Scarlet Pimple

Saw Millwall versus Hearts in Vancouver two years ago.--pre-season friendly. Score was 1 - 1 and pretty poor game. Not surprising though , t'was nearly 100 degrees The game that lost my wife to sewing..." that's the last game of football you will get me to go to" Smile. What can I say.

Or, to summarise: we are not good enough.

He gets a pass mark from me And oh, by the way, it will not be easy to find a replacement who will be a hotshot and achieve FAR better results in the present framework I think.

Better get Black on a 2-year deal minimum. And soon. Then concentrate onb a GOOD centre back also as a priority . Then let the de'il tak the hindmost because there won't be any money left.

RIP Great hearted man steeped in football and his club Was he not one of the few senior men in football who was not afraid to stand up and lambast the refereeing which always seemed to favour the Rangers and Celtic. Especially in the case of penalties. Risked suspension from the SFA or SFL or whatever for his courage. He will be missed.

rumours should be in the Rumours Forum...... Anyway, how could we create the conditions under which he would come back--with lower pay, requiring to eat humble pie, colder Northern climate, etc ? Very unlikely IMO. Inadvisable too since he would almost certainly want a contract and what if his confidence in this scenario has been do affected that he can't produce? More precious money wasted by ICT perhaps.

Boat Lad deserves a chance and you just never know when you are going to get lucky. Bit cold up in Inverness though for him don't you think?

Caley D OMG --my heart stopped for a minute---until I read your last quip in brackets! :thumb04: :018:

So Alex What's the answer? It can only go up or down, things rarely stay the same. Not looking good from my relatively long-distance neutral viewpoint I'm afraid. It is a depressing thought that the club, having come so far, may be unable to keep up in present days or conditions. Very sad prospect....

Time for Rangers and Celtic to share some of that revenue with the other teams that they play in Scotland which makes their wealth and power possible? Or once again share away gates with the visiting team to spread the total revenue more equitably throughout the leagues.?

"The club cannot afford to lower prices and remain in the SPL"--- Was the attendance at the last home game not about 3500? If I am correct, how can SUCH an attendance allow the club to stay in the SPL? I remember that was about average for Caledonian F.C.at Telford Street back in the "fifties" so for a club in the SPL with a new stadium and all kinds of modern expenses how can a crowd like that be anything but frightening--and depressing? It is dismal and must be soul destroying for the committed Directors and staff at the club. My point about lower prices or discount incentives is simply that something must be done as a sales tool to bring in more fans. Especially youngsters to ensure that they form the nucleus of the future fan-base. One poster stated that football is no longer fun but all about money. What if he is right, or at least on the way to being so then, in such a situation , how can the club offer ANTHING other than lower prices to get NEW fans in the door? I am open to suggestions. But one thing I feel may be at the root of the "less fun" aspect is that going to the football nowadays may be too over-officialised :- e.g. Stewards--that seems to be an unnecessary expense that often succeed in irritating the fans. Car park attendants that basically I have seen doing absolutely nothing to be pleasant or helpful but still drain the coffers by being there. No standing--once we could roam wherever we wanted to in a stadium and only nutters got into fights but for the average fan the banter with the visiting guy alongside you was great fun. And you were happy to leave the stands to the sweetie rustlers. And half the atmosphere was the singing and cheering from the terraces. But if there is dead silence in the stand as you hotch about in your seat as the small boy sitting behind you continues to kick the back of your seat to bits and you shout "c'mon Caley Thistle " in a loud stentorian voice you feel conspicuous and get a few slightly amused looks from some oddly bemused fans.. :thumb04: ..as if they are saying to you "oh my, where did you come from don't you now that the stand is for polite clapping and refined behaviour?" .... Looks like this is a dead end and either prices become more reasonable and restrictions less onerous and confining or the Boardroom investors in football clubs had better have much deeper pockets. Or see the writing on the wall like David Murray of Rangers who is already sending out signals about his intentions to quit. Then you have Mr Peat of the SFA stating today on a video clip that the top price for getting into Hampden Park is 35 pounds ..."and that is a reasonable price,in comparitive terms" . What terms are you referring to exactly Mr peat? :018:

Critical to stop being beaten by one goal---strong mobile experienced centre half is a must first. Then as the team confidence in the defence improves they can up the attack tempo. IMHO

Prices in Inverness are double those in Vancouver, Canada. On almost everything. How you afford to live is a mystery to me. Even in the very affordable Inverness Museum prices in the cafe are much more than we pay here. People can spend their money any way they please and should not be told to feel ashamed because they don't buy ICT tickets, regrettable as that may be. It is really up to the club to offer packages or incentives sufficient to tempt them to attend at Tulloch Stadium. Even if offering a super package for at least one or two games throughout the season brings financial pain they have to consider these options because it may be their only chance to get the fans in the door and if they can't do that what are the chances of these same fans attending regularly? In my view, Nil! Consistently maintaining high standard prices stubbornly in the face of dwindling attendances is a no-win policy. Period. I was in business for 29 years and used Discount plans and other incentives to attract new customers regularly and am sure glad that I did. Once they used my services I got them to cede control to me by offering them further discounts for committng to me for a series of regular jobs and increased the discounts paid as the frequency of commitments increased. An agreement was produced in writing which I asked the client to sign which confirmed that they could quit at any time without penalty. This meant that by signing this docquet, their commitment was emotional rather than material and I knew that provided they continued to be satisfied with the work and the price then the risk of their quitting was minimal.I also got their written permission to do the work automatically without requiring their permission every time. It was a win-win situation which produced regular steady income for me.And the customer thought that they were in control because they could quit at any time.......which PLEASED them, the secret of success. North Americans are very aggressive when it comes to sales and know how to spend money to make money , They see "loss leaders" as investments, not losses and I would advocate this approach for ICT as at least worth a try. Nothing ventured nothing gained . Offering these discounts, called loss leaders in the Supermarket under the banner "reduced to clear", is a sales tool that these ultra sales orientated large businesses clearly know they must offer to attract and keep the punters happy.Giving something back to the customer who actually is willing to make the effort to come through the door is always welcome to that client and not only makes him/her feel appreciated for their business but also their presence. Prices may be a deterrent to buy tickets but there are other factors as well that deter people from attending games and many of these reasons have already been highlighted on this thread. But if the club cannot control the performance on the park then they can at least control the incentives that they offer to fans which may emotionally help the fan to accept that the players are human and poor performances are part and parcel of the game. Poor performances allied to high prices are, however, a recipe for disaster I feel so half-time entertainment of any kind could be tried to buck up the emotions.

For the Canon from Dungannon I could not resist.................. "AMEN" to that.

Who said Footballer's Wife then? Aye, maybe she would do right enuff... ..but, still, she flatters to deceive. Talks up a storm, all up front and no real action.......

Bebo--so that's what it is? :thumb04: Wow. Now I can talk cool to my son. One lives and learns and .....keeps up.

Asterisk What makes you think I missed anything, even if I am dumb? One thing I havent missed is your way of not winning friends and influencing people. I asked a straightforward question and got a rude and petulant answer. Fits the profile. Oh well, if you are he or just yourself you can with advantage now change your name to Arse-terisk? Fits the profile. That's a rhetorical question --no need to answer it and risk getting another drubbing from a simple Pimple dimple.

Caley D-- I believe you are referring to ...."not a front end loader" or "loaded at the back end" --you know, fees in stock transactions like.

Mr Asterisk Are you THE "Inverness Caley Thistle" that used to raise some eyebrows on here a year or so ago?

ER--at the risk of being accused of being old and done ,-- what's a Bebo ?

Well there is no doubt from your persistent attack on Craig Brewster where you think the problems originate. I just hope fpor the sake of team progress that you are wrong.

A mouthful has been said on this thread so far. As far as the comment about it being too early for the Manager to think about what happens in April 2009 I think Brew had better start thinking about it immediately.Morale will suffer if these low scoring defeats continue . Unfortunately for him, it's his responsibility to set the tone, clear the air and have the courage to drop players who are not effectively fulfilling the role that they are supposed to be playing or give players special coaching to make sure they fully understand what is expected of them. If the slide gets started seriously then it will be difficult to arrest without wholesale changes and with a diminished budget, plus reducing crowds looming, he may not be able to do anything effective to accomplish this. Then despair and depression sets in and confidence erodes further. And if the players are already bickering at each other and start to dislike each other with undercurrents of resentment brewing what then? Morale boosting and spirit enhancing should be in the forefront of his mind. Plus making sure that each player knows exactly what is expected of him and the consequences of not meeting those standards regardless of whether that pleases the player or not!

O.K. Sorted, except..... It is actually displaying but not on the desktop--it immediately minimises to the toolbar at the foot of the page and this then needs to be clicked to show the full list. I did not see this happening until I checed the various links at the bottom of the page. Is there any way of avoiding this automatic minimising process I wonder?

I am finding difficulty in displaying the Emoticoms list to select a smiley etc to post in the reply box. I have checked the "smileys activated" box at the bottom--is that not enough? The List did display only once , today. Advice please?

Scotty I fully understand your comment about needing a rest. This is quite a site now and all because of the work you and Caley D have done. Not all that the Pimple says should always be taken completely at face value--even older folks can have their tongues in their cheeks from time to time. I am just saying that if you can take another look at this in due course this would be appreciated. So thanks in advance. S.P.