dougal

I rarely agree with anything you say Ender but the Grant Munro situation makes me mighty angry and I believe Butcher has possibly made the biggest mistake of his ICT managerial career to date In my opinion Grant should still be at the club and in the starting line up every week All i will say is that its a big risk Terry is taking to treat the local hero so shabbily dougal

I'd hazard a guess that the pitch is waterlogged I see you still start amazingly interesting threads dougal

If I had to guess Cooking sherry would be your tipple judging by your previous posts :biggrin: dougal

Would be nice if you also told us that you have changed your vote three times over the last week, at one stage being one of only two posters who went for 1,500+. Wow what an earth shattering revelation that is and loaded with irony too Surely you are not trying to say I have somehow rigged the vote? Thats like saying an imaginary vote ended something like 55-50 when only 97 voted dougal

I think you're gonna have to explain your logic there. Surely the most relevant stat from the poll is that over the course of a week, hundreds of people have viewed it but only 24 took part. Yngwie it hardly takes a brain surgeon to work it out but here goes just for you Sir 11/24 which is less than 50% voted for very few refuseniks(0-50) while 13/24 more than 50% voted for considerable numbers Are you trying to tell me the votes have somehow been rigged?? I'm afraid the fact that only 24 have voted leads me to think that the number of original Caley or Thistle fans on this forum are neglible and backs up my claims about the numbers of refuseniks For the record there are four more members on this site that think there are more refuseniks than I do so try and work that out if you can Finally I would just like to point out yet again for Tearlach Bannerman I've never set foot in either Telford St or Kingsmills but don't let that stop you trying to stereotype me dougal

While we appreciate your input Kingsmills we have already came to the unanimous conclusion( well apart from Alex) that Thistle would probably have been no more unfortunately had Caledonian FC gone alone I find the poll results very interesting reading and I thinks it safe to say that there are a lot more refuseniks out there than the average ICT fan likes to admit Anyway I've done a bit more research into the merger over the last couple days and I've unearthed some very interesting points which maybe explain why there were refuseniks and why they still exist today I find it staggering that both teams fans who were not season ticket holders were not polled regarding a proposed merger, surely this could have been done quite easily by handing out a small questionaire to all home fans as they came through the turnstiles Why was it allegedly suggested to both memberships at the first vote that the Scottish league preferred a merged team and that a league place was guaranteed when this was definitely not the case at all? Why did they allegedly not accept proxi votes from members that lived outside Inverness and could not attend in person? They also allegedly failed to to inform the memberships that had the first vote gone against merging there would have been a second vote for a solo bid therefore misguiding them into believing that they were voting on a take it or leave it scenario? IMHO mergergate didn't appear to have been handled very well by both previous clubs committees and as a result the refuseniks on both sides of the divide were born Maybe Mr Mantis or Old Caley girl can confirm whether my findings were valid or not dougal

So have you made your mind up then Mr Mantis the more I think about both scenarios its remarkable how similar the football communities of Nottingham and Inverness are Forest like Caley being the greater team with the better players, more money, better ground and a much larger support I can't help but laugh out loud at the ex jaggies that claim that they had all the money men who were allegedly regulars at Kingsmills, from what i've been told and the few online photos of Kingsmills park i've seen, then why did their ground resemble something like a scene from Beirut at the height of the troubles Any money men would have pumped the cash into the Scottish league team regardless of who the team was I personally think the jags were on their last legs and they only had one chance of survival and that was to cling perilously on to Caley's tail because they would have been dead and buried within a season had Caley gone solo. You only have to look at the sorry state Clach find themselves in at the moment to back up my claim Had I been a Jaggie I reckon I would have fallen into the refusenik camp, there is no way I could watch a merged team who play in blue, hear only Caley chants from the fans and listen to virtually everybody in Inverness including the local and national media refer to the team as Caley Had I been Caledonian I would have voted NO to a takeover and I would have wanted Caley to go alone because other than the sale of Kingsmills Thistle were bringing absolutely nothing to the party What I find galling is that clubs who were inferior to Caledonian on and off the park got Scottish League entry(yer Ross Countys,Peterheads,Elgins,Gretnas and Annans etc) The fact that Gretna reached the SPL and County made a Cup final apperance makes a mockery of all the clowns on here that claim Caley would never have achieved what ICT have done. Lets not beat about the bush Caledonian FC would be in the exact same position that ICT find themselves in at this moment with a greater and more loyal fanbase as there would be a lot less disharmony in the City dougal

I take it you mean "support" and that's a wee typo but the answer is still "Yes" - you unfortunately were a lot smaller. That was actually one of the problems which meant that Thistle was a severely weakened entity when the merger came around - lack of money, including gate receipts. Another case in point was the September 9th 1993 votes. Caley went for the merger 55-50. At the Jags meeting it was 33-12 so less than half the attendance. On the other hand Jags were at a fundamental disadvantage since only MEN were allowed to go to their meetings! Let me give you this anecdote. I wasn't in the original Caley meeting since I only joined afterwards (OK, it was in order to get into meetings for reporting purposes!). But I did doorstep their original one in the Muirtrown. As the season ticketholders came down the stairs afterwards, somebody called out "Jags have gone for it by three to one!" The response from one wag was instant. "Christ! There weren't as many as four at the Jags meeting were there?" :biggrin: All this proves to me anyway that you ain't the dye in the wool Caley man you make yourself out to be dougal Don't say that, there are certain people who will now start trying to get that vote overturned! As far as I am aware, Caledonian FC never changed its constitution on the basis of the merger and is still, for instance, constitutionally bound to have a registered office in Telford Street!!! :biggrin: (Unless in the very dying days when all 576 Season Tickets had expired and only the Life Members were left, they quietly sorted things.) OCG.... get a hold of my book. All is explained there! All is explained by a very Pro-merger author with very pro-merger views which no doubt suited the club at the time of publication While i'm not slating the content of "Against all odds" I prefer to hear views from both merger camps not just the one, that way I can make my own mind up dougal

Fair enough I appreciate your input and that is why I started the thread as I wanted opinions from football people like yourself who were about at the time of the merger I take it your brother and his mate just stopped attending football altogether? dougal Yeh they just do Scotland games now. Fair play to them its a shame but there were always going to be casualties as a result of the merger You say you attended all the meetings, I assume you saw folk there you never ever saw at Telford St and probably have never seen since? dougal

Fair enough I appreciate your input and that is why I started the thread as I wanted opinions from football people like yourself who were about at the time of the merger I take it your brother and his mate just stopped attending football altogether? dougal

Ok Charles or should that be Eric http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83B3Laghlkg How exactly do you know that a great number of that 226 became regulars?That is quite frankly a ridiculous statement on your part!! If my source is correct the highest ever recorded YES vote was allegedly 250 and a large amount of these people had probably never set foot in Telford St in their entire life but no doubt you will attempt to correct me if i'm wrong I firmly believe that a generation of Caledonian fans have turned their back on ICT with maybe a handful only becoming regulars, Mantis being one of that few and I salute him for that dougal Sorry Doofers dad i'm afraid you are very wrong, I couldn't care one hoot about the stupid green dot/red dot farce I personally would like to see it binned however it probably keeps the ICT boo boys/keyboard warriors happy dougal

This subject seems to rear its head now and again so i'd thought it was time to set up a poll so the subject could get put to bed once and for all Its probably more appropriate to older ICT fans but younger fans can join in as they may have fathers/relations etc who were involved with Caledonian Fc or Inverness Thistle at the time of the merger Think it safe to say that we all know that there are fans of the two parent clubs who refused to watch or support ICT in any way but just how many are/were there??? From what I can make out from this forum there are very few Caledonian or Thistle fans on here and the majority seem to be younger fans who have only supported ICT in their life time I've stated before i've experienced hostility from pre-merger fans when the topic ICT is mentioned so I know it exists in our city A few questions to maybe ponder and debate 1. I'm not an expert on the merger as I wasn't in Inverness at the time it happened but would we have a higher average attendance had Caledonian FC gone alone? 2. Buses leave Inverness for Pittodrie,Ibrox and Parkhead every weekend so did numbers dramatically increase on these coaches once both pre-merger clubs ceased to exist? 3. Do any on here personally know any refuseniks and if so are they as anti ICT now or have they mellowed as time goes by? 4.Were any posters on here in the Caley Rebel group? 5.Were and posters on here involved in any of the meetings when the voting on the merger took place and if so what were your memories and recollections? 6. Were you a pro merger or anti-merger voter? No doubt I will get slated yet again for posting this thread but this is by no means a wind up or a fishing trip, its a subject i'm genuinely interested in and to be honest i find the whole subject quite fascinating dougal

I think there is a reason the club shy away from everything pre-1994 and that is they don't want to inflame an already delicate and touchy subject Erecting an eagle and a thistle outside the main stand would be in my opinion a detrimental move on the clubs part and would achieve nothing more than stirring up a hornets nest dougal

Here's a website for you IHE, if you order today it should arrive by Sunday and it would be ideal for covering up all your offending tatoos http://www.morphsuits.co.uk/Default.asp?Redirected=Y&gclid=CLfa-5nduacCFYEc4QodcHqHAQ dougal

I agree entirely with you Johnboy i'd be quite happy with that formation and line up There's no way i'd throw Gillet into this one seeing there is so much at stake and I agree i don't think Terry would either I got my ticket early(Section F in the North) as i was in a priority group(I attended the Morton and Elgin games in the previous rounds ) Roll on Sunday dougal

It looks like this thread and the meeting Terry and Mo had with the players midweek had the desired effect going by yesterdays much improved performance Sometimes a little bit of reverse psychology works wonders and it certainly appears to have come up trumps on this occasion We can now go into the Septic game full of confidence after a solid display and we should have nothing to fear Well done Terry and Mo dougal

I'm bitterly dissapointed not because of the result as United were the better team but it was the way we lost, I lost count how many hoof up the parks were played tonight by Tokely and Munro There was very little football played on the deck, there was no passion and to be honest very little if any entertainment Our home performances have been nothing short of an embarrassment this season and I now really have doubts about our management duo and the tactics they seem to be deploying I am in no way calling for their heads(not yet anyway) in this thread but I believe its about time they tried something new tactic wise because if they don't they are going to see dramatic reductions in attendance at the Caledonian Stadium for the remainder of the season I shudder to think where we would be if we hadn't had such a good start and picked up all the points we got on the road C'mon Terry & Mo i'm afraid what we are having to endure from November time isn't good enough dougal

Ok I apologise my comments do appear to be misleading, fair play to the ticket office for introducing this and it looks like the powers are starting to take note what us the real fans say on this forum :0) dougal

So I take it you are happy with ICT's home performances this season then? dougal

I bet this has got Mr Fraser panicking Comedy Gold dougal

A bit harsh :annoyed: This will be the final table Celtic Rangers Hearts Dundee Utd Kilmarnock Aberdeen Motherwell Hibernian St Johnstone ICT St Mirren Hamilton dougal

IMO tomorrow night is the most important game ICT have played this season Anything less than three points tomorrow will virtually end our dream of a top six position, our form has been pretty poor since November and looking at the league table now isn't particulary pleasant viewing Think us the home fans have an important role to play tomorrow night by turning out in numbers and getting right behind the team from the off, i'm ditching my usual seat in the main stand and i'm going to purchase a seat in the north to help the young uns with the singing dougal

Irony overload, coming from the one covered from head to toe in Cellic Tatoos dougal

I've said this before and i'm going to say it again, non season ticket holders who can prove they were at the Elgin and Morton games in the previous rounds should be added to these so called priority groups Poor show by the club Well said Seoras, i'm seriously thinking of boycotting this game in protest, don't get me wrong there will be some genuine fans but they will be in the minority unfortunately dougal