The Wyness Shuffle

ICT PHYGITAL

ICT PHYGITAL: A 2024-25 SEASON PREVIEW

The league season we feared ICT might never see is nearly upon us, we still have a club, and things are still… interesting. Moff, Stevie, Sandy, AY, Lee and the P&J’s Paul ‘Chalky’ Chalk convene to discuss what the season might hold for the club on and off the pitch, and whether the future really is phygital. Let’s shuffle!

00:00:59 – Welcome. Moff introduces the panellists, hears about their incredibly boring lives, then gives a brief summary of the incredibly bizarre life of Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC since May, which leads neatly into a discussion of…

00:05:14 – New Investment. The panellists go over what we know so far (not much!) about the club’s potential new owner, Ketan Makwana of Seventy7 Ventures, and consider some of the many, many questions his proposed investment raises.

00:31:24 – League Cup Group Games / Current Squad. After a brief overview of the recent games against Annan, Bonnyrigg Rose, Arbroath and Dundee, we discuss the players who look like being key to our season, with particular focus on some of the academy players who have graduated to the first team. 

00:43:48 – Talk to Me: Ryan Esson. In an extract from a longer interview, the recently-departed under-18 coach and Scottish Cup-winning goalkeeper talks to Stevie about the club’s crop of young players.

00:52:54 – Areas for improvement. Concluding the discussion of the current squad, the panellists identify the areas in most need of strengthening.

00:55:28 – The Big Goodbye. We remember those players we have lost. And there’s a lot of them.

01:03:31 – Talk to Me: Aaron Doran. Stevie’s lengthy interview with Aaron will be released as a stand-alone podcast some time in the future, but in this extract he describes his final days at the club, his disappointment at the shoddy way he was treated by those in charge, and his debt of gratitude to the fans and his ex-colleagues.

01:18:20 – The Manager. A very brief discussion of Duncan Ferguson and whether there have been any signs of improvement in his tactics and his management in the first weeks of this season. 

01:23:17 – The Opposition: Who’s Who in League One. We run the rule over Alloa, Annan, Arbroath, Cove Rangers, Dumbarton, Kelty, Montrose, Queen of the South and Stenhousemuir, then give some predictions for final placings. This segues into…

01:43:51 – Opening Fixtures. A quick chat about our first four league games, against Dumbarton at home, Annan away, Montrose at home and Kelty away.

01:45:47 – The Immortal Howden Ender: Johndo Mackenzie. We remember one of the most devoted, most recognisable and most beloved characters in the ICT support. RIP, Johndo.

Back to Reality

AKA The Mark Ridgers Show!

Welcome to the third of our Caley Thistle Crisis pods, following on from the record-breaking download numbers of Long Way Down and 136 Miles from Home.

Since we last put a podcast out, the Kelty plan is off, the Chairman has gone and the CEO is going. We talk about all of the dramatic events of the last couple of weeks, look back at our last two pods, the innovatively defunct Kelty Plan, the ringfenced youth academy and focus on what the future may hold in terms of investment and the dreaded threat of administration.

And we do all that with ICT Number One Mark Ridgers! The now out of contract goalkeeper talks about this past season, offers his opinions on the current goings on and what the future may hold for him. Join Mark, along with Stevie Riley, Andrew Young, Lee Tarling, and Andrew Moffat as they dissect all things ICTFC.

01:30 Mark Ridgers: Mark talks the disappointment of relegation, the manager, teammates, and the fact that he is now out of contract but no one from the club has been in touch with him.  

06:44 Worries: What is the main thing worrying the boys at the moment? Will we have a club to support? What is the bronze license? Is administration inevitable?  

10:15 Downloads: Thanks to everyone for listening over the past few weeks. Some 3,200 people downloaded Long Way Down, our pod about Relegation and the Kelty announcement, and some 2,300 people downloaded 136 Miles from Home, our pod with now former ICT Chairman Ross Morrison.

11.17 Recap of events: A potted history of the series of events that led to this before we analyse the 137 word statement the club issued on 5 June. Mark gives his thoughts on the Kelty plan and the fact he and fellow players were not consulted.  

20:18 View from the Fans: Liz MacRae, Jonny Campbell and David Moffat (nothing like a bit of nepotism, or maybe we only added these at the last minute because we forgot to ask for any) offer their opinions.

22:03 The resignations: Ross Morrison has resigned, Scot Gardiner is leaving, we discuss both men and their efforts behind the scenes, while reflecting on Ross’ appearance on the last podcast. We go on to talk about the current situation both men are leaving behind and the football club’s desperate need for cashflow. Mark also reflects on his time at Hearts when the Jambos went into administration, before talking about his seven years at Inverness, and his thoughts about Duncan Ferguson and this past season.

59.04 The Youth Academy: Alan Savage, chief executive of Inverness-based Orion Group, has come in to save the youth academy, pledging to cover any shortfalls with sponsorships of various types from £50,000-£100,000 and make sure the youth system is protected. We discuss.

1:08:43 View from the fans: The finances

1:09:46 Price of Football: We managed to speak to the UK’s number one football financial expert, Keiran Maguire from one of the country’s most popular podcasts, with Kevin Day, The Price of Football. Kieran is a British academic, author, and broadcaster. He specialises in the accountancy of association football and wrote the book The Price of Football. His expertise is frequently sought within English football media. So what did he have to say about the situation at ICT and how worried should we be (the answer is very)?

1:27:40  Investment and Administration: We reflect on Kieran’s comments, the realities and processes of administration, how it could be avoided, debt, assets, other financial related stuff, how the situation affects current players and potential players, and what the likely scenarios might be for the football club.

1:53:03  Feedback: Amid the carnage of the last few weeks, as a podcast we’ve received some great feedback for the recent pods. Thanks for everyone whose dropped us a comment or message. We read some out.

1.55.15 Final thoughts from the Shufflers. ‘The Kelty battle has been won but there’s a bigger fight ahead.’  

 

136 Miles From Home

An interview with ICTFC Chairman Ross Morrison. 

It’s not often we record two pods in four days (as in never), but desperate times call for desperate measures.

With the support still reeling from the ICT board’s announcement that it intends to move all football operations to Kelty, we managed to get 35 minutes with the Chairman before he headed off to another board meeting.

Andrew Moffat, Stevie Riley, Sandy Sutherland, Andrew Young, and George Moodie from the Supporters’ Trust, sat down with club Chairman Ross Morrison to put some of the fans’ concerns to him and give him a right of reply.

The discussion begins with Ross’s explanation of their reasons for the move; from there, we ask how much support the idea had from the rest of the board, about the extent to which alternative funding streams and alternative playing squad models were investigated, why supporters were not consulted at a far earlier stage, and whether the deal can still be reversed.

The conversation also touches on the place of the academy and youth development at Caley Thistle going forward, and whether it has been possible to do anything about contracts for last season.

We talk about the financial position of the club more generally. Above all, we ask Ross if he really appreciates the anger and sense of betrayal among the supporters over the Kelty scheme and the way it was announced.

We also ask about the potential impact of the likely boycott on season ticket renewals should it go ahead, and we emphasise the widespread feeling that the CEO’s position is no longer tenable. 

We did our best! Let's see what happens... 

#BringItOnHome

LONG WAY DOWN

Caley Thistle have been relegated to the third tier of Scottish football for this first time this century. Truly the saddest day in the club’s 30 year history, that was until the club announced that they would be moving the football operations to Fife!

This podcast was originally planned to focus on the relegation, to discuss where things went wrong, to examine where the blame lay and to look at how the club and supporters could regroup and come together as one to look to the future.

All that went out the window with the Kelty announcement. Never has there been a more universally derided statement from the football club.

Join Andrew Moffat, Andrew Young, Stevie Riley, Sandy Sutherland, Lee Tarling and many special guests as we discuss all that and all of the below in a 2 hour 30 minute pod (honestly we couldn’t cut it further).

Please do note that this is a very rough outline. Topics pop up all over the place, much like Billy Mackay last season.

Also please note this episode is full of emotion and as such has a lot of colourful language. If that's not your thing, this podcast probably isn't either. 

LINE-UP

02.00  Kelty: The football club is moving football operations Monday to Friday to Kelty Hearts Central Park from the start of June. We talk housing, fan reactions, the manager’s role in this, the CEO and the Chairman, community outreach, mercenaries, youth players, Inverness based players, club staff, and we might get a bit emotional.

32.43  The Game: We talk the Hamilton and Montrose play-off games, plus the angry scenes at full time on the last game of the season with some fans invading the pitch and making their views known and very clear to the directors. We also talk statements, how long it took ICT to come out with one, what that first one said and reflect on the call for unity. Good one.

34.43  I’m Going Down: We get the views from the fans on this past season, the football and the manager.

37.55  Duncan Ferguson: We talk the Manager, his ineptitude, his questionable decisions, his excuses, his tactics, Billy Mackay, and Lee goes on about Champagne football versus lemonade money.

49.47  Talk to Me: Barry Wilson: An interview with a member of Caley Thistle’s coaching staff this season. An absolute Caley Thistle icon. 353 games and 83 goals over two spells with the club, a league winner and a legend and most recently, assistant manager

1.13.50  Talk to Me: Falkirk Daft: We speak to someone who has been there and done it and bought five t-shirts. Falkirk took five years to get back up to the championship. Falkirk were a basket case, and they’ve just gone undefeated in winning league one. We talk to John McInally from Falkirk Daft.

1.42.55  Long Way Down: The fans are back with their views on the Club, the CEO and the Chairman and where we go from here.

1.48.56  Next Season: 30 years of ICT. Should be a time of celebration, should be a programme of events over the course of the season celebrating the achievements of the past incumbents of the football club. We discuss that and the painful indifference of those running the club. We talk season tickets, will the boys renew? We talk the CEO and the Chairman. We look at the practicalities of Duncan Ferguson managing in League One. We focus on contracts and what recruitment might look like.

2.08.41: Captain my Captain: Lee Tarling makes a call to arms with the best 5 minutes this podcast has produced in years!

2.13.50  League One Opposition: Alloa, Annan, Arbroath, Cove, Dumbarton, Kelty Hearts, Montrose, QOS, Stenhousemuir. Looks like a lot of fun. We discuss whether to support or not to support.

2.21.08  The Legends: Four heroes of yesterday return to offer their thoughts on the relegation.

2.27.31  Where do we go from here?

2.34.00 Bring it on Home

Club Sandwich

On Friday night's last league game of the season it was all about the sandwiches. ICT’s socials got excited about a platter presented to the club staff, while Big Dunc and the boys hoped they’d end the evening knowing they’d be earning their bread and butter in the Championship next season. Despite a win, however, relegation is still on the menu, and the players have to get through two more rounds to survive. Join Moff, Stevie, Sandy and AY as they offer up a smorgasbord of piquant observations and hard-to-digest realities in this light-lunch-sized podcast.

Let’s shuffle!

00:01:05: Let’s roll. Moff introduces the panellists and we discuss our feelings about the position the club finds itself in.

00:08:26: Mixed selection. A brief recap of the final league fixtures against Greenock Morton (00:08:36), Dunfermline (00:16:27), Raith Rovers (00:19:15) and Queen’s Park (00:21:52).

00:23:10: (The Club) sandwich filler. In the light of Ross Morrison revealing that the club will have to restructure in preparation for next season, the panel speculates about what that might look like in terms of finances, squad and management, before briefly discussing the recent appointment of Alex Chisholm to the board.

00:42:17:   Can we hand out some pumpernickel?... We are joined by Montrose season ticketholder and aspiring life coach Michael Ives to discuss the two play-off semi-finals, what we can expect from Montrose, and which players to watch.  

00:54:18: …Or will we be toasted? We look briefly at the teams in the other playoff semi-final, Hamilton Accies and Alloa, and our chances against them if we overcome Montrose.

00:59:37: That’s a wrap. We finish the pod with the thoughts of season ticket holders Lynne MacDonald, Hamish MacLennan and Mark Boag.

There's it! 

The Abyss

We're staring into it so you might as well listen to it! 

The Wyness Shuffle is back and Caley Thistle are no nearer to safety. This podcast comes with a depression warning, a colourful language warning, a battery farm warning, and a lots of very unhappy football fans. But why are we unhappy? That’s what the podcast is about. That’s what we have spent two hours delving into. No stone is left unturned as we analyse the eye-watering football, the stewardship of the club, the manager’s decisions, the fan unrest, and much more.

Join Andrew Moffat, Stevie Riley, Andrew Young, Sandy Sutherland and Lee Tarling as they talk all the recent goings on and welcome special guests, George Moodie from the Supporters Trust, Ross Draper from the days when we won Scottish Cups, and some ICT fans that might even be more unhappy than us.

All that and 29 years-worth of ICT references packed into two and a bit hours of wild conjecture and mild distraction.

LINE-UP:

00.58 Disaster?

The Shufflers pick out one main reason each why this season has gone the way it has. Tactics, departures, finances, youth players, signings... 

08.48 Game by Game

Partick, Dundee United, Ayr, Airdrie (and a win at Morton) all either watched through our fingers, a drunken haze, or apoplectic anger. 'We were excellent, weren't we?'

32.23 The Manager

We focus on Duncan Ferguson. He could have come in and he could have used his coaching experience and his power of personality and he could have galvanized the club. He chose to go his own way, with his own players. And that’s on him. We discuss where he’s gone wrong and what he could have done right.  

44.32 Disaster Movies

Let’s keep it light with… Disaster Movies. Are we more Titanic, Perfect Storm or Don’t Look Up? A classic Wyness Shuffle film themed pun trope a thon.

47.46 Talk to Me: The ICT Supporters Trust

George Moodie from the Trust joins us live on the pod to discuss all the recent goings on, how the Trust plan to affect positive change within the football club and a big announcement they have coming up at their meeting on Saturday 6 April.

1.05.05 The Club: The Battery Farm

We discuss all things battery farm and where the club goes from here.

1.14.57: The Club: Back the team / Sack the board

We discuss the campaign by Section 94 to affect change within the club. What does it mean in reality and the nuances of the running of the football club.

1.23.40 The Club: Future Solutions

Each panellist picks one improvement they would make for the future of the football club.

1.29.16 Talk to Me: Ross Draper

The Scottish Cup Final winning all action midfield powerhouse joins us to talk about his current club Elgin, how Keith Bray’s getting on and his thoughts on ICT’s awful season to date.

1.50.16 League Lookahead

The boys preview the final 5 games of the league season and try and guess where some points will be coming from before getting out the calculator and and heavy dose of realism.

2.10.32 The Fans Eye View

In a new feature we get the thoughts of three Caley Thistle fans – Beth Kemp, Martin Macleod and George Macrae. If you thought we were scathing wait till you get to the end of the pod. Powerful stuff.

There's it. 

SUPERMARKET SWEEP

As opportunities for bargains in the January transfer superstore began to dwindle, compulsive shopper Duncan Ferguson raced his trolley up and down the aisles, filling it with little-known brands, exotic fruits, and a couple of more familiar items. In this reaction podcast, checkout operatives Moff, Riley, Sandy and AY run their scanners over the club’s latest purchases and performances and consider how well they leave ICT set up for the remainder of the season. Let’s shuffle!  

There's it: 

00:00:57: Welcome / Best and Worst. Moff introduces the panellists and we briefly discuss our best acquisitions and biggest losses in the transfer window.

00:04:35: Game by Game. The recent league match against Raith Rovers was one from the gourmet range; the Queen’s Park performance came off the ‘reduced to clear’ shelf. We dissect both.

00:21:24: The Transfer Window. The window has closed. Ten players have left the building, and seven have come in. But which will be bags for life, and which are compostable carriers?

00:46:30: The Club. The latest Supporters’ Trust meeting took place at the ICT Social Club before the Queen’s Park game. Sandy and AY report on a change in the SLO role and on some of the issues that were discussed. Warning: may contain battery farm.  

00:55:53: League (and Cup) Lookahead. With the Scottish Cup fifth round tie against Hibs and league matches against Partick, Arbroath and Dunfermline coming up before the end of February, we discuss where much-needed league points are most likely to come from, and whether Duncan Ferguson can add to ICT’s illustrious Scottish Cup record this season.   

01:10:47: Competition Winner Revealed. Which lucky customer has won boardroom hospitality for two at Clach’s Grant Street Park?

Yip yip! 

WINDOW PAIN

With Caley Thistle sitting just three points off the foot of the Championship, Stevie, Sandy and AY joint host Moff to record the first Wyness Shuffle podcast of 2024. As usual we discuss recent performances and touch on developments at the club, as well as offering up two exclusive interviews, but the big focus is on the January transfer window. How many new players can we realistically see coming in? Are there any gems out there for Big Dunc to unearth? Can Alex Samuel be everything that Cillian Sheridan wasn’t? And is it possible to replace David Wotherspoon and Sean Welsh? All this and more coming up as we go through the window. Let’s shuffle!  

00:00:58: Welcome / Hopes for 2024. Moff introduces the panellists and we reveal our hopes for ICT in 2024

00:04:25: Game by Game. The panel discusses the Scottish Cup tie against Broomhill (00:04:40) and the recent league matches against Dundee United (00:13:20), Ayr (00:21:06), Airdrieonians (00:27:02) and Greenock Morton (00:28:30).

00:29:55: The Rest of the Season. How many more points might ICT need to survive in the Championship? We do the maths.

00:37:21: The Transfer Window. More in hope than expectation, we identify the areas of the park that should be the priorities for new signings and throw some names into the hat, then discuss the release of Sean Welsh and say goodbye to other departing players.

00:52:33: Talk to Me: David Wotherspoon. Has any other player made such a big impact in such a short time with ICT? Stevie cracks open the Kleenex for an emotional conversation with Dundee United’s latest signing and gets his thoughts on Duncan Ferguson and playing for Caley Thistle, then the panellists discuss the interview.

01:19:20: Fantasy Window: With James ‘son of Jamie’ Carragher joining ICT at the start of the window, we consider which other relatives of famous players we would like to tempt to the Highlands. 

01:23:48: Talk to Me: Alex Chisholm (Clachnacuddin FC Chairman): Links between Caley Thistle and Inverness’s sole remaining Highland League representative are strong. Moff sat down with the chairman of the Merkinch club to hear about his ambitions for Clach, his efforts to engage with the local community, and his belief in the importance of football to Inverness.  

01:51:41: The Club. Intrepid reporter Sandy gives us a round-up of the issues we can expect to hear discussed at the Supporters’ Trust meeting on Feb 3^rd.

01:56:45: League Lookahead. We look at the forthcoming league fixtures against Raith Rovers, Queen’s Park, Partick and Arbroath.

02:06:14: Competition Time. Moff reveals details of our latest fantastic competition prize and how you can win it.

Catching Blue Whales: A Christmas Shuffle

Oh come all ye faithful to the Annual Inverness Caledonian Thistle Festive Fan Podcast Extravaganza!

Two and a half hours of festive fun as the not-so-Wise Men that are Andrew Moffat, Stevie Riley, Sandy Sutherland, Lee Tarling, actual journalist Paul Chalk and ex ICT superstar Liam Keogh gather around the table for a feast of ICT football fun.

What’s on the Christmas menu you ask?

01:00 Welcome to the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

The boys say hello and Merry Caley Christmas! 

02:25 We recap 2023 in the style of the 12 Days of Christmas

Discounted David Carson bucket hats and another Scottish Cup Final, what a year! 

08:20 Game By Festive Game

A busy Xmas period sees us with 6 matches over the month of December, but what game jingles our bells and what match gives us the chills? We review the return to poor form and losses to Arbroath, Morton and Raith and the win at Hampden v Queens Park

36:02 Talk Tinsel to Me

It’s the return of housewive's favourite Robbie Deas. The Killie centre-half talks Christmas dinner, demolishing Celtic strikers and generally being an all round top man. Then we talk about Gary Bollan and his XL Bully.

56:35 Feliz Navidad! It’s the ICTinsel XI

We pick out the all-time festive line-up. Anyone for a Cameron Christmas Hamper?

1:00:58 Talk Tinsel to Me 2

He’s a bigger fan of Big Dunc than any of us! Evertonian and ICT Scottish Cup Winning legend Greg Tansey returns to talk getting 100 autographs of the Big Man, life after football and how Ferguson might be adapting to Scottish football. We then talk transfer windows and Everton loanees.

1:29:01 Gifts for Gaffers

It’s the long-awaited return of our Xmas feature in which we pick out Christmas presents for each of the championships dodgy patter merchants that are the Cinch Championship’s 10 managers. A nice moisturiser for Dougie Imrie?

1:36:00 Talk Tinsel to Me 3: Billy Dodds!

A special Talk Tinsel to me as we preview an interview we’re going to put out in its entirety in January. He hasn’t talked to the media so far. We don’t know exactly what went on but Billy Dodds is back to say his goodbyes

2:03:19 Festive League Lookahead

We preview the Xmas Eve Eve game at Partick, the visit of Morton and long cold consecutive trips to Airdrie and Ayr.  

2:11:21 Santa’s Sack

It is bulging with your questions. We do our best to answer them.

2:21:18: A Question of Christmas

It wouldn’t be Christmas without a quiz. Sandy manages to make a very confusing but entertaining one about advent calendars, numbers and stuff.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, ONE AND ALL, FROM ALL AT THE WYNESS SHUFFLE!

THANKS FOR LISTENING THROUGHOUT THE YEAR AND SEE YOU IN 2024!

Keep on Trucking

Keep On Trucking!

After seven long weeks in the garage, the Wyness Shuffle 18-wheeler is on the road again. Join Moff, Stevie, Sandy, AY and our latest squad addition Lee Tarling as we fuel up with some Big Dunc energy, deliver packages of analysis on all the recent games, re-visit the John Robertson eras, carry out a drive-by in Dingwall, charge our battery at Ross Morrison’s storage facility and set the satnav for a successful journey through December. Let’s shuffle!  

00:00:50: Welcome. Moff introduces the panellists and we discuss our recent highlights on and off the field.

00:10:02: Game by Game. After a general discussion of Duncan Ferguson’s impact on the team, we analyse the Scottish Cup tie against Cowdenbeath (00:16:15) and the recent league matches against Dunfermline (00:27:42), Ayr (00:33:55) and Dundee United (00:38:05).

00:42:45: Robbo – a Retrospective. The club’s sporting director and two-time manager departed the club in October. We discuss how successful he was in his various career roles and his legacy at ICT.

00:53:58: Head to Head. Derek Adams and Roy McGregor. Two individuals who epitomise all that is reprehensible about Ross County. But who is the bigger villain? Is it possible to have a sliding scale of evil? Sandy and AY argue for the respective de-merits of red-faced Derek and Uncle Roy.

00:59:14: The Club. We discuss the latest developments in the battery storage facility application, which Ross Morrison claims is key to protecting the club’s future.

01:08:53: League Lookahead. We round off the podcast by looking at the forthcoming league fixtures against Raith Rovers (01:09:30), Queen’s Park (01:12:02), Greenock Morton (01:13:59) and Arbroath (01:15:23).

There's it!