ymip

I appreciate that it's not always easy attracting young Scottish players to Inverness but are you honestly trying to tell me that you believe Tansey and OTJ are on £700 a week ?!? I'm not picking on the non-Scots but starting a game without a single Scot in the team is, imho, not acceptable. A major factor in the decline of Scottish football over the past 15-20 years has been the reliance on average inpats to the detriment of the development of young Scottish players. As I've stated previously I've felt little or no affinity for the guys out on the park this season who appear to be going through the motions and don't appear particularly committed to the cause. Can you really blame them when they're on one year deals and know full well they'll be moving on again each summer? Just look at what County achieved this season with a largely Scottish squad of players. They've finally realised that stability and a strong nucleus of guys who are settled in the area pay dividends. It's exactly what got us from the third division to the SPL but we've ditched that for a model which I feel is destabilisng the historic ethos of the club.

Colwyn Bay !?! Give me strength - another non-entity with no concept of who we are, where we've come from and what we're about as a club. Someone within the upper echelons of this club seriously needs to take TB aside and point out that we are a Scotish Premier League side and it might be an idea adopting the radical ideology of signing one or two Scottish players, or heaven forbid a player with some connection with the area. I'm not expecting eleven Invernessian diehards out on the park every week but personally I'd rather see us signing Highland League/3rd division players than witness a repeat of the 11 non-Scots debacle. This season has undoubtedly seen a lack of fight, spirit and passion and filling the squad with itinerant journeyman on one season deals has to be a contributory factor in the predicamenet we find ourselves in.

The only positive I can take out of tonight is that I'm spared the need to attend any further games this season. An utterly dismal season from start to finish. I've not seen one decent performance this season and feel massively disillusioned by the whole ICT experience. I've dedicated a ridiculous amount of time, money and energy following the club over the years but unless there are some major changes this summer I seriously need to consider whether I can justify dragging myself and ymip jr around the country watching a product which has been mind numbingly appalling this season. From my perspective the club has little or no direction and has fundamentally lost the spirit that set us apart and drove us through the divisions. I've felt next to no affinity with the guys out on the park this season who largely seem to be mercenaries with no sense of what the club means to us and the struggle we've had to get to where we are. Not sure another raft of jobbing trialists is going to address this problem. I don't think I'm alone in feeling disenchanted with the way the club is headed and unless something is done about it as a matter of urgency then I fear we're facing a very bleak future.

Dearest Charles, For a supposedly impartial journalist your somewhat jaundiced view of Caley's undoubted pre-eminence in the Highland League is rather disappointing. If we take the period 1980 to 1994 (fourteen season) we can see the reality of who was top dog in HL circles in technicolor detail: Caley: 4 titles, 7 times runners-up, finished higher than Thistle 11 times, finished higher than County 11 times Thistle: 1 title, nil runners-up, finished higher than Caley 3 times, finished higher than County 8 times County: 2 titles, nil runners-up, finsihed higher than Caley 3 times, finished higher than Thistle 6 times. The statistics speak for themselves; Caley were ALWAYS the dominant force, the Jags were also rans and apart from their back-to-back titles County were a flash-in-the-pan irrelevance. For me Caley's bitter rivals were Elgin - end of story. Peterhed and Buckie had their moments but there was very little hostility towards the Jags because they weren't really in our league. Having said all that I loved our trips to Kingsmills - great days.

Jesus wept Charles can you please give us all a rest with your views on the merger. I disagree with most of what you churn out on this issue but for the sake of everyone on here's sanity I choose not to go into print on this subject, unlike yourself. How about you fast forward eighteen years and tell us what you know about Muirfield Mills. Nah, I didn't think so......

Dearie me Charles. Your reluctance to name names is akin to the journalistic vacuum that surrounded the Murray/White/HMRC debacle. The conventional media (papers/tv/radio) have been totally usurped by unofficial bloggers (i.e. rangers tax case, scots law thoughts, etc.) due to the former's reluctance to rock the establishment's boat. It's a sad state of affairs. I really struggle to understand the need for such anonymity from these guys. Once again I'm not knocking their investment but we should know who they are and what their plans are.

OK Charles if you went to school with these mysterious, "exiled Invernessian entrepeneurs" you'll have no problem naming names in your journalistic capacity. The fact that they've been "outed" by your good self as ex-jaggies would possibly account for their apparent reluctance to broadcast their names - I'd be keeping quiet too Joking aside we could do with a degree of transparency from these guys.

I find this whole "group of expatriate Invernessians" line a bit disconcerting. Why don't they come out from the shadows and tell us who they actually are? What percentage of the share capital of the club have they purchased, etc. etc.... I'm not knocking the investment but why the cloak and dagger act ? I think a degree of transparency on this deal would be appropriate and welcome to the majority of interested onlookers.

Epic three points. I think this was the win which will secure safety and the players and Terry were ****-a-hoop at the end. We absolutely bossed the first half and should have been well ahead. After Meekings went off it was very much backs to the wall but Aberdeen had very little to offer. A strong defensive performance with a commanding display from Golobart. Cherry on the cake was myself and ymip jr had to meet up with five dandy neighbours to travel back home. Happy days.

Aha, my specialist subject........ The friendly in question was played on March 28th 1983. My 10th birthday to be precise. The reason I remember this game so vividly is that this was the first game I'd ever been allowed to go to unaccompanied. From this game onwards I barely missed a home game until I left Inverness to go to Uni in Aberdeen. This was effectively the game that triggered the madness which has lasted for almost thirty years. The fact that we got humped four nil should possibly have been a sign of things to come. Kevin MacDonald was the big draw for us Howdenenders but a certain jug-eared lad by the name of Lineker also featured. Ian Wilson (ex Elgin City and later Scotland) was also in the Leicester line-up. I'l dig the programme out tonight and stick the team lines up. Might get a wee bit teary eyed listing the Caley side. I think I'm right on saying there was a copy of said programme on e-bay last week - might still be up if anyone's that way inclined.

Things go from bad to worse....... Ymip Jr, who has been with me at all ten draws/defeats, apparently got a load of abuse at school on Tuesday after the United fiasco. The poor lad is possibly the worst loser in the world and didn't take the "banter" at all well from a gaggle of Aberdeen fans three years older than himself. Time for some basebal bat diplomacy from ymip senior methinks.

Tonight was brutal. Anyone thinking we're safe in 10th place is deluded. Two wins for the Pars and we're right back in the mire. Tonight was my tenth league game this season and I've yet to see a victory. We were promised a new style of football after the night of the long knives in the Summer but tonight was as poor a performance as I can ever remember. We are totally devoid of creativity, heart or any apparent desire to perform. I haven't heard Terry's latest rant but can imagine it will be along the lines of the last few. I'm completely unimpressed with what's been served up this season and I'm really struggling to see where we're heading with the playing staff. We seem to be a club that's lost it's soul and have opted to assemble an assortment of journeyman on short term contracts or loanees who have no real allegiance to the club or the city. Seriously disillusioned......

It's not often I'll agree with Johndo but the smileys and comments above are pretty much spot on. Gnapka and Shane should have swapped positions after about ten minutes and we would have had a much more productive first half. I really liked the look of OTJ when he came on. The guy has composure and didn't put a foot wrong. Might be worth a start on Sunday if his fitness levels wills see him through a decent portion of the game. Apart from the cross for the goal I thought Hayes was very disappointing. It's a worry that he's having these "off days" on a more regular basis given the ability he clearly has to change a game in our favour. Tansey is a bit of an enigma for me. I've seen him in action eight or nine times now, generally away from home, and he has completely failed to impress me. He works away but I'm just not convinced that the end product justifies his seemingly guaranteed starting place.

Very sad news. Thoughts go out to his friends and family. RIP Gordy.

Chris Smith has got to be in with a strong shout for ICT player of the year come May. Prolific assists ratio.......

Myself and ymip jr are heading down to Swinecastle for this one. Anyone know of any child friendly boozers in the vicinity? As a responsible adult I'll obviously be on the wagon but a couple of mates may be partaking of an early afternoon libation.

BBC are reporting this as a season long loan. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/14594041.stm Souinds like a decent enough signing.

ymip jr and the rest of the young stoney ultras are up visiting Granny and Grandad Lossie who live a Rosscoe blooter from the ground and will be in attendance this evening. I expect to receive a full Opta stats run down from the loon post-match or there'll be no pocket money this week. May I recommend the Lossie Social Club for a pre-match aperitif at very reasonable prices.

I think SMEE's scarf pre-dates the centenary celebrations and would guess it's from the late seventies/early eighties - I'm pretty sure the crest was a generic football one rather than specific to Caley. I swopped my centenary scarf with a Genoa fan at Italia 90 - was more than happy at the time but kind of wish I'd held onto it. I also had the caley school bag mentioned by OCG above - a quality piece of pre-merger memorabilia.

Ymip Jr, one half of the notorious Young Stoney Ultras, is mascot for tomorrow's game with the Jungle Jims. The young lad is buzzing like a hive full of hyperactive african killer bees and has been counting down the sleeps for about two months. I'm just hoping we avoid a repeat of the infamous Inverurie Locos barf incident. Mantis can fill you in on the finer details if required..... I believe there's a couple of mascots tomorrow but he's the little blonde lad whom regulars at away games might recognise as he's been traipsing around the country with myself for the last couple of seasons. Alas, I tried to get him to add Wilson Robertson as favourite palyer in his pen-pic for the programme but he was having none of it.

Very sad to see Roy depart. A top man and an absolutely fantastic servant to the club. I wish him well at Brechin and wherever his career takes him. It would be great to see him back at the club in some capacity in the future.

Myself and the Young Stoney Ultras will be in attendance. In fact it might just be the Young Stoney Ultra as ymipette is a potential "refusenik". I'm going to an Arab mate's 40th on Saturday night so praying for a repeat of our last visit.

My mail to ESPN: Dear Sir/Madam I write with regards to your article dated 14th March 2011 entitled ?Celtic and Aberdeen Set for Rematch?. I was under the impression that Celtic were yet to play their Scottish Cup Quarter Final fixture away to Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Aberdeen were to host St. Mirren in a replay at Pittodrie after scraping an injury time equaliser in Paisley. I must therefore congratulate your journalist's ability to forecast the outcome of both matches with such clarity. In light of the foregoing I have returned my match ticket for Wednesday's rearranged fixture in Inverness and will invest said funds in a Celtic/Aberdeen double. Could you possibly advise the winner of Friday's Cheltenham Gold Cup in order that I may invest my winnings on the above bet accordingly. Yours faithfully, ymip I'm not holding my breath for a response.

"Celtic and Aberdeen Set for Rematch? according to ESPN. http://www.espn.co.uk/football/sport/story/79539.html?CMP=OTC-RSS Good to see they're not jumping to lazy conclusions.......

NaNaNaNa.......Magnus! Brilliant. Reminds me of a mate who thought the SLF's Alternative Ulster was "Delta Waltzer". Will only be amusing to those of a certain vintage.