Eagle4Caley

Very encouraged by all the positive reports from yesterday's game, Calder seems to have been the catalyst for some good stuff, maybe when Tremarco is fit he should be played further forward. Oakley has clearly been missed because there is a sense of a collective sigh of relief that he's now available...not sure whats happened to Austin, he looked so good at home to Dunfermline last season, but he rarely gets off the bench.

Is this linked to the loss of Vigurs with his apparent 'ahem' replacement being a sick note?

This...basically.

Mind you that was two very good saves from their goalie to deny us the win! Absolutely terrible play that led to their goal!

Hoorah!

Well, a bit of a long day for me. up at 5am for the long hike up and back down South again at 1am in the morning. Arguably the game didn't justify the effort, but any opportunity to see Caley live, is one I enjoy! The weather made the whole game a bit of a lottery, and I don't think some of the people around me appreciated that! But other than the free kick we kept Dobbie quiet and hence ensured the clean sheet. At the other end though we didn't really threaten, although we dominated the game for much of the first half. Second half QoS came into it more, maybe the wind was in their favour, but we eventually got more control. Of the new guys Welsh impressed me a fair bit, and Walsh looks like a more consistent version of Mulraney. Watching Rooney, the word that comes to mind is 'solid' ....not necessarily in a good way! He seems dangerous rampaging forward in a straight line, but anything that involves a change in direction, or quick reactions seems beyond him, and watching him try to shimmy past a defender, well his brain might be telling him he can do it, but his talent doesn't extend that far! Not convinced he is an upgrade on Seedorf or better long term propect, but hey we got a clean sheet against Ayr and he's scored two goals so what do I know. The rest of the defence did a fine job with what they were facing. First time I've seen White, and he looks OK as a target man, winning the ball and laying it off a few times, but doesn't look like the man to score many goals, not without a second foward next to him. The last time I saw Austin was in the late season game against Dunfermline, when he was brilliant, then got injured and we lost our momentum....so it was good to see him back, and he had a few moments that were encouraging, along with Mackay and Calder, which was good to see, as it feels like there were options on the bench. Doran was possibly a contender for MoTM for us, much of the good stuff came from him, and to think of all those months when he was never fit, it's great to see. Polly was busy but quiet at the same time, whereas Chalmers looked like he is a decent footballer, but his touch was off....to progress this season we need to move away from two deep lying midfielders to one with the other much closer to the front man. Which brings me to Angus Beith...what the hell has happened to this guy? No appearances, no subs bench, is he injured or what? I was hoping he was the new messiah to replace Vigurs. So not quite firing on all cylinders, not a match to linger long in the memory, but at this early stage of the season we are well in contention, so still happy.

I saw Dobbie play for Palace in our first game back in the EPL in 2013...he was as slow as anything then, but has a decent footballing brain and obviously a decent shot on him, just needs someone to keep a tight rein on him. I'm up for this and looking forward to seeing some of the new guys in action

Great highlights....RC only seemed to come into it right at the end... in my mind a moral victory for Caley if not an actual one! Great atmosphere coming over the video.... perhaps we should just open the Main stand at Tulloch, to get that 'full house' look, and perhaps generate more noise? Slightly gutted to see Ayr sneak above us..... let's hope I win the lottery this week so we can buy Shankland in January! Counting the days off now to my first trip up of the season next Saturday for Q0S

What a lovely result...I was in Lake Garda so following it on BBC Sport. Partick Thistle getting two back so late, took a little of the gloss off, but we were down to 10 men for the last, and a look at the table put the gloss back on. Watched the highlights and Ridgers pulled off a couple of good saves...ground always looks fab in the afternoon sunshine, and the shirts look F.A.B. I 'm up on a one dayer for the Q0S game in two weeks time...might just have me one of those.

One can see even in this thread how difficult communication is, as it's so easy to write something that comes across poorly, that perhaps needs more explanation or detail and lacks the benefit of the spoken word and the friendly face (over a pint). Offence is easily taken, as can getting the 'wrong end of the stick'. Corporate bodies are even more prone to putting a foot wrong accidentally. As a bit of light relief have a look at this thread on a Crystal Palace forum ...so far up to 255 pages! http://www.cpfc.org/forums/showthread.php?t=275926&page=256 All about a fans group called the Holmesdale Fanatics who do a great deal to create a loud atmosphere at Selhurst Park, although not everything they do or say is welcomed by everyone. Anyway they were looking to relocate from a corner of their stand to be more central in the stand and create a larger singing section. However the area is full with existing season ticket holders. Things have not gone well! To the extent that the group have disbanded for this year, amongst much recrimination. Who's to blame, how badly have the club handled the situation, have the HF got ahead of themselves...who really knows! As for Caley there are pointers on this thread as to what needs to happen...and the club needs to be pushed/encouraged/cajoled, do we all write letters or does the Supporters Trust lead the way

1) It strikes me that what appears to be missing then is the "opportunities to meet..." Whether it is a couple of Q&A sessions a season, or something more formal with a representative fans group(s). Has anyone written to the board reminding them of the obligation? this type of forum might then be the vehicle whereby supporters suggestions are taken on board. 2) I'm not sure I am arguing for a 'top-down etc etc approach' more that in terms of regular direct communication (and perhaps we need to define what that is) I just struggle to see what else needs communicating. Now as it happens when the present board at CPFC took over the club in 2010 from administration, the owners being long term supporters adopted the idea of a link to the most popular fans online forum, and all manner of things were raised, from stadium improvements to tickets to leaky guttering, which I felt worked well, however some fans started to abuse the 'privilege', and the concept lasted just the one season. Not sure what you mean by democratic deficit, as the general model seems to be that those who put the money in and take the risks get the say. (Buying a season ticket might seem like 'putting money in' but it has no risk attached). 3) I'm not seeking to neuter fan agency...I just stated that my relationship or lack of it with the board doesn't affect my decision whether to attend a match.

Crikey I was that traumatised by the Dunfermline score, it never registered with me that we scored!

What is it the Chairman and Board need to speak, tweet or communicate about currently? IMHO they only need to communicate when they have something they need to communicate about, ticket issues, player movements (not bowel), disciplinary issues and fan behaviour, club promotional offers and the like. And I guess issues around club management, which currently seems to be appointments. It's probably asking too much to be informed about financial matters on a regular basis, in fact is there any benefit to that I guess that last major statement from the club was a couple of weeks ago about the abuse aimed at Liam Polworth, which was timely. I know from experience elsewhere that a Chairman engaging too much also gets abuse because different people read different things into statements/comments, so you then end up with bland comments whereupon the accusation is that something is being hidden. Are we concerned that there is a secret conspiracy to run the team down, and re-develop the ground? Ownership of the ground does seem like a festering issue, is this something that needs more clarity. Personally in response to Glovers post, relationship with a club is important (by which I understand that to be the emotional links, and sense of family/unity) but communications from the Board have no impact at all on me deciding whether to travel 500 miles to watch the team (nor 5 miles to watch my other team). Mind you a sense of unity usually comes from the team doing well in which case most people agree that the Board and manager must be doing something right! So perhaps we need to clarify what it is we are really after, is it supporter representation on the board (which isn't necessarily about communication, more transparency), or more Club participation into local events, or more (some!) Q&A sessions, or more social media interaction, or closer match-day contact with board members? Are members of the board seen as real fans or opportunists? What should the board do that isn't seen as cynical manipulation?

Looks like Robbo has found it again...I like Calder and McCart, it's a long season, they'll get their chance. Brilliant win away, that 0-5 from a year ago exorcised, the only unbeaten side in this league now, pleased for Polly and Oakley, but especially for Rooney. I heard Ridgers pulled off a couple of good saves, last year he was the butt of some dissent on here, but came through a poor start to his career here to become a bit of a favourite. Walsh is starting to sound like our signing of the summer.

TBF quite a few of the new players were written off at the start of the season, but came through in the end. I liked Seedorf, but he was either really good or very poor, Rooney may end up being consistently steady! Is Beith the new Elbouzedi, seemingly with potential, but never fit enough to show it. I still wish we had kept Bell.

Just from the highlights alone...how did we not win that match? It should have been a big win. I note some comments about how poor we were, but again from the highlights only, we put together some decent moves, and Alloa barely threatened... Donaldson's penalty wasn't poor, and had that been an inch lower it was game over IMHO.

I appreciate that some of us are disappointed at the result, which we probably should have won...very frustrating playing against 10men and missing a penalty, in the end it feels like a defeat. However abusing a players family is the lowest of the low, it might have been a few idiots, I wouldn't call them supporters, but the player clearly heard it...I'd be pretty p#ssed off it that was directed at me. Polworth is somewhat an enigmatic figure, he does a lot of good stuff, but obviously in trying to be the creative player also slips up.....he does seem to get quite a bit of stick on this forum, but I think we would miss him quite a bit if he were to leave. Unfortunately we do have pretty small crowds and there are a fair few constant 'moaners' spread around...I notice this when I come up and sit in the main stand, drives me mad... players seldom respond positively to constant harping on, so just seems self-defeating. Whereas when we play away the support the players get albeit from a smaller concentrated group is great and it is appreciated by the players.

Mind you Hearts got an impressive win away today, perhaps indicative of a gap in class?

Fantastic..nothing like an opening day win to raise hopes of great things for the season!

Those are fab...one day I'll get to see them when ICT play away (unfortunately not tomorrow) ...I'dlove something in similar construction depicting an Eagle alongside the A9 near our stadium

A bit of a shame about getting knocked out like that, but losing out to Hearts (rather than Falkirk last year) is no disgrace...sounds like we were in the game but got caught by a goal blitz. Don't have BT Sport so didn't get to see it on the TV Anyway I've booked my first flying visit up fo the QoS game, late September, so excited about that, so I just want Caley to park that game as a 'lessons to be learned' for a young side and start the league season positively

In the years I've been supporting Palace and then Inverness Caley Thistle, I've got used to the cycle of football with travails and despair often following triumph and elation, it's often the rebirth that happens after, say, relegation that I find the most exciting, as new faces come in, often young and in-experienced, new ways of playing, new managers, new owners (sometimes), improvements to the ground , even those new playing strips that seem more dynamic or trendy than the previous season. Being a 'glass-half-full' type of guy, I can take solace from a good passage of play, or a goal, or just seeing someone have a good game, even if the overall result may not be what is wanted. I love it when a player or the club starts to get recognised for doing something good. I have obviously come into the ICT fold fairly recently, but relegations under Butcher and Foran haven't disheartened me (actually it was my sadness when ICT went down under Butcher that I realised a spark had been kindled). Having supported Palace for nigh on 45 years I have seen many false dawns and have become disillusioned a couple of times, I once stopped going and gave up my season ticket, so I guess ever body is tested. (actually if everyone who told me they once supported Palace still turned up our crowds would be 50k not 25k). Sometimes you just need a break, however as long as you still love football, and you still look out for the club you support, or live local to them, the chances are that the spark will come back. For me coming up to see Inverness is always an adventure, which I have enjoyed, even losing to Aberdeen in the League Cup final....whereas I can't honestly say I've enjoyed every moment of Palace's latest incursion into the EPL COYC

Precisely..no news of trouble in Russia (who'd risk it!) and some silly stuff after the Sweden match (but in the couple of case where cars were damaged, crowd funding by other supporters raised money for repairs) Wasn't impressed myself by the beer throwing as goal celebrations, but little else And I've never held it against the Scots when some broke the Wembley goals all those years ago and dug up the pitch. Not sure the media were arrogant, just over-excited

It was fun whilst it lasted...England stayed in the competition longer than Brazil, Argentina, Ronaldo, Germany and Spain. A few players didn't turn up for the second half yesterday, but many came out of the tournament with enhanced reputations, maybe carrying injuries. In the end the team that should be most gutted is Belgium. Anyway a short interlude ...then we can get back to the serious stuff; Can ICT get out of the Championship (upwards!) and can Palace avoid another nerve-shredding season in the EPL

Surely not....I'm quite excited about the possibility of a Home Nations side getting further