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No he didn't. He gave Hughes the biggest budget in the club's history to play with and then some more. Hughes through the dummy out when he wasn't given even more, despite being told the club had no more money to give. This was also after Hughes had blown some of the budget on dross like Liam Hughes and Dani Lopez.

I think it is a pretty fair statement. Reading between the lines, it is obvious they realise the mistakes and lack of communication has cost them a lot of trust and goodwill. It is easy to be cynical, as some will be, but as a statement of intent it is a big improvement on the past, and I think you have to give them a chance to follow it up and deliver what they say. I also have to say, I have no idea where this money is coming from, but surely a very welcome development at a time when we really need it. If it is put to good use, then happy to give them credit for getting that in. As for the questions, hopefully people will be able to ask that at the promised Q & A session. Graham Rae is a former Inverness Royal Academy pupil, an invernessian who was in the oil business, and is now retired, I believe, so will have the time to devote to the club. Good luck to him.

I would have thought the website and communications in general was of crucial importance at the moment. This is not an "either or situation". Doing some work on the communication side of things does not mean that work has to stop on work around managing the finances and addressing shortcomings at the playing end of things. All these aspects are essential parts of the business and should be complimentary. Let us suppose you are a young player down South looking for a move to get some first team experience and your agent tells you ICT are interested in signing you. What do you do? You look up the club's website, social media outlets and probably the fans forum as well to find out a bit more about the club. As things stand, unless you were desperate, you would probably tell your agent you weren't interested. In order to attract the quality of players we need, the club must project an image of an efficient, progressive club with a positive sense of purpose and with a supportive fan base. As it is, the website and social media outlets give an image of a club in crisis. For instance, in the "News" section there is a choice if "Club" news or "Team" news. The latest "Team" news concerns the visit of the Krankies to the stadium in early July. News of new additions to the team are listed under "Club" news. And even then, the extent of any information about any of the new lads is just the absolute minimum. If the club announces it's new players to be world in such an amateur way, it is not going to make the club attractive to young guys looking to progress their careers. The lack of attention given by the Board to its social media outlets may well be preventing us from recruiting the very players who could help us turn our fortunes around. And it is not as though it is difficult to do. We may need to buy in some professional expertise to improve the website and to provide some training for staff in putting new stuff on (and removing when necessary), but website update would be a one off and not very substantial cost. A small proportion of Draper's transfer fee. Once that was done it would just require an hour or two a week at most for trained staff to keep on top of things. As for the Board members themselves, I appreciate that they may not have the social media skills themselves, but from their professional backgrounds each and everyone of them should know how important it is for the club to utilise social media effectively. They should all also be capable of drafting statements or tweets and making decisions in response to any events which happen, e.g telling someone with the IT skills to remove the picture of Ross Draper from the website. P.S. Having just had a closer look at the website, I note that the club hasn't even bothered to post any announcement at all about several of our new players. Welcome to ICT guys!

They will change it when they get round to announcing the pre season friendly with Clach.

Frankly I'm a bit baffled at the ongoing abuse and rantings after one bad game. The reviews against Dundee Utd suggested that we competed well and were unlucky from my recollection. We have a team which has not played together (only regular two players from last season started the game) and is hampered by some of the most experienced players being injured (e.g. Warren and Tremarco). A number of the new players need to prove themselves as being up to the standard however I'm sure their confidence will grow when they are read the forum (as most do) and see that they are being told they are rank and to 'feck off' as one poster seems to use as a tag line to every post. In fact we seem to have grown a few newbies who have even registered just to show their unconstructive 'support'. The reality is that the state of the club has meant that rebuilding will take more than one transfer window. We don't have funds to buy and therefore have to take risks on players who are raw or possibly need a fresh chance. This may find a few gems but will also find a few who will not make the grade. It will take a number of games to make an initial assessment of where we are but I am under no illusions of being able to compete at the top of the league. Happy clapping is not being asked for however a degree of common sense around the team needs to be applied with hopefully some of the injured players returning soon to provide some leadership. Wringing our hands at every opportunity and personal abuse of players and management (both playing side and non-playing side) is unlikely to improve anything.

Graham Rae Former RA student..............isn't that a negative for a start lol.

With Draper and Tansey both gone this is make or break time for Liam. As you say, he has had plenty of opportunity to shine, but in the last couple of years he seems to have gone backwards. He now has a better than ever opportunity to show what he can do and playing at Championship level should also help. If he can't make a position his own this season, then I don't think he ever will.

What Doofers has just written. Makes perfect sense and a fairly in depth review. Steady the Buffs and all. Get the financial house really in order , stop spending money on items and deals that offer little or no return on the investment and cut the cloth accordingly. Prudent thoughts in action Sunny here again in B.C. today--i.e. about half a day's rain yesterday was after three months of constant, broiling sun. Going to sleep at 87 degrees is no fun.Good job no matter what the lawn grass looks like it will all come back in October when the annual monsoon starts up.

To be fair, that's a pretty good statement. It says a lot of sensible things and gives some commitments which the Board need to keep. As they say themselves, now that they have talked the talk they need to walk the walk. There's quite a lot in the statement so apologies in advance for a longish post. Firstly, whilst I seem to recall someone saying Finlayson was just a fill in Chairman, the Board's statement regarding his appointment did not say so. Graham Rae was appointed to the Board after Cameron stood down so I wonder whether he was brought in with the intention of taking over after a period of familiarisation or whether the change of Chairman now is a result of Boardroom politics and/or related to the announced £500,000 investment. Regardless of that, the statement says that the whole of the investment will be "fully utilised towards addressing post and current financial shortfalls." Note that it says "towards". It is a good chunk of money but evidently not enough to fully address those shortfalls. It really does beg the question of what those shortfalls are and how they came about. What is heartening to read though, is the emphasis placed on prudent financial management going forward and not spending more than our income. It all smacks to me of an admission that there has been a period of overspending coupled with a recognition now of the need to return to the kind of sound financial management which was the keystone of our steady upwards progress in the past. Whilst the statement also talks about the goal of the Board being to return to the Premiership and compete for honours, it is interesting that it also states their desire to "restore the club to its rightful position at the heart of the Inverness community and delivering entertaining football ..." It specifically does not suggest that the club's rightful place is in the top flight. That may suggest a lack of ambition to some, but I think that is also a sensible and realistic position to take. We have no right to be in the top flight, but if we return, let it be because we have earned it and not because we have jeopardised the future of the club by spending beyond our means. What this means in practice is a significant period of rebuilding, and that might mean things getting worse on the playing side before they can get better. We are in a far worse position than when we were relegated before and we won't simply bounce back like last time for 2 reasons. Firstly we have lost so many of the players that allowed us to hold our own in the top flight, and secondly because much of our reduced income is already committed as a result of the financial mismanagement of the last 2 or 3 years. This season is all about survival both financially and on the park. For us as fans, it means facing up to the harsh realities of where we are and not having unrealistic expectations of the team. Our goal should simply be to not get relegated. If the Board can get back to balancing the books and the manager can keep us away from the drop, then next season we will have greater financial stability and a more settled team. We should then be able to start building again. The Board need to deliver on their statement and we need to hold them to account. In return, we need to give positive support to the team at this difficult time even though the standards and the results may not be what we would like and have come to expect. That doesn't mean we shouldn't criticise where criticism is justified, but it does mean that we give our active support to the team through thick and thin.

Sensible statement outlining the business case - realistically who would want to run a football club? We can be grateful that some of those who have made money are still prepared to subsidise full time professional football in the Highland capital. The statement has the ability not only to get the ducks in order with spectators etc but the players. We need to find hunger to win games against 9 teams who currently appear somewhat hungrier and more competent than us. Morton will be highly motivated this Saturday so the pressure to perform must switch from the Board to the team with SUPPORT.

Suspect our level of expenditure was ok whilst sitting mid table in premiership. Even with the parachute payment the championship means a bit reduction in income. This appears to be the board attempting to close that financial gap.

I wonder if 1453 includes or excludes under-12 season tickets that are free of charge with an accompanying adult season ticket-holder. Disappointingly low either way I suppose.

Man of many clubs, Phillip Roberts, is now on his 7th club since leaving ICT. He has now turned up at Braintree Town in the National League South, his 3rd club of 2017 already.

No. He engineered his own exit before he pretended to take the huff.

How long do you suggest , bearing in mind this is the 6th competitive game of the season, plus the pre season friendlies. Sooner or later the lame excuses will have to stop and the management and players will have to take responsibility. Appreciate the league is only 2 games old but to be spanked by Dunfermline, bottom of the Championship and out of the League Cup before the start of August is totally unacceptable.

I wasn't at the game but posts from those who were make grim reading. We shouldn't read too much into one or two dismal performances. The previous week, our reshaped team, still lacking several key injured players, outplayed the team who are favourites to win the division. Dunfermline fans would also have been glum after being dismantled the previous week by a team who recently crashed out of Europe at the hands of Luxembourg part timers. Dunfermline bounced back with some style and hopefully we can too. These things happen. I remember Terry Butcher on more than one occasion saying he simply couldn't understand why we were so poor across the whole side after a dismal loss at a time when the side was generally playing very well. We need to beat Morton but we also need not to underestimate them. They had a great win on Saturday and will be confident that they can get at least a draw at a time when we are clearly struggling. Much has been said about the poor quality of some of our signings but I do think we need to show a bit of patience here. Seedorf, Calder and Oakley have all impressed in other games. Elsdon and Chalmers are trying to find their feet in a very makeshift back line which is missing the experienced Gary Warren - they will maybe impress more when Gary returns. As someone else has observed, a few of our recent signings come with a decent CV from bigger clubs than we usually recruit from. Calder was on Villa's books for several years and presumably was felt to have enough about him to hope that he might progress to the 1st team squad, but he obviously didn't quite make it. Elsdon has done well at Middlesbrough and has an England Youth cap. One assumes he is out on loan because they want him to have 1st team experience and will be assessing him for their 1st team squad. His background certainly suggests there is more to him than has so far been evident. Remember, Robbo does not have the level of resources to sign new players that either of the last two managers had. Personally I don't think the players he has signed are any worse than the ones signed by Hughes and Foran. The one thing I would criticise him for is saying that Raven is not in the plans. Raven has been one of our better players and always gives 100%. He is maybe getting on a bit but I would like to see him in a defensive midfield role. We don't have replacements for Tansey and Draper, whilst Polworth, sadly, seems to have gone backwards. Vigurs can't do it all. Raven would give us a bit more of the bite and composure which we so clearly need in midfield.

Same ol', same ol'. Personnel may have changed but match reports haven't. Mulraney, no end product. Polworth invisible. Going forward, no idea. Defence, clueless. MacKay, not a footballer at all. Goalkeeper weak. Vigurs, Caley's best player. Ok maybe one change.

calm down mun it's football we're talking about not effin war.

Nope, big waste of money, in the end. Only 4 goals from 15 starts, he was nothing special second time around.

It was Sherwood Forest. 5-0 to the trees, whose pace and mobility we could not match.

Sorted it for ya...

Hi Gentleman and ladies of course, i am exactly who it says on the side and i would be more than happy to answer all questions any fan of Inverness Caedonian Thistle would like to put forward to me to avoid any doubt over anything that you have been speculating over regarding fitness, tactics ,rumours ,assistants anything football orientated things you see as success or failure i am happy to answer whatever i can and you will be getting it straight from the horse s mouth so to speak.This will hopefully give you the real facts and truths behind my career to date should you so wish. Thank you Kind regards John Robertson

Robbo seems keen on 4-4-2 but it seems so outdated. I've wondered if a 4-4-2 diamond might work. Something like - Seedorf Warren Mckay Calder Raven Polworth-----------------Vigurs Mulraney Oakley Baird Seedorf and Calder could be allowed to bomb forward and it could possibly be the rejuvenation of Raven. His passing and distribution is decent enough but his legs are slowing up. Could he be re-born in-front of the back four, acting as a kind of deep ball winner and slipping into defence allowing the full backs to bomb forward? I think it could work.

Abysmal today. Leaving Raven out of the starting XI and leaving Fon Williams out of the squad is inexcusable. Seems like a penny pinching exercise to me. If Robertson has any sense he'll walk away from this situation. Terrible.

Today's XI Ridgers - An utter bombscare. Didn't deal with a pass back for the first goal. Seedorf - Got roasted by Cardle, an absolute hosing. Elsdon - Immobile, lumbering, terrible touch and awful distribution. Hesitant in actual defending as well. Mckay - Again, used the ball terribly, nervy and hesitant in defending. Chalmers - Stood off for several of the goals, hit aimless balls to no-one in possession. Mulreany - Drew a couple of fouls, including for the goal and created moments of danger but he had no end product. Vigurs - Used the ball well and was probably our best player. Polworth - Played centrally and was utterly anonymous, aside from getting booked. Calder - Another practical no-show. Had zero impact. Baird - Worked hard but looked in a different wavelength to his partner and missed chances. Oakley - Again worked hard and had a could of decent touches but did nothing. Robertson - Very poor. We played 4-4-2 but with two wide men and Vigurs and Polworth flat in the middle. That meant we couldn't really control the midfield and were pushed out by Nat Wedderburn. We didn't seem to make any runs into space and were really, really static when attacking, no-one dropped off and tried to get any 2-on-1s or overlaps. This meant we had to hit long balls which didn't work and gave possession back to Dunfermline, who could then punish us by attacking our terrible defence.

Politics aside - they need to start using OFW and Raven. We ain't going to sell them as no one is looking at buying. They are being paid so use them.

oh well looks like I'll need to hope for a lucky draw unless you sell your insiders story to the Highland News ?

There's lying and there's spin (probably two sides of the same coin). I am quite sure the club made the statement about keeping the squad that finished the season as some sort of morale boosting comment, but given the number of players that were on loan, at the end of contracts, or just plain *****, this was hardly going to be the case, and given the change in financial circumstances aka loss of TV money, I am surprised anyone saw this as other than playing lip service to fans hopes. I am sure the board hoped to keep the season ticket prices as they were but were caught out by the fans backlash. TBF the handling of Drapers transfer is very cack-handed, it is almost certain that they wanted RD to put in a transfer request to cover the fact that in the end he was going. Perhaps they are normal people who just want to be liked, but they would gain longer term respect if they grew some balls and just told fans the truth that some wont like. There is nothing unusual in not playing players who might be transferred out. TBF we will only be relevant when we are beating the likes of Celtic, and Rangers and taking a top three SPL spot. I don't see why we are seen as a joke though, we got to the League Cup Final, won the Scottish Cup and were top six for three seasons and qualified for Europe. Are we anymore of a joke than Rangers or Hearts? Yep we are having a poor period but we'll get over it.

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.

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!!!

Do you ever leave the box to sit in in the north stand with fans? What's the vision for the club in 5 / 10 / 15 / 20 years time? Why is there so little communication with fans? What are you doing to increase sponsorship and build up links to ensure local businesses support the club? What's being done to ensure we have young players coming through?

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.

I agree, without much variation either. Elgar would be disappointed

You are so right caleyboy and even after editing your 'effin' spelling is wrong

Same Pissshhhh different day. So according to that we have money in the budget to hold on to players. Well lets get that useless **** between the sticks out and put OFW in, and use Raven some more. Let's be honest Ridgers is not too convincing, Chalmers is absolute pissshhhh. Robbo should use Bell more beause Baird has to be pointed in the right direction of goal and then can only score from 5" out - if he were a horse I would have shot him by now.

I reckon after a while it would have clicked for Foran. No one will ever come close to his love for the region and the club. We seem to be worse off without him. Bring OFW and Raven back into the team (despite what I've said about Raven in the past, he's clearly the better option here) as the longer you keep them out, the more their want to play for the club diminishes.

surely depends on who the investors are? I hope it's not sutherland or any of his cronies ?. I know beggars can't be choosers.

The Club is F****d ! Since Cup win 2 years ago its been downhill since then. After the win the then Chairman put an extra padlock on the piggy bank to stop Yogi repeating the season but soon splashed the cash on Foran wonder why? We have a Board who care not a jot about The Fans or moving the Club forward that much is very clear and with this years players especially defence is the worst ever but now without solid players in midfield like Greg & Drapes gone there is a big problem. Robbo clearly has been told not to play OFW & Raven (but he's had to ) because of wages but why if 2 weeks ago we could afford to keep Drapes (Robbo said his wages were accounted for in the budget) we still cant afford to keep these players? I am disgusted by the Club's attitude and i can see clearly why Drapes jumped off the sinking ship and went OTB who can blame him? he might have ended up playing part time football in a couple of years he has a family to support like all of us those calling him names on twitter etc Shame on you. You would all do the same thing given the chance. Interesting to see what is said by the club in next couple of weeks as i know people have emailed and complained but i suspect nothing.Years of penny pinching and cheap options will eventually ruin what was a wonderful wee club.