Welcome to the November issue of Boardroom Banter.

We would like to firstly apologise for the lateness of this month's issue. As most supporters will probably realise, we have had a certain situation to deal with that has been the subject of discussion in various parts of the media. This situation has now been dealt with and we will not be commenting on it in any detail.

Commercial Department

Following the joint decision for Debbie Ross to move on we are reviewing the whole commercial setup at the moment. We have various thoughts on Hospitality etc. for next season and some of this may undergo a radical change. In the interim, all the directors are assisting the stadium staff to ensure that things run smoothly over the next few home games.

We do not want to rush into a decision as to who will replace Debbie as we feel that would be a mistake. We are looking at a couple of temporary appointments at the moment to see us through prior to making any final decisions.

We are holding a sponsors day next Sat. at QOS game and would hope to attract circa 200 guests both existing and new sponsors for the Club. The response we have had over the past couple of weeks has been very positive indeed.

The Reserves

The reserves are doing exceptionally well and as stated in previous Boardroom Banter issues, the fact that they are getting competitive games on a regular basis is a great plus for us. John Robertson is delighted as to just how good an idea this has turned out to be and we are grateful to the Highland League teams for taking up the option to play us. Every game has been ultra competitive and this helps our young players tremendously.

Transfer Window

There has been a lot of speculation over various 1st team squad players but we can confirm that at this stage it is only speculation. No formal offers, or enquiries have been made for any of our players, and we are in contract talks with those players that are nearing the end of their current deals. The manager hopes to retain all his current players and continue to challenge for the title.

Our policy if any of our players were offered a chance to play SPL football remains the same as it has always been ... We would not stand in a player's way and would not be difficult to deal with so long as any offer we received for a particular player met our estimations of their value.

What is more worrying for the manager is that we have had a few injuries to deal with and some of these players are not yet ready to come back to the first team, with two of the injuries being classified as long term.

Charlie Christie, who played last weekend for a half with the reserves, is the closest to perhaps returning to challenge for a place in the starting line-up, but Richie Hart looks to be out for a long spell with a groin injury and David Proctor may not be available for selection until February as he is due to undergo shoulder surgery next week.

However, it is not all doom and gloom on the injury front as these injuries have given the players on the fringes of selection a chance to get into the team, with Liam Keogh performing well in midfield last weekend, and we also have David MacRae, Craig MacMillan, and Tony Low pushing for places.

Club Shop

The shop under the guidance of Les Kidger and his assistants has been a big plus for us. We are especially delighted that it was a supporter that came to us with ideas on how to improve this area of the club's operation and that we took on board what he had said, backed him in this venture and it makes it even more gratifying that it has paid off handsomely in both terms of increased merchandise sales, but more importantly, in greatly enhanced customer satisfaction.

We are sure there are many more people like Les out there willing to help, or who have ideas that would move the club forward in one way or another and all they need to do is contact us through the website and we will be delighted to speak to them. It makes a big difference to us when somebody comes along with an idea but is also willing to assist in its implementation.

Les has also been on the website asking for merchandising ideas so if anybody has any good ones we will oblige (if practical).

What we are also looking for if at all possible would be some volunteers to assist on match days as this is another area we rely on a small band of loyal volunteers to help out with, so again any help would be gratefully accepted.

E-Mail

Scotty has suggested that we have an email address so that supporters can send email direct to the Board of Directors that we might address in future issues of the Boardroom Banter series of articles and we have agreed with him to set-up a new address of Banter@CaleyThistleOnline.com for all your queries. We will not respond individually to any of the emails we receive, but will try to cover as many queries in the articles every month as we can. Scotty will post it on the website when the email address is up and running.