Scotty

... and hoping that Kenny Smith gets his ESTA woes sorted out in time to fly out and watch the WC.

mmm, I may tune in for Shakira :)

Press Release from Club: Liam Sole returns to ICTFC Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC are delighted to announce the pre-contract signing of Liam Sole on a one-year deal, subject to SFA clearance. Liam will join the club upon the expiry of his contract with Livingston FC. Liam, 26, joins the club on a permanent basis following a successful loan spell last season, during which he made 43 appearances and scored six goals on the way to securing the William Hill League One title. Upon signing, Liam said: “I really loved my time at the club last season and I’m delighted to now sign a permanent deal. "I’m looking forward to coming back, getting stuck in for the new Championship campaign, and I can’t wait to see all the fans again.”

Zoom? MS Teams? Google Meet? Where there is a will, there is a way. Seems to be a lot of issues, even for our own fans with ESTAs being cancelled at the last minute and such like. [example: https://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/news/an-absolute-shambles-of-bureaucracy-highland-folk-rock-437123/] Although I would not need an ESTA or other visa with a Canadian passport, that's why, in the end, I decided not to cross the border and head for Boston. Theoretically I should be ok crossing the border, but too many issues in the news about Canadians who should also have no problems encountering issues over the last couple of years. Also, all that 51st state rhetoric and the tariffs have seen a huge increase in people deciding against travel as well as country wide "Buy Canadian" policies that have seen imports from the USA and travel to the USA plummet. I don't need to be involved in the political BS so just staying home and watching it on TV as well as volunteering at the Fan Fest / Volunteer Centre during the tournament.

So here we go (here we go, here we go) ... The competition starts in 6 days time and Scotland are firmly ensconced the USA preparing for their World Cup return in 8 days, albeit without Billy Gilmour, which is a big loss to the side, but we are nonetheless at our first World Cup since France '98 and the Tartan Army will be there in force, tickets or not. I remember France 98, we got beaten by both Brazil and Morocco enroute to a bottom of the group finish. Let's hope history does not repeat itself. We have been drawn against Brazil in 1974 (0-0), 1982 (1-4), 1990 (0-1), and 1998 (1-2) so 1 draw, 3 defeats across 4 games in a total of 7 world cups we've been to since 1974. I'd take a repeat of the 1974 result against them if you offered it right now! If we can avoid slip-ups then the current squad surely has a chance to make a name for itself as the first Scotland team to get out of the group stage, something that is statistically easier this time around with 48 teams instead of 32, but we all know Scotland don't do things the easy way ... its like watching ICT (or Toronto FC). Another possibility is for there to be a new Scottish top scorer at the tournament, not the golden boot for the tournament itself (although that would be really nice) but just the top Scot. Joe Jordan has the most goals for Scotland at the World Cup, with 4 in total having scored 2 in '74 and 1 each in '78 and '82. Three other players have two World Cup goals total, Archie Gemmill got two in 1978, both in the same game, and I think we all remember only one of them ❤️. John Wark was our top scorer in 1982 with two in the game against New Zealand and Kenny Dalglish has two as well, but spread across two tournaments with one each in 78 and 82. If McTominay, McGinn or Shankland can bag two goals in total then they would join the three players who have scored more than once at a World Cup, and if by chance anyone got three or more, they would be our all-time top scorer in a single World Cup tournament ... but let's not get ahead of ourselves, I think we would all take an 89th minute sclaff in the box deflecting of Grant Hanley's right erse cheek if it got us three points. ESPN had a decent article this week about the World Cup predictions and for Group C it predicted - as many have - Scotland to finish third but noted a 67% chance of advancing. The simulation, performed 1000s of times has this averaging out as a low scoring group and shows Scotland ending up with 4 points and a 1-1-1 record. According to the Supercomputer we are going to beat Haiti 2-1, draw 0-0 with Morocco and lose 1-0 to Brazil before crashing out 1-0 to Mexico in the round of 32. I guess that sounds plausible and also puts the kybosh on us hoping for a new top scorer for Scotland at a world cup. (source: https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/48962628/world-cup-predictions-picking-winner-every-game-entire-tournament) On a personal level I thought long and hard before deciding not to cross the border into USA and go to Boston. There were just too many factors conspiring against me personally, professionally and it has to be said, financially, with tickets, travel and accommodation costs putting it well out of reach of most 'normal' people this time around. The cherry on top of it is that my son's football team will be playing in a tournament close to Niagara Falls next weekend on the very day that Scotland kick off against Haiti. So instead, we have a group of around 40 parents who are all going to the pub to eat loads of fried food, drink loads of beer, and hopefully be converted into Tartan Army members, although I don't think this will work on the Haitian family who are part of our group nor those with Spanish or French connections. Should make for some interesting banter however ... and yes, full Tartan Army uniform will be in force. The kilt is being dusted down, the Scotland top is already in hand, and I have my (really comfortable) Adidas World Cup trainers, courtesy of FIFA. Anyone following the blog will have seen I was unsuccessful in getting tickets for any of the games in Toronto, and although prices are now coming down slowly, they are still pretty high and may eventually sell out before reaching my comfort zone. I will keep my eye out just in case things improve. However, what started as 'Plan B' to try and get a role inside the stadium on matchdays by volunteering my services, has instead seen me get a role that is called "Host City Management" and I will be based at the Volunteer Centre that is located in the heart of the Fan Fest area near the stadium. The title sounds high falutin' but it's basically checking in other volunteers and telling them where they need to be and being kept in reserve in case, we are needed elsewhere. The description of this new role, notes that we need to be flexible, adaptable, and capable of performing many different roles, so I'll take that as a compliment. The training we are receiving is comprehensive and things, while perhaps looking chaotic on the surface, which is not unexpected given the sheer quantity of applications received, is actually very well organised, and smooth. I went to pick up my accreditation and uniform the other week and was in and out of the place I had to go in about 20 minutes with all my gear. During training it was confirmed to us that there were more than 250,000 applications for volunteer positions in Toronto alone, of which a total of about 3200 volunteers were selected in total, and in the role I have been given, only a total of around 60 people. The same is true of other roles where it was whittled down from that initial 250K to just a few. As the tournament draws closer, I am actually looking forward to this quite a lot and after signing up for the required 8 shifts the other week, I actually went into the volunteer portal and added 4 more today although none when Scotland are due to play! Wherever I end up on any given day, the atmosphere is going to be electric around Toronto and it's time to breathe it all in. If I ever experience this again, it's unlikely I will be able to go home to my own bed at the end of the evening and that's kind of a surreal feeling. And so to a little final comment about the "Toronto Stadium". I am going to say it now. I think the smallest stadium in the tournament might actually be very popular with fans and players alike. The temporary stands are not exactly attractive from the outside, but on the inside of the stadium it does not look too bad, the fans are really close to the field (like 10-15 feet at the front row) and there is no running track or other barrier distancing the field from the players. They WILL hear you if you are close enough to the action. I know that much from TFC games. They tried a dry run at the recent TFC -V- Inter Miami game and because Messi and co. were in town, they managed to pretty much sell out the stadium. They also implemented World Cup travel schedules on public transit and put the proposed entry procedures into effect to test it, and it has to be said, it all seemed to go pretty smoothly considering there were twice as many people as normal in the stadium. The atmosphere was pretty good with 45K in the stands, although with World Cup crowds I think it will be more raucous and louder than the Messi-hunters. Despite the result, a 4-2 defeat with Messi and Luis Suarez both on the scoresheet, the experience felt good. I looked around and wished the Tartan Army would have been drawn here. I think any team as loud and as passionate as the TA will make this stadium rock. No Scotland No Party !

I agree with that. I can't see Argentina repeating and my Brazilian colleague tells me that they are not good right now, although in Brazilian terms that likely translates to only being good enough for the quarters or semis! No other country springs to mind as an eventual winner other than France or Spain although Spain also have a bit of controversy going on after naming no Real Madrid players to the squad. Don't know what to make of Haiti. That's a pretty good result but looking at the squad list there are only a handful of players at recognisable clubs. One of them - Derrick Etienne Jr - plays for Toronto so I see him every week. A pacy winger, who will be familiar with the stadium in Boston, but someone who flatters to deceive most weeks. Scored something like 8 in 46 games for Haiti and only 5 in 60 for Toronto but popped up just a couple of weeks ago to score an absolute banger against Charlotte. Hopefully that is him done scoring for the season - internationally at least! Not that I put much faith in the rankings, but it does have to be noted that Haiti are 83rd and New Zealand are 85th. The two lowest ranked teams in the tournament. Even Cape Verde (69) and Curacao (82) are ahead of them. Scotland are at #43. What surprised me - in the rankings - is that Ghana, who I thought were higher ranked, are listed at 74th spot so round of the 'worst five' according to the rankings.

With both the aforementioned Kenny Dalglish and Kevin Keegan recently revealing their cancer diagnoses, maybe both nations will have a wee bit of an incentive to raise the bar a little bit for one of their respective icons. FCUK Cancer - wishing both Kenny and Kevin success in their individual battles.

I know a bunch of folks doing just that, even considered it myself at one stage until my son's team entered a tournament in Niagara Falls on June 13th and 14th - Just taking the Scotland top and Kilt with me to the tournament and one of the other dads in the team is Haitian so it might be a sloppy night! One of the guys who is a couple of rows behind me at TFC (a Killie fan) is driving a few folk from Toronto to Boston and meeting up with his brothers who are flying in from Scotland. Tickets and accommodation details are 'fluid' according to him! Its 'only' a 10–12-hour drive to Boston but with the ticket prices, transportation companies charging 10X the normal for trains to the stadium, and everything else set to gouge fans I calculated it would cost us about USD$4000 - US$5000 to attend just one game so we decided against it. Tickets likely not going to be a problem to get, if you are willing to pay. There are no games yet sold out (as of last week), not even the Brazil game as costs are so high. It's a defence mechanism. I was optimistic about Scotland in my teens and twenties, but they soon grind you down. That's why I only ever book 2 weeks of holiday time for any competition we qualify for :) If we get through to the next round it will be an achievement for us, even though it should be easier. However, history tells us Scotland have a habit of finding new and innovative ways to not get beyond the group stage. Think I am right in saying we were the first team ever (back in '74) to go out of the tournament without losing a game! All the teams in our group (Brazil, Yugoslavia and Scotland) beat Zaire but the rest of the games were draws so it all came down to who scored how many against Zaire. Yugoslavia put 9 past them, Brazil had 3 and we only scored 2 so out we went ... and its been the Scotland way ever since! OK Boss. Leave it in the general football we will - let's just prefix it with a world cup tag.

Would be great if he did, and hopefully the club made him an offer that would be good enough that he has to think really hard, but in the end, he has to make the choice that's best for him and his family.

Apologies for posting this in the main forum ... Ryan Christie, Ryan Christie, Ryan Christie ... there we go, now its ICT related 😄 Do users want a separate sub forum for the World Cup (and by extension the Euros in a couple of years time hopefully) or should we simply stick with the "Other Football" category? A separate forum would allow us to keep it all in place and not get lost with other stuff, keeping it in the general football category could also be done if we just prefix every world cup thread with a tag of "world cup". I am not bothered either way as neither is a huge task.

Congrats - now everyone will be even surer my ICT top is a Palace one when I wander around Toronto with it!

Could have been worse.

Its possible that some of the players listed are discussing things with the club but the club or the player themselves let the contract expire so they can start negotiations afresh (and keep options open elsewhere). We are up a division and a player - like MacIntyre for example - performed well last season so their current contract may not reflect what they think they are worth and they want to discuss a better contract for themselves outside of the normal promotion clauses that may be in an old contract. Equally, for aging players, the club may think they are worth less than the player does and that too is another discussion ... I long gave up trying to make sense of these kinds of situations as there are 3 different sets of people making these decisions, not just the club. The players themselves have to look after number 1, as do their agents, and then the club has only a small say. For once I have a little more confidence that between SK, CC and AS we will make sensible footballing decisions within our budget. No-one is so good that we have to break that budget, that's part of the reason we got into the situation we were in and I can't see Savage falling into that trap.

Yeah, that's going to be a tough division .... If we can finish anywhere in the top 6 that would be an achievement based on what we have been through in the last couple of years. Super early and completely inaccurate prediction below :) St Mirren / Partick Thistle Livingston Dunfermline Ayr United Raith Rovers Inverness CT Arbroath Queens Park Morton Stenhousemuir

Maybe he has a better offer? or maybe he is in talks with the club on a new contract.

All standard stuff ... end of contracts, and end of loans. Some may already be in contract discussions with us and re-sign based on improved Championship offers, others will inevitably move on. Hopefully we might get one or both of the Alfies back on loan again in a higher division if Kells wants them ....

My guess would be no. Perhaps some fine or slap on the wrist but no big investigation!

https://spfl.co.uk/news/multiple-disciplinary-investigations-announced the SPFL can confirm that the following matches are being investigated under SPFL Rules H36 and H37: Inverness Caledonian Thistle v Hamilton Academical – Saturday 2 May 2026 Motherwell v Celtic – Wednesday 13 May 2026 Hamilton Academical v Clyde – Friday 15 May 2026 Celtic v Heart of Midlothian – Saturday 16 May 2026 Stenhousemuir v Alloa Athletic – Saturday 16 May 2026

That's progress from where we were just a year or two ago!

Happy for that. Over the course of the season, they have got the job done and deserve it.

100% on this one too. Have seen season ending injuries twice now because of this, with the injury happening after the flag should have been raised.

you are probably right, the nostril hair or knobbly knee will be behind now instead of in front.

Can the officials of this club not use google?

The aim and purpose of VAR is a great idea but it is only as good as the referees overseeing it (and the placement of the technology). Too many refs seem to have ego issues that mean they can't admit they were wrong, even in the face of video evidence, and those working the VAR may be a little more unlikely to throw their colleague under the bus in terms of highlighting they are making a bad decision. I think this World Cup will make or break VAR and I hope FIFA have really experienced officials doing this as my experience of it in MLS games is about the same as opinions expressed about Scotland and England. When it works, it works well, but just like unassisted referees who can legitimately get things wrong on a split-second decision, when a clearly bad decision is made on VAR, its nonsensical as that should never happen. The get-out clause here is always to use the wording that "VAR is designed to correct clear and obvious errors made by the official, if you have to look at it from 100 angles for 5 minutes then by definition this is not clear and obvious to the official on the field" I kind of like the cricket idea of each team having limited challenges. They also use it in other sports on this side of the pond like Basketball and NFL I think. Doesn't seem to slow those sports down, although it could be argued that these sports already have more breaks in them than football. The whole system likely needs an overhaul and review on a global scale. If for example it is to be in all the top leagues then you have to go all in and incorporate definitions of how many cameras, camera angles, goal-line technology all with standards. Not sure about Scotland, but it seems that over here that the quality of the VAR is all down to how many angles Apple TV can show with their cameras at any given stadium! This world cup is set to make FIFA billions in profit so perhaps some of that can be diverted to improving the technology that should make decision making consistent and fair. It's not in this world cup, but happy to see that the Canadian Premier League is also trialling the 'daylight' offside rule proposed by Arsene Wenger (ironic that a former Arsenal manager is promoting a rule to achieve more attacking football). No more offside by a nostril hair or a knobbly knee, needs to be clear air between defender and attacker. This is another one that might add to the controversy of VAR as well ... although the VAR for that should be easier. Strange though that is being trialled in a league that does not use VAR!

according to Courier only 4 players in contract: https://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/sport/caley-thistle-consider-future-of-22-players-out-of-contract-434616/