Bridge_Ender

Highland League days were nearly 17 years ago which means pretty much anyone under the age of 25 has no recollection of those times and certainly not of the rivalry. Elgin have been an irrelevance to us since 1994 and that was reflected yesterday. I wonder how many of the ICT fans there yesterday were ever regulars at Telford Street or Kingsmills? Not opening a merger fans argument, just trying to illustrate how far the club and the support has moved on since the Highland League days. Not sure what the attendance for a County game would have been, I'd like to think significantly higher, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have been a sell out either.

To be fair, that was the biggest game in Elgin's history since coming into the league and we had nothing to gain and everything to lose today. Really was a very odd experience being the 'big team' and was even a bit jealous of the big day out mentality of the Elgin fans. At least a 1,000 of them and they were noisy throughout the game, just like our away Cup games were when we were in the lower leagues. Their keeper had 3 cracking stops, 2 with his feet, and Jamie Duff cleared one of the line which appeared to defy the laws of physics from where we were. On another day it could have been 4 or 5 nil comfortably. The final result was maybe harsh on Elgin given the effort they put in, a replay would probably have been a just reward, but the better and more dominant team won.

This isn't an opportunity to have a radical redevelopment of the SPL, the proposals put forward by the league so far make this abundantly clear. There is little interest in redevelopment beyond making sure that clubs survive economically. The only Unique Selling Point the SPL has is, like it or not, the Old Firm and any TV deal is dependant on as many matches between the two of them can be squeezed out which means that the knock on effect for the SPL is that the 4 games a season isn't going to change. Why would they limit access to the most desirable part of their business, it's simple supply and demand. As supporters we might want 14, 16 or 18, but it isn't going to happen. The real fight is to avoid it going to 10, which would be a disaster both economically and, more importantly, from a football point of view. A 14 team league with some imagination going into the split to ensure as few 'meaningless' matches as possible is the best we can hope for.

Used to think 16 was the best idea but changed my mind to 14 as 16 isn't really workable outside the ideal world scenario. 14 teams have a few different options but I'd like to see the split remain and go 8-6 after 2 rounds then play each other twice again in your group. That would guarantee 40 games for the top 8 and 36 for the bottom 6. By making the top group that bit larger it gives the 4 lucrative Old Firm games as a carrot with the knock on effects on TV money, prize money, etc. for the clubs who make it. For the group in the bottom 6 they are all involved against each other in a very real relegation battle and as we found ourselves, interest and attendances increase when there is something to play for. Automatically 1 up, 1 down with a straight play off between the 12th SPL v 3rd Div 1 and 13th SPL v 2nd Div 1 for 2 other potential relegation/promotion places. They key, for me, is getting as many competitive games which matter as possible. Football is too expensive for people to attend when there is nothing to play for, no matter how many youngsters or homegrown guys are playing that day.

Really? Only started going regularly pre-match last season and found absolutely no problems, one of the few places in Inverness that is full of ICT fans and it's a good focal point for away fans too. Would be an absolute shame for it to disappear although it sounds like efforts are being made to ensure this doesn't happen. I know it is open to non members on matchdays but perhaps they need to get a bit smarter about how to get people through the door? Maybe if every season ticket holder automatically became a Social Club member as part of purchasing a season ticket it would encourage people to use it on a more regular basis through the week?

Say No To 10 Team SPL

Tuffey Tokely, Innes, Munro, Golabek Duncan, Cox Odhiambo, Blumenhstein, Ross Sutherland Esson, Proctor, Shinnie, McBain, Sanchez, Foran, Rooney Strong be experienced foundation but with some fringe guys in the attack being given the chance to stake a claim.

Don't think too much needs to change, it's been a cracking year and it's served us well so far. If anything, the last couple of games have just highlighted how light our squad actually is... and TB has already said that is something to be addressed in the transfer window. Didn't realise Rooney was suffering from a virus, he definitely wasn't his usual energetic and hard working self over the 2 Xmas games but obviously had to play because we don't have another recognised striker in the squad. It might have been a good time to play Sutherland or Foran in the centre forward position and shuffle the rest around? In both games we seemed to go 2 up front in the second half, possibly to give Rooney the extra help if he wasn't 100%? Hindsight is a wonderful thing though. If Rooney isn't at full fitness on Sunday then maybe a front line of Odhiambo, Ross, Sutherland with Foran as centre forward might be worth a try? Ross doesn't seem to have the pace to play wide and is more effective in the middle, I'd like to see Odhiambo given a run out there with Hayes out and Sutherland impressed me on the left against St Mirren.

The best year in the (short) history of the club, simple as that!

16 or 18 teams is never going to happen, the current SPL clubs are never going to vote for less income from big travelling supports. The realisation of the need for change is underway though and the sweetener, if you like, is the First Division becoming SPL 2 and the parachute payments becoming more generous, something we know ourselves is vital given the skeleton operation ICT worked with last year. The rest of the proposals - starting earlier, winter break, play offs, etc. are all good ideas which could definitely help make the game more appealing to fans. I'd love to see Summer football in it's entirety but the problems with the European and International calendars are, realistically, probably too great. One major question is what happens to those clubs outside the SPL structure as there are really going to be only 20 professional teams in the country? What role does the SFL now have if the leagues are to be regionalised? There already are regional Senior Leagues (Highland, East and South of Scotland) so do the clubs drop into enhanced versions of these or does another set up form? Will the long called for pyramid structure become a reality and the top Junior clubs will have the opportunity to progress through the leagues now? With the next instalment of Henry McLeish's report due, it could be a very interesting time...

If the referee wanted to gift Rangers the game he could have given the penalty when Cox handballed in the first half. He was conned by a cheating Beattie for the one that was given. That's an honest mistake. Players aren't perfect and neither are Referees, mistakes will always happen until technology is allowed to be used to make sure decisions are 100% correct. The refereeing standards debate is a legitimate one but it has been hijacked by Celtic's paranoia to the point where the debate isn't about refereeing standards but some completely ridiculous notion of institutionalised injustice... Which is very, very boring...

BBC Sport - SPL Reconstruction Still needs an 11-1 vote so by no means certain to be adopted. Think it sounds pretty positive and could work well, not too excited by the 10 team side of thing but realistically it doesn't change that much from a footballing perspective.

Take it your camera was broken this day? http://www.caledonianfc.co.uk/Last%20Season/merge.jpg dougal 2 flags? Festooned? Get a grip... As I said, the Union flag undoubtedly was displayed at Telford Street but to suggest it was 'festooned' implies that Caley were simply a mini-Rangers and the fans were merely Huns without the bus fare, which is complete horsesh1t. Good fishing trip though, you've had a few bites...

Dougal, can you provide a link to one of the pictures from Mantis' site where there there are Union Jacks displayed? As someone who provided quite a few of the pictures for the Caley Nostalgia Site, I'd be quite surprised if you could. That's not to say that the Union Flag wasn't ever displayed at Telford Street, it undoubtedly was, but to suggest it was 'festooned' is quite ridiculous. Caley were known as the Rangers of the North as they were the most successful Non-League side in the UK, much the same as Rangers as the most successful side in the UK Senior Leagues. For many people Rangers were also the Caledonian of the Scottish League .

A few contenders... Paul Ritchie's header against Dunfermline in the Scottish Cup Semi Final at Hampden.... Bingham against St. Johnstone on the last day of the first SPL promotion season... Brian Thomson against Stenhousemuir in the Scottish Cup in '96 (I think)... Liam Keogh in the aforementioned Clyde game (what a volley!)... Mikey Teasdale v County (screamer from edge of the box across the keeper and into far corner) at Viccy Park in '96 (again, I think!)... Mark McCulloch v Dundee United in the Scottish Cup (1998, maybe??)... Any of Stewarties chip shots against County, although any of the Viccy Park ones are maybe that bit sweeter...! Tokely v Hearts in the Scottish Cup in '02... Golabek v Dunfermline at Pittodrie, our first SPL goal ever by our Skipper, brilliant... All three of Alan Herchers Hat Trick against Arbroath in the first ever SFL game in Inverness!

Probably just welcoming to the Highlands and reminding him who the bigger club is! Don't think there is anyone at County that would improve our squad anyway

Seems the authorities can't win... Games on, moans about fan safety. Games off, moans about how it's not that bad... It might be mollycoddling or whatever but it isn't a clever idea to make unnecessary journeys in this weather and the rescue services will be stretched enough right now without having to rush off to road incidents cos an additional 50,000+ people are on the roads for football. Correct decision for me. As a direct result, should this not re-open the winter shut down debate? Or even summer football?

Who was the winger from Dundee (or United) that Brewster was trying to sign? It wasn't Conway, sure it was Stephen something??

Ref, if any of the Caley boys get this close to one of our guys it's a foul, that's what the Scottish Refs do. Understood?

McCourts goal looks like a belter right enough, does he ever score tap ins?? Fantastic result and keeps the great run going! It's been an awesome year and here's to continuing it for another 12 months!

Big congratulations to all involved, listened to the game today as I couldn't make it and at 2-0 down was resigned to this fantastic run ending. Amazing effort by the lads to get back to 2-2 and just proves again how good the team spirit must be in this squad to force the game back their way! Brilliant effort from everyone involved at the club and finally the media seem to be taking notice and realising we play some pretty nice football too. What a year it has been and long may it continue!

Wasn't at the game so can't say whether it was banter or not, but I was at Jamie Carraghers Testimonial earlier in the season where Michael Owen was playing as part of Carras Liverpool team in the first half. The first 15 minutes or so he was boo'ed longly and loudly for being a Manc nowadays. A few supporters took exception to this and started to cheer him every time he touched the ball. By the end of the half every time he touched the ball it was to applause and cheering. In short, if any fans thought any boo'ing of Brewser was out of order, why didn't they cheer him instead to show they though it wasn't the time or the place? Would achieve a lot more than moaning on a web forum a day or so after surely?

If the Scottish Refs decide to withdraw their labour/strike then I wouldn't go to the game if it was officiated by a foreign Ref. I really dislike the way the football has gone in recent years and the flooding of the game with huge amounts of money resulting in massive wages and enormous ticket prices has, for me, hugely eroded what football, and sport in general, is all about. If the referees striking can bring a little bit of respect and perspective back into the game then that is well worth supporting and missing a game for. To bring in foreign referees would totally undermine the officials in this country at a time when the SFA should be trying to offer more, not less, support. It really could cause irreparable damage.

Abuse of referees isn't a new issue. In 2008, I think, the managers and players agreed to not criticise officials publicly, a pact which lasted all of 5 minutes if I remember right. I think this strike is a last resort as some of the Referees are now genuinely fearing for their safety. Celtic officials effectively endorsing the paranoid fringe in their club to react against perceived institutionalised injustices has just brought it to a head. Most Referees I know or have met, admittedly not Category 1 ones, expect and accept criticism as part of the the modern game, although no one appreciates it... The whole situation is embarrassing for Scottish Football. It's been allowed to go unchecked for far too long and now it's gone too far, the SFA have to shoulder a huge amount of blame for not protecting their employees better. Referees are just as important than the players on the pitch and you can't have one without the other. Other sports manage to respect officials without issue, why should football be any different?

The ref's are completely justified in their action. They aren't throwing the toys out the pram at the first hint of criticism, if that were the case they'd have given up 150 years ago! I think referees expect, and accept, criticism but that does not mean they should be subjected to some of the insanity that players, managers and fans feel is justified because football is an 'emotional game'. When that abuse continues after the game and follows the Referee home and affects his family and work life,it's gone far too far. Celtic are the catalyst for this episode but all the clubs have to shoulder blame as every club has had players and managers booked/sent off/sent to the stand for dissent. However, the SFA have allowed it to continue unchecked for far too long. Maybe it's because there is a new Chief Executive who doesn't understand the ridiculous politics that consume the Scottish game, or maybe the organisation is just weak. Reid and Lennon should both be charged with bringing the game into disrepute and Dougie MacDonald shouldn't be allowed to officiate at a kids kickabout again. It doesn't matter whether he ultimately got the decision right or wrong. He lied and as a Referee his integrity cannot be in question so his actions have made his position untenable. The whole situation is just an embarrassment for Scottish Football.