Huisdean

Was tempted to bite Johndo but give this a rest. Merger is history and I cannot seriously believe that it is having a major impact on attendances now. Inverness public are starting to get what they deserve by not supporting their team.

Hopefully the kick off time will be changed but surely Scotrail missing a huge opportunity here to run a special train?.

Adams is perhaps, a better tactician than Butcher but a better manager, you must be joking. Would not want Adams anywhere near ICT

One can only hope that. as IHE as already alluded, that Butcher is trying to "do right" by ICT and maximise the compensation paid to them. He cannot return to the club in any shape or form now and it is sad that all the good times under TB will be forgotten due to this farce.

Anyone who thinks the Hibs job is not a step up for Butcher is deluding themselves. Sure, Hibs may be rubbish just now but the potential for that club is, sadly, a great deal more than ICT. They have a major stadium, a purpose built training facilty, crowds double to treble ours (when they are not playing particularly well)and are a "big city" club. As for some folk saying Butcher could get better than Hibs in England, dooes anyone seriously think an English Premier league team would appoint him and even if you go to the Championship, it is likely to be one of the lower positioned sides that would go for him. A managerial job at one of Scotland's "bigger" clubs is a realistic ambition for TB but not for anything beyond that. If TB goes then so be it, we repalce him and move on as the club has always done. It is crucial the club get the appointment correct but the good thing about having TB as manager is that it has raised the profile of the club along with recent results.

Totally agree about Levein. Don't want him near ICT at all. Boring manager and boring team will follow if this man gets appointed.

Someone young and ambitious like Paul Hartley?.

You are indeed correct Renegade. Call it a senior moment!.

A bit harsh on Tremarco I think IHE considering it was his first full game and he will take some time to adjust to the team. When we did take him off, Shinnie did move to the left but we basically played with 3 at the back then. I do feel we lose something by playing Shinnie on the right as he then temds to cut inside, not always a bad thing but better to have someone going on the outside. As for Billy, he has taken a few hard tackles in the last few games including the United one so he well have an injury. I do think we are short in certain positions should we get injuries/suspensions but Williams and Tremarco look good back ups. I think Watkins will get better the more games he plays once he fully adjusts to the pace. Right back is an issue, can Cooper not play there?. Jury is out for me on toby but he has not impressed me greatly when I have seen him. Not sure that the other signings in the summer will really deliver much more and Curtis Byrne, signed as a back up striker looks like a waste of money at this point in time.

Maybe if the United players had catually tried to stay on their feet instead of going down clutching their faces as if struck at every opportunity, the referee would not have had so many problems. United very very cynical on the night, which I have not seen them do before, so they got what they deserved. It also finally seems that our guys are getting more streetwise in learning how to deal with this anddeal with the opposition

If they win this, it will be a farce as the player clearly has his hands around Shinnie's neck. You simply cannot raise your hands like that in football now.

Not the best home performance of the season but did enough to win the game in my opinion. Thought everyone put in a good shift and on another day we would have won. Don't think there was anyone not trying or put is a really bad performance though and certainly not intentionally.

Were you at the game anniemac. We were not at our best but should have won or got at least a draw. Players tried hard and did enough to win but the vital element which you sometimes need, luck was not there. To say some players start every week and deliver very little is harsh in the extreme

Wasn't at the game and I have only seen the goals on TV. Did Devine actually cost us any of the goals as they all seemed to stem from central or left sided positions for St Johnstone?. Where I think we did lose some impetus is we were without the forward runs Raven makes so effectively this season (but didn't always do last season). No matter if Meekings or Devine played right back, we would not have replaced the runs Raven now makes so I think the whole debate is a bit of a red herring to be honest. Sounds as if too many players had an off day and no amount of substitutions can change that.

Feck me Johndo, your looks have improved with age!

Totally agree and it seems strange the SFA can use TV evidence to charge a player for an offence the referee has missed (witness the Dundee UTd player offered a 3 match ban for allegedly kicking a Celtic player) but cannot or will not use the TV evidence to rescind a decison that is so obviously wrong. Surely the SFA do not operate double standards!!.

Tichy if I'm trolling its certainly not intentional In my opinion no self respecting Caley fan would ever wear the away top As long as ICT continue to display the Thistle on the badge I personally won't purchase club merchandise but I certainly am not stopping any of my fellow ICT fans from doing so, like I said its my personal opinion Dougal Take away the thistle and the fekkin eagle falls on its ass How very true Alex. Hopefully some posters may take note of this including Dougal.

Perhaps one of the biggest factors in attracting decent numbers of fans back is actual competition. Many fans realsie their team will not win the league so for them, they don't see any point in attending. Many years ago, the majority of fans would attend no matter what but with so many other attractions these days, this could account for a large chunk of fans and maybe explain why, when we had a successful season, still no upturn in crowds.

I agree that somethings cost money and will be a non starter in these difficult times. An example of this would be the installation of large TV screens in corners of the ground but unless we have a willing sponsor to do this.......... However, i was thinking about specific deals for season ticket holders or specific events just to try and make it more than a ticket just to watch football. This could be a free draw for a hospitality once a quarter or discounts on hospitality packages/exclisive to season ticket holder hospitality packages. Point I am trying to make is to make a season ticket more than just that to try and increase numbers and market the club more.

I tend to agree with RIG on this but think that the club could look at making the season ticket more of a package than just a ticket for football. This doesn't just apply to ICT as I think clubs have to do more to make the game on a Saturday more of an experience and greater fan/audience participation. I will be the first to admit i don't know how we can do this or start to go about this but I still think the season ticket idea is worthy of some thought.

Tichy if I'm trolling its certainly not intentional In my opinion no self respecting Caley fan would ever wear the away top As long as ICT continue to display the Thistle on the badge I personally won't purchase club merchandise but I certainly am not stopping any of my fellow ICT fans from doing so, like I said its my personal opinion This is my personal opinion as well but I find your post very depressing. There are no Caley or Thistle fans any more only ex Caley or Thistle fans and Inverness Caledonian Thistle fans. If the word Thistle is in the name, it is logical that it appears on the club crestespecially as it was a merger of two sides that led to ICT, not as many Caley fans still seem to think, a takeover. I was a Thistle fan for many years and still consider myself proud to have supported Thistle but I am now an ICT fan, end of story and to those fans who still cannot do something because Caley or Thistle are mentioned in the name, it's time to get a life and move on. Dougal

Really disappointing if we are around the same levels as last year given last season. I do think, as another poster has already mentioned, that we could do more to market the club and it's products but too late now. Fro various poster as well, it seems that some have not purchases seasonn tickets but will apy at the gates for games that can/want to attend. I guess therefore that it may take many games into the season to see what the impact is on attendances but as Alex has said, they are not the be all and end all and, in my opinion, probably damaged the financial structure of clubs as years ago, season tickets were a relatively small percentage of ticket sales. If more people are going to turn up for games on the day however, the club has to work at making the matchday experience as pleasureable as possible.

On the bright side, possibly 3 home fixtures after the split if County and Aberdeen and ourselves make top 6!

Maybe you should heed your own advice! It's a shame actually; this thread could have been quite interesting, but due to it's derailment by the regular suspects/aliases/trolls it's become less "Merger Talk" and more like "Merger Cringe". Well said that man.The fact that some posters still think it is important to harp on about how big Caley etc were in the 80s as if that really matters now is laughable. I know IHE clearly stated IF Caley had got the financial backing, they would have progressed to where ICT is today, very debateable point in my opinion, but if they had, it would not have been becuase it was it was Caley but the fact that more people would attend to watch a higher grade of football, not because they were caley supporters

Absolute nonsense Dougal. In the 80s and 90s, the Highland League was becoming dominated by the teams from the East and all three Inverness teams were not as strong as they had been. The fortunes of the Inverness teams tended to move in cycles with Caley/Clach and Thistle all having dominant spells although admittedly Caly were more dominant in the latter years. Before the mergers, both teams were dying on thier feet in terms of support and, while the merger certainly galvanised the caley support, it wasn't reflected in a massive surge in attendances. Can we put all this to bed once and for all. I was and remain an ardent Inverness Thistle supporter but ICT are now my team and I support them 100%. If people still choose not to attend gamnes because of the merger then sod them and if they are supporting Ross County as IHE states, then I for one, don't want them in our support. Absolute nonsense Huisdean , Caley won the league 4 times and were runners up on 3 occasions during the 80's . I realise this is no great achievement compared to thistles record from the same era True but 4 wins from 1980 to 1994 is hardly being a dominant force although, as you say certainly better than my team's achievments.