RiG

I've posted this in the podcast thread so thank you for flagging it up here. As @old caley girl says we are chatting with Gardiner this week (it might be tomorrow night). We'd love to get some questions from fans to put to Gardiner especially if you have concerns about certain things and it seems that player sponsorship is one of them so I can make a note of it and ask the guys to put that to SG.

Anyone got any questions they want to ask Scot Gardiner? If so pop them in here or tweet us and we'll ask him as many as we can!

Robertson definitely did well taking some absolute jobbers like Donaldson, White and Chalmers and turning them into good players. Granted he had plenty of misses as well but so did Butcher.

Fly on the Wall definitely has connections to the club but some of the stuff they've posted is a bit hit and miss. Deas being away is hardly the biggest shock. It would be a tall order for us to keep hold of him though I would obviously be delighted if we did. Polly coming back seems a lazy rumour though I must admit, even though he seems to have completely lost his after his stellar debut season with Motherwell, we could be the club to rebuild him. And we could do with a number ten behind Mckay. Other rumours seem to be Pearson coming back which again I wouldn't be disappointed with.

IIRC the new A9 / A82 interchange should include active travel routes but that's likely years away from being built...

Suspect those are weekends reserved for Scottish Cup fixtures so we may have another home fixture to cram in before the winter break for the World Cup. And as noted above we have Cove at home on 2 January 2023.

Bringing some of these points together I agree with comments made by @Row S in their objection letter to the Highland Council regarding the lack of active travel options to the stadium. Ideally the car shouldn't be seen as the primary (and perhaps only) way of getting down to the ground. Why isn't there a better match day bus service that runs people down to the ground before / after the game for a couple of pounds? As @STFU points out it costs a fair chunk to get a bus from the town to the ground. Saint Johnstone used to cut a deal with Stagecoach whereby supporters got a discounted day ticket when using buses on a match day. Could we look at this? I see Inverness launched a cycle hire scheme which looked incredibly limited but perhaps it could be expanded to include a hire point at the stadium? Indeed better bike parking facilities might allow for some folk to feel more comfortable cycling down there on game day. And for those that still want to drive the car parks still offer a valuable option but their management needs to be looked at. The idea that the car parks could be developed, subject to all the usual caveats, is quite bizarre given that for some games they can be absolutely chock full of vehicles, particularly when we were in the top tier. I can't imagine the nearby industrial units would be too chuffed when fans and their motors are displaced to their car parks...

Feels like only yesterday the season ended in heartbreak in Perth but we already know who we will face in the opening fixture of the 2022/23 campaign. Queens Park at home on 30 July it is! Bring it on!

Leaving aside the fact that rugby is utter dross, it feels like we are chasing any money making opportunity these days to try and bring in extra revenue which is not necessarily a terrible thing but I feel we need longer term, more consistent revenue rather than the odd event here and there. Furthermore, we saw the state that the pitch at Firhill got into last season but this appears to be one game so it probably won't make that much of a difference really. Hopefully we'll be away that weekend if we have a domestic fixture scheduled.

In fairness I don't mind looking back at times provided the player can still offer us something. Billy Mckay coming back has been a good move as was resigning Barry Wilson many years ago. But equally there have been others like Dennis Wyness who didn't quite hit the same heights as their original spell. Scott Allan has been released by Hibs and I'd love to have him back at TCS but I suspect he'll head to someone like Saint Johnstone or a Dundee.

We've not gone back in for Toddy or Donaldson. Just lazy speculation. Also, Donaldson has signed for Falkirk. His career has really taken off since he left us. Get it right up him.

When was the last time we turned a profit? When we won the Scottish Cup? It feels like we've been making losses every year for as long as I can remember.

Given that the crowds this season appeared to drop significantly, including a number of suspicious looking sub four figure attendances announced as 2,000 odd, I would surmise that the club are desperate to get people back to the ground rather than continuing to watch games from home what with any added value in person attendance brings. The blackout has been in place for the best part of 60 years (in England at least). The chances of it changing on a permanent basis are slim I'd wager.

Whether the club agrees with it or not the fact remains that the livestreaming of live games at 3pm on a Saturday was only ever going to be a temporary measure during COVID times. As soon as (the worst of) COVID was over then things would revert to "normal" and we would see a return to the blackout implemented by the Scottish and English FA's per UEFA regulations. At least for 2021/22 we got an extra years "grace" compared to England but I appreciate that will be small crumbs of comfort to those who came to rely on the streams.

As President of the Robbie Deas fan club I am surprised that he hasn't be scored more highly. Almost ever present during the league campaign (100% starting record and featured in 97% of all 36 league games) he never let us down. I still love you Robbie

That pass by Bingham is genuinely one of the best passes I have ever seen at an ICT game.

Their viewing numbers for some of these League Cup games sometimes struggle to get into 5 figures.

I feel like that statement was updated after it was posted. I didn't see Hardy mentioned in it at all...

Update on the squad from the club summarised succinctly by The Wyness Shuffle.

DO we start a new thread for 2022/23? In the meantime McAlear has all but confirmed that he won't be back with us next season. The Ross County rumours intensify...

Fixtures confirmed and not a single TV pick for our group. As expected Premier Sports pick up multiple Aberdeen and Hibs games instead.

The best way to see how any new signings are doing will be to go to the games rather than watch them on TV. Especially if they are at home. The club needs your money more than another sports channel. I'd expect Premier Sports to pick up a Hibs game or two but looking at the other groups there aren't many enticing looking games for TV so perhaps a Livingston v ICT pick is feasible.

If previous years are anything to go by apparently we would have Cove and Albion Rovers at home with Livingston and Kelty Hearts away.

Livingston (meh), Cove Rangers (yawn), Kelty Hearts (interesting) and Albion Rovers (a change) for us this year.

It's not going away any time soon. Maybe football needs to try to find a way to accommodate fans who enjoy this part of supporting their team and work with all supporters to allow displays to be performed at games that keeps everyone safe and happy?