Welcome to the second Issue of Boardroom Banter. The Club's attempt to keep you, the fans, informed about what is going on at Caledonian Stadium.

MONTHLY OPEN LETTER TO FANS Issue 2 - November 2002

It is with an enormous amount of satisfaction, following a weekend of immense speculation, not all of which was media driven, that we can announce that both Steve Paterson and Duncan Shearer have today signed up to new four and a half year contracts to run in tandem with the Tulloch tenure at the club.

Having secured the management team, it is now our intention to get the key players who are out of contract soon signed up as soon as possible.

As stated above, the media frenzy at the weekend was NOT, and we confirm NOT, mere speculation on the part of the media, but we can confirm that an "official approach" for Steve was made, albeit through a third party.

We, as a board, think we have potentially one of the best young management teams around at the moment and look forward to further success both on and off the park in what are very exciting times for ICTFC.

Following last month's update and the positive responses received on the website, the board feel the format for cross fertilisation of ideas etc is excellent whilst endeavouring to keep you up to date.

Prior to this month's Board Meeting a very informative round table discussion took place with (Supporters club Chairperson) Mairi McLean and Anne Nicol from the Supporters Association.

A list of proposals from the supporters was tabled covering a range of many diverse issues, all of which will be given due consideration.

Following the above discussion and consultation with Debbie Ross, it has been decided that from Saturday 16th November (QOS Home game), any child aged 12 or under will be admitted free of charge to the terracing area if accompanied by an adult who obviously must pay full price. This change will be advertised in the local press well in advance of the 16th and also how we intend to compensate the 16 or so season ticket holders (children) who now fall into this FOC bracket.

Moving on, we as a board would like to thank the near 3000 supporters that made the long trip to Glasgow to the CIS Cup match against Celtic.

All the talk in the Celtic Board Room, Hospitality Suites, and ground was about how positive our team played. Quotes "the only team apart from Rangers who come to Parkhead and want to play - not sit back", "the biggest travelling support seen at parkhead this season - apart from Rangers". All very positive things for our club. So again, we thank you for your loyal and vociferous support.

It has been noted that large queues have been developing on busy match days and it is proposed that for certain games, extra catering facilities will be taken in to assist the existing servery outlets to cope, especially in and around the Kevin Bisset enclosure. Your thoughts or comments on this would be appreciated.

We can confirm that as well as the service provided on the Internet by the Inverness Courier, Debbie has struck a deal with Pat J MacKenzie's in town to stock our merchandise and we can also confirm that the shop at the stadium will soon be re-opening for business on match days.

Our proposed budget for the year is on track on most fronts, and any dips to date, which are few, will be taken up with the slack from the Celtic game, which was much appreciated as any club would envy a trip to Parkhead and the benefits it brings.

On the football front, we have all our 1st team players, except David Bagan, (who is progressing well), back to full fitness and challenging for places in what is a team performing at the highest level at present. Steve, Duncan, and the team have to be congratulated on the level of performance and committment they have shown to date as we sit at the dizzy height of 2nd in the table, a situation we could only dream of a few years ago.

Graham Bennett is deep in negotiations at this present time in an effort to secure the playing staff that are out of contract in the near future, and we will keep you up to date as things progress.

With regard to the previous and ongoing debate in the local press regarding the ASDA deal etc. We can confirm that meetings with the council and various other parties will be convened in the near future but we assure you that discussions are at a very early stage and when we have something concrete to put on the table, you, the supporters, will be fully consulted.

Again, we thank you for your support at Celtic, and it was also pleasing to note a substantial increase in the home support for both the St Johnstone, and St Mirren games - long may it continue.