Scotty

Have split this topic and moved all the off-topic comments to Anything goes.

probably because we have worn training tops for each game .... numbers have been on shorts. I might be way off the mark here but maybe our first team shirts havent arrived from Errea yet and we only have a few for photo-ops ?

at least we have the finances and demand for it. and as for Duncans goal being the best in any of our games how the **** are you supposed to know that? Considering that clubs already have the rights to their own SPL footage and that any fool can knock up a half decent DVD on their home PC, then finances dont really come into it. Demand - ok, maybe you got me there ... there are far more DUFC fans than ICT fans that are so starved for success that they want to part with a tenner for a roxioed rendition of the highlights of last season although maybe DUFC should consider releasing it on floppy too.

Although this thread is supposed to be for ICT related links, I am going to leave it here as it is so **** funny !!!! do we still have a nessie mascot (as well as I-CaT) .... that track would be perfect for it to dance to on the park ..... there, made it ICT related :015: :015:

not unless you specifically buy tickets for it .... tickets for the uncovered sections at either end of the main stand are routinely sold for big games, whereas for games like Dunfermline, they are not.

you could also email tickets@ictfc.co.uk which is the email for the ticket office, but as LG says, a phonecall to the ticket office would be better. If you try to get tickets when you arrive, you are likely to be disappointed.

Aye, the first division ....... "Made in Scotland, from Gurners"

for half of these, I have no idea of the tune the writer is suggesting it is sung to ..... can those adding a song maybe suggest the tune too ?

Its the UK - nothing to do with NA BBC can broadcast every game on analogue/digital radio and also on the internet within the UK. When it comes to streaming outside UK it gets complicated ..... Quite a few clubs have PTV sites and with the exception of Hearts (who only block their own home games), they force the BBC to restrict coverage of all of their games to the UK only as BBC have exclusive rights in UK but not worldwide. As ICT dont yet have their PTV interactive stuff set up it means non UK ICT fans are at a severe disadvantage. Watching Celtic / Rangers obviously has additional problems as they not only have audio to deal with but also worldwide TV rights held by Setanta who dont actually broadcast in North America except on channels available only in pubs ! Other clubs like Hibs have their own internal offerings and dont actually block anything as their own offering is quite different. There was one Hibs game last season where the BBC showed the game as blocked but I managed to get them to unblock it after talking to Stuart Crowther at Hibs.net and verifying the arrangement with the BBC ! in short - the whole thing is a mess and calls for a single solution where fans can subscribe to a service to get either/both an audio or video feed from games and pay for it accordingly .... but it needs to be an SPL solution not just and ICT one.

As a matter of interest, I pulled up our Google Stats for the last FIVE days (4.5 really as it includes today) .... and the number of countries this site has been visited by is staggering even to me ..... Just over 1500 "unique users" made a little under 5000 visits to the site viewing nearly 44000 pages in the process. This is about normal for us during the close season but what surprised me a little was that although most of these 1500+ users came from the UK, the rest came from 42 different countries in every continent of the world. SPL/Setanta - If a site like this can pull in visitors from as many countries as this in just a 4 day period during the off-season, just think how many people you could get some cash from if you provided a service to service all of the teams in the SPL !!!!! note: a small definition of the terms used above. [li]unique user = person (or to be more specific - host/ip) who visits the site on any given day. If i visit again tomorrow, I am not counted again.[/li] [li]visits = number of visits by our unique users. If i view pages today it is a visit. if i view them tomorrow it is another visit, so in the three or 4 days of these stats, most of our 1500 unique visitors came to the site every day (which is good)[/li] [li]page views = actual pages being viewed.[/li]

Highlights of Saturday games cant be shown until after 6pm Sunday, Sunday games cant be shown until after midnight.

As far as I understand it, the deal is similar to whats already in place for the audio ... exclusive rights to analogue/digital broadcasting within the UK and non-exclusive rights for internet streaming and downloads. I anxiously await details of how it affects overseas listeners as nearly 50% of all internet streaming of ICT games was blocked outside the UK last season because our opponents had deals in place to broadcast their own audio and you couldnt purchase commentary on a game by game basis ........ many of the PTV sites (who provide the ICT site) have a service called "<insert club name> WORLD" which allows you to pay a fee to buy season long audio coverage of every game and live in-game stats but no sign of it appearing on the ICT site yet. As for the TV rights - on the face of it, I think that is complete crap although I will be happy to be proved wrong. According to their own website, SportFive cover parts of Europe (UK, Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, Poland, Monaco, Italy Switzerland) plus Singapore, Malaysia, and Argentina. NOTHING in North America, Australia, New Zealand, Africa or most of Asia. I understand the Setanta deal is also still in place but they too make it nigh on impossible to watch any SPL games in USA/Canada unless you are going to a bar that has paid for the channel (which is not available domestically) and your team is playing one of the OF. As I get older, I dont entirely enjoy the idea of going to a bar 20 miles away at 7:30am on a Saturday or Sunday morning and being surrounded by reminiscing neanderthals or second generation pseudo bigots who love "the Celtic" or "the Rangers" despite never having set foot in Scotland. The SPL recently held a "football tourism" workshop which had the stated desire of making it more appealing to visiting tourists to be supporters, be they ex-pats wanting to come see their team or new visitors for whom coming to a game would be part of a holiday in Scotland ...... with these deals they have done NOTHING to foster that aim ..... its a fcuking JOKE. Football is getting huge coverage in North America right now - with the U20 World Cup, Beckham to the MLS, and in Canada, the emergence of Toronto FC and its fans as a phenomenon never seen before in MLS (passionate, European/British style support) and yet, on the very same day that CELTIC will play in the MLS All-Star game in the US, the SPL announce a deal that does nothing to enhance or expand their existing audio/visual coverage by rubber stamping a continuance of the existing audio deal and giving worldwide TV rights to a company who dont even have a presence in 90% of the globe. SPL - You say you want to make the SPL attractive to overseas viewers and listeners ? You are failing miserably because the whole rights thing is confusing in the extreme and blocked left right and centre giving people no options. I WANT to listen to or watch ICT games, I enjoy it when I can get the audio for free on the BBC but by the same token I am also prepared to PAY my fair share for the privilege of being able to guarantee my listening/viewing ability. Instead of having a hodgepodge of different deals with different rules, you need to have one policy and slot these sponsors in. Here's a few easy ideas ....... Audio: - Let the BBC provide audio on the Internet for every game to listeners in the UK. If you must block certain games to users outside the UK, let them pay a nominal sum per game to unblock it using rights technology or something similar. Split fees for this with the clubs concerned if necessary. - Ensure that those clubs who are offering an audio service, offer it for both single games and for a complete season. If I cannot listen to a Kilmarnock V ICT game because Kilmarnock are exercising their broadcast rights and ICT dont have a service in place then I am quite happy to pay Kilmarnock a nominal sum for a single game commentary. However, right now I dont have that option, the only option I have is to buy their complete season package and thats not gonna happen !!! - for clubs with no audio service in place, tell them that a link to either the BBC or the Opposition Club site must be posted on their official site so that users who want to listen to a game can go straight to an official site and see their options. Alternatively, post this on the main SPL website. Video - Put pressure on Setanta / SportFive to offer a comprehensive package for supporters of every club. As an ICT suppporter I would like to watch all ICT games live on TV with multiple camera angles and a full commentary team ... but as a realist, I know thats not economically viable. However, for those games that cannot be broadcast live on TV, maybe the incoming footage can be streamed on the internet ? InternetFootball seem to be able to do it (most of the time) so why not Setanta ? If you actually give supporters a legitimate way of obtaining coverage, you might even spend less time trying to hunt down those who try to provide P2P services ! - Setanta make it nearly impossible to receive their TV channels domestically in North America and even the IPTV service via iTVN is difficult to organise in Canada - pressure them to look at this for all countries. :crazy07: I apologise if this has turned into a rant, but its a subject I have very strong views about and have written a number of articles about, some of which have even been published. I have no axe to grind with the BBC who give me what they can, when they can and seem to have the IT knowledge to succesfully make sure I cant access what I am not supposed to when games are only available inside the UK (believe me I have tried !!!), but the SPL and its other media partners are not doing anything to promote the league outside the country ... something they constantly say they are trying to do and even go to the extent of holding workshops to figure out the best way to do it . :029: :017:

:rotflmao: - I am trying so hard to not make a comment about Dundee and the "less hygenic pupils" ...... trying .... :crazy07: ...... :crazy07: ......... :crazy07:

Yesterday night they were in some white training top with no badge on the front. The white top had the ICT crest and Flybe on it. Going by what TCF says....blue, red then white I'd go for all black tonight. It had Flybe on the front but no badge from what can be seen in the photos. The white top has an errea symbol in the middle of the chest (just under the V-neck) and the Flybe logo just below that. There is no ICT logo on it although the shorts did have an ICT logo. The blue, red, and yellow training tops also appear to be of a similar design.

To the tune of 'who ate all the pies' Who is Niculae ..... Who is Niculae ..... He's the Guy that makes us Fly .... That is Niculae ..... sorry, best I can do ... but at least "guy" is another word other than "pie" that rhymes with Niculae !!!

Cant see that on their website .... but those ARE the two on trial at the moment .. in fact we have three Austrians ... Bauer, Taboga and Pusic

actually ... TCF was already worried about him scoring for Celtic against us before he signed :015: :015: As CD says, following ICT since its birth has been a fair old rollercoaster ride and although I'm not too keen on rollercoasters, this is one ride that has been worth it all the way..... compared to 3 or 4 weeks ago, I am now looking forward to the new season with some optimism and both Niculae, McDonald and the actions of the management in casting their net wide in the search for players have a lot to do with that.

I actually thought she was being complimentary towards you not antagonistic !!! - anyhoo, all this is off topic. please keep to the subject being discussed and take any love or hate fests to the message system or somewhere else.

Tend to agree with you Gillian .... If Ian can keep a lid on the temper (control it but not lose it entirely from his game) like he did a few times last season then interesting times are ahead.

with a common sense attitude like that, I wish you would post more ... it would save us a lot of work ! :015: :015:

I think Gordy means that out of those on the list, McArthur is seldom if ever mentioned whereas Sheerin, Calder, Teasdale, Mann and even Herchie get a good few mentions on here. In fact, Iain has probably been mentioned more times in this thread than on th whole site in the last 5 years despite his contribution to the early days of the club. Mike Noble could also be said to have less mentions than he perhaps deserves too.

If Charlie teams up the diminutive Deano with new signing Niculae will our strike force be called Nik (&) Nak ?? ..... Nic(ulae) just signed, and it was Herve Villechaize who played a character by that name on Fantasy Island ....... sure Don can photoshop this .....

I think that would depend on whether or not he would still be classed as a "Trialist", I'm guessing that as he has been signed subject to Work Permit that it may exclude him from playing in that capacity. or can he play because he isnt technically signed until the work permit is granted ? guess we will find out from the team lines ......

feck me .... thought you meant CaleyD when I first read this post !!! Like CaleyD, whose glass is once again half-full, I feel a bit more relieved at the press release. Apart from a minor quibble about them actually getting his International appearances wrong, the rest of the content of the release is heartening indeed. He's taken a significant reduction in what he first wanted in wages, Orion are presumably paying the overflow between the upper limit of the wage structure and the final salary, and just the tone in general gives the impression that we are indeed beginning to move forward without putting ourselves in financial jeopardy. :021: :021:

davieB .... perhaps I am seeming to be on both sides of the fence on this one, and thats because I am. I applaud the club for their ambition but its a risk and I am glad that its CC and GB who have to decide whether to take that risk rather than me ! This is what I posted on the "Niculae to play in Elgin" thread ...... "I can see both sides here ... and both could be right as far as I am concerned. The player has openly said that he wants to play in the SPL in the hope he will get a dream move to either the OF or to England. He therefore sees ICT as a stepping stone to that goal. In that respect it would be reasonable to assume that he will try hard, score goals and do everything he can to put himself in the shop window ..... On the other hand, here is a player, who if you look at his stats has gone from a great early career that saw him banging in goals left right and centre for both club and country and then being snapped up by one of the traditionally big European clubs to a recent career blighted by injury and a drought in front of goal that saw his career take a downward turn as he went from Lisbon to Liege and then Mainz ..... could he be a dud looking for a pay cheque or like Dargo and many others before him, could he be a player whose career ICT resurrects ? Its a bold move, and if he does what his early career shows he can do then he may well earn ICT as much as he costs with vital goals to take us to the top 6 or to a cup final .... This is one that CC and GB need to carefully consider and make a judgement based on what they see in training or friendlies rather than be blinded (or blindsided) by his credentials or the recommendations of Hagi/Popescu"