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Dunc's Homecoming It's Duncan Ferguson's first home game on Saturday against a team expected to be challenging at the top end of the table come the end of the season. Partick Thistle will be a stern test for Dunc's revitalised troops who have been re-energised by the new Gaffer's unexpected arrival at the Caledonian Stadium. He got off to a flier last weekend but the adrenaline started to wear off before the end of the game and Arbroath staged a comeback from 3-0 down before we held out for a 3-2 win on the road, our first success in this years Championship. It's a big ask to expect miracles against well established Championship challengers, but that's the task on Saturday. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket Info North of Scotland Cup v Nairn Community development Summer report ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Last Time Out Inverness earned their first three points of the season last week against Arbroath in a five goal nailbiter. Dunc's reign got off to a great start with an early goal from Luis Longstaff. It was added to before the break when Longstaff turned provider for Aaron Doran to thump home his low driven cross after half an hour. Billy Mckay lobbed keeper Gaston just after the break from a Mark Ridgers kick out. Route one is alive and kicking. Arbroath got a lifeline with a freak goal when a clearance rebounded off Ross Stewart and deftly chipped over the flailing keepers hands and into the net from eighteen yards. Meh! Michael McKenna reduced the leeway to one when he arrowed home aftrer a bit of pinball on the edge of the box. We dug deep though and withstood a late barrage to secure the win for a jubilant away support and an equally enthusiastic new manager. Current Form last five games: L D L L W That leaves Inverness bottom equal with Morton on four points. Our scoring record is poor with only 6 goals scored but despite the mistakes, we haveonly conceded 10. Here's the goals from last week>>> Partick Thistle recovered from a 3-0 defeat to Arbroath the previous week to thump Dunfermline 3-0. Scott Robinson scored in the first half before our old friend Brian Graham scored five minutes after the break. Kerr McInroy added a third. This game had a raft of opportunities for both sides but it was the Firhill side that had the cutting edge in front of goal. Current Form last five games: W W W L W Good start by Partick has them tucked in behind Dundee United & Raith Rovers in 3rd place with 13 points. Partick are top scorers in the league with 17 goals having conceded 9. Latest Team News Ferguson will be without the long term absentees (MacGregor & Nicolson) plus more recent victims in Sean Welsh, Danny Devine and possibly Wallace Duffy. Partick Thistle Kris Doolan XI v Dunfermline Sneddon Ngwenya Muirhead Neilson Milne McInroy Robinson (Alston 79) Bannigan (Williamson 79) Lawless Graham (Adeloye 67) Fitzpatrick (McDonald 73) Subs not used: Diack, McGinley, Alston, Stanway, McKenzie, One for the Diary>>> ***Game Changer*** Due to a weather warning this game versus East Fife will now be played at Millburn Academy, with a 12.30pm kick-off.

Dunc get's off to a flier Dunc's reign of apprehension got off to a promising start at Gayfield as Inverness opened the scoring in the tenth minute through Luis Longstaff who scrambled the ball into the net after a Nikola Ujdur header was not dealt with by keeper Gaston. Longstaff then turned provider as Aaron Doran turned his driven cross into the net after half an hour. Other chances came and went: Nathan Shaw not catching his shot plumb from the edge of the box making it comfortable for Gaston to flop on the ball and save and Billy Mckay not making the most of a great break forward, his low shot a bit of a dolly for the keeper to block. HALF TIME 0-2 Billy Mckay added a third just after the interval lobbing Gaston perfectly with an assist from his own keeper Mark Ridgers. At 3-0 Shaw again might have done better when one on one with Gaston but he chose the wrong option and took himself too wide and the chance was gone. Arbroath came back into it with strikes from Ross Stewart and Michael McKenna to set up a grandstand finish. Stewart's goal was as massive a fluke as you will see. Ujdur attempted to thunder the ball clear on the edge of his own box. Unfortunately Stewart anticipated this and turned his back on the defender expecting him and ball to go flying forward. Alas it looks like it cannoned off his arse and it floated over the despairing flail of Mark Ridgers and into the net. Unbelievable, you couldn't write it, however, I just did. McKenna's goal favoured the hosts as it bobbled off a couple of bodies before he despatched it behind Ridgers off his near post with a tidy finish. With much biting of fingernails, Dunc got off to a winning start after a lengthy period of time added on and that means that we are no longer bottom of the table (just). Phew! FULL TIME: 2-3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ferguson was without the services of Roddy MacGregor, Lewis Nicolson, Sean Welsh, Wallace Duffy and Danny Devine. Nikola Ujdur made his debut last week and looks like a solid unit and both he and Aaron Doran started. Ricky Little returned after suspension for Arbroath with Jay Bird relegating Dünnwald-Turan to the bench. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ More match reaction to follow>>> The fans were looking forward to this one with a mixture of fear, trepidation, apprehension, pessimism, optimism and excitement in equal proportions. Dunc has certainly got the fans talking again and there's a feelgood factor lurking just round the corner. Rome wasn't built in a day, however Ferguson was not the foreman. Time will tell if this will be a successful appointment, but he has the full backing of the fans at the moment. Arbroath were off the back of a four game winning run. We were on downward spiral since the start of the season, the reason why Dunc is here now. As it happened, we escaped with all three points... Speaking to BBC Sport, Inverness CT manager Duncan Ferguson: "I thought my players were magnificent, we really should have had a lot more goals on the counter attack. "To a man, the players put their bodies on their line for the club. They gave 100% effort and showed a lot of resilience, we just need to be a bit braver on the ball. "To deliver a win for the fans, it was a great moment for myself and the team." From CTO: Great to get the win but that was hard work to watch in the second half. From cruising at 3-0 to hanging on for dear life and looking like we might easily lose in the space of a few minutes, we still look fragile. Well done to the boys for steadying a bit towards the end and hanging on. And top marks to big Dunc for coming over to the fans and showing his delight at the end Full Highlights Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Off the bottom at last 1. Dundee Utd 7 5 2 0 16 3 17 2. Raith Rovers 7 5 1 1 12 8 16 3. Partick Thistle 7 4 1 2 17 9 13 4. Arbroath 8 4 0 4 15 11 12 5. Airdrieonians 7 4 0 3 7 10 12 6. Dunfermline 7 3 2 2 9 8 11 7. Queens Park 8 3 0 5 11 19 9 8. Ayr United 7 2 0 5 9 16 6 9. Inverness CT 7 1 1 5 6 10 4 10. Morton 7 1 1 5 8 16 4 Date: 30/09/2023 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 1723 Referee: Don Robertson Arbroath: 2 Manager: Dick Campbell Lineup: Gaston; Steele, Little, O'Brien, Stewart, Dow (Stowe 63), Slater (Balde 70), McKenna, Gold, Hylton (Dünnwald-Turan 85), Bird (Mcintosh 63) Subs (not used): Adams; Lyon, Norey, Jacobs Scorers: Stewart (69), McKenna (79) Booked: Slater (47) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 3 Manager: Duncan Ferguson Lineup: Ridgers; Carson, Ujdur, Boyes, Harper, Longstaff (Davidson 75), Gilmour, Anderson, Doran (Samuels 55), Shaw, B Mckay (Delaney 64) Subs (not used): C Mackay; Hyde, Thompson, Bray, Brooks, Lodovica Scorers: Longstaff (10), Doran (31), B Mckay (48) Booked: Gilmour (88) Sent Off: none

Dawn of a New Era Big Dunc takes charge of his first game at Inverness with a visit to Gayfield to take on Dick Campbell's Arbroath. Kick-off is at 3:00 on Saturday with Inverness looking for a change in fortunes after a disasterous run of games saw Billy Dodds sacked after the defeat to Dundee United, with just one point from six League games and out of the League Cup and Challenge Cup. Success won't happen overnight and the Caley Jags fans might have to wait a bit for a turnaround in results, but it won't be for a lack of passion or enthusiasm for the game. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Duncan Ferguson Match/Ticket Info Supporters Bus £20 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 24 17 4 3 59 19 +40 Away 23 10 6 7 32 27 +5 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 47 27 10 10 91 46 +45 We hold a big advantage over Arbroath in the H2H's but it's tighter in the away fixture. Last 10 Competitive Meetings 2 - 4 (A) 2 - 0 (H) 4 - 1 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 0 - 0 (A) 0 - 0 (A) 0 - 0 (H) 3 - 0 (H) 0 - 0 (A) 0 - 1 (H) In our last Championship game at Arbroath - Smokies Smoked 4 - 1: Both clubs had big wins in the first games of 2023 and it was Inverness that continued in style with a 4-1 win at Gayfield. Billy Mckay, who scored a hat-trick last week, opened the scoring at the back post in the ninth minute but Ben El-Mhanni levelled fifteen minutes later when he slotted into the bottom corner. Jay Henderson put us ahead just before the break as he lifted a shot high into the net from inside the box. Twenty minutes into the second half Dan Mackay shot into the bottom corner to double our advantage. Substitute Lewis Nicolson concluded the scoring in the 86th minute with a header from sub Steven Boyd's cross. Great win on the road for the Caley Jags that moves us into sixth place in the table, eleven points behind table toppers Queens Park. Great start to 2023 for the Caley Jags with two big wins on the bounce. Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts 1. Dundee Utd 6 4 2 0 12 2 14 2. Raith Rovers 6 4 1 1 10 7 13 3. Arbroath 7 4 0 3 13 8 12 4. Dunfermline 6 3 2 1 9 5 11 5. Partick Thistle 6 3 1 2 14 9 10 6. Airdrieonians 6 3 0 3 6 10 9 7. Queens Park 7 3 0 4 10 15 9 8. Ayr United 6 2 0 4 8 14 6 9. Morton 6 1 1 4 8 15 4 10. Inverness CT 6 0 1 5 3 8 1 Saturday 30th September Arbroath v Inverness CT Ayr United v Raith Rovers Dundee Utd v Queen's Park Morton v Airdrie Partick Thistle v Dunfermline Current Form Inverness start a new era tomorrow after a winless start to their Championshp campaign. However, it's a clean slate with Big Dunc at the helm although he will still have the same tools to work with. Roddy MacGregor, Lewis Nicolson, and Sean Welsh have missed out over the last month and Danny Devine and Wallace Duffy were added to the injury list last time out. We did field a Caley Jags XI in the North of Scotland cup win over Rothes with Keith Bray getting the only goal of the game.`That side was a mix of youth and fringe players with three or four first team choices making up the side. Difficult to know what players Ferguson will be looking to, but I doubt it will be a massive shift from the Dodds era this early in his role. Caley Jags so far: L L L D L L Arbroath have got their act together after a poor start to their Championship. Three straight losses have been replaced by three straight wins. Their last game was an emphatic 3-0 win at Firhill. Jermaine Hylton scored either side of a strike from Thomas O'Brien to pull them up to third in the table. Smokies so far: L L L W W W W Latest Team News: Dick Campbell had this team out against Partick Thistle: Gaston Norey Steele O'Brien (Stowe 90) Stewart Slater (Jacobs 88) Gold Dow (Candé Baldé 84) McKenna Hylton (McIntosh 84) Dünnwald-Turan (Bird 45) Adams; Lyon

North of Scotland Cup A new era for the Caley Jags began at Mackessack Park as Duncan Ferguson's new team took on Highland League side Rothes in the second round of the North of Scotland Cup. Big Dunc was announced yesterday and it's fair to say he might not know much about his new charges. He will know even less about Rothes. They were originally founded in 1907 as a Junior club, Rothes Victoria, and turned Senior on 4 May 1938 as Rothes FC. Rothes have won the Highland League once, in the 1958–59 season. Mackessack Park is named after one Douglas Mackessack, a local laird and whisky magnate and an early benefactor of the club. In 2020, The Speysiders won their first honours in 41 years, defeating Buckie Thistle 2–1 in the Highland League Cup final to win the trophy for the first time. Here's one that Duncan might like: Rothes play in tangerine shirts, colours they inherited from Dundee United after purchasing the floodlights from Tannadice Park. Rothes sit 10th in the Highland League just now and after a slow start they have picked up a bit of form over the last few games WLLLLDWWLW Tonights Game >>> Inverness had a youthful side on the park with Davidson, Delaney, Hyde and Samuels the main first team squad players and Harry Lodovica getting a start. 9' | 0-1 GOAL! ICTFC take the lead through Keith Bray after a good move from the Caley Jags! 22' | 0-1 Davidson's cross finds Lodovica in the box but his header is tipped onto the bar. HALF TIME: Rothes 0-1 ICTFC HT Subs: Calum MacKay and Leo Walker on, Jake Davidson and Austin Samuels off 68' | 0-1 Good play from Keith Bray as he cuts inside and shoots but his effort is tipped over the bar and behind. ICTFC Sub: Calum MacLeod on, Zak Delaney off. 84' | 0-1 ICTFC Sub: Shae Keogh on, Harry Lodovica off. Inverness move into the third round where they will play Nairn County on October 18th after a Keith Bray goal was enough to beat Rothes at Mackessack Park. 9' | 0-1 GOAL! ICTFC take the lead through Keith Bray after a good move from the Caley Jags. Well played to Rothes who made the Caley Jags work really hard for the win, especially in the second half, and were maybe deserving of taking the tie into extra-time. The other winner on the night was Agnes, who went down a storm and limited the quality on the park. More detail and match reaction to follow>>> Date: 27/09/2023 Venue: Mackessack Park, Rothes Attendance: **** Referee: Gordon Morrison Rothes FC: 0 Manager: Ross Jack Lineup: McCarthy; Haspell, Finnis, Macdonald, McDade, Johnstone, Pollock,Robertson, Williamson, Morrison, Wilson (substitutions not known yet) Subs (not used): Marshall; Thomson, Milne, Shewan, Proudfoot, Cruickshank, Shepherd, Kerr, McConnachie Scorers: none Booked: none Sent Off: none Inverness CT XI: 1 Manager: Duncan Ferguson? Lineup: Cammy Mackay; Davidson (Leo Walker 45), Sam Nixon, Jack Walker, Delaney (Calum Macleod 68), Brooks, Hyde, Bray, Thompson, Samuels (Calum Mackay 45), Lodovica (Keogh 84) Subs (not used): Patterson; Scorers: Keith Bray (9) Booked: none Sent Off: none a

Out of the Blue Duncan Ferguson has been appointed as the new manager of Inverness Caledonian Thistle nine days after Billy Dodds contract was terminated. It's a bold move by the Caley Jags who languish adrift at the bottom of the Championship with one point from their opening six games. Out of the League Cup at the group stages with only one win in their three matches and dumped out of the Challenge Cup by Arbroath, this needed to be a crucial appointment of the highest order. Despite some respected names being bandied about as potential managers, out of the blue and making a late charge on the rails came Big Dunc who was out of a job after failing to keep Forest Green in League One less than six months after taking the reins at New Lawn with a disasterous run of only one win in eighteen games in charge. That sounds familiar! So much so that our board have offered Big Dunc the job. Not many will argue with Ferguson as his past history is well documented elsewhere gaining him the Duncan Disorderly tag. We'll stick to his abilities on and around the park. A Scottish international making seven appearances, Duncan started getting noticed at Tannadice where he scored 28 goals in 77 appearances. Three years later he moved to Rangers scoring twice in fourteen games. He then moved to Everton on loan in 1994 and then signed on at Goodison until 1998 scoring 37 goals in 116 games. A move to Newcastle United followed and the goals kept coming, 8 from 30 over the next two years. He ended up back at Everton to end his playing career with another 23 goals from 123 games. That's a total of 98 goals from 360 appearances at the top level. Duncan Disorderly is also no stranger to red cards having been sent off nine times in his career, a record breaking achievement for the big man. He had been a coach, interim manager and assistant manager at Everton since 2014. It has now been confirmed that Gary Bollan will be the new assistant manager. Good luck guys! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Official Statement from ICTFC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The club is delighted to announce the appointment of Duncan Ferguson as the new Manager of Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club. The Everton legend joins us on a 3 year deal following an extensive recruitment process which involved some truly excellent candidates. Former Dundee United, Rangers, St Johnston and Livingston, player Gary Bollan now confirmed as Duncan's assistant. He has managerial experience at these clubs: Gary Bollan Stats >>> 2009–2012 Livingston 2013–2015 Airdrieonians 2015–2017 Forfar Athletic 2017–2021 Cowdenbeath Team Nat From To Record G W D L Win % Livingston 14 August 2009 5 February 2012 108 62 22 24 57.41 Livingston: Scottish Third Division: 2009–10 Scottish Second Division: 2010–11 Forfar Athletic: Scottish League One play-offs: 2016–17 Cowdenbeath: Scottish League Two play-offs: 2017–18

Late Strike Ruins the Day Another very late goal ruined what had been a reasonably resolute performance by managerless Inverness. However, the end result remains the same and we went down to an avoidable sclaff in time added on when substitute Chris Mochrie poked the ball home after Ridgers had cleared a bouncing effort away from the top corner only for the United players to react quickest to prod the ball into the bottom corner with the aid of a deflection. Meh! It doesn't rain but it pours... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With Robbo and Charlie Christie in the dugout, we were looking for a change in fortunes. That never happened on the injury front with MacGregor, Nicolson, Welsh, Devine and Duffy all missing out. Nikola Ujdur made his long awaited debut after coming up from down under. Still, it was a lovely afternoon for a game with a big away crowd bolstering the attendance to over three and a half thousand. Some of the football in the first half was pleasing on the eye as crisp passing and movement were the order of the day. However both sides were lacking a cutting edge as clear chances were hard to come by. Dangerman Louis Moult went off injured after the half hour to be replaced by Tony Watt. The closest anyone came to breaking the deadlock was five minutes before the break when Archie Meekison hit the post when he probably should have scored. Plenty of neat football on display and plenty of passion but a lack of goalmouth activity kept the score blank at the break. HALF TIME: 0-0. Aaron Doran and Billy Mckay went wide of the target in the opening fifteen minutes after the interval as we probed for that decisive opening. Ridgers kept out Watt as he broke into the box to keep the score level and moments later Jordan Tillson was red carded for a late tackle on Charlie Gilmour. Austin Samuels then had an effort deflected behind for a corner and minutes later his powerful drive went wide as we pushed ten man United back. Ujdur had a solid debut and was replaced by Zak Delaney after 78 minutes. Maybe that lifted United as the big guy is a solid unit and played a big part in unifying our defence up until his departure. As the game passed the ninety minutes, Boyes was penalised some forty yards out in the midfield area and picked up a caution. The free kick for United was curled into the box. It bounced up towards the top corner where Ridgers pawed it away possibly with the help of the bar. Gallagher kept it alive and Mochrie stabbed it goalwards. The last touch might even have come off a defender. It mattered not as the ball rolled into the net for what proved to be the winner. There was still some anxious moments for United to endure as we fired the ball across their box a few more times but sadly for us, the elusive killer pass was still missing and another defeat it was. That left us scunnered once again! Full Time: 0-1 A bit unfortunate to come away with nothing as we looked solid for the most part with new signing Nikola Ujdur looking like a body not to be messed with. However, following his substitution, United threatened more and got the break of the ball to snatch a winner from the jaws of a draw. We put a lot into that game and the performance was decent. However the result remains the same, a one goal defeat. Bottom line is 1 point from six games and only half a goal per game. Time for the strikers to do their bit. Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts We face 3rd place Arbroath away in our next game 1. Dundee Utd 6 4 2 0 12 2 14 2. Raith Rovers 6 4 1 1 10 7 13 3. Arbroath 7 4 0 3 13 8 12 4. Dunfermline 6 3 2 1 9 5 11 5. Partick Thistle 6 3 1 2 14 9 10 6. Airdrieonians 6 3 0 3 6 10 9 7. Queens Park 7 3 0 4 10 15 9 8. Ayr United 6 2 0 4 8 14 6 9. Morton 6 1 1 4 8 15 4 10. Inverness CT 6 0 1 5 3 8 1 Airdrie 1-0 Raith Rvrs Pars 3-1 Morton Inverness CT 0-1 Dundee United Partick 0-3 Arbroath Date: 23/09/2023 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 3503 Referee: Calum Scott Inverness CT: 0 Manager: John Robertson/Charlie Christie Lineup: Ridgers; Carson, Ujdur (Delaney 78), Boyes, Harper, Longstaff (Samuels 60), Gilmour, Anderson, Shaw (Lodovica 90), Doran (Thompson 59), B Mckay Subs (not used): C Mackay; Davidson, Hyde, Brooks, Bray Scorers: none Booked: Anderson (2) Boyes (90) Sent Off: none Dundee United: 1 Manager: Jim Goodwin Lineup: Walton; Grimshaw, Gallagher, Holt, McMann, Docherty (Mochrie 80), Glass (Fotheringham 60), Middleton, Sibbald, Meekison (Tillson 60), Moult (Watt 35) Subs (not used): Newman; Denham, Graham, Freeman, Stirton Scorers: Mochrie (90+3) Booked: Docherty (25) Watt (45) Meekison (58) Tillson (65) Sent Off: Tillson (69) (second yellow) a