RiG

As expected. The dullest of the dullest fixtures we could have gotten. Another snorefest of a League Cup group.

If the links below work you can just click the play button and listen to them that way:

I have no basis for this but I have a feeling we'll be away to Dundee and Annan and home to Bonnyrigg and Arbroath. Suspect we are all hoping for a trip to Midlothian though!

We've been drawn against Dundee, Arbroath, Annan Athletic and Bonnyrigg Rose. Another exciting group of unfamiliar teams to test ourselves against!

I've not seen the official notice but assumed it would be dated close to the time they refused the application at the hearing in March. If the notice isn't dated until 11 April then yes that would give them some more breathing space to get their appeal submitted. ETA: You are correct the decision notice was dated 11 April so they'll have until ~ 11 July to get something into the DPEA.

I don't know about that but the DPEA are pretty good at getting information online promptly so I'd expect it to be online if an appeal has been lodged.

Just so folk have some context to this the planning application was officially refused on or around 14 March 2024. Section 6 of the Guide to Planning Appeals in Scotland states that the limit for appealing is three months from the date of the decision. Looking at the DPEA website shows a total of six appeals, since the battery form decision, within the Highland Council area. Only three of them are a Planning Permission Appeal (PPA) and they are located in Farr or Drumnadrochit. So this means that no planning appeal has been submitted for the BESS (yet!) and they have something like 17 days to get one in.

Good to hear you liked it. Moff did a power of work getting the edit done in time to release it so soon. Not an easy job but praise like that makes it worthwhile!

No and they have something like 3 weeks to get an appeal in before they lose the opportunity.

TBF when we won the Scottish Cup our team was (mostly) full of players from the English lower leagues and we felt connected with them. I think a bigger issue is not so much where they come from but where they are based. Many players have cited the spirit created by having the players bond when they were up in the Highlands and I think that resonated with fans as well. It made fans and players somewhat alike.

New TWS podcast out now! Wonder what they could be talking about...?

As @Fraz mentions TWS chaps dropped a new pod overnight. Links in the embedded Tweet below

TBF having some guys come in and pump a bit of cash into the club to sign decent players normally helps out with getting fans along. However, the general point of Raith being a mess off the pitch and seriously straightening themselves up would hopefully be achievable for ICT as well.

Good to see some former players slagging off the club.

Their reason is bollocks and only serves to further deteriorate the relationship / connection between the club and the city of Inverness as well as further alienating supporters at a crucial time with season tickets up for renewal. As i said we managed for years without having to do this. Why now?

You think having the location for training 135 miles away from where the team is predominantly located isn't inexplicable? Interesting. It certainly wasn't needed for the last 20 odd years whilst we were doing well in the leagues yet now it's some kind of silver bullet to right our wrongs? Doubt it.

We literally have that right now. The team plays at TCS and trains at Fort George. For some inexplicable reason we're increasing that distance. Why on earth have we never made more use of the Highland Football Academy?

Weird how all those years we spent working our way up the leagues, into the SPL, winning the Scottish Cup and finishing third we weren't affected by house prices in Inverness or geography. Yet now we need to do something you'd see in the NFL and move the team hundreds of miles away from their origin. Utterly laughable.

The next podcast will have opinions from fans and former players on it

Seems the rumours last night might have been misplaced...

The local media have been critical of the club in the last couple of days but only when using other groups as their source for criticism. I get why they do it. They'll lose access to the club for interviews with players etc especially with Gardiner in charge but they haven't exactly been too probing in their questions in recent months. Donald Trump would get a harder time doing interviews with Fox News FFS.

Ferguson canned?

Ridgers announces his departure on Twitter. ETA: It's not an exact "I'm off" but it seems to hint very strongly at it.

There still hasn't been any kind of appeal lodged with the DPEA. You have three months from the decision date to lodge the appeal which means that they are running out of time to get something in.