Council Juice

Kenny Sheils should try living in Oz, or managing here. Perth Glory to Newcastle Jets is a touch further for one and people often commute 3-4 hour round trips to work. It's not that big a deal here. 8 hour road trips are fairly short ones.

2 and 3 are my favourites, with 4 being a close 3rd for it's vintage look. 1 is too Sevco 5088 FC, 5 is rubbish and 6 has a bit too much of a mid 90s 2nd division top look to it.

If Dundee got in it would appease Thompson of DUTD who has moaned about it being rubbish that Ross County got promoted as it would hit gate money. Generally speaking the more league derbies the better. However I dont like Thompson and Yorkson DID actually vote to get us up. There are more direct buses to Dunfermline for the Sneck though, I believe and it's closer to Edinburgh (and cheaper by public transport) however I probably wont be home from Oz for all of next season so doesn't really matter. Who have more fans as a whole? I do think though, looking at it objectively Dunfermline were relegated therefore should go down. I presume Dunfermline wouldn't need to apply for membership till next year as they were still SPL members as of the deadline anyway. My vote, for sportin purposes - Dundee FC

Obsession with the past? Because we would take Blackie back? A man who's just picked up a Cup winners medal? You must be Dougal at the wind up. Nope...I'm just somebody who didn't support either Thistle or Caley before the amalgamation,...and supported my own local HL team for most of my life. I'm out of the Inverness loop, and always have been. On moving out of my home area and up to Caithness, I have chosen the teams I support., bearing in mind I hope I'm not up here till I die. All I meant with that comment was that, from that article, his options currently appear limited.....and the ducklings/swans remark was mostly aimed at I believe blackie will be on everyone's wish list in Scotland this summer with the exception to Celtic. I can see him going to rangers if everything works out for them or a fairly decent English team, lower championship or high league 1. I'd be delighted if Ian Black could do a job for us and could be signed....but I'd not be keen if the only reason for signing him again was because he had picked up a Cup winners medal, given he was released not that long after.....and once left ICT to better himself so his loyalty is suspect. He signed a pre contract with his boyhood club, who are also a far bigger club than ICT. It's hardly a sign of suspect loyalty. It's pretty self explanitory. I dont know who wouldn't make that move given the choice. Add to the fact he had a terrible relationship with his gaffer (Brewster) at the time I'd have been baffled moreso had he stayed.

You mean this top Joonya? This has always been my favourite top. My one doen't fit me any more though. Was this before we signed Rossco? I can't see him? Maybe a sign of the sad times.

Seems to me Hayes is allowing his agent to seek out and sort deals so he has offers to look at when he gets home. Quite smart really. But as I've said before I think he'll be leaving. Should have given him another year extension last summer with a relegation wage cut/ release clause. We always leave it too late. He could do better than Aberdeen though.

Reading that article is Ian Vigurs out of contract? Interesting I think most will sign the deals, with the bigger question marks over Hayes, Tokely and Tade. I think if Sutherland is played through the middle he can replace Tade. Tokelys ICT experience is unreplicable but there will be good defenders out there surely. Hayes will be a big loss. Be hard to replace without money which we dont have. The clubs lack of foresight on him last summer has probably cost us this summer. If a player who has been good for 2 season comes to his final 12 months then give him a further 12 months with relegation release clauses. It at least means we might get some tranfer cash if he wants to leave. But being out of contract makes a player think about other options.

Can't say it wasn't expected from my point of view. I expected a comfortable victory (granted maybe not by the margin they won by) for them and they got it. I expected us to suffer in the heat with a fairly inexperienced side against a near full strength one.

Read today on sky that only firm offer he's had is from ICT. Still see him plying his trade elsewhere though.

I would consider the 10 point deduction that helped end their league challenge, the fines, the tranfer embargo, the refusal of a Uefa license for next season, the inability to get a Uefa lisence for 3 seasons if a Newco is formed is a fairly harsh penalty as it is. Further sanctions may be applied but I don't really see the necessity. As for a newco getting straight in. I dont care. If its good for Scottish football in the long run then fine. They've been punished for their cheating and I've no real problem with a clean slate. It'll still be the same team with the same fans sitting in castle greyskull.

Providing we can keep our core, and sign a solid defence as well as keep a team fit for a period of time. Then perhaps we can kick on and have a good year. I'm pretty resigned to losing Hayes. He's been an excellent servant but it's going the way of Adam Rooney by which the contract was there but it just rolled on and it became evident he'd be moving on. He will be a massive loss. Though one will hope a fit Doran can kick on there and Ross will come more into the fore. Ross County I think will push on and have a good opening season. Motherwell wont have the season they did last season but they wont be down the bottom either. Killie are anyones guess. Hearts will drop but again safe. Hibs might improve, well they have to compared to last season. St Mirren I feel will be in the relegation mix. Aderdeen will no doubt struggle, but elude the relegation zone. Dundee Utd will faulter with further cut backs, but again another safe team. St Johnstone I think will not be as good as they were this year and be nearer the bottom. Celtic will win the league. Rangers will still finish 2nd.

Stephen Elliot has been/ is getting released from Hearts. Dunno what type of money he was on but he could certainly do a job for us.

I would be right up for it but my locale (Eastern Australia up and down) might be a bity of a problem so I'll have to skip this one Im afraid.

If every comment about ICT wasn't negative then perhaps there would be less reason to doubt your allegiances Dougal. Seems you found it easy enough to omit the swathes of ICT fans who went down to Hampden to cheer on their rivals and the good luck message from the club itself. Yes we do give them stick. This is the nature of a rivalry. However it has to be one of the most good natured derbies in the country if not the world.

When you say get behind OUR team. Who do you mean in your case?

Hmmmm all very interesting points. We have been fairly guff at times this season. We've went and lost twice to Hibs of all things! Few would have ever seen that coming. I think there are a few factors to contend with. 1. Injuries and suspensions have undoubtedly taken their toll and we do not have the resources to contend with such. 17 different back 4's this season and I'd imagine most of them were forced upon Butcher. 2. We haven't really replaced some players. Rooney was perfect for our teams system, gone. Munro and Duncan had a wealth of experience in terms of digging in and an abundance of club loyalty. This would naturally rub off on younger players and Tokely is the last around to have this influence. Tade and Shinnie looked to be forming a good partnership until the latters injury. They could replace the goals between them that Rooney left behind. Hogg again, could have been Munros replacement but injury put paid to that. It causes a lot of debate as to whether ability wise Duncan needed replaced. Certainly it was felt by many the team performed better with him in it. But you can't replace passion. 3. We are in terms of club size, supporter base, and financial clout never going to be consistently good season after season. Some seasons we'll be up the crest, others down the trough. In these seasons we'll have good patches (This Christmas or last seasons November) and horrid runs (like of late) We as a club cannot afford a squad of 25 first team seasoned pros. We also do not have a budget to bring in top quality players. We rely on trial and free transfer. Even when clubs have money to spend there are risks (Torres 50m etc). These risks become tenfold when dealing with the lower end of the scale. Butcher is trying to attract young hungry talented youths to Inverness. In the long term this could reap huge financial benefits. However for youth you need older heads to guide them. Alas, in the free market most of these older heads will be journeymen, will have had a injury or patchy form history, or just not be great. So we have to take risks on the likes of Owain Tudur Jones. He's undoubtedly talented, yet has injury problems which we took a risk on. It remains a question as to whether we should continue with the risk next season. Time will tell. As for missing out on Gary Mackay-Stevens, it was well known the boy had talent, however at the time of the trial he was not ready for SPL football. OR had not shown enough to suggest it in his short trial. Subsequently the period at Airdrie, well below the players ability level, gave him the fitness, confidence and impetus to make the step up, albeit with Dundee Utd. We as a club could not afford to take on a player we perhaps could not have utilised straight away. These things happen in football. It was not down to Butchers lack of judgment. Mainly timing did not favour ICT on this occasion. For the most part I think Butcher makes good signings. OK for every Hayes there is an Eagles. For every Shinnie there is a Stratford, but again I point out that this is the end of the market we're dealing with. Sometimes he does show but tactical awareness and perhaps his training is not out of this world. When we can afford Jose Mourinho, I'm sure all will be sorted. In the meantime... I'd say Butchers tenure for the most part has been predominately successful. Dragged us off our feet when 5 points a drift and flagging badly to only be relegated with the highest points total to date (higher than our safe in 10th total at the moment, which is not to say we're doing worse, just then we were desperately unlucky perhaps) He led us straight back up at the 1st attempt. The first to do so since Hibs 10 years earlier. We then came up, defied expectation and finished well in 7th. An over achievement if anything. This season was really mainly about consolidating our SPL status. This has been done, albeit with more of a struggle than we'd have hoped. It's been a patchy year to say the least and hard to watch certainly, but we've been spoilt before, so eh why all the doom and gloom? (Please note this isn't really a question for Dougal. He has NOTHING good to say about ICT.)

I'd take them both in a heart beat. Though I can see both having a list of suitors.

Ahhh but Butcher loves Tokely surely. Though he might have to stop letting him have fish suppers on the way back up the road from away games. I feel it's having a detrimental effect on his game and making him even slower than he is already. This is not required.

We should aim to keep - Esson, Tokely, Piemayr, Tudur Jones, Hogg, Hayes (if he wants to), Tansey, Foran, G.Shinnie, A.Shinnie, Ross, Tade, Sutherland, McKay, Gillet, Doran, Meekings, Tuffey and Morrison. Thats a first team squad of 19 with youngsters and loanees to add to that most probably. Release - Proctor, Gnakpa and the loan players Golabart (he can come back), Williams and Winnall. Build from there I guess.

I think we're ok up front with Tade, Shinnie, Sutherland, McKay, Hayes and Doran. Now I imagine Gnekpa and Hayes (sadly) are going to leave so we need a replacement wide man. In midfield we probably need to look at it. Morrison is away for a summer of first team footie hopefully and will be back for pre season (?) ready fit and raring to go ideally. Ross is ready to be a first team starter on a regular basis. Hopefully Tansey will still be here and OTJ also. Perhaps look at another loanee. I can see Foran playing more in the middle of the park now too.

We need to sign a defence. I'm not sure if age is catching up with Tokely or it's whose around him thats a problem but he's not looked his best this season by a long shot. No point whining about losin Munro. It was a mistake in my opinion on Butchers part and we're seeing the evidence I think this season. We will have Hogg again which is a plus. And hopefully forge a regular back 4. But we need to look at another centre half and another full back. Still undecided on Gillet of late. Having And Shinnie back would be nice also. Good to see Doran back.

Ooooh this is a tale. I warn you. But you did ask... I guess it al started back in the 2nd division days really. Up until then my only football obsession was Scotland and Brian Laudrup, who I had followed since his time in Italy, and henceforth Rangers(Yes I know, shame on me. One still shudders). I had parental help in picking a team. Neither had the slightest interest. At primary school, I was encouraged by peers, and fleetingly did for a short period, to support Hearts. It didn't really work out. I had no real affection for them and Brian Laudrup was not leaving Milan to join them any time soon. By the time 94 came around I was in the Rangers camp. Laudrup was there. I thoroughy enjoyed watching him destroy Hearts in 95. Now, getting onto the ICT part. It all started through my grandparents. They had previously encouraged me to follow Aberdeen or a local team (Aberdeen was pretty much their local to Aviemore, SPL team). Perhaps through that and our wonderful name, coupled with the amount of great scorelines we seemed to muster up, a certain Inverness Caledonian Thistle began to stoke my interest. They must have just gotten to the 2nd division. David Xausa was still there and scoring peaches according to any reports I got ahold of. Must have been articles in the Press and Journal perhaps. I remember beginning to watch the classified results at 5pm on a Saturday to hear that voice state whatever result we had. Add to the fact he always said the full name and with such flair. We were a pretty yo-yo team in terms of results and they always seemed to be phenomenally high scoring. Xausa went to Livi but but interest never waned and by the time ICT were in the first ICT had firmly become my 2nd team. By 98 Laudrup had left Rangers and went to Chelsea then Ajax, where I followed his career. I still followed Rangers due to their new regime and the excitement surrounding that and bringing in players like Numan, Van Bronckhorst and such like. I had by then went to high school and whilst folowing ICT I never made a deal of it. Late Jan/ early feb 2000. Celtic v ICT. I remember having a good few conversations with a Celtic following chum and warning him in jest his team was getting a beating. This continued on and past the original date and well... first there was the news highlights, then THAT headline. I ws beeming. Perhaps it was then i really began to realise how much ICT meant to me. The pride I felt. The next stage in my ICT supporting development was in late high school. A few of my friends in my year were season ticket holders at Clyde (dont ask why. ha ha!) It was at that time we would enjoy numerous banter sessions. They'd bring out their big guns of Leigh Hinds, Simon Mensing, Alan Kernaghan and Andy Millen (the choppers essentially) and I'd clearly trump that with Barry Robson (who left soon), Wyness, Tokely, Mann, Brown, Hart and even Paul Ritchie. Who was easily a match for any on loan Colin Nish (who even they called Shhhh not very good). After high school I attended Bell College in Hamilton, which incidently wasn't all that far from Cumbernauld. It gave me opportunity to get to some inter school derby games, Clyde v ICT. They one the 1st I went to that season 1-0. Their new striker (signed from Stranraer I think, Ian Harty) scored the only goal. I went to a few Clyde games with friends that season. A cup game abandoned at half time because of snow sticking in the memory. Clyde had opened up a fair gap and even though we closed it up we had a killer run in. Falkirk who we always seemed to lose to. Clyde, which was anyones guess but they had the upper hand that season. Even beating us in our own strip. The old Caleythistleonline headline 22 ICT shirts and still no win (v clyde) sticking in the memory and St Johnstone who I pointed out we had a good record against at the time. Home and away. So off I went to Broadwood ice box with one dorm and old school buddy who was supportig Clyde and my Stranraer supporting farming dorm mate who also decided to support Clyde as he felt they were most likely to win. I bought a ICT scarf outside from a stand, brought along by the ICT fans I guess. wrapped it round my neck and, parted with the mates, headed to the away end and bought a ticket. Back in the good old pay at the gate days. The score was 2-1 to ICT. I remember Hislop rising like a salmon to score his best ICT goal (in my opinion) and most important. The fans jumping onto the pitch to celebrate with Keogh and Hislop. I then went home waving my new scarf in my Clyde mates face. Sadly, for him, his belief that St Johnstone would win and ruin our party was proved wrong and we won the league. Amazing time. Having dropped out of college I got a new job. I had a dilemma I guess. Can't have 2 SPL teams. It was solved when asked by new colleagues who my team was. Quite simply "Inverness" was the answer. It just felt right. I had grown tired of the association with Rangers fans and the vile speel that could by heard at Ibrox. And I loved everything about ICT. Since then I've followed ICT only, grown to quite dislike Rangers and the Old Firm in general. It was a long way to becoming an out and out ICT fan. Took maybe 6-7 years. But looking back - WELL WORTH IT.

Sure hope so. Why did I come to Oz when next season there could be a top flight Highland Derby to attend?! Gutted to miss out.

Should the team stay the same and we dont lose any 1st team regulars then I'd say we only really need a centre half. I think once Hogg is back we'd then have 3 and could maybe get a loan too. I dont think we need a striker as with Sutherland, McKay and Tade we look ok and with Shinnie to come back also it will be enough. Not to mention we have Foran too.

I think this season is the worst I can remember in terms of injuries. It's been terrible. Terry really needs to work on the defence in the summer. Tokelys getting on. Golabart, though improving, gives me the frights. Every game seems to have a penalty appeal against him and he'll be off in the summer anyway. Meekings is alright but not 1st choice in my eyes and often plays at right back. I've given up on Proctor. Who else? The centre half positions need a complete revamp. We haven't had a woeful goals conceded ratio for nothing this season. Yes I can understand there was a load of changes defensively due to injuries and suspension for a long while but it doesn't tell the whole story.