I’m not on CTO much these days mainly due to the soul destroying happy clappers but there are some amount of melt downs on Twitter regarding the move of Joe Chalmers and rightly so IMO.

It appears now instead of being a feeder club to Aberdeen for years which I could grudgingly accept, we have now an  unhealthy allegiance with County(Draper,McKay,Vigurs etc)and this certainly doesn’t sit well with me and many others. 

Its quite frankly not good enough and it is bound to have a detrimental effect on the purchase of season tickets for next season.

It clearly shows the so called guardians of our club have very little or any ambition on returning to the top flight.

A club from a city with a population of nearly 100k bowing down to a club from a village that has 5k  sounds absolutely ludicrous but that’s what’s happening and only highlights this new worrying trend.

Dougal

 

 

The problem is our location. If players come up to the Highlands to play for us, they usually love it here, and if they come to the end of their contracts and want to stay in the area, and are looking for a change, the only other option for them is County. In the central belt, there is a plethora of clubs they could sign for, but here, it's the choice of us or county, and at the moment, with MacGregors financial clout, it's county they choose. I hate it when ICT players move to our rivals, but I have a sneeking suspicion that Chalmers won't be the last of our players moving there for next season.

Feeder club ? Bigger clubs and those with bigger budgets sign players all the time. The fact that clubs are looking at this level for talent locally should be no surprise. Perhaps we need to be looking too at HL, SPFL lower leagues as well as wider.

The perception of Inverness in the mainstream media does little to help attract new players given the portrayal as some frozen wilderness beyond the central belt where folks still take a horse and cart to work and await the invent of colour, couple that with our minimal fan base and apathy shown by most of the city its a hard sell. Bearing in mind travel and accessibility is poor (main road links are outdated), property and living costs are not cheap - so given the wages we can offer anyone but young players with little ties and willing to take the plunge to prove themselves are unlikely to be affordable or want to move - so its inevitable if these players do well they will be hunted by bigger prey.

Given the title I was hoping this was going to look at options to tie in better with the local community, youth groups and even HL to use them as feed clubs for ICT to capture better and more young talent.

22 minutes ago, bdu98196 said:

Feeder club ? Bigger clubs and those with bigger budgets sign players all the time. The fact that clubs are looking at this level for talent locally should be no surprise. Perhaps we need to be looking too at HL, SPFL lower leagues as well as wider.

The perception of Inverness in the mainstream media does little to help attract new players given the portrayal as some frozen wilderness beyond the central belt where folks still take a horse and cart to work and await the invent of colour, couple that with our minimal fan base and apathy shown by most of the city its a hard sell. Bearing in mind travel and accessibility is poor (main road links are outdated), property and living costs are not cheap - so given the wages we can offer anyone but young players with little ties and willing to take the plunge to prove themselves are unlikely to be affordable or want to move - so its inevitable if these players do well they will be hunted by bigger prey.

Given the title I was hoping this was going to look at options to tie in better with the local community, youth groups and even HL to use them as feed clubs for ICT to capture better and more young talent.

Inverness will soon have the new a9 dual carriageway connection to the central belt and cost of living is far smaller in inverness than on the east coast.

Arsenal was our feeder club...that gave us Phillip Roberts on loan...and that's it...I say we start a feeder with Salford or some team like that. One that'd appreciate a selection of similarly level players

That was some outstanding bait.

1 hour ago, dougal said:

A club from a city with a population of nearly 100k bowing down to a club from a village that has 5k

Can we have a bollocks emoji, please?

First of all, the population of Greater Inverness was estimated in 2016 to be just over 63,000.  So have 35,000 people really moved in since then?

The fact that Dougal is overlooking is that Inverness and Dingwall are very close. Bing Maps tells me that the grounds are 15.2 miles apart.  Brentford and Orient in London are further apart.

If you are mobile, then 15 miles is nothing.  Perfectly possible to live in or near Sneck and commute to Dingwall. You don't have to choose to live in the "village".  If players can move club, earn more, and not have to move house and/or disrupt families, then who can blame them?

Maybe at some time the pendulum will swing back, and ICT will be the richer club for a while.

But I do frequently think of the point that CB used to often make - can the Highlands really sustain two clubs, so physically close together, at the higher levels of Scottish football?  Maybe for a periond, once in a while, when all the stars are aligned for both clubs.  But on a permanent or semi-permanent basis?   If Dundee and Edinburgh can't do it, then it's even tougher for the Highlands.

 

40 minutes ago, MorayJaggie said:

Inverness will soon have the new a9 dual carriageway connection to the central belt

 

Sorry, mate.  Next time you go down the road, have a look at some of the work they have to do, and then remember how long it took to do the relatively easy stretch south of Aviemore.

"Soon" is not a word that I would use!

A Nandos and a dual carriageway to Perth is just what this club needs to really take off.

Amusing to see how many have risen to the bait. Job done for the OP.

Wow, I know we're all entitled to our opinions but the inaccuracy of some of your rant coupled with the admittance of other factors almost makes your post believable.

Part of me was going to agree with you at first glance when I saw feeder club until I gave myself a shake.

 

 

 

Still reeling them in...green dots too.

We are a feeder club to County at the moment though, that’s the reality. In time I’m sure it will go the other way like it was a few years back.

Dougal has got a few points in that post though. It must pissss a lot of people off that our best players are offloaded now every season to the darkside. But they have an Uncle Roy and we don't. I still feel that a lot of these deals are his revenge for the years when the shoe was on the other foot.

1 hour ago, IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER said:

Dougal has got a few points in that post though. It must pissss a lot of people off that our best players are offloaded now every season to the darkside. But they have an Uncle Roy and we don't. I still feel that a lot of these deals are his revenge for the years when the shoe was on the other foot.

I think your right with the last paragraph!

1 hour ago, IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER said:

Dougal has got a few points in that post though. It must pissss a lot of people off that our best players are offloaded now every season to the darkside. But they have an Uncle Roy and we don't. I still feel that a lot of these deals are his revenge for the years when the shoe was on the other foot.

Not sure about revenge but good business for County and sensible moves for the players who can play at a higher level for double the salary without having to relocate and without County having to finance relocation and temporary accommodation in the meantime.

2 hours ago, Kingsmills said:

Not sure about revenge but good business for County and sensible moves for the players who can play at a higher level for double the salary without having to relocate and without County having to finance relocation and temporary accommodation in the meantime.

Sounds like revenge to me ??

Hardly gave them a feast there Joe Chalmers ffs! We should actually try for links with a big English club like Sheffield Wednesday get some young boys up

On 5/21/2019 at 8:09 PM, Alan Simpson said:

Hardly gave them a feast there Joe Chalmers ffs! We should actually try for links with a big English club like Sheffield Wednesday get some young boys up

we have at least 3 good young boys worth a shout

On 5/21/2019 at 12:58 PM, RiG said:

A Nandos and a dual carriageway to Perth is just what this club needs to really take off.

Bouncy castle and decent pies. 

1 hour ago, TopSix said:

Bouncy castle and decent pies. 

Inverness would be better off with a decent castle and bouncy pies.

15 minutes ago, Kingsmills said:

Inverness would be better off with a decent castle and bouncy pies.

Some off the pies I've had at Caley could bounce.  

Would a new business ,  into pies,  be a good investment ?

Or is that just, perhaps , a load of pie -in-the- sky, like?

If not you could always hire a "pied-piper" to lead a march down the old High Street as a "send-off".

OCH!