Robert

An unseemly end to Shane’s time with us regardless of the rights and wrongs. The process the club has outlined is the correct one and if the followed it then it may be that Shane misunderstood the initial e-mail. It sounds like it is a standard template issued by the governing body and, if so, it ought not to be deviated from. I suspect we will never know what happened but it adds to the general concerns many have. Reading the list of those offered deals, I’m confused at the Billy Mckay situation as it sounds like he can stay if he wishes to exercise the option in his contract. Do other posts above indicate that the club is trying to change those terms in some way? I hope not. I hope those also being offered deals accept them and that we do have Shaw tied up for next season. Im surprised if we are letting Cammy MacKay go though.

Given we’ve announced the departures of Deas, Boyd and Woods, does that mean that talks are ongoing with the others that are out of contract, but that no deals have been concluded yet? If so, there is hope that we can retain the likes of Allardice, Devine, Mckay and Shaw.

The extension was, in my opinion, inevitable if Dodds wanted to stay. Now is the time to get behind him and whoever is in our squad as the decision is made. We need to hit the ground running after what will be a short break compared to most of our rivals due to our cup run. Clarity on Robbo’s situation would be welcome.

Congratulations Gringo and thanks for doing this again.

So has another of our youth team, goalie Lewis Munro. https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/sport/football/highland-league/5815117/nairn-county-swoop-for-caley-thistle-duo/

It is good that Duffy is staying. He’s come on a lot in his time with us, both when playing full back and centre half. For me, he should get a run at right back to let Carson be influential in midfield, but I suppose it will depend on our squad next season, particularly on whether we still have Allardice and Devine.

I am sorry to see Deas move on but it was inevitable and I was surprised we still had him this season. He goes with my best wishes, except for any game he has against us! I think Delaney was signed last summer as insurance in case we needed to replace him then so it will be interesting to see what moves we make once the overall position with the squad is clearer. Looking at those out of contract, I hope we can retain Allardice, Devine, Duffy, Mckay and Shaw, plus all the youngsters and agree with Satan that we get the youngsters tied up on long contracts if possible. Doran is a tricky one, as he’s been a tremendous servant but it looks like his best years are behind him. Sutherland and Walsh are also tricky. We stood by them and hopefully they are close to fitness. Sutherland was excellent most of last season whilst we only saw glimpses of Walsh. On balance, I’d offer Sutherland a new deal.

Anyway it’s in the past. Each to their own! I can recommend a good therapist for bdu!! The group I was with had a great weekend in Glasgow. It would have been great to win but the guys performed well and can hold their heads very high.

Seems bdu found it funny!!

I make no apologies for this post. You should be really ashamed of yourself. When Celtic scored their third, a numpty a few rows in front of me celebrated. That provoked an angry reaction from our fans with kids caught up in the ensuing scenes before a Steward ejected the numpty. He was punched by one of our fans and credit to the female steward who stopped a brawl resulting. Goodness knows what that could have led to. I don’t know if the idiot involved had a ticket you wrongly sold on or not, but it wrecked a big day for many youngsters and you really need to grow up and realise your actions have consequences. Rant over but I hope you know your head should be hanging in shame.

Proud of all 16 who played today. We all feared a beating but to be only 2-1 down going into stoppage time must have exceeded all our expectations. Celtic are a class or two above us in terms of skill, pace and performance, but we did better than many top league teams have done against them. I think the formation was right and we hoped to keep them out for as long as possible and catch them on the break. It wasn’t to be, but it would have been a surprise to us all if we had won. I thought anything better than 4-0 would be good and we did a damn sight better than that. A shout out for the singing section and our fans overall: you also did us proud. A good day out, despite the result, and as I said above I’m proud of the team.

Came down yesterday afternoon. Spent the evening in an Irish bar which was good but strangely quiet despite having music on. Just at chucking out time a rendition of “stand up for the Caley Jags” started from the far end from where we were. No idea who as they were leaving at the time but great to hear! To the day itself, safe journey to all those travelling and hopefully our guys spring a major surprise and we upset the odds again! I didn’t see the P&J but have been sent this link which may be of interest if you didn’t see the paper itself: https://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC&edid=26059f04-a62b-4303-b4ba-127eec60c8e8 Come on ICT!!

We could be looking at Highland derbies next season, but I’m worried that Partick will rue not finishing that off tonight. It’s not a done deal by any means. Kris Doolan has had 18 games in charge at Partick and only one defeat….. to us!

Looking at the club’s Twitter feed, there’s a banner in the Market. I was in town yesterday and didn’t see anything that would have told me we have one of our biggest ever games coming up. There’s a free 24 page souvenir programme available from the club shop.

I’m nervously excited but expected there to be more chatter here.

I’d love that prediction to come true! Looking very likely it is their Manager’s last game too.

Did they make a mistake starting with a 16 year old in such a big game?

There’s a serious lack of excitement about the final. Is that because we are resigned to losing? For anyone wanting a repeat dose of nostalgia, BBC Scotland is repeating the story of our 2015 triumph and also Ballistic tomorrow night.

Kane Hester, the apparent ring leader, has his case with the SFA in the middle of June. I wonder if Shane’s hearing is imminent too.

Two of the winners, Cameron Harper and Nathan Shaw, are at the start of their career. Imagine the boost their confidence would have got receiving their awards on the pitch at the end of the Ayr game. Whilst Billy Mckay is an experienced pro, he also deserved to receive his awards on the pitch in front of the fans. Whilst that match had a disappointing outcome, it was also our chance to applaud the full squad and let them know they have our backing for the final. It may also be the difference between some deciding to stay and deciding to move on. Not the club’s finest hour!

To be honest, I was surprised he was not snapped up last summer after being linked with St Johnstone in the January 2022 transfer window. I feel that’s why we brought Delaney in last summer.

I agree. I only mentioned it in case it was something I had inadvertently done. They were only a minor inconvenience so no concerns from me if they are reinstated.

Thanks tm4tj, just a pity it wasn’t done at full time on 5 May. Did the club assume we’d be in the play offs when they set the closing date of 12 May? All my choices were the fans’ winners.

When I go into a forum for the first time in any session I’m getting a full page ad. When I press x to exit the advert it takes me to the post I had clicked on. The most frequent advert is for Benidorm holidays. Very spooky as friends have just returned from there. Big brother is listening as well as watching!! Only a minor inconvenience, but not sure if it’s something I’ve done or whether it is happening to others too.

I read it as the prize money for getting to the league positions and rounds in the cup only, so any share of gate receipts will be additional and, with 50,000 there on Saturday and a quarter share of the 50,000 at the Old Firm semi, even after the SFA cut it should be a very decent sum that we get. Given our financial situation, it is very welcome. The club is pushing ticket sales again so we must have quite a lot of our allocation still to sell: https://ictfc.com/scottish-cup-final-ticket-information-general-sale-info-3/