We will never get a better chance than this to convert some of the day-trippers who rarely, if ever, attend home games into season ticket holders. If I was our Glorious Leader Kenny Cameron then I would mount a campaign which surpassed anything the club has done before advertising-wise to do just that:

 

- Send letters to every one who bought tickets to the cup final 

- Billboards around the city showing the great prices on offer

- Free or reduced price ticket(s) to the home Euro game to every season ticket holder

- Keep up the level of community involvement that we saw before the final for the next month. If the players are still in Inverness and are keen, they could tour schools with the Cup before the kids leave for the summer holidays

- Take the cup to the summer Hotshots coaching sessions etc. along with season ticket forms

- Keep a city centre presence in the form of a shop for the summer at least

Edited June 1, 201511 yr by Guest

Does the Dows bus still run and how much does it cost?

What's the situation with supporters clubs in the Central belt? Could someone start an official one that could run buses or minibuses to most home games?

Getting back to the original heading.

The club are pretty switched on anyway.

A few ideas.

Beer, bouncy castle, burgers and band theme day.

An ICT night, where the bars in the town offer set drinks at £2.50 if you wear an ICT top.

Get your picture taken holding the cup with every st book sold and have it emailed to you.

The city getting behind the club again for its first European night.

Not sure if this would be practical, but if there was possibly a 10 home game flexi season ticket for fans who find that work or family commitments mean that they cannot attend every home game. Of course it would be subject to availability at individual games.

An ICT night, where the bars in the town offer set drinks at £2.50 if you wear an ICT top.

 

£2.50 a drink? Extortion!  

You'll get most drinks far cheaper than that any night of the week in the ICT Social Club!

Now there's another dimension. If a larger percentage of an increased fan base could be persuaded to offer their pub allegiance to one of the cheapest establishments in town, the football club would also benefit since it is the overwhelming beneficiary of Social Club profits.

Not sure if this would be practical, but if there was possibly a 10 home game flexi season ticket for fans who find that work or family commitments mean that they cannot attend every home game. Of course it would be subject to availability at individual games.

I believe this was mentioned before and the club tried it. It probably wasn't successful enough to repeat.

Getting back to the original heading.

The club are pretty switched on anyway.

A few ideas.

Beer, bouncy castle, burgers and band theme day.

An ICT night, where the bars in the town offer set drinks at £2.50 if you wear an ICT top.

Get your picture taken holding the cup with every st book sold and have it emailed to you.

The city getting behind the club again for its first European night.

 

Hi Uncle Roy...!!!!

An ICT night, where the bars in the town offer set drinks at £2.50 if you wear an ICT top.

£2.50 a drink? Extortion!  

You'll get most drinks far cheaper than that any night of the week in the ICT Social Club!

Now there's another dimension. If a larger percentage of an increased fan base could be persuaded to offer their pub allegiance to one of the cheapest establishments in town, the football club would also benefit since it is the overwhelming beneficiary of Social Club profits.

Isn't the social club a private members club, invitation only. with a locked door.

Wasn't the club sold to a director to create extra funds. I'm not sure how this would help the club.

Having x amount of people wearing ICT tops behind closed doors hardly raises the profile of the club.

 

 

An ICT night, where the bars in the town offer set drinks at £2.50 if you wear an ICT top.

£2.50 a drink? Extortion!  

You'll get most drinks far cheaper than that any night of the week in the ICT Social Club!

Now there's another dimension. If a larger percentage of an increased fan base could be persuaded to offer their pub allegiance to one of the cheapest establishments in town, the football club would also benefit since it is the overwhelming beneficiary of Social Club profits.

Isn't the social club a private members club, invitation only. with a locked door.

Wasn't the club sold to a director to create extra funds. I'm not sure how this would help the club.

Having x amount of people wearing ICT tops behind closed doors hardly raises the profile of the club.

 

 

No...No...and No

Getting back to the original heading.

The club are pretty switched on anyway.

A few ideas.

Beer, bouncy castle, burgers and band theme day.

An ICT night, where the bars in the town offer set drinks at £2.50 if you wear an ICT top.

Get your picture taken holding the cup with every st book sold and have it emailed to you.

The city getting behind the club again for its first European night.

 

Hi Uncle Roy...!!!! We had this for the unveiling of the last away top. Keep up. Don't think beer was involved the last time.

What about an away season ticket for the many supporters based in the central belt? 9 of our 11 competitors are within an hour's drive of most of the central belt whereas it's pretty much a 6 hour round trip to get to a home match. I don't know if I'm typical but I go to maybe half a dozen away matches a season but I would go to a lot more if at least some of my money was going to MY club and not the competition.

If we typically have 250 fans at an away match paying £20 then the home team currently gets £5k. If we could double the away attendance to 500 and the ticket money is split 50:50 then the home team still gets £5k (plus the catering profit from an extra 250 fans) but ICT also gets £5k. That's nearly an extra £100k a season. I'd like to think that the fact that half the money goes to your own club would encourage more people to go to away matches.

Granted it needs the co-operation of the other clubs and needs a bit of thought but I think it could work.

What about an away season ticket for the many supporters based in the central belt? 9 of our 11 competitors are within an hour's drive of most of the central belt whereas it's pretty much a 6 hour round trip to get to a home match. I don't know if I'm typical but I go to maybe half a dozen away matches a season but I would go to a lot more if at least some of my money was going to MY club and not the competition.

If we typically have 250 fans at an away match paying £20 then the home team currently gets £5k. If we could double the away attendance to 500 and the ticket money is split 50:50 then the home team still gets £5k (plus the catering profit from an extra 250 fans) but ICT also gets £5k. That's nearly an extra £100k a season. I'd like to think that the fact that half the money goes to your own club would encourage more people to go to away matches.

Granted it needs the co-operation of the other clubs and needs a bit of thought but I think it could work.

 

Has been suggested at SP(F)L before and never got the support of enough clubs to make it a goer.

 

Suggestions, such as reciprocal discounts for away fans tend not to garner much support from clubs either because offering cheaper tickets to away fans tends not to go down too well with home fans and/or you run the risk of home fans going in the away end to save themselves a few quid.

What's the situation with supporters clubs in the Central belt? Could someone start an official one that could run buses or minibuses to most home games?

At least your in the right area to get a good price for a bus. But with everyone spread out down there and a local pub having no affiliation with ICT or not being able to make money on the back of it then it makes it more difficult to have a pub subsidise the transport, add on to that an early departure and late return,then there's 0 money to be made for a pub. You then have the who spends the £800 to get a bus.

Cheapest option may be to hire a minibus and take turns to drive.

An official supporters club would involve a treasurer etc.Not unless it was part of a combined effort linked to an already formed supporters club etc and its worth planning ahead for the Euro fixture.

Inverness reds charge £16 pa and £10 for concession.

It would be good to find a cheaper way to create our own supporter groups though, get driven by bus to the match and have fans make a day of it.

 

 

An ICT night, where the bars in the town offer set drinks at £2.50 if you wear an ICT top.

£2.50 a drink? Extortion!  

You'll get most drinks far cheaper than that any night of the week in the ICT Social Club!

Now there's another dimension. If a larger percentage of an increased fan base could be persuaded to offer their pub allegiance to one of the cheapest establishments in town, the football club would also benefit since it is the overwhelming beneficiary of Social Club profits.

Isn't the social club a private members club, invitation only. with a locked door.

Wasn't the club sold to a director to create extra funds. I'm not sure how this would help the club.

Having x amount of people wearing ICT tops behind closed doors hardly raises the profile of the club.

 

This degree of misunderstanding about the Social Club is worrying.

The Social Club is indeed a members' club and so cheap to join (I've forgotten exactly what the annual fee is because I became a life member years ago) that you can LITERALLY recoup your membership fee through the first two nights' cheap drink. It also has a very efficient "signing in" policy which means that, for instance on match days, there is frequently a large presence there of non-member fans and people from hospitality, for whom there is sometimes also a bus from the stadium.

However it's the ownership issue that tends to be the worst understood. About 5 years ago the premises were sold to then director Graeme Bennett and leased back by the football club/ Social Club board.

Presumably at the time it was considered preferable to have the cash in hand and to pay rent instead.

This, however, does not alter the fact that the arrangement continues to be that the Social Club is run by a board and profits are still ploughed into the football club. Graeme Bennett, apart from the rent he receives as a return for his cash up front, has no other financial interest in the social club and does not participate in its running.

I would therefore much prefer to have x amount of people in ICT tops, or indeed in any other kind of top (bar the two which would need to be proscribed), either signed in or as members, drinking in there and hence making more money available to the football club.

I really do think that there is not enough realisation among ICT fans that every time they use the Social Club, and at prices lower or indeed much lower than elsewhere, they are contributing directly to the finances of the football club.

Thanks for the clarity Charles.

I Was just going by what had been posted on this site years ago.Can anyone join or is it still you have to find 2 members to nominate you in.

The whole town was buzzing Saturday night with everyone clad in their colours. A great way to promote the club don't you think.

Thanks for the clarity Charles.

I Was just going by what had been posted on this site years ago.Can anyone join or is it still you have to find 2 members to nominate you in.

The whole town was buzzing Saturday night with everyone clad in their colours. A great way to promote the club don't you think.

12th man....  I think it's clarity which in much needed. I don't think there's a great enough awareness of the Social Club among supporters.

The European game(s) will be a great opportunity to create some kind of carnival atmosphere in the town, and with it being the height of the tourist season efforts might be made to attract visitors to the game.

 

 

 

An ICT night, where the bars in the town offer set drinks at £2.50 if you wear an ICT top.

£2.50 a drink? Extortion!  

You'll get most drinks far cheaper than that any night of the week in the ICT Social Club!

Now there's another dimension. If a larger percentage of an increased fan base could be persuaded to offer their pub allegiance to one of the cheapest establishments in town, the football club would also benefit since it is the overwhelming beneficiary of Social Club profits.

Isn't the social club a private members club, invitation only. with a locked door.

Wasn't the club sold to a director to create extra funds. I'm not sure how this would help the club.

Having x amount of people wearing ICT tops behind closed doors hardly raises the profile of the club.

 

This degree of misunderstanding about the Social Club is worrying.

The Social Club is indeed a members' club and so cheap to join (I've forgotten exactly what the annual fee is because I became a life member years ago) that you can LITERALLY recoup your membership fee through the first two nights' cheap drink. It also has a very efficient "signing in" policy which means that, for instance on match days, there is frequently a large presence there of non-member fans and people from hospitality, for whom there is sometimes also a bus from the stadium.

However it's the ownership issue that tends to be the worst understood. About 5 years ago the premises were sold to then director Graeme Bennett and leased back by the football club/ Social Club board.

Presumably at the time it was considered preferable to have the cash in hand and to pay rent instead.

This, however, does not alter the fact that the arrangement continues to be that the Social Club is run by a board and profits are still ploughed into the football club. Graeme Bennett, apart from the rent he receives as a return for his cash up front, has no other financial interest in the social club and does not participate in its running.

I would therefore much prefer to have x amount of people in ICT tops, or indeed in any other kind of top (bar the two which would need to be proscribed), either signed in or as members, drinking in there and hence making more money available to the football club.

I really do think that there is not enough realisation among ICT fans that every time they use the Social Club, and at prices lower or indeed much lower than elsewhere, they are contributing directly to the finances of the football club.

 

 

Almost correct Charles...the premises were bought by the pension fund of Graeme Bennett.  Might seem a small technicality, but it does mean that the Trustees/Administrators of the pension are the landlords and GB has no dealings with, or say in, anything.

 

 

Almost correct Charles...the premises were bought by the pension fund of Graeme Bennett.  Might seem a small technicality, but it does mean that the Trustees/Administrators of the pension are the landlords and GB has no dealings with, or say in, anything.

 

That's interesting to know, and irrespective of the specific ownership, it was indeed never contemplated when the deal was formulated that Grassa would have any input at all into running the club.

However, immediately it became known that the sale was going to happen, a range of widely held misconceptions arose which included the notion that Graeme had bought the place to operate himself as a going concern. As we have both been at pains to emphasise, this is not the case and the club, as opposed to the premises, remains purely an ICTFC entity.

And it is on that basis that it needs to be marketed more aggressively. Because my brief Friday evening visits can become very lonely indeed.... especially when the only other person in the bar is George Cowie    

Edited June 3, 201511 yr by Charles Bannerman