In reference to this subject on some other posts around, surely we as a club should be promoting Inverness and the Highlands as an area for a young professional footballer to come and live and work in??  Rather than viewing this as a hindrance to attracting players? 

Fresh air, scenery, schooling, safe place to live (somtimes) and the list goes on....

May I suggest that we concentrate on getting the structure off the pitch correct and then we may attract more young professional footballers.

Fresh air, scenery, schooling, safe place to live (somtimes) and the list goes on....

.... nothing to do, nowhere to go out. Your list is true but hardly appealing to a young footballer.

.... nothing to do, nowhere to go out....... hardly appealing to a young footballer.

You mean unlike Paisley or Falkirk or Kilmarnock...?

:024:

Having lived in the Falkirk area.................YES

In time things will change and people will realise that Inverness is not some outback.

When Aberdeen entered the league it took them something like 50 years to make southerners realise that the city was only up the road.

central belt is the place to be for any kind of footballer

sneck just cant compete

.... nothing to do, nowhere to go out. Your list is true but hardly appealing to a young footballer.

Appealing to a young footballer? They want anything other than pubs, clubs and semi-comatose willing girls?

Or is it the lack of experimental theatre in Inverness which is stopping them?

Having lived in the Falkirk area.................YES

Are you seriously suggesting that the Falkirk area is more likely to appeal to a young footballer than here in the capital of the Highlands..?

Can you outline your reasons for why you think that might be the case..?

.... nothing to do, nowhere to go out. Your list is true but hardly appealing to a young footballer.

Appealing to a young footballer? They want anything other than pubs, clubs and semi-comatose willing girls?

Um...these aren't exactly lacking in Inverness you know.  Having grown up in the Central Belt, people just view the Highlands as a long way away.  For some bizarre reasons, Glaswegians and the like have no trouble going to Brum, Liverpool etc etc to visit family but a 3 hour drive through beautiful countryside to get to a city with more happening in it than anywhere bar Glasgow and Edinburgh (I'd say more than Dundee, Aberdeen, Paisley, Falkirk etc etc) is just too much to cope with.

Worth pointing out too, Starchief, that Inverness is second only to Edinburgh as far as popular Scottish tourist destinations are concerned.

I would guess that for most unmarried Scottish footballers the most important things are  :

- money

- being close to their mates

neither of which makes it easy for ICT.

Worth pointing out too, Starchief, that Inverness is second only to Edinburgh as far as popular Scottish tourist destinations are concerned.

maybe for tourists or marius, who i beleive has photos up on his website of loch ness, but cant see nessie being a big draw for a pro footballer from the central belt deciding whether to move North  :004:

I would guess that for most unmarried Scottish footballers the most important things are  :

- money

- being close to their mates

neither of which makes it easy for ICT.

spot on

It shouldnt be an issue but unfortunately it is and YngWie is pretty spot on I think.

I blame the A9  :015: :015: :015: :015: - Dual carriageway it all the way to Perth and it would remove the perception that you are now entering the backwoods :004:

maybe for tourists or marius, who i beleive has photos up on his website of loch ness, but cant see nessie being a big draw for a pro footballer from the central belt deciding whether to move North  :004:

Worth bearing in mind that a large proportion of the Aberdeen side of the eighties that Alex Ferguson created came from the central belt...

What attractions were there in Aberdeen for them..?

None... If you read Gordon Strachan's autobiography...

I have difficulty in understanding why so many born and bred Invernesians seem to be **** bent on putting this area down at every opportunity...

:024:

.... nothing to do, nowhere to go out. Your list is true but hardly appealing to a young footballer.

Appealing to a young footballer? They want anything other than pubs, clubs and semi-comatose willing girls?

Um...these aren't exactly lacking in Inverness you know.

That's what I meant.  :003:

I grew up in Nairn so a visit to Inverness used to be *very* exciting  :015:

I think Yngwie is right, though.

maybe for tourists or marius, who i beleive has photos up on his website of loch ness, but cant see nessie being a big draw for a pro footballer from the central belt deciding whether to move North  :004:

Worth bearing in mind that a large proportion of the Aberdeen side of the eighties that Alex Ferguson created came from the central belt...

What attractions were there in Aberdeen for them..?

None... If you read Gordon Strachan's autobiography...

I have difficulty in understanding why so many born and bred Invernesians seem to be **** bent on putting this area down at every opportunity...

:024:

i would of thought the draw for aberdeen in the eighties would of been the chance of silverware. i certainly dont agree with the fact that 'attractions' influence a player.

i wouldnt say i put this area down but understand why some may be put off by relocating up here.

the questions is how is this situation adressed?

The connection between football players and girls is well documented, ask the Highland News to stop printing those "club scene" photographs every week. That would put anyone off coming here.

Dualing the railway and the A9 would also help.  :016:

The connection between football players and girls is well documented, ask the Highland News to stop printing those "club scene" photographs every week. That would put anyone off coming here.

LOL :015:

Having lived in Falkirk/Bathgate/Edinburgh and now Aberdeen, I do accept that to anyone in central Scotland, Inverness is another country!! However when they do arrive there it appears to change and indeed I have known many who would not now leave Inverness and regard it as their home.

I agree that it is an Inverness trait to put the area 'down' - something I find hard to understand as coming home is still a big thing for me. The first glimpse of Sneck is worth all the miles under the wheels!!

On the football front, however, I think that we are somewhere for a player to prove themselves and once this happens they will move on, as we cannot offer the income offered elsewhere. We will, of course, be able to retain some 'good' players - journeyman types - that will do a good job for us but may not shine sufficiently brightly to be the subject of transfer talks.

The strength, due to the foregoing, will be team togetherness, something Brew does not appear to want and I feel that we will therefore not see the team 'punching above their weight' for sometime.

If it was up to me I'd dig up the A9 at Perth and keep everyone out  :001:

I agree that it is an Inverness trait to put the area 'down' - something I find hard to understand as coming home is still a big thing for me. The first glimpse of Sneck is worth all the miles under the wheels!!

Agree with this although its not just an Inverness trait - it happens everywhere.

When I lived in Inverness, anytime I used to travel whether for university or for holidays etc. I used to get goosebumps once you passed Daviot, came up the hill, over the top, and then started seeing Inverness in the distance (or not so distant these days). It is still the same for me now although I now tend to see it and experience those feelings from the air as its easier to get there from Toronto via one of the London airports.

I could rhyme off many reasons why I think Inverness is better or worse than some places for differing things but at the end of the day it will always be where I was born and where I have roots so I am biased and perhaps both overly critical and overly protective when people slag the area off. Any time I speak to people over here I always find it easy to put a positive slant on the area but on a forum like this talking with other Invernessians or others with an affinity for the area, then it is easy to ***** and moan because deep down we all know we love the area so we are not really meaning to be disrespectful.

I think a few of the posts have hit the nail on the head. The problem is pre-conceived perceptions. Inverness is perceived by some in the central belt and beyond as being somewhere north of the Arctic circle where all the natives still only get a couple of TV channels, have whisky on their porridge and the biggest controversy is that "one man and his dog" is no longer on TV. Once people actually get there, their perception changes, but you have to get them there first.

I would like to see the club maybe think out of the box a little and look to some of the clubs in the London area for players and sort something out with our sponsors FlyBe. Could FlyBe be persuaded to offer some incentives we could add to player contracts so that they could have cheap flights back down to London every so often. Its a doddle at just over an hour from Gatwick compared to driving up the A9. It could also be extended to other areas that have direct links to Inverness airport.

As far as the A9 is concerned, I was serious when I said that we will still be looked upon as being in the backwoods until such time as it is dualled north of Perth. Any time I made trips to away games south of Perth I always thought "ahh real roads" once you hit the M90 and something different on the way back when you left the "real roads".

Could FlyBe be persuaded to offer some incentives we could add to player contracts so that they could have cheap flights back down to London every so often. Its a doddle at just over an hour from Gatwick compared to driving up the A9. It could also be extended to other areas that have direct links to Inverness airport.

Some cheap tickets for the south of England based ICT supporters would be nice too!!

Some cheap tickets for the south of England based ICT supporters would be nice too!!

FlyBe - 8.29 each way if booked well enough in advance !!! (+ tax !!!)

maybe for tourists or marius, who i beleive has photos up on his website of loch ness, but cant see nessie being a big draw for a pro footballer from the central belt deciding whether to move North  :004:

Worth bearing in mind that a large proportion of the Aberdeen side of the eighties that Alex Ferguson created came from the central belt...

What attractions were there in Aberdeen for them..?

None... If you read Gordon Strachan's autobiography...

I have difficulty in understanding why so many born and bred Invernesians seem to be **** bent on putting this area down at every opportunity...

:024:

In the 70's and 80's Aberdeen boomed like no City in Scotland ever has.

Invernes is ok!!

But me being young there's nothing to do!!

there hardly any good shops!!

it's to expensive to go to the cinema (rip of)!!