2018–19 Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. season

Inverness Caledonian Thistle
2018–19 season
Chairman Graham Rae
Manager John Robertson
Stadium Caledonian Stadium
League Cup Group Stage
Challenge Cup First Round lost 1–2 vs. Dunfermline Athletic
Highest home attendance 2,424; vs. Partick Thistle (15 September 2018)
Lowest home attendance 932; vs. Cove Rangers (14 July 2018)

The 2018–19 Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. season is the club's second season in the Scottish Championship, having been relegated from the Scottish Premiership at the end of the 2016–17 season. Caley Thistle will also compete in the Scottish Challenge Cup, Scottish League Cup and the Scottish Cup. This season will be the 25th season since Inverness joined the Scottish Football League. This season is also the return of the Highland derby after Ross County were relegated one season after Inverness.

Events

May 2018

  • 14 May 2018: 10 Youth Team players, dubbed "Class of 2018" as a reference to Fergie's Fledglings which were dubbed "Class of '92", are called up into the first team.

June 2018

  • 18 June 2018: ICT win the SFA U17 League, winning 22 of 24 and scoring 104 goals along the way.

July 2018

  • 3 July 2018: The longest serving player in ICTFC history, Ross Tokely, returns to the club as the youth coach.
  • 7 July 2018: Carl Tremarco is made team captain after Gary Warren's exit to Yeovil Town.
  • 13 July 2018: Inverness install a new ticket system, which replaces the old tear stub tickets with barcoded tickets.
  • 22 July 2018: #biggesthomegame returns for the second consecutive year, with the game ending with an 25–25 tie, which was a massive improvement from the previous season where they were beaten by the 100 kids 20–5.

August 2018

  • 8 August 2018: ICT announce that goalkeeper, Ryan Esson, will receive a testimonial match as recognition for his 10 year career with the Caley Jags.[1]
  • 10 August 2018: Former player and first captain of ICTFC, Alan Hercher, dies aged 52.[2]
  • 11 August 2018: A minutes silence is held for Alan Hercher ahead of Inverness' 0–0 draw with Ayr United, a minutes silence is also held at Clachnacuddin, where Alan was also a player, ahead of their 1–0 win over Lossiemouth.
  • 12 August 2018: Inverness open investigations on some of their home support after abuse was hurled towards Liam Polworth and his family, mainly his sister at Saturday's home game.[3]
  • 13 August 2018: Inverness issue a Club Statement, saying "Inverness Caledonian Thistle were saddened and angered to learn of sustained verbal abuse directed at one of our players and his family by a small minority of supporters during Saturday's match with Ayr United...Individuals who were involved in this abuse have been identified, and are in the process of being banned from attending future Inverness Caledonian Thistle fixtures." It is currently unknown how long the bans are to be served, but is speculated that it is likely to be a Rest of Season ban from the ground or any ground hosting an ICT fixture.[4]
  • 14 August 2018: Defending champions Inverness tumble out of the Scottish Challenge Cup in a first round home fixture vs Dunfermline Athletic, which was a game that was criticized by many fans and some media after Dunfermline Athletic were awarded a penalty despite the foul taking place at least a yard outside the box.
  • 22 August 2018: Inverness progress to the semi finals of the North of Scotland Cup, after a 6–0 win over Lossiemouth.
  • 23 August 2018: Inverness draft in their first ever Brazilian player, youngster Machado Matheus, on a 2 year contract, from Red Bull Brasil.
  • 23 August 2018: Club site (ICTFC.com), unexpectedly goes down for host migration, with no prior warning, much to fans annoyance.

September 2018

  • 11 September 2018: Former Caledonian manager, Alex Main, dies aged 86
  • 11 September 2018: Inverness secure their North of Scotland cup final after a 4–0 victory over the Can-cans of Forres. They will play local rivals Ross County in the October 7 final at Clachnacuddin's Grant Street Park.
  • 15 September 2018: Inverness go top of the championship after a 3–2 win over Partick Thistle, continuing their streak of 17 league games unbeaten, which started in March of the previous season.
  • 22 September 2018: Inverness drop to 2nd in the championship after a nil nil draw with Ross County, with County dropping to 4th place.
  • 29 September 2018: Inverness fall further after a second consecutive 0–0 draw, however extending their unbeaten streak to 18 games.

October 2018

Summary

Management

John Robertson will return to the club for his second season after a close finish to the previous season, by missing out on playoffs by only two points.

Fixtures and Results

Fixtures will be announced by the SPFL in June 2018.[5]

Friendlies

*Note: Games played on the same day and same time are played with two different squads led by two different managers. Fixtures are being played on the same day as to avoid preseason friendlies leaking into time taken up by the League Cup Group Stage.

League

SPFL fixtures were announced at 9:00am GMT on Friday, 15 June 2018, and are subject to change.

Scottish Cup

Inverness will play their Scottish Cup match on 26 November 2018, as they are drawn into the 3rd round of the tournament.

League Cup

Inverness were drawn into Group C of the 2018–19 Scottish League Cup on 25 May 2018, along with Heart of Midlothian, Raith Rovers, Cowdenbeath, and Cove Rangers, the first match will be played on 14 July. However, Inverness failed to make the best runners up, losing out on goal difference to Partick Thistle.

Irn Bru Challenge Cup

Inverness were the defending champions going into this cup, with the first game being played on August 14 2018, however were knocked out in their first game by Dunfermline.

North of Scotland Cup

In this competition, Inverness will use a mixed team of mainly U19s and some first team/reserve players to give a fair chance to the significantly smaller teams they come up against.

Team statistics

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion, qualification or relegation
1 Ayr United 8 6 1 1 18 9 +9 19 Promotion to the Scottish Premiership
2 Ross County 8 5 2 1 14 4 +10 17 Qualification for the Premiership play-off semi-finals
3 Inverness Caledonian Thistle 8 3 5 0 10 5 +5 14 Qualification for the Premiership play-off quarter-finals
4 Dundee United 9 4 2 3 14 15 −1 14
5 Dunfermline Athletic 8 3 2 3 9 13 −4 11
6 Queen of the South 8 2 4 2 16 10 +6 10
7 Greenock Morton 8 2 4 2 10 12 −2 10
8 Partick Thistle 9 3 0 6 10 16 −6 9
9 Alloa Athletic 8 0 4 4 6 13 −7 4 Qualification for the Championship play-offs
10 Falkirk 8 1 0 7 5 15 −10 3 Relegation to Scottish League One
Updated to match(es) played on 13 October 2018. Source:
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Points in head-to-head matches; 5) Goal difference in hth matches; 6). Goals scored in hth matches; 7). Play-off (only for deciding promotion, play-off participation and relegation).[6]
OverallHomeAway
PldWDLGFGAGDPtsWDLGFGAGDWDLGFGAGD
8 3 5 0 10 5  +5 14 1 4 0 6 5  +1 2 1 0 4 0  +4

Management Statistics

Correct as of 17 Aug 2018
Name From To P W D L Win%
John Robertson 15 July 2017 Present 7 4 1 2 57.14[7]

First team player statistics

Overall Goalscorers

Rank Player Goals
1st Scotland Nathan Austin 3
Scotland Jordan White
England George Oakley
4th Scotland Tom Walsh 2
Scotland Sean Welsh
Scotland Shaun Rooney
Republic of Ireland Aaron Doran
8th Scotland Brad McKay 1
Scotland Daniel MacKay
Scotland Liam Polworth

*as of match played 06 Oct 2018

Transfers

Transfers In
Player Age* Pos From Fee Date Notes/Additional Info
Scotland Shaun Rooney 21 DF Scotland Queen of the South Pre-contract agreement 25 April 2018
Scotland Tom Walsh 21 MF Scotland Dumbarton Free 15 May 2018[8]
Scotland Angus Beith 22 MF Scotland Heart of Midlothian Swap Swap deal for Jake Mulraney
Scotland Jordan White 26 FW England Barrow Free 6 June 2018
Scotland Jamie McCart 21 DF Scotland Celtic Free 14 June 2018
Scotland Sean Welsh 28 MF Scotland Falkirk Free 16 July 2018
Brazil Machado Matheus 17 MF Brazil Red Bull Brasil Free 21 August 2018 Placed in U18 Squad for time being[9]
Wales Owain Fôn Williams 31 GK United States Indy Eleven Loan Return 15 October 2018* *loan contract expires, may extend contract beyond this date
Transfers Out
Player Age* Pos To Fee Date Notes/Additional Info
Scotland John Baird 33 FW Scotland Forfar Athletic Free 3 May 2018 Accepted player/assistant manager role
Scotland Iain Vigurs 30 MF Scotland Ross County Free 15 May 2018[10][8]
Republic of Ireland Jake Mulraney 22 MF Scotland Heart of Midlothian Swap Swap deal for Angus Beith
England Connor Bell 21 FW Scotland Greenock Morton Free 6 June 2018
England Gary Warren 33 DF England Yeovil Town Free 27 June 2018
Scotland Ryan Esson 38 GK Retired (unofficially) N/A 2 July 2018 Became goalkeeping/U18 coach
Netherlands Collin Seedorf 23 DF Netherlands FC Eindhoven Free 7 July 2018 Initially was listed to leave the club in May
Republic of Ireland Zachary Elbouzedi 20 MF Terminated Contract N/A 31 August 2018 Left by mutual consent

*At time of transfer

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Testimonial to take place for Ryan Esson - Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC". ictfc.com. Retrieved 2018-08-12.
  2. ↑ "Tribute to Alan Hercher - Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC". ictfc.com. Retrieved 2018-08-12.
  3. ↑ "Inverness probe Liam Polworth's claim family were verbally abused". BBC Sport. 2018-08-12. Retrieved 2018-08-12.
  4. ↑ "Club Statement - 13 August 2018".
  5. ↑ "2018/19 fixture release day confirmed - Scottish Professional Football League". spfl.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-05-04.
  6. ↑ "Championship 2017/2018 - Season rules". Scoresway. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  7. ↑ "Squad List - Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC". ictfc.com. Retrieved 2018-08-05.
  8. 1 2 "Hearts sign Jake Mulraney, Angus Beith goes to Inverness, Iain Vigurs to Ross County". BBC Sport. 15 May 2018. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  9. ↑ "Inverness sign Brazilian teenager from Red Bull in Sao Paulo". BBC Sport. 2018-08-23. Retrieved 2018-08-25.
  10. ↑ Wilson, Fraser (15 May 2018). "Transfer news LIVE – all the latest deals from planet football". dailyrecord. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
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