The Mantis

Yes I was always Alan Douglas' favourite mod too Sorry about the mix-up, all these English teams sound the same to me :lol:

What Tug said.

The point about stagnation is a fair one. However any club will stagnate in the joke of a league that is the SPL. Once you are in it, the finance dictates that you must stay there. I would like to see the '10' grow some gonads and invite the top 6 from div 1 to form a league with them, giving the twins of evil nowhere to play except against each other. Aah Dougal, you were doing so well, then you throw in this garbage. Many people might justify one season getting beyond the last 16 of the Cup and reaching the final (and then not showing up), as outweighing all ICT's giantkilling (if I recall, 11 seasons outwith the SPL and 12 teams from a higher division beaten), and 2 semis plus 1 replay. I can just about swallow that, but it's a bit like the County banging on about their big win at our place about ten years ago, as if it mattered amongst all the routine 3-0 hidings we dished out. Then you're saying that 10 seasons to reach the SPL is poor (and then reach it again 6 years later), but then of course those record breakers from OTB did it in 18 so they must be getting something right. Seasons in SPL - ICT 7 County 0 - FACT ***ICT PLAYING in TOP LEVEL FOR NEARLY 40% OF THE CLUB'S HISTORY*** Seasons in div 1 - ICT 6 County 11 - FACT Seasons in div 2 - ICT 2 County 2 - FACT Seasons in div 3 - ICT 3 County 5 - FACT Why don't you come out the closet Dougal. You're not our old pal Buenos as it would be some achievement to make such a great show of hating the Rangers (sorry, 'Orcs'). If you truly are a Notts County diehard and relative newcomer to the fair city then somebody has been feeding you drink and indoctrinating you since I do not believe you have any first hand experience of the events of 1993-4 or the subsequent (Paterson-inspired) seasons. Yours etc The Mantis (formerly anti-merger and definitely not a happy clapper).

Haven't seen the Milligan fella for a couple of years. He seems to have stopped going to away games and at home I think he's in the wrong stand. Remember the Mantis to him will you? John Stewart is another fine guy and you can find him here- http://www.caledonianfc.co.uk/Team%20Photos/7677.jpg

ICT's £39805 is mentioned on there, except seems to be in Dunfermline. Honest, I know I'm a bit sad, but I just clicked it at random

Reminded me of this oldie but goodie: http://www.hark.com/clips/flzpkrzhyr-armagedon

Adam will come good in his second season just as he did with us However feel free to stick him in your hand luggage.

Very sad. Lovely guy.

Did you hear that Michael O'Leary flew into Dublin recently and fancied a quick pint of the black stuff? The young barman said 'that'll be one euro please Mr O'Leary.' Our Michael says 'One euro for a pint of Guinness young man? - Congratulations, that's a great business model, just like my own.' The barman says 'Why thank you Mr O'Leary. Now will you be wanting a glass with that?'

Maybe the English people are (marginally) in more favour because they read all the trash, in the Sun and the Evening Standard, about us sweaty socks being subsidy junkies, but they're not the ones who pull the strings. Interesting that you mentioned nukes as I believe that is the number one reason (apart from possibly the oil) the Whitehall establishment has always been keen to hold on to us. Documents released under the 30 year rule prove that the government lied to us in the 1970s about the benefits of oil. It was clear that Scotland could go it alone but we have always been peddled the propaganda that we couldn't as we were too poor/stupid etc, unlike hundreds of other nationalities on the planet, a sort of racism which too many Scots are happy to swallow after hearing it for 300 years. I believe that the whole strategic importance of us in the North Atlantic, coupled with Westminster's alignment with the good ol' USA, means they will go to any lengths to preserve their bases in the Clyde (only 30 miles from Glasgow remember), as otherwise where would they put them? Having said all that I respect anyone who's happy to be British, as long as it's not just out of intimidation.

Feck me, you post on 5th Jan and you expect anybody in Scotland to be sober enough to reply?

Is it only the budget ones that charge you for a passenger change? I thought it was all of them.

Sebo - Slovakian?

Yeah I was there and I know what you mean! The Killie fans yesterday were singing 'soon be a Tesco, oh this'll soon be a Tesco' In the old days in div 3 we had a piper at a lot of the games who played Caledonia.

Very sad to hear this. I only met Gordy a couple of times but have great memories of the witty thrust of his posts on CTO. RIP Gordy.

Good at what?

Donjo, ICT and RCFC arguing about away supports is like two bald men fighting over a comb. Our supports are about the same, usually one busload and some central belters. I've actually been at one or two C(o)unty games (not this season) and I say claims of 350 are rubbish, but if it's true then fair enough. As Luke says it was probably the Falkirk game, and we had some cracking supports ourselves in div 1. One thing I remember, (OK it's 10 years ago) when we played Hearts in the cup in 2002 they actually got County the round before us and I went along with Naelifts as our game was off. They beat County quite easily though it was only 2-1, and County had about 1500 sweetie rustlers who sat on their hands all day. When they drew ICT in the next round they probably thought it would be another walkover. Unfortunately for them, we took 2500 and lifted the roof off the place in the rain. On the park ICT blew the Jambos away 3-1. That's the difference. County are having a bit of glory this season but ICT have always been winners.

Everybody's is dropping though. Scottish football is fecked. The one thing I thought was encouraging about ICT was, we are far enough away from the OF unlike say the Midden. So maybe we'd get a few more through the gates that way. Also we're a young club and around 2004 we got the first wave of fans, who were too young to remember the merger, coming along with their dads. When we went up in 2004 we gained a couple of thousand new fans. Even when we got relegated we held on at around 3000 fans in div 1which was encouraging. However, like I say fitba in this country is fecked, I've been going since 1966 and the standard even in the past 5 years has dropped. The days of small nations achieving anything at football are over. Sometimes I wish we could uninvent satellite tv.

I'm struggling a bit with the maths here. How is 6000 bigger than 7512? And you believed him? Saw their support at St Mirren on TV last week and that was a big cup tie for them. Didn't look much more than we have at a normal league game down there. Another case where you have to remember they count the eyes. No we don't. Maybe the odd midweek game we do, or meaningless fixtures at Killie. They can't expect large away supports at Viccy Park either. Look at some of the pathetic away supports that visit us.

Ironic that in the Sneck, the phrase 'up the Hill' often meant the very opposite........ Only jokeen guys :lol:

I used to nip down to a few English games at the likes of Carlisle, Sunderland, Gateshead, Newcastle, and I got the impression that searching fans, at least away fans, was standard. They often asked you as you approached the ground whether you were a home or away fan, and seemed to struggle with the concept of 'neutral'. At Gateshead 3 of us got no choice but to sit with the away fans - we were turned away from the home turnstiles. Because the away side were high-flying Halifax whose fans had been enjoying a few sherbets on the way, we were aggressively stewarded to a level that made the jobsworths at Tannadice look like amateurs.....

Mantis... put me right on this. Neil happens to be a former pupil of mine, but was Rasper his dad? Pretty sure he is, but not 100%. To my shame I never recognised Rasper the day I took that photo but he was with Roddie Davidson. Neil was playing that day though, so stands to reason.

Actually, whenever I see the London 2012 logo, I can't help thinking about Lisa Simpson, erm, performing an act. Although I think that says more about me than the logo. That's what I meant. What did you think I meant

Rasper was in the same class as Mrs Mantis at the Nicolson in Stornoway (there's a photo of him on my site http://www.caledonianfc.co.uk/players.htm away at the bottom). Neil got a run in the team in div 1 around 2001.

St Mirren's stadium is the worst in the SPL. It may be new and it was bought for them but it's still a dump and it's situated in a dump. Viccy Park will be worse not better if they convert it to seats. Then listen to the cabbagemen having the same moan as we are having now.