A number of weeks ago, our club CEO Scot Gardiner was approached by Stevie Kilgour, the General Secretary of the Federation of Hearts Supporters, to discuss how Hearts fans could look to assist Caley Thistle during what has been an extremely onerous financial period for Scottish football.

This approach was prompted by the memory of a not to be forgotten gesture by Caley Thistle in August 2013 when Hearts were in a very dark financial place and the existence of the club was under threat. ICT made the offer to pay Hearts 1874 Fighting Fund a donation for fans who travelled to the SPL match between the two of us here in Inverness. Over 1100 Jambos made the journey up the A9 that weekend.

Stevie and the Hearts Federation decided to contact us when they realised that they’d be unable to make that journey north again to watch the game and especially because our match in February would be live on BBC, depriving us of the chance of a PPV audience from the huge Hearts support.  

Together we have come up with our first ever ICTFC virtual tickets which in effect, if purchased, are a much appreciated donation to the club as no tickets are valid during the pandemic restrictions we currently operate under.

The concept is simple and one which was very successfully operated by English club Marine when they found themselves in a similar position a few weeks ago in an FA Cup tie against Tottenham Hotspur.

Fans have two options of virtual ticket.

Option A is click and print at home £5 virtual ticket

Option B is £10 and those making this purchase/donation will receive by post, a hand signed souvenir match ticket and a hand signed thank you letter from Caley Thistle Manager and Hearts Legend, John Robertson.

To purchase, simply click on this link;

https://ictfc.tickethour.co.uk/showProduct.html?idProduct=1520

There is no limit to the number or type of tickets anyone can purchase.

This offer is open to our own fans, the fans of Hearts of course and indeed any football fan who may want to take part in this unique fundraising effort.

We will be asking the Hearts fans to nominate a boy and a girl as two virtual mascots for the game and similarly we will be doing the same with our own fans for two virtual Caley Thistle mascots as well.

Having not played a home game since December 2020 due to bad weather, we will certainly be appreciative of all who choose to support this initiative and we would like to thank the officers and members of the Federation of Hearts Supporters for their engagement, many of whom would have been joining the rank and file Jambos and Caley Jags fans in our stands, making our February game a colourful and noisy occasion if it had not been for this damned pandemic.  

#TogetherNess