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I joined the Trust last year but am not on the Board, so other than bolstering the membership I’ve not had the opportunity to make a positive contribution, largely due to other commitments. However, and just a thought, with your clear passion for the club, if you are going to Saturday’s game, why not go along to the Caley Club or the Sports Bar before the game and discuss your thoughts and concerns with Board members. Why not join up and look to join the Board at the next opportunity, allowing you to influence the direction of the Trust and the relationship with the club?

Good to see the club supporting the Trust by encouraging new members: https://ictfc.com/supporters-trust-recruitment-drive Hopefully it gets a positive response.

I've been on the board of CJT/Trust in the past and was delighted to be part of it during some of our most successful seasons. However, I've not been involved for some years, stepping back mostly due to work and growing family commitments. That's unchanged. I've no idea about STFU or anyone else and everyone is entitled to their opinions regarding the club or The Trust but I do agree it's very easy to go online be it here, P&B, Twitter, Facebook etc and complain. It's much more difficult to give up some time and come up with constructive and realistic solutions to the issues. The Club don't seem to want to make it easy either much of the time as they appear to have a select group of folk they listen to. They shouldn't be picking and choosing whose views are worthy and whose aren't. Hopefully that's changing. For the record I am a born and bred Invernessian

Other than a generic, cliché riddled statement (which commits them to nothing) what are the club actually doing to support the trust's efforts to increase member numbers? There's talk of getting involved in projects and improving the matchday experience that we've been hearing since the club came into being, but what does that actually involve? It's easy to do nothing and keep kicking it down the road on the back of the excuse that there's not enough members to give a representative view on what should be done, or to support what you want to do....but I for one haven't got a clue what you are actually asking fans to back. Give us something with some substance that we can buy into. You may not have as many members as you like, but there's nothing to stop you polling non members. If the club wanted to support you then they could actively work with you on doing that. Aside from coming up with more ways to extract the fans hard earned cash to funnel it in to the club to pay for the basics that should be covered by our matchday/season ticket, what can we expect?

It is great news that the Club's Board is stating publicly that a strong and active Supporters Trust is good for the club, and that they are supporting the Trust's Board in its campaign to increase membership numbers in order to better support both the Club and its supporters. For ease of reference, I have copied the Club's statement below. Please note that the Trust are holding an open meeting at the Caley Club at 12noon this coming Saturday. Board members will be present and will be happy to answer any questions you may have about the Trust as well as listen to your views of what you think the Trust should be discussing with the Club. We expect the meeting will go on for about an hour giving folk plenty of time to get something to eat and drink before heading off to the Cove game. Representatives of the Trust will also be at the Supporters Trust desk in the Sports Bar prior to the game, so please come along and say hello. We hope to have a regular presence at the desk prior to games in the future. The Board of Directors of Inverness Caledonian Thistle are happy to support a fresh bid by the Supporters’ Trust to increase its membership and play a key role in enhancing the match day experience of fans, through fund-raising activities. Gordon Fyfe, a club director and Supporters’ Liaison Officer, said: “The Board of Directors recognise fully the importance of our loyal support. The Supporters’ Trust has a 10 per cent voting stake in the club and therefore has a ready-made platform for representing the voice of fans. “To play a more meaningful role in the development of the club and become truly representative of our fans, the Trust needs to engage with the wide base of our support, including our enthusiastic and growing band of younger supporters and those who provide terrific vocal support at away games. “We are happy to support the Supporters’ Trust in their efforts to boost not only their Board but the wider membership and wish them well in their campaign. A strong and active Trust can only be good for the club.” New Trust Chair Jennifer Aitchison said: “An active Supporters’ Trust can do so much to help the Club in providing a better matchday experience for fans and in raising funds for specific projects. We want fans to join the Trust to help us support the Club and to better represent the views of you, the supporters, of our great club.” Anyone wishing to join the Trust should visit www.ictsupporterstrust.org. Annual membership is just £5 for adults and £1 for U16s.

There is no reason why Board members need to be born and bred Invernessians. In my opinion, what matters is that those involved have the desire to contribute to the Board, to make a positive difference and to work with the club to enhance it, both on and off the pitch. They are giving their time voluntarily for no financial or other gain, so should get our collective support. Having a varied Board with different backgrounds is important for it to work well. I consider myself a local, but only moved to the Highlands when I was 4, spent my school days in Fort William, then ended up in the central belt and I only lived in Inverness (first time round) in 1992. Work then took me away for a number of years before returning 8 years ago. That in no way detracts from my passion for the club.