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There is no DD to the club. My understanding is that the ST would build up funds that it can then give to the club at it’s discretion, which could be linked to conditions on the use of the funds or on better fan representation. The club doesn’t owe anyone anything for the concerts as far as I know. As for the Trust getting a board member, it’s all about being represented having a say in the boardroom. To say it’s pointless is like saying it’s pointless having opposition MPs/MSPs because they can’t change anything on their own, but it is still a good thing to be able to have a say and apply pressure.

The problem is, that's exactly what supporters are being asked to do. We are where we are due to years of financial mismanagement and we're being asked to back that by giving those responsible even more money. This is not a binary situation where the Supporters Trust do what they are doing or do nothing. There are other options for action.

Perhaps the years of financial mismanagement could have been lessened or perhaps avoided completely with a stronger fan representation at board level, positively effecting decision and direction. Sacking the board and CEO will only result in another 'appointed' set of folk who still answer only to themselves. I'm waiting for some juvenile call for fans boycott next...

I see what the Supporters Trust is doing more as trying to help get the ship sailing in the right direction. Surely it is the responsibility of the Trust to do what it can to help the Club avoid disaster? If the Club went into receivership and the Trust had sat back and done nothing, those who are now questioning the Trust would be the first to question why the Trust had not done anything. Let's be clear here. This is about supporters supporting the Club. It is not about supporting the people who are currently running the Club.

This might not be a popular opinion with some but i feel it needs to be said I don’t think anyone in a sane mind would set up a monthly direct debit to a football club that has been a financial catastrophe for years. This is the same club that still owns numerous local businesses money after the concert fiasco if I’m not mistaken. Will this extra income go to paying off the debt? Maybe the trust need to expand further where this extra money should go or be directed towards? Do the Trust honestly believe having a Trust member on the board will seriously make a difference? Same member will be outvoted at every given opportunity by the existing so called guardians of the club!!! As STFU states above there must be other options for action and this is what the Trust should be looking at. Dougal

It feels like we are trying to get a say in the music to be played on the Titanic. I want to be wrong, but the finances are an existential issue for the club and it's future, and regardless of the make up of the board things are not good. There is little point on being on the board of a sinking ship and I think the influence of a fans representative is overstated. The ship needs to be sailing in the right direction before any of this is relevant, though I do applaud the Supporter Trust for their energy and commitment.

We're off to Hampden~den~en~n It's a trip to a less than full Hampden Park for us in the next stage of the relegation battle after we dodged a bullet last week against Arbroath. Goal difference wise we are the best placed of the bottom four clubs. Our defence is also better than the other bottom four, in fact we are second equal defensively in the Championship, however what has let us down is scoring goals and in that department we are second worst in the league, only two goals better off than relegation certainties Arbroath. We did put four goals past Queens Park last time we were there. Unfortunately that was followed by three defeats and two draws in our next five games and we lost at Inverness when the Queens visited back at the beginning of February. The only certainty here is that the Hampden Park crowd record of 149,415 from 1937 won't be broken. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket/Travel Info ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue H2H v QP Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 14 4 5 5 16 17 -1 Away 9 6 0 3 19 13 +6 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 23 10 5 8 35 30 +5 Only the last eight games since Queens Park came up into the Championship and QP are streets ahead of us since then. The 3 - 0 win was a League Cup encounter 14 years ago courtesy of these guys with goals from Lee Cox (20), Eric Odhiambo (55), Ross Tokely (58) Ryan Esson; Ross Tokely, Grant Munro, Stuart Golabek, Kevin McCann, Russell Duncan, Lee Cox, Nick Ross, Gil Blumenshtein, Adam Rooney, Dani Sanchez. Subs: Jonny Tuffey; Chris Innes, Roy McBain, Eric Odhiambo, Shane Sutherland Full report on that one came from hislopsoffsideagain (click on the 3-0 scoreline above) Last 8 Competitive Meetings since QP came up. 0 - 1 (H) 4 - 1 (A) 1 - 2 (H) 1 - 2 (A) 0 - 2 (H) 0 - 0 (H) 1 - 2 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 3 - 0 (H) 1 - 2 (H) Hampden Success: 4 - 1 Danny Devine had recovered from the knock that saw him limp off against Raith Rovers on the hour last week. Sean Welsh and Luis Longstaff were on the bench. Grant Savoury, Charlie Fox and Craig Napier missed out for the Spiders. Jack Turner put Queens Park ahead early in the first half before Max Anderson levelled the match ten minutes later. Jack Thomson hit the bar, Mckay deemed offside when putting a loose ball into the net after Wotherspoon's header was saved and that prompted some words of comfort for the referee for which Big Dunc eventually ended up in the stands at the break. After the interval Inverness eased themselves up into sixth place in the league with goals from Nikola Ujdur, his first for the club, David Wotherspoon and a Billy Mckay penalty. (For Full report click on 4-1 scoreline above) Last Time Out Inverness made hard work of taking the points from all but relegated Arbroath. We dominated the first half and but for some brilliant saves from Max Boruc we could have gone in three or four goals to the good at the break. As it was Wallace Duffy scored on half time and that should have given us something to build on against a poor Arbroath who were simply going through the motions. As per usual, we failed to take full advantage of the numerous opportunities and paid the price when Leighton McIntosh hammered home a wind assisted shot from the edge of the box. We huffed and puffed somewhat thereafter before the energetic MotM Alex Samuel turned and thrashed in the winner from fifteen yards for a belter of a goal. It was a crucial strike that has all but relegated Arbroath and it keeps our hopes alive of avoiding the play-offs. Last Five: D L D L W Queens Park had a day to forget last weekend at Hampden as Champions in waiting Dundee United put five past them. It didn't look likely after the first half when they trailed by a single goal from Fotheringham on the stroke of half-time. However four goals in a fifteen minute spell from Moult, Graham, Fotheringham again, and Sibbald put Queen's back in trouble and United on track for the Premiership. Last Five: D D W L L Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Table ahead of Morton v Dundee United on Friday night. 1. Dundee Utd 32 19 8 5 64 21 65 2. Raith Rovers 32 18 7 7 52 42 61 3. Partick Thistle 32 13 11 8 58 50 50 4. Airdrieonians 32 14 6 12 42 37 48 5. Dunfermline 32 11 9 12 38 42 42 6. Morton 32 11 8 13 39 38 41 7. Ayr United 32 11 6 15 45 57 39 8. Queens Park 32 9 9 14 43 55 36 9. Inverness CT 32 8 11 13 36 37 35 10. Arbroath 32 6 5 21 34 72 23 FRIDAY 12TH APRIL Morton v Dundee Utd SATURDAY 13TH APRIL Airdrieonians v Dunfermline Ayr Utd v Arbroath Queens Park v Inverness CT Raith Rovers v Partick Thistle Latest Team News Duncan Ferguson has much the same squad to select from as last week. Luis Longstaff came off the bench on Saturday after being out for a couple of months with a knee injury and will be back in the squad again for Saturday. Carragher, although he did play, and Ujdur had a bit of a bug last weekend. However Carragher is now a doubt after feeling his hamstring. Other than that not much has changed apart from Remi Savage, who has not recovered after he got a boot in the face from Cammy Kerr. Apparently Kerr's boot is OK but Savage is suffering from minor concussion and will miss the next couple of games. Maybe that was Kerr ensuring he gets a game this weekend. Here's our underfire Gaffer>>> Callum Davidson will be smarting after the drubbing they took last week. That's seven goals in their last two games with none scored. Word of warning though, they still have Ruari Paton who has sixteen goals this season. They also have our often broken ex-captain Sean Welsh and Cillian Sheridan who surprisingly has bagged a couple of goals since leaving us. He looked like an unfit Sunday League pub player when at the Caledonian Stadium. Dom Thomas, who scored the winner last time Queens came North, has scored eight, but he was missing last week. He does enjoy a goal against us. Could Davidson be keeping him under wraps for the six-pointer against us this weekend? Last weeks QP flops: Ferrie Thomson Wilson Bannon Longridge Turner (Sheridan 53) Welsh (Tizzard 85) McKinstry (Carse 53) Scott (Bruce 52) Paton McLeish (Mauchin 62) Subs Not Used: Wills: Fox, Robson, Williamson

The above comment may have been missed. That certainly does not indicate to me that the Trust has any intention of passing any funds raised to the club for “more of the same”.

In principal the idea is ok I suppose but sadly ICT don’t have the fanbase for such an initiative to be viable. Ok the Trust or whatever they call themselves now are trying their best but the reality is that blazers have never once engaged with the fans and I include every board here not just the present. Stronger Together also sounds like a Unionist term unfortunately but i guess possibly cleverly it may well pander to the Orc regime upstairs. Good luck to the Trust nevertheless. Dougal

The Supporters Trust Board has been encouraged and heartened by the many supportive messages received, both at Saturday's Fans Meeting and subsequently. To pick up on some of the questions raised since Saturday (many of which were covered in the presentation on Saturday, in the brochure about Stronger Together or in the Q&A at the meeting), the objective is to raise funds which will be used to allow the Supporters Trust to invest in the club through the purchase of shares. The Supporters Trust will look to purchase shares when it feels the time is right, and only if it is satisfied by commitments given by the club. A long standing aim of the Supporters Trust is to have a fans' representative on the Board of the club. Any scale of shareholding in itself does not guarantee this as, for example, the Inverness Caledonian Thistle Trust Limited (the single biggest shareholder) does not have a representative on the Board. By having fans representation on the Board, we can look to ensure that decisions are taken with the fans' interests taken in to account, and that the club does things that are important to fans. In the Fans Meeting, the Chairman was receptive to an approach, and the Trust Board will consider the timing of this at its next meeting, taking in to account the restructuring that was indicated would be taking place for 1 June. The club Chairman and SLO were briefed on Stronger Together in advance of Saturday's launch. Both responded positively by e-mail and were supportive at the meeting. We also discussed the plan with other major shareholders and were encouraged to proceed. We are seeking to raise funds through Stronger Together. However, if anyone wishes to transfer their existing shareholding to the Trust, please contact us, and we will explore this with the club's Company Secretary. The club is clearly facing some of the most challenging times it has faced in its 30 year history. The Supporters Trust wishes to assist in ensuring that we have a sustainable club that can move forward, hence the launch of Stronger Together. We recognise that this initiative alone will not turn around the club's financial problems, but we have been arguing for some time that the club should be looking after the pennies as well as chasing the pounds. We believe that this message has landed with the club, as evidenced by a Man of the Match sponsor being in place at Saturday's game for the first time in a long time. For those not at the Fans Meetings or who have not joined the Supporters Trust, the Trust has made significant progress with the club this season. This started with the Matchday Experience Survey, and then the strength of feeling shown at the initial Fans Meetings. The club has clearly recognised that there have been issues and has started to engage positively with the Trust and to address some of the issues raised by us. We highlighted the need for an effective SLO, and welcome the appointment of Scott Young to this position. Scott clearly wants to maintain a positive working relationship with the Trust, to engage with fans, and to make a difference. Scott has been joined at our last three meetings by Ross Morrison, the Chairman, and both have engaged openly and honestly with the issues raised with them. Until the Matchday Experience Survey and the Fans Meetings, the Trust was struggling to have any meaningful dialogue with the club. That has changed during the course of this season. The club has recognised that their communication with fans has been very poor. There is still work to do on this, but we are now better informed than we have been for many years. The club has recognised that the way some complaints were dealt with was very poor and, through Scott Young, are now showing a willingness to ensure that issues are resolved promptly and professionally. The Trust has highlighted concerns about the Matchday Experience for fans with disabilities, and established a group to work with the club on this. The initial meeting is later this week. The club has recognised our feedback that fans are priced out of hospitality, and we got confirmation on Saturday that new offerings will be available next season, with a mix of corporate and affordable offerings. On our theme of looking after the pennies, the club has recognised that they have missed out on many sponsorship opportunities, in terms of sponsorship of players, matches, man of the match and match ball. This is starting to change, with a Man of the Match sponsor in place at Saturday's game. We will continue to push for the reintroduction of a meaningful player sponsorship scheme next season. This is a simple but effective way of increasing fan engagement, and we have even offered to administer it for the club. These are just examples of what has been achieved, but we recognise that there is more work to be done, and we will continue to work on your behalf. The Trust Board is made up of volunteers who are passionate about the club and happy to devote their own time to helping to take things forward. Finally, thank you again to our many recently joined members for signing up, to all our members for their continued support, to everyone who has attended the Fans Meetings, and for all the supportive messages about the work we are carrying out.

All members of the Supporters Trust should have received details of Stronger Together by e-mail from the Trust yesterday. If you did not receive it, please let us know. The courier and Press and Journal were at Saturday's Fans Meeting, and both have covered it on line and we expect it to feature in their print editions: https://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/sport/fans-investment-initiative-looks-to-give-supporters-greater-347261/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/sport/football/inverness-caledonian-thistle/6425681/appeal-for-caley-thistle-fans-far-and-wide-to-back-trusts-new-fund/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social