Leaderboard

"Good morning, County fans. Now, this is what a trophy looks like!"

I'm starting to think that people want us to have a low number of fans at the game so they can say they were right that's why the figures weren't announced. As I've said before, same as caleydawson, get out there and help boost our numbers, regardless of what they are, and get more folk along to support ICT. There will not be a shortage of tickets for this game. If you want one you will almost certainly be able to get one.

Totally agree, what harm can it do to publish sales figures. It builds excitement and momentum for the Final. Cannot understand why the club are so reluctant to do this as this can only generate positive publicity. It would appear we will have our biggest ever support at the Cup Final but we don't know for sure which, is quite frankly, an appaling piece of PR. This could be expoited in so many ways to help the club and grow the interest and fan base. This could be a one off occasion or not happen again for many years so please let us make the most of this heaven sent marketing opportunity.

https://www.facebook.com/15000InvernessCaleyThistlefanstoHampden

Well done to all those involved in organising the buses. It must be a nightmare, but it must be one of the biggest contributing factors in encouraging people to travel down to Hampden from the highlands. Thanks to all of you.

Ah, the joys of commercial interests! I note Ashers display an old shirt design and not the current one with the current sponsor's logo. I wonder why that is Who Cares at least they are supporting our boys :-)

I was in town today and saw excellent Cup Final window displays at Thorntons Chocolate shop, the Trespass shop and Phase Eight, all in the Eastgate Centre. I didn't have a camera to take photos but just seeing the windows gave me a warm fuzzy feeling.

Agree that there is no cause to be embarrassed no matter how few tickets we sell but there is, in my view, reason to be disappointed that we can't enthuse as many as one in six of the population of greater Inverness to make the relatively short journey to Hampden at three o'clock on a sunny late May afternoon to attend what is, on any measure, the greatest event in the history of Inverness sport when there are numerous others making the effort and very considerible expense to travel from all over the UK, and, in some cases even half way round the World to be there.

The club's position on not declaring ticket sales is flawed and outdated. We have got much right both on and off the field but the PR side of things can still seem a bit amateurish. It is, has been alluded to above, well recognised that regularly announcing ticket sales generates both publicity and excitement and, without doubt, generates more interest and more sales. The Children in Need running total is a good analogy. It's not about boasting or competing with Falkirk but very straightforward marketing. Still, we learn from mistakes and it is something we can rectify for next season's final.

Not obsessed - my point is that giving updates on ticket sales is more than likely to generate more sales. More ticket sales means more money for the club and, more importantly, an increased chance of getting a few more people to become regulars. To say we shouldn't be concerned about people that have never been to a game before is effectively saying we don't need or want any new fans. The logical conclusion of that is that, as existing fans shuffle off this mortal coil, we will eventually run out of fans and the last one out can turn off the lights. Some of us are doing all we can to encourage more people to get to the game which is the best chance we will ever have of increasing the fan base. It is disappointing that plenty people are not that bothered about this and keeping the number of tickets sold so far a closely guarded secret is not helping!

Some people on here are a bit obsessed about finding out about tickets, tbf why should we concern ourselves with people that have never been to a game before. If people want a ticket then they can just go and ask if they are sold out, people are trying to work out how many we have sold when do you really know how many seats are in each area. Instead of working out how many we have sold why don't you go and encourage others to go and buy tickets and then on the day you can work out how many we have sold.

Outside my house!

https://www.facebook.com/ICTFC

Just bumping this on the ticket sales topic. http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/scottish-cup-final-buses-tickets-16691849772?ref=ebtnebtckt Now onto bus 25 ! along with all the other buses going down its going to be a pretty impressive convoy

I have secured two coaches for Cup Final day and am looking to fill them with schoolkids and their parents. I will subsidise these coaches so that the return cost is just £10 for kids and £15 for adults that accompany them. This is about a third of the cost of public transport so hopefully we can get 100 people to the match that would otherwise not have gone. Departure points will be finalised in the next 48 hours. It would be great if other businesses or individuals would chip in some money so that we can organise more coaches and I would appreciate it if you can pass this request on to any charitable contacts you have. £750 would subsidise another coach but any amount is welcome. Please contact me if you can help or if you have access to more coaches (which are thin on the ground). We will be promoting this via the schools in the next two days and it will only be available for bookings where children are accompanied by adults.

The Wee sweetie shop in the Victorian Market :-)

Look it doesn't matter how many we have in the stands it is the 11 on the pitch who will matter and if we had one person in the stands or 20,000 if we win the match the name Inverness Caledonian Thistle will still be engraved onto the trophy for the rest of history. I am just intrigued by how many we sell just out of interest and as some have said it may help having a running total to get us to sell more or it may not make a difference. On the issue of embarrassment I don't think the club should have any embarrassment over ticket sales. We are a small club with a small support but the key thing is we are still a YOUNG club and we haven't had the generational structure that all the other major clubs have had. But I believe we must be around 10,000 looking at the sections we have sold and we still have just over another week to sell more.

Didnt think we released them that long ago? or were you meaning challenge Cup Final shirt ?

Don't know if that will be the case Jo but to stress the point again, if ticket sales on the low side, we have to try and increase. Promoting how many we have sold,if more than the League Cup final, and we will have our highest ever support for a game (which I believe we will). All positive messages that can be spun for the benefit of the club and supporters.

C*unty's stock is indeed low. Standard like.

Airport yet to support the City!!!

I went to have a look on Richard Brittains Twitter what he was saying about getting released and found out he has blocked me. I don't think I've ever tweeted the guy. Maybe he just spends his spare time blocking ICT fans on social media.

That Disney look like they've got much stock.....

For goodness sake why can't our club just make up a press release announcing how many tickets we have sold. This information should be shared with the fans and shareholders. In fact as a shareholder I think I have a right to know.

Red Card - get out the water, bread and fish.

Some complete polar-opposites of opinion on how we should tackle this game! Often there are at most 2 or 3 tactical differences but here, we've got wholesale changes versus no tinkering! I guess, that's what Hughes gets paid for! But as 'manager of the Year', I'm sure he's relishing this dilemma! It's worth remembering that he has been in the Cup Final before - (ironically with Falkirk) but, he's bound to have benefited from the experience. Probably a fixture we could do without! He's almost in a damned if you, damned if you don't, position. If one of our 'senior' players gets injured, questions will be pointed at why he 'risked playing him.... Frankly, I just want this match out-of-the-way, injury and suspension free, so we can focus on the final!!!

I'm really glad someone got a photo of that excellent display at Hilton Primary. That's what it looked like when I passed it around 9am today but unfortunately, when I came back around 4:30pm, most of the balloons had burst, possibly due to the wind.

This will be the first card display that ICT have done and a lot of work has gone into it. The players are apparently looking forward to seeing it.

It doesn't, I just think it's awfully curious that there now seems to be all these Man City and Chelsea supporters in the Highlands. When I was in school there wasn't any. Now that they're successful that seems to have changed. I wonder if some Russian oligarch bought say Bristol Rovers and they won the European Cup, you'd see their shirts up being worn up here... Personally, I think having two clubs is like having a wife and a girlfriend. Just wrong!

I'll take that as a no then.

Other than the top tier of the south stand and maybe 4 or 5 sections behind our goals, Hampden will nearly be full. Lets be honest that's not bad for a Inverness v Falkirk final.

Well at the Semi Final, I thought Scott Brown warranted at least 3 yellow cards, instead of the one he got. He is a cynical tackler and always will be.

you are thinking of this 2010-11 shirt. close but not exactly the same

I think our board just go on the Errea website and pick a blank canvas design then have Errea do the personalisations (ie crest and sponsor). Going back to this would be a preference I'm a stripe fan.