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Why do you support ICT ?


IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER

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I cant help but think that a large number of the posters on here now are post merger and have become accustomed to on-going success and a guaranteed place in the top leagues. To me the last 24 years have been a total feckin mini-miracle. I followed Caley (OK Celtic as well) since I could walk. I have followed them all over the Highlands and wherever the cups took us. I always dreamed of being in the higher leagues and winning Cups!! In those Highland League days it was a case of away days with your mates, winning was a bonus and fortunately in the Highlands it usually was. You practically knew everybody around you at games or they introduced themselves to you. It was an extended family. What we have achieved is mind blowing. I will cherish every feckin minute - well at least the minutes I can remember or hadn't been chucked out :rotflmao: I have met so many newbies and established so many great friendships.

 

I HATED some of the SPL away days. They became boring. I actually looked forward to this season. I am worried but I still look forward to many away trips. We have made great unions with the likes of QOS and Dumfermline. I will be there even if we go down. I will be there next season and I will be there until my head is chopped off by another Immortal. The Away Day crew differs in numbers but it is still great craic. There is always a friendly face to have a dram or two with.

 

Peeple are all trying to pinpoint blame. To me the club has been mismanaged over the last two seasons. So the damage has been done. This year to me is all about survival first and a sign of revival next. We are again a little fish in a big pond. We always were and always will be. I suppose that you will all now note that I am cheesed off with a lot of the negativity on here. Hopefully this may strike a note with some.

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Like you, I followed my team from 1970, in my case Inverness Thistle, in the Highland league before the merger, going to all home and most away games. I also supported Celtic, I think every Highland League supporter had a big team and their local team. It was always such a big deal when Scottish league teams used to come up for pre season and testimonials,  to see these players in the flesh was such a thrill for us, never thinking that the city would end up with its own Scottish league team. The heights we achieved have been unbelievable,  more than I could never have imagined, but we are where we are now and we have to firstly survive in this league and then push on. Due to my poor health I can only manage home games now, but bit the bullet to make the semi against Celtic and the final against Falkirk,  two days I will never forget. I followed the Jags through the good times and bad in the Highland league,  and there were a lot of bad times over the years, but I was there because they were my team. I see too many people turn their backs on ICT if things don't go well, the glory hunters, 15,000 fans to Hampden! If we had a quarter of them now what a difference it would make. There have been glimpses of how things could be this season if we could get all our better players back and fit, and if we can tighten up at the back. I am an ICT supporter now and will follow them through the good times and bad. 

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1 hour ago, IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER said:

Peeple are all trying to pinpoint blame. To me the club has been mismanaged over the last two seasons. So the damage has been done. This year to me is all about survival first and a sign of revival next. We are again a little fish in a big pond. We always were and always will be. I suppose that you will all now note that I am cheesed off with a lot of the negativity on here. Hopefully this may strike a note with some.

Spot on IHE :smile:

11 minutes ago, Jaggernaut said:

 I am an ICT supporter now and will follow them through the good times and bad. 

I am with you on that Jaggernaught :wink:

I followed Caley at home after moving to Inverness in 1968 only attending home games, drifted away during the 70's for a while and returned back in the 80's.  During the times coming up through the leagues I did attend a good number of away games which were great.  Now just home games apart from the big cup games away which were fantastic.  Having seen the best days I don't think we will win the Scottish cup again but for our younger fans lets hope we do. 

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12 minutes ago, Jaggernaut said:

Like you, I followed my team from 1970, in my case Inverness Thistle, in the Highland league before the merger, going to all home and most away games. I also supported Celtic, I think every Highland League supporter had a big team and their local team. It was always such a big deal when Scottish league teams used to come up for pre season and testimonials,  to see these players in the flesh was such a thrill for us, never thinking that the city would end up with its own Scottish league team. The heights we achieved have been unbelievable,  more than I could never have imagined, but we are where we are now and we have to firstly survive in this league and then push on. Due to my poor health I can only manage home games now, but bit the bullet to make the semi against Celtic and the final against Falkirk,  two days I will never forget. I followed the Jags through the good times and bad in the Highland league,  and there were a lot of bad times over the years, but I was there because they were my team. I see too many people turn their backs on ICT if things don't go well, the glory hunters, 15,000 fans to Hampden! If we had a quarter of them now what a difference it would make. There have been glimpses of how things could be this season if we could get all our better players back and fit, and if we can tighten up at the back. I am an ICT supporter now and will follow them through the good times and bad. 

I was about to post on this thread but you have said it all for me and said it very well.

We have been very fortunate indeed to spend almost a decade and a half in the top division beating every leading team in the land. That's something that few of us could have dreamed of in the Highland League days when away trips were to Rothes or Brora and a huge target every season was to reach the semi finals of the Qualifying Cup to reach the tournament proper at get 'glamour ties' against the likes of Queens Park or Stirling Albion.

I recall the season that the Jags beat Kilmarnock and we all boarded the football special train to Glasgow and a match against Celtic at Parkhead. I didn't much care that we were beaten 6-0. I was watching my beloved Jags play one of the then best teams in Europe and truly thought it would be a once in a lifetime experience.

Little did I think then that there would be another visit to the East End of Glasgow that would shake Scottish football to it's foundations and would lead to us going toe to toe with the most mighty teams in the land for the majority of the next two decades beating all of them with some regularity.

Yes, the last two seasons have been disappointing and this one is looking far from promising but that has to be put in context. Look where we've come from and look where we still are compared to that. The very good times will come again although it may take a few years but, in the meantime, we all need to stick with it as true supporters should. That goes for everyone from us old stagers still dewy eyed about memories of Titchy Black or Billy Urqhart or even Jupie Mitchell or Bobby Bolt to the young crew who have only known the good times so far.

We are Inverness Caledonian Thistle and we may no longer be the 'pride of the Highlands but we are here still and hugely proud of what we have achieved so far and what we will go on to achieve in the future.

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Top post IHE. With you all the way. My association with Caley began in 1978 but it was many years later when I actually got to see a game. From Highland to SPL I've been there despite the distance from my home. I'm also with IHE here on the SPL away day experience - had a strong dislike for the league in general but the away trips were woeful. I must confess I've not seen ICT this season but hope to put that right next month. This diddy team of ours has given me so many highs over the years that I will never forget. Our current situation is just awful but we will recover.

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Can't argue with what IHE says. I was a caley supporter from the age of five (I think), getting the 2 o'clock bus from the Leachkin to Telford Street for a 3 pm kick off-- Great days! My big team was Aberdeen. I am now 72 years of age and will always be a ICT supporter, even though I hate everything that has gone at the club in the last two years. I would like to think I would see success again in the next few years if I am still around. Europe here we come!!

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As the bible says it s hard to be a prophet in your home land

I am not from this land, so my experience is relatively new. I did for many years when I lived deep into Sussex watch another team,  who were known as the Crazy Gang who like Inverness  put the fear of God into the establishment,  They never really got any credit, winning the F. A cup against Liverpool,  Seen as some sort of joke. Their  little ground  in  Wimbledon was condemned as unsuitable,  They moved to Selhurst Park and continued to upset the likes of Arsenal, Tottenham, Man City , Liverpool ,  ( But never Man U   Ferguson was too canny for them )   Then disaster occurred their manager, very similar to Terry Butcher, had a heart attack  . The powers that be brought in a big name, the manager of Norway, Things stated to go wrong the team was relegated. The club was Franchised  and moved to Milton Keynes and obscurity.

The supporters started again from the 8th tier of English football , the fans bought a ground the spectators sat on hay bales behind the goal. Now they are back in what is known as league one. AFC Wimbledon, more than a match for  the franchised mob MK Dons. 

My point with this diatribe is to the fans of Inverness, Don't give up. True a younger generation brought up on the spirit of Terry Butcher,  know nothing but success . Let's hope we get  a leader in the mold of Joe Kinnear or Terry Butcher . Leaders like this don't grow on trees , Maybe long ball merchants  but who cares. The purists don't like it, But we are not purists.

Edited by Laurence
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I started to support ICT because I was living in Inverness when they were formed and bought into the club believing this was the best way to bring a better standard of football to the town.  Having bought into the club and supported them since then, I will always support them through thick and thin.

I must say I get a bit hacked off with those who seem to think that because we have had the success we have, we now have some divine right to remain in the top echelons of Scottish football.  We don't.  We are a small club with a small core fan base and no rich benefactor to buy success.  Without going into my views for the reasons for our rapid fall from grace, the fact is that we are where we are and we are probably in a more precarious position than many folk seem to realise.   As a result of poor management over the past 2 seasons, our financial position puts us at serious risk of a second relegation.   Immediate promotion is not and never was on the cards.  But we will only get stronger again if people continue to support the club and support the team on match days.  We get success because core fans support the club through the good times and the bad.  If we are realistic about our place in the grand scheme of things then that makes success all the sweeter when it comes.

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This birthday card pish is not going to get us out of this league, I am afraid. The board need to be pressured into making decisions that benefit the club in the here and now - wallowing in nostalgia, no matter how much perspective it provides, will get us nowhere fast.

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11 minutes ago, PumpFake said:

This birthday card pish is not going to get us out of this league, I am afraid. The board need to be pressured into making decisions that benefit the club in the here and now - wallowing in nostalgia, no matter how much perspective it provides, will get us nowhere fast.

There are any number of downbeat negative threads on the go just now, in all fairness, with some justification.

Why don't you post your negative thoughts on one of those instead of corrupting one of the very few  positve threads started in recent months.

Edited by Kingsmills
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In the 1960s, and in common with many Dalneigh kids, I started out as a Caley supporter - one of those who "jooped in" over the gate at the Howden End and then collected the Mackintosh's empties for the 3d refunds at the club shop. Like IBM, I also drifted away during the 70s (drifted away, as opposed simply to being unable to remember that decade :lol:) partly due to an "educational absence". Many will be aware that athletics is my number one sport, and it's also fair to say that match reporting for the BBC helped to bring me back to football.

I was never a totally partisan Caley fan and always also had a lot of regard for Clach and Thistle, which was probably a result of my commitment to Inverness as a whole. As a result, the merger, plus importantly leaving Clach to represent the town in the Highland League, was always a very favourable outcome for me.

I've always reckoned you can trace the historical roots of the formation of this club back to around 1987, so this means that, as a sports journalist, I have now for 30 years studied on an almost daily basis the rise (and latterly the fall) of ICTFC. This has very much included behind the scenes goings on but I have to say that, rather like Lord Palmerston and the Schleswig-Holstein Question and despite a number of privileged insights, I have still never been satisfied that I have understood it.

How come a relatively poorly supported and resourced club which has only ever had one major sugar daddy some years back, and that in response to a £2M+ debt, managed to win the Scottish Cup, play in Europe, reach the SPL and its criteria in a decade, finish 3rd in the table etc etc. And equally, how come, following an incredibly successful three years or so which culminated in winning that Scottish Cup, there has been such a frighteningly rapid fall from grace? Despite constant exposure to the underlying issues, I still feel that I really don't have a secure handle on this at all.

Edited by Charles Bannerman
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Great posts ihe. Love it when talk about positive things on here. 

My family came from paisley but i was born and raised in thurso. Seen my first football match at love street when  12 and supported st mirren from afar for twenty years .

Lived in london and managed to get my dad down to games at chelsea and fulham.  It was then he told me he attended the 7-3 real madrid final in glasgow and how he gave up football to bring kids up away from glasgow. From this point on i tried to take him to as many games as possible and caley became his/our local team . As he became ill the people at the club were amazing and it was at the stadium where he was able to enjoy simple things like invading the pitch when promoted. Terry and yogi talking to him. The players saying hello and getting to lift the scottish cup. 

So i support caley because they supported him and because every week before a ball is kicked there is hope that this week we can win. 

 

 

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20 minutes ago, Charles Bannerman said:

In the 1960s, and in common with many Dalneigh kids, I started out as a Caley supporter - one of those who "jooped in" over the gate at the Howden End and then collected the Mackintosh's empties for the 3d refunds at the club shop. Like IBM, I also drifted away during the 70s (drifted away, as opposed simply to being unable to remember that decade :lol:) partly due to an "educational absence". Many will be aware that athletics is my number one sport, and it's also fair to say that match reporting for the BBC helped to bring me back to football.

I was never a totally partisan Caley fan and always also had a lot of regard for Clach and Thistle, which was probably a result of my commitment to Inverness as a whole. As a result, the merger, plus importantly leaving Clach to represent the town in the Highland League, was always a very favourable outcome for me.

I've always reckoned you can trace the historical roots of the formation of this club back to around 1987, so this means that, as a sports journalist, I have now for 30 years studied on an almost daily basis the rise (and latterly the fall) of ICTFC. This has very much included behind the scenes goings on but I have to say that, rather like Lord Palmerston and the Schleswig-Holstein Question and despite a number of privileged insights, I have still never been satisfied that I have understood it.

How come a relatively poorly supported and resourced club which has only ever had one major sugar daddy some years back, and that in response to a £2M+ debt, managed to win the Scottish Cup, play in Europe, reach the SPL and its criteria in a decade, finish 3rd in the table etc etc. And equally, how come, following an incredibly successful three years or so which culminated in winning that Scottish Cup, there has been such a frighteningly rapid fall from grace? Despite constant exposure to the underlying issues, I still feel that I really don't have a secure handle on this at all.

I too am glad that Inverness still has a presence in the Highland League, I always think that if they had been part of the merger the name would be too long, Inverness ClachnaCaley Thistle!

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47 minutes ago, Kingsmills said:

Why don't you post your negative thoughts on one of those instead of corrupting one of the very few  positve threads started in recent months.

Because our club is in a thoroughly negative position and threads like this are like catnip to the happy-clappers who are more content with poring over past glories than looking towards building a positive future. That positive future will come about as a result of sustained pressure and criticism; actions which will not persist if people are to be distracted by the past.

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1 minute ago, PumpFake said:

Because our club is in a thoroughly negative position and threads like this are like catnip to the happy-clappers who are more content with poring over past glories than looking towards building a positive future. That positive future will come through sustained pressure and criticism; actions which will not persist if people are to be distracted by the past.

Total bollocks :lol:

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Too much bitterness and  unrealism there methinks Pump Fake. When you were born no one promised you a painless life and  the promised land. And how would you recognise the good without the backdrop of the bad to highlight the former state?     i.e. Things are in balance as they should be.

Disappointment has been with us now for a good few months but you have still stuck around,  right?

So I am assuming yer wee heart is still close to this team. So buck up, suck it up and lets all soldier on together to a brighter future with good victories  but with a stiff upper lip when we lose. After all,  aren't losses supposed to make us stronger?  

Look at IHE, a waxing sobersides  at all the poor stuff coming our way but reminiscing about the past great times and keeping  balanced,  determined not to spoil the next good times or run of luck when it happens. And we never know what's round the corner do we? Keep yer powder dry I say ad prepare fro future  successes.:clapoverhead:

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A view from afar here, someone who has no real investment in your club other than enjoyment at its very existence and frankly phenomenal achievements.

Always liked Scotland and Scottish football from being a kid growing up in the 70s. Blame Corby's ex-pats, Andy Gray and the Scottish roots of my club. Had a team I looked out for in every division in Scotland (Aberdeen, St Johnstone and Queens Park if you care) and in the Highland League it was the Jags. Saw a game at Kingsmills as a kid and, despite also going to Claggan Park back in the day, Thistle was who I really looked out for. Mixed feelings about the merger in that if anyone suggested merging Aston Villa with anything I'd demand a burning, but loved the idea of Inverness being a city of recognised substance. Having a club in the big leagues spoke a bit of the regrowth of the Highlands. That said, I understand and respect anyone who bemoans the loss of their club to merger.

I am still amazed at what ICT have achieved. Even the current position is as high as you could reasonably expect of a small club outside the Central Belt and in a world so obscenely dominated by two extremely odious institutions. To spend so long in the top flight, actually compete there and win the big cup is beyond any kind of wild fantasy. It has been an absolute joy to watch your club rise.

Conversely, my actual club is currently at its lowest point for nearly 50 years but I enjoy it more than the drudge of avoiding relegation or being best of the rest; listening to ill-informed cliche merchants pour over every meaningless stat. Competitive football is so good to watch and outside the top flight it's about the game rather than the televising of and paying for it. The not knowing what will happen as opposed to the certainty that Celtic will win the title, or the same over-financed clubs in England will carry off the silver, is the thing that makes sport great.

Football at the top can be astonishingly dull, and the Caley Jags have never been that.

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8 hours ago, Jaggernaut said:

I too am glad that Inverness still has a presence in the Highland League, I always think that if they had been part of the merger the name would be too long, Inverness ClachnaCaley Thistle!

Inverness Clachnacuddin Caledonian Thistle United Association Football Club.

"Give us an I"..... ..

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11 hours ago, PumpFake said:

This birthday card pish is not going to get us out of this league, I am afraid. The board need to be pressured into making decisions that benefit the club in the here and now - wallowing in nostalgia, no matter how much perspective it provides, will get us nowhere fast.

Look up Catharsis or Reality Orientation.

 

6 hours ago, Renegade said:

To be fair, nor are any other threads on this site. 

Wholly Agree - but my post was aimed at bringing a bit of reality to the situation. It is still early days and the sensationalism and catastrophic thinking is doing in ma psychologically focussed nut. :cry:

Oh and Move over Young Team / Under 17's - it looks like there is a new firm on the move - even if it is slowly moving :laugh:

 

bear1.gif

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2 hours ago, DoofersDad said:

Inverness FC would have been good. 

Personally, I can't see that having a Highland League team in Inverness as well as ICT serves any useful purpose. All it does is reduce our gates and income a little bit more making success that little bit harder to achieve. 

Clach are one of the oldest professional clubs in the United Kingdom and thus the World.  They may no longer have a substantial fan base but I can assure you that they serve a 'useful purpose' for those that support them following on the many generations who followed them in the past including my late father, who was a proud Merkincher, all his days.

I tend, on the whole, to agree with most if your football related posts but that one smacks of arrogance in the extreme.

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It's 4.20a.m.  and I woke up for no reason . So what better than to come on here and let the emotions surge in the quiet of the morning non-sunrise (rain.) Nothing but boiling sun for the pasts 4 months with no rain will fry your brain.

Time to see the bright side of the equation. That was good and interesting post from Sipage. Depending on which language you choose,  the user name reads either "yes, read on MacDuff"   or   "If I had a penny for your thoughts on this page I would be rich."

Either way , welcome to the site and  for a bit more of your realism and fan power.:laugh: Sisons greetings from the Wild West of the Canadian Wilderness.

 

 

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Only my third post, my first was to wish RF good luck which didn't do much good:sad: and number two was about Rory Gallagher playing Telford Street! 

But I do support ICT, because I moved to the area in 1993 and as a result of the merger with which I had no connection I had a local league team to support for the first time in my life.  Previous football had meant traipsing around the various London grounds which at the time were mostly absolute dumps with overpriced entry prices (sound familiar?)  with little affiliation to any team bar West Ham which was in truth as much social  as about the football (well, it was West Ham!).  As a kid between the ages of  ten and fourteen I did get to watch Ware Town FC who played in the Athenian League but that was hardly on the same level.  Their biggest day out was in the first round proper of the FA Cup having qualified and the result was a 6 - 1 defeat at Luton Town, but it still seemed glamorous at the time.

But back to ICT and although it's hard for me to get to games (working Saturdays is normal for me making evening fixtures hugely important and the sparsity of those recently has been a blow)  I continue to support as best I can.  I admit to being one of those "making up the numbers" at both cup finals but think I claim a degree of entitlement because I have been at games against the likes of Stirling Albion (my mum's hometown and my 'other team') in the lowest level and then all the way through to the top.

And back down (again).  But I will continue to support, whether by getting to games or driving home from work on a Saturday listening to BBCScotland in the hope that at some moment they will overlook their obsession with the Old Firm and whoever is clinging to their coatails or the politics, and mention something that matters to rest of us even if it's just a score.  And I will get to games when I can and smile when things go well and grimace when they don't.  I will be frustrated by what seems to be going wrong at the club, and continue to hope that something good will start to happen both on and off the pitch.

Why?  Because they are Inverness Caledonian Thistle, they are my local team and they have brought glory days and huge great memories to my family and I.

What the future holds I don't know any better than anyone else but whilst I am no 'happy clapper' and see the real picture I will not walk away from MY TEAM:ictscarf:

Andy

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