Kingsmills

Calm down. We are two games into the league season and we have one apparently serious injury. Not a dream start but a very long way from being a nightmare.

I know that the standard of the Highland League is not what it was but there must be a few young payers with potential plying their trade on our doorstep.

Draper has the measure of the County team, management and fans. Must start.

Which doesn't help the family who might have been able to take their kids to half a dozen games in past seasons who might only be able to afford half of those games this. The kids who have season tickets are already on the way to being committed fans. It's the ones who are taken along for only a few games per seasons we need to attract along on a more regular basis but the new pricing structure makes that less likely especially for families on limited budgets.

If there is such a rumour then it's confined to Planet Dougal and it's hoards of native Invernessians still boycotting the TCS over events that took place last millennium.

It is very commendable of you to offer to pay over £40 a ticket to fund additional or better players but the fact is that the vast majority of fans are simply not in a position to make that sort of commitment much as they care for and support the club. That sort of pricing would result in crowds in the hundreds rather than thousands. If you personally feel like it you could always by a second ticket and donate it to someone who could not otherwise afford to attend. That way you would be spending the forty odd pounds you are prepared to pay, the club would get some extra cash and some deserving person would benefit.

With the only thing in our net a football.

We need a bit of perspective. Without doubt, the last two results have been disappointing and some aspects of play have been concerning. However, we have a young manager learning his trade and what's more a man who is committed to the city, with his family based in Inverness, and also fully committed to the club unlike his predecessor towards the end of his increasingly divisive tenure. Our competitive record so far this season, albeit largely against lower league opposition, is P7 W3L2D1 with 15 goals for and 7 against. Our opponents on Saturday have had a far worse start to the season than us so the opportunity is there for a large and vocal derby support to get fully behind the team and the manager and get our league campaign up and running. What I would say is that if we are struggling by mid November there may be some merit in rejigging the coaching set up and bringing in a shrewdly experienced assistant in the mould of Donald Park. However, by then these teething problems may be behind us and such a move will hopefully be unnecessary.

Well said and concisely put.

Such irrelevant information would be of little interest to anyone other than the odd obsessive.

Our crest is not heraldic in nature so of no interest to the Lord Lyon whether you regard the role as archaic or not.

Sadly, that has been the case for years. The majority to clubs in the Premiership are happy to disclose and even boast about their season ticket sales but, apart from in the very early years, we have been very coy about ours. I appreciate that some things are commercially sensitive but the number of season ticket holders is not one of them. The club promised more openness so disclosing such information which is of interest to fans would be a good start as would be the thought processes and motivation behind changing the club crest. An explanation, whether the majority agree with it or not, would put that particular issue which has become unnecessarily contentious to bed.

We seem to have been somewhat outthought on Saturday with Mulraney being nullified and largely bereft of ideas with things improving once Draper came on. I would be inclined to drop Mulraney and Polworth to the bench and bring in Draper and Doran from the start. There is absolutely no room for complacency or experiment here. Forget our past cup hammerings of Alloa, they are a very good team now and are in a rich vein of form. They topped their group humiliating County in the process and on Saturday battered a very good Peterhead side who themselves have been in good form. This is a trophy we are capable of winning but we will need to be at our best and fully focused to clear this hurdle first.

The answer to the last question is simple. The club own the crest and the rights to it and accordingly have the authority to change it. However, the first question remains a very valid one to which, as yet, they have provided no answer.

Without wishing to presume, perhaps that is because you may have had no affection for or affiliation to either Caley or Thistle who's continuing identity is reflected in the club crest.

CB seldom lets the truth get in the way of what he considers a bon mot.

If we have, this season's product on the park will reverse that trend.

There is no doubt that the tickets are very pricey. My first match at Kingsmills back in the sixties cost me a shilling (five pence) at a turnstyle marked 'Boys and OAPs' Clearly no thought that girls might like to attend the football back in those days. Thankfully, things have changed for the better since then. One other thing that has changed for the better is that instead of watching your milkman, postie or PE Teacher turn out for a tenner a week we now have the privilege of watching a team of full time professional athletes competing in the top tier of our national football league who already have one major national trophy in their CV playing in a modern all seater stadium. The harsh fact is that to bring that level of football to Inverness now costs circa four million pounds a year and that money has to be found somewhere. The club are not fleecing supporters, indeed they offer very competitive season ticket packages and the occasional one off deals but the fact of the matter is that if we want to continue to watch football at the level we currently do we are going to have to pay for it. If the club could get twice the attendance by halving the cost they would but they have attempted to go down that route but it doesn't work unfortunately.

What they seem to have overlooked is that our 'rookie manager' has brought in quality additions such as McNaughton, Bowden, King and Mulraney as well as reinstating David Raven and having the return of Doran. When you compare that with the likes of Dani Lopez, Liam Hughes and Nat Wedderburn anyone who thinks we will be weaker this season than last is either ignorant or deluded and all within budget with cash left to bring in a couple more.

I suspect that, having wholly predictably, placed the only two teams that over 95% of Daily Record readers and journalists know or care about in first and second place, he has simply placed the other teams that he believes are only there to make up the numbers somewhat randomly. If it is the same Mike Tremlett who used to cover the Highland League for the Press &Journal he was never a competent journalist in the first place.

Cavalier maybe but what a time it as to be following ICT storming through the leagues and giant killing in the Cup. Happy days. What memories.

Agree about pinning it on the dressing room wall but forget about an underdog mentality. We are not underdogs, we are very firmly established at a top tier club and Mr Tremlett will be looking somewhat foolish long before the season ends in May.

Mike Tremlett as I recall. May be the same person.

How much would Mr Tremlett like to wager with me that ICT will be in the Premiership next season ? I will happily donate my winnings to the Highland Hospice to go with their ICT shares.

Won't even have to change the ribbons.