ForzaCaley

I desperately want to see change. Part of me wants to go ahead with these plans because i want to see change but part of me recognises it is completely ridiculous. Also this structure has been tried, tested and failed in other countries. I can see a situation where the top 8 is mildly exciting (for those at the top, which in a couple of years will be the OF). The middle 8 doesnt change anything and the bottom 8 will be desperately boring! Also i dont understand the modern conception that a 16/18 top tier will bring competition. Looking back through history between WW1 and the 1950s only Motherwell won the league apart from the OF in a 18 team league. Also there was even more non-competitive games, thats why they changed the structure in the 70s. We're a club that traditionally finish 7th/8th/9th. In a 18 team league which we'll never win and never get relegated from will mean we will always be mid table with nothing to play for. Doesnt sound exciting to me. And lets be honest, we love the Highland derbies and we're used to playing county 4 times a season. Why would we want to restrict that to two times a season? I dont think thats very wise financially for our club to just have one home game a season v county. If i had my way, i would propose a Premier of 10 teams and a Championship of 10. Both these leagues are professional. That would leave 22 lower league teams, so i would split it and add 5 HL teams and 5 EoS/junior teams to make a semi-professional North and South leagues of 16 teams each. The winners of these leagues would have a play-off with the winner replacing the bottom club of the championship. Also the top 2 of the championship will be automatically promoted replacing the bottom 2 in the Prem. The third top championship team would then play off with the 3rd bottom prem team (like what they do in Germany). I really believe having a 10 team top tier would be exciting and even more competitive than any other suggestion. Growing up in the 90s i remember the 10 team prem being exciting and often the title and relegation place were not decided untill the last day or last couple of games at least. In the 80s aberdeen won the league 3 times, DUFC once and Hearts very nearly all in a 10 team league. Even when rangers were romping the leagues in the 90s aberdeen and Motherwell ran them very close. Like i said earlier, imaging we were middle of the table 6th with 4 games to go. We're only 2 points ahead of 8th placed play-off but also only 3 points behind 4th placed europa league and having to play title chasing Celtic next. We would be going into a game knowing if we lose we could be down, or if we win enhance our chances of europe whilst stopping Celtic win the league (remember 2011 and how good that felt?). I remember 2 years ago a German guy did a study into Scottish football and proposed a professional premier and championship of ten teams each as the right model for Scotland based on population, statistics etc. Everyone laughed and said he was ridiculous and so was the SPL for getting this guy to do a study. However lets be honest, its very rare that the Germans are wrong when it comes to Football!!

Any odds on butcher being contacted?

Yes I have to say I strongly agree with what Forza has said here. Every time I visit Grant St it's like stepping back into a wonderful past world of cherished old memories of football as it used to be in Inverness. I am a strong believer in Inverness playing an ongoing part in the Highland League and that was why the whole merger thing became that bit more acceptable to me when Clach pulled out of the negotiations. The HL was founded in Inverness, on Bridge Street, and of the seven teams which completed the first season in 1893-4, six were from Inverness.... Clach, Caley, Thistle, Citadel, Cameron Highlanders and Union (which was "assimilated" by Thistle shortly afterwards). The other one was Forres Mechanics which means that only Clach and Forres survive from those original members. A team from Dingwall, which I have heard reportedly called Ross County but I'm not 100% sure if that was the original name since the current cluib wasn't founded until 1929, also started that season but resigned during it. Steadily the league extended eastwards and indeed Elgin are the only team ever to have scored "nul points", which they did three times between 1900 and 1906. Of course we all know that the "Highland" League for quite a few seasons across the millennium was heavily dominated by the Aberdeenshire teams so it's really good to see the likes of Forres, Wick, Nairn and especially Clach reasserting themselves more recently. PLUG - tune into Sports Report on BBC Radio Scotland on 810MW and 92-95 or 103.5-105FM at 6:30 for a full round up of today's remaining five HL fixtures and all the rest of the national sports news. There is actually a thread on OTB just now about Ross Countys beginnings and their supposedly mongrel foundations. The Ross County of 1893 had to leave the HL because they didnt have enough money. However not long after, the same group of people formed Dingwall Victoria United who competed in the North Caley league along with Dingwall Thistle. In 1928 these two teams almagamated and in 1929 joined the HL under the old name of Ross County. According to the Jailender, because they reverted back to the old name this doesnt make them mongrels..........LOLS. This merger also explains how Victoria Park got its name. But ofcourse they sold their history for the Global Energy naming rights............bunch of mongrel franchise plastic nobodies ;)

Gutted! Was hopingg to get my football fix this afternoon down GSP havent been there since 07 due to work and ofcourse caley. Actually havent been in GSP since they tore down the wine shed. I bet it feels more open without it. Used to love standing there as it reminded me of my young days in the Howden End. Hopefully they'll build an enclosure of some sorts in the future. Learnt many a new word in that wine shed :)

My birthday yaaaaaaay!

Fev i believe the man your club is looking for is Derek Adams. He is somewhat familiar with BARNS......

Yogi hughes and gary bollan o-O is that the best you can do.... TB aint going anywhere, everyone just chill

When we play in RED AND BLUE STRIPES ;)

Is their a singing section? I really dont want another farce like dingwall with 200 people. Squeezed into 70 seats!!!

After the penalty award in the replay and the header off the bar, I stand by my idea of what the north stand should be called :D Or what about 'The Ross Tokely BOOOOO stand'

Tade misses one on one with reguero. Fecking surprise there......

Just seen it :D Legendary!! Get me rory macalister.... Hahahaha

Not a big fan of 'floaters' ;)

They go for a PSG look these days. They foresaw a clash with ICT and feared the immortal one :)

Cant get it on my phone. Any chance of uploading it to youtube, that works on most phones!

Id rather be alongside 3000 LOYAL supporters than have a crowd of 5500 with 2000 'johnny come latelys'

For me, this is 100% true! I started following ICT in 1996 as a 7 year old and have no affiliation with the two old clubs, however, i am well aware of the merger history and i like to personally remember both teams and their histories and even go as far to say i support them BOTH. This is because to me, Caley and Thistle are like older brothers who created the finest club the Highlands have ever seen. This is why, like me, we should CELEBRATE the merger and stop bickering about it! And with the whole strip thing.... If you were to ask any of my generation, what is ICTs identity? I believe the vast majority would say blue and red stripes. We're coming up to the 20th anniversary of our formation and in 2014 we will have a new home shirt. I would love it if the club would draw a line under the past and look to the future and say "We Are ICT, And This Is Our Identity" and bring out a 50/50 blue and red striped home shirt! Ditch the white and black or like the current away, white and black can be the away shirt colours. Crystal Palace are the only other team in the British Isles who sport red/blue stripes and we would be the only ones in Scotland. If like this season (so far) assaulting the top of the table becomes a regular occurance, we need to have an identity so that those the world over know exactly who the MIGHTY ICT ARE!!

Dougal, as of today there are 82 likes for the page. Thats including myself and a few other ICT fans no doubt. But still 82? WOW sooooo many that we are missing. And by the look of it most of those people are the sevco 2012 fans!

what i've always struggled to understand is the mentality of a County supporting refusenik For example..... 'Hi i'm a Caley fan who hates the Jaggies so much i would rather support a proper Highland team like RCFC than some plastic franchise FC.' 'Hi, im a Thistle fan who hates all Caley tinks so much that i can't stand supporting a team in 'predominantly blue shirts' and would rather support County' So now instead, both these hardcore Caley and Thistle fans who were against the merger are standing side by side the same people they are supposed to Loathe so much, not only that but the ex-jaggies are supporting a team in NAVY BLUE. Frankly, they deserve each other

Are you one of them?

I actually just read this myself the other day regarding c*unty, it's funny you should also notice it Rene, made me LOL big time!!

A month before christmas, no wonder!

We easily took 6000 to hampden in 03 and 04 when our average attendance was 2000 so dont see your point alex. Im disapointed we never got the new 6000 capacity East stand. I reckon we could easily take 5500. I honestly cant see hearts taking 15000 aswell, maybe 10,000. I can see a situation where Hearts have 3 half filled stands and our one stand is packed out with some unlucky few not even getting a ticket. This hasnt been thought out well! However i see Hearts have got a Singing section. I hope our club provides one for our vocal support, maybe on the upper tear. I hope we dont end up with another fiasco like Dingwall where 200 folk were crammed into 70 seats!

Dont understand what all the greeting is about. I thought the article was actually a very fair and accurate acount of how well and how far we have come as a club. I took the wicker man thing to be a light hearted joke.

Paul sheerin score a hat-trick against alloa in the bells cup final 99 which we lost! That loss still hurts :(