clacher_holiday2

If ICT's future was put on the line, do any of you think just a couple of hundred folk would step in to vote for our existence? Either the alleged thousands of passionate Caledonian fans ruling over Inverness couldnt really be bothered to make the effort to save their club or they have never existed. I've heard all the stories about fans being banned from voting but it would be impossible to shut out as many fans as some Caledonian fans think were around at the time. The truth is that there has always been enough latent football fans in Inverness to support full time football. They have always outnumbered the fans of the three Highland League sides combined by some margin. All the Inverness teams got good attendances at in the cups v sides from down south, theyre no measure of a clubs fanbase. I know as a kid I was dragged to see all three Inverness sides for cup games or sometimes the matches against each other, none of the three clubs could really claim me as a fan. The potential was there for any of the three sides to gain league access and be where ICT are now, I think thats impossible to deny. Would Caledonian on their own have been a bigger club though? Would they ****, they'd be the same as ICT are now.

sadly that's the message that did get through it seems pimples.... tantrums and aggresion lead to irrational decisions, pressure mounts when nobody wants to be the one seen making a mistake, which is easily manipulated. the ball just gets hoofed when players are scared of responsibility, they want rid of it to anyone, on either side.

Good final point Caley Stan. Whats the point of looking to spend less and play less, if the only benefit is better league form, pressumably so we can try and qualify again?

You said it yourself Charles ""(and I would suggest nor should it be, given the remote chance each year which came a lot closer this time.)"" It's not as if we'll ever have to charter flights on a regular basis is it? I'm sure the club could stomach sending the squad on a plane somewhere once every 10 years or so. Take into account the money made from an extra home fixture plus the financial benefits of being in a position to qualify (league or cup) and youre talking a very reasonable loss for the prestige and excitment gained just by being in the draw. Any season-long fitness issues brought about by starting the season earlier would be unforgivable. Its these players job to stay in top condition throughout the year, there would be a coaching question if the number of games being played over a seaosn became an issue for any of our squad. infact wouldnt it only be one extra game, as all European qualifiers get a round off from the League Cup?

Team Pld Draw-when-Winning Lose-when-Winning Points-Lost 1 Motherwell (2) 38 3 0 6 2 St Johnstone (3) 38 5 0 10 3 Aberdeen (8) 38 3 2 12 4 Dundee (12) 38 6 1 15 5 Heart of Midlothian (10) 38 6 1 15 6 Hibernian (7) 38 3 3 15 7 Kilmarnock (9) 38 5 2 16 8 St Mirren (11) 38 5 2 16 9 Ross County (5) 38 3 4 18 10 Dundee United (6) 38 7 2 20 11 Inverness C T (4) 38 7 2 20 12 Celtic (1) 38 6 3 21 second worst for dropped points but tighter than i thought itd be. notice both saints and motherwell top the table Team Pld Win-when-Losing Draw-when-Losing Points-Gained 1 Motherwell (2) 38 5 5 20 2 Dundee United (6) 38 3 6 15 3 Hibernian (7) 38 2 7 13 4 Ross County (5) 38 2 7 13 5 St Mirren (11) 38 2 7 13 6 Celtic (1) 38 3 1 10 7 Aberdeen (8) 38 1 6 9 8 Inverness C T (4) 38 1 6 9 9 St Johnstone (3) 38 1 6 9 10 Heart of Midlothian (10) 38 1 3 6 11 Dundee (12) 38 1 1 4 12 Kilmarnock (9) 38 0 4 4 motherwell top of points gained from behind, impressive, good management with the ability to make changes

butchers the man for us now with plenty too prove but him leaving and a shake up mid season wpuldve done us wonders, at that point many thought we'd won the treble ffs. over he season we threw away too many late points, I've not seen the stats but it wouldn't shock me too see we were the biggest losers in games where we took the lead.

Should've been sewn up weeks ago...! MUST WIN MORE.

Theres been a lot of similarities between this season and our first back in the SPL. I seem to remember us being close to third or joint third with Hearts and about 6/7 points behind 1st place around Christmas and of course we ended up in the bottom 6 with a terrible New Year and stuttering run up to the split. Back then we blamed a lot of those poor 2nd half results on fatigue and having a young squad, this year CaleyD(and other happy clappers) would have us blame nobody and put everything down to bad luck. Much like that season, its poor fitness and concentration that have squandered all the hard work put in over the opening 20 odd games, both symptoms of complacent management. I actually wonder if over the length of a season we suffer from trying to create a squad with good harmony, where everybody is buddies with each other. Everybody should be on edge, totally focused, with cutting edge ALL professional footballers should step onto the park with. I really couldn't care less if everyones bff's in their spare time, they should be competing with each other to get starting positions all week in training and in the gym. When they cross that touchline they prove their worth by playing as a team and winning, ultimately thats what they get paid to do isn't it? The stronger they are, the longer they can press the ball, chase the ball and pass the ball, a squad putting the effort in will beat a side dying on its legs every single match. Players themselves will be inconsistent over 90 minutes if they haven't got the legs for it, mistakes are made. It's all a bit late in the season to be worrying about this though. I personally don't care about either cup but 2nd place is worth a couple of million quid and a later start in Europe. Somehow we're still in the chase for that spot so everything is well in our own hands right now. We can still win every single game this year, that should be the target.

I said it long ago now but anybody worrying about the league table or worse taking any pride in our current position, before the end of the season, has their eye well off the ball. Nevermind our non existent 'profile' or the japseye ******** from Dingwall. We have to concentrate on every game one at a time now, as we should've done months ago when people on here started using the term miraculous to describe sitting 8 or 9 points above 11th place, being second was irrelevant in such a tight league. The miraculous call sadly looks as though it filtered into earshot of the playing staff and coaches over the winter break but we're still within touching distance somehow. There are 9 games left and if we win all 9 then we will be in 2nd place, thats the outlook we need to have, 9 cup finals. Saturday evening on the 18th of May is when the league table matters.

lets hope this gives him a lift for the run in

http://icy-e-01.sharp-stream.com /mframlow.mp3 (minus the space of course.... I wasnt expecting that little mp3 player to pop up on the forum when I posted that link, it may well work directly from there on your phones browser.)

Will this be online too? Doesn't look like it. The SPL match available online is St. Mirren v Celtic. Or Scottish cup game between Hamilton and Falkirk. Not easy being a far flung supporter although the availability of youtube highlights the same evening of the game is a plus. I'd trade that in for live commentary any day. Wish the club did their own live streaming commentary. Last time I tried MFR on iphone app it didn't work. Might have to look at it again for tomorrow. http://icy-e-01.sharp-stream.com/mframlow.mp3 Not sure about the iphone but on Android theres a few programs that can run that link for mfr 2, VLC being the one I use.

Am i right in thinking 2nd place is worth a few quid this year due to old agreements that assumed the Old Firm take those spots every year?

] Granted I hardly watch TV but I doubt I'd have missed a show called 'Gypsy ********'

isnt this what football clubs did about 20 years ago football fans arent that stupid

nevermind the games, what the **** are they doing in training? half of them have no pace and look knackered tracking back, they cant press the ball. theres no excuse for having players that arent prepared for a game of ******* football, its their ******* job regardless of how 'little" they think theyre being paid. and theyll never earn a penny more if they dont put the work in

no comment

too easy

I think after reading Butchers comments re attendances he very much does think we've achieved something in being 2nd. In his interview he even said ""We cannot do any more". It seems the complacency I warned about at Christmas firmly rooted itself in the ICT camp during the winter break. I know your post was made way before this but looking back at his return from Barnsley comments, he seemed to be sure the team were destined to do something spectacular, if he was quietly professional with his feet planted on the ground then he wouldn't have said anything of the sort. Worryingly our current slump may not even hit home to the boss and players that more needs to be done, as bizarrely we're still 2nd. Hopefully it doesn't happen but if we do lose a couple of our next three difficult matches, then it wont just be to third we slide to. I honestly think that's what it'll take for us to regroup and then make a strong push for the European places. We need a huge reaction tomorrow, I'd love to see us go there and score 3 times, win with 10 men, score a last minute winner.. just anything that shows there's still life and a bit of intensity in this side. The best motivation Terry needs to give this lot is financial, if you want the big offers at the end f the season then you need to finish second, same goes for him, end up a few points behind where we are in 10th and its business s usual.

At least we've got a 6 point gap to County again. 9 points between us and 11th, looking at the fixtures the run in to the split looks difficult, next three are Motherwell and Hearts away, then United at home. We really should be about 7 points clear of Motherwell at this stage but then every side in the league can say that this year, so many missed opportunities.

Thats us been in the lead in 11/14 home games, won 5. Add Celtic Reserves and Kilmarnock to the list of sides we couldnt see out. No doubt there will be somebody calling it "bad luck"

not to worry IHE. he'd be lucky to get the programme selling gig at this rate

BOOOOOOOOOO

much better player since he stopped trying to batter everyone

Had to go into work this morning so only caught the game in the pub at 2-1 Celtic. I thought both teams looked ok with Celtic obviously having the better players, they were making less mistakes. Billy McKay again taking too long on the ball for me, when he scored against Aberdeen everyone was raving about his composure and patience, sadly there comes a time where you need to let your instincts take over and hit a shot first time. Agree with IHE about Doran, wonder whos decision that was to move him? He looked absolutley shattered on TV. I've said it over and over but the league is horribly tight, we've now won just one game in 7 attempts, we're only 5 points ahead of Ross County who we still need to play twice. Theres 8 more games until the split, I think we need to win at least 4 of them to stay n the European places, every team apart form Dundee will fancy 2nd place this year.