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I found the CEO's comments regarding intermittent hospitality in the recent podcast rather bizarre. Two minutes of research confirmed my understanding that Forres, Elgin and Keith (amongst others) all run hospitality for every game. They also run pie and a pint deals and other money making ventures. Nairn County have a World Cup Final night at the local Briish Legion, etc. etc... These are Highland League/League 2 clubs with no permanent staff. We have an array of commercial directors, sporting directors, a CEO, part-time consultants and such like and we invariably end up looking like a poorly run Highland League side. Go figure....

Never been convinced BD was the right choice and he's done nothing over the last 18 months to change that. It was clear from the outset nepotism was at play and all we have seen just reinforces the fact that capability is secondary to relationships. Moving JR into a DoF role looks a cost burden we cannot afford and its not clear what return is provided. There is a network of 'jobs for the boys' at the club so it's not just BD but a full clear out that's needed. This is the SG effect that was seen at hearts and Dundee now coming through......perhaps covid slowed this down and hid the effects but throw in the farce of concert companies and money losses its only going to get worse. As for injuries, it's an overdone excuse. While limitations in players does affect the strength of team, the tepid play and lack of coherent shape, style or entertainment has been going on for many months. Last year play-offs papered over the cracks but we probably have one of the best squads (not just starting 11 when fit) in the league yet are in danger of being mid to lower table. Last year StJ showed how big the gap to Premiership is now, therefore promotion has to come from winning the league - which again like last year is full of bang average to crap teams and lowest level standard its been in our existence as a club. Right now there is zero chance of winning the league this year so we are already looking at yet another season of Championship football next year with reduced budgets and falling fan interest.

Over the years, so many things have been suggested to the club, most are small and quite doable, the club have made the right sounds, but very few are executed. We were told that they'd have a steward directing the whackie exit races while trying to leave the home car park, it's survival of the bravest. The ludicrous disabled parking bays, if they want you to park in them the way they've set them out, you're trapped in there, it doesn't take a genius to work that out. Have team sheets available at all food outlets, have a table set up after you enter the stadium to sell raffle tickets, trust me, they'd sell double if they did this. Have to tv on in the concourse, if there's no live game, show old ICT games, try and create an atmosphere. Display all team photos since 94 on the walls, it would give the supporters something to talk about, it's such a soulless space. What happened to the quiz nights? It certainly helped with the player/supporter bonding, and makes the club tighter. There is so much wrong with the club now, no joy in watching or coming to games, it's the worst I can remember.

No fault of Moff and the guys, but Gardiner used the last podcast as 90 mins of free advertising. What a great guy. Judging by his prickly reaction to one small criticism it’s not hard to see him pulling the plug if the guys give him a hard time.

I hope they have a song that goes “Oh the grand old Duku of York…”

Goals change games, it's an obvious cliche, but my goodness it's true this season, we are seriously short of anyone to stick the ball away on a regular basis. Oakley isn't a threat at all, Boyd isn't a finisher [although he has guile and effort], Mckay can't do it all his own, the big loss is Samuels who really seemed to give us a different dimension, and of course Sutherland for sheer 'hang in there' grittyness [and more effective overall, with 10 goals last season]. Shaw is a small glimmer of hope. Midfield wise with have few people who can take a long range shot, or a good pass [with Welsh almost permanently absent, along with MacGregor, and Allardice also out, we really miss Reece McAlear, and too a lesser extent Logan Chalmers who gave a balance to Samuels being on the other wing] And there is the rub, we seem to play reasonable knock-it-about football, but lack the threat or the relief of goals that gives the defence a break. Basically we are dropping points due to an 'error a game' at the moment [which with no disrespect, is not exactly a surprise with the age quality and experience we have on offer], with little to compensate down the other end Unfortunately it looks like finances won't stretch to any reinforcements come January unless we can find a gem, or a decent loan...not sure who we could even sell to raise funds. BTW if even runnning the floodlights is a problem due to energy costs why are we starting games earlier? So looks a bit grime at the moment, but given our squad situation, it was going to be thus. But ever the optimist, I look at how Morton and Dundee have got themselves into good positions after poor starts, and remember its a long season. [Ayr and Queens Park are defo the teams of the season, but will they run out of steam?]

Really unfair imho. Folk that are paying customers are allowed to express their thoughts on what we are currently watching. It's poor fare really and we deserve better. Crowds are dropping by the week and can't be going unnoticed.

Well I would object! They are part of the problem!

Being saying this kind of thing for years Jug. The fan experience is pretty poor and has been for years, Still queuing in the rain and mud for half time refreshments ( North stand) still going to the toilet in a portacabin, I find it quite sad. Inverness is a huge population growth area and we're not engaging very well. Also interviews with Gardener and Dudds were very careful in content, wish someone would have the guts to confront them with stuff that Jug mentions.

Time for Billy to go and take the backroom staff with him. We need to have a fresh team at the club with new ideas.

A hard watch as others have said. Dundee were poor but held on comfortably to win. We contributed to their goal by giving the ball away cheaply but it was a decent finish. I can’t fault the commitment of the players but too often we passed when we could have shot or gave the ball away cheaply. Oakley was more interested in grappling than winning the ball. We ended up with Devine playing in an advanced role. No offence to Danny, but he’s no striker and he had a decent game and tried to encourage the team. Carson and Shaw were the picks for me. Worryingly I was treated to hospitality today. The CEO spoke at it and explained we are only doing it at a few games this season due to the smaller away supports being experienced. Surely he should be out there getting local businesses and supporters taking tables so the hospitality takes place at every game. He said it was important financially for the club today and there were 120 at it, so they’d have taken around £12k less the costs of staging it. Have they given up on getting support locally? It was a very worrying comment.

As Chaz Dickens once said..... "It was very far from the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of Doddsball, it was the age of cluelessness, it was the epoch of disbelief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was a season of darkness, it was the season of gloom, it was the autumn of no points, it was the winter of despair...Dodds out now."

Dundee Challenge Dundee are the visitors this week as we get back to League duty after the third round of the Scottish Cup was played out last weekend. Dundee are one of the form teams in the Championship at the moment as they pick up a bit of form after a sticky patch. The game should be kicking off at 3:00pm on Saturday. Both teams advanced into the fourth round of the Scottish Cup last weekend. Inverness edging past Stirling Albion by the odd goal in five and Dundee dumping Airdrie with four goals in extra-time for a 6-2 win. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/tickets info ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 16 7 8 1 27 15 +12 Away 20 7 8 5 28 25 +3 Neutral 2 0 0 2 2 4 -2 Total 38 14 16 8 57 44 +13 We have only lost once at home to Dundee in sixteen games. The overall results also favour Inverness with fourteen wins from thirty-eight encounters with Dundee winning just eight times. The single home defeat came in a Scottish Cup 4th round replay in January 2008. None other than Scott Allan that scored the only goal of the game. Over and Out: This seasons Scottish Cup run was short lived when an efficient Dundee came North and stifled our creative players after the break to score an early second half goal through Scott Allan to win this replay. The second period was just two minutes old when Dundee surged forward after an Inverness attack broke down. A-Jay Leitch-Smith did the spadework and Scott Allan supported him and placed the ball beyond Mark Ridgers low into the corner of the net. Poor play from Inverness in attack and the defence backed off as Dundee went forward giving Allan the opportunity to pick his spot. Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Dundee 3 - 2 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 1 - 2 (A) 2 - 2 (H) 2 - 0 (A) 1 - 0 (H) 0 - 0 (A) 0 - 1 (A) 0 - 1 (H) 2 - 2 (A) We came away from Dens Park with an unexpected but much needed three points back in September. Harper Stuns Dundee: The first meeting of the sides this season ended in victory for the visitors. Dundee took an early lead through Sweeney but Cammy Harper levelled almost immediately with a curling shot from outside the box. Austin Samuels day was over five minutes before the interval. Just on the break Billy Mckay scored from the spot to put the visitors ahead after Harper had been fouled. Paul McMullan made it all square ten minutes after the interval although that goal has now been attributed to Joe Grayson. However, man of the match Harper restored the visitors advantage from twenty-five yards with seven minutes left. That ended the scoring and sealed the points before Sweeney was sent off for a second bookable offence as the game slipped away from Dundee. Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts 1. Ayr United 16 8 5 3 34 22 29 2. Morton 16 8 4 4 24 16 28 3. Dundee 16 8 4 4 27 20 28 4. Queens Park 16 8 3 5 28 26 27 5. Partick Thistle 16 7 2 7 31 29 23 6. Inverness CT 16 6 5 5 19 20 23 7. Raith Rovers 16 7 1 8 21 21 22 8. Cove Rangers 16 4 5 7 24 27 17 9. Arbroath 16 2 6 8 10 22 12 10. Hamilton Ac. 16 2 5 9 16 31 11 Saturday 3rd December 3:00pm Arbroath v Morton Ayr United v Raith Rovers Cove v Partick Inverness v Dundee FC Queen's v Hamilton Current League Form Dundee are one of the form teams with four wins in November which includes their Scottish Cup win over Airdrie. October brought them two wins three draws and a Championship defeat to Cove Rangers at Balmoor. Highlight of that league run was a 3-2 win over Partick Thistle at Firhill with the Cove result putting a damper on the Dundee hopes. Over the same period we have failed to win a league game in November, drawing two and losing to Queens Park. October was a mixed bag where we started off with three narrow wins before being found out at home to Accies. We followed that with a draw at home to Raith Rovers before being pumped 4-0 at Cappielow. Highlight were the three wins in early October over Ayr, Partick and Cove. The lowlight speaks for itself as Morton thrashed us. We are by far one of the worst performing teams in front of goal with only 19 goals from 16 games. Only Arbroath and Hamilton have scored less. Dundee are eight goals better off but with a similar defensive record. Nathan Shaw has been one of the more prominent players recently and scored both goals to earn a point in the 2-2 draw against Ayr United Latest Team News The cup game allowed us to rest the legs of Sean Welsh who will hopefully be available for this one. Danny Devine got more minutes in his legs after coming back two weeks ago. Dan Mackay got half an hour against Stirling Albion but might be off the pace. Full Back Ryan Barrett made his debut late on in the cup game and he himself has come through a knee injury before leaving Newcastle. Unless anyone else has been seen by Jesus, then that might be our lot for now as far as recoveries are concerned. News about Austin Samuels has been sparse, let's hope he is nearing a return. We will still have seven or eight first picks unavailable with news that top scorer Billy Mckay might be joining them with a calf injury. Deas, Delaney, Allardice, McGregor, Walsh, Sutherland and Samuels. Add Mark Ridgers to that ensemble as the rift goes on although Cammy Mackay has done well under the circumstances. Eric has unearthed this new name at Dens Park. Since our last meeting with Dundee they have signed Derick Osei, a centre forward who was without a club since leaving AFC Wimbledon in the summer. French born Osei spent 10 years in the youth system at Toulouse. He has made 7 appearances in Championship and Cup games with 3 goals to his credit. Sounds like he might be a handful at Championship level. Zach Robinson is the clubs leading scorer this season with eight goals from eighteen games with nippy winger Paul McMullen on four alongside Zak Rudden. Alex Jakubiak is on four but his strike rate is the most impressive having only played eight games.

Hmmmmmm

There comes a time to stop digging when you are in a hole. ICT are not quite at the bottom yet (that’s relegation which is a distinct possibility), but the signs are clearly there! I stopped supporting Scotland when Craig Broon got the reigns and filled the team with 10 centre halfs. We’re still suffering from that legacy! Feel that ICT haven’t got over the Ritchie Foran experiment (due to an inept and visionless board)) and like Scotland are still suffering from small thinking boardrooms. Dodds is a product of this board and with the current philosophy things won’t change. We need a complete new structure and vision (5 year) fir the club. I am sure A Savage’s door has been knocked on a few times, so that boat has sailed. The recent podcast was a big improvement in the abismal communication with the fans, so their is some light. Best we can hope for is not coming bottom of the league this year. Part time team is a reality!! bc

Any news on Sutherland? He was the beating heart last year

Dundee scored a good goal. We just wanted to pass it around all game with everyone scared to take a shot at goal.

Am I being thick here? What has away crowds got to do with not running or indeed running hospitality?

Here, we can't even stretch to organising a Christmas party for the kids.

There is a reason that this is Dodds first job, at his age, as a number one, he has no tactical awareness, he can't see what the rest of us see when things aren't working, he makes the wrong subs, wrong formation and wrong tactics. The thing is, that if we get rid of Dodds, I think the club would install Wilson or Kellacher as interim boss, and that's just adding to the problem, because they are all part of the problem. Today, It looked like these players had never met before, I lost count of the number of times we passed the ball to Dundee, and all the times the supporters were screaming shoot, when they had a sight of goal, only for them to pass it wide. For me, his time is up, but I wouldn't be surprised to see the same coaching team till the end of the season.

Yes, he seems to be along With Billy Mckay but who knows what will happen during the week!

Shaw had definitely been the best of a bad bunch.

November was a poor month with an away loss to Queens Park, home draws against Arbroath & Ayr and a lucky home win against Stirling Albion which was reflected in the voting. The winner for November is Nathan Shaw Although there is not much enthusiasm, please keep your votes coming in.

I would like to pay my respects to Kingsmills. I dont post much on here these days, but i go way back, in all the different incarnations that this forum has had...and I recall Kingsmills being around for much of that time. RIP Fella

Was late finishing work, and we lost a goal while I was on the way to the match. Changed my mind and headed for home. Can't even torture myself on Twitter updates as we've only had 3. Kick Off, conceded goal and HT. You know it's bad when even the club's own social media can't muster anything to post about. Anyone at the game want to tell us that it's not that bad and we're unlucky to be losing?

Now I'm not starting this to start an argument or fall out with members, it's just a simple question to gauge what our fans are thinking of the dud in the dugout. I think most on here now know that I have had just about enough of this abysmal form so I'm simply going to say NO to my own question. It is worse than last season tbh so we have to act NOW if we have any ambition of promotion and I'm sure Scot Gardiner does have aspirations of promotion so he has to swallow his pride and do what he was close to doing around this time last year had we not beaten Arbroath, sack Dudds. Now a lot of you peeps will greet that I say that with everyone that goes on a poor run which is true lol but this is WORSE than Foran and that's saying something, at least Richie didn't fall out with players leading to them refusing to play for him like us happening with Dudds/Ridgers, that situation clearly shows that he has lost the dressing room or the players don't respect him. I would even take Charlie Christie in on an interim until the end of the season as he's doing well with the under 18s.

I was being polite

Run like a glorified pub team is closer to the mark

I'd assume the CEO would have agrees to what edit went out.