t bother me at all, and these things have to go somewhere, and if it wasn’t this then something else would be built there instead at some point that might be worse.

I guess it's very easy for someone who doesn't live in Inverness, let alone the Highlands, to lazily call Nimby on anyone who may disagree with the siting of this Battery Storage facility?

A fairly proportionate spread across all factions There are 13 from the SNP: Paul Oldham, Nairn and Cawdor Michael Cameron, Inverness Central Tamala Collier, Cromarty Firth Kate MacLean, Inverness Central Drew Millar, Skye Ken Gowans, Inverness South Ian Brown, Inverness Millburn Glynis Campbell-Sinclair, Culloden and Ardersier Marianne Hutchison, North, West and Central Sutherland Chris Birt, Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh Liz Kraft, Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh Sarah Fanet, Fort William and Ardnamurchan Emma Knox, Aird and Loch Ness There are five Lib Dems: Alasdair Christie, Inverness Ness-side Richard Gale, East Sutherland and Edderton Angus MacDonald, Fort William and Ardnamurchan Trish Robertson, Culloden and Ardersier John Grafton, Caol and Mallaig Four Independents: Thomas MacLennan, Fort William and Ardnamurchan Sarah Atkin, Black Isle Sean Kennedy, Dingwall and Seaforth Calum Munro, Skye Three Conservatives: Barbara Jarvie, Nairn and Cawdor Liz Saggers, Caol and Mallaig Andrew Sinclair, Inverness South Green councillors Chris Ballance (Aird and Loch Ness), Andrew Baldrey (Caol and Mallaig) and Kate Willis (Fort William and Ardnamurchan) have also signed. As well as two members of the Highland Alliance group: Matthew Reiss (Thurso and Northwest Caithness) and Andrew Jarvie (Wick and East Caithness). --------------------- It would be interesting to know how many of those have the relevant planning training and will be a part of the vote.

A goal every 8 games in the Championship. Just not good enough. Simples.

The same SNP and Greens whose policies also support the retention and improvement of Green Spaces?

No, the fingers would be webbed in that case.

Disappointing but not surprising. Hypocritical NIMBYs, as I feared. The bigger concern is that when it gets appealed to the Scottish Government, they will be very reluctant to overturn the decision and thereby discredit and humiliate their own politicians. We are in worse trouble than I previously thought.

According to the courier article a few days ago. The councillors that voted to recall the decision belonged mainly to the SNP and Greens. Believe it was something like 14 SNP councillors and 3 out of 4 Green councillors.

Maybe Samuels is not the answer,but we will never know if he doesn't get a chance. At the end of the day we are quickly running out of options and games.

You're not alone there. Stealing a wage IMO.

What is with Austin Samuels never getting a kick, surely we have try out all our options, because at the moment we ain't gonna scoring. Solid at the back, but absolutely no creativity going forward.

Poor Australia At least there will have been less inane ranting at the dump today which is a positive in itself along with another clean sheet. Dougal

That's a good question but I don't know the answer. It was one of the issues with the original vote. Certainly shareholders and season ticket holders were seen as having an interest. One would hope that all councillors representing Inverness wards would consider themselves as supporters of the City's largest football club even if only on the basis of the fact that it brings revenue into the area. It would be a complete nonsense to disqualify councillors from voting just because they are supporters. Indeed given the nature of the football club, even being a shareholder is not really a relevant issue as there will never be any financial return on the "investment". Support for other clubs should not be an issue as it is often argued (but not by Charles) that having 2 senior teams in the area provides healthy competition. It seems that certain people in the Council want to prevent local Inverness Councillors from voting and then, in the next breath, complain that the lack of local Inverness councillors voting invalidates the vote! ICT V Highland Council. The winner will be the one that scores the fewest own goals.

If anyone can bring themselves to feel at all positive, we are now unbeaten in 5 and have 3 consecutive clean sheets.

FT 0-0, meh. I feel so sorry for our home fans this season, so little to cheer.

At least something has got your attention.

I note that you still haven’t denied involvement in it.

The article in the courier gives an eye watering account what certain communities in Inverness think of ICT. I wouldn’t be surprised there will be more councillors that will voice their opinion now against the clubs proposal directly as a result of this pointless meeting that the so called guardians thought was a good idea. ICT have made firm enemies from the birth whether that being the business world the local authorities or the run of the mill day to day punters. This latest debacle adds to the number of growing dissenters will they ever learn from previous mistakes? I.e the concert fiasco. The answer is NO. Pains me to say this but we are definitely not a community club unlike our neighbours further north. The meeting has backfired badly. Dougal

If only they got off their @rses and voted the first time eh.

Deary me . That is quite a wild leap you are making here Mr Morrison. If you are not 100% with us, you are against us. Or something like that. Add Wilsy to the Councillor Oldham and Jeff Bezos ICT vendetta conspiracy.

Exactly, how many people do they really represent. And what’s it got to do with 3 of those community councils, only one of them has relevance for this application. If they want to involve others then we can point out that community councils representing 60,000 local residents did NOT sign up to it! There is only one valid point which is the one the planning committee used in its recommendation to reject, the rest of it is irrelevance and misdirection. Sorry Wilsy, I know you and your pals put a lot of effort into it but it’s pretty feeble and does not stand up to scrutiny.

My council is one of these, don't think my 'councillor ' canvassed me on this one...

According to the Courier, 4 local Community Councils have issued a statement opposing the application. It strongly contradicts the club’s arguments on a number of points. What an absolute mess this is.

That's an argument for a city council , which is for another day.

I said at the meeting that I didn’t think it was a good idea to antagonise the Council in the run up to this vote. God knows, Highland Council is a complete mess and in far more respects than this, but I reckon you need to be pragmatic so it’s not a good idea to tell them that under the current circumstances.

https://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/news/4-community-councils-representing-13-700-residents-unite-to-344556/

The thought of administration appals, but can’t be ignored even as a remote possibility. We don’t know exactly how much is owed to various people who have been chipping in to keep the club going, so we do have to wonder how much money, given in benevolent gestures to plug holes, might be at stake. Also, with all this spotlight on the club’s finances, how willing might local traders be to do business with it if they perceive some danger of bills not being paid, or only paid in small part? Unfortunately, I have to add that the demise of the concert company will already have done nothing to ease any such concerns. And if the administration horror show did materialise, how unwilling might future benefactors and suppliers be after the club emerged from it? There’s a huge amount riding on the next few weeks…. and minimal room for manoeuvre.

We’ve had Cameron Ferguson on trial for the last month, 20yo recently released by Newcastle. Well done to our scouting network for finding him!

Fully agree - I'd like to see a lot more of our own home-grown players given a chance in the first team.