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Showing content with the highest reputation on 08/15/2017 in all areas

  1. Sensible statement outlining the business case - realistically who would want to run a football club? We can be grateful that some of those who have made money are still prepared to subsidise full time professional football in the Highland capital. The statement has the ability not only to get the ducks in order with spectators etc but the players. We need to find hunger to win games against 9 teams who currently appear somewhat hungrier and more competent than us. Morton will be highly motivated this Saturday so the pressure to perform must switch from the Board to the team with SUPPORT.
    3 points
  2. I think this observation more or less epitomises the club's situation as a whole and I also think that the difference is now that, with yesterday's statement, the situation has been acknowledged and largely clarified, and commitments have been made to make best efforts to sort a lot of things. I know there was a false dawn with what Willie Finlayson said at Robbo's unveiling but it does appear that yesterday's offering draws a genuine line in the sand. This will not, however, be anything like a quick fix - either on the pitch or behind the scenes and it would be unwise to expect one. On the other hand, communication, despite the absolutely desperate state it has been in for some time, is something which can probably be turned round quicker than most aspects.
    2 points
  3. I had a chat with Danny over email yesterday and my take from the conversation we had was that although it will not be solved overnight, he is acutely aware of the problems and trying to work through as many as he can as quickly as he can. I am more optimistic now that we will see an increase in the quantity and quality of online posts or articles coming out of the stadium but it will likely ramp back up more slowly than some would like. As I have posted previously, the biggest issue is personnel. With a couple of people who were key to the media offerings no longer being around the stadium, Peter has been taking this on as he is the most tech savvy down there right now ... but he has a ton of other duties to do too and this was not front and centre amongst them. There were a few changes made yesterday to the site (like the banner featuring RD) and as far as I know Peter will be training a few other people to use the actual content system. Danny will also be trying to make sure there is someone to look after the other stuff on a more consistent basis. It IS on the radar but give them a little slack until the y get the right bodies in place.
    2 points
  4. Absolutely the guy conveniently walked away leaving us where we are today, bottom of the league and skint. His appointment of the untried Foran on such a lucrative deal was absolute madness one which will be haunt us financially for a couple seasons to come, if all is to be believed.
    2 points
  5. And get rid of that NAFF badge ONCE & FOR ALL - PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    2 points
  6. Frankly I'm a bit baffled at the ongoing abuse and rantings after one bad game. The reviews against Dundee Utd suggested that we competed well and were unlucky from my recollection. We have a team which has not played together (only regular two players from last season started the game) and is hampered by some of the most experienced players being injured (e.g. Warren and Tremarco). A number of the new players need to prove themselves as being up to the standard however I'm sure their confidence will grow when they are read the forum (as most do) and see that they are being told they are rank and to 'feck off' as one poster seems to use as a tag line to every post. In fact we seem to have grown a few newbies who have even registered just to show their unconstructive 'support'. The reality is that the state of the club has meant that rebuilding will take more than one transfer window. We don't have funds to buy and therefore have to take risks on players who are raw or possibly need a fresh chance. This may find a few gems but will also find a few who will not make the grade. It will take a number of games to make an initial assessment of where we are but I am under no illusions of being able to compete at the top of the league. Happy clapping is not being asked for however a degree of common sense around the team needs to be applied with hopefully some of the injured players returning soon to provide some leadership. Wringing our hands at every opportunity and personal abuse of players and management (both playing side and non-playing side) is unlikely to improve anything.
    2 points
  7. Now some good news at last. With Alan Savage, Dougie and Ian McGillivray buying a large chunk of shares it looks like we could be about to turn the corner. Dougie was one of the instrumental people during the formation of our club and is a football man through and through. Throughout the years that Dougie has been in exile Ian has kept up the family link with the club, regularly attending our games. Alan Savage is also a well known football fan, his only fault apparently is that he is a Man U fan! I am sure that these men have not just purchased shares to lock them in their bed side cabinets. Really looking forward to these gents influencing the future of ICT.
    1 point
  8. That's pretty well it, apart from the minor detail that Jock McDonald was the inaugural chairman for 15 months until May 1995 when he was succeeded by Dougie who was in office until February 2000. Irrespective of what people say about David Sutherland, without the Tulloch intervention of 2000-01 the club may well have gone bankrupt and without the Tulloch intervention of 2004-05 to provide the stands, goodness knows what its future in the SPL would have been. DFS once told me that Tulloch intervened to a total extent of £5.3M and this claim does stand up to the arithmetic. One intriguing revelation has been that Tulloch are proposing to "repatriate" the main stadium as well as the N and S stands to the club. The main stadium was what was handed over initially to the ICT Charitable Trust in 2001 as a quid pro quo for spiriting away that £2M+ of debt but it seems that a sequence of complex deals led to ownership eventually passing to Tullochs, as the real quid pro quo for really having taken up that debt. In his "pre-happy clappy period", before he found God on that legendary holiday to Damascus, Caley D used to give the club pelters on here over that deal, where Tullochs effectively paid off the debt. As for Alan Savage, Companies House records that Orion hold 275189 (precisely captain!) shares in the club. This is presumably what it cost Orion to fund Niculae for the time he was here. This has now been highlighted by today's revelation that AS, DMG and IMG have gone 3 ways on the Hospice shares - a revelation which, in conjunction with DMG announcing a bid for two directors, is bound to spark speculation about a possible power struggle. In that event, the biggest shareholding is the 729,500 of the ICT Charitable Trust. These are mainly or even entirely the original Tulloch uptake from the 2001 bailout which were donated to the Trust. The Trust is now effectively controlled by Muirfield Mills, who are currently also well represented on the Board. So add in Muirfield Mills' own 376,00 shares and they have a clout of 1.05 million. Against that, and with the 3 way split of the Hospice shares, Orion/"Savco" has 466,500 and the McGilvray family (inc earlier acquisitions) just over 487,000. So McGilvray + Orion/"Savco" comes to 0.954M. Then there are significant holdings such as Roddy Ross (170,000), George Fraser (51,000), David Sutherland (his personal shares - 50,000), David Cameron (100,000) and Graeme Bennett (29,000). Where their loyalties may end up isn't entirely clear (although in certain cases that WON'T be with McGil/Savco!!) and we also don't know who have acquired what we assume to be the 500,000 shares corresponding to the "new money" announced in yesterday's statement. This is all in relation to a total of 4.4M issued shares (the previous 3.9M plus the assumed new 500,000, but extendable to 5M) The total number of shareholders, many of them owning just a token 250 but others into the thousands, is around 530. As a result, any battle for control of Caley Thistle could become an interesting sequence of events involving a large number of fragmented parties.
    1 point
  9. Curtis Allen scored once again in a 2-0 home win over Dungannon swifts
    1 point
  10. Good start on the improved communication front by, erm, apparently not informing fans of this friendly v Nairn tonight.
    1 point
  11. I think that we've had such a terrible time that people want news to be good. In truth, this isn't 100% good or bad. It's good that new people and potentially new investment is coming in and they'll bring their own strengths and contacts. Dougie MacGilvary was chairman when the club was formed but he was also running the club when it ran up significant debts. People bemoan David Sutherland and Tulloch now but they basically saved the club in the early 2000s. I remember MacGilvary opposing the investment that Tullochs made in the club at that time that started his exile. No-one could possibly argue that MacGilvary was right about that. Savage became involved in the mid 2000s and what he's remembered for is the Marius Niculae signing. Savage invested in shares to the value of Nicuale's first year wages and we had ourselves an international centre forward. Although Niculae was a top player it didn't end that well - the club got involved in a dispute with the player and we had to fight him into the Court of Arbitration for Sport over a payment he said was due. Savage left the board claiming time pressure with his business but it was generally seen at the time that Sutherland and Tullochs didn't like the Niculae scheme and Savages higher profile ideas. in addition, people are talking about Grassa etc coming back. We can't keep going back to how things were in the past, we need to develop a plan for the future for how to succeed as a club. I appreciate that there isn't a big queue of people willing to put money into Caley but we need to have a forward thinking club rather than trying to recreate something. As well, we suffered the consequences last season of having a manager and a chairman joined at the hip. If we'd sacked Foran in January we'd have had a better chance to stay up, So I'm in the fence regarding this development.
    1 point
  12. Oh God. Brad Mckay, Joe Chalmers and Coll Donaldson all in the same defence - I feel better already...
    1 point
  13. Highland Hospice shares have been sold to Alan Savage and Iain and Dougie MacGilvary.
    1 point
  14. A new broom sweeps clean - they say. I am reliably informed that the events of the past few months were indeed planned. The club was evidently in a rite shambles - both on and off the pitch. Previous attempts to overthrow the Tulloch regime were easily defended and defeated. Slowly, slowly, catchy monkey. So it had to be a gradual ploy. Again we all know that Foran should have been hooked at the end of 2016 but the "old boy" regime stood firm. Then in May a certain Rae and MacKenzie joined the directors. If we had stayed up we would probably have been in a far worse position than we are now. So it was a case of making ends meet. Draper is probably the only one who was - to a degree - pushed. Robertson's appointment was a bit of compromise. A case of give a little get a lot. Finlayson was the temporary diversion to release Cameron. As for where do the spondoolachs come from - Well Rae was in the last attempted coo in 2012. Graham Rae was in the Caddy (1972 - 1974) - worked in the Oil, Gas and Offshore Industries. Allan MacKenzie was in the Caddy (1970-1976) - Anyone notice a link with another Caddy schoolboy of the same era ??
    1 point
  15. The players we signed during the two seasons following the cup win. I've bolded the ones who I think had a positive impact on the team. Owain Fôn Williams Jordan Roberts Iain Vigurs Ryan Williams Nathaniel Wedderburn Andrea Mbuyi-Mutombo Liam Hughes Dani López Alex Fisher Tobi Sho-Silva Miles Storey Scott Boden Kevin McNaughton Henri Anier Jake Mulraney Brad McKay Lonsana Doumbouya Dean Ebbe Billy King Larnell Cole Jamie McCart Billy McKay Louis Laing Doumbaya wasn't a footballer but did score some goals and Mckay didn't have the impact we wanted but did OK. Alex Fisher did well when he played but wasn't used at all and Jordan Roberts also missed a lot of the season but looked dangerous when he did play. A parade of utter diddies though.
    1 point
  16. Well this isn't something you could leave to rough boys from the Tecky
    1 point
  17. To be fair, that's a pretty good statement. It says a lot of sensible things and gives some commitments which the Board need to keep. As they say themselves, now that they have talked the talk they need to walk the walk. There's quite a lot in the statement so apologies in advance for a longish post. Firstly, whilst I seem to recall someone saying Finlayson was just a fill in Chairman, the Board's statement regarding his appointment did not say so. Graham Rae was appointed to the Board after Cameron stood down so I wonder whether he was brought in with the intention of taking over after a period of familiarisation or whether the change of Chairman now is a result of Boardroom politics and/or related to the announced £500,000 investment. Regardless of that, the statement says that the whole of the investment will be "fully utilised towards addressing post and current financial shortfalls." Note that it says "towards". It is a good chunk of money but evidently not enough to fully address those shortfalls. It really does beg the question of what those shortfalls are and how they came about. What is heartening to read though, is the emphasis placed on prudent financial management going forward and not spending more than our income. It all smacks to me of an admission that there has been a period of overspending coupled with a recognition now of the need to return to the kind of sound financial management which was the keystone of our steady upwards progress in the past. Whilst the statement also talks about the goal of the Board being to return to the Premiership and compete for honours, it is interesting that it also states their desire to "restore the club to its rightful position at the heart of the Inverness community and delivering entertaining football ..." It specifically does not suggest that the club's rightful place is in the top flight. That may suggest a lack of ambition to some, but I think that is also a sensible and realistic position to take. We have no right to be in the top flight, but if we return, let it be because we have earned it and not because we have jeopardised the future of the club by spending beyond our means. What this means in practice is a significant period of rebuilding, and that might mean things getting worse on the playing side before they can get better. We are in a far worse position than when we were relegated before and we won't simply bounce back like last time for 2 reasons. Firstly we have lost so many of the players that allowed us to hold our own in the top flight, and secondly because much of our reduced income is already committed as a result of the financial mismanagement of the last 2 or 3 years. This season is all about survival both financially and on the park. For us as fans, it means facing up to the harsh realities of where we are and not having unrealistic expectations of the team. Our goal should simply be to not get relegated. If the Board can get back to balancing the books and the manager can keep us away from the drop, then next season we will have greater financial stability and a more settled team. We should then be able to start building again. The Board need to deliver on their statement and we need to hold them to account. In return, we need to give positive support to the team at this difficult time even though the standards and the results may not be what we would like and have come to expect. That doesn't mean we shouldn't criticise where criticism is justified, but it does mean that we give our active support to the team through thick and thin.
    1 point
  18. please let's not forget that Kenny Cameron played a MAJOR role in our current situation - no matter what his supporters say. OBTW we still don't have anyone with a football background on our board! Please don't say Danny McD cos he aint a director, he's a very well paid employee. Probably costing us the same if not more than Cameron! Cutbacks..........
    1 point
  19. On Saturday, Baird was one of only two of our players who looked like he knew what to do on a football pitch. I would like to see Bell given a chance, but instead of Oakley or Zscusschen rather than Baird.
    1 point
  20. I think it is a pretty fair statement. Reading between the lines, it is obvious they realise the mistakes and lack of communication has cost them a lot of trust and goodwill. It is easy to be cynical, as some will be, but as a statement of intent it is a big improvement on the past, and I think you have to give them a chance to follow it up and deliver what they say. I also have to say, I have no idea where this money is coming from, but surely a very welcome development at a time when we really need it. If it is put to good use, then happy to give them credit for getting that in. As for the questions, hopefully people will be able to ask that at the promised Q & A session. Graham Rae is a former Inverness Royal Academy pupil, an invernessian who was in the oil business, and is now retired, I believe, so will have the time to devote to the club. Good luck to him.
    1 point
  21. Time for OFW and Raves to start earning their keep. Ridgers is *****, and Chalmers doesn't even qualify as a donkey.
    1 point
  22. All very well but it leaves out the key info- who is the Pornhub bandit?
    1 point
  23. The Club is F****d ! Since Cup win 2 years ago its been downhill since then. After the win the then Chairman put an extra padlock on the piggy bank to stop Yogi repeating the season but soon splashed the cash on Foran wonder why? We have a Board who care not a jot about The Fans or moving the Club forward that much is very clear and with this years players especially defence is the worst ever but now without solid players in midfield like Greg & Drapes gone there is a big problem. Robbo clearly has been told not to play OFW & Raven (but he's had to ) because of wages but why if 2 weeks ago we could afford to keep Drapes (Robbo said his wages were accounted for in the budget) we still cant afford to keep these players? I am disgusted by the Club's attitude and i can see clearly why Drapes jumped off the sinking ship and went OTB who can blame him? he might have ended up playing part time football in a couple of years he has a family to support like all of us those calling him names on twitter etc Shame on you. You would all do the same thing given the chance. Interesting to see what is said by the club in next couple of weeks as i know people have emailed and complained but i suspect nothing.Years of penny pinching and cheap options will eventually ruin what was a wonderful wee club.
    1 point
  24. How long do you suggest , bearing in mind this is the 6th competitive game of the season, plus the pre season friendlies. Sooner or later the lame excuses will have to stop and the management and players will have to take responsibility. Appreciate the league is only 2 games old but to be spanked by Dunfermline, bottom of the Championship and out of the League Cup before the start of August is totally unacceptable.
    1 point
  25. With Draper and Tansey both gone this is make or break time for Liam. As you say, he has had plenty of opportunity to shine, but in the last couple of years he seems to have gone backwards. He now has a better than ever opportunity to show what he can do and playing at Championship level should also help. If he can't make a position his own this season, then I don't think he ever will.
    1 point
  26. I would have thought the website and communications in general was of crucial importance at the moment. This is not an "either or situation". Doing some work on the communication side of things does not mean that work has to stop on work around managing the finances and addressing shortcomings at the playing end of things. All these aspects are essential parts of the business and should be complimentary. Let us suppose you are a young player down South looking for a move to get some first team experience and your agent tells you ICT are interested in signing you. What do you do? You look up the club's website, social media outlets and probably the fans forum as well to find out a bit more about the club. As things stand, unless you were desperate, you would probably tell your agent you weren't interested. In order to attract the quality of players we need, the club must project an image of an efficient, progressive club with a positive sense of purpose and with a supportive fan base. As it is, the website and social media outlets give an image of a club in crisis. For instance, in the "News" section there is a choice if "Club" news or "Team" news. The latest "Team" news concerns the visit of the Krankies to the stadium in early July. News of new additions to the team are listed under "Club" news. And even then, the extent of any information about any of the new lads is just the absolute minimum. If the club announces it's new players to be world in such an amateur way, it is not going to make the club attractive to young guys looking to progress their careers. The lack of attention given by the Board to its social media outlets may well be preventing us from recruiting the very players who could help us turn our fortunes around. And it is not as though it is difficult to do. We may need to buy in some professional expertise to improve the website and to provide some training for staff in putting new stuff on (and removing when necessary), but website update would be a one off and not very substantial cost. A small proportion of Draper's transfer fee. Once that was done it would just require an hour or two a week at most for trained staff to keep on top of things. As for the Board members themselves, I appreciate that they may not have the social media skills themselves, but from their professional backgrounds each and everyone of them should know how important it is for the club to utilise social media effectively. They should all also be capable of drafting statements or tweets and making decisions in response to any events which happen, e.g telling someone with the IT skills to remove the picture of Ross Draper from the website. P.S. Having just had a closer look at the website, I note that the club hasn't even bothered to post any announcement at all about several of our new players. Welcome to ICT guys!
    1 point
  27. Sat 12 Aug 2017 Scot Premier D Imrie (Hamilton 3 - Dundee 0) SL 2 R McAllister (2) (Peterhead 3 - Elgin 0) Eng Championship F Morais (Millwall 1 - Bolton 1) S Winnall (Sheff Wed 1 - QPR 1) Irish Premier C Allen (2) (Ballimallard 1 - Glentoran 2) Highland League A Greig (Fort William 0 - Brora R 4) D Gillespie (Fraserburgh 4 - Rothes 2) S Soane (Keith 3 - Forres 5) M Finnis (Nairn 1 - Clach 1) Eng Northern Premier league L Cox (Farsley Celtic 3 - Coalville T 1)
    1 point
  28. On the positive side the steak Bridie was outstanding
    1 point
  29. 0 points
  30. For sure... might we see Grassa Bennett back to the club as DOF?
    0 points
  31. Suspect our level of expenditure was ok whilst sitting mid table in premiership. Even with the parachute payment the championship means a bit reduction in income. This appears to be the board attempting to close that financial gap.
    0 points
  32. Same Pissshhhh different day. So according to that we have money in the budget to hold on to players. Well lets get that useless **** between the sticks out and put OFW in, and use Raven some more. Let's be honest Ridgers is not too convincing, Chalmers is absolute pissshhhh. Robbo should use Bell more beause Baird has to be pointed in the right direction of goal and then can only score from 5" out - if he were a horse I would have shot him by now.
    -1 points


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