Leaderboard

Yep OCG there is indeed - I just hanker back to the golden years of the 60s when a few loo rolls bought from the corner shop on the way to the ground were more than sufficient to show your delight when the goals went in. Only problem was you're team had to play in white if you wanted yer loo roll to be the same as the team colours!

and yet there is the opposite side of the coin with an article about Section 94 that gives some hope to the club working with fans and fostering this whole 'together...NESS' cliche ... seems like a bit of a disconnect somewhere in the mix between these two areas.

Great to see these youngsters support their local team with such passion and enthusiasm. Pleased to see the club engaging positively with them. I realise that money is tight but surely one positive step would be to improve their facilities with the West Stand getting a bit of a tidy up and preferably a roof which would both keep them dry and and channel more of the atmosphere they create onto the pitch rather than disappearing into the sky. I know that I have been critical of the actions of one or two individuals but the vast majority of our young crew have been a great credit both to the club and themselves. It would be good also if efforts could be made to make more girls and young women feel more welcome to join the crew. These are are our future long after us sweetie rustlers have departed the scene.

I'm nothing to do with organising this but as it seems some folk were not aware..

There is a good article in the P&J about the club working with the Section 94 young supporters. They are our supporters for the future and I hope to see many more next season. Young fans taking pride in Caley Thistle after open door talks, says ICT chief Scot Gardiner http://dlvr.it/SRK9py ICT chief: Young fans taking pride in Caley Thistle after open door talks (pressandjournal.co.uk)

I said this last night and truly believe it's true Imho, we are not far off becoming a Premiership team and would agree with a column in the Press and Journal which said we're "on the right track" and should "fear nobody" as we proved this season that we can mount a serious title push, we just need to turn draws into wins and especially stop losing "silly' points to teams in the bottom half of the table as that was as much to blame as our 11 game winless run. As has been said in the match and squad update threads, we have the nucleus of a good squad so hopefully we retain as much of them as possible (though the money from Deas could come in handy), I also believe that we need to strengthen but not drastically, my hope is that we sign young players hungry for success, guys like Lowry of Rangers (he's just an example, not on my wishlist haha). As was mentioned yesterday on the sky coverage before the match, John has been down in England scouting so I see that as a positive as that's a good market to use (One player released down there that IS on my wishlist is Davis Keillor-Dunn, ex Dross County and most recently, Oldham). Then there's our own crop of youngsters such as Ally Riddle, Harry Nicolson, Ally Mackay and Strachan (the guy on bench on Friday) that could be worth signing on professional contracts :). So as IHE would say, time to regroup and come back stronger and then all aboard the promotion rollercoaster :D. Bring on next season Finally, it's been a pleasure contributing to this forum despite occasionally falling out with certain members at times, I'll try and do better next season haha.

I think it’s pretty simple. Look at the start of the season - great team spirit and winning matches then the the Gardyne effect - this absolutely ruins everything built up in the squad and things start going awry This is compounded by injuries to Allardice, MacGregor, Walsh and the bad run gets worse Turn of the year and the loanees take a bit of time to bed in and we’re still not winning Dodds says team spirit is there….and he is proved to be right because the results suddenly come and they dig wins out of losing situations (Raith being the main one) If….we can start next season with that same determination and spirit …add a couple of experienced players (to replace Broadfoot in particular) and take a few risks then we look like we’ve got a great squad. I really like the look of Samuels and I really hope we don’t go for a target man to continue hoof ball - it’s not entertaining and it’s not making the best use of the talent we have. Whoever has been looking at the loans has done a good job this last year because they were all great additions. Let’s hope we can continue with that - let’s face it, there’s a load of young talent sitting about in U23 football in England never getting the chance.

I have also joined the seniors club for the first time. The discount helped ease the pain!

Agree it is good to see the club engage with them. From experience at Toronto FC I can say that this works for both parties when both sides are engaged. If one side disengages then that's when problems begin. There will always be numpties (on both sides) but provided the requests from both sides are sensible and rules are understood and followed, and any problems are discussed rationally, then it can work really well. The question about the roof was addressed in the interview with CEO. With the concerts going on at the stadium over the summer, and the stage being in that area, the cost to add, remove and add back were prohibitive. Would be nice to see it happen though once concert season is over and whether or not the design of the roof or indeed the placement of the stage could take account of occasional concerts.

It’s now the time of year for the Club to send out letters regarding Season Tickets and then letters about Sponsorship. However, despite after all the restrictions due to Covid, hospitality returned a while ago and still no thank you to those of us who, year after year, pay hundreds to sponsor a player or players. Why has the Club not had a Sponsors Night, even a tea and sandwiches, meet their sponsored player and get a photo? I know of quite a few who, disappointed in the Club, are considering not sponsoring again. It’s the Clubs loss - they are happy to ask for money but with no acknowledgement to these fans.

Pity about the live streaming. A number of Covid measures originally intended to be temporary have proved such a success that they have become permanent. With a bit more flexibility and imagination on the part of the football authorities, this could have been another.

Maybe Covid has affected many events but it shouldn't stop the club from writing to or emailing those folk that have sponsored players etc. An explanation would, Im sure. be welcome. Maintaining a comms' black out is bad PR and rude. We sponsored a player many seasons ago. I believe he was the first coloured player to join the club [MacDonald?] We had nothing from the club even back then and we've never bothered since. He actually left the club part way through the season so we never got to meet him anyway. Having said that we do contribute to the CTO player sponsorship [missed one season I think since it began] and were lucky enough to go to a Sponsors Evening on CTO behalf. It was a great evening of chat and banter. This event should not be brushed aside by the powers that be.

It's really good to see these young lads getting behind ICT. Also pleasing to see they haven't been brainwashed in following a couple of teams from Glasgow. Well done lads.

I look forward to getting my one this year at the Senior Citizen rate for the first time

But also every penny. Getting out of the group stage and maybe landing a tie later on against either of the Old Firm or Aberdeen would be a boost in that regard. As with most things, there is a balance to be struck.

No. Just injecting an element of reality.

Indeed. Family fun days, kids Christmas party, end of season ball, kids game with players, 10 pin bowling with players etc all seem to have dissappeared. Now I realise that Covid will have impacted all of these and lockdowns have somewhat messed up my perception of time so perhaps these have only stopped for lockdowns, however I'm fairly sure it's longer than that.

There are so many small things that the club could be doing, but don't seem too bothered about. At a meeting with the supporters a few seasons ago, it was said that the clubs intention was to improve the match day experience for the supporters, and I realise we have had covid since then, but nothing has changed, in fact it's worse. We can't usually find anyone selling raffle tickets, and with the club needing every penny you'd think they would be pushing this. There hasn't been a physical programme for a number of seasons now, and the online programme has now disappeared also. Where is our mascot Lionel Nessi? With the club attracting a larger contingent of younger supporters, you would think that it would be great to have the mascot around. I see that the team OTB have already set their season ticket advertising in motion on Facebook, but nothing from us. If it wasn't for the lads on the Wyness Shuffle, where would we get any of our information from? Certainly not the club.

I couldn't get a reply this time last season when I asked what we were getting for our money. Thus I didn't renew. They didn't bother chasing me up .. The season before didn't even get a gift at end of season. Just think really really poor. Suspect they might drop it next season? They seem more interested in corporate than fans.

Robbo was quoted on the coverage as saying that the payments that come from the league in September would be £65,000 for the championship side and £650,000 for the premiership sides ! That is a large gulf. He then went on to compare crowds noting that we only had around 4500 away fans over the course of the season compared to 45,000 in the premiership. The crowd figures are perhaps an unfair comparison given COVID affected the numbers but it is clear there is indeed a large gulf and it will only get wider if thats the numbers we are talking about ... 10X more funding before a ball is even kicked and for sure higher levels of away support and although costs are higher i doubt they are 10X higher.

I am also aware of the same. I know of one family who have sponsored at least one player each year for nigh on 20 years but they are not sure whether they will continue for the same reasons noted. These are not businesses who are simply writing this off as a taxable donation or deduction, these are hardworking fans, who in addition to buying season tickets, shares, and merchandise also stump up to sponsor a player to 'do their bit' for the club. To be honest, I dont think they are even that bothered with the sponsors' evening or any 'free' lunch/dinner - they just want the club to engage with the fans and at least acknowledge things outside of times where they are sending an invoice or request for cash! From our perspective - we will continue our sponsorship for as long as people on the site want to do it. If we struggle to reach the target or people are no longer interested we would review. I had a chance to speak to Keith at the club recently and put a face to the name. He seemed reasonable enough, but I guess our requirements in going to any event such as a sponsors' evening (no-one ever seems to want to) or individual outlay (per person) is not such that it really comes on our radar as something that sticks in the throat in the same way as it would for someone shelling out £420+ on their own. Technically you do really - as a member of our player sponsor group

I don't sponsor a player but once again the higher echelons of the club show contempt for the bread and butter supporters of the club. The club making promises that they don't keep and never follow up on - they'll be a sponsor's night, we'll have open fan's forum meetings (and get the minutes out), we'll put a roof on the west stand etc. Situations change and there may be perfectly good reasons for all these 'oversights' but true to form the club never communicates anything, speaks to anyone, (the supporters trust or supporters directly) nor explain the situation. There is however always time to punt expensive hospitality. I simply don't understand why it's so difficult for them to do this? Ego? Unwilling to accept that they made mistakes and cant fulfill commitments? Maybe. I first really noticed this during the Pixallot fiasco. There's quite a lot of positive fan feeling right now and it would be a shame to waste some of that.

^ Agreed and the reality is whether people see it or not is that was the weakest Championship and poorest quality competition we have had in relegation, the gulf between the bottom of the Premiership and upper Championship is growing faster than ever fully driven by the disparity in money. Over 2 legs we were comfortably thumped by a St Johnstone team that had only 0.7 goals per game all season yet averaged 3 against us, the statistics of the 2 sides over the season just show how a team that cant socre or defend in the upper league is strides ahead of the inverse from below. There will be a turn around of players again this season and maybe more youngsters but this will not put us in a position different to any other team, the challenge may be whether the bank rolled clubs like Cove & Queens Park continue to operate at a loss to recruit talent. Being realistic next season should be play-offs again, expecting Dundee to be the strongest team but without a bucket of cash we will always be relying on a lot of luck to get promoted.

A fans vs Doran Select XI match would be good. I can't play worth jack, but the last one was fun to watch.

His former club Blacburn Rovers would be a good option.

A very worthy cause and a practical way of showing appreciation to a great club servant for over a decade all to frequently blighted by injury. We may in all likelihood never see Aaron on the pitch again so a perfect opportunity to say goodbye, if goodbye it is and allow him to leave with some very well merited boost to his finances.