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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?

Killie's average crowd this season is 3857 against ours of 3751, so roughly 100 more per game - and yet they still managed to post a big deficit - even less sustainable than wynthank15 suggests. Assuming that the income between the two clubs is of the same order, Killie's expenditure must be substantially higher than ours. The bottom line is that Killie and several other clubs have been spending beyond their means in an effort to attract and retain players that they can't actually afford. Tempting as this is, it will only end in one place at the end of the day and I have no sympathy for them: after all, we are competing with these clubs for the services of players, but in an effort to balance the books, we are unable to match the wages offered elsewhere. Personally, I think the tough line from the board with respect to budget is exactly the right one. Yes, we may struggle to attract and retain players in a climate whereby most clubs are either richer on account of bigger crowds or sugar daddies (and that can go wrong too - ask Hearts or Gretna!), or are willing to overspend (Killie, The Rangers again), but financial oblivion is a much worse option and I'd prefer our club to still be here in 10 years time than not!

I tried that but discovered that the voice I was getting fed up with was mine. I don't hear much moaning in Main Stand section G

I was there Impressed with Sutherland, Horner and MacRae. I think the latter has the potential to be good player for us. His fast, direct, tricky style reminds me of Ryan Christie. This Gilchrist at centre-back also looks composed in terms of playing the ball out from defence. Jordan Roberts strolled through the game and looked, in terms of ability, miles better than everyone else. Why he's not in the matchday squad is incredible! I won't be surprised to see Liam Hughes released at the end of the season. He was just anonymous throughout and the only incident of note was a tackle where he was lucky to stay on the park. No sign of Yogi there by the way, which I felt was strange. Brian Rice was there though.

I'm of the opinion that the inclusion of first team players does more to hinder positive results than help as you can't gain any consistency with an ever changing squad.....as can be seen by what's happened with our first team this season. Hamilton have a very young squad, but they are a squad that's been playing together all season with very few first team players being supplanted into the team. The benefits of that can be seen when you watch them play, both in individual performances and as a team. It is a bit of a catch 22...especially when you have a season like ours with lots of injuries and need to get players games to regain fitness etc. Also, the fact that we had a squad of 25 this season when we normally run with a squad of 18 means there's more demand for general game time to maintain some match sharpness. So....all things considered, yeah....a 3-3 against Hamilton with 5 first team players in there (or not) is a decent result. The fact that, despite the additional upheaval, we've improved across the board means there are still plenty positives to be taken from the season as well.

I travelled down to Edinburgh by bus yesterday and back today. I took the opportunity to read the latest report in some detail. I think perhaps you should too, Lawrence. There has now been a massive amount of evidence collected and there is absolutely no evidence of any coordinated tactic of the sort you imply. Released CCTV footage from outside the ground shows no such coordinated attack on the gate. Of course there were some fans with no tickets and of course there were people who had too much to drink but there always are on these big match occasions. There is no evidence that the level of this was any different from usual and in any case the police have a responsibility to deal with such people and prevent them causing danger to others. The difference at Hillsborough was that there were not enough turnstiles open and there were insufficient police to cordon the fans into proper queues. The police also failed to delay the kick off time when they became aware of significant congestion outside the ground. It was a combination of these factors that led to the fateful decision to open the exit gates and nothing to do with a tactic of ticketless hordes. Laurence, I appreciate that you do not specifically allege that ticketless fans were responsible for this tragedy, but the implication in your post is quite clear. You should be ashamed of yourself

There's also a chance to win the players shirt. ictfcsinceApril

I have said before keep an eye on Andrew Macrae and quite correctly Rene there is a bit of Ryan about him I have often though that

http://www.hamiltonacciesfc.co.uk/u20s-draw-at-inverness/ Good match report.

Marley went to Barnsley

Agreed.................100%

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.

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...

I'm tired of negative comments too.

....and yet we have the Labour manifesto published only today a full week after some postal votes have been cast but as it doesn't come within the #SNP Bad script I daresay that will escape adverse comment.

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.

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...

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?!

He also had a real go at Polworth not so long ago. Whatever, the reason for him being annoyed, it is not good man management to give someone such public abuse. It's also not good man management for the club to allow it to be repeated. But there are other things that suggests all is not well behind the scenes. CaleyD posted a clip of the pre-match interview with Hughes on the Raven thread and someone commented that more than once he referred to the match as being on Saturday. In fact, I think he did so 3 times! Now, one can perhaps understand the odd slip of the tongue or even that he just had it in his mind it was Saturday for some reason, but what struck me was that nobody corrected him! Why? It's the sort of error that you would expect someone to correct and that the person making the error would make a bit of a joke about - "better it being on a Saturday and me not turning up till Sunday" sort of thing. Everybody has a laugh and you move on. But on 3 occasions nobody corrected him and, as a result, made him look like a fool. Were they apprehensive about how he might react? And despite emphasising how important it was to finish as high as possible in order to get more money for contracts, he stated he didn't know how much more the different places were worth! I would have thought it was etched in his brain and was routinely being used to motivate the team. It came across as a rather tense interview. It was certainly a very different John Hughes from the John Hughes of last season when his infectious enthusiasm made so many people warm to him.

For one who constantly sneers at the level of ignorance of your fellow electorate that post betrays a considerable level of ignorance of your own. As recently as 16th March Pricewaterhouse Cooper published a detailed report projecting a level of growth of 1.8% in the Scottish economy for 2016 as a whole. That notwithstanding the current downturn in the oil and gas sector. PcW are not exactly renowned for being cheerleaders for the cause of independence. I would post a link but my own ignorance precludes me from doing so.

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...

JH with that win yesterday has effectively done what his remit would suggest for a club our size.... avoid relegation. Well done JH... lets look to get some of the lads signed up for next season so you have some continuity in the squad and build from there.

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.

Brewster was a great player but a clown manager, Butcher was probably dropping narcissistic poo into his nappies, Yogi appears to have slowly developed the condition.

The Tokely and Munro situation was similar yet different, both were stalwarts and club legends who had given so much, but both were past their best and fading fast - it was never going to be an easy decision or time to move them on but had to be done. Raven however is still performing at the highest level and has consistently done so since arriving with probably another 2 years left at least.

My feelings exactly!

I live in Edinburgh so have lots of Jambo mates who were at the game so spoke with them afterwards. Not one person mentioned the flare. In fact I, and probably everyone else, forgot it happened until I saw this thread. No one was injured, nor were they going to be. No one remotely cares other than a few folk on here looking to be offended. It doesn't reflect anything on us or our club in any way. Try and enjoy life a bit more. Thanks.

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.

I can't help but be reminded of the approach to election taken in 3rd world countries where, due to poor education and illiteracy, political messages use pictures and are kept very simple. Surely, even after 9 years of the SNP running our education system, things aren't that bad here!

I dare not to intervene, since I know little about the matter Except that turmoil reigns and I know even less about the issue and just review the natter So I look to Charlie for his patter, inspiration and education Yet still I remain a-working on his word conflate-ion. What does this mean my good teacher lad, although I know that con means "with"? Foreby, otherwise Chas, you might as well be taking the pith. Eureka moment:- it means opinions expressed with-flatulence , I do declare. i.e. Or plainly put,.........more political hot air.

Looks like the best response the Nats can come up with to your penetrating burst of objective realism is a red dot, DD. The sums didn't add up in 2014 and the gulf has since widened considerably.

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.

As much as that???? Well, mustn't grumble I suppose.... it could have been predicated on $113 a barrel (albeit not from DD.)

Yes I know. Terrible, isn't it? People painting with such a negative brush a fine, upstanding bunch of people like the SNP who would never think of vilifying anyone or stooping to..... well for instance something awful like "#Tories Bad".

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.

Personally, I would have thought that how they perform as a group in the Development League would be a fair indication of that....

Including "over age" players such as first team squad players will obviously enhance the team performance and improve results. Development means the development of players not teams. A number of years ago Celtic proved this when they didn't retain one player from their U19 league winning squad. The ONLY important factor is the number of players promoted to the first team squad at the end of the season. Would you consider a 3-3 draw against a young Hamilton team a good result when we include 5 first team squad players in our team?

I remember very long time ago I had a Norton motor bike. I stopped riding it before 1963. The reason I mentioned that it helps me place the date of a Burnley v Liverpool cup game at Turf Moor. I know I went to the game on my bike. . When I got there all the tickets were sold , so I stood outside listening to the transistor radios , of the game. The Liverpool fans were discussing a tactic they had used before of f getting the police to open the gates. However they thought there was not enough of them to create the havoc needed to influence the Police, I always think of that day when this topic comes to light.