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You're right, we don't have 3 to 5 years to sort things out and I wasn't suggesting we do. Things have to start changing (for the better) now....but it will take that length of time, IMO, to get back to where we were in terms of the relationship between the club and fans that existed prior to our entry to the SPL and started going down hill from then on. How long it will take to reverse the trend in terms of falling numbers...I have no clue. It needs to happen quick, and it needs to happen in conjunction with the above. I know I keep on about the lack of money, and part of the turnaround needs to be looking at ways to fund certain things. I don't buy into the theory that Directors should exist to keep dipping in to their own pockets to finance things and in fairness to some of our Directors/Ex Directors, they have done more than their share in that regard. Yes, you could argue that they are merely funding their own mismanagement, but like it or not, football clubs in their current form are not sustainable businesses....and whilst doing everything else that needs done, a sustainable model which doesn't rely on handouts also needs to be put in place. (I'll save you the lecture on my thoughts about the need for community business models as I'm not sure a single post can be that long) There comes a point when you have to stop playing the blame game and accept that if you want change then you have to play your part in bringing it about. Have the club made poor decisions in the past?...sure. Have the fans been less than supportive at times?...sure. Does that change where we are at now and what needs to be done?...not in the slightest. I would, personally, whittle that list down to just 2 points....the last two. Ultimately the Board have very little control over the team, how they play and what they do. They can only provide a pot of money which is used to employ management and players, and beyond that it falls to the manager to make it as successful as possible within the budget he has. Levels of success and entertainment are subjective, and the board would be chasing their tail and getting involved in things they are not expert at (or expected to be expert at) if they were to try and interfere with that to any great extent. The second point...get points three and four right and point two takes care of itself, so let's not get hung up on it as a separate issue. Beyond your list, the club need to be looking at the non fan/match/football related activities which are needed to help support everything else. I don't know what goes on in terms of functions/conferencing etc on a day to day basis, so I'm in position to comment on where that is at, but it's not an area which should be ignored....far from it. I can't/wouldn't try to speak on behalf of the Directors of the club...but I think the fact that they have realised and accepted that things are broken is an important first step. The increased communication and working relationship with Caley Jags Together also indicates a willingness to go looking for reasons to why we are where we are and ideas on how to change it. That's only the very start of the process, and yes I do know for a fact that there's more to come. I'm not in a position to give any detail on what that it is, and that's partly down to not having full facts/details on the next step...but one is definitely in the pipeline and I fully agree with and support what I know of it so far. As much as some people might like to accuse me of having "crossed over" or being a "poacher turned gamekeeper"....I can assure you that I absolutely share all the same frustrations and disappointments as every other fan. The difference for me now, as I have said, is that things are changing and instead of wasting time and energy on being angry and upset about it, I can now spend that time and energy doing things to try and change it....either through my involvement with Caley Jags Together, or directly with the club. Yes, I do work (and need to), but I'm fortunate, I think, to work for myself and that allows me a lot of flexibility with my time. Wish I could do more, and if some rich person out there wanted to pay me to work full time for ICT then I would happily give up my other work...maybe I'll win the lottery instead!!! In saying that, it's not about how much a person does, I would be happier seeing 1000 fans give 1 hour a month than I would seeing 10 fans giving 100 hours a month....because that would be the surest indication of all that the ICT Community (Club, Fans, City, Businesses) were getting things right and everyone was supporting the club/team. All that aside....I think you, me and many others are saying we want to see much and such the same thing. I also accept that I am in a position where I'm seeing more day to day to convince me that the club board have turned a corner in terms of their approach/attitude to things and that news/message needs to be getting out there more in order to show others the same thing....point very much taken on board and will be fed back. I guess what I really want to see from fans is a bit less of "the club should be doing...." and a bit more of "how can I be doing". Again, I accept that the club/Caley Jags Together need to facilitate that and that point has been taken on board also and will be fed back. Anyway....off to hide as the "not at the game, but know everything must have been bad because we got beat brigade" will be out in full force and I find that more demoralising than anything else that's going on with the club just now.....!!!

He plays on the left He plays on the right He plays in defensive central midfield He plays centre half He plays in the hole He plays wide left He plays in the false nine position He plays in goals Richie Foran makes County look *****.

Only strange if you didn't follow ICT during the Pele years when our season starts were a carbon copy of what we've seen so far.....keep the faith.

Always remember my trip to Stenny. FA Cup tie with Caledonian FC. 1-0 down at HT...won 4-1 with Ian Polworth getting the 4th. Must dig out the match proggy.

I remember a few years ago having a few drinks at the station pub / railway tavern, what ever it is called! A fight broke out and a chap appeared from the toilets with the toilet seat around his head lol

Sorted it for you.

Fixed it for you ;-)

I would now expect at least a £5 donation from each of you for your cheek :-)

who did county get. oh wait there out cause they got beat to a 1st division team

I'll be there.

Looks like a statement which you are questioning to be honest. Hopefully this game will be on the Wednesday so I might stand a chance of getting along to it. If it's the Tuesday I'm out.

9-7 to us IMO.

I dunno. Do you think you have been smitting others on here?

Would you not be better trying to master the simpler matter of cars first? :lol:

Wrong Luke, it was a crap pass back and was meant for Esson, and yes Meekings was not alert, but the mistake was by Raven....again.

There's a simple solution. Independence for the Highlands and Islands. The Republic of the Highlands and Islands. We have the wind technology and the oil. Angus Macneil or Charles Kennedy as our Teasoch. Simples

Worrying signs at Fir Park and on BBC afterwards - I will try not to make any comparisons to an individual with narcissitic personality traits in case CaleyD closes the thread. :lol:

Well this is going to be a couple of rants !! To begin with this was the first feckin game that I have ever been at stone cold feckin sober and will probably be the last (sober that is !!). I think that Mantis was amused that I had never actually noticed before that there is some slope across the pitch towards the main stand. Like Chris I actually was quite entertained by the match and I felt that it was a clear improvement on last week. In essence you cant give a team like Muvversmell a two goal start. Then you provide them with a "killer" third and miss a penalty. Will have to see if the highlights matched my eyesight but I could not see what was wrong with the Shane goal although nobody, apart from Foran, complained. It also looked like a stonewall penalty fro Well and a sending off for Shane at 2-1 and then we go up the park and I felt that the ref made ammends when Foran was clearly chopped and the defender would have saw red. But lets face it Muvversmell were the better team but until the third goal it really could have gone either way. But what really got on my feckin goat was Butcher's after match comments. This is no fishing trip that follows as it is my actual serious perspective becos I felt that Butcher fecked it up today. Seriously have a pop if you dont agree but let me know if you do as well. 1. We could have called this the "Richie Foran Show" as it felt that our main tactic was to hit Foran at every opportunity. Esson aimed everything at him, as were all the free kicks and all the midfield balls. He was probably MOM as he played 60% of all of that well but that tactic nullified Andrew Shinnie, nullified Doran and completely neutralised Shane. When you play somebody like that you need a pacy striker alongside him - a predator / a goalscorer - like McKay (who did more in 9 minutes than most did in 90). Shinnie likes to come from deep with the ball at his feet - Doran needs to pick the ball out wide - and poor Shane looked redundant often standing there on his own being marked by somebody who was a foot smaller than him. When we passed the ball we passed it side to side and mainly backwards. I accept that we should use the Foran tactic but there also has to be a Plan B. 2. Butcher decried the defence for the first goal and Esson did look at fault. But his evident tactical ploy is to leave the front post unattended. Prior to the goal the previous corner had been on our left and Meekings went to stand by the front post and was completely bollicked by Malpas. Need to see the highlights but the same thing happened again at the goal. And after that numerous fans were shouting at the players to cover the near post at ensuing corners and it never was. So okay it may be out of the new coaching manual but I would have thought that it would be a vow of Butcher and Malpas and a team who employs it - as with zonal marking - is always prone to losing goals. 3. He also criticised Shinnie and Draper fer the second goal. It was a clear tactic of Well to play Humphreys wide and use his pace as much as possible, Butcher initially appeared to concentrate on trying to double team Higdon and Humphrey caused mayhem in the first 15-20 minutes. Shinnie was getting no cover as that is not the wont of Doran. He may have dived in but Humphrey duped him with skill and pace. As fer the race between Draper and Humphrey - well lets feckin compare Frank Bruno and Usain Bolt - Draper actually almost got him and pulled out from fouling him. It was early doors and he probably feared a yellow but it would have been admired if he had taken a card fer the team and sent Humphey over the barrier in to the Disabled stand. It was a brilliant piece of wing play and a great cross to finish with and a good finish from Higdon. 4. The error from Raven was simply ludicrous and killed us off - and heads did go down. And despite Foran looking like Andy Murray in New York we continued to try and feed him constantly. 5. Randolph pulled of a "world class" save from a tremendous overhead scissor kick from Warren and, although the penalty was at a good height fer a keeper, it was still a fine save. I actually thought our central defence played well, Raven was passable until the third goal and Shinnie stuck to the really difficult job of controlling Humphrey. The fourth goal was an error from Andy Shinnie and again it was a great example of a breakaway and another good finish from Higdon. I felt that we lost this game in the middle of the park and through the tactics employed.

I quite enjoyed that match in a bizarre way. We lined up with Foran up front for McKay and Meekings slotting into the back four in place of King. Straight from kick off we won the ball and pushed forward with some decent play and for the next five minutes most of the play was ours. Ross Draper hit a low shot just wide and it looked like it might be an enjoyable game. Well started to push back into the game and forced a succession of corners which we looked a bit shaky at, Hately has great delivery from dead balls and Higdon is always a handful. Following two or three corners, Hately whipped one in and Ryan couldn't keep it out at his near post. He'll be absolutely gutted about it, there really isn't an excuse for not getting that ball. Almost straight from the kick off Well were two up as Humphrey, who was lively all day, tore down the left and evaded two lunging, desperate tackles from ShinnieG and Draper, centred for Higdon who took advantage of the space in the area to knock it home. It was absolutely gutting at this point, we looked on the end of a real hammering. However, we started to push back into it and had the ball in the net when Richie nodded the ball to the back-post for Sutherland to knock in, although this was then ruled out for an infringement on Foran's part. Being at the other end of the ground I didn't really have a great view but there didn't look to be that much in it. Foran then chased back, won the ball out wide and tore in on goal but his effort was blocked. We had pushed right back into the game and deserved the goal that came just afterwards. A corner was knocked clear to Owain Tudur Jones, who lobbed it to the back post where Foran headed in. We probably looked more likely to score at this point and Foran was played in by a long pass from Meekings for a great opportunity. His shot was blocked and he couldn't direct his header from the rebound goalward. In the second half the game was more end to end with both sides having chances. There were a couple of massive Well shouts for a penalty, one when Meekings (I think) made a tackle in the area (looked decent from our end) and again when a shot hit what the fans and players claimed was a hand. We also had a shout for a penalty when Richie was brought down while bearing in on goal by Mr O'Reilly had no time for it. Things were nicely poised when David Raven, who had actually been pretty solid today compared to other poor displays, made an absolute howler. We'd had the ball in midfield and Raven received it and tried to roll the ball back to Esson but his short pass was eaten up by Higdon, who knoced it home. It was an absolute sickener, we had fought so hard to get back and to lose a goal like that is hard to take. We continued pushing forward, Shane came close with a header from a Foran cross that his marker did well to put behind for a corner. Subsittute Ojama helped finish us off though, tearing away on a breakaway, beating his man and squaring for Higdon to crack one home for his hat-trick. We could've cut the deficit almost straight away when Foran was clearly brought down in the box by Page and the ref gave a penalty. Shinnie's spot kick was well saved by Darren Randolph, who had earlier made a stunning diving stop from a Gary Warren overhead kick. I left with a couple of minutes to go as our train was at 1711, not sure much of note happened in injury time. Overall I feel strangely positive after a 4-1 defeat, which isn't like me. We really did well going forward, although, as AM says we took the wrong option around the opposition goal a few times. Richie Foran was absolutely brilliant today, on another day he could have scored a hat-trick, he worked hard, won everything in the air, played good passes and crosses, fought and harried. An absolutely towering display and we need to keep him up there if we are going to get anything out of this season. The obvious downside is our defending. We looked nervous defending corners and Chris Humphrey was livewire and had the better of Graeme Shinnie a lot fo the game. We just seem to make basic errors too often - a short passback, not dealing properly with a run from wide, letting a corner sneak in. I fear we'll end up repeating the mistakes of last season, chopping and changing at the back. Raven I feel sorry for, he hasn't done that well but was playing OK today until their third goal. Graeme Shinnie was caught a few times by Humphrey and looked uncomfortable against him the whole game. Shinnie is the sort of the full back who dominates his opponent by pushing onto them rather than by dealing with them and that style isn't suited to a guy like Humphrey who is pacey and got time today. In midfield, I think Ross Draper is a great player and had another influential game. Owain Tuduro Jones, cross for the goal aside, is a waste of space. He looks like he can play but he never actually raises his game and takes control fro 90 minutes. The fact he was subbed in a straight swap (for Graeme Morrison who was better) says it all. I thougth Shane and Doran did OK, took a few too many wrong options but were available and looked fluid, espeically Doran who popped up all over. Andy Shinnie had some good touches but had a quieter game than previously. We need to sort out our defence and it's a big job but watching that today it isn't hopeless.

For the neutral that was probably a cracking game to watch. We had a lot of possession and played some nice stuff in midfield, but there were too many wrong decisions in the final quarter. We did have quite a few chances, although I'd still say Motherwell had more, and obviously they were much more clinical than us. The fourth goal was an absolute beauty, but or the others, the ICT defending was calamitous, especially Raven for the third. Humphrey tore Shinnie apart all afternoon on the other side too. All the same, if Gary Warren's overhead kick hadn't been saved, if Andrew Shinnie had scored his penalty, then we might have had a very exciting finish. I still maintain we're playing much more attractive football than last year, but after the defensive displays of the last two weeks, people ate entirely justified in feeling worried about the season ahead. It'll be interesting to see how Butcher responds to this.