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Regardless of which players stay and which go, the priority for me is to ensure the manager stays. For all the unrest earlier in the season I think he has done an absolutely brilliant job. With very little money and very little time to work with in bringing new players to the club he seems to have unearthed some players with great attitude and promise. Leaving the Foran fiasco aside, Robbo's recruitment has been far, far more effective than Yogi 's despite the lack of money and time available to him. Not only that, but he has instilled a belief into these players and got them playing attractive, attacking football. For all the concern about being in the wrong half of the table for most of the season, I have enjoyed watching the games far more than I did generally in the Yogi years. I remember at the start of the season, Robbo asking for patience and pointing out that most of the young lads he recruited had never played first team football for any club and it would be a steep learning curve. We know the budget will be further reduced next year but money will be released by one or two higher paid players either accepting lower pay to play at a lower level than what their current contracts were set at, or leaving the club. That will release money for more of the type of signings which have been so successful this year. Robbo has a real enthusiasm for this club and he seems to have been able to develop a squad of players who appreciate the opportunity the club and manager are giving them. With Robbo at the helm, we should at least be in the top four next year and the footy should be good to watch.

Just wondering CaleyD if I ever do become a director or something like that at Caley would you ever be interested in being a director yourself again since I would be very keen to work with you at Caley?

Id say most of us would like to see derbies back next season. I miss the craic tbh and the Mallard. Also the club must miss the gate receipts etc On a more serious note it must be deterimental to ICT to have our nearest neighbours in the league above us when we are competing in the same small pond for sponsorship, hospitality etc. Therefore County being relegated has to be good for us?

As long as it is accepted that if there is a legitimate view (which in my case there is) that a series of posts is designed to undermine the current board, then that needs to be highlighted. So also does the coincidence in time of a sudden and dramatic U-turn in the viewpoint of the poster concerned and that poster ceasing to fulfil a role he previously held within the club. Indeed, I think it is essential that ICT supporters - and equally importantly, any potential investors - should understand the context in which a number of hostile and misleading posts have been made. For instance, at a time when efforts continue to finalise the stadium transfer deal in order to attract money into the club, another thread which began simply as an unsupported rumour about an unspecified announcement was, by a single post, diverted into extremely unhelpful speculation about the club going into Administration.

There are a few personal battles going on in this - and other- threads from a number of users ..... so this is a shot across the bows to all of those who seek to defame or denigrate other posters as their primary focus. You will be removed from participation in these threads if you persist. Debate the topic, agree or disagree with the post, vehemently if you wish, but please do not let this degenerate into personal attacks. There is a fine line between banter and abuse and we have already spoken to a few people. If anyone wants to have a pissing contest there is a long trough urinal in the gents at the stadium .. that seems like a more appropriate place .. and might even drive up the attendance. Its going to be a really long summer if this carries on and I have too much to do with my own (soon to be) 5 year old and have no desire or time to try and watch over adults that want to behave as 5 year olds.

Maybe the wider economy and community should have learned a lesson from the last time we were relegated and they were all crying about the impact....when many had done little to support the club themselves over the years to and since that point. Amazing how people seldom appreciate what they have....until it's gone.

No point trying to argue, there's so many fans who always see that an ex-ICT manager or player (if in favour) can never do wrong or be criticised, in some ways like OF fans they are always happy if its a 'club man'. Being objective, we performed well in the final third of the season and won the Challenge Cup, but the key target should have been Promotion or at least Play-off's - there wasn't an extended cup run in either competition and in both we went out meekly to opponents who were no better than us. The start of the season was awful with the first third embarrassing given our budget and playing quality, the 2nd third was an improvement but while we stopped conceding it was hardly a substantial points total accumulated. While there's not calls for Robbo to leave or be replaced it has to be acknowledged as a poor season, some of it from the mess the board created but also from appointing a manager who has been out of the game so long. Some may see that as an excuse or reason but Robbo knew as did the board the status and expectations they had taken on. Only the biggest 'fanboys' can think that for the relegated team with the quantity of Premiership experience we have and the playing budget finishing where we have is still a successful season. Those citing it as a good stepping stone for next year need to understand the financial situation and the levels of player we will loose and have to replace - promotion or play-offs next year may be a bigger challenge than the one just past.

Yeah that's true. Guess County fans don't turn up unless Uncle Roy's subsidising the tickets or travel.

You are correct Charles, I didn't mention the £422k. It's a total Red Herring for two reasons.... 1. It is of zero relevance to the discussion in hand. An operating loss does not equate to debt, so whilst the club may have lost money in the last financial year, that does not mean that there was a negative sum in the bank which needed to be met/cancelled out by money coming in for this financial year. In fact, a quick look back through the accounts showed that cash in hand was about the 4th or 5th highest it had been throughout the clubs entire existence. If we're pulling relevant figures from last years accounts, that is the only one and I would say it was way beyond expectation. 2.. As you know, having been sat in the same AGM as me, a large portion of that loss will be offset by accounting adjustments at the next year end...as confirmed by the account's auditors who didn't disagree when it was suggested the real loss should have been more in the region of £200k. I wouldn't disagree with your comments about the relative successes achieved since day one...all things considered. Time will tell on whether the current board can be included in that. Pretty much every Chairman has (quite rightly) come under scrutiny from one or other of us at some point in time....other than the current Chairman who seems to be beyond any scrutineering on your part. That is your choice and I'm not going to berate you or your character for taking that stance. It was entirely my decision, despite requests to remain and comments the contrary, to remove my day to day services from the club. Since then, however, I have stepped in to assist on several occasions. Bringing it all back to the topic of "Robbo Must Stay".....none of what's going on in the above discussion/exchange on the club finances would suggest that he should do otherwise. I just hope, as I have done with every manager, that he is allowed to succeed (or otherwise) by his own hand and that he doesn't have that hand unnecessarily tied behind his back.

You don't seem to have mentioned their inherited obligation to deal with the £422,000 loss for the year to last May, run up by the "previous regime", and with the £1.2M reduction in revenue for 2017-18, which was a consequence of the relegation achieved under the "previous regime" by a manager given a very long contract by the "previous regime", which also sanctioned the profligate wage structures implemented by the managers the "previous regime" appointed. I trust that everyone is clear that the "lion's share" of the £450,000 bail out - some £250,000 - was provided by David Sutherland. I believe that - against hugely adverse circumstances - a pretty good job has pretty consistently been done by successive administrations to achieve what has been since 1994. This has been made all the more difficult because the consequences of any error made have been hugely magnified by the highly marginal circumstances which have constrained successive boards. I would therefore prefer to concentrate on the way ahead rather than create recriminations. However, if you are as intent as it appears on constantly attacking the current board - who, we note, no longer avail themselves of your services at the club - then it regrettably becomes necessary to achieve balance and realism. That must be done even if it involves my reluctantly highlighting the less glorious moments of the "previous regime" - whose Cheerleader In Chief and Proclaimer Of Infallibility you were for some time. At a time when the club and the team are showing signs of recovery after a traumatic summer of 2017, I find your attempts to sow unhelpful division and dissent extremely unfortunate and to the detriment of the club - especially since these are arguably motivated by the personal agenda of a former club functionary. I note that you now appear also to be installing yourself as Cheerleader In Chief for CJT. There is maybe something of an irony there, given that in another thread CJT's objectives are quoted - by you - as including: ".... to be the vehicle through which a healthy, balanced and constructive relationship between the Club and its supporters and the communities it serves is encouraged and developed."

There is also the question of how having County drop into the Championship might affect our chances of promotion next season. If County drop down it will be very interesting to see how that will impact on Uncle Roy's benevolence. He will know that to get back into the Premiership he will have to further increase his spending. He will also know that with The Rangers, Hibs and Hearts all back in the top 6 he is never likely to emulate ICT's Cup victory or best ever league position. Being in the Premiership would therefore be a constant battle to avoid relegation. He might, therefore decide to ease off on his investment. I don't see him pulling the plug but I do think it likely that he would cap his spending and let the club find it's level with that. Even at this reduced level of financial support County would be significantly better financed than ICT and would be there or thereabouts for promotion next season. If he decided to increase his spending then they would be favourites for an immediate return. If we are realistic about looking for promotion next season, then I would rather have Hamilton and/or Partick in the Championship.

Well, another season in the Championship then...to be honest, if someone had told me we'd still have a chance of making the playoffs a few months ago, I would have assumed it was the relegation playoffs! This is what we probably all expected - us to do the job but lose out to Dunfermline...bit like last season but in reverse.. I'm not too downhearted though...if we can carry on this form & keep most of the team together, we should have a realistic chance of promotion next season...hopefully as champions! Look at St Mirren & think where they were a year or so ago.. All credit to the team for the excellent run we've been on lately, the damage was done long ago at the start of the season...I'd like to think we will start stronger next time around

Yes but we have better modes of transport than them

Home gate does swell though Fraz?

Agreed, though I don't know how much of an away gate we make off them as they oddly seem to always bring a pish support.

Is it a pop-up box asking for the user's consent? There's a bit more to GDPR compliance than that.

Just a director?! To be honest, with your £££££££ being ploughed into the club, you should be made the club's life emperor!

It's a fairly well accepted fact that the club has worked with "margin of hope" equating to around £150k to £250k for some time....the hope being that something happens (cup run, player sale, investment, asset sale) would fill the gap as and when needed. I would be very surprised if the pay-off period for either Yogi or Richie was any more than a year as the norm for all but the top teams is to have a dismount period (as opposed to a fixed pay-off sum) of 6, 8 or 12 months....regardless of term left on contract. TV Money is tied in with league money (for the most part) and the estimated hit on that was said to be around £1.2 Million. Attendance is down by about 40% this season and there appears to have been a sizeable drop in season ticket holders. Drop in attendance can be partly attributable to the drop in visitor numbers and the last time it happened we only dropped about 20%...but actually had an increase in season ticket holder numbers. Flipping those numbers into cash value is a bit of a shot in the dark as we don't know the breakdown on ticket categories, but I'd be comfortable putting the cost somewhere in the region of £300k. By my reckoning, the additional investment would have at least cancelled out the drop in league/TV money. You can draw your own conclusions as to why attendance has dropped so much more this time and why we've seen a sizeable drop in season ticket holders. Shot in the dark on cuts to player wages across the board.....if we were 70% turnover on player/coach costs and there was a 20% cut across the board on relegation, then that's between £500k and £600k saving without the need to do anything else. that offsets the drop in gate receipts, and some. Overall, we should be about "cost neutral" (probably better than that) without having had to make any other cuts.....but we've been told that players had to go and cheaper players brought in etc. because of a need to save money. If that's the case, then as I asked already, why? where has the money been spent instead? We're either not being told where the money is getting spent or we're being told that cuts were made that weren't. There's a third option...and that is we're sitting on a mountain of cash...but that's highly unlikely given the Chairman's statement about a need for money to secure the club's immediate future. Given how good season 2014/15 was then it's not surprising that the club would have shown a bit of surplus, but the costs of Europe etc would have swallowed a large chunk of that and shown in the following years accounts. There may have been some increased player costs, but I doubt very much it was a "spree".

MacGregor is utterly obsessed with besting ICT. If County were to be relegated you can be sure that he would back them as much as would be required to get back into the Premiership. The only way I could ever see him reducing his financial input would be if they went through a sustained period in the Championship without success. There were would only be so long he could continue to write off loans whilst at that level.

With the parachute payment, money from Celtics euro success, the £450k* additional investment (that we know of) and rent waiver the current regime have had circa £1 Million extra to use....which is on a par with what was invested to make the promotion push last time. There are factors which hindered Robbo at the start of the season...lower league, short time to bring in players, even being a little rusty...and that is a symptom of what came before. However, if his budget was cut to the extent we've been told it was....then what have we been spending the money on? Where's all the investment listed above been, well, invested? *The lions share of which was provided by the "previous regime".

Also the not too insignificant investment that the club made last season to back Jack Ross and did so again in the summer. This success from St Mirren hasn't just happened with the squad that was there 24 months ago - 7 new players were brought in last Jan to steer them from relegation (most were Premiership experienced players) with some getting deals in the summer and other additions. We on the other hand are cutting costs and likely to replace some of our experienced & more capable squad with cheaper/lesser ability options due to the mis-management from previous regimes.

True....but it would be hard not to argue that St Mirren's promotion was, in part, built on how they finished last season

Great result for Palace too, hope you managed to get there to see it...

I'd rather stick a pen in both eyes !

A bit harsh. Robbo took over amongst relative chaos in both the board room and the dressing room. He himself had been out of the game for very many years so it was no surprise that he made some mistakes, some of them fundamental, in his first few months but the last dozen or so games seem to demonstrate that we made the right appointment and, whilst it will be a very tough league again, I have high hopes that next season with confirm that.

Lovely little amuser though well done.

And Elsdon! Plus, Ridgers was making a mistake pretty much every game. Unrecognisable from the keeper we now know. Having been conceding 2 or 3 week in week out, and 5 at Dunfermline, we have ended up having conceded just 2 more than the lowest goals against tally in the league, quite a turnaround.

Don’t mean to rain on the 5th place celebration parade, but if you had told the board 12 months ago that Robbo would fail to make the play-offs and at no stage in the season have us look like we would get promoted, would they have given him the job? No chance. The season has been a failure in that respect, but at least the recent fantastic run gives us some hope for the future. It’s like when you come back from 0-3 down to draw 3-3, compared to having thrown away a 3 goal lead. Same outcome in the end, but one way of doing it makes you feel much better than the other!

Aye, had my doubts about his ability to come in and deal with the shitstorm he had to tidy but I take the proverbial hat off to him. He has done an amazing job of it and the team spirit appears to be evident ???

Glad to see a new positive thread in Robbo's name. Considering the mess the club was in following relegation I think he's played a blinder, and one has to say the Board got their first major decision right. All the quotes below are from September, when fans were understandably jumpy and depressed (TBF there were plenty in support with some well considered views), the last quote is mine!... When we think of the various outcomes against the statements below, it's hard not to feel pretty satisfied about how the season has panned out, despite just missing out on the play-off, given the low and desperate base we started from. A turning point for me is that run of 10 clean sheets from 11 in the Autumn (Defence sorted...tick). The fantastic unbeaten run since the start of March shows that Robbo got to grips with the squad, sorted out the driftwood from the decent, and galvanised them, they responded to him and each other so that we now see that famous 'spirit' return, a key ingredient in any successful side. Signing Austin in January is now looking a masterstoke (as was Donaldson earlier), fortunately we had so many games postponed that his absence from the side due to injury perhaps was as costly as it might have been. Finances/contracts/aquistions and poaching by other teams will all have a bearing on how we start the next season, but hopefully we wont lose too many key players (Vigurs perhaps), the club seems to be quite active already so we should start with a settled and positive squad, the younger ones having benefited from a whole seasons worth of action. The appointment of Robbo shows the benefit of having a wise older head at the helm (Just like Palace with Hodgson)...... gosh I think I have something in my eye! (and nobody say 'plank') ------------------------------------------------- Quotes The board's ludicrous "give the manager's job to someone who didn't even apply" experiment has failed. Robbo is a good guy but he is not what we need - the defence needs sorted out first and foremost and he is not the man to do it. The board has let the club down appointing a manager out of the game for as long as Robertson has, acquisitions have been very poor ................. Genuinely think we will be lucky to stay up at this rate. Now I'm eternally grateful for the job he did last time around but he inherited a very good nucleus of talent ...............and I'm not sure if he's capable of building from scratch. Robbo is and never was the answer, but right now, the Club doesn't even seem to know the question. I have been told on good authority that the players won't play for him this has been going on too long now and rather than starting to make any noticeable difference, Robbo and the coaches seem to be continuing to make all the same mistakes from last season. There quite clearly is a rift in the dressing room. Players were having a go at each other, the discipline is "shot". Tactically we are shocking. I now think he knows he is out of his depth and can't sort it. I quite like the tough words from Robbo about the players performances and attitude, although that's usually a short sentence away from 'losing the changing room'! --------------------------------------------------

My brother was up on holiday and took in the last couple of home matches, and couldn't believe it was the same team he saw at the start of the season as they had improved in all departments so much. All we needed was one draw to be a win and we would have made the playoffs, we were certainly the form team in the latter stages of the season. We might lose one or two players from the current crop, although I hope we don't, but I think Robbo knows the way he wants the team to play, and will recruit well for next term. It was one of the strangest seasons I have seen for many a year. I hated most of the early matches, and then my everlasting memory is Tuesday night games, in the freezing rain, it made me long for summer football. Now, I cannot wait for the new season to begin! Am I a glutton for punishment? Such is the life of a football fan.

ICT Supporters Travel Club Committee would like to say a Huge Thank to All who travelled with us this season .We have had another very successful year and couldn't have done it without you .We look forward to seeing you next season and wish you All a lovely summer break .

Love this. Love ICT.

So near yet so far. We never believed we could win eight on the spin, but we came so close to doing so. No play offs, but in the last two months, we have been the form team, so hopefully we push on and start the new season well. Hopefully we know who are staying and who are going soon, so any gaps can be plugged. The strategy seems rightly be to look for young, hopefully up and coming players. A few more like Donaldson and Austin will do nicely. A worry about midfield if we lose Vigurs and / or Polly, but Trafford has done well recently and I think there is more to come from Chalmers and Calder has been positive when playing wide midfield. I don't know much about Rooney or Blair, but hopefully they will be useful additions. Realistically we are not ready to go up, much as I would have loved us to, so perhaps signing off on a 12 game unbeaten run is the best outcome. Well done to Robbo for turning things round, and delivering most of what he promised, and well done to the players, particularly with the cup win and the recent run. Roll on the Betfred Cup and the first league game on 4 August. We may even have derbies to look forward to.....

Well done all at ICT. Who would have thought we would be where we are today in January. Immensely proud of our club, players and Management team. We will be back with a stronger start to next season. Watch out County, United and the rest.

Well done to all a fantastic effort from the team and management

A brave attempt. Strengthen in the summer and get off to a flyer next season and see where it takes us. Remember what an absolute mess ICTFC were in only 36 games ago. Special credit goes to Robbo. He came into a toxic club, with barely a team to talk of. He took a shedload of flak from many fans, then turns things around dramatically, with a Cup Win and narrowly missing out on PLay Offs.

Nice result and Ross county is keeping the bottom place so I suspect they will get put down a league .

The negative; that we no longer have a chance of promotion but we knew that, in our heart of hearts, at five to five last Saturday. The positives; despite our poor financial position and despite what the scaremongers and agitators are trying to imply, we are not entering administration any time soon. We have a manager who was clearly rusty after more than a decade away from the game but who now seems to have rediscovered his mojo. We have a squad of players who, after disastrous start to the season and a mediocre middle, have now gelled and have built up considerable confidence and momentum to carry into next season We have, at last, not just one but two forwards capable of scoring with a third young striker full of potential waiting in the wings. We also have the advantage of, as early as April, knowing exactly where we will be next season and with what budget so have months to prepare accordingly and, by the looks of things, already are. All in all much to look forward to and feel positive about next season, including the increasing likelihood of derby matches. I, for one, can hardly wait.

Well done to Robbo and the team for a great run in : just ran out of matches as I suspected would be the case (I know about last week but we should have been comfortably in the play offs long before then). Hope most of team are retained with the addition of a couple of new faces and we can carry on where we left off in August(?). Really enjoyed the cup win : great to experience that winning feeling again. Here's to another trophy in a year's time!

The title of this thread is soooo wrong now.

Dennis Wyness plays his last ever game of professional football on Saturday assuming he is selected by Huntly at the grand old age of forty one. One of the most talented and entertaining players ever to wear our shirt. His cheeky step overs will live in the memory forever and there was seldom talk of a striking crisis when he was on our books in partnership with Iain Stewart, big Brian Thomson and others. Thanks for those great memories Denzil and enjoy your retirement from the game.

The quality of the straws we are clutching on to leaves something to be desired. But I will give it a try nonetheless.

Oh, poor Charles. Please admin, DON'T ban him. I often think that CaleyThistleOnline can be compared to a pseudohistorical British sitcom....something akin to Blackadder....and where would it be without it's Baldrick!!

TBH, he partially had a point - given our defence was honking for much of the first 1/3 of the season and leaking like a sieve. Also the stats of only an we were sitting with 6 wins in 22 games, 3 off against Brechin and 11 of the goals scored which by early March was 26 games with 31 goals for and only 8 wins for our 31 points. Its clear that the 2nd third wasn't a whole lot better. Its not until this last run of 10 games have seen any real stability or improvement. Surely the priority for any manager coming in should have been competing for the title with being in the play-offs a minimum requirement. While still possible its unlikely and just papering over cracks - we have been poorer than acceptable for much of the season. Would others have done better - probably, but given the mess the board made of handling players and management during the summer we probably didn't have the time and stability nor the cash ultimately to recruit the best candidate opting for a cheap but safe option.

Do-do-do-do Dennis Wyness.

He only played with Stewart a few times in 2000 and he was never at the club at the same time as Brian Thomson. He had his best partnerships with Paul Ritchie from 2001 until 2003 and then a purple patch in the SPL when he and Craig Dargo combined. Looking back he didn’t have the pace or power to make an impact as a striker at the top level but playing in the First division his touch and finishing ability elevated him to a different level. The guy was a joy to watch and fitted perfectly into our team at the time. The run we went on before Pele left in the winter of 2002 has to be some of the best football I’ve ever seen from us, bodying teams left!right and centre. Glorious.

Surely “He used to be sh1te, but now he’s alright”?

How could this season NOT be classed as a rebuilding exercise! Totally different scenario to the last relegation....new manager, badly depleted squad, very tight budget (player coming in were on about 25% of the pay of the top earners in premeir days, allegedly), boardroom turmoil. Last time, TB had already started rebuilding before we went down Totally unrealistic to expect a quick fire return to the top flight, I feel - expecting a serious promotion push next season though.

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