buckett

Exactly! And a town the size of Inverness, with the whole of the Highlands and Islands in its catchment area, should be able to produce a team of local players able to compete at Division 1, or even Championship level.

Brilliant idea!! Why not take it a step further though, and come to a ground-sharing deal with Kelty. Then we can play all our home games in the Central Belt, and the away games won't be too far away, keeping costs down. Might be difficult for Inverness based fans though, but what do they matter!

Not that long ago I was loyal to my own team and then it merged with one of its oldest rivals to produce a team which eventually did very well in a higher league and so to get my football fix I ****d off to the Longman to enjoy the Caley Thistle project. With your flaky logic I suppose that makes me a glory hunter!

You've done the appropriate survey then?

It's a blindingly obvious solution and I don't think it's inconceivable, just very unlikely. It would only work if the combined team scrapped the individual identities of the constituent teams - perhaps adopting a name like Highland FC as IHE suggests, rather than Inverness & Ross Caley Thistle County, or whatever Currently we would have more to gain from such an arrangement, but I doubt if many ICT fans would be up for it. Don't think I'd be that keen either tbh, but as you say, it's certainly a LOGICAL solution.

I for one will not be travelling to Inverness every 2 weeks to watch a bunch of loanees with no passion for the club and no connection to the town they are supposed to be representing. Had enough of that this season.

Many of them quietly slipped across the bridge and now offer their support to Ross County. Perhaps, after all, they jumped on the right bus!

I remember how forgiving we were about that, not so long ago. "Wasn't his fault," we said. Now we're not so sure!

Much as I hate to see people losing their jobs, I think we've given Big Dunc long enough to prove himself. A manager he is not, and he's not going to get any better. So, just to hurry things along, who would you like to see in the ICT hot-seat? With our history of unearthing untried managers in the past (some good, some not so good!) I would love to see the club taking a punt on ROSS TOKELY to oversee next season's rebuild. He has limited but successful management experience at a lower level but what impresses me most about him is his knowledge of the game when he's part of the commentary team. Last night for instance he was quite critical of our tactics and clearly knew how we should have played. Most of all, he is passionate about our club and I think that is something that's been lacking for the past couple of seasons. Any other suggestions?

At least we got a better chance of the odd home win in Division 1.

Is anyone really surprised?

Having also reflected I'm now a little less pessimistic than I was when Hamilton scored their second goal. I agree with those who would have Pepple and Lawal on from the start. Pepple always looks dangerous on the attack - dunno why he's only ever a last 15 minutes sub.

That I'm afraid, is the reality. 2 goals down at half-time, and with our scoring record a reversal would be nothing short of miraculous. But I don't think it's that bad. Perhaps a chance to regroup, purge and hopefully bring our own youth players into the squad and let them grow and thrive. I'd rather see a team primarily of Highlanders representing my town and pushing for promotion, no matter how long it takes!

I blame the stand-side linesman!

Sometimes it's nice to be proved wrong. Unfortunately on this occasion, the outcome is the same as if we'd lost. Playoffs it is then - it's all in our own hands!

Wasn't Airdrie that frcked us. We did a pretty good job of that ourselves over the season.

With 5th place in their own hands but with the possibility of being overtaken by Ayr or Dunfermline if they lose, Morton will be very aware of our home form and what they have to do to win. We on the other hand are staring relegation in the face and will really have to do something different from what we normally do, to win. Even a win for ICT doesn't guarantee avoidance of a play-off. Being a glass-half-full sorta guy, I'm delighted we didn't get automatic relegation. That however is the only plus - my glass is pretty near empty now. Here's my prediction - nothing changes; we're gonna lose at home as usual. Might as well rest some players tonight in preparation for the playoffs.

I agree with your vision and see Div 1 as a great opportunity to blood the youngsters and form a squad of mostly Highlanders, hopefully capable of promotion to the Championship and beyond. Trouble is, for most of them, the Championship is just a level too high so Div 1 is a better opportunity for 1st team football. There's something awfully false about following a team of Englishmen, foreigners and Central-belters, supposedly representing your town, when your own town/area can't produce a team capable of playing at that level. Just look at the cup-winning squad of 2015 - how many Invernessians were in that team? How many Scotsmen?

Quite so. Just grateful we got Mark Ridgers and Cammy Harper as regular first team starters - 2 local lads with an obvious passion for their home-town team. I quite often ask myself, how can I be loyal to a team made up of players who have absolutely no connection to the town they're supposed to represent? Mind you, they seem to manage in Dingwall!

Perhaps a bit obvious what he's trying to do - hope it doesn't backfire on us! Although, to be fair to Dunc, he's put Arbroath in a very awkward position! 😂

The Great Escape???

And with Airdrie's win last night, it's goodbye to our slim chance of making the play-offs at the other end of the table! No promotion this season, sadly. 😂

I like the idea in principle and would be inclined to support it. However I would like to know the club's view on this. Would the club embrace such a proposition or would the Supporters' Trust have to force their way in? Would there be hostility between Club and Trust? If so, I can't see it working very smoothly. An announcement from the Club, if supportive would, I think, sway a lot of supporters towards this proposal.

Different days would be better! 😆