Leaderboard

If it ever existed, looking at what's being said, then it's no longer there to dip into... If this is what happened, then I agree; reduce the budget and return to a more 'comfortable' financial position. The league in which we play isn't important ATEOTD, the existence of the club is what is important.

On the contrary, what breeds discontent is poor, unentertaining and generally unsuccessful football compounded by very mediocre players being brought in at the same time as proven and committed players are being shown the door...

Equally, maybe the board are getting a bit tired of his negative comments in the press about the club. Can't say I'd be too chuffed if one of my employees was running the company down. Just a thought.

I've never heard of anything so ridiculous. Put off attending a football game by what someone says on a football forum? Get a grip.

Why oh why are we STILL blabbering on about JH going and who his replacement might be? We bluddy won the match? Between this nonsense on here and listening to people in the stand criticise everything the players and management do during a match its no wonder we have crap attendances! It's other 'fans' that put me off attending not the quality of the football on display.

There certainly isn't any rainy day fund. Accounts to 15 May 2015 showed a profit of £254k Year before was £28k and each season before that we ran at break even or loss. Last year our income was roughly £4.65 million Our costs including wages £4.4 million. That didnt include Christie sale or Cup moneys. It'll be interesting to see how the books balance this year. As to Hughes strategy. I'm as baffled as anyone but inclined to think 1. Waiting to see exactly what position we finish before committing. 2. Offload a couple of high earners in the hope its easier to get loan defenders than strikers and have a bigger offer for striker. Being cynical here but I wonder if a certain Mr Stokes could be on the radar when his loan at Hibs is over. Dont know if he's got much left on Celtic contract

A budget that ensures that the club lives within it's means and doesn't flirt with administration can't be described as unrealistic. Quite the contrary and JH's budget for next season would have been greater had he not failed to guide the team to victory over horribly out of form lower league opposition in the cup quarter final. There was a fairly easy path to the final in the form of two very poor teams. Failure to negation that path would have cost the club in excess of half a million pounds.

People seem to forget that WE pay to attend the football which is meant to be entertainment. Each one of us pays towards the running of the club and therefore the players. If I go to the cinema, theatre or any other entertainment stream then it seems to be acceptable to comment on the quality, performance and maybe even the director or cast, same if I go for dinner I can criticise the food, service or even the management for staffing or service issues yet it seems to some that on here its not acceptable to comment on what we pay to see on the pitch or around the club. This is a fan forum therefore the correct platform to discuss and comment on issues, every opinion is valid whether agreed with or not by everyone - right now there are concerns about the lack of information, transparency and messages coming out of the club so we have a right to comment on these. If people think this can affect the club in a negative way, then I'd suggest that the club are the only ones to resolve this - surely its better to have a public platform with concerns which can be reviewed and addressed than people keep their discord private and just end up drifting away without the club having an understanding of reasons?

Thankful of John Hughes time with us last season but I am of the opinion that the club needs fresh ideas, so wouldn't be all that sad if Yogi walked at the end of the season.

Our football over the last two seasons has been generally entertaining .......some comments on here haven't been All managers bring in players that don't satisfy the fans from time to time.....some have Sometimes it is prudent to show players the door regardless of what fans think, not that I am in favour of that but it is all down to circumstances some of which we never get to know about.

I would love to be proved wrong but I fear that what the heck is happening to our club is that Yogi is doing what Yogi has a track record of doing....

The one thing that struck me about that interview was how he looked. Look at the difference in the pictures from last season where he looks bright and healthy. In that press conference he looks like he's aged about 10 years! Public abuse of other club employees, strange subliminal digs at the board in the press, bemoaning the clubs size/level of influence on transfer targets, rumours of a cold stance behind the scenes and poor man management, openly talking of letting go Raven in order to get a more forward-minded player in without explaining what the plan is for the defence and not forgetting of course, the weird Russell Latapy departure which was never really explained. There's something not right here. There's also the fact that Foran seems to be getting no game time at all now, not even as a late sub, while Jordan Roberts has gone from being the main man only few weeks ago, to disappearing from the matchday squad completely, says a heck of a lot in my opinion. What the heck is going on at the club right now?!

A verdict of unlawful killing and also a finding that the conduct of the fans did not contribute to the disaster. A disgraceful conspiracy from the cabinet office down to deflect responsibility from the police onto the innocent victims as last debunked and justice served almost three decades on. Time now for those truly responsible to face the criminal consequences and for the Sun 'newspaper' to print a proper apology for running a story they knew to be inaccurate at the time.

Incredibly young Accies team...only 2 players over 18! Their 16-man (16-boy?) squad today: 1 x 34 (Martin Canning)! 1 x 19 4 x 18 2 x 17 5 x 16 2 x 15 1 x 14 A much better campaign from Inverness though - although, obviously it couldn't have been any worse! Last season was the first Development League and we finished 17th - this season we'll be either 14th or 15th. Still not fantastic, but, the figures are better in all departments. P W D L F A Points 2014-15 32 5 8 19 33 84 23 2015-16 32 9 9 14 39 52 36

FT : 3-3. Sutherland (2) & Roberts. Brill saved a penalty.

3 assists for Horner.

At TCS against Hamilton, 6pm. Team : Brill, Horner, Howarth, Brown, Gilchrist, Maclennan, Roberts, Wedderburn, Macrae, Hughes, Sutherland. EDIT : 1-0 ! Sutherland. Brill saves a penalty ! 3-1 ! Sutherland again and Roberts.

The budget IS unrealistic for SPL football - a fact you are unwilling to accept. As far as costing the club in excess of £500k I would ask you what the club has done with the near £1m he made in the past? You seem to knock his every move but considering his selection problems during the past season and his budget restraints I believe our support should be happy with 7th or 8th place. All things considered I would be happy with SPL survival every season.

Totally agree.

Lets just wait and see what the outcome of all this is. I still say Foran is NOT the answer if JH does go.

Given that Brill, Doran, Foran were all injured very early on and we had to bring in a keeper in Williams and cover in many areas across the park - R.Williams, Fisher, Hughes even the signing of Vigurs - are these players that if we never had the problems would have been here this season? I'm pretty sure the club increased the budget and dug into the 'rainy day; fund to ease our injury woes, therefore a reduction of budget for next season may not be anything more than going back to 'normal' levels.

Who the hell would want the job ? Were the position to become vacant there would be 50 CVs in the Chairman's inbox within 48 hours at least a dozen of which will be from high quality credible applicants...

Not to me it doesn't as things are not quite so simple. Nothing said about the loss of quality players who we were going to struggle to replace no matter who was the manager. Some posters have never wanted JH and have not been prepared to give him ant sort of leeway. To be sure, this season could have gone better but, in reality, will have been no worse, in terms of league position than many others. Clubs like ICT will always struggle to achieve consistency and the good seasons will be outweighed by ones that are less good as other clubs will snap up our good players. Just look at Dundee Utd as an example of how quickly things can change. The only way the club will really progress is twofold, by rearing more of it's own players and more fans attending on a regular basis. If that doesn't happen, enjoy the good seasons and continue to support the team during the bad seasons.

Apologies for not putting this up before, but I have been extremely busy and also had to take some time to decide whether I should just wash my hands of anything to do with the society or fight to bring it back into order and help move it forward. For various reasons, some of which are included in my Statement for Nomination to the Board and having spoken at length with others, I felt I had to have one last go....so it's all cards on the table. First off I would like to highlight a number of errors and exclusions from the minutes of the AGM held on 25th February 2016. Obviously, only those at the meeting can verify the accuracy of what follows and it should be read on that basis. I place the information here in order to fill in some of the gaps and paint a broader picture for those who have asked me directly and because I believe society members not present at the meeting and those in the community it serves deserve a more realistic view of events ahead of this week's meeting. I did not suggest or state that the minutes of the previous years AGM could not be approved. I questioned their accuracy on the basis that they contained no resolution to set aside the need for audited accounts when we had been presented with unaudited accounts. On this matter it transpired that such a resolution had not been put to the meeting...so the minutes were accurate and could have been signed off. No minute that Mairi McLean stated that she did not believe it a requirement to set aside the need for an audit and I highlighted the rule (85.7) which indicated it did. There’s nothing in the minutes which record David Balfour’s acknowledgement that some of these issues had continued during his time as Chairman or that he had stated that had he been aware then he would have dealt with them. Bev Clark’s question on those with good knowledge of the issues was directed at me. There’s no note in the minutes of my response that I was not willing to assist while members who I felt were responsible for the mess remained on the board. There is no note of LG’s refusal to let me read my letter of resignation from 2013 (in response to KM) which detailed why I had resigned and demonstrated that I had faced resistance from long standing board members on preventing and dealing with these issues in the past. No minute that I highlighted the fact that there was no resolution being put forward at this years AGM to set aside the need for Audited Accounts for the forthcoming financial year. No minute that I highlighted that, as per Society Rules, 1/3 of the existing board had not resigned at the AGM. Minutes state that I objected to the nominations put forward. This is misleading as I had no objection to the individuals, my objections were raised on the basis that procedures laid out by the society had not been followed. There’s no minute of the fact that Kath Fraser stated she was resigning with effect from the end of the meeting. There’s no minute of the fact that the chair of the meeting (LG) stated on several occasions that she did not know enough about the rules to answer questions or ensure that the meeting was being conducted in the proper manner. No minute that David Balfour left the meeting before it ended. No minute that I stated that the meeting should have been adjourned when David Balfour left the room as it was no longer quorate (as per Society Rule 41). Or that LG stated I was wrong in this and continued the meeting. It was not agreed that it would be acceptable to co-opt the three nominees to the board. It was stated that this would be a course of action that would be looked at. It would not be possible for the meeting to agree this as it would be contrary to the rules of the society; both in regards to the requirements for co-opting and the fact that the meeting should have been adjourned before this matter was raised. Sadly, the above will do nothing to lessen people's concerns about how the society is operating, I wish it were different. It should also be noted that the above meeting was held under the auspices of the rule set which should have been registered with the FSA/FCA following the 2012 AGM and not the rules that it now transpires are in force (more on that below). As indicated above, I have put forward a Nomination to the Board of the ICT Supporters Society and I include below a copy of my accompanying statement. As the society have not set up an election management group who would normally publish these statements, I have taken the liberty of publishing my own here. To: ICT SUPPORTERS SOCIETY LTD From: Donald W. Johnstone Date: 18th April 2016 It is my belief that the Inverness Caledonian Thistle Supporters Society Ltd is currently failing it’s members, the club and the community in which it operates. Internal governance would appear to be non existent and attempts by a few over the years to rectify the matter have been undermined by longer serving board members who appear to be of the opinion that despite a clearly defined set of rules, they should continue to do things in the wrong way because that is how it has always been done. During my previous spell on the Board it came to light that the Society had not submitted any returns to the Financial Services Authority following it’s date of incorporation….and as such they had been served with a winding up order. Only swift intervention prevented the Society being shut down, an act that would have seen the fans 10% voting right lost forever. Sadly the above did not serve as a warning to some and attitudes remained as they were. I resigned my previous position on the Board with effect from 1st September 2013. I quote the following from my resignation letter; “Whilst I accept and support the democratic nature of the organisation, I find it suffice to summarise that for many months I have found myself becoming more and more frustrated with what I would consider slow progress and the inability & refusal of the board to be united and decisive in its actions.” “Further to the above, my on-going concerns in regards to the organisations position with the FSA (recently replaced by the Financial Conduct Authority), for which we have no written confirmation of status, appear to be falling largely on deaf ears.” “I appreciate that these are inherited issues, but that does not make them any less important. It was an “if they don’t ask us, then we’re not asking them” approach that got us into trouble in the first place and my attempts to impress upon the board the urgency in dealing with it have done little to hasten its conclusion.” It was my hope that by resigning and placing the above on record that it would prompt the board into action. Sadly, that appears to be far from the case as, at the time of writing this, the Society finds itself in a position whereby returns are outstanding for the last 3 financial years and it has only just been revealed (because someone finally went and asked) that the new rules agreed by the AGM in 2012 have never been registered with the FSA/FCA. Make no mistake, the above goes beyond the reach of errors made in good faith and into the realms of negligence and gross misconduct. Not only could the Society find itself facing hefty fines, but individuals responsible could face prosecution if it were to come about that the Society or anyone they deal with has suffered loss or damage as a result of their actions. Above all else, I believe in the ideal that fans should have some input into the operation of their respective clubs. I also believe that Supporters Trusts are an efficient means of delivering that. At present, Caley Jags Together is not in a position whereby it can, with any authority, hold Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC to account for anything (should it be needed) as they do not have their own house in order. Not only does the current situation serve as a mockery to the Society, it serves as a mockery to the fans and community it is supposed to represent. In order to allow the Society to move forward, I am of the opinion that the positions held by the longer standing Board members are untenable, they should resign and a new board be elected. I perhaps made a mistake by resigning and not blowing the whistle louder back in 2013 and I have put myself forward for nomination to the Board of the Inverness Caledonian Thistle Supporters Society Ltd because I want to assist with getting the organisation back on track and serving the community it was set up to help represent. I have experience in financial services, project management, communication, web services & social media, marketing and a great deal of passion for Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC. All qualities which I feel could be put to great use in helping rectify past issues and moving the Society forward. My refusal to assist previously, and the reasons for it, should be recorded in the minutes of the meeting held on 25th February 2016. My concerns remain, however my nomination is submitted in the knowledge that there are sufficient others nominees who I believe are both willing and able to assist the Society in achieving its aims. Thank You, Donald W. Johnstone All I can add now is that I hope as many members as possible make it along to the meeting on Thursday as there's a lot at stake. It's in your hands where CJT goes from here and the decision on whether I'm a rambling madman that should be ignored and sent on his way or if I'm right and change needs to be enforced should not be taken by just 20 or so members. Ultimately, if CJT were to go out of existence for whatever reason, then the 10% voting right in the club....which is the most important legacy left to us....could be lost forever.

Seven pages, over a hundred and fifty posts, thousands of words but if you don't have the time or inclination to trawl through them all just read this brilliant one paragraph post. Absolutely nails it and sums things up perfectly. Well said sir...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATpr2zTdO30 he not to happy this weekend

I'm glad to see this has sparked some discussion. To reiterate: in the ideal world, I would love to see all three of Raven, Doran and Tansey with us next year - no question. It seems, however, that Yogi has chosen to prioritise extending Tansey's contract and to get Doran tied down at the expense of Raven. Fair play - that is his choice and he is best-placed to make a decision on Doran's fitness since his injury. I'm not suggesting that Doran's injury is career-threatening, but it was really serious and players often fail to ever fully recover to their previous best in such circumstances. I hope Aaron gets a game or two before the end of the season to prove me wrong, but it seems a big risk on allegedly our top earner. I don['t think anybody is suggesting that DR is a world-beater, but IMO he is a good right back and retaining him would enable the Meekings/Warren partnership to be rekindled - so a double-whammy. As for Tansey, he's been an excellent player for us too and I see why Yogi is keen to keep him. However, we constantly bemoan the fact that players leave ICT for free or at cut-price, generally because we fail to cash in on them before they sign pre-contracts (e.g. Shinnie, Vincent, Williams), leave on a free (e.g. Watkins) or are sold cheap because they're so close to the end of their contracts (e.g. Mckay). So, here's the rub: get a decent fee for Tansey now or let him go on a free in one or two years' time? I don't know the answer, I'm only posing the question. At the bottom of all this, we have to realise that on gate and league "winnings" alone, ICT probably make a loss of ~£200k per season (I think others much closer to the finances than I have suggested as much and it is backed up by the fact that we only made very small profits over the past 2 years, despite higher than expected league finishes, good cup runs and the sale of Billy). That means that, following a lean year, we need to find £200k in "windfalls" - we're not going to win the cup every year, sadly, so we either have to reduce the wage bill or sell a player who is in demand. Put bluntly, nearly half of the earnings from Christie's sale has probably gone to fund the shortfall from this season. Yogi has apparently opted for keeping the family silver and reducing the wage bill, which he is entitled to do. I simply put forward another option, which is to sell the family silver while it is still worth something and retain the core of the squad, with some cash left over to fund bringing in reasonable quality replacements. Either way, it is something of a gamble - you only have to look at United to see the risk of continually selling your best assets. Equally, I don't want to see ICT with accounts like Killie's (£750 k loss this year) or to have such a big rebuilding job every season as to jeopardise survival. Choices, choices...

Doubt the board have much to do with the signings they only agree to the finance and since we only have 7 signed players would doubt the money is the issue. Think this is yogi' s issues p*****g off players with his comments in the press who then do not have a desire to play for him ( Raven excepted) .

not sure what badges Richie has (if any) but it is a requirement that a manager has their UEFA Pro license before managing in the top flight. If he doesnt have that he cant manage for any more than 12 weeks as a caretaker. Who would want to be a football manager anyway !!! Last year he was manager of the year and half the town would have donated a kidney if he needed one ... this year he apparently cant do anything right and the same half of the town wouldn't p*** on him if he was on fire !! For me - I am in the middle. Disappointed at how our season has gone, but mindful that apart from the tactical errors that every manager makes, our season has had its own issues with injuries, the loss of key players to injury and transfers and the budget constraints that we always have to operate in. Hes doing the best he can with whats available to him and the high bar he set last year is coming back to bite him on the arse (as expected).

Well said, this nonsense is picked up and discussed and passed on and can breed discontent amongst supporters.

Well if this rainy day fund exists they should dip into it again and sign Raven up

If the budget is cut yet again we can look forward to championship football the season after next.

How the above could be classed as a quality post is beyond me. While I don't know the severity of Doran's injury, it does not look like it is career threatening and we are a much better team when he plays. If he is fit to play, we should sign him up. Why should we want to punt him and replace him with someone else who may not do the business. Again, why sell tansy unless he doesn't want to be here. He is one of our best and most consistent performers and can open up defences with his passing. Agree that Raven has justified a new contract but from some posts on here you would think he is a world beater. He is a good right back but no more than that. I don't like the way he has been treated but is this all down to Hughes. 6 contracts are with the board as indicated in the press and if so, could it not be the board are holding things up?. Were they waiting to see if we would be safe from relegation first before making decisions. Yogi is not perfect but the board are culpable on this matter as well.

I'm tired of negative comments too.

Since having Dennis and Steve up front for a good number of years which was a 442 we have had to scramble around with players who had no options or found themselves in difficult circumstances or were over the hill or injury prone eg Brewster (great player on his last legs but could still do it for 30mins) Dargo (injury prone usually missed at least half a season) Storey (so far out of the picture he didn't have a squad number at a club with money problems) these are the only type of opportunities we are likely to be offered, players with nowhere to go who are trying to resurrect their careers, and many have. We do not have the money to enter the market and should we uncover a guy from the lower leagues who scored 20 goals in a season you can be sure he would be gone for nothing at the end of the season.Short of a sugar daddy financing the club ( Ross County/Dundee Utd/Dundee) this will always be the nature of things. I am concerned for next season and posted previously that I would have broken the bank to keep Marley Watkins whom I believe would have got better and had pace which is a plus in a striker, of course, I don't know what kind of deal he moved for but the fact is, those who put the ball in the net are worth several times what those keeping the ball out at the other end are worth, given the number of midfielders we pay I am surprised we couldn't afford to pay him a good wage, perhaps he didn't want to stay, whilst we may like Inverness it is hardly the bright lights and before anyone says so neither is Bradford. From my perspective, the way forward for ICT is to build a rock solid defence, a robust and competitive midfield and a hit or miss striker from wherever. We haven't seen a creative midfielder like young Christie since his father and Sheerin played for ICT, think about that. As I've said previously I think there are a number of clubs who may end up going part time within the next five years and we are one of them if we are relegated. Kilmarnock who have 1,000 average support more than us have posted a £750,000 loss, that is unsustainable. Many other full time clubs are in a similar position. I don't see the predicament that Scottish Football finds itself in improving, we are amongst the poor relations of Europe and until the SFA puts in place a scheme akin to the Icelandic model we will continue to decline. Sorry for the depressing post.

Who the hell would want the job with a budget like ours? It's the people above him that need changing.

spot on caleyboy

Believe what you want but reality is completely different.