snorbens_caleyman

I used to work with a guy - Steve King - who told me that he had been their Chairman for a while. Looking at their website, I see that he is still responsible for website admin. He told me that one of the biggest hassles for a small club like Ware was a home tie in the FA Cup. The fans may have loved it, but it was a lot of work and expense for the club. The FA published pages and pages of rules and regulations, all of which had to be adhered to. Proper turnstiles, a certain type of barrier round the pitch, a certain number of police in and around the ground, a match programme of at least <x> pages of a minimum size, with a specified number of pages having to be in colour. And so on, and so on....

Coming a bit late to this thread, because I was away last week. My answer to the question is that it's in my blood. My grandfather played for Citadel in the early 1920s, and was their trainer after that. He was also trainer for Thistle for some time in the early 50s. My Dad was never a player, but was Thistle secretary for a couple of seasons at the end of the 60s, just before they won the league. Up until then, I had supported Caley, but no 12 year old kid is going to turn down the chance to see a football club from the inside. I used to play the records at Kingsmills, though they wouldn't let me do the announcements because my voice hadn't broken. I travelled to away games on the team bus. Two seasons of watching a free-scoring goal machine reach its peak. After that I rejoined my mates, following Caley. Privileged to see a very fine team there, including of course the telepathic partnership of Chic Allan and Dave Johnston. But, to tell the truth, I would watch any game of football. If Clach was the only game in town, Dad and I would be there. In the summer, we would wander around the Bught when the Welfare League games were on. My Dad seemed to knew everyone involved at all levels of Inverness football, so going round the Bught was a social event, as well as a chance for me to see past heroes from the Highland and indeed Scottish Leagues. I left Inverness in 1978, and moved to north London. I used to watch Arsenal, since they were the nearest club to me. Liam Brady on his own was worth the price of admission, but somehow I couldn't get into it. I couldn't connect. This was simply not my team. When the merger happened, of course I was disappointed that the two clubs, with their long histories and rivalry, were disappearing. But you often have to pay a price for progress. At the time, I promised my wife that I would take her to their first game in Europe - a promise that I was delighted to fulfill on a hot July night a couple of years ago. Let's be honest - most of the last 23 years have exceeded anyone's realistic expectations. I don't get to many games. In fact I confess that the last two that I attended were the Cup Final and the Europa League match in Romania. So maybe some of you will write me off as a happy clapper. I don't think I am. There is more chance of me growing another head than NOT supporting Caley Thistle - whatever league they are in. As I said, it's in my blood.

I see Trafford has been red-carded. Is it me, or is discipline worse this season? There seemed to be a lot of yellow cards in the previous games - even last week at Brechin.

I assume you don't sit in the Jock McDonald stand? And ye're talkeen rubbeesh, mun!

Bit inconsistent to airbrush away the past, but retain the name and crest.

Good news. Thank you!

What about taking on new members? Are you able to do that?

Not a directly commercial or marketing idea, but you could always ask if anyone knows what happened to Caley Jags Together and/or the Supporters Trust. The Board really ought to know, because they wouldn't be able to have a proper shareholders' vote without knowing who could cast that 10% of the vote. If it could be revived, an active supporters' club should surely be a positive asset to the football club - not least if they simply went out and brought more folk to the matches. Edit: Have just seen the post from a few minutes ago by highlandexile on the CJT thread. Excellent news. Make sure the Chairman knows - hope he can get together with CJT and make things happen!

Shouldn't someone, presumably the Chairman or the club secretary, know who is entitled to vote? Would be interesting to know who they would recognise as being eligible to cast those 10% of all votes. Wouldn't surprise me if they don't know. Note that I am NOT criticising any Board or official, past or present, for not knowing. But if I didn't know, I'd sure as hell be trying to find out!

So do OFW, Dave and Richie have any DIY, contract negotiation or communications skills? Might as well them get them doing something while they are being paid!

Does the rule about having to make a mandatory offer for all of the issued shares, once you acquire 30% of the voting rights, apply to private limited companies, or just to public limited companies? Anyway, as you say, it's approximate, so maybe they just have 29.9%. I appreciate that it may be MM individuals who together own a total of approx 30%. But I see that Dave King was forced to make a takeover bid for all of Sevco's shares earlier this year, even though he personally didn't own 30%. It was adjudged that he and his mates , who together owned more than 30%, would act together as a "concert party".

Not "Milroy for manager" then

In all seriousness, yes. There is a fair amount of stuff there that could be useful, provided he learned it in a management situation and not in actual technical oil production. And provided he can carry those skills over into running a football club.

He has potentially relevant stuff on his CV. Hope he can apply it all to a football club. https://www.nonexecutivedirectors.com/bio.php?transID=3192

It was Sherwood Forest. 5-0 to the trees, whose pace and mobility we could not match.

Jeff MacDonald's millions? Urquhart to pull on his boots again? Milroy for manager? Russell Cameron to pump in more from Muirfield Mills?

It very much looks like that. The fact that the Draper fee is not being made available to buy players speaks volumes. Possibly over-extended the finances after the Cup and league success, maybe paying high wages and anticipating an upturn in income which never happened. Not to mention paying off one, maybe two managers, and so on. However, if it were true, the board wouldn't say it in public, because that could reduce the likelihood of future investment in the club, and of new players coming to the club. Would unsettle the current players, and could encourage other clubs to start sniffing around.

Might it be that there is money involved, depending on who initiated the action? Maybe Draper gets a payment if it was the club that started it, but doesn't if he asked for a move.

Haven't watched it. But consider this. Look at all the complaints here about the way that the club has been run for the last season and a half. Now imagine that you are inside the club, much closer to everything. What must it be like? I've moved jobs when I've felt that my employer was lousy and that I couldn't make a difference. Why should it be any different if your profession is footballer?

So try and make it happen. Quietly, without fuss, and without a fanfare of publicity. If I was a director, being slagged off every day and called a liar, I wouldn't want to talk. I know that a couple of folk here have already written, and have been ignored. I'm not saying that a diplomatic request for a meeting would be successful, but if it was rejected or ignored then there would be a stronger case for complaint. I'll shut up now, since it's easy for me to say this when I'm a long way away, unable to get involved. But now is the time for someone to step up to the mark.

I suggested something like that yesterday. But I could see that there would be security problems. So I also suggested that a few folk formally request to meet some of the powers-that-be. I would suggest that this is at a venue chosen by the management - most likely at the stadium - and would be mainly to hear to what the plans are for the club and team are. Yes, we are all concerned at how things are going, but confronting management with a litany of complaints would be the wrong approach. That could come later, if dialogue is established. We can belly-ache as much as we like here, but this is just a fan forum and the management are under no obligation to take notice. They are also under no obligation to respond to a request for a meeting, but I would hope that an opportunity for controlled, temperate, two-way communication would be welcomed. How you select the folk for the meeting, I don't know, since - unless I'm wrong - there isn't an official Supporters' Club.

The Courier says, in an article published yesterday (Wednesday) and updated this morning (Thursday) that "Ross County and Caley Thistle will hold press conferences today, with Draper sure to dominate the chat ". I have no idea whether today means Thursday, or perhaps Friday if the article is primarily intended for the print edition. Edit - 5 minutes later - have just realised that the Highland News is carrying the same article, so ignore my comment aboit the Courier print edition.

So why not organise something for the next home game? Keep it positive - "please tell us the plans for team and club". Another suggestion might be to arrange a meeting yourselves, and invite the Chairman, COO, manager, etc. Although I acknowledge that there would be difficulties in keeping it under control. Is there still an official Supporters' Club? Its officials and a few representative members could seek a meeting with the club. Just a few suggestions from 550 miles away. "It doesn't have to be like this All we need to do is make sure we keep talking"

Wasn't there the idea - back in the early days of the club - of using Clach for that?

Well if there is, it's not on their website...