Leaderboard

Admin Derby Inverness face Administration candidates Hamilton Accies whose off-field activities, like Inverness, has led to them teetering on the brink of Administration. John Rankin has recently left Accies and despite monetary restrictions he had managed to keep a competitive team on the park. However, a constant downward spiral of rule breaking and money problems have seen a downturn in their fortunes and they have appointed Darian MacKinnon as interim Head of First Team Management in the wake of Rankin's resignation at the end of November. Both sides played Cup games in midweek ahead of this one with contrasting fortunes. Accies being dumped out of the KDM Trophy 5-2 by Raith Rovers whilst we edged out Tranent in the much postponed fixture at Haddington. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket/Bus/Bar/Parking/Info ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Scott Kellacher Again Our last League1 game was the 1-1 draw at Alloa on 25th November. Luis Longstaff gave us the lead on the stroke of half time but Cameron O'Donnell levelled with 15 to go. Since we last played Accies Accies 3-1 ICTFC ICTFC 2-2 Kelty P'Head 0-1 ICTFC ICTFC 1-0 Monty ICTFC 1-0 Cove ICTFC 4-0 QotS Alloa 1-1 ICTFC We made a meal of getting past Tranent in the Scottish Cup on Wednessday night but having avoided a cup upset we now face Spartans in the 4th Round. Stagecoach Service Buses will leave the Bus Station for the Stadium at 1245 and 1415. Buses return from the Stadium to the Bus Station 10 minutes after the full time whistle and at 1800. Stagecoach bus, fares are £2.70 single (contactless payments or cash accepted), and Over 60 / Disabled and Under 22 Concession passes are valid, giving free travel on the service to passholders. BAR 94 Bar 94 will open at 1200, with last orders at 1430 (the bar must be fully vacated by 1445). The bar reopens at full time. Accies last League1 fixture was a no scoring draw at Ochilview. Accies last six results in League1. L D W L W D The two wins were against Peterhead and Kelty. Accies also went out of the Scottish cup losing 4-0 to Airdrie at the end of November. Still dangerous up front with Oli Shaw and Kevin O'Hara. Shaw is top scorer in the League with 12 ⚽ Connor Smith has 5 ⚽ It's disappointing to see an established side like Accies in the financial mire. We all know how that feels. However, there is life after a successful Administration process and I'm sure genuine football fans would like to wish Accies well in their current plight. There's a fine line between success and failure in the Scottish game with the big fishes swallowing up all the cash whilst the bread and butter teams struggle to survive. Tomorrow's bucket collection is for The Salvation Army, Inverness They will be accepting both cash and food donations such as anything in tins, breakfast cereal, rice, pasta, tea bags and coffee. Last Home game of the season Bar 94 will be open from 1200 as normal, and again after the match, when we will be joined by some of the playing squad. There will be a lot going on in the bar pre-match. We will have some items for sale, including bottles of ICT Gin. Brewed by the Great Glen Distillery, the bottles cost £39. We will also have Dog Falls Gift Packs for sale, as used for many Dog Falls Player of the Match Awards, along with “Inverness Football Remembered”, the excellent book produced by the ICT Community Development Trust. If you do not have a car with you, we will store alcoholic products for you until after the game. To make an afternoon of it, why not come down early? The matchday bus will leave the Bus Station at 1245 and 1415, returning from the Stadium 10 minutes after the full time whistle and at 1800. The fare is £2.70, and concession passes are valid, giving free travel for pass holders.

The Supporters Trust survey (for which Highlander has posted the link above) showed that 75% of respondents read some of the digital matchday programme with half claiming to read all or most of each issue. Despite this, Gardiner put an end to it, presumably because it wasn't his idea. I think that the level of interest shown and its potential benefits warrants its return. A digital version has a lot of advantages over the paper version. It is cheaper to produce, it doesn't (usually) cost the reader anything, it can be read before the game, it is quicker to produce, it can be more up to date, it can include links to associated articles etc and it doesn't need staff to handle it for selling / distribution. I understand the argument that so much of the information in traditional programmes is already available on line, but it is far better to have information relevant to the match all together in one place (with links to further detail) than to expect people to search online for the info. There is also a lot of stuff which is not readily available on-line. If a digital programme was started up again, it could include, along with the usual specific match related stuff you would expect, things such as interviews with players and other club staff; a "where are they now?" series with info about what favourite players have done since leaving us; latest club news (the club isn't great at putting stuff on the website); updates from the Supporters Trust; a "fan of the week"; links to short surveys on issues the club wanted to hear fans' views on; the range and prices of food and beverages available at the serveries and Bar 94. And. more. There is also the possibility of making a little bit of money out of it. It could, for example be distributed free to folk on the Season Ticket holders' mailing list but to others on a mailing list for a modest subscription rather than putting it on the website. It would also be possible to run a limited number of copies off on the club photocopier (paid for by a sponsor?) and sold for, say £2.50 or free if wanted for people buying 5 or more halftime draw 50:50 tickets. It could also be sent to our opponents for the game to put on their website so that visiting fans could get the programme free of charge. This could also include a standard additional page for visiting fans with a bit of information about pubs and restaurants for those planning to spend a bit of time in the city. Us older fans can get a bit sentimental about programmes from our past. I am sure most of us have a good few somewhere in the house which we never look at but wouldn't ever think of throwing out. But times change. Printed programmes are no longer the only source of the relevant information they once were. Therefore, the purpose of a digitally produced matchday programme is different from the traditional printed one. Rather than inform people who are already at the match, it informs people before the match and can therefore be a useful tool in encouraging people to attend the game and therefore can potentially increase revenue for the club. I am therefore strongly of the opinion that the club should look to re-introduce the digital programme as soon as possible. Sadly though, I have to accept that the traditional routine matchday programme is a thing of the past, although I do think they should still be considered for special occasions.