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.

It really saddens me to see what has become of ICT. We are basically a joke at boardroom level and this will continue to drag us down as a club until this is resolved. This is purely down to a lack of vision/strategy from the board who really should hang their heads in shame. Nobody expects us to win cups or finish in top six on a regular basis but some sort of plan both in a football sense and fan base sense would have been good and most posters on here could see that was needed. Unfortunately we got an old boys network who didn't care or were incapable of a vision to drive the club forward. Jock MacDonald must be spinning in his grave seeing what we have become.

When Ross Draper retires he will have 

1 - Scottish Cup winners medal (ICT days)

1 - Scottish League Cup runners-up medal (ICT days)

2 x Europa League qualifiers memories (ICT days)

1 - Set of keys to a Ford Transit (Ross County days)

Nothing more. End of. 

Edited August 10, 20178 yr by Guest

Player wants to move.

Club tells them if they want move they must make formal transfer request.

Player submits transfer request.

Where exactly have the club done wrong here?

There's plenty to be angry and upset about with ict right now without getting our knickers in a knot purely for the sake of it.

Question - At the end of last season did anyone fear that we would lose Draper, Mckay and Meekings ? I feckin did becos I thought that all three were better than the Championship

If the club had been straightforward and honest at the end of last season and told us that the financial position was so bad that we would have to shed virtually every established first team player and recruit replacements from the bargain basement we would have been shocked and disappointed but would all have united behind the club as football fans have a tendency to do even in the knowledge that a rapid return to the Premiership was most unlikely.

Instead, there was no such transparency and season tickets were effectively sold on false pretences, many other promises have been made and then broken and now the reason for and circumstances of the departure of our remaining most influential player is been spun by the club in an entirely disingenuous manner.

A disgraceful way to run any business let alone a football club that was once much admired but is now, quite justifiably, the subject of scorn and ridicule.

Worst summer? I can see worst ever New Year ahead

- Mid table in Championship

- Vigurs, Tremarco & Polworth signing PCA's with Ross County

- Raven leaving in January

- Fisher going on loan to Ross County

That's enough FFS!!!

Edited August 10, 20178 yr by Guest

 

Sorry, Caman - can't endorse the traitor label. If ICT had really wanted him to stay, he'd be with us. Bottom line is that the board really wanted the cash (possibly to stay afloat) and engineered this with an underhand ploy to deflect blame. If they had been honest from the start, and told the supporters that relegation would mean selling off assets or face administration, I would have accepted it. This, however, is unacceptable from the club.

3 minutes ago, PerfICT said:

Sorry, Caman - can't endorse the traitor label. If ICT had really wanted him to stay, he'd be with us. Bottom line is that the board really wanted the cash (possibly to stay afloat) and engineered this with an underhand ploy to deflect blame. If they had been honest from the start, and told the supporters that relegation would mean selling off assets or face administration, I would have accepted it. This, however, is unacceptable from the club.

OK my friend. Changed that bit. Rest is staying though. 

Hmmm, the more I hear, the more I back the club. The club receive a bid. Draper is asked if he wants a move. Draper says yes. Then the club ask the contracted player to submit a transfer request. The club then accept fee and allow talks between clubs to commence.

Perhaps its a bit underhand of the club to invite a transfer request to protect themselves from a fan backlash, but at the end of the day, Draper could have said he didn't want a move and the club would have rejected the offer. It was left upto him and he choose to move. No point keeping a player who would like to play elsewhere.

2 hours ago, Ten4 said:

I heard Draper on the radio today lunchtime (mfr) saying the club told him if he wanted a move he would need to put in a transfer request ! ? *

That is essentially what he also told the BBC - that the notion of the transfer request was instigated by the club and not by him. On the other hand the club's version appears to be that the transfer request was instigated by the player. During today the respective parties have offered these two completely contrasting versions of the same scenario.

Edited August 10, 20178 yr by Charles Bannerman

Is this not something a COO would be all over to protect club reputation and demonstrate control of day to day club management. Quite simply which party was the first to raise the subject of a move to county. If Draper was tapped up and stated a desire to leave then ICT position of telling him to formalise that, makes some sense. On the other hand, if club received a bid and told Draper about it and if he wanted to join rcfc to submit a request, then they need to just say so unambiguously. Right now even a clarification / retraction won't be as embarrassing as the Twitter porn statement. 

 

 

Please let's just move on and try to leave the negative territory behind. 

For me I was not impressed or pleased, but  somewhat mollified,  to be advised by Caley Mad In Berks recent posting that his contact letter to  Chairman Finlayson was also not answered. This is surely a measure of the man who now occupies the top position on our Board. Gentlemen and ladies' of the Jury, what kind of example is that to send to the supporters or the footie world in general?

"Nuff said.  Least said soonest mended, eh?      As the Donald would emote...."Sad, very Sad.!"

I can see a meeting soon along the lines of the Rose Street Drill Hall if these Blazers don't get sorted soon

Some interesting words from Draper here:

http://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/Sport/Football/New-Ross-County-signing-Ross-Draper-claims-Caley-Thistle-board-told-him-to-submit-transfer-request-to-complete-move-10082017.htm

Quote

“In terms of how it came about, I never went to the club and said: ‘this is my transfer request’,” said Draper. “The deal was done two days ago but to get the deal over the line the board told me I needed to put a transfer request in.

“The board came to me and said, to get the deal done, you need to do this. I never wanted to put one in.

“I wanted to leave on good terms. It has annoyed me a little bit that we leave on, not bad terms, but with a little bit of sour taste in the mouth that things couldn’t have been done more professionally – we move on, wish both parties all the best, both parties get a good deal.

“To be forced to do that, to get the deal done for me is the only bad thing that happened.

“Basically it was just to soften the blow, maybe. Unfortunately, by doing that, they drag my name through the mud a little bit. That’s the only thing that has annoyed me.

So apparently even though the club had already accepted the offer to make it look like they had no choice they got Draper to demand a transfer. Brilliant (!)

Whilst normally I would say there are two sides to every story my trust in anything to do with ICT is so low right now I wouldn't believe them if they said the sky was blue.

3 hours ago, Scarlet Pimple said:

Please let's just move on and try to leave the negative territory behind.

Why should we just move on? Yet again this appears to be the latest in a long series of cock ups by the club. Questions have to be asked of them. I find it incredible that some fans just want to "move on". I have significant reservations about the way this club is being run at the minute with this Draper saga the latest in a pretty lamentable last few months.

1 hour ago, caleyboy said:

I can see a meeting soon along the lines of the Rose Street Drill Hall if these Blazers don't get sorted soon

I suggested something like that yesterday. But I could see that there would be security problems.

So I also suggested that a few folk formally request to meet some of the powers-that-be. I would suggest that this is at a venue chosen by the management - most likely at the stadium - and would be mainly to hear to what the plans are for the club and team are. Yes, we are all concerned at how things are going, but confronting management with a litany of complaints would be the wrong approach. That could come later, if dialogue is established.

We can belly-ache as much as we like here, but this is just a fan forum and the management are under no obligation to take notice.

They are also under no obligation to respond to a request for a meeting, but I would hope that an opportunity for controlled, temperate, two-way communication would be welcomed. 

How you select the folk for the meeting, I don't know, since - unless I'm wrong - there isn't an official Supporters' Club.

11 hours ago, Caman said:

Worst summer? I can see worst ever New Year ahead

-- Fisher going on loan to Ross County

TBF, I'm not sure how that would affect us considering he's now a Motherwell player? 

http://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/Sport/Football/Caley-Thistle-boss-John-Robertson-in-the-dark-over-claims-clubs-board-forced-Ross-Draper-to-submit-transfer-request-10082017.htm

43 minutes ago, snorbens_caleyman said:

We can belly-ache as much as we like here, but this is just a fan forum and the management are under no obligation to take notice

They most certainly are under obligation. For far too long now the club has treated its fans like sheep. If they continue to do so there'll be no fans left, and probably no club either ! 

43 minutes ago, snorbens_caleyman said:

They are also under no obligation to respond to a request for a meeting, but I would hope that an opportunity for controlled, temperate, two-way communication would be welcomed. 

How you select the folk for the meeting, I don't know, since - unless I'm wrong - there isn't an official Supporters' Club.

Surely now is the time for cjt to get involved, if they still exist? Otherwise what is their purpose. Or are they in bed with the board? 

10 minutes ago, Fraz said:

http://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/Sport/Football/Caley-Thistle-boss-John-Robertson-in-the-dark-over-claims-clubs-board-forced-Ross-Draper-to-submit-transfer-request-10082017.htm

First time I've seen JR confirm that Raven is / was the "unnamed" high earner they were trying to shift.

12 hours ago, Caman said:

Worst summer? I can see worst ever New Year ahead

- Mid table in Championship

- Vigurs, Tremarco & Polworth signing PCA's with Ross County

- Raven leaving in January

- Fisher going on loan to Ross County

That's enough FFS!!!

Given the stick Vigurs and Polworth regularly get on this forum, is this the end of the world? Raven has been half in and half out of the club for a good year now and he had a few people questioning whether his new contract was worth it last season. Tremarco would be a loss, but he's out for a while, he 31 and has a serious injury to recover from. If Fisher goes to Ross County it shows he's not cutting the mustard at Motherwell, but he's past news for us anyway.

Given the turmoil after relegation, a change in manager and board, I'd take mid-table at the New Year...it means we are just off the play-offs. A nightmare of course would be further relegation, but the board have done the right thing in removing the previous manager and have rebuilt the side, I saw somewhere else on this forum that we we getting bargain-basement players, but surely that has been the case for many years with Meekings the only player coming from a club above EFL League 1 status, whereas this year we have players from West Brom, Middlesborough, Aston Villa, yes I know peripheral figures, but we don't buy players for fees or those at the top ofg their game.

I am probably the only one that thinks this but given the circumstances the board found itself in at the end of the year, I'm not sure they have done too many things wrong. Obviously communication with fans and generally isn't great (and the handling of some of the players like Meekings and Fisher definitely very phish) but looking over the past few years has anything been different, I guess the beef is that we were promised something better. I suppose you could argue that appointing John Robertson in the way he was was fairly odd, but looking at the options available I wasn't getting that excited either.

We are in a period of (and it's a dangerous word) transition, and I guess it could go either way. I have hopes of some good signs, so looking forward to an interest season

Edited August 11, 20178 yr by Eagle4Caley

We can add lying about the Draper transfer to the list. Also, I see from the Courier that none of the transfer fee will go into players. What is it being spent on?

Its clear that the board lied when they initially said that we would be keeping the squad that finished last season, they lied when they said that we needed to maintain season ticket prices to ensure we could compete in this division, they lied when they said that Draper requested a transfer.

Why are the board constantly lying? People end up doing this when they are either completely out of their depth and incapable of carrying out their duties or they have a moral lacking that leads them to lie. Neither option is particularly attractive. I notice that John Robertson has also not backed the clubs standpoint, which is pretty telling.

Also, this is going to have a huge impact on our club. Players used to see a move to Inverness as a good thing for their career, the chance to compete at a high level and win a move elsewhere - Rooney to Birmingham, Watkins to Barnsley, McKay to Wigan etc. We had a good reputation. Now we are lying about our transfer dealings, hawking players around for transfer, refusing to play players if they don't move. Why would anyone come to us? I know for a fact that in Scotland our club is seen as an irrelevance at best, as useless and a joke at worst in the football media and playing circles.  What's happened this summer is going to have significant knock on affects to our clubs ability to survive.

1 minute ago, ictchris said:

Why are the board constantly lying? People end up doing this when they are either completely out of their depth and incapable of carrying out their duties or they have a moral lacking that leads them to lie. .

While I agree as I've been saying much of this already its probably not a surprise, these guys are directors and usually in any industry people that get to that level very rarely tell the truth or have much integrity, its about self preservation (lying to shareholders and media to make an organisation look to be performing better than it may be) or self promotion (look what I've done, the work I've won or what I've put in place mainly through lies and the analogy of once we have the money we will figure out how to deliver - usually as cheap as possible).

Sadly it looks like our club directors are out of this mould but unfortunately I believe and most others on here will too that when its using public money like ours there should be more honesty and transparency through better communications. I'm sure our resident phycologist (IHE) will provide a better synopsis of the type of psyche directors usually have though. 

23 minutes ago, bdu98196 said:

...there should be more honesty and transparency through better communications.

So try and make it happen. Quietly, without fuss, and without a fanfare of publicity.

If I was a director, being slagged off every day and called a liar, I wouldn't want to talk.

I know that a couple of folk here have already written, and have been ignored. I'm not saying that a diplomatic request for a meeting would be successful, but if it was rejected or ignored then there would be a stronger case for complaint.

I'll shut up now, since it's easy for me to say this when I'm a long way away, unable to get involved.  But now is the time for someone to step up to the mark.

42 minutes ago, bdu98196 said:

While I agree as I've been saying much of this already its probably not a surprise, these guys are directors and usually in any industry people that get to that level very rarely tell the truth or have much integrity, its about self preservation (lying to shareholders and media to make an organisation look to be performing better than it may be) or self promotion (look what I've done, the work I've won or what I've put in place mainly through lies and the analogy of once we have the money we will figure out how to deliver - usually as cheap as possible).

. 

In my experience the opposite tends to be true, people who succeed in life and in running their own businesses are rarely liars, rip off merchants or untrustworthy. In my working life I've worked with and for pretty senior people in very large organisation and they tended to be straight down the line.

you do get liars and bullshitters in many organisations though. I think when people are out of their depth and don't know what they should be doing they often end up trying to cover for themselves by covering their arses and trying to deflect things.