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When you see the situations at Sevco, Hearts, The pars, Killie, etc... it is very reassuring that we are run by sensible people who are not risking the long term future of our club. And it's even more credit to Terry & Mo performing so well under the tightest financial restrictions of all SPL clubs. I'm always proud to be an ICT fan but things like this make me even more proud.

Don't think anyone else has mentioned this, but there is an interesting and informative article in today's P&J including commentary from PwC Accountants who've just undertaken a review of SPL club finances for the 2011/12 season. This review established that ICT are the only club in the SPL whose wages to turnover ratio was below 50% (at 43%). Other mentioned clubs were Aberdeen and Hearts whose figures were 60% and 95% respectively (Hearts were at an incredible 116% the previous season!!). It also noted that ICT's £'s spent per point gained was £38,000 (lowest in the league), whilst Celtic was up at £364,000!!! Really puts into context the prudence that the club seem to take in running the finances and their comparable petformance on the field - something they should be congratulated for it. It'll be interesting to read the same statistics for the season just ended once available (especially with RCFC in the league). Sorry, can't do the linky thingy to the article.

Excellent management and direction full marks to the Board of Directors. Take note Celtic we don't have to buy our place in the league we earn it. ICT leads and leads by example. True winners!!

Hey ICT fans! Just wanted to be the first Charlton fan to say hi, and Im looking forward to seeing some of you for the friendly fixture on the 27th July, be great to meet up for a beer or two beforehand!

"As regards the club itself, we can only express our deepest condolences to its supporters, who have been lied to for so many years. It had to happen sooner or later. They have lived beyond law and all morals, and should now be declared beyond the pale" Vladimir Romanov 21st June 2012 (on the demise of Rangers)

Daily Record: "Hearts then went on to confirm the signing of Danny Wilson from Liverpool...The club then ended their statement with a further desperate appeal for cash and season ticket money from their fans...“our financial deficit can, in part, be attributed to our worst league finish in over 30 years last season. “This had a significant direct impact on the business. Other factors that hit revenues include the absence of Rangers Football Club from the SPL and significantly increased stadium costs particularly in relation to the Main Stand.” What a load of rubbish. You spent all your money, and then some, on wages. End of.

Cownty figures will be pure fiction anyway.

Local Inverness lad Russell Knox tied 3rd in 2nd round of US Open, brilliant start!!!

Good points IHE!, my theory why we don't have the Quality in the 'yoof' nowadays is lifestyle is as follows: Unfortunately it is very much a sign of the times. How often nowadays do you see the youngsters out kicking a ball in the fields, jackets down for goal posts, a big mix of ages in equally balanced sides. That was where the learning came from in the times before TV and computers. Goals and byes, three and in were common place depending on numbers and as others arrived sides were picked and a full scale game would ensue, lasting well over the ninety minutes. The youngest learned the hard way playing against the big lads and if and when they were knocked over they would get up quickly to prove they could take it and weren't Sissies. There was schools football, boys brigade football Sunday school football Street football and any other football they could invent. That was where the trade was learned before being found by junior clubs then welfare clubs those who shone eventually made the Highland league. Now it would appear that monied parents can buy their kids into coaching schools and training facilities regardless of abilities, whilst the less well of, many of them who have keen talented offspring don't really get a look in or cant get places because of lack of funds. Another factor imo is this attitude of competitiveness being discouraged and the mamby pamby 'its not the winning that counts it's the taking part.' pish! Its taking part and wanting to win that matters. Teachers, youth leaders etc should all be encouraging sport and winning. People gave up their time to help them along in life without payment so why shouldn't they do the same for this generation. Getting off my high horse now to give it a drink !! or rather share the one I'm going to have

A lot is being made of our recent signings being recruited on a national basis rather than a local one and quite a few posters seem to be concerned that our team seems to be increasingly 'foreign' I have just read an article here: http://sport.stv.tv/football/clubs/inverness/228510-how-does-the-spl-compare-to-europe-in-blooding-under-21s/ which thrown up some very interesting figures on how we compare to other SPL teams and indeed how we compare to other leagues in Europe for homegrown and domestic U21 players I'm reasonably surprised to see us doing well compared to others on playing a reasonably high percentage of Scottish U21s. Our homegrown figure is pretty low but considering that 4 of the top 5 finish teams have figures of less than 6% then it seems to suggest that playing homegrown talent does not guarantee success in the SPL. Motherwell seem to be the only team bucking the trend. Very low homegrown and Scottish U21 figures from our neighbours across the bridge despite claims at the beginning of last season saying how they wanted to sign/play local players. Whilst its almost universally known that most big teams (Barcelona and a couple of others excluded) make their teams up from a multitude of nationalities it is interesting to see that the averages for playing homegrown U21s for countries like England, Spain and Germany all are less than 7%. A lot lower than i would have expected. Personally I am of the opinion that while it would be great to have a team made up of 11 loyal talented local lads playing for their hometown club, realistically this will never happen given that Inverness and surrounding areas have never historically been particularly affluent when it comes to producing footballers capable of playing at the highest levels. Whilst I do not mean this to be disrespectful, I do realise there have been many talented players to be born,bred, raised in the area but the amount of players reaching the upper echelons of the football world have been limited. For that reason I fully understand and back the idea that we will be a club who will recruit wherever necessary to entice players North to play and succeed for us. I feel that discriminating players on the basis of them not being local would be a huge mistake and if we did then the club would probably settle in a position somewhere in the lower divisions. Views? opinions?

I like falafel

I like Florence. I've only been to Florence, not Dougal. Maybe one day they'll merge.

True. Cologne narrowly missed out on the promotion playoffs this year and are one of my promotion favourites. They have a young, promising squad and averaged about 30,000 in the stands. I'm not sure about the quality of their new manager, Austrian ex-international Peter Stoger, but Roman will certainly be in the mix for the starting line-up!

Not for me.

So as things stand, I'd say our current best line-up is (bearing in mind that these new signings are good and how I expect Butcher to line them up) - Esson Raven Warren Meekings G.Shinnie Foran Draper Doran Vincent Evans McKay Bench - New Keeper?, Hooman, Allen, Ross, Pepper, Devine, Watkins And that's without a place for Greenhalgh and Williams. Looks pretty good and pretty set already I'd say.

ICT updated the fixtures and we are away to Charlton Athletic on 27th of July.

Just found this article about Steve and it shows how much work he does behind the scenes scouting for us. Doing a marvellous job for us and we are very lucky to have him http://www.examiner.co.uk/huddersfield-town-fc/huddersfield-town-news/2013/05/17/ex-huddersfield-town-man-steve-marsella-is-making-an-impression-at-inverness-caledonian-thistle-86081-33342026/ one sentence which caught my eye was this: keep up the good work sir

James MacArthur and James Mccarthy spring to mind as decent deals for their club Hamilton. Mathew Kennedys deal for Kilmarnock was terrible. 3 games out of a potential star before he chose to go and sit in the Everton reserves for alot less money too is painful.

"It is inevitable that Hearts will reach the level of Rangers and Celtic" - Vladamir Romanov, November 2004. Half right Vlad. Hearts are taking their fans for mugs with this, how many tin rattling exercises are they going to have before people get wise to them? They've been a shambles for years, blaming Rangers for a tax bil they didn't pay from 2-3 years ago? Gid yan meight!

In any business paying out 43% of gross revenue would be regarded as high and uneconomic. Prior to retirement from my service industry business here in Canada, which I ran for 29 years doing all the work myself for many prior years, I set an upper limit of 33% of gross income for wages to which has to be added the taxes applicable (employers did pay a portion of what the employee paid by way of Canada Pension Plan and Employment Insurance premiums and for himself, as the owner, 100% of both deductions applicable to his wage even if employers were not allowed to claim E.I.!) I did have one past employee who was very faithful and very conscientious so I did pay him 38% to39% of the gross income per annum of the work he actually did and he lasted 4 years until his interest and performance fell off when we parted company on mutual good terms. But this was a low-income-per-job business so he did very well. What that figure does indicate for ICT is that they are in a business where the normal rules relating to control of expenditures for total year expenses do not apply because it's entertainment. It's a high salary business because the control the club has over the distribution of their wealth is much less due to the fact that players have much more power to bargain, think much more highly of their worth and have a shorter working life in which to build up a nest egg for retirement. But, compared to the other clubs, this low figure is remarkable and very praiseworthy indeed. Which is enhanced therefore in terms of praise because of the terrific success they achieved this last season. Meaning that someone, somewhere, within the ranks of the employed have done a very shrewd job of player selection, training and motivation.

Maybe the league table should include extra points for clubs who can maintain some kind of balanced finances. Its crap that teams can continue to outbid others while racking up debt and moaning about their plight. Kilmarnock comes to mind for some reason. When Mixu P (can't spell it) was in charge there he signed 5 foreign players in one go which must have increased their wage bill at a time their Chairman was pontificating about Scottish Football's financial worries and the need for change. He won SPL Manager of the Month...

Holy smokes batman we signed a player who doesn't use aye right enough as a term of agreement, hold the front page. I demand we return to the highland league immediately and demand to see a signing policy where by all players are required to produce a family tree showing unbroken inbreeding and a propensity to say here eh at least 100 times a day before they are considered for a game.

I don't have concerns about the Highland Leagues teams making the step up. We have a wealth of talented players and well run teams in this division. Someone has pointed out their concern about the calibre of teams in the lowland league. What sort of quality will be on offer here? I would love to see the likes of Wick in the SFL out of sheer spite to those who moan about teams north of Perth being involved.

It's quite simple Caledonian Fc had outgrown the Highland League, crowds were dwindling because by the late eighties there was no achievement in winning the title as it meant absolutely nothing Had their been a proper pyramid system in the Scottish game Caley would have left Thistle a long way behind years ago, jags fans don't like hearing this but deep down they know had they not been taken over by Caley they would no longer be here in name at all Jags fans to me are a very very strange breed, ICT are widely called Caley by 99% of Invernessians and also by the local and national media The predominantly blue strip, The Caledonian Stadium etc etc I could go on but I don't really want to rub further salt in the wounds Caledonian had the biggest support in the Highland League a lot larger than Ross County yet County have always had the better average attendances than ICT while they were in the same leagues The merger has severly stunted crowds in Inverness no matter what the Jim Leishman worshippers like to spin as their story I've said it before it will take a generation or two to pass before ICT will recover from the damage done twenty years ago Dougal