DoofersDad

Well, it wouldn't have been 1-0 to Alloa, that's for sure.

No, It's nothing to do with any affiliation I may or may not have had. I just feel the name and the strip are far more important symbols of what the club is and where it has come from. If people feel we really must continue with the identity of the two clubs which merged then I would suggest the name of the club and the current strip do that very well. And if we must have a badge as well, then something completely un-associated with the 2 former clubs would perhaps reflect a more forward thinking ethos. Something along the lines of that iconic image of dolphins leaping out of the water under the Kessock bridge would be a symbol of a modern successful and ambitious club from a modern successful and ambitious Inverness. Surely far more appropriate than this constant fixation with 2 former clubs of rather parochial ambition?

It's funny how different things matter to different people. Personally I couldn't care less whether the club had a badge/crest at all, let alone what is on it or under it or whatever. It seems to me that it is the kit that best identifies the club - it is certainly much more visual than the little badge on it! But yet we somehow now expect the kit to change every year just to satisfy commercial purposes and nobody complains that fans are not involved in the decision making process for that. Much as I would like the strip to remain the same year after year as a more tangible symbol of identity, I accept it just ain't going to happen these days. It doesn't bother me though. What bothers me is what goes on on the park.

I would suspect (although I can't be *rsed to check) that the home closest to ICT's ground is actually closer to Clach's ground than it is to ICT's. Is this, therefore, evidence that proximity to Highland league grounds has a much greater beneficial effect on house prices than proximity to a Premiership ground? Of course not. House prices are affected by a variety of factors, but unless a house is very close to the ground, being in the same vague post code area as a football stadium will not be one of them.

The report states "The biggest increases in value have been seen in properties close to Caledonian Stadium where the average home value has risen by 90 per cent over the decade, from £122,685 in 2006 to £233,664 in 2016. " er... what homes?

Held his nerve well. Surely that should cement a Ryder cup place for him. Talking point of the tournament must be the 58 shot by Jim Furyk in the last round. That's the first time anyone has shot a 58 in USPGA history. Prior to that Furyk was one of only 6 to ever shoot 59. I'm happy just to get under 60 for 9 holes.

Just one point off top 6. We can still do it. Believe.

The matchday thread is for comment on all the games in the current round of matches. It's just that folk usually don't comment on other games. The game at Ibrox does have some relevance though. What with Partick beating us yesterday and Celtic winning today, it means The Rangers are still just the 3rd team in Glasgow.

The point is that expectations are not the same as hopes and dreams. I can hope that we win the league one year and I can dream that we win the Champions league, but I don't expect we will win either. By not getting carried away with my expectations it is less likely I will be disappointed at what the club achieves, I will see an outcome as success whereas someone with unrealistic expectations will be disappointed by the same outcome. And I can still enjoy my hopes and dreams as well. Seems pretty positive to me!

What on Earth is negative about Kingsmills' post? Just because some people engage in realistic, objective discussion about the team does not mean they don't want the team to win and doesn't mean they are not optimistic. It's no wonder we're fast becoming a country full of depressives when people cling to unrealistic expectations only to have those expectations shattered when reality bites.

I sit in the North stand and can barely catch a word the announcer says. Haven't had that problem with others.

Surely, with Alloa being the seeded side we will be going down there as underdogs. No complacency from me, but it must be seen as a great chance to pull off another cup upset!

You're sounding awfully like a closet County fan!

That was fun! Clearly Arbroath are not the greatest of teams but I think this was more a case of excellent attacking play than poor defending. Last year we had a lot of possession but seemed incapable of creating chances, but today we were pulling them this way and that with players running at the defence, we were pinging long diagonal balls across the park, we were slotting measured passes behind defenders and we were chipping balls over the top. Sometimes the delivery wasn't that great, but the variety of passing, the movement off the ball and the way players constantly wanted to get forward was very impressive. The way we played can perhaps best be summed up by the fact that Carl Tremarco will be disappointed he didn't get a hat-trick. It is looking good for the future. To my mind, one of the most promising aspects of the start of Foran's reign as manager is the quality of player he has brought in. With MacNaughton, King, Boden and Mulraney, Richie has already brought in considerably more talent than Hughes managed in nearly 3 years. Of course, we are yet to play any Premier Division opposition so next week will be a real test of how the team is shaping up. On today's performance there are very real grounds for optimism. that the club can start moving forwards again.

We never even scored 12 goals in a month under Hughes.

What a great result and, by the sound of things another highly entertaining match. It is great to see Vigurs getting a hat-trick and I expect there may be a good few more to come from him. In my view, he is one of the most composed finishers we have ever had. If he is playing a bit more forward and we are playing with 2 wingers then that will create the space in the middle to give him opportunities. Very interesting to see how many Premier league sides came a cropper or struggled against lower league opposition that they should have beaten comfortably. It is therefore vital that we don't underestimate Arbroath on Saturday although I would expect that the prospect of needing to win by more than Dundee Utd in order to secure top spot in our group should ensure that we beat them comfortably. As for County, is this the first time that any team's defence of a national trophy has ended before the end of July?

I've heard it said that Josh has had a recurrence of his knee problems. No idea if that is true or not. I would hope that Josh is not thinking of moving on if he's thinking that he may not be able to command a regular starting place this year with the rehabilitation of Raven and the arrival of McNaughton. Let's face it, Raven, McNaughton and Warren are hardly spring chickens and we need younger defenders of quality in the squad. If McNaughton becomes a first choice CB (and on Saturday's performance that looks very likely) then I think Josh will learn a lot from the experienced defenders in the team. First choice or not, he will get plenty of opportunities this season and competition for places should help to sharpen his game.

A slightly disappointing result but a much more entertaining game than we have been used to seeing for the last 2 and a bit years. When we got the ball we are always looking to get forward and pressure the opposition. We created enough chances to have won the game comfortably but we need to be more ruthless in front of goal. Polworth and Boden should both have done better with chances they had. The new signings look very promising. As others have said, McNaughton was excellent. He may lack a bit of pace but he more than makes up for it in the way he reads the game and in his execution. King was excellent too. On that performance I am at a loss to know why Hearts have put him out on a season long loan - particularly to a side that might be challenging them for a European place at the end of the season. Boden also did well enough. I don't think he saw a lot of the ball and he appears to lack the movement and sharpness of Mckay, but he holds the ball up well and seems to have good vision. A bit more sharpness and he could be a very good signing. Mulraney also did well on his home debut. He clearly has talent but needs to have a bit more awareness of the options available to him. Richie seemed to have it right at the Q&A session when he said he was a raw talent who needs developing to realise his potential - a bit like Jonny Hayes when he first came here. He's going to excite us at times but he's also going to frustrate us at times. Hopefully fans will give him time and not get on his back on days when it just doesn't work for him. It was good to see Mackay get a start in goal. To be fair, he was never really tested but his distribution was good. It's a shame he had a penalty shoot out to contend with but you can't fault him the outcome of that. Of the established players I don't think any of them had a particularly good or bad game. One real positive was the use of Tremarco's long throw. Now that we don't have to worry that we may lose possession with a long throw, we can use it to create goal scoring opportunities. Our midfield core of Draper, Tansey, Polworth and Vigurs were not as effective as sometimes but give credit to Utd here. I thought they looked a lot sharper than the team that got relegated last season and they will certainly be challenging hard in a very competitive Championship this season. It is difficult to judge much on a single game I know, but the impression I have is that whilst we may not be good enough for top 6 this year, we should be good enough to avoid relegation. What I am far more confident about is that the football on offer at TCS this year is going to be far more entertaining than we have seen in a while. My man of the match? Richie Foran!

This is really no different from the arrangements that operate at most entertainment venues or visitor attraction of any size. If you have bought a ticket before you simply go to the entrance. If you haven't, you go to the ticket office and then go to the entrance when you have your ticket. The general principle is correct but the issue is whether infrastructure designed for a different system will be adaptable enough to cope with what, in principle should be a better system. If it doesn't then the club will need to consider investment to change it. In this day and age, the traditional football turnstile operated by someone in a booth does seem very dated. Electronic systems may require a level of investment but they allow for far quicker flow of people and save on staffing costs. So let's give the new arrangement the chance to bed in. If it doesn't work it will give us the opportunity to look at more innovative ways of getting crowds into the ground than the current archaic system.

A particularly weak bench IMO. 3 home grown youngsters who have yet to prove themselves at this level and two new signings who have also to prove themselves at this level. What is also of concern is that there were only 5 on the bench. This shows our squad is pretty threadbare and we do still need at least 2 or 3 signings to compete in the top flight. At least Richie is off to a better start than Brendan Rodgers.

At the recent Q&A someone asked if, now that Raven was back in favour, Meekings would be resuming his central partnership with Warren. The answer was very non committal but I got the impression that this would not be Foran's preference. We shall see.

On the one hand it is great to see Celtic humbled in this way, but on the other, it is a sad reflection of Scottish football. We really need our representatives in Europe to do well both in order to maximise the number of Scottish teams who qualify and also to attract better players into the game here. But unlike the Brexit Referendum, Celtic get a chance next week for a re-rerun to reverse the result. I fully expect them to make a real effort to minimise the level of embarrassment over last night's debacle and win by at least 5 goals.

Last night it looked as though some of the French team did the same.

Well, I think one positive thing some people can do is to stop chanting "Deano, Deano" when he makes a mistake. The fact that Brill has now left the building should, of course, be quite a help in that regard. It is great that Owain has had this wonderful experience with the Welsh squad, but let's not get too carried away. After all he got precisely no game time and, apart from being part of the overall squad "togetherness", has not made any contribution to team's success. A football cult hero without actually playing any football! I quite like the idea of a rendition of the Welsh National Anthem though - perhaps when they line up for the handshakes before the match?

Wow! What a performance! Belgium started strongly and got a superb early goal. They were playing well and I feared it might be a comfortable win for Belgium. But what fantastic spirit from Wales to snuff out the threat and then take the game to Belgium and turn it round. A bit like the England/Iceland game but much more exciting and much higher quality.