The Long Man

Scarlet, agree with you about Terry's penchant for musical football chairs, don't know how we develop a settled side with this mania for an ever rotating carousel of loanees and triallists. On the Terry front, he added to the surreal comedy of the day by doing his Basil Fawlty impersonation on the touchline as an impending defeat loomed. He seemed to be going ballistic at Meerkins who had just come on, telling him to stay back near the goalkeeper (for passes out?) and spent an absurd amount of time remonstrating with him. Poor guy looked thoroughly confused, as baffled as us at the raging nature of his 'coaching'. Five minutes later he was yelling at them to kick up the park, as the watch ticked down. He seems to combine Basil Fawlty with Tony Soprano, no wonder the players were nervy.

A comedy of errors. how many games have there been where both keepers made nearly identical schoolboy howlers which resulted in goals? Fresh air kicks by both of them balanced the game out, although as has been mentioned it seems Gillet was unlucky in as much as it was a tussle for the ball after Tuffey hashed it, and both of them hacking at it, with Gillet being punished on the last man rule. We def played the better football, Dunf's aim was merely to get behind the ball and see the game out. Foran had some effective runs at their defence, Tade threw himself around with great application, but no-one could engineer a clear effort on goal. The final irony of this slightly farcical affair was that Dunf got done because they had wasted so much time - had they not, they would have been in the dressing room before their keeper's howler. So justice was done, after some spectacularly inept efforts at timewasting - sudden need to examine socks and boots for a long time before taking goalkicks and fouls, with the best one a corner to them, where nobody went to take it, the ref telling them 'well, somebody has to take it', as they all look the other way. Definitely only a £15 game, in fact I would say a £10 game, so CaleyThistle you owe me £5.

http://ictfc.com/newsflash/347-tickets--ict-v-dunfermline

It appears that all adult tickets for the game tomorrow are £15. If so, good news.

How disappointing and frustrating. Apparently the pitch is completely sodden, the referee couldn't bounce the ball anywhere and passed some remark about the apparent lack of any drainage.

Watched it in the pub. A goal of the season from hayes. Second half we controlled the game, bar the last two minutes when we could have been gutted. Shame we didn't finish it off, but we looked in total control, passing the ball nicely, just choking in front of goal. if we take this form into Monday, with Shinnie, Tokely and Doran added to the squad it should be a great game.

A deserved result against a team we have always have difficulty beating. Aberdeen were very physical, hurtling into players, scuffing and niggling. Mackie should have had a red card for punching one of our players off the ball - hope it is reviewed. They came for a draw, made it a dull spectacle, but thanks to Davis for his power drive and shot which created the corner from which we scored. Tade was the only of our three forwards who created chances and took on the Dons defenders, though out on the right it was then difficult to capitalise on his runs. Would have been worth a go in the middle, with McKay struggling to make any impact. Top marks to Tade for going over to the home support and celebrating with them (the only ICT player to do so) after the game, delighting the kids. He was my MOTM, for his great attitude and application.

The catering company is rubbish. Fans in the main stand were told that all hot food was gone, before half time. On complaining to them, we were told "We didn't expect a big crowd today". Only on the day you would expect a bumper crowd (as there was). These people are idiots, as well as taking the mick at ?2 for a lukewarm cup of tea. ICT should run it themselves and do the fans a favour, as well as taking the profits for the good of the club. This company couldn't care less.

Wishful thinking and an over-inflated sense of self-importance?

Excellent. Thanks for doing this.

If only we had someone who can finish a move - Doran and Foran both had great chances from some really good build up play in those breakaway opportunities. Davis is a bit of a menace, but we are making life difficult for them.

Agreed. Marius did very well out of us, but tried to bite the hand that fed.

Definitely not for the faint of heart, or those of a delicate disposition, but some black comedy from the sneck music scene:

I think what it is, is that the tiny handful of refuseniks still hold a grudge to this day, and they want to believe that their denial still matters. They desperately want to have something to show for their 17 years (!) of bitterness - like a conviction that there 'thousands' of them, that their self-imposed exile in the wilderness is a great stain on the club blah blah (never mind missing out on 17 years of thrills and spills just to prove a point) - I suppose it is a bit galling that nobody really cares about your long nurtured and carefully honed sense of grievance. They used to delight in ICT's defeats and, Cassandra-like, were prone to predicting failure which would satisfy them deeply. But that hasn't worked so we are back to crying crocodile tears and lamenting the great injustice of the Telford St Clearances, and the latest wheeze - a Mickey Mouse poll. It's all a bit Victor Meldrew , though DD is right that it has lightened up this board for a while.

Yes, I think we can say that it is a known unknown!

Ha ha, Dougal's logic is comparable to that of the 'never wrong' Donald Rumsfeld. When challenged on his belief that the Soviets had vast numbers of nuclear missiles hidden from all the declarations, and which necessitated the US building and developing even more, he replied that the lack of evidence was in fact evidence of the success of the Soviet deception, and thus of their existence. Dougal similarly argues that the lack of evidence of any significant number of refuseniks is evidence of their great numbers. My my, you have to congratulate the refuseniks on their brilliant disguise and secrecy, since nobody can find more than enough to form a football team. Perhaps Dougal would like to do MU and start a new team called Telford St in the Welfare League, since he believes that thousands of supporters would come out of the woodwork. I can't wait.

Well, I have to break it gently to you, but you're a bit feckin late with your conspiracy theories based on hearsay and rumour. About 17 years late. The tiny number of people you have polled aren't exactly 'evidence' of anything at all. What a pointless lot of waffle.

The Union Jack is of course associated with Rangers and unionism, and I suppose it was a wind up for Celtic. Personally I'd rather we didn't get involved in their neanderthal sectarianism. I don't see any connection with ICT and the flag.

Whatever the figure plucked out of the air is for 'refuseniks', Charles is surely right that there is no evidence, other than anecdotal and prejudicial, that the number was significant. Nor do I believe that any of them would have had significant influence on many others, including family members. Even if you dream up some fancifully large number, as some would like to do, it is more than offset by the numbers of new ICT fans who would not have been persuaded by a Caley or Thistle toiling in the lower leagues. The dreamers want to add a mythical number of refuseniks to the current base of ICT and claim that they would have all gone to watch a cash-strapped Caley playing in the Carse or wherever against Elgin and Brechin. It is all smoke, mirrors and whisky dreams. Nice bit of nostalgia and longing for the old days, but it ignores the amazing ride we've had with ICT, which we'd never had without the merger. If ICT had spluttered and failed and were mired in debt and stuck in div 2 or 3 then you might have a case. That ICT have been as astonishingly successful as they have proves the point: the merger worked. A few have fallen by the wayside - hundreds, probably thousands, have been royally entertained. Something was lost, a lot more was gained.

Perhaps you should take a look at what crowds other football clubs of that era were able to attract. Then extrapolate their decline to the mythical what Caley would attract now. It is a futile and meaningless argument. The point is that Caley on their own, like Thistle, didn't have the resources or the infrastructure to make a serious assault on the Scottish Leagues. Indulge in misty-eyed romanticism by all means, but let's not pretend there's anything real or factual about it. Just a pipedream.

How will a straw poll, with guesses for answers, and a handful of replies, 'settle' anything? Just wondering.... BTW I believe it was 'settled' about 15 years ago

What? You're still trying to make your mind up? Take your time, we wouldn't want to rush you - the club and the town are anxiously awaiting your verdict. I suppose conspiracy theories, like cheese, get riper with age

Of course it won't be sexist, you're missing the point entirely.

Oh dear, Giles Coren, what a whiner, honing his highly developed sense of victimhood in where else, the Daily Mail. Completely out of proportion. I doubt Gray and Keys were sacked over a couple of incidents, but a culture they represented and promoted at Sky. You can read about it here, if you wish: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/jan/26/andy-gray-richard-keys-sixist?intcmp=239

The guy's a plonker as well as a rubbish commentator, so excellent news he's gone. Don't shed any tears for him, he's been earning a seven figure salary for years. If you earn that kind of money a degree of professionalism is required, which Gray has clearly not got. His views might be his own, but they are completely out of touch with football and the world we live in now. So bye bye, take Keys with you. And if you wonder why this new footage came out now, just think of all the people who work on the shows who have had to put up with his unreconstructed behaviour, lording it over them for years, now they have their revenge. Don't make enemies on the way up, you might need them as friends on the way down. Uh-oh, too late Andy.