Aaron Doran Testimonial v Ross County

[tm4tj]

 

Aaron Doran ICTFC Legend

 

This Saturday it's a day to say thankyou to a club legend. Aaron Brian Cogan Doran has given the main chunk of his footballing career to the Caley Jags since joining from Blackburn Rovers having previously been loaned out to Milton Keynes Dons and Leyton Orient. He was initially signed on a six month loan deal by Terry Butcher, making 14 appearances scoring 3 times. His debut was as a substitute for Stuart Duff in a 2-0 defeat by Aberdeen on 26th January 2011. His first goal came against St Mirren in a 3-3 draw some three weeks later on the 12th of February 2011. Here is how we saw it on CTO: the Saints managed to clear the danger temporarily, the ball only came as far as David Proctor, who threw a dangerous looping ball into the box. Adam Rooney seemed to get some sort of touch on it and as the ball bounced beyond Richie Foran, Aaron Doran came steaming in at the back post and fired it into the roof of the net. (This portion of the match report was brought to you by the miracle of BBC highlights: I was in the bog at the time.) His third Caley Jags goal was a belter. A spectacular curling effort from distance against St Johnstone in a televised 3-0 game on 25th April 2011. Pick that one out. He was then signed on a permanent deal at the end of the season and he embarked on a fantastic career at the Caledonian Stadium spanning 13 years until injury cut his time here short and he left under a cloud of controversy created by the Scot Gardiner oligarchy and with a damaged knee to contend with. That was the low point of a tremendous career, littered with goals, assists, flair and a Scottish Cup winners medal round his neck. Who can forget his brilliant precision assist for the opening goal in the final against Falkirk back in 2015. Superb. A great footballing brain in a career blighted by injuries. 

Aaron was painted by talented local artist  Sophie Robb, a big Caley Jags fan herself, holding the Scottish Cup aloft in 2015. In total, he made 392 (118 from the bench) appearances for Inverness scoring 57 goals. His last appearance sadly lasted only 19 minutes when he was helped from the pitch with another serious knee injury against Raith Rovers on 19th April 2024, a sad end to his playing career at the Caledonian Stadium, although unknown to us at the time, worse would follow. He is second only to Ross Tokely in appearances. A Scottish Cup winner and a Challenge Cup winner and also played in the Scottish Cup Final in 2023. He was the Supporters Player of the Year in 2023.  When he left Inverness in June 2024 he joined up with Ryan Esson at Strathspey Thistle where he now helps with the coaching and still helps out on the pitch. So much so he managed to score against the Caley Jags in a recent pre-season game. All the best Aaron.

 

Not many can top these stats

Full Name:	Aaron Brian Doran Cogan
Born:	May 13th, 1991 (Charleville, County Cork, Ireland)
Height:	5' 7
Position:	Winger
Signed:	January 25th, 2011
First Manager:	Terry Butcher
Left Club:	June 10th, 2024
Career Stats:	392 appearances, 57 goals
Debut (as sub):	January 26th, 2011 - Inverness CT 0 - 2 Aberdeen (League - )
Full Debut:	February 5th, 2011 - 5 - 1 Morton (Scottish Cup - Rd 5)
First Goal:	February 12th, 2011 - St. Mirren 3 - 3 Inverness CT (League - )

 

Here is Aaron's career strikes against the County. He does like a wee goal against the gudgies.

Some additional information. This game will be a full pre-season friendly for both teams. Aaron will obviously feature at some point in the game but both teams will be fielding strong teams.

We are hoping some ex players may be able to join us a bit later in the bar for a catch up. 

There will be buses running, times will be confirmed but as you have noticed parking will be limited so this could be a good option for many of you.

Match tickets can be bought online at eticketing.co.uk/ictfc

Bar 94 will be open from 11:30 and will reopen at full time, with the usual range of products (and we have held the price of a pint of Dog Falls at £5). We hope to see you there to enjoy what the Testimonial Committee have lined up for the day.

With the circus taking place in the car park, please use the matchday bus if you are able to as parking will be restricted at and around the ground. It leaves the Bus Station at 1145 and 1315, returning from the Stadium 10 minutes after the full time whistle and at 1700.

The fare is £2.70 single (contactless payments or cash accepted), and Over 60 / Disabled and Under 22 Concession passes are valid, giving free travel on the service to passholders.

Stagecoach have advised that all revenue taken on the service on Saturday will be donated to Aaron's Testimonial Fund, so that is another great reason to use the service, as Aaron will be directly benefitting from your journey.

 

From the Official ICTFC SITE

On behalf of the Aaron Doran Testimonial Committee, tickets are now available for Aaron Doran’s testimonial with Ross County.

Aaron Doran Testimonial

ICT v ROSS COUNTY – SATURDAY 5th JULY 2025

Kick off 2:00 pm

Tickets for this match, which is kindly sponsored by Mackellar Engineering Ltd are now on sale. Tickets are priced at £15 and £5 (under 16s only) and can be purchased at Caledonian Stadium or online from eticketing.co.uk/ictfc

Home support will be housed in the Main Stand only for this game purely to reduce the costs for Aaron and the away fans will be accommodated in the South Stand. Should you wish to join Section 94 they will be taking up temporary residence in Lower B of the Main Stand. 

Aaron has served ICT for over 13 years, which is almost unique in modern day football, and it is hoped that supporters will recognise this loyalty and attend the game in numbers.

It has been some time since ICT and Ross County have opposed each other and, with the game being played on the last weekend prior to the season commencing, the club’s will be fielding their strongest teams. Both clubs have been busy signing new players so come along and see them in action.

It is appreciated that as this game is being played at the start of the school holidays some supporters will not be able to attend the match and if they would wish to support the Testimonial they can make a donation either by buying a ticket for the game or via bank transfer to 

Santander: 

Account name: Aaron Doran Testimonial

Sort Code 09-01-29

Account no 34452181

 

View full article

 

[Ronaldo]

Excellent report Donnie and full marks also to those involved who made this happen.

[tm4tj]

Aaron looking resplendent in his testimonial kit.

Aaron recently spoke about his testimonial match and the challenging end to his time at the club. He expressed gratitude for the support from fans during his 13-and-a-half-year tenure, especially after his contract ended while awaiting surgery for a knee injury. Doran highlighted the club's lack of communication regarding his injury and surgery. “I have had two surgeries booked in by the physio, Dan (Cluett), for May 22 and May 29, and the club cancelled them both..." That led to a fundraiser organized by former teammate Shane Sutherland to cover the costs. 

Time for us all to give something back to Arran to show our appreciation of his time at Inverness CT.

[big cherly]

Popped down this afternoon to buy a ticket for Aaron Doran’s testimonial after three failed attempts to buy one via the e-link.

Wasn’t going to miss giving Aaron the well deserved recognition for his long service to the club. One of the most gifted players IMO to pull on a ICT top. 
 

That aside it concerned me a little my failure to get an e-ticket may have been experienced by others, who eventually just gave up. Result - fan for the day and income lost. Never done social media sites but expect hackers are ‘out there’ so that might trigger some access restriction? Just raising it as I’m sure it will be experienced by others when wanting to buy a ST or just a single match ticket. Don’t know what is possible to remedy or make it simple to get into the matches. Flares and security may have done it for cash turnstiles, but I can’t help feel it’s another turn off for potential fans (income). 

PS looking forward to a long awaited ICT - RC derby again (even a so called friendly). 

Finally - Thank you Aaron!
bc

Edited 7 hours ago by big cherly

[IBM]

Looking forward to this game and seeing Aaron in an ICT shirt again although it will be for the last time, I hope there is a good turnout for him and it will be good getting back to the football again.

[CELTIC1CALEY3]

Cannot make it so donation made. Spoke to Aaron quite a few times and he was and is  very humble.  Surprised at his height but he was 3 inches taller until Virgil van Dijk leaned into him and placed his arm on his head at Parkhead as Aaron wormed into the box. The ref supported van Dijk!!

[+DoofersDad]

1 hour ago, big cherly said:

Popped down this afternoon to buy a ticket for Aaron Doran’s testimonial after three failed attempts to buy one via the e-link.

Wasn’t going to miss giving Aaron the well deserved recognition for his long service to the club. One of the most gifted players IMO to pull on a ICT top. 
 

That aside it concerned me a little my failure to get an e-ticket may have been experienced by others, who eventually just gave up. Result - fan for the day and income lost. Never done social media sites but expect hackers are ‘out there’ so that might trigger some access restriction? Just raising it as I’m sure it will be experienced by others when wanting to buy a ST or just a single match ticket. Don’t know what is possible to remedy or make it simple to get into the matches. Flares and security may have done it for cash turnstiles, but I can’t help feel it’s another turn off for potential fans (income). 

PS looking forward to a long awaited ICT - RC derby again (even a so called friendly). 

Finally - Thank you Aaron!
bc

I also had a problem online several days ago and went down to the stadium to get my ticket.  I had a message on the ticketing site saying "Your Browsing Activity Has Been Paused.  We've detected unusual behaviour on either your network or your browser". It then gave 3 totally inappropriate options to resolve it.   It blocked me from logging out so had to close the window.  Happened both on phone and PC.  The club were aware there was a problem. Once I had a purchased a physical ticket I was then able to access my on-line account OK.  

I would hope that nobody would have been put off buying a ticket if they have also experienced a problem as Aaron deserves a good turnout.  Looking forward to him scoring against County again tomorrow.

[The Mantis]

I had this problem on iPhone and it worked first time when I switched to iPad. As I explained over on P&B, where ICT were getting a bit of stick, it’s an eticketing.co.uk problem and not an ICT problem as I had exactly the same issue and solution a couple of weeks ago when buying concert tickets. 

[Robert]

I got my tickets in the shop and I really hope the on line issues have not deterred anyone and as tickets are available at the stadium tomorrow that they get them then.

Aaron is a club legend and really deserves tomorrow. I just hope there’s a good attendance.

I’m really looking forward to him and other players being in Bar 94 after the game too, hopefully celebrating a derby win.