Kingsmills

Not surprised. Subway have had a huge amount of exposure for their money this season and will have the national stage again next Saturday. I trust that has been reflected in an improved deal for next season.

Agree that there is no cause to be embarrassed no matter how few tickets we sell but there is, in my view, reason to be disappointed that we can't enthuse as many as one in six of the population of greater Inverness to make the relatively short journey to Hampden at three o'clock on a sunny late May afternoon to attend what is, on any measure, the greatest event in the history of Inverness sport when there are numerous others making the effort and very considerible expense to travel from all over the UK, and, in some cases even half way round the World to be there.

All the more reason to maximize this unprecedented marketing opportunity...

Assuming Dean recovers, goalkeeper is one area we have well covered. We have to very fine 'keepers indeed.

The club's position on not declaring ticket sales is flawed and outdated. We have got much right both on and off the field but the PR side of things can still seem a bit amateurish. It is, has been alluded to above, well recognised that regularly announcing ticket sales generates both publicity and excitement and, without doubt, generates more interest and more sales. The Children in Need running total is a good analogy. It's not about boasting or competing with Falkirk but very straightforward marketing. Still, we learn from mistakes and it is something we can rectify for next season's final.

Ten more sleeps

Ciftci is just a cheat. but, to be fair, he's very good at it.....

Probably some saddo in an office claiming it was litter. Also, did no-one think about giving Flora MacDonald's dog a scarf as well?! By the way, there's a lane round the back of my house that doesn't have a name. Should we win the cup we should get the council to name it after the club. In the event of that happening, I'll personally move into my garage so I can be the only resident on said Caley Thistle Street! Maybe we could rename one of the smaller communities surrounding Inverness,dingwall for example, CaleyThistleville.....

Thereafter on view at The Trophy Cabinet Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, Stadium Road, Longman,Inverness IV1 1FF From 1st June 2015-27th May 2016......

No. As long as we play properly registered players who are not suspended, we can field whatever team the manager chooses.

Great gesture from our modestly paid players.

Agreed also. 3pm Saturday kick offs and an accessible stadium are definitely among the factors which tend to enhance attendances although I'm often disappointed at the limited extent to which a successful team makes a difference here. There was something of an irony in SPFL Chairman Ralph Topping's rant last week about how little they are getting from the BBC for highlights. Apart from the fact that, if they SPFL didn't like the deal they simply shouldn't have made it, if the cash they are getting is as poor as they say, why on earth do they roll over so easily and agree to silly kick off times at inaccesible venues to suit the broadcasters? Because they are not rolling over to suit the BBC but for SKY and BT who pay fifteen times as much. For what it's worth, in my view, SKY and BT are paying the, albeit comparatively modest, market rate which is their self funded commercial prerogative whereas there is a strong moral argument that, the publicly funded public broadcaster in what, for the time being at least,remains the United Kingdom should be treating the national sport in all nations of their broadcasting monopoly much more fairly.

You'd take Chalmers and McHugh over McDonald and Ainsworth. I know you don't attend many games, but jeez. From what I remember, McHugh hardly did anything in the Premiership for Motherwell, hence why he was released. So, you are allowed an opinion but I ain't!! Hows that?? To make it easier on you, from now on I won't post my opinion which is really unfair!!! For goodness sake, this is a discussion forum for airing opinions. If everybody agreed with one another it would soon become rather dull....

Personally, I think we should play the cup final team but using it as a training exercise going easy in the tackle and giving all three subs half an hour. The result is immaterial.What is important is a bit of game time and avoiding injury and suspension at all costs.

On the other side of the coin, the attendances at Caley Thistle's two home Highland derbies were pretty poor this season - 4021 on Sat Jan 31st and an alarming 3741 on Sun October 5th. The corresponding figure for the New Year's Day derby in Dingwall was 4887. 3741 and 4021 would have been disappointing in Third Division days and that must have pulled this season's average down. Another factor may be the randomness of imposed "non-standard" KO times which may create a variable downward effect depending on who the opposition are. So if you add in these unhelpful factors, it's especially good to see any increase in the average - especially against one particular negative factor which I believe has been quite significant this season. Inverness's catastrophic traffic flow. Sure, there has been plenty of adverse comment for some time about the Kessock Bridge roundabout and yes, it remains a total mess. But there is a lot more than that. As the Flood Alleviation Scheme strengthens its claim to become the slowest building of a wall in the history of the world, access to the Caledonian Stadium is among the many casualties. For a start there's the closure of Bank Street (I believe it is due to reopen today?) which is a main thoroughfare between North and South Inverness. This forces more traffic along Kenneth Street, as does the closure of Huntly Street and of course the more recent bottleneck in Academy Street has made things worse still. So..... Trying to approach the Stadium along the A9/ Longman Rd lands you with the mayhem of the roundabout. Trying to approach the Stadium from the Harbour produces all the difficulties originating in Bank St/ Academy St...... but that's by no means all. Because even if you do get to the Harbour the flood scheme has also created the need for more traffic lights there. And if you do manage to get to the game, it will take an eternity to get home again for the very same reasons. You really do have to wonder how much cash businesses are losing as a result of the extreme ineptitude of Inverness's traffic flow arrangements. These include ICT where I have this fear that a number of people may simply not be going to games because of the unacceptable time it takes to get to and from the stadium. I blame those pesky querulous Nats.......

Broadly equivalent to a week's turnover. Not to be sniffed at.

Greatest points lead over Ross County in any division we have both been in at the same time.

Who's going to volunteer to tie Flora's scarf on ?

I don't buy that he is biased against us or anyone else but he has had a nightmare of a season. Very surprised indeed that he has been rewarded with the cup final.

How about we forget the fact that many attending the final have never been to the TCS and will, in all probability not go in the future and concentrate instead on celebrating that we have, by all accounts, already sold more tickets for a match than any before in our history with two and a half weeks still to go.

We didn't pay anything for Big Eddie and he is probably on a lower wage than Billy was, so really we have done better I doubt very much indeed whether we are paying Edward Ofere less than Billy McKay on a weekly basis. On the contrary.

We would no doubt love to 'strengthen for Europe' but there are a few harsh realities. Firstly our cup exploits, even if we win, will not lead to great wealth, what it will mean is that we are likely to post a modest trading profit rather than a circa £300,000 loss. Secondly, even with the new payment from UEFFA, European participation is not likely to generate more than a very modest five figure profit. Finally, history would seem to suggest that our adventure is unlikely to last much beyond August at best so it would be lunacy for the club to risk hard won financial stability chasing European success.

Sadly not. Aberdeen can offer twice as much as we can in terms of covering his salary. Don't forget they have average crowds three times ours and morethan twiceasmuch commercial income.

If so, already well ahead of what we took to Celtic Park for the League Cup final. Target must surely be to take more than the 16,000 the Shadows took to their cup final and, of course, to go one better and win the thing....

What a luxury earned by the hard work of the players. The luxury of two league matches to prepare for the final in a relaxed fashion without having to look over our shoulders in the fight for third place. A nice cash bonus for the extra place money too which can hopefully go towards next season's playing budget.