Joonya

Dundee at home please... in any round. lol CALEY THISTLE CHAMPIONS, na na na na na naaa na CALEY THISTLE CHAMPIONS, na na na na na naaa na :D :D :D :D :D

failed again by heading slightly off-topic too :D When are our pre-season fictures due to be announced? I think any sort of get together has to incorporate 'Caley Thistle Champions' chanting throughout whatever game is next - even if its HFL dross.

congrats from the jnr household :D

Cracking idea Alex! Almost out the question for Myself, MrsJnr, Gringo and MrsGringo (aka Dozza) for the dates mentioned as we're all off on holiday at the end of June for a week :( Can there be a second Internutters bash during ICT's pe-season friendlies to accommodate?

Scott Arfield has signed from Falkirk to Hudersfield for ?400,000 increasing to ?600,000 when he reaches a certain number of appearences. Is he really that much better than the majority of our squad? Does the fact he's only 21 make the price more acceptable, or indeed the buying out of the remainder of his 5-year contract? I'm wondering if anyones opinions have changed about our own players worth now....

Oh, and TBB, I see what you did there - all 'thistle'... clever. But NOOOOOOO

Oh, and as I wasn't appointed Fitness Coach after L-G's nomination, I'd like to also be considered in a strike partnership with Wyness101 (the name excluding number says it all). Failing a starting place, I'd make a fantastic 'solkjaer-esque' super sub :D

BA for goalkeeper. I've seen him play and he's half decent. Likes to think he's esson and rarely plays like ridgers. I'd have BigStu at centre back! he's wasted on the bench (and alcohol) and his presence is sure to feck up the likes of ronaldo and messi...

Cheers people Makes a change for me not to be out in the wilderness on Highland March...

exactamundo! :P

I disagree with the comment you make regarding interest in the likes of Cowie and Rankin! there were rumours that not only watford, but also leeds united and rangers were interested in him. all three are big clubs who could well have afforded an extra zero if our own board pushed for it. rankin also was linked to Hearts and Celtic was he not? - he also had Manchester United on his CV which must prove some worth? (Then again, he also had RC, so 'null and void' springs to mind) On the subject of Hayes, i'd say 500k would not be un-realistic to seek should Doncaster and the other unnamed clubs really want his services. We'd no doubt sell ourselves short by letting him go for a tenth of that!!! I'm so much happier he extended his contract though!

I, personally, would think that would be the way we'd currently define 'Obscene', SanMiguel. But, consider this... ... Are Hayes, Rooney and/or Foran better than Dougie Imrie - a player who has outplayed Hamiltons ?1m rated 'stars' since he joined. I would say that they all most certainly are, so why shouldnt we be considering at least 500k each minimum. Did Robert Snodgrass not go to Leeds United for a large sum of money from Livingston? A player who, I would consider, was not really as close to the quality as our irish contingent.

I fully understand that Scottish Football is looked upon as a poorer league where the financial state of the game is predominently at the forefront, but thats really only the fault of the individual teams themselves. Isn't it? Like I mentioned originally, we've lost players in the last decade that were worth way more than what we got for them. If Wigan sent a scout up to Somerset Park, they'd be bidding 500k to 1m for our irish trio without doubt, but why are we selling ourselves short by taking the first offer on the table. In the paper today, DoF Grassa said it'd take obscene money to make us part with our assets. Define obscene... highland league obscene - i.e. 5-figure maximum or Top Flight Obscene i.e mid-6-figure sum

after reading reports these last few weeks of some of our squad being linked to others, I was wondering how much would be realistic figures to allow players to part. For instance, the two James' of Hamilton were valued at over ?1m EACH. Imrie has been their best player since his arrival, as the other thread about him suggests, but would they also value Imrie in the same 7-figure category now? We've seen rankin off to Hibs, Cowie off to Watford, Black off to Hearts, Imrie off to Hamilton, and even goalies Brown and Fraser off to Celtic and Motherwell respectively, but I dont think we got even close to a good deal for them! the afforementioned clubs have grabbed a bargain from free or reduced fees (Fraser the exception ) So... to the original point... Would we be un-realistic to be looking at, for example: Rooney, Foran, Hayes - 750k+ Esson - 500k+ Rossco, Odiambo, Cox - 100k - 250k discuss....

He'll be in there before our visit to Rugby Park, then hop on the next bus to killie in time for a half time pie!!! I only made a few away games this year... Raith (Midweek in Oct/Nov) - No pre-match beverage :( Ross C*unty (twice)- visits to the Mallard were rather entertaining Ayr - Ship Inn was great outside, let alone inside Perth (Cup Final) - Banter with Part timer et al was ace, as were the drinks :) Would have loved a visit to Palmerston... bloomin work :(

I'd like Aberdeen! Another open day victory, this time at home, would be nice. So long as we dont get Hamilton (A), Motherwell (A) or Kilmarnock (A) on either of the last 2 games of the season!!!

Have they not won the last 7 league games? I know their last league defeat was the 4-0 against St Mirren! Going back to the original question though, anything is possible, but I think the best we can look at for next season would be top-6! It'll be a good few years before we're competing with even Utd, let lone the OF

Naughties would almost certainly be Tokely. Unlike Roy who has also been here throughout the naughties, rosscoe has been able to hold down a regular place throughout the duration. Golly has always been solid for us also, but obviously a wee spell of inconsistancy before he headed loan to Livi also gives rosscoe the edge. As for the 90's i'd say CC. He was there throughout the merger and those tough times, scored when it mattered, created chances and was still at the club as a player up until promotion 2004. He's still with us now!

HM8 photos are now available here I am in the process of typing up a diary of our week, and this should hopfully be online in the coming weeks. :021:

I have a signed shirt from 2000/01, a wedding photo signed by this years squad, signed football and other bits and bobs from over the years. Ryan Esson had his top signed by saturdays team, and donated it to the Mrs for a function she is trying to organise to raise funds for Neurofibromatosis (NF). He also signed his gloves also for auction. The Highland March Flag has been signed by almost every single player and manager between 2004 and 2008, including the title winning squad of 2004! the only people to have signed it since then include Butcher and Malpas aswell as Dougie Imrie. (We're yet to get our irish contingent to sign it, and the likes of lee cox, narius, ryan, sanchez and more. We missed out on Marius Niculae too as the romanian press stole him for an interview before the euros.) In terms of possesions ICT have of mine, Grant Munro has a red and blue striped tie that I loaned to my dad for the Red and Blue Ball last season. He can keep it though!

Highland Marchers were on the front page of the Inverness edition of the P&J today. We had a shot in the Sunday Mail yesterday too... along with the tuesday Courier last week and the P&J the week before, some of the coverage we've had this year has been fantastic. Highland March seems to grow year on year. We'll have to wait for the SPL Split before we know where we head next year, but i'll no doubt have a few routes plotted by the end of this month, let alone next season :P As Slater said earlier, it truely was a fantastic week (as it always is) and the title party at Ayr and up here will be extremely hard to beat.

As promised, a small selection from the hundreds of photos we'd taken en route. All photos should be available on the highlandmarch.co.uk website in the coming days.... Enjoy....

All the aches and pains seemed to disappear yesterday for a couple of hours as the title party got under way. To have Terry Butcher join us on our Lap pf Honour was magnificent. I wonder if he'll be fit after his knee op' to join us for a stage one year (alongside Robbo who has been 'quoted' as doing a stage in the future)! The OFFICIAL Highland March 8 mileage was......... :crazy07: 202.78 HM8 therefore has become the FIRST EVER route to break the 200-mile marker! Superb A small selection of photos will be posted on this thread later today once I upload them from my camera. I'll also ensure the FULL HM8 Gallery is uploaded as soon as possible (within the coming weeks :021: )

What an absolutely brilliant week!!! the most difficult, physically painful, mentally challenging and emotionally draining week I've ever experienced on a Highland March...... but absoluely f***** brilliant!!! It's not over yet though, as we have 2 miles left to offically complete the challenge. It'll top it off for us guys to have a band of 'followers' from Falcon Square at 11am. We'll no doubt (almost certainly, possibly, maybe) head into the Innes for a beverage or 7. We are requested by the club to be there for around 2-2:15 so will leave the innes around 1ish.

Trying to use mobile internet so please forgive errors. we're goin strong. 4 of us still end to end. gutted for chumba (aka beatonio) who broke foot. he did about 30 miles and walked at least 7 of that on it before chuckin in. havin a few beers and hope to make drumond roundabout tomorrow. possibly even falcon sq. bring it on.