Leaderboard

Maybe it’s time to put another tuppence worth in because the thread is getting a bit muddier and some of the other ones are going the same way. There are reasons that the old Board of Directors could not continue, all of them connected with the performance and accountability of that Board. They have all been stated in this forum. Not a single reason that I can identify was or is personal. The regulatory rules were unclear, the governance uncertain, there was little credibility left after two successive unsatisfactory AGM’s, no visible leadership and there appeared stasis in terms of activity and publicity. In that case, the entire Board should bear responsibility and if it is the wish of the people who attended and voted and this last EGM, resign. That is what happened. There is no personal dimension to this. In terms of going forward, CJT needs strong leadership that is willing to put in the hard work and confront the issues. Supporters (at least in this forum) appear concerned about a long standing lack of communication by ICTFC, inconsistent policies and approach to young supporters, shortcomings in the matchday experience and the lack of a meaningful voice at a senior level within ICTFC. These are important issues. In my opinion, they need to be prioritised and addressed in sequence by an interim Board after the upcoming election. At least at that point CJT members will be able to have an informed debate about the way forward and who they want to take them in that direction. As an ex-Chair, I’d be happy to participate in that interim Board in any capacity except Chair. At the moment, the only person showing any willingness to address the issues is Caley D and some of the criticism he’s presently attracting is grubby. His recent history of working for the club is something that should be used to CJT’s advantage, not as an object of scorn. He might well cause ructions in his way of putting his case but he has the tenacious character to front it up and take it on. He also might be able to contain any factionalism. He would make the Club take notice and for that I would support him. At present, people know who Don is and most of you know who I am. I don’t hide behind an anonymous user name when putting my views forward. That isn’t the case with some others on here who appear to be taking an approach that damned the old Board but don’t really fancy the potential replacements that they imagine might be getting the nod as we speak. Heads up, there isn’t a big queue of people wanting this gig and I do think that with the technology at our disposal we can involve people living outside of the Highlands as Directors. So IHE, Kingsmills, Charles Bannerman, Caleyboy, Renegade etc. Stand for election and get involved in whatever capacity you can and influence what happens. It’s hard work but it is fun.

I see county realised Dingwall (and apparently Ross-shire altogether) was too much a dump to launch their own kit, so they did it at Dores ? Says a lot.

The home one looks like something Stella McCartney would design for the GB Olympic team

Better than white....I feckin hated the white trim.

Fixed that for you. You can just copy and paste it to the rest of your posts, it'll save you time.

Better images here. Must say the away shirt is a belter and the home is far better than I initially thought. Definite grower.

County unveal their kit next to the water whereas we do it on a boat next to Urquhart Castle. ICT - just better.

Yup red blue and black are our colours. Not a fan if white trim collars etc. Too like another club for my liking

Quite aside from being offensive to some with mental health issues who may indeed be residing or having resided in New Craigs.

Fair enuff then I'll eat humble pie.... U happy? Hope I've made your night ?

Quite a radical new design which will take some time getting used to. I'll give it ? for the moment. The launch is on from 9am to 5pm so maybe the school kids can get there after school.

I said a similar thing on Facebook. Great that they're doing a launch with meeting the players etc. However, I'd love to take my kids along but 9am on a Wednesday? Maybe possible in the holidays but as much as I like ICT I won't be take a day off work and my kids out of school for it. Very odd time imo.

From Errearitrea presumably?

To be fair to Robbo, he was in the position of needing to get players in fast last summer and we clearly signed people who were available rather than assessing them and making an informed choice.

Cyril?

What a strange thing for a grown man to post.

The new strip most definitely sticks closely to the club colours. It certainly gets a general thumbs up from me.

Judging by the pictures there is nothing to go overboard about.

Love they away top....not sure about the leaky nipple look of the home top, though!

Brilliant away top - What are the washing guides for beer, kebab and vomit stains ?

What do you expect...your Caley top must be at least 25 years old....lol

OCG is correct...the lorry was only selling kit for one day last season.

I love the Away kit. I think the home top at first sight is one of our worst though. I'm hoping I learn to like it the more I see it.

Good on you. Yes, 'A' replica strip not two new ones plus 2 shorts and 2 pairs of socks plus in my case times 2 kids (don't buy for myself anymore, too old). I would buy a polo shirt for myself in place of that but the Errea ones are always too small.

What the club should have done in my opinion is do a tie in with the new strip. Buy a season ticket on the day and, for a limited period, get X% off the new strip. I know ST get this anyway but maybe it would encourage some more folk to sign up for a ST. In addition, anyone who has bought a season ticket gets entered into a weekly draw to win either the new home or away strip. Maybe they're doing this and I've just not noticed of course!

Agreed and I said the same earier, smells a bit like milking the fans. Other than a manufacturer change (which this isn't) there's no need to change both. Hope we don't do the same again at the end of this season.

Whilst I would have preferred stripes, I actually like both the home and away kits. Pleased to see the use of blue, red and black on the home kit. A thumbs up from me.

Unearth is the wrong word, however they were unwanted at their clubs and Robbo took a chance on them. Coll has been on a bit of a downward spiral for a while now, but has been outstanding for us.

In the same timezone might be workable, but across an ocean and 5 time-zones may be a stretch. I do however re-iterate that through CTO I am happy to assist in any way that I can.

at first glance I would say I like it, although the small picture makes it hard to tell close up. My biggest question would be why we are changing both kits in the same year? If it is some kind of 're-jig' to get back into sync after the Carbrini debacle then fair enough, but if it is for any other reason then thats wrong !

Hopefully there is a lot of names put forward from people in Inverness and surrounding. If an IV postcode is not a prerequisite, I would be very willing to put my name forward. Avoiding a paucity of people to stand is essential, otherwise all the talk will have been just that.

somebody is in trouble ... the pictures were supposed to be embargoed until midnight !

But he persuaded them to sign for ICT....and seems to be getting the best out of them both, compared to their previous clubs. Counts as a success to me ...

Ayr are part time and didn't switch to full time status the last time they were promoted to the Championship. However, as Dumbarton proved last season, a well run and well coached part time team is perfectly capable of being competitive in this division.

Think last season there was more of a need to put together some sort of a squad quickly....bound to get a few lumps of coal, along with a diamond! Robbo also unearthed Coll Donaldson & Nathan Austin....also, Eldson, Cooper & Zschusschen are no longer there...not tied up on long contracts (like Scott Boden was!).

Im assuming tomorrow as well? Assume strips are on the lorry?

Potentially a very competitive Championship : ICT, Arabs, Thistle, County, Dunfermline and Falkirk : all desperate to return to the top league (not discounting the others given Livi's back to back promotions). As others have said, essential we get off to a strong start and are not left playing catch up again which cost us dearly this season.

Look like the Championship will be a much more competitive league than the premier there should be a lot of good games and it is vital we get off to a good start , financially we cannot compete with some of the other teams in the league. County have uncle Roy and Partick have a large following (over 7000 at the game last night) so we as fans have to be realistic as long as the team go out and play well even in defeat we need to back them. We finished the season well beating the top teams so we have nothing to fear from that area and even the relegated clubs will find it difficult . It will be a very difficult league to win hopefully we can add another couple of players and have a real go at it

Very true. Equally you can rise quickly too. Success requires a group of players to work well as a team in doing what the manager wants them to do. This requires good understandings between the players and trust in the manager. It also requires luck. Teams need to avoid significant disruption due to injuries and they need the rub of the green on match days from time to time. Success is so often built on confidence and that can evaporate after a couple of unlucky defeats. When the confidence goes then there is a risk that relationships break down and it can be difficult to mend bridges when that happens. On the management front one can look at County and say that Coyle was a poor appointment. But he has a decent track record and it would be reasonable to have expected him to do well. County had a solid enough start with Coyle but then lost games they should have won in December and any confidence and belief in the manager evaporated. Had they got lucky in a couple of those games and had a couple of good wins, this would have swung things the other way and County could have been challenging for top six. If you look at their squad you would say they should never have been relegated. It really is a bit of a lottery and that means there is always hope for the un-fancied and less well resourced teams - like us! It's going to be a very tough division next season and if we are going to do well it will be important to keep the togetherness going. It could make all the difference.

An excellent point made by @hislopsoffsideagain on Twitter - 2014/15 - Dundee Utd finish 5th with 56 points. 2015/16 - Dundee Utd relegated with 31 points. 2014/15 - ICT finish 3rd with 65 points. 2016/17 - ICT relegated with 34 points. 2015/16 - Ross County finish 6th with 48 points. 2017/18 Ross County relegated with 29 points. 2016/17 - Partick Thistle finish 6th with 42 points. 2017/18 Partick Thistle relegated with 33 points. Four teams relegated in the last four seasons, all of whom were in the top six a year or two previously. Two of those sides, us and County, won trophies in the two years before. Dundee Utd reached the league cup final the season before they were relegated, and the Scottish cup final the year before that. Scottish teams are on a knife edge - lose even one or two good players or make a poor managerial appointment and you can drop like a stone very quickly.

Is this the 1st time since the playoffs that 4 new teams have entered the championship through relegation/promotion. That's nearly half the league replaced and should really freshen things up. Here's hoping for a much much better start this year and put ourselves in a strong position before Xmas.

Partick did not anticipate relegation. They performed very badly against Livingston because Livingston were the better side, and absolutely deserved to win. Partick have lost Maxwell as their Chief Executive. They may dismiss Archibald who states : ''We'll have to rebuild - I think we have 15 or 16 players out of contract; others in contract have clauses as well to protect the club financially. It's important that the club's protected first and foremost.''' So with less than 8 weeks until the league cup starts regardless of parachute payment, it seems highly unlikely that a virtually rebuilt Thistle will start the new season very well. We need a solid and steady start to assess the competition.

Looking at the balance, Alloa Athletic and Ayr United are probably and certainly look better than Brechin and Dumbarton, although Dumbarton on a good day can get a result. The relegated teams from the Premiership, I wonder, neither I think are as good as St. Mirren , Livingston, I wish all the best too of course, where not really any better than us. Hopefully we can enjoy a good season I see no reason not to fear anybody, the extra revenue from hopefully two gates against Ross County will be useful. Partick I have a lot of time for, but I don't think they are as good as St. Mirren Lets go and win the league. Also let us learn to run the clock down when winning with minutes to go. Coaches should be teaching short corners and short passes from free kicks, No need to go gung ho when you are winning.

On the other hand, they will both have to undergo the upheaval and shock of adjusting to their reduced status. Hopefully, they will both deal with it as badly as we did whereas we are now familiar with the challenges of this division and in the last dozen games or began to get to grips with it and are in a position now to carry that into next season.

As I said elsewhere....despite what might be said publicly, there's not a club in the Championship who will be relishing the level of competition. It's going to be a helluva league and potential for high level entertainment is huge. ICTFC have shown that clubs are just as capable of having a bad season as a good one after being relegated, so I'm not buying into the "County & Partick will have relegation hangovers". When you look at the list of teams and you can't single out ANY of them as favourites for relegation or promotion, then you know it's going to be tough.

Holding a pre-Election forum to present the perceptions from current Board members (preferably ones also seeking re-election) and open questions sounds like a very good idea. If I lived closer then that is what I would be seeking. However DD - put your name forward and if there is not sufficient interest then pull out - with understandable reason. The thing that got me is that certain individuals have been butting in and putting people off with their tainted views with NO intention whatsoever of helping out.

....unless by "new Craig's" Alan means the flat his mate Craig moved into the other day? (Or is that offensive to people who have difficulties with apostrophes and proper nouns?)

Mind your back....Kingsmills will be after you for turning a positive in to a negative ?

I would like to see CaleyD back to get commentary of Eurovision and the Superbowl.