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Showing content with the highest reputation on 08/09/2017 in all areas

  1. Tonight's sale of Draper to Ross County has (hopefully) concluded the worst summer of the clubs entire 23 year existence. starting with relegation, we've seen the following. - We sack Richie Foran after the end of the season, which was the right decision but taken so late that the rightness or wrongness of it becomes secondary. Why persevere with someone for so long when he obviously wasn't good enough, suffer the consequences and then take action when it's too late? The fact someone with his history at the club was despatched with a two line statement was also a joke. - The club then reshuffles the boardroom, with a load of Inverniessian estate agents, solicitors and whatnot leaving and joining. No-one really has any idea who any of these people are, none of them have any experience at running a football club whatsoever. The only chink of light is appointing Danny MacDonald, who does know about this, as COO last week. - Following relegation we don't reduce season ticket prices and issue unbelievably arrogant press release about getting promoted as champions. The tin eared idiocy of this is made more apparent by subsequent events - we ask fans to stump up money to ensure we can cover costs but then release and sell our high earners? Surely someone must've realised how this would go over? The 'apology' afterwards is nothing either, don't get into situations where you have to apologise. - The club then embarks on the most nonsensical summer of PR idiocy its possible to imagine. The only way it could be worse is if Finlayson invited a few Japanese trawler boats to dock outside the stadium and slaughter some of the dolphins. First we get rid of stalwarts like Duncan Shearer by text message, then we adopt radio silence from our social media team, then when we get someone to man the Twitter account, they accidentally like filth and our club outs out the stupidest statement in our history about it. It's been said that lots of this stuff was done by volunteer but you could employ a 16 year old media student and they'd do a better job. - In between this we praise the candidates who applied for our job and were interviewed and then... appoint someone who didn't apply, hasn't worked as a manager in five years, hasn't been particularly successful at this level in 13 years and was shocked to get in. I hope he does a good job and he's at least a positive person but looking at things logically the odds are stacked against him. He's also working with people he hasn't brought in, no doubt due to cost, and will be under pressure very soon if we don't go on a run. The fact that he's already started slating the team and players doesn't bode well. - In terms of playing we've lost some stalwarts, as you'd expect, and replaced them with jobbers. Being absolutely honest about it we've signed raw youth players doing the trialist rounds, jobbers who've been released for being no good or guys who've most likely come from agents. We don't have a solid defender and we don't have someone to score double figures in this league. We also someone got into a war of words with an ex player managing a HL club that we have loads of links with over us trying to sign their best player and captain for no money. An utter embarrassment. i don't really mind about us selling players or who they go to, all players leave evenuslky and it's better to clear out players too soon than too late. Our squad was stale and under performing. It's the fact we are certain to sign utter useless jobbers to replace the players who've left that is really concerning. I don't think I've missed anything. I don't know if the board or the manager or the Chief Operating Officer wants to give us an update on what the plan is with all this but it's difficult to see where it's going. We don't have an identity as a team, we don't have a structure to ensure that we succeed as much as possible. We have made investment available but no-one is going to invest, apparently. Is this it for the foreseeable? As fans we need something to look forward to, more than a win against Forfar, although that's probably going to be as good as it gets these days, I just hope that at least somebody in charge at the club realises what a state we are in because it needs to change. We are more likely to leave this division down the way than up at the moment and if the people in charge don't get that then we are in for a hard few years until they do.
    15 points
  2. The absolute state of some of our fans being happy for Draper. He's moved to our rivals. Even worse he's forced a move to our rivals by demanding a transfer. At a time when you wanted the leaders in the team to take the bull by the horns and try and lead the team to something resembling a promotion fight he's jumped ship to Ross County of all teams. and folk say they're happy for him!? Aye, okay then. As renegade says it's not like he was struggling financially or anything unless he's been taking gambling tips from Lewis Horner. As far as I'm concerned, thanks for your effort for the last few years but that's it. I don't wish him well at all. Can't help but feel if the board showed some balls and punted Foran after Accies romped to that 3-0 win we might not be in this situation.
    7 points
  3. We have been in the top flight 13 of the last 15 seasons and the other two we won the First Division - being in the top flight is NOT punching above our weight. It's that sort of small-time,defeatist thinking that's lead to where we are now.
    4 points
  4. I genuinely don't think it has punched above its weight at all. We are a lower premier league/top championship sized club. We had 2-3 great years in which we did actually punch above our weight at the top of the premier league but that's all. We had more than enough to minimum just remain in the premier league. But Penny after penny pinched away, the absolute inability to attract any substantial investment into the club which is /was based in 'the fastest growing town in Europe' and woeful judgements on how and when to let players/managers leave have led to this.
    4 points
  5. I was at least optimistic about this season, although everything ICT Chris says rings true. However, the sale of Draper to County is the last straw for me. I really do have to consider now giving my support to this dysfunctional board and therefore the club. Already paid for my season ticket but increasingly feeling conned by the board. Simply don't know if I can be bothered attending games now as the club appears to not value their support at all ( which is nothing new)
    4 points
  6. There isn't an area of the club that isn't cheap (except the prices of everything the club sells) Not one thing is done well with quality or pride. It's just make do in the cheapest way. Supporters treated with contempt as they'll just pay up regardless. I wouldn't accept this from any other buisness. Why do I do it here? No wonder crowds are down and will drop further. i can accept there isn't much money in Scottish football but we have been run dreadfully. We all know this club can be so much more. But It's a constant stream of negativity and cost cutting. It's been like this since long before the cup final. Success papered over the ever increasing cracks. But at the moment it's Impossible to see how we can move forward in a positive fashion. It's utterly depressing.
    3 points
  7. Sad to see him leave, he's done an excellent job for us over the years. That being said, I think it's a good deal for the club. £100,000 in the bank, plus another £2,000 a week (allegedly) off the wage bill. Were we really getting value for money? Would rather let Robbo bring in 5 or 6 youngsters (hungry, point to prove) on modest full-time contracts with that cash.
    3 points
  8. Shoot me down in flames,but if its true that Draper put in a transfer request & asked to leave,then probably just as well to sell,rather than keep a reluctant player,then see him go for nothing.. Tansey a good example - he didn't exactly set the heather on fire last season..
    3 points
  9. No one is saying there aren't faults on the part of the board / management. That's obvious. But you're making out like Draper has been hard done by when he clearly hasn't. He was one of the top earners at the club and one a long term deal compared to most and was held in high regard by the management. Contrast that to someone like OFW who has been completely frozen out at the club. Instead of showing some loyalty and trying to help get the club back up to the Premiership, similar to Foran, Rooney etc in 09/10 but instead he's forced a move to our local rivals and folk are understandably unhappy about it. I see no reason whatsoever to wish the guy well in the future and he's fair game for criticism for this move.
    2 points
  10. I've said it before and I'll say it again, one of the main reasons crowds have fallen and people have drifted away is that they just didn't feel wanted. Look how often the club plug hospitality and look at the state of the shop, the state of the toilets, the state of the tannoy, the state of the bar, the state of North Stand and it's facilities. The club believe that appalling bad facilities is what we deserve. We are the little people and all we are are walking chequebooks for the old boys club in the boardroom. People don't come at all or have drifted away because they didn't feel wanted and they didn't feel welcome. The chickens have come home to roost.
    2 points
  11. Agree with RIG on this. If true Draper submitted a transfer request, then no sympathy for him but do wonder if he was tapped and certainly feel the board could have done more to try to avoid this scenario. Feel really conned by the board as have bought my season ticket on false pretences. This board needs to go and soon as they are slowly ruining a hard won reputation for ICT and seem to not give a f**k. Never thought I would say this but seriously questioning attending games now.
    2 points
  12. Yeah, I thought about buying a seat this season even though I live in Edinburgh and wouldn't make that many games. Why would I bother now though, paying more money for what's bound to be utter crap. The club don't seem to realise that it's give and take in football - they have to give the fans something, at least some hope. Usually this is a great time of year, you can be optimistic and look forward to the season but our entire organisation is on a downer. That is going to have a massive impact on the club, they need to realise this.
    2 points
  13. Sir C don't be depressed, as I said on another topic I could have never imagined seeing ICT lift the SC. I'm happy to have experienced that even if we never get back to the PL. The club has punched well above its weight for many years and we need to get that grit back that we had in the early years. A seriously bad management decision has led to all of this. A period of rebuilding now needs to take place and I suspect it will take years. Players were happy to sign up when we were a PL team, not anymore, we need management who can find unpolished diamonds that the rest are unaware of to make any impression on this league.
    2 points
  14. The club is an absolute basket case at the moment, the spat with Buckie seen us sink to an all time low.
    2 points
  15. C'mon mun they've got important Pornhub investigations to complete. Danny's been working on it night and day.
    2 points
  16. Sorry folks, but I care little for this 'it's a good deal for him and his family' attitude. Masks over the fact that the guy was making a pretty good living already.
    2 points
  17. If this is true, our board should resign now.
    2 points
  18. You can bet that if it was 200k plus the board would have been only too happy to disclose it.
    2 points
  19. All the rats are deserting the sinking ship. There seems to be no loyalty in football anymore. If it is true that he put in a transfer request, I'm disappointed as I thought some of the players who got us relegated might want to stay and try to get us back up.
    2 points
  20. Scratch all that. He's off. Put in a transfer request. Judas! Et tu, et tu!
    2 points
  21. this is all basic but we always seem to ignore what is important to the FANS and what can be done to attract more. we have appointed a new COO (fancy title) but I fear he doesn't have either the experience or knowledge to achieve what is needed. the long and short of it is that we are a cheapsgate club and will continue to be so under this regime.
    2 points
  22. It was quoted on the ICT website on the 13th of June that there was going to be a meet and greet open day for season ticket holders to meet players managers and directors pre season! Did I miss this or are they too scared to face the supporters now? So much for this new regime of openness. The silence from the club, unless they are selling a player or trying to sell hospitality, is deafening.
    1 point
  23. .... probably including any of the 33 out of 33 that Inverness College seem to have managed to get to fail their Higher Media Studies over the last two years. But for the moment to turn to Chris's OP - what a swingeing and well articulated condemnation of a summer of chaos within a club which just two years previously was displaying the Scottish Cup and playing in Europe. Apart from the extent of the decline, its rate has also been eye watering. The only part of Chris's precis with which I might differ is on players and management. Given the extreme lack of funds, I'm not sure if appointments and recruitment could be expected to be any better. I retain an element of cautious, albeit necessarily limited optimism in this department. We really must also wonder just how close to the wire - electric fence even - finances have got in recent months; and to what extent has paying silly money to poorly motivated mediocrity been responsible? Returning now to public relations and communications , I despair no less - indeed even more now - than I've done for several years. This is something I've been trying to make clear to them for a long time but I've seen neither the capacity nor the will to do anything about it - nor indeed even any concept of the need to win friends and influence people and the attendant role of communication. Quite frankly, a few cheesy, happy clappy tweets (and even these have now disappeared) don't begin to pass muster here. Communication and PR have been dreadful, awful, pathetic, abysmal and God knows how many other adjectives out of the same stable. Worse still, the deficit has been obscured behind a firewall of happy-clappy complacency. Chris rightly highlighted Seasonticketgate, Shearergate and Porngate. These are all toe-curlingly embarrassing foul ups of the highest order but are also simply the continuation of a long established trend. However the most revealing feature of this thread has been the rate at which it has grown even within a couple of hours. It's telling as well as distressing, to see so many Caley Thistle fans who are regular, articulate and respected posters on this forum spontaneously echoing what the OP has rightly said. When you get such unanimity among so many contributors with proven track records for commenting on these things, you see in the starkest of terms the situation the club is in and the deep concerns of its supporters. As for the Draper issue, not only is this another reflection of the relative status of the two Highland clubs, it's also the latest example of Roy MacGregor being in a position to rub Caley Thistle's noses right in it. And having had to endure "Always In Our Shadow", "Pride Of The Highlands" etc, it's difficult to criticise him for this.
    1 point
  24. So, going back to this point, I now reckon we are deep in debt and can't afford to gamble on a promotion push, so we've sold the family silver. Robbo's assertion that he'd not sell after the end of July is dust. I doubt we'll get anyone else in - the best have been snapped up and the income has gone to the bottom line. So, we'll go with what we've got and a club with poor morale and a disillusioned support. The result of a catalogue of errors since the day Dundee United knocked on the door for Hughes. Those of you who think our youth might be our salvation - the SFA's project Brave is likely to wipe that out for us too. Tough decisions about to be made on how to deal with that little gem too.
    1 point
  25. Disappointed he's gone but don't blame him at all. If you had a job opportunity with an increased wage, while at the same being able to stay living where you are, who wouldn't take the offer?
    1 point
  26. There seems to be a couple of posters who'd try and paint administration or being relegated every season until we finished bottom of the Highland League below Fort William and Strathspey Thistle as some kind of positive. Perhaps this kind of intellect should be expected though from people who's username seems to have been coined by their hand slapping the keyboard...
    1 point
  27. Things are bad and disappointing but not that bad. The Rangers, beaten by a team of part timers from Luxembourg, are still the official laughing stock of Scottish football and still will be for many years to come.
    1 point
  28. Sorry rig and renegade I cannot and will not accept personal criticism of draper when this is a club structural and management issue. The club did not have to let him go but happily took a very low offer and 220000 saving of their wage bill over the next 2 years. There was multiple ways to stop this happening but the very first rebuff of the bid by the club said we want more not we wont sell. Look to the board. No employee leaves a job where they feel valued and supported and the current recovery from foran will not be a secure or positive environment for many.
    1 point
  29. I said it before, that we are disappearing into oblivion as a football club. When you think of the good work that people like Dougie Mcgillivray and Alan Savage had done previously this past season has been absolutely shocking. It took time but we built ourselves into a superb football club. Now we are run by a bunch of amateurs who know nothing about running a football club. I will be criticised by Scotty and IHE for my comments again. PLEASE will somebody put up the FOR SALE notice.
    1 point
  30. We're a shambles, end of. Going to take more than super glue to fix this one.
    1 point
  31. I echo all of the above. The Club is a train wreck from top to bottom and all after the biggest result in our history. Where to from here? Without a huge shake-up, I reckon we'll be part-time in 3 years and unable to attract 1000: That's if administration (or worse) doesn't get us first. Sad times.
    1 point
  32. For me this is a pretty clear hoisting of the white flag by the current regime. I would accept selling Draper to any club in the UK except County. I have no rabid hatred for our neighbours but this is an absolutely seismic shift in the dynamics between our respective clubs which cannot be allowed to happen. A very clear capitulation to our neighbours for an absolute pittance. Over the past 23 years I've been gutted by various departures but have reluctantly accepted this is par for the course when one follows a club of our stature. However, from my perspective, this move is totally and utterly unacceptable and Draper should not be sold to County at any price. The fact is that he's not only our biggest asset but, in my opinion, pretty much our only marketable asset and we appear to be being taken for mugs. If this transaction goes through, as I suspect it will, then earlier proclamations by our new Chairman and Manager constitute pretty clear misrepresentations to the fan base and season ticket holders which need to be addressed. Shameful and clearly time for meaningful regime change before we're forever in their shadow.....
    1 point
  33. So was he tapped up and then put in a transfer request knowing a wee wages boost was coming from the deep pockets at County? Surely ICTFC permission and agreement on fee was needed before speaking to a contracted player? So who was involved in the tapping up? Serious investigation required by ICTFC if they have really been reluctantly forced to sell. Or is this just skint board spin. This happens too often. Time to make players / managers /agents /boards properly accountable for apparent dodgy dealings with a proper protocol for handling these scenarios enforced by SFA/SPFL with severe penalties (points deductions, suspensions, bans, etc) agreed and set out in advance for infringements. Severely p'd off.
    1 point
  34. Absolutely zilch chance of that now? Theyd need armour!
    1 point
  35. Six figures? Likely £1000.00 plus 2 haggis pies.
    1 point
  36. Jog on troll. Not surprising that a Staggys first port of call would be a Caley Thistle fans forum though.
    1 point
  37. I think we must now be officially the laughing stock of Scottish football. Going from Scottish cup winner's and Europe to relegation and losing our best players to our rivals! What is this club doing???? We only get tidbits of information from the 'closed shop'. Where's the meet and greet for season ticket holders before the season starts, was it not stated that Tremarco would be presented with his player of the year trophy at the start of the season? And so much for Robbo saying once August came no other players would be sold.
    1 point
  38. I guess Raves will be pleased now as he probably won't be shipped after January. We will need his experience to get us out of the hole that the board is digging for Robbo.
    1 point
  39. Well, at least these issues can be raised before the season starts at the season ticket holder's meet and greet event.
    1 point
  40. Ach well if its true look on the bright side, at least we have appointed a much needed Chief Operating Office. Who needs a strong presence in the centre of midfield when you can have a shiny new Chief Operating Officer in the boardroom.
    1 point
  41. He was also the league's top scorer and the big difference between being a real relegation threatened side and ending up relatively safe. His importance to the team being clear with drapers less clear. If Vigurs is to fill the deep role centrally like he did rather successfully against Dundee United I'd like to see a more technical player available to us going forward who can beat a man and thread through balls. I'd be delighted if we managed to sign someone in that mould and keep Draper but financially something has to give whether it's Draper, Raven or OFW time will tell.
    1 point
  42. Surely he's worth at least £250
    1 point
  43. only really back to normal thinking now after another heavy weekend on the sauce in Inverness. Really disappointed we didn't at least take a point from that game. I felt we played all the football and were the much better side. . . . A little toothless up front though, also think the utd keeper commanded his box very well he was a big factor in their win. At first i thought the utd pen was a dive but after watching the video back i think it's safe to say the ref got the call right. One of the few he did get right, another awful referee performance which has become the norm for me watching games in the flesh in Scotland. If Craig Thomson is supposed to be one of Scottish footballs best then i am concerned as his display was amateur on Saturday. Just as bad as the refs in the Irish league. Vigurs certainly deserved the MOTM and i also think Raven had a very good game. Bar the result it was another cracking trip over and i already can't wait for the next one. I also walked through the right turnstile this time too
    1 point
  44. Wouldnt accept less than 240 for draper myself.
    1 point
  45. Just to put it into perspective, what Neymar will be paid every two weeks at PSG will be more that the vast majority of people in this country earn in a 45 year working life. Obscene does not begin to describe it!
    1 point
  46. We maintain the squad list program for the club but can only do so when we receive the information. We also maintain the technical aspects of the website (hosting and security updates) but have no responsibilities in terms of the editorial content. We have recently invested quite a lot of money to revamp the squad/stats program and we hope the fruits of that will be seen soon. For some reason, even now the season is underway, the club seem reluctant to pass squad information on in a timely fashion. I dont have time to chase it down on a daily basis. This is where the club (and the supporters) should realise how much they really miss Don or someone like him. You can slag him off or cast aspersions as to his motives/character or anything else, and you can disagree with him mildly or vehemently, but the simple fact of the matter is that he was the one running around collating this info, getting in onto the site, and doing a whole host of other things including looking at a total revamp of the (official) site that would cost the club five figures if they put it out to tender. Thats before you even look at the media side of things with twitter/facebook and the push to get audio/video coverage for fans of the club. This is not a criticism of the others who are trying to pick up the slack. We do still have a media team and they will do sterling work but its not an easy task and it will take time for them to fill the empty shoes. Peter has had to step into the breach for the website and add that on top of all his other duties so he posts what he can when he can find a spare second or two. I am sure if you give him a brush he can stick it somewhere and sweep the floor at the same time !! There is still a non-techy (as opposed to technophobe) culture at the TCS and the first thought is not to get things onto the website or social media .... so unless you have someone going round and cajoling others for the information or sticking video/still cameras in people's faces then you are going to see a diminished product this year. I hope I am wrong, but thats how I see it.
    1 point
  47. Stop with the hand wringing, the player has done what is best for him and his family, our fate was sealed by an incompetent board who effectively sacked a good manager and appointed a rookie, a decision applauded by many on this forum. Get used to some years in the wilderness of what is not a good standard of football (even the premiership is rank look at the European results Gibraltar Luxembourg Cyprus the former whipping boys of European football) we are a footballing backwater. That said, as a long term supporter of this club I could not have dreamed that we would one day win the Scottish Cup and I will never forget that day and I don't expect to experience it again in my lifetime. Enjoy watching the game whatever the level.
    0 points
  48. Given our track record, the "undisclosed six-figure fee" will be £1,000.00
    0 points
  49. Regarding player sponsorhip, the people who have sponsored current players do not appear as sponsors on the website when you look at the player stats. Even the basics sems to be impossible to do just now!
    0 points


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