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The post that proves the point. You talk as if it's the responsibility of the entire city to provide circa 1500 people with a football match every couple of weeks. Do you also donate/attend and expect everyone else to donate/attend the rugby club, shinty club, athletics club, cinema, sports centre, rollerbowl, bmx park, golf courses, go kart centre, climbing centre, trampoline park gyms, whin park, bellfield park, etc to ensure they remain open? What makes ICTFC so different and special to the extent that the whole city is responsible for it?

Good win today for the ladies.

It's all starting to sound like a load of sentimental tosh. A couple of months back most people would have been happy to aee Ferguson booted but now the circumstances have changed and he's likely to depart due to administration instead of his own incompetence we have people trying to defend him. I don't hate Ferguson. He should never have been given the job in the first place and the way he sets out the team and tactics is enough to me the eyes bleed but appointed he was and responsibility for that lies elsewhere. Paying for overnight stays before away games and the even more bizarre scenario of him providing players petrol money and whatever is all about him protecting his image because he knows he'll be looking for another job very shortly. For the majority of managers and players this is a job and the whole claiming allegiance to the club etc is just to keep us as mug fans on side. Ferguson is not working for free and his wages will have been deferred. When administration happens he'll be top of the list for payment of that money. He claims to be paying player petrol etc. but see my comment on another chat thread as to why that's just BS and I imagine he's covering his boys costs and overplaying the situation. I don't hate Ferguson but he's playing the situation to ensure he remains employable once he's shown the door with us. Did he have to pay these things? No, but it makes him look good and as fans we are daft enough to praise him for it. I'm more concerned for the few staff behind the scenes who have shown real commitment to ICTFC. So let's stop with the 'aww poor Ferguson' bs. He may have been sold a pup by the **** Scot Gardiner and delusional Ross Morrison, but he will be far from the biggest loser in the chit show that we have become in the last 6 or 7 years. Ultimately he is a part of the problem even if he's not the cause of it.

I didn't think Charlie looked 'relaxed' but he is obviously more accomplished at public speaking. I thought Scott looked tired and we all could see what he's been carrying on his shoulders probably for months now. We owe him a debt of thanks imho

You still sign your name after all this time Dougal? I agree with you though. I think a good season for us is first surviving as a club and an exceptional one would be staying in L1 with the -15 points. Can forget anything better than that.

I genuinely worry for Scott Young as he looks like a man on the verge of a breakdown. He joined the board with a genuine desire to improve the relationship between the fans and the club and has found himself front and centre in having to deal with the fallout of the actions of the rest of the board many of which have abandoned ship. I'm not the touchy feely type, but during the meeting today I just wanted to give him man hug and tell him none of this is on his shoulders. He stood in stark contrast to Christie who knows he can go back to his academy and centenary club positions and presented as way more 'relaxed'. Too many good people will suffer from this and that is the hardest thing.

I can't imagine any of our previous managers working for free, or even paying for players car fuel, so don't understand the negativity towards Duncan Ferguson. OK, results not great but he has tried. Recent ex managers have even put in claims for cash from ICT when they know the club is on its knees - reportedly their hearts were in ICT - if thats support I despair. As a supporter of Caley for over 70+ years, I'll continue to support ICT or Caley even in HL, where I started but will never forget Europe and appreciate Bucharest!

Tend to agree. Its been a turbulent time on and off the pitch. Clearly some of the football has fallen below the standard that supporters can reasonably expect. Very inflexible tactically. However, to be fair ,the manager has kept his head down and got on with the job, possibly for nowt, and has spoken reasonably well at times over the last few days. Credit for that. Its never nice to see someone lose their job so I wish him well.

Tbf we had 1 point when he was appointed. Granted he wasn't able to arrest the slide but Dodds had long since done the damage on the field. Is he a good manager? Not really. But it was 1 win from safety in the end. The stuff he's done in recent weeks like working for free. Also just read he's been paying for the players petrol and pitching in to hotels away from home. He might not be a great manager but he's been making some big sacrifices for the club where he shouldn't need to and deserves a lot of credit for that. Will be remembered fondly for that if anything.

No it isn't. ICT are the only professional senior football team in Inverness so if the good people of Inverness, if they want to save their team, then they do need to get off their arses to support ICT. Even in the Championship, Dunfermline, and now Falkirk get much bigger attendances than us and both these clubs have had similar problems to us. Why should that be the case?, cue the usual comments on poor this and poor that. You either support your team or you don't. To late to support your team once it's gone. We seem to have a large element of "support " who are never satisfied with the club and always have an excuse for not attending games.

Duke I’ve green dotted you for this as I couldn’t green dot you regarding the point you made about egos in the admin thread. Couldn’t have made the point better myself unfortunately that opportunity was taken away from me due to being banned from the thread from the establishment with no reason. Seems Ego’s clearly exist on here too. Dougal

The standard of referee at this level is shockingly poor.

Exactly this. Whatever happens over the next few weeks and months, I hope that fan engagement and experience is at the front and centre of the recovery. There are multiple examples of how to do it well among our contemporaries, and often it costs next to f**k all to implement. Pretty much none of which have been utilised at ICT over the years.

I would very much echo what DD has just said. The meeting provided as much clarity as it’s possible to get at this stage, and thanks to Scott, Charlie and the ST for providing that opportunity. There’s no easy solution to a massive problem whose origins go back for years, and I do believe that administration - given that “best” simply isn’t a suitable word to use here - is the least bad of the available outcomes. Meanwhile, my thoughts are with the club’s employees, who I hope will be affected by this to the minimum extent possible.

I'm afraid I agree with STFU on this one. The reality is that there are varying degrees of support for the club ranging from those who go to all the games they can, who buy a lot of merchandise and help behind the scenes, to those who want the team to do well but who rarely, if ever go to a game or buy any merchandise. There is absolutely no reason why somebody at the bottom end of this range of support should be expected to pay good money to watch poor quality football when they would rather be doing something else, or to buy merchandise they don't really want. To imply they have some sort of civic duty to do so will only alienate people and make it less likely they will spend money in the future. The challenge for those of us who put our hands in our pockets and support the team regularly is to persuade others that it is worth spending a bit more money on the club. We can't directly do much about the quality of the product on the pitch, but we can help to make the matchday experience a little better. An example of this is the work the Supporters Trust has done in making improvements to the bar. Having a bar which is open for longer hours, serves better beer and and is generally more welcoming will perhaps persuade a few more people to come to matches and those who already do, to spend a little more.

I haven't enjoyed Big Duncs time in charge but it's decent of him to work without pay and I felt quite sorry for him in his Sportsound interview. Wish him all the best wherever he ends up.

Marley Watkins...legend.

Wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time! But don’t you just love football, it brings out such emotions! Wouldn’t you love to be DF’s position where just about everyone despises you and your son get’s booed because he’s your son. If I recall rightly, the players were the individuals that contributed most to our relegation, but that shouldn’t get in the way of personal insults. For all of DF’s faults (and there are many in my book), whenever he does depart, he leaves with no malice from me and I wish him well in the future. bc

Footage quality from nearly 27 years ago is better than what we get nowadays. As well as the quality of football.

Yesterdays shocking attendance probably wasn’t helped by the North of Scotland Cup final in Nairn. I saw plenty of faces there that normally frequent the Dump. For anyone interested Clach were well pumped by a strong looking Brora outfit. Very healthy attendance with the majority born and bred Invernessians. Hats of to the young ICT players though can’t have been easy putting on what sounds a decent display under the current circumstances and also Duncan Ferguson to be honest as it would have been very easy to throw the towel in. Dougal

They only train a few hours a day, no where near 40 hours a week. They start late and finish early in the day.

What we do not know is what was known to the players and staff about the off field issues in the last 12 months that made getting results very difficult. For instance, the policy on loan deals perhaps enforced by SG. We do not know the answers to many key questions.

I don’t think much of Ferguson in terms of tactics or getting the best performances out of the team, but he has conducted himself very well and made sacrifices to help the club when faced with the financial crisis this season, so best wishes to him when he goes.

Also from that 2015 squad, Graeme Shinnie got Aberdeen’s equaliser at Parkhead and Ryan Christie set Bournemouth on their way to beating Arsenal. Three results for underdogs. How we need that spirit now! More mundanely, Matheus Machado for Montrose and Shane Sutherland scored a hat trick for Brora. More cup final heroes had a great weekend, as Ryan Esson and Aaron Doran have got Strathspey off the bottom of the Highland League after they went to second bottom Rothes and hammered them 6-0, with Kieran Chalmers getting one of them.

Booing or expressing displeasure at a player/manager/officials ability is not abuse and painting it as such is just another example of how matchdays (not just ours) are being continually sterilised. We have had incidents in the past where those shouts have crossed the line and become threatening or involved family members, sexuality, race etc and that's when it becomes abuse and unacceptable. I've not personally heard anything like that aimed at either DF or CF.

There should have been more bookings for Annan players. Mckay got booked for querying a decision and the Annan player Manager did the same and no action. Some of their tackles were as bad as Devine’s deserved booking but no cards. And young Macleod’s booking was very soft. I thought the ref was very poor and inconsistent, bottling some key decisions. But, it’s history now. We won!

Halcyon days indeed and sadly highlights perfectly the level ICT have fallen too. Also quite alarmingly noticeable is that the terracing festooned in Union Jacks. Dougal

Ocg we don’t usually agree on here, but today is maybe a first, I agree with you. went on the bbc text for yesterdays game and they show 6 bookings. Seemed like more than that to me. ps….feel free to insert your regular face palm.

That's what I don't get. What petrol and living costs is he covering that the club normally would? Does the club pay for all players fuel as soon as they step out the door? Seems ridiculous to me. Especially for a L1 club. In my job for example I get milage from my 'Base' outward but not from my house (now mainly WFH). When I worked in Aviemore I could claim miles from my office there to say Kingussie or Grantown but I couldn't claim from my house in Inverness to Aviemore. Maybe footballer contacts include all travel from their front door but that would seem a ridiculous expense for us to cover as a club. Their travel from the stadium to training and away fixtures is obviously covered. I wonder if what DF is really referring to is expenses for his son?

For me, the 4 performances in the playoffs were unforgivable. Should've had the grace to walk after that.

I make it a pretty hard and fast rule not to comment on referees, but I just can’t let go what we saw this afternoon. Mr Stuart’s nightmare can be headlined by the two absolutely clear cut penalties he waved away and there was a lot more that ICT should have had against a pretty physical Annan team. Duncan’s struggle to contain his fury was palpable. I thought that it was a very encouraging performance by these largely young lads who seemed to have just that bit more bite up front - and especially creditable given the circumstances, and that they didn’t know if they were playing their last game for ICT under the cloud of possibly becoming jobless.

A big thank you too to all the Trust Board members for organising the meeting and for working so hard recently on our behalf. It is great to see the improvements to the bar and to have locally brewed draught beer available. There has also been a lot of less visible work going on behind the scenes in developing the rapport between the Trust and the Club and this was reflected in the fact that both the acting Chairman and acting CEO spent so much time prior to the game in discussing some of the issues the club is facing. It is important to note that both Charlie and Scott appeared to be supportive of a fans' representative on the Club's Board of Directors going forward. If there is to be a fans' representative on the Club Board at some point soon, it is important that they can be seen to be as representative as possible. Whoever is going to take over at the helm of the club in the future may need convincing of the benefit of a supporters' representative. In order to convince them, the Trust needs to have a high membership and to be seen to be actively supporting the club in various ways. So, if you haven't joined the Trust yet, now would be a good time to do it!

Could not have put it better. The people who complain about the lack of supporters at games are usually the same ones who moan about the fair weather, glory hunters at cup finals and the like. Even as a season ticket holder who wants the best for my team, I have found it hard to get motivated to go to games at times, so why would people who have no great interest in either football in general or ICT want to spend their hard earned pennies coming to games? Each to their own I say, we have to cut our cloth accordingly, and I am just glad that the 'glory hunters' do come to cup finals or we really would look pretty sad. If you look at the attendances at other league one games you may think that we are doing pretty well, attendance wise.

Penny just dropped for me, you obviously weren’t at any of the games I highlighted hence you call everything between Ferguson first game and today dross.

Yes. But the games I highlighted were great days out and certainly not dross.

Shining up **** and calling it gold.

A big thank you to everyone who came along to the Fans' Meeting earlier in Bar 94. We took notes of the key issues, and will publish a summary of the meeting on our website in a few days, and will share a link to it here. We are grateful to Charlie Christie and Scott Young for joining us for the majority of the meeting, and for their openness in both their comments and their responses to questions. To highlight one of the key issues, as has been mentioned in the Administration Thread Scott Young confirmed that the formal process for entering administration has started. Unless a formal offer is received before the administration papers are accepted by the Court (expected to be around 1000 on Monday) then the Administrator will be brought in, triggering the 15 point penalty. A Press Conference is likely to be held by the Administrator on Wednesday. Today, we also welcomed Inverness-based brewery Dog Falls to Bar 94. The bar is now selling their draught products, Konventional Wisdom Lager and Inverness Black Nitro Stout. Both were very well received, and the partnership with Dog Falls will be formally launched at the next home game on 2 November. Bar 94 also opened after the match, and it was great to see so many people using it then, with Danny Devine being presented with the Dog Falls Player of the Match Award. As mentioned above, we will publish a summary of the meeting her in a few days, and add a link here, but our sincere thanks to everyone who took the time to attend the meeting today.

Not all dross in between……. 4-1 win at Hampden QP great day out, draw at tannadice twice 1-1, wins away to Ayr and Morton, Alex Samuel hat trick at raith win 3-2 certainly not dross, wins home to Ayr and Morton decent watch. 3-3 draw with partick looking back at scores, apart from a 2-0 defeat to airdrie all the losses were by a single goal. maybe some games were hard watches but dross? It’s maybe me though not being a Dunc hater and only seeing the good.

Started and finished with wins, both by a single goal margin. Pity about the dross in between.

Oh the Dunc haters who are raging he’s working for free won’t like this

More likely Scott Kellagher and the coaches from the academy is what the administrators will say can be afforded. Tough Times! Does admin mean you are not allowed to hire / sign anyone else until you are clear of administration?

if admin beckons, as it seems, then from the ashes .... AS or SY heading the board, CC as CEO or DoF (if we need one) and any one of multiple former players working in the local area (or willing to come back - no accommodation provided) as coaches to step in and manage us from what appears to be a likely drop to League 2 back up as far as we can go (Tokely? Esson? Tremarco? Warren? Raven? Imrie? other?) . Perhaps they can be mentored by Steve Paterson in the background. Think he knows a little bit about getting ICT promoted!

... I agree with Dougal

At present we are heading for relegation survival in league1 with the current squad would be a quite remarkable achievement. A torrid season ahead and the fans that are still going should go easy on the kids who will be turning week in week out remember it’s not their fault. Dougal

I sadly agree with you the resemblance to the route the old Rangers took and the route we took is uncanny. The rise to the SPL, European football and Scottish Cup win will now always be overshadowed by overspending and mismanagement some might even go as far and call it cheating. Regardless what it is there is a horrible taste left in the mouth. Dougal

I'm a little confused by this. Is the intimation that the club should be paying for players petrol and basic costs in addition to their salary and accommodation/bills and because they're not then Ferguson should be hailed as a hero for doing so? Sounds to me like some players are just really bad at managing their money and acting super entitled. I'd kill to be earning £400 a week and have no accommodation/bills to pay for.

Ego's we're at the forefront of the club being formed 30 years ago and led to an unfair and unhappy marriage of the two old clubs in the first place. It has led to the club going down the pan now. If a rebirth happens I'd go for new club colours as part of a fresh start. Fiorentina colours? Purple and silver edging gets my vote. End all this too much blue, not enough red/black in stripes that is boring and a hindrance.

If, as expected, we go into administration then you'd imagine Ferguson will be one of the first out the door. His time in charge has been nothing short of abysmal but he might try and claim that the club was a shambles before he joined and no one could turn things around in the hope of landing another job. I feel for whichever idiot club appoints him next.