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On my YouTube account I'm starting a new series called "Away Days" based on ICT's away games this season with there being footage of the match from the away end, goals from the game and reviews on it. This may be a pointless idea but I thought it would be alright if I made videos to show my support to the club. I made the first episode yesterday based on the Celtic game. Hope it's okay and I'd love to hear feedback on it:)

An understandable position but let me put this to you....would you rather we brought 700 paying £20 per fan to get in or 2000 paying £15 net to get in? Not to mention the increase in stadium income and the extra spent at pubs/clubs/shops. I'm not saying that we still would not bring 2000 even if ICT didn't offer the cashback but this helps foster good, healthy competitive relationships between fans. We will probably not forget the teams that helped us out under very difficult circumstances.

DraganICT: Opinion is fine, and I for one am not looking to change yours, tell you that yours is wrong, or stop you having one, but wind yer neck in FFS !!!! When you start making your posts more about the posters than the topic, especially in such a derisory manner, then it steps over the line.

Who's Billy Mckay? It's Shane that's been banging them in hasn't he? :/

Oh, come on Dragan. Surely someone as knowledgeable as yourself, with such a superior intellect, doesn't have to resort to cheap attempts at put downs and school boy insults. Put some of that superior economic acumen into action and make a proper case as to why the offer to Hearts fans is, as you claim, bad business. You're being judged by the masses here. If you are going to step in and save the club and fans from themselves then this is an ideal opportunity for you to highlight why Kenny Cameron, and those who support his decision to implement the Hearts offer, have got it so wrong. Put me in my place and show me why my background in financial services and business analysis just isn't enough. I'm clearly missing some key issue whereby attracting more people through the turnstiles does not equate to more money in the clubs pocket....and at a ratio of more than 3:1 compared with what is being offered to Hearts fans, and doing so whilst protecting the normal average income from the fixture. P.S. I didn't try and "beat you down", you claimed I "clearly have not got any background in business or economics" and I merely corrected you. Out of interest, what do you believe makes you more qualified than the teachers, accountants, business owners and those capable of simple mathematics who you've put down in the last couple of days?

I despair that is all!

Great effort wee fella! Move over Davie and Don.

Aye, 23 v 19. Lennon said last year Hooper was worth £35m. But Billy scored 21% more goals, so obviously he is worth 21% more. That makes £42m.

£400k (give or take) for NIculae If I was ICT I'd take whatever we can get for Mckay right now. It's clear that on current form he's only going to manage to secure us a European spot and that'll just end up costing us money in the long run. Best to get rid before we get ourselves into that kind of trouble!!! Best to get rid! You are having a laugh. 4 games into the season and you proposing to "GET RID" of our treasured striker. You would take whatever we could get!!!!!! A phrase that includes the words "What planet?" springs to mind. Whoooshh!!!!!!!

£400k (give or take) for NIculae If I was ICT I'd take whatever we can get for Mckay right now. It's clear that on current form he's only going to manage to secure us a European spot and that'll just end up costing us money in the long run. Best to get rid before we get ourselves into that kind of trouble!!!

Hi guys, just a visiting Hearts fan looking in but I wanted to post a reply to this post. I think this is a brilliant gesture AND a good piece of business for ICT. It looks like we will be taking a good travelling support wherever they go this season but there is a good chance the away crowd will be boosted if the home team do something like this. There is nowt wrong with rival clubs taking advantage of us as we are more than willing to spend the money if even a wee bit come back to Hearts is some way. St. Johnstone and Partick Thistle also offered money back for each away ticket sold and were rewarded with a bigger than average away support in each case. As mentioned, Hearts and ICT have always had a good relationship and I think we will bring 2K+ up next weekend. Last but not least, the money refunded all goes to the 1874FF (fighting fund) NOT directly to HMFC. It is being used to help with things like stadium repairs and other critical issues. Here is a link to their website http://www.1874fightingfund.com/ Once again , thanks for a great gesture from a very well run club.

If we freed up Billy's wages and sold him for £50k we could maybe afford to get Barrowman back. Might surprise our opponents, nobody would expect it.

I'll be heading back down after the game but will be coming up the day before.

No simplification required. Ross has had only one major injury, Warren only missed a couple of games at the end of the season. Warren also does not "pick up suspensions" and in fact wasn't suspended for the vast majority of last season. Neither are "good at it" Foran, by the nature of his game is liable to pick up the odd suspension but it's not excessive over the piece. I'll dig out the stats if you need them. Simple enough for you?

Totally agree with CaleyD here! Would be so unfair of the club to put a big price on his head when he's done so much for us. Europe would be a step too far for us anyway being a small spfl club. If he goes we can easily use the money for other things as already stated.

Hi my names Graeme I run a pub/restaurant in Stewarton Ayrshire. We would like to offer you a place to come and enjoy some refreshments before your game against Kilmarnock on the 14th Sept. For any travelling supporters buses we have a lovely venue with a car park to look after you before the game, providing hot pies and chips and a great selection of beers, spirits & soft drinks. We have a Facebook page that your more than welcome to check out its called Stonehouse Stewarton, for anyone who runs a bus or know anyone who does then please contact me if this is of any interest to you. The best number to contact me on is at the restaurant 01560 428168 and ask for Graeme. Cheers

Your post lacks cohesion and clarity. What are you trying to say? No matter how much you bleat my opinion will not change. We have great board who apply a great deal of dilligence to the governance of our team. Our role should not be to help finance Heart's successes of the past few years. It is none of our business. Have you conducted due dilligence on this organisation that you are proposing to finance. Do you even know who they are? You clearly have not got any background in business or economics. 1. The offer protects ICT's financial position as income from the average visiting club is ring-fenced. i.e. no split of income will be offered from the first 650 tickets. 2. The club will benefit to the tune of £15 for every additional (full paying) Hearts fan that attends as a result of the offer. 3. Your claims that this somehow supports a corrupt regime are unfounded. 4. Yes, as a matter of fact I did do some due diligence on the 1874 Fighting Fund...maybe you should too before digging yourself a deeper hole. 5. Qualified as a Financial Consultant aged 18, held position as Senior Compliance Auditor, Senior Risk Management Officer, Head Analyst (Change Management), Project Manager (Change Management)...all for a major banking group. Does that count as having a sufficient background in business or economics to allow me to comment on this subject? All for a major banking group? Check you out! All for a major banking group? That instills trust in us all oh wise one. All for a major banking group? I would be keeping that to myself sonny after the recent performance of MAJOR BANKING GROUPS. You could be unemployable with a CV like that my boy. Especially if you are now backing UKIOS Bank Group. Sorry in answer to question number 5 you are probably the last person I would ask on this subject. ALL FOR A MAJOR BANKING GROUP. Who the feck do you think you are? HE SHREDS WHEN HE WANTS HE SHREDS WHEN HE WANTS FRED THE SHRED WORKS FOR THE BANK HE WORKS FOR THE BANK HE WORKS FOR THE BANK TRUST MEEEEEEE I WORK FOR THE BANK GET A GRIP!!!!!!!! Dragan, As Chairman of caley Jags Together, I was genuinely interested in your ideas about membership etc, and would have raised them at my next meeting with Kenny Cameron. In light of that last post - won't be happening. I realise that you appear to be new around this forum and appear to be wanting to point score, but that is out of order. If someone presents you with a counter argument, could you do them the good grace of arguing back instead of spewing vitriol at someone you don't know. That's how we work. If you want to discuss your ideas, PM me please - but don't expect me to get into a haranguing match on this forum. Cheers, Davie Balfour.

Absolutely brilliant my man. Please keep it up. Maybe a future career

If we want ICT to progress then we have to let the past slide away into obscurity and concentrate on the future. In case any of you younger element haven't noticed, life is short. The ICT Management is making both a generous, and a calculated business, gesture which is fine by me. Remember .."There but for the grace of God go I." Hearts are an integral part of Scottish Football and, frankly, the demise and/or near death of so many former prominent teams is something we should be scared of ...and a sad reflection of the current state of football in Scotland . If it keeps on like this how many decent team will there be left against whom we can strut our brilliant stuff ? This is a positive gesture by ICT which should be applauded and supported. It's smart, shrewd and generous and will make friends not enemies who will remember us when we have won the league. Be nice to people on the way up because you may need them on the way down. If you love football then we should welcome the hearts fans with open arms and wish them well under any future "new" management.

It was good, I'd watch the next one. As IHE said, the pre-match could be scripted more. personally, I'd like to see a regular away club pie feature or rating thingy, a steward rating, etc. I'd already watched the SPL YouTube highlights but I enjoyed listening to the announcer so that was a good idea. Was quite slick and I'm looking forward to see the next one.

Great starting effort wee man. You will get more confident and polished the more you get in to the swing of it. Cue cards or a wee script may help. But Don and Davy had better watch out !!

I can confirm a presence from Chorley.

Thinking about it

Close the thread

4 games with no problems so far. So for the 5th game in a row if it ain't broken don't fix it.

The joys of being a simple forum member....I finally get the option to put the constantly negative doom and gloom merchants on ignore. Had to give myself a bit of a shake at the end of the game for daring to feel in any way disappointed at going to Celtic Park and only coming away with a point. Was their things we could have done better?...yes, but that can be said of any game regardless of the result. The only "error" that comes to mind is not clearing the danger that resulted in their first goal. However, I qualify that by adding that we have been playing the ball out of defence and causing teams real trouble on the counter all season and I'd rather we stuck to that as the default than hoofing everything. If we get caught now and again, then so be it...so long as it benefits us more than it costs us over the season. Rather amusing that the (what should have bee) penalty incident seems to have been quickly glossed over by a lot of the pundits and reporters. Some of the excuses I've heard for it not being given are even more hilarious....paraphrasing here, but you'll get the gist.... "He couldn't give the penalty, because if he did it would also have been a red card" "Doran was obviously looking to be fouled, so he can't expect a penalty when it happens" "It's a contact sport, you have to accept a bit of rough and tumble and the ref can't give penalties for every foul in the box" "It would have been unfair on Celtic as they still had a chance to get back into the game at that point" "If he'd taken his shot earlier then van Dijk wouldn't have had a chance to foul him" "It was a soft foul" The idea that a foul in the box, regardless of who/when/why, should be a penalty seems like an alien concept to some people. With regards pundits and reporters...I think they're suffering from not knowing what to talk about when they can't spend hours and column inches praising Celtic. Unfortunately it doesn't show it on any of the highlights, but the linesman had his flag half way up for the penalty and then changed his mind. Overall I thought it was a great performance from us. I've been raving all through pre-season and the start of the league campaign about how versatile our starting 11 are and they showed that on Saturday. To be able to adapt so well without the need for changes in personnel will only breed confidence and consistency as the season progresses. Good to see Watkins get some game time at the end...for those who've not seen him yet, you're in for a treat when he gets a proper run out. He has this ingrained belief that he can go past anyone and everyone....and from what I witnessed in pre-season, the ability to back that up.

When I first herds this I thought it was crazy but I very quickly changed my mind and believe it is a good bit of business from ICT. At least this is voluntary. How much are we FORCED to give Celtic when they played at ICT? This was also the same for Rangers when they existed. Did the Hearts fans show blind faith for Vlad? Certainly. They were going out of business anyway so anyone with cash was a messiah. Did Hearts cheat by brining in 2 players before the semi? Don't be daft. Should they have had considering they were skint? Certainly not. Was the Wilson ban issue their fault? Who knows, they appear to to have gone on them advice of then SFL. Did they cheat us to win? No, we fecked up against 10 men. Dragon, you opinion is your opinion and it is great to have a strong mindset. I just look at our club and if the gesture makes us a penny extra I am happy.

Quite simple really. Scotland can prosper on her own. The BetterTogether campaign know that and are fearful of it. They have no arguement to the contrary but hope to smear the Yes people into backing off. Scotland will be better off. England will be worse off. Thats the bottom line and thats why people are using very undemocratic means to try and prevent our rightful independence.

Not including Feb 8th 2000....the fans on Saturday were the loudest I have heard at Celtic Park. Couldn't really see you from where I was sitting, but no trouble at all in hearing you.

Your post lacks cohesion and clarity. What are you trying to say? No matter how much you bleat my opinion will not change. We have great board who apply a great deal of dilligence to the governance of our team. Our role should not be to help finance Heart's successes of the past few years. It is none of our business. Have you conducted due dilligence on this organisation that you are proposing to finance. Do you even know who they are? You clearly have not got any background in business or economics. Oh and BTW at no time, despite your inaccurate point, have I made an "economic evaluation" of any offer. My evaluation is of a binary nature and it is that I would give then nothing! Nothing at all! No economic evaluation required Oh Wise One You should have just said "I'd rather see ICT cut off their nose to spite their face" then everyone would have understood your stance on the matter.

Dragan, you have posted elsewhere that fans should be doing more to take control of their clubs and having a say in how they are run....this seems to be in stark contrast to your comments and views on this thread. ICT have protected their own financial position by ring-fencing the income from the average visiting Hearts support and are making a donation to a fans group who are helping to keep their club operating while another fans driven organisation attempts to find a way for their club to continue. Nothing at all in any of that is damaging ICT....quite the opposite. There's also no hint of supporting those responsible for Hearts getting into the position they have, nor is it supporting a return to a regime who are likely to run the club in similar fashion in the future (should they survive)....in fact, it's not supporting any of the groups looking to make a bid to take over the club. Not only is your economic evaluation of the offer clearly wrong, your moral evaluation also seems to suffering somewhat as well.

You'll be paying for that round indirectly via the benefits system so don't get too misty eyed about it.

The people on here slagging Hearts are obviously not aware that under 15 years ago we were close to going out of business and without help from outside forces we would not have a team to support. And before the question is asked, yes, it was because our club was being badly run at the time and spending money we didn't have. Scottish football has a long and precious history that Hearts are very much a part of and, just like us at our time of trouble, the fans had little say in how a club was run. Support Hearts and Dunfermline at this time as it could be us next.

He's worth more than Daniel Stratford, but less the Gareth bale. Imho.

Lets face tithe SPL needs Hearts - it is just a shame that the feckers will have such a long journey and leave on the same points as they started off with. Big crowd and an attack minded ICT - bring it on.

Barring their games against us, I hope Hearts have a decent season, and avoid the drop. It is not the decent supporters' fault that mad Vlad has taken them to the brink.

I imagine relegation for HMFC would be disastrous for the club. ICTFC providing this excellent gesture is a win-win for both clubs.

Hard to tell. Rangers don't exist anymore.

Personally I wouldn't blame the Hearts faithful for the state of their club any more than I'd expect our fans to be blamed if the shoe was on the other foot. The 1874 are trying their best to save the club and bring it into an element of fan ownership. They are also trying to ensure that matches can still be played at Tynecastle. Our club, St Johnstone and St Mirren, I believe, have all put it to those fans that if they can muster a good travelling support their fighting fund will benefit. In the early years of our existance in SPL Hearts took a big following to Inverness. That has, in recent years, dwindled to an average 6 - 7 hundred. This gesture, if the Hearts forums are true, will see the away end full and our own bank balance increased by a considerable amount. This gesture will boost the 1874 fighting fund. It will also improve the relationship we have with Hearts FC and the relationship between fans. For me its a win win situation. It would be very easy to say that clubs should be allowed to go to the wall, and I respect the viewpoint of those who deem that to be the correct thing, but without clubs there wont be leagues. I believe it is our duty and right, as fans, to voice opinions and concerns and to make it known to those running clubs that buying success is not the way forward. When clubs are run wrongly and get into difficulty its the fans who suffer. Its the fans who lose out. We, as Inverness Caledonian Thistle Fans, can do a lot to promote how our club is being run and how we are achieving success without breaking the bank. If we can do it, if St Johnstone can do it, if St Mirren can do it then so can others.

Thanks Heartsofgold. Can I just ask that as many people as possible purchase their tickets in advance to avoid huge queues on the turnstiles next weekend. Also worth noting that the roundabout at the stadium has had traffic lights fitted, meaning long delays, so either get there early or take a route through the City Centre and round the shore road which shouldn't be as busy. We have a sports bar at the stadium and of course our social club in Greig Street welcomes away buses as long as you book for either to ensure enough staff to accommodate the numbers. I hope you enjoy your trip to Inverness, but I do hope that the 3 points stay in Inverness :-)

Regards Bale, what I can not get my head around is how they even think they can recoup £ 85,000,000. His wages will be astronomic on top of that. They fill the ground every week, so wheres the new fans to add to income. How many extra shirts will they have to sell, compared to say Angel De Maria ( an extra million shirts worldwide might pull in £ 10-12m profit ), additional sponsership - again how much more will they pull in compared to Higuain ( gone to Napoli ). TV deals already agreed and structured world wide re La Liga, Champions League etc and only so many additional lucrative friendlies they will get in addition to their usual offers from round the world. And if Gareth Bale is worth £ 85m, what is Messi worth, Luis Suarez, Robin van Persie, Christian benteke. The world is going mad

Celtic are currently trawling Europe offering about £4m for any dodgy foreigner who might replace Hooper. Billy scored more SPL goals than Hooper, is proven at SPL and won't have language difficultiesor trouble settling in Scotland. £5m!

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