Merger Talk

[HumbersideDude]

What I find slightly curious about CTO is the lack of Inverness based mods /site admin and this also seems to apply to the most prolific or more vocal posters amongst us I don't really think some posters should accuse all refuseniks to be old firm supporters though when there are a fair number of posters within our own ranks that fall in the same bracket I'd hazard a guess everyone ICT supporter over the age of 35 would have a so called big team me included(Nottingham Forest) Dougal.

 Whats curious about not having mods/admin based in Inverness? Is their judgement tainted because they don't breath Inverness air.  I find it more curious that some people still have such a parochial view in this day and age.  

[Laurence]

Mind you how is the air in Dewsbury these days ?

Used to be full of smoke from the mills when I played RL there.

[old caley girl]

Always been Caley then ICT for me too! In my 40s.

[HumbersideDude]

Mind you how is the air in Dewsbury these days ?

Used to be full of smoke from the mills when I played RL there.

 You obviously haven't been for a while then!

[Alex MacLeod]

What I find slightly curious about CTO is the lack of Inverness based mods /site admin and this also seems to apply to the most prolific or more vocal posters amongst us I don't really think some posters should accuse all refuseniks to be old firm supporters though when there are a fair number of posters within our own ranks that fall in the same bracket I'd hazard a guess everyone ICT supporter over the age of 35 would have a so called big team me included(Nottingham Forest) Dougal

This is an internet site on the World Wide Web so what difference does it make where mods or admin are based? I'm sure another mod will correct me if I'm wrong but of the ten mods on this site only four live outside Inverness so I cant see where the lack of Inverness based comes from.

As for the other point I am over 35 and my big team is ICT. In fact, although I enjoy any football, no matter who's playing, I only have one team that I support.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

I suppose that I would therefore have to admit that Chorley FC would have to be my first choice.

[Kingsmills]

IHE confessing affection for a team who dress up as Elgin. Have you been sniffing their league sponsor's product ?

[+Fraz]

What I find slightly curious about CTO is the lack of Inverness based mods /site admin and this also seems to apply to the most prolific or more vocal posters amongst usI don't really think some posters should accuse all refuseniks to be old firm supporters though when there are a fair number of posters within our own ranks that fall in the same bracketI'd hazard a guess everyone ICT supporter over the age of 35 would have a so called big team me included(Nottingham Forest)Dougal

Desperately wants to replace CaleyD as a mod imo.

[CaleyD]

Dougal photographed whilst asking Santa if he can be a mod....

 

[lizi]

Always been Caley then ICT for me too! In my 40s.

 Me too, and I'm in my 60s.

[DerbyDave]

As I've mentioned before , the lack of respect shown to Thistle is the only thing wrong with the merger . Otherwise it has been one success story after another . 2nd in the league , managed by a former Captain of England , and just knocked off Celtic in their own back yard , trust me , it will never be as good as this ever again , but why oh why , the insulting playing strip , how would Caley fans like it if Caley Thistle played in black and red stripes , with a few (almost invisible) blue squiggles through it ?

[tm4tj]

Home and away strip ideas surely

[ferben1994]

I couldn't care where the mod's are based.

They are lousy whether in the schneck or timbucktoo

36 years old always caley/ ictfc

never been better

[Charles Bannerman]

As I've mentioned before , the lack of respect shown to Thistle is the only thing wrong with the merger . Otherwise it has been one success story after another . 2nd in the league , managed by a former Captain of England , and just knocked off Celtic in their own back yard , trust me , it will never be as good as this ever again , but why oh why , the insulting playing strip , how would Caley fans like it if Caley Thistle played in black and red stripes , with a few (almost invisible) blue squiggles through it ?

 

Dave, even though I had slight Caley leanings as a kid in Dalneigh, I do at least partly sympathise with what you are trying to say here. What I think has happened is that the Thistle - Caley thing probably hit a fair balance from 1995 after the club's first season, but has since then been allowed to drift a little in the wrong direction.

I think the crucial starting point here is what I said in post #24 about this never having been an equal merger and that at one stage it was claimed that Caley had 70% of the assets, 80% of the membership (after a great deal of recruitment by both sides in their separate internal dispute!) and 90% of the membership. I know there have been those of the Thistle persuasion who thought it should have been an equal merger and those from within Caley who were looking at a takeover. On the basis of the facts, neither of these scenarios is realistic and the only viable soloution was an unequal merger - horrendously difficult as that was to accomplish, although it eventually was!

Another crucial factor here is that on 1st October 1993, SFL applications closed and the only one on the table from Inverness was a merged one. From that day on, it was the merger or nothing.... and things often came perilously close to it being nothing! Inverness had the straight choice of getting its house in order on the basis of a merged club or continuing to wear a groove in the A96 with the Highland League.

I will give Thistle chairman Charlie Cuthbert and his fellow committee members a lot of credit for their bravery in temporarily accepting a pretty duff deal while both sides got themselves sorted out during that first 94-95 season of the "predominantly blue" (aka "Caley") strip and their belief that things would get better, which they did.

The strip still means a lot to people and in 1995, 25% black and red was achieved, and much more imaginatively than a "Sampdoria" band. But, as with everything else, Thistle have always been the minority partners, which is inevitable. However some years' strips have been bettter than others and, even though I formerly had slight Caley leanings, I still think some have been too "blue". Apart from the lack of black and red, this also makes the ICT strip look too much like Rangers in my view.

The other unfortunate thing is the possibly predictable tendency for people to use the easy short form of the name as "Caley". This is another part of the process which has drifted more and more over the years and I still frequently haul people up on it!

So yes, an unequal merger, but one whose outward signs have drifted a bit further in the wrong direction.

Let me conclude with what the purpose of this merger was - to bring Scottish League football to Inverness at last, where creating another Alloa, Arbroath or maybe Airdrie would have delighted a lot of people.

So to have an Inverness team sitting where it is, having accomplished what it has in 19 short seasons is ample proof that the end has far more than justifed the means.

Edited December 24, 2012 by Charles Bannerman

[buckett]

What's an Alloa? Or indeed an Arbroath?

 

It's a pity that some supporters need to pay homage to the original teams, even after all this time.

 

What a pity we didn't start with a clean slate - a team called Inverness - no Caley and no Thistle, playing in a strip with no blue, white, red or black.

 

As many have pointed out, the younger supporters only know of ICT - they had no allegiance to either of the original teams. They think of ICT as a team in its own right - not an amalgamation of two now-defunct teams, and that's the way it should be.

 

As the years go by more and more supporters will be of this persuasion and eventually this ridiculous carry-on with strip colours will end.

 

Sadly, by then, me and Charles will be long gone!

Edited December 24, 2012 by buckett

[TopSix]

I'd like us just to play in solid red and blue vertically striped strips, Barcelona style.

[Renegade]

I'd like us just to play in solid red and blue vertically striped strips, Barcelona style.

 

Absolutely, it's unique within the Scottish game, displays an intertwining of Inverness Thistle and Caledonian and would end the calls of the club showing a bias towards the latter.

 

I also believe that a Caledonian style home shirt and Thistle away is a ridiculous idea that would do nothing more than open up old wounds.

 

Bring back the stripes!

[CaleyD]

The sooner we all realise that the vast majority of those purchasing and wearing the strips these days have little or no concern for how much either of the merger clubs are represented, the better....and I include the club in that.

 

I'm all for remembering ICTs roots and recognising the merged clubs histories as part of our own, but I do fear that there exists an underlying fear of upsetting one half or the other of the merger contingent in many things which holds us back as a club.  As I said above, those people are a small and ever shrinking proportion of the current fanbase and it's ridiculous that they should still hold, or think they hold, any sway with what should be happening today.

[Tichy_Blacks_Back]

That said though and irrespective of your personal history and for others age I think most believe blue and red stripes should be our identity (happy to be proved wrong but don't think I am). Unfortunately as you point out CD the club don't really care too much about identity. This is not in my experience how to create a brand image but more than anything I just feel sad that's how they are....

[Scotty]

What I find slightly curious about CTO is the lack of Inverness based mods /site admin and this also seems to apply to the most prolific or more vocal posters amongst us I don't really think some posters should accuse all refuseniks to be old firm supporters though when there are a fair number of posters within our own ranks that fall in the same bracket I'd hazard a guess everyone ICT supporter over the age of 35 would have a so called big team me included(Nottingham Forest) Dougal

 

I was a season ticket holding Inverness based supporter when I founded the site in 1994 ... but life happens. Would you like me to turn it over to someone else now that I am in Toronto and just a shareholder rather than a locally based season ticket holder? Make me an offer? I know the costs involved in having run this site for free but using commercial grade hosting and software for the last 18, almost 19 years.

 

As for supporting a big team, yes i followed one (rather than supported one) prior to the creation of ICT. That team was Celtic. I was a paying customer at Telford Street but watched/supported Celtic on TV. My first visit to Celtic Park was the postponed game in 2000 where I ran an ICT bus via the Caley Inn, and my first time inside the stadium was in the away end on Feb 8th 2000. Even one of the ultimate refuseniks (Kavs), told me later that he respected the fact that I was a Caley fan and that I dropped all other allegiances when ICT was formed, even if he himself could not respect 'that team'.

 

I am now a season ticket holder at Toronto FC in MLS and make no secret of my Scottish allegiance. If the two teams ever played, I would be in the ICT end and that is a fact. TFC are my wee team now, even if TFC play in a larger stadium, have a larger fan base, more money etc etc etc ......

 

 

 

As I've mentioned before , the lack of respect shown to Thistle is the only thing wrong with the merger . Otherwise it has been one success story after another . 2nd in the league , managed by a former Captain of England , and just knocked off Celtic in their own back yard , trust me , it will never be as good as this ever again , but why oh why , the insulting playing strip , how would Caley fans like it if Caley Thistle played in black and red stripes , with a few (almost invisible) blue squiggles through it ?

 

I'd like us just to play in solid red and blue vertically striped strips, Barcelona style.

 

I would not argue with the strip thing other than to say that aesthetically there are limited things you can do with red/white/blue/black. I would be happy if we had a red/black home strip and blue/white away strip then alternated them every couple of years. Regardless of percentages, both Thistle and Caley are our history and should be viewed as equal partners.

 

Alternatively, I would also back a permanent combination of (equal width) red/blue vertical stripes. Those have always been my favourite ICT strips and as mentioned above, definitely unique. It is our "Brand" if you like. If other teams (globally) with vertical stripes or (in the SPL) with horizontal stripes can stick with the same basic design and just tweak it every year or two to be slightly different then I dont see why we cannot .... our away strip could then alternate between blue/white and red/black etc .....   

 

 

I couldn't care where the mod's are based.

They are lousy whether in the schneck or timbucktoo

Why? because we closed a thread that had become personal and abusive? We did that 18 years ago, we did it 10 years ago, and we will continue to do it. However, please feel free to follow our site rules and report the specific message that so offends you and the mods will discuss and/or re-open threads (minus the abuse) if they feel it is warranted. 

[+bughtmaster]

With the successes (minor though some of them were) in the Scottish cup in the old days, the talk we lads had was about merging Caley, Clach and Thistle and having an Inverness team to compete with the ''BIG BOYS'' we rekoned we would win the league easy.

 

Beginning to think all my old contacts, like me, had to leave the Sneck to get on in life. There was little chance of getting anywhere staying in the 'old town'. National Service had a lot to do with opening our eyes and minds so there was a bit of an exodus by the pro merge brigade or so it would seem as there wouldn't have been this stupid underlying bitterness that is so apparrent nowadays.

 

Incidentally in my 70's and still just the one team for me. ICT with Caley at the heart of it.

Merry Christmas one and all, Together-Ness rules.

Edited December 24, 2012 by bughtmaster

[CaleyD]

That said though and irrespective of your personal history and for others age I think most believe blue and red stripes should be our identity (happy to be proved wrong but don't think I am). Unfortunately as you point out CD the club don't really care too much about identity. This is not in my experience how to create a brand image but more than anything I just feel sad that's how they are....

 

I don't disagree with that, and as I alluded too, I think the club actually still fear drawing that line and saying "this is our image" because they think it might upset someone or other....even though those people are very much a minority.

 

Red and Blue stripes would be great, IMO.  Not because it's 50/50 representation or any of that nonsense though....just because I think it looks good and, as you say, would develop that identity we so definitely need.

[DALNEIGHCALEY]

ferben94, on 24 Dec 2012 - 13:58, said:

I couldn't care where the mod's are based.
They are lousy whether in the schneck or timbucktoo

Why? because we closed a thread that had become personal and abusive? We did that 18 years ago, we did it 10 years ago, and we will continue to do it. However, please feel free to follow our site rules and report the specific message that so offends you and the mods will discuss and/or re-open threads (minus the abuse) if they feel it is warranted.

 

Yet post #109 is acceptable . Usual double standards !

[TopSix]

Only issue with solid, vertical red and blue stripes is we might meet Barcelona in the Champions League next season!

[HumbersideDude]

ferben94, on 24 Dec 2012 - 13:58, said:

I couldn't care where the mod's are based.

They are lousy whether in the schneck or timbucktoo

Why? because we closed a thread that had become personal and abusive? We did that 18 years ago, we did it 10 years ago, and we will continue to do it. However, please feel free to follow our site rules and report the specific message that so offends you and the mods will discuss and/or re-open threads (minus the abuse) if they feel it is warranted.

 

Yet post #109 is acceptable . Usual double standards !

 How do you know that the guy in the picture is not called Dougal?  

Edited December 24, 2012 by Dewsburydude