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Dawn of a new Era The new season kicks off with the visit of Brechin City to the Caledonian Stadium for a Group A Betfred League Cup encounter, Robbo's first competitive game back at the helm. Brechin did well to win promotion having finished fourth in the first division, but they pipped Alloa in the play-offs to send them into the Championship. It's over thirteen years since we last played a competitive match against The City who now have former Caley Jags machine Darren Dods as their player manager. The last game ended in a narrow 1-0 victory for Inverness in the Highlands. John Robertson was our manager that day and Barry Wilson grabbed the only goal from the penalty spot. When we first entered the Leagues, Brechin held the upper hand over Inverness, winning two and drawing one, with ICT taking the last encounter in 1996. Since then, Inverness gradually got the better of the Angus club and in season 2003/2004 we won all five games against Brechin, scoring 17 goals in the process. However, although the manager remains the same at Inverness, it's all change on the park and there was little given away in pre-season to give us any indication of what to expect this campaign. Signings were arriving at the double with striker George Oakley coming in from AFC Wimbledon and Inverness lad Mark Ridgers via Partick where he was back up keeper last season. Collin Seedorf a nephew of the great Clarence Seedorf arrived from Dutch football and Ricardo Calder and Mathew Elsdon were next to wave the Red'n'Blue scarf above their heads whilst proclaiming their lifelong ambition was to play for Caley Thistle in the Championship. There is also an exciting prospect in Zak Elbouzedi coming in from the West Brom set-up, a flying winger similar to Jake Mulraney, so that could be interesting. Former Motherwell defender Joe Chalmers has been added to the squad gaining a two year deal. Alex Cooper has also been linked with a move to Inverness having featured in a couple of pre-season games. A lot has changed since the end of the season, chairmen, directors, managers, players, ball boys, tweeters and ticket sellers have all been removed. Some have been replaced and it's not easy to keep tabs on. Notable faces out or on their way are Richie Foran, Kevin McNaughton, Scott Boden, Alex Fisher, Larnell Cole, Josh Meekings, Owain Fon Williams and another as yet unnamed high earner (if there is such a thing at ICT), an endless list really. Struggling for information this early in the season, but apparently over the close-season Dougie Hill, Ross Caldwell, Gareth Rodger, Alan Trouten and Darren McCormack have all left the Hedge at Brechin. No doubt due to cuts and trimming the squad. However, Willie Dyer, Liam Watt, Aron Lynas, Finn Graham, Chris O'Neill, Gary Fusco and Elliot Ford are all staying. Top signing appears to be Ryan McGeever ex-Falkirk who has signed on as has Isaac Layne, defender Ewan Spark. Late arrivals from Livingston are midfielder Jordan Sinclair and defender Sean Crighton and winger Kalvin Orsi from St Mirren. All are expected to be in the squad for tomorrows game. We begin the season with a lengthy injury list. The aforementioned Zak Elbouzedi is out (he'll be just Zak from now on), his crutches a bit of a giveaway. Strikers John Baird and George Oakley are struggling with knocks, Carl Tremarco and Aaron Doran have longer term injuries. After that it's anyone's guess who Robbo will be selecting for this seasons opener. Brechin have Liam Watt out with a broken wrist. They also have a few suspended, allegedly, Chris O'Neill, James Dale and Finn Graham. Star signing Ryan McGeever is reported to be on holiday at the moment. Over to you Dods, you're on the bench, so who are the other two subs? Name yer team Machine.

Pre-Seaon 2017-2018 Robbo's first game back at the helm was a low key pre-season friendly at New Mossett Park Forres against Highland League opposition. With a distinct lack of signed players in our squad after the shambles of last season, we fielded no less than five trialists as Robbo looked to get a semblence of a squad together capable of playing in the Championship this season. We started the game with what looked like this XI. Esson, Raven, Trialist, Mckay, Warren, Trialist, Polworth, Draper, Trialist, Trialist, Trialist. Even the regular Caley Jags fans were struggling to grasp who the newbies were, but some made a good stab at it and I'll do my best to put names to add them to the report. And true to form, someone came up with these names:- trialists are Chalmers, Leitch, Davidson, Oakley and Elbouzedi. Ridgers on the bench, so that makes the team something like this 1 Esson, 2 Raven, 3 Chalmers, 4 McKay, 5 Warren, 6 Leitch, 7 Polworth, 8 Draper, 9 Davidson, 10 Oakley, 11 Elbouzedi Subs:- 12 MacDonald, 14 Lawton, 15 Stark, 16 Chalmers, 17 Foy, 18 Wilson, 19 Ridgers (GK) As you would expect, it took a while for our players to get to know a little about each other and we struggled to make much headway in a first half dominated by the Mechanics who could have scored a couple but for some timely interventions. The second period saw a massive swing in the favour of Robbo's squad who dominated for long spells, but it took until the 75th minute for Brad Mckay to power a deep corner home. A late free kick saw the ball smack off the bar and that was it as far as the action was concerned. Young trialist striker Scott Davidson was carried off and reports suggest he has broken a bone in his foot. For Robbo, it will be about finding out more about the players he will need for the coming campaign. Good luck with that. From Forres, we went North to Brora. The Cattachs had taken the lead through Kyle Macleod, but a John Baird hat-trick which included a penalty and two assists from Draper saw Inverness take control before George Oakley ended the scoring from an Alex Cooper cross. 1-4 the final score. There's an excellent and detailed report up on the Brora Rangers website Brora 1-4 ICT From our own forum, Bughtmaster went North and summarised neatly, so I nicked it:- "Watching the first half at Brora the doubts in my mind were synonymous with what I felt last year at the same match. Even in the warm up the lack of cohesion and ambition was obvious, however it did pick up when Rice went across to them and got them organised. Notables in the first half were Raven, Draper, Baird, Mulraney (though his play was sussed out and made too obvious at first) Oakley showed some promise but ran offside too often. Ridgers I am afraid filled me with dread with his mishandling of crosses in front of goal, flapping personified I would call it, positioning and drilling were much better. Esson however will have to find a solution to his handling of crosses, Ridgers is a tall lad and should be able to do an awful lot better in removing danger. Second half for the team was a different story, organisation and cohesion came into play and we suddenly looked a very much better side, confidence grew as the goals went in and we started to look hungry. All in all comparing last year and this I am more confident of getting something out of this season, whereas last season I could not see any promise. Cheers Bughtmaster. After Brora, we had a run out at Station Park Nairn with our squad made up with mainly trialists and Clachnacuddin players. Starting XI in Nairn:- Esson, Trialist, Trialist, Trialist, Stark, Trialist, Trialist, MacDonald, Trialist, Trialist,Trialist. Bench:- Foster, Trialist, Trialist, Trialist. If you ask me, that's an awful lot of trialists. Rumour has it that Alex Cooper played as did Joe Chalmers (ex Motherwell). As it turns out, we had this XI starting:- Ryan Esson, Adam Blake (T), Joe Chalmers (T), David Ferguson (T), Jack Leitch (T), Chiedu Ikeme (Clach), Aiden Wilson (T), Liam Shewan (Clach), Alex Cooper (T), Eddie Barton (Clach), Rorie Macleod (Clach), Liam Ross (Clach). Game ended in a 1-4 win for Inverness. Goals came from Liam Shewan, Joe Chalmers with a thumping 30yard strike, an Alex Cooper tap in and Aiden Wilson. Kenny McKenzie scored for the hosts. The main squad were kept back for Elgin on Saturday. Maybe we would have been better with Friday nights squad as Elgin won convincingly 2-0 with goals from Cameron and Reid after dominating the second half. ICT:- Esson, Seedorf, Calder, Elbouzedi, Warren, Eldsdon, Polworth, Draper, Duffy, Vigurs, Mulraney. Subs: Ridgers (GK), Raven, Stark, MacDonald, Wilson. There's a full report in the local press Elgin 2-0 ICT There will be a game against Clach at Grant Street on Tuesday night with a 7:45 kick off Clach game cancelled. After that, there's no hiding place and the season kicks off in earnest with a home League Cup game against Brechin City next Saturday. The action starts at 15:00.

Welcome home Robbo! Inverness Caledonian Thistle have announced that their new manager will be a familiar face. It's thirteen years since he last managed at the Caledonian Stadium but he's back. It's Robbo who has emerged from the silence of the boardroom to be named as the man given the task of getting Inverness back into the Premiership, something he achieved thirteen years ago. John Robertson has been here before and was in charge when we were promoted to the top league in 2004, but not before some ammendments to the rules that saw stadium criteria altered in favour of smaller clubs, much to the annoyance of Partick Thistle at the time who were set to benefit from these archaic rules. Robertson began his full managerial career at Inverness in 2002 before returning to Tynecastle two years later having got Inverness promoted to the Scottish Premier League in season 2003/2004, when we pipped Clyde on the final day to send the helicopter flying North to Inverness with the silverware. What a day that was! He was lured to Tynecastle in November 2005, but when the new regime arrived, Robbo was deemed surplus to requirements. After leaving Hearts in 2005 amid the management takeover, Robertson had short spells at Ross County, Livingston and Derry City. Robbo took over at Bayview in 2010. The highlight of his tenure at Methil saw East Fife knock Aberdeen out of the Scottish Communities League Cup on penalties. Robertson was an enthusiastic coach first time round, but his lack of managerial positions in recent years has some fans reserving judgement. However, I'm sure we all wish him the best of luck in this appointment as he will need to get back up to speed pretty quickly given that the season kicks off with a League Cup game at home to Brechin City on Saturday 15th July. Early statement from the Board at Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle are today delighted to announce John Robertson as their new Manager. Chairman Willie Finlayson commented "we had an excellent interview process with some strong candidates but John emerged as our unanimous choice. We were hugely impressed with his tremendous drive, determination, communication and motivational skills. He clearly has a great knowledge of the game in Scotland and is both well respected and connected. We firmly believe he is the right man to lead us back into the Premier League. We would also like to thank Hearts for their very professional approach. John was doing a great job for them but they recognised his desire to get back into the dug out." More to follow as this breaking news unfolds.................... The repercussions of relegation don't come alone and staff reductions are becoming apparent as the new regime begins to shape the way forward. u20 coach Duncan Shearer has been removed from the payroll with Inverness not continuing with a development squad whilst in the championship division. Varying reports that this has become rather messy are clouding the issue, but Duncan Shearer has told the P&J that he is no longer required by the club. From P&J Shearer Leaving. Statement from ICTFC Shearer Leaving. It appears that Brian Rice will remain as assistant with Scott Kellagher as another coach.