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Caley Thistle Thread 1994 - 2017


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It could be entitled the Inaugural meeting of the “Young Firm” of Scottish football. Both teams having painful and traumatic experiences in the not too distant past. Both teams are lamenting and many still grieving for the teams that they did support, whose existence was sadly terminated. Caley were even called “The Rangers of the North”.

Caledonian Thistle F.C. was formed in August 1994 by the merger of Caledonian and Inverness Thistle who had been members of the Highland Football League since 1885.The league restructured in 1994 to four divisions of ten teams each. The merged clubs were elected in to the Scottish Third Division. The club's name was amended to Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. in 1996 at the request of Inverness District Council. Many still refer to the team as Caley or Thistle. They rose through the divisions at some speed, given their finances and many teams trying to halt their rise, especially when initially promoted to the SPL.

The original Rangers came into existence in 1872, 13 years before the Inverness giants. The Rangers Football Club PLC entered liquidation on 31 October 2012.  Sevco Scotland Ltd later changed its name to The Rangers Football Club Ltd. The new team, The Rangers FC started off life, akin to ICT, in the Scottish Third Division in the 2012-2013 season, a mere 18 years after Inverness. Due to their superior finances they climbed the leagues far quicker than ICT and made it this season.

So Inverness Caledonian Thistle and The Rangers FC take to the park to on Friday 14th October 2016 in the first ever league meeting between the two clubs. Sadly I suspect that there may be as many old Caley and Thistle diehards (and their families) in the Rangers End as there are in the Main Stand and The North Stand.

The two previous outcomes of meetings between the new clubs have been Scottish League Cup affairs. Inverness hammering Rangers 3-0 at Ibrox in October 2012 and Rangers scraping a fortunate 1-0 win in September 2014. In their history Inverness have only met the old Rangers team in League encounters and, at home, it does not make good reading with Rangers winning 8 and Inverness 1 and two drawn. The only ICT win was in December 2006 (Live on Setanta Sports !!) and the match was an all ticket SELL OUT. Nacho Novo scored for Rangers from the penalty spot (Craig Thompson was at it even then) before Darren Dods equalised. And many will recall the winner screamed in by John Rankin in the last minute. And we all had a fleeting look at the wondrous SEBO.

We have a better record at Ibrox, winning three and drawing four of the thirteen encounters. My own personal lasting memory has to be the injury time penalty winner by Iain Black in March 2009. And Zjebi-Zadi was MOM and David Proctor won the penalty, drawing a foul from Davie Weir who was sent off. And Rangers were frightened by the pace of Dougie Imrie and Eric Odhiambo. It was fair rocking in “Brechins” that night.

Going back to the Howden End days memories fade back to 18 February 1984 when the mighty old club known as Rangers visited Telford Street Park on Scottish Cup duty. A crowd of 5,500 packed in to watch Rangers win 6-0. Somebody called McCoist scored a brace that day and somebody called Billy Urquhart played against his old team. He should have stayed in Wigan !! I fail to recall any great Inverness Thistle v Rangers encounters although that was probably reserved for Brora Rangers.

And finally on the trip down memory lane – we simply can’t leave out the initial Scottish Cup meeting with the old Rangers. A quarter final moved to the “neutral” ground of Tannadice Park in Dundee, on the 9th of March 1996. A crowd of 11,296 was in attendance (an estimated 5.000 from Sneck) when Rangers were the “visitors”. Rangers won 3-0, with Brian Thomson scoring an own goal and a certain Paul Gascoigne hitting a double. I can only suggest that you read the account made by Pele Paterson in his book “Confessions of a Highland Hero” - “We were Third Division and they were Champions”. That was one feckin hoore of a weekend.

Hopefully the thought of the forthcoming Betfred Cup tie with Celtic will be a distraction and the Joey Barton debacle lingers on and on. Rumours are rife that Joey has put a pony on Inverness winning 2-1. That is certainly worth a wee gamble although it is unclear whether he is purely doing this out of churlish malice. Rangers have had what only can be described as an inconsistent start to the season and are clearly struggling to identify a starting eleven. The Central Belt Bluenoses however appear confident that Rangers have a clearer starting X1 and expect to line up in a 4-3-3 formation. Wes Foderingham should keep his place in goals ahead of veteran Matt Gilks. James Tavernier and Lee Wallace will start in the two full-back positions. Rob Kiernan missed the last few games with an injury but looks likely to start. Kiernan and Wilson appear to have claimed the first-choice centre-back pairing (unfortunately) despite the arrival of experienced but aging duo of Clint Hill and Philippe Senderos. Andy Halliday should start in defensive midfield with Joey Barton missing (or running scared of Ross Draper). Jason Holt provides a lot of energy in the middle of the park and should keep his place whilst Niko Kranjcar impressed against the Plastic Whistle. Kenny Miller is likely to start up front as the target man with Martyn Waghorn operating as the wide forward from the right. Barrie McKay, to me the big danger, will keep his place on the left.

If that is the Rangers line up then we need to go wide and offensive. Both Wallace and Tavernier are prone to leave their defensive duties and will leave space up front. Personally I would go with Fisher up front rather than Doumbuoya. Keep Draper “in the hole” behind him  Tansey and Polworth to hold central midfield. I have not been impressed by Tansey this season but this is a “shop window” and I expect him to put in a MOM performance. Two wide players are a must and it looks like it will be Mulraney and King to start with. The back five pick themselves. McKay and Tremarco will be tested by McKay (need to check with CaleyD about the spelling). We certainly went backwards at Hamilton but escaped with a point, leaving us on a 5 unbeaten run. That has led to Richie Foran being awarded the coveted Manager of the Month Award. Let’s hope that his lucky shamrock can ward off the curse that the award has placed on previous ICT Managers. And a 2-0 win would take us into the Top Six and ahead of Rangers on goal difference. But three points and a scabby one goal win will suffice.

 

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RANGERS 14/10/2016

FON WILLIAMS 7/10 – No chance with the goal but look assured and kept us in it, although he did not really have that much to do.

RAVEN 6/10 – Worried when I heard of his inclusion but he was more like the Raven of old.

WARREN 6/10 – Worries me with his undisciplined impetuousness at times. Warriors do not put themselves at risk and do not take ne for the team when there is cover.

McKAY 5/10 – Lucky not to be dismissed. Went for balls that were never his. Clearly a better full back.

TREMARCO  7/10 – Continues to be solid and consistent. Never given a chance of being an attacking option.

POLWORTH 6/10 – I simply cannot believe that he is being played wide right. Drifted inside most of the night and was culpable at not giving Raven cover on quite a few occasions.

TANSEY 5/10 – Scored him lower as he feckin annoys me. It was probably a 6 ½ out of 10 but why did he keep his best display of the season to the Showroom game.

VIGURS 5/10 – Almost the same comment as Tansey. Appeared to make more effort tonight than he has done for weeks.

KING 5/10 – Followed up from a disappointing game at Hamilton to another. Clearly right footed and not looking comfortable wide left.

DRAPER 8/10 – My MOM for again filling in so many positions in one night – even taking over the main striker role in the second half. He showed his frustration by dropping too deep at times.

DOUMBOUYA 3/10 – Thought that he was shocking even giving him a let off for the glaring 3rd minute miss. Simply does not appear to be Premiership quality. No real pace, won little in the air and allowed himself to be bullied.

MULRANEY / DORAN 6/10 each – Have clearly staked the claims to start next game.

FISHER 4/10 – Missed another chance at glory. My preference to start as he is more mobile, pacier and better in the air – What the feck more does he need !!

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Our defending since the 5-1 defeat from Hearts has been top six standard, only 7 goals conceded this includes games against Celtic and Aberdeen. Everyone below us has conceded more and we have conceded less than both Motherwell and Rangers in the last six games. We are improving from the back, maybe now the focus is on the central midfield, finding the right blend. I think we still have too many similar players, a legacy from the Yogi term.

Its still work in progress but we are getting there.

There is very much a Terry Butcher style about how we are playing and performing now, I only hope it doesn't take 4 years to get it right. It bears remembering that most of Terry's signings didn't work or they just didn't stick around long enough. Its hard to say this early whether Richie's signing have been a success, some players do take time to blend in and find their form. Brad McKay has so far been the most effective signing, jury still out on the others. Will we see Larnell Cole any time soon?

We are fortunate that Richie didn't have to rebuild the team in the summer, but he must think ahead and look for players good enough or better and who will be committed to staying here who will eventually replace the class of 2014/15 that still forms the backbone of the team.

 

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When Devine played for you last season, did he he ever play well when marshaled by an experienced CB beside him? Or did he just drag other CB down to his level since he required being babysat?

 



Usually one bad mistake a game that more often than not led to a goal.
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9 hours ago, cilitbang said:

When Devine played for you last season, did he he ever play well when marshaled by an experienced CB beside him? Or did he just drag other CB down to his level since he required being babysat?

As a few of us said when you signed him he can look decent for most of a game without ever really looking excellent but then he'll have a major brain fart and give away a penalty, handle the ball and concede a penalty or give the ball away in dangerous areas. I had hoped he would have gotten better with Warren alongside him last season but the same problems were there most weeks.

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37 minutes ago, RiG said:

As a few of us said when you signed him he can look decent for most of a game without ever really looking excellent but then he'll have a major brain fart and give away a penalty, handle the ball and concede a penalty or give the ball away in dangerous areas. I had hoped he would have gotten better with Warren alongside him last season but the same problems were there most weeks.

From what I've seen of him so far, if he does something well he will get over confident or rush of blood to the head and promptly REALLY make an arse of something. 

That and our other CB just turned 21 last week so I'm more frustrated that Devine is hampering Lindsays development. 

Going by what you have said, Devine has reached his peak as he clearly doesn't learn from mistakes. And he will keep us near the bottom of the table so good bit of business by you lot. 

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What are your views on the Doumbouya debate - views are poles apart on CTO - I think that he is clearly out of his class.

"Doumbouya, more ball control and touch from a blind walrus.( yes i've seen a walrus play)"

"Key for me is having players making themselves available for Doumbouya and not leaving him so isolated."

"Of the front 5 would be target men we have in the squad Dumbo is the worst. He has no pace, unable to control a ball, cannot win anything in the air , unable to use his size and doesn't know where the goal is"

"For a large awkward guy, Doumbouya didn't win much in the air, but tried hard and got the goal we needed"

"Dounbaye played a bit better and did win quite a few balls in the air. He was however continually fouled while challenging for the ball (Killie players using their arms to jump over him or wrap their arms around him) which made it difficult for him"

 

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9 hours ago, IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER said:

What are your views on the Doumbouya debate - views are poles apart on CTO - I think that he is clearly out of his class.

"Doumbouya, more ball control and touch from a blind walrus.( yes i've seen a walrus play)"

"Key for me is having players making themselves available for Doumbouya and not leaving him so isolated."

"Of the front 5 would be target men we have in the squad Dumbo is the worst. He has no pace, unable to control a ball, cannot win anything in the air , unable to use his size and doesn't know where the goal is"

"For a large awkward guy, Doumbouya didn't win much in the air, but tried hard and got the goal we needed"

"Dounbaye played a bit better and did win quite a few balls in the air. He was however continually fouled while challenging for the ball (Killie players using their arms to jump over him or wrap their arms around him) which made it difficult for him"

 

Most players take time to find their feet and their role within the team. You can go back years in the history of this club and many of our best and many of our legends took a lot longer than just 3 months. But as with our previous two managers we went through a lot of players to find that right quality and blend. I don't know about Doumbouya, he appears to fit in with our style of play better than the other two, but we are just missing something, maybe he needs someone playing alongside him or someone just behind him to make runs, King or Doran might fill this role. Its not though if we are short of goals from elsewhere in the team, 4th equal top scorers with St. Johnstone right now.

I've been wondering about Billy King and whether he could be used as a striker every now and then. I think Fisher will be away in January, Boden I'm not sure about, he could be released in January if he gives up.

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Fisher is being given an extended contract.

I think he's had a decent season, he isn't a natural scorer but he has shown good work rate and has shown good link up play. He seems to be behind Doumbaya in the pecking order which is understandable given their respective scoring records but he's good back up.

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