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Exactly, no point talking about it and querying why the guy who was being made out to be one of our leading players to get us back up this season has been sold to our rivals. That's the kind of attitude the board of this club love. Stick your head in the sand, don't question anything, keep paying your money and coming along to games.

The way some people are carrying on you'd think we'd just lost Lionel Messi. Let's get real folks. Big Drapes was a good stopper, a big lump who put himself about and caused chaos in and around the opposition penalty area - but he could also struggle to string a straight 5 yard pass at times. Technique-wise we're talking North Caledonian Super League level. Don't get me wrong, every team needs a stopper in the middle of the park - however, I doubt very much that Russel Duncan was on £2,000 a week, or anywhere near to being our highest paid player - and there's a very good reason for that. The reality is, County have a wealthy suitor with money to burn, we don't. We have to cut our cloth and get on with it. People always moan when stalwarts leave (Munro, Tokely, Duncan etc) but if you want to make an omelette, you have to break a few eggs. You can't rebuild a team unless you clear the decks first. Anyone who sat through the dross of last season could see a rebuilding job was needed. The young lads who are coming through - Calder (21), Seedorf (22), Oakley (21), Mulraney (21), Brad Mackay (24), Polworth (22), Cooper (23), Bell (20) - are only going to get better. I'd much rather get back to the SPL with a fresh generation of players who can keep us there long term and potentially reach new heights than simply bounce back with the same declining team who'd only be clinging on at the bottom of the table as soon as we got there.

Player wants to move. Club tells them if they want move they must make formal transfer request. Player submits transfer request. Where exactly have the club done wrong here? There's plenty to be angry and upset about with ict right now without getting our knickers in a knot purely for the sake of it.

I'm trying to think of a time I was more disillusioned with a football club than I am with ict now......... I can't. Even in Highland League days both Thistle and caley, and clach, were a much more professionally run outfit than the current ict shambles. Decisions and non-decisions taken over the last two years have severely wounded the club. Hopefully these wounds will not prove mortal? The fans have been taken for granted, ignored when voicing their opinions, and unheeded when making known their desire for decisions to be made / actions taken. Yet today the latest action at ict is to sell its prized asset to its local rivals for a pittance when fans have been so vocal for keeping Ross Draper. We are ignored yet again. What would happen if the boot was on the other foot (pun intended) and its fans decide to ignore the club......... doesn't bear thinking about does it?

.... probably including any of the 33 out of 33 that Inverness College seem to have managed to get to fail their Higher Media Studies over the last two years. But for the moment to turn to Chris's OP - what a swingeing and well articulated condemnation of a summer of chaos within a club which just two years previously was displaying the Scottish Cup and playing in Europe. Apart from the extent of the decline, its rate has also been eye watering. The only part of Chris's precis with which I might differ is on players and management. Given the extreme lack of funds, I'm not sure if appointments and recruitment could be expected to be any better. I retain an element of cautious, albeit necessarily limited optimism in this department. We really must also wonder just how close to the wire - electric fence even - finances have got in recent months; and to what extent has paying silly money to poorly motivated mediocrity been responsible? Returning now to public relations and communications , I despair no less - indeed even more now - than I've done for several years. This is something I've been trying to make clear to them for a long time but I've seen neither the capacity nor the will to do anything about it - nor indeed even any concept of the need to win friends and influence people and the attendant role of communication. Quite frankly, a few cheesy, happy clappy tweets (and even these have now disappeared) don't begin to pass muster here. Communication and PR have been dreadful, awful, pathetic, abysmal and God knows how many other adjectives out of the same stable. Worse still, the deficit has been obscured behind a firewall of happy-clappy complacency. Chris rightly highlighted Seasonticketgate, Shearergate and Porngate. These are all toe-curlingly embarrassing foul ups of the highest order but are also simply the continuation of a long established trend. However the most revealing feature of this thread has been the rate at which it has grown even within a couple of hours. It's telling as well as distressing, to see so many Caley Thistle fans who are regular, articulate and respected posters on this forum spontaneously echoing what the OP has rightly said. When you get such unanimity among so many contributors with proven track records for commenting on these things, you see in the starkest of terms the situation the club is in and the deep concerns of its supporters. As for the Draper issue, not only is this another reflection of the relative status of the two Highland clubs, it's also the latest example of Roy MacGregor being in a position to rub Caley Thistle's noses right in it. And having had to endure "Always In Our Shadow", "Pride Of The Highlands" etc, it's difficult to criticise him for this.

Tonight's sale of Draper to Ross County has (hopefully) concluded the worst summer of the clubs entire 23 year existence. starting with relegation, we've seen the following. - We sack Richie Foran after the end of the season, which was the right decision but taken so late that the rightness or wrongness of it becomes secondary. Why persevere with someone for so long when he obviously wasn't good enough, suffer the consequences and then take action when it's too late? The fact someone with his history at the club was despatched with a two line statement was also a joke. - The club then reshuffles the boardroom, with a load of Inverniessian estate agents, solicitors and whatnot leaving and joining. No-one really has any idea who any of these people are, none of them have any experience at running a football club whatsoever. The only chink of light is appointing Danny MacDonald, who does know about this, as COO last week. - Following relegation we don't reduce season ticket prices and issue unbelievably arrogant press release about getting promoted as champions. The tin eared idiocy of this is made more apparent by subsequent events - we ask fans to stump up money to ensure we can cover costs but then release and sell our high earners? Surely someone must've realised how this would go over? The 'apology' afterwards is nothing either, don't get into situations where you have to apologise. - The club then embarks on the most nonsensical summer of PR idiocy its possible to imagine. The only way it could be worse is if Finlayson invited a few Japanese trawler boats to dock outside the stadium and slaughter some of the dolphins. First we get rid of stalwarts like Duncan Shearer by text message, then we adopt radio silence from our social media team, then when we get someone to man the Twitter account, they accidentally like filth and our club outs out the stupidest statement in our history about it. It's been said that lots of this stuff was done by volunteer but you could employ a 16 year old media student and they'd do a better job. - In between this we praise the candidates who applied for our job and were interviewed and then... appoint someone who didn't apply, hasn't worked as a manager in five years, hasn't been particularly successful at this level in 13 years and was shocked to get in. I hope he does a good job and he's at least a positive person but looking at things logically the odds are stacked against him. He's also working with people he hasn't brought in, no doubt due to cost, and will be under pressure very soon if we don't go on a run. The fact that he's already started slating the team and players doesn't bode well. - In terms of playing we've lost some stalwarts, as you'd expect, and replaced them with jobbers. Being absolutely honest about it we've signed raw youth players doing the trialist rounds, jobbers who've been released for being no good or guys who've most likely come from agents. We don't have a solid defender and we don't have someone to score double figures in this league. We also someone got into a war of words with an ex player managing a HL club that we have loads of links with over us trying to sign their best player and captain for no money. An utter embarrassment. i don't really mind about us selling players or who they go to, all players leave evenuslky and it's better to clear out players too soon than too late. Our squad was stale and under performing. It's the fact we are certain to sign utter useless jobbers to replace the players who've left that is really concerning. I don't think I've missed anything. I don't know if the board or the manager or the Chief Operating Officer wants to give us an update on what the plan is with all this but it's difficult to see where it's going. We don't have an identity as a team, we don't have a structure to ensure that we succeed as much as possible. We have made investment available but no-one is going to invest, apparently. Is this it for the foreseeable? As fans we need something to look forward to, more than a win against Forfar, although that's probably going to be as good as it gets these days, I just hope that at least somebody in charge at the club realises what a state we are in because it needs to change. We are more likely to leave this division down the way than up at the moment and if the people in charge don't get that then we are in for a hard few years until they do.

Hmmm, the more I hear, the more I back the club. The club receive a bid. Draper is asked if he wants a move. Draper says yes. Then the club ask the contracted player to submit a transfer request. The club then accept fee and allow talks between clubs to commence. Perhaps its a bit underhand of the club to invite a transfer request to protect themselves from a fan backlash, but at the end of the day, Draper could have said he didn't want a move and the club would have rejected the offer. It was left upto him and he choose to move. No point keeping a player who would like to play elsewhere.

Sorry, Caman - can't endorse the traitor label. If ICT had really wanted him to stay, he'd be with us. Bottom line is that the board really wanted the cash (possibly to stay afloat) and engineered this with an underhand ploy to deflect blame. If they had been honest from the start, and told the supporters that relegation would mean selling off assets or face administration, I would have accepted it. This, however, is unacceptable from the club.

But if we continue to be negative then we can't expect things to change on the field either. Negativity breeds negativity. I have to make 1100 mile round trips to see the boys play but just because they took the drop and the club is in a sticky patch doesn't mean I will be less of a supporter. I will still make the home games when leave allows me. I believe that positive change has to be seen to be coming from us, as well as the board, the players, and the management. Have you ever stopped to wonder how many players, managers etc may be lurking on this forum? It's the biggest fan base on the tinternet. It starts with us!!!

Bingo. Being a supporter isn't just blindly applauding every defeat and looking for the positives in every negative that befalls the club. Being a supporter also entails questioning decisions and if your unhappy about something then saying it. Our board don't answer any of our questions because they have no answers. No idea how to turn things around by the look of things. ultimately we all want the club moving forwards in a positive fashion. It hasn't for quite some time. Being a supporter, a supporter of my club, I want to know the reasons this isn't happening and finding our ways we can address what's going wrong. Looking for positives when our rivals have bought our vice captain for a very conservative amount isn't one of them.

County this and County that - it doesn't make a difference what they do. We need to sort things out for ourselves not spend all the time like a bunch of fish wives worrying about someone else.

No one is saying there aren't faults on the part of the board / management. That's obvious. But you're making out like Draper has been hard done by when he clearly hasn't. He was one of the top earners at the club and one a long term deal compared to most and was held in high regard by the management. Contrast that to someone like OFW who has been completely frozen out at the club. Instead of showing some loyalty and trying to help get the club back up to the Premiership, similar to Foran, Rooney etc in 09/10 but instead he's forced a move to our local rivals and folk are understandably unhappy about it. I see no reason whatsoever to wish the guy well in the future and he's fair game for criticism for this move.

I was the winner for the last game against Dundee Utd. I have to say that Willie Finlayson spent a lot of time chat to myself and my guest. During this time I raised a lot of questions, which he honestly responded to. He came across very honest and sincere. His knowledge of football was very good and was just as gutted as myself when we lost to Utd. Having been a fan since the club formed I believe that this offer to attend the boardroom was a great move from the club. Also having Robbo sitting behind me when he got sent to the stands was also a privilege to hear his instructions to the players All I can say is when anyone gets this opportunity please be polite as the chairman might be more responsive to your questions.

If the club had been straightforward and honest at the end of last season and told us that the financial position was so bad that we would have to shed virtually every established first team player and recruit replacements from the bargain basement we would have been shocked and disappointed but would all have united behind the club as football fans have a tendency to do even in the knowledge that a rapid return to the Premiership was most unlikely. Instead, there was no such transparency and season tickets were effectively sold on false pretences, many other promises have been made and then broken and now the reason for and circumstances of the departure of our remaining most influential player is been spun by the club in an entirely disingenuous manner. A disgraceful way to run any business let alone a football club that was once much admired but is now, quite justifiably, the subject of scorn and ridicule.

1st Prize - Autographed Ross Draper shirt 2nd Prize - A pair of Billys' Boots

It really saddens me to see what has become of ICT. We are basically a joke at boardroom level and this will continue to drag us down as a club until this is resolved. This is purely down to a lack of vision/strategy from the board who really should hang their heads in shame. Nobody expects us to win cups or finish in top six on a regular basis but some sort of plan both in a football sense and fan base sense would have been good and most posters on here could see that was needed. Unfortunately we got an old boys network who didn't care or were incapable of a vision to drive the club forward. Jock MacDonald must be spinning in his grave seeing what we have become.

Obviously disappointed with the outcome, draper was a fine player for us and will be remembered as so. However, there were signs last season of a lack of mobility and general ageing. This is a one-way road heading downhill. While I would have loved him to stayed and feel he would have been perfect for this season I kinda see the financial sense of cashing in. What happens if he gets crocked early in the season, he is on heavy wages, leaves a big hole in the team and we would not be receiving any transfer for him. I think he may struggle to get into a very mobile county side. Perhaps I am just sour. I wish him no further success in his career until he moves elsewhere. Whilst signing for County is hard to take, due to our locality it is an easy choice for settled pros to make the short and relatively short moves to our neighbours north and east. They are now playing at a higher standard and receive much better wages so you cant begrudge them moving on too move. Globalisation and professionalism of football has put paid to this 'loyalty' nonsense. Its long gone, accept it. Anyone of us would do exactly the same.

That's a pretty strong accusation and I don't think that is what Jamie Durent is saying - which to me is something more along the lines of "it's not as clear cut as has been portrayed by ICT". For example, IF there was an understanding that if Draper put in a transfer request then the club would accept the bid, then ICT would be telling the truth and Draper would be unhappy about being portrayed as the bad guy.

"Pride of the Highlands"

It will - our ability to get promoted........................

And the winner of happy clapping prize of the season is!!! We sadly are not a remarkable club anymore just a basket case.

The club is nothing without it's supporters. Once the board realise this and adopt a more progressive attitude towards the fans they will reap the rewards of higher gate receipts, more positive vibes around the ground, and better results. Let's look at the positives ... A) We have a good and experienced manager B) We have signed a few rough diamonds over the summer C) We lost Draper but at least have a bit more money to help us develop a young squad further D) We may not get promotion for a few seasons but we will have a young squad that has grown together - in the SPL when you don't have buckets of cash floating about this strategy is the next best way to promote survival. E) When we started 23 years ago everyone wrote us off because we would never get the gate receipts to make it pay - let alone stay in the league. F) There are clubs with a history 5 times longer than ours that haven't seen a sniff of silverware for longer than we have been around. WE ARE A REMARKABLE CLUB - LETS GET BEHIND THE MANAGER AND PLAYERS AND SHOW THE BOARD JUST HOW MUCH THEY NEED US!

I really feel each individual director should be asked the following questions 1: What were the reasons for you wanting to become an ICT board member? 2: What were your objectives and have these been achieved ? 3: Were you elected to the board? 4: How much have you invested in the club and how many shares do you hold? 5: What are you doing to improve our on and off field performance? Has anyone got more questions?

No agree! The club staff are always polite and helpful. I dont think we can reasonably expect them to know about what happens at other clubs. I always ring the away club direct as find that works better.

Two of the clubs main communication channels, Twitter and Facebook, have been neglected in recent weeks (I've not checked this morning but last night neither were carrying news of the Draper story). It seems that not just communication with fans but modern day communication with the fans is something that those upstairs at the club have yet to grasp.

Well it solves the three central midfielders that can't play together conundrum ..

Marquee signing? Our board would probably buy a tent.

Hard to add anything or disagree with anything Chris has said in the OP. Laurence - either he/she pronoun for Chris may be OK, did you consider they may be gender fluid?

There is no reason why fans should expect "loyalty" from players in the sense that we feel betrayed when they take a decision to move on. Why on earth would Draper choose to play in the Championship when he has the opportunity to play in the Premiership? Why would he turn down the offer of earning more money somewhere else. If Draper was on £2,000 a week then that may sound a lot to some folk, but being a professional footballer is not something you do till you start receiving your old age pension. Players only earn good money for a few years and after that they need to find other work till they get their pension. Sure, the top players get silly money, but players at our level need to maximise their earnings when they can in order to provide some level of security for their families. If players choose to stay at the club rather than move on then that is fantastic (as long as we want them to stay!) but it is wrong to expect that kind of loyalty. What we can expect from players is for them to play for the shirt when they are here. Ross Draper did that for several years for this club and I salute him for that. Have we sold him on the cheap? No. I don't think so. It has been well known that Draper was available if the price was right and if no club has come in for him for more than County were willing to pay then I would suggest that what they are paying is his market value. Whilst a good ball winner, Draper scores very few goals for a midfielder and is not a very creative player. Getting £100k and saving his wages is a significant boost to pretty empty coffers and I would imagine that Robbo will be looking to use some of that to bring in a combative midfielder with a more attacking mindset. I'm not sure Draper really fits in with Robbos approach to the game, and whilst I'm sorry to see him go, we might find more positives than negatives come out of this.

Hugely disappointed by Draper's departure. The Board need to now demonstrate that we really are going to have a genuine promotion chasing squad by giving Robertson the funds get some quality signings in the August window,

Things are bad and disappointing but not that bad. The Rangers, beaten by a team of part timers from Luxembourg, are still the official laughing stock of Scottish football and still will be for many years to come.

Six figures? Likely £1000.00 plus 2 haggis pies.

"Scottish football in protectionist self-interest shock!"

Sir C don't be depressed, as I said on another topic I could have never imagined seeing ICT lift the SC. I'm happy to have experienced that even if we never get back to the PL. The club has punched well above its weight for many years and we need to get that grit back that we had in the early years. A seriously bad management decision has led to all of this. A period of rebuilding now needs to take place and I suspect it will take years. Players were happy to sign up when we were a PL team, not anymore, we need management who can find unpolished diamonds that the rest are unaware of to make any impression on this league.

Disappointed he's gone but don't blame him at all. If you had a job opportunity with an increased wage, while at the same being able to stay living where you are, who wouldn't take the offer?

Right, Draper has gone...lets move on, eh! We can debate the rights & wrongs for the rest of the season but it won't change anything.. Personally, as I said before, if Draper wanted to go, not much point in keeping him...still think we sold him cheaply though.. BUT...frees up a big earner off the wages bill, as well as the somewhat paltry transfer fee - might help in the longer term, who knows...