Sneckboy

That's that sort of 'flippant' remark that does nobody any favours, and could be inflammatory! ICT are not a continuation of Caledonian (Caley)! Inverness then, is unrecognisable to what it's like now - from a town of 30k to now 80k in such a small time-scale is incredible. Back in the 80s/early 90s, Inverness Thistle or Caley 'going to the wall' would have been a blow to the town. Not financially, but they were simply part of the fabric. For both to 'fold' at-the-same-time was unthinkable...it was a risk, and the 'timing' had to be right. The vacancy, after 20 years, with no further opportunity in sight, had to be taken. The 'risk' involved in dissolving two 'great' (locally) clubs was certainly right. The opportunity was there to apply (and be accepted) to the Scottish League - despite interest from Gala (as usual) and others, it was virtually a fait accompli. Yes, the town lost two major institutions in its proud history - but a new one has been formed, perhaps mirroring the growth in the now City of Inverness. To suggest Caley still exist is absurd and frankly, legally inaccurate. Yes, 'Caley' is often used as the name for ICT, but that of course, is just a nickname, based on the shortening of the word Caledonian in our name. Any inference to the former 'Caledonian FC (Caley)' is unfortunately mistaken! Interested to see how many ex-Caledonian fans would be in favour of the club re-naming as simply Inverness FC?

Although 'logical', It doesn't seem to work that way, these days! Looking at last season, Aberdeen and St Johnstone were both unseeded at 'our' stage - but the Dons were at Pittodrie in the first leg (v Groningen), while the saints were away that night in Switzerland! It's hard to second-guess UEFA - they even put teams in mini sections prior to the draw - randomly in most cases - and it seems, with little regard to geography!

This time tomorrow, all the speculation will finally be over! The Champions League draw comes first at 11am (UK time), followed by the Europa League 1st Qualifying Round at 12-noon. Our 2nd Qualifying Round should be at 1.30pm. Thanks to PerthICT for clarifying my earlier error where I was 'an hour out' in trying to convert GMT/BST to CET/CEST. Am unable to watch it live on UEFA, where it will no doubt be a long and drawn-out affair, but look forward to discovering our opponents, hopefully before 2pm!

I've got three Inverness players having made 100+ consecutive appearances. (subject to error!) Paul Sheerin just misses out, on 98. Dennis Wyness 119, Billy Mckay 130 and Mark Brown 176 !!!!

Talking of world football, Scotty, I see Canada safely negotiated their opening World Cup 2018 qualifier (6-0 aggregate v Dominica) to progress to the next phase The 2nd leg was in Toronto, too, I note! I'd expect them to overcome their next opponents, later this year, to qualify for next year's group stage - before perhaps in 2017 trying to qualify for the actual World Cup in the 'Hex'....as it's known over there!

Draw for Europa League Qualifying rounds 1 and 2 Monday 22nd June Pre-season games start for Aberdeen & St. Johnstone Wednesday 24th June Europa League Qualifying 1st round - 1st leg Thursday 2nd July (Potential opponents to watch) Europa League Qualifying 1st round - 2nd leg Thursday 9th July (Potential opponents to watch) Europa League Qualifying 2nd round - 1st leg Thursday 16th July Draw for Europa League Qualifying round 3 Friday 17th July Europa League Qualifying 2nd round - 2nd leg Thursday 23rd July (Europa League Qualifying 3rd round - 1st leg) Thursday 30th July Premiership - ICT v Motherwell Saturday 1st August (Europa League Qualifying 3rd round - 2nd leg) Thursday 6th August

Yeah, it looks a decent start (on paper!) Overall, we've 16 Home and 17 Away games, which may-or-may-not 'even up' after the split! With a view to average attendance, it's a pity we've only one certain visit from Celtic - but that could be offset by having both Aberdeen and Hearts coming here twice. Also, we're at home on both of the Saturdays before xmas - perhaps the Killie game could be a pay-what-you-can to tempt the shoppers away from the Eastgate! Just one visit scheduled to our bogey ground, Firhill! We're away to the Dons on Boxing Day with County first-footing us on 2nd January. Our first match since winning the cup is very much a bread-and-butter fixture at home to 'well. The central-belt media will be looking at the attendance more than the score in that, I guarantee - ready for a cheap shot. Would be great if we could attract 4,500+ to ram it back down their throats! Right, that's been looked at - roll on Monday's Europa draw!!

Peterhead have signed Shane Sutherland from Elgin City. He'll be looking to form a goal-scoring partnership with Rory McAllister.

Just got to scratch this itch - the top-flight in Scottish football is NOT called the SPFL! But, anyway, It’s insulting to suggest football in Inverness started when Thistle and Caledonian merged to form ICT. Furthermore, It’s ignorant and misguided to suggest “some ambitious figures came along” - as if Inverness had previously had no inclination to join the then closed-shop of the national leagues. Thistle were unsuccessful in their bid to join in 1973/74 when a vacancy became available. Purely out of self-interest, the 37 member clubs voted against Inverness (reportedly by 19-18), opting instead for Ferranti Thistle from Edinburgh. There was then 20 years without any further opportunity to apply. It’s totally disrespectful to suggest that the founding fathers of the club - the likes of Jock McDonald and Norman Miller just “came along”! And how dare you suggest that the Highland League is 'pub football'. Many individuals give years of their time to these clubs with little reward or recognition - and indeed are often run more prudently and conscientiously than the likes of The Rangers, Hearts, Dundee, Livingston (that irony will be lost on you, captain). The tone of your post suggests you’re too young to have experienced the pre-ICT days, so refrain from telling others how you think they should be feeling, on a matter in which you are unqualified to comment.

I was hoping he'd come back to us! But, I understand, that clubs just don't take-on three established 'keepers! We've got Brill & Esson, with back-up from young Cammy Mackay (and the even younger Daniel Hoban). He seems to have been around for ages, as sometimes goalies do; but still only 34. A legend for us though. I need to research this, but perhaps he holds the record for most consecutive games played? What is certain, he played in over 200 competitive games, and would probably be my goalkeeper in an ICT all-time team!

Yeah, Kenny Cameron's quote (in the signing of Wedderburn article) suggests they're back next week. I'm actually looking at tomorrow as the start of the new season! The SPFL fixtures are published followed by the European draw on Monday. Then on Wednesday, Aberdeen and St Johnstone start their European preparation with actual friendly games! And we're just two-weeks later with our Euro adventure.... Not sure if a proposed 'closed doors' game v the Dons is still planned? I definitely think we should try to have a couple of friendlies before Europe - which is just 4 weeks tonight!!!

Thanks for clarifying everything with your succinct post.

Anagram!

The draw on Monday is being streamed live on the UEFA website. Q1 starts at 1pm followed by our draw, Q2 at 2.30pm. (or as UEFA put it, 14.30 CET...which I think is still 2.30pm our time, remembering we're in BST)!

Signed until the end of next season (2016-17): • Gary Warren • Richie Foran • Greg Tansey • Josh Meekings Signed until the end of this season (2015-16): • John Hughes - Manager • Russell Latapy - Assistant Manager • Dean Brill • Aaron Doran • Danny Williams • Ryan Esson • Ryan Christie • Carl Tremarco • Ross Draper • James Vincent • David Raven • Daniel Devine • Ali Sutherland • Liam Polworth • Lewis Horner • Calum Ferguson • Cammy Mackay • Nat Wedderburn Out of contract: • Nick Ross • Tarmo Kink ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Development Squad players available for this season (2015-16): • Calum Howarth • Jason Brown • Jaime Wilson • Kane Hull • Struan McArthur • Blair MacLennan • Chris Brown • Stephen Rennie • Chris Blackett • Daniel Hoban (goalkeeper) • Alasdair Stark • Andrew Macrae

Mark Brown has signed a two-year deal with Championship club, Dumbarton.

I assume he was a part-timer at Cowdenbeath? Well, he's 'won-a-watch' with this - but a big step-up from preparing for a season in League One with trips to Albion Rovers, Peterhead and Brechin, he's now signed for a club in their zenith, who are preparing for European football! He probably can't believe it himself!

Troll off! We currently hold the second most prestigious trophy in Scottish football, the Scottish Cup. World football's oldest trophy. It's been a quarter-of-a-century since 'yous' have had it! You Dons fans need to stop sitting in your rooms with your Keith Chegwin posters, reading Smash Hits Magazines, twiddling Rubik's cubes, sipping from your Radio 1 RoadShow mugs and playing Spandau Ballet music. The 80s were a long time ago! Aberdeen are irrelevant nowadays!

​I've seen his name on a few released players list, the most recent being from a few days ago. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/33028602

Tonight's game with Scotland will officially end the season! But on Friday, the SPFL fixtures are released, triggering the start of the new season! And our European draw follows, three-days-later! 5 days break!! Apparently, Aberdeen are back and doing light-running already, but they're playing a fortnight ahead of us. Makes a mockery of talk of 'summer' or 'winter' football - it's effectively an all-year event. Read an article about Lionel Messi. Apart, from an injury, Messi's not had a two-week break from competitive football in 8 years! There he is again - just won the Champions League with Barca - now he's in South America, captaining Argentina in the Copa America!

Rooney is also surely an ICT club legend? Our leading scorer for 3 consecutive seasons. That will be very hard to beat!

Slight undertones of you not wishing him well? It's a tough one - an ICT legend - but now at a rival! Hope he gets a Scotland cap. But what bugs me that a very realistic situation could be : Barry Robson...finds space in the middle to feed Jonny Hayes...who has time to slip the ball through to the overlapping Graeme Shinnie - who crosses for Adam Rooney to score! Painful!!!

CaleyD makes a great observation - hadn't 'clocked' that - Newport County v Plymouth Argyle will be interesting!! Although, haven't they since 'made up' and have a 'mutual respect' nowadays!?! But, a tough 'gig' for Derek Adams at Plymouth, as they seem to be one of those clubs who fire managers quite readily - and they'll be expecting him to deliver promotion in the next 2 seasons, if not this one coming!