Huisdean

I think some clubs did used to include them but seem to remember some issue with Hibs when they were in the play offs and the rules were changed, I think, by the SPFL. These aren't league games by the way but play off games additional to league games so I have no problem paying for these games. I would hope all right minded supporters would see it this way but somehow doubt it and we will get fans moaning about having to pay. I will be really disappointed if that does happen. Will be interesting to see what attendance(s) we get for the games and the club really needs to get out there and sell these games. I understand these will be televised, does anyone know who by so I can watch the away legs as will only be able to attend the home legs initially.

Some absolute nonsense written about this game and performance by some posters. Up until the second goal, there was nothing in this game and it had been quite entertaining. The second goal for United changed the way the game panned out completely. United had a cushion and we had to take some risks to get back into the game. I have no worries about facing United in the paly offs if it happens as do not think they are a great team and will not always get the breaks from a poor referee yesterday. Some will argue that the referee did not cost us the game but he certainly altered the course of it. How he missed the hand ball for the second goal is unbelievable. He wasn't far from the incident but to not see that was poor poor refereeing. To say that it hit McMullen's shoulder is just adding insult to injury and for the linesman not to see this either was equally as bad. The sending off of Brad was also a joke. Looked to me as if he cautioned him for a dive which if correct is another ridiculous decision. Everyone knows that refs will make mistakes as they have only one opportunity to see an incident but both these incidents were so clear cut, you don't need a TV replay to see the ref was wrong. Generally thought he was poor in other respects as well, White being continually fouled when he jumped for the ball and Nicky Clark never jumped for the ball at all, preferring to jump at or into our defenders while he was on the park but got away with it. In saying all that, we didn't play at our best, especially in midfield. I think a few of our players are out on their feet just now or carrying knocks and they need a rest. I don't agree with those shouting to give the "young" players a chance prior to this game but hope that one or two may get a chance in the next two games. It seems that Austin has become the new whipping boy for the keyboard warriors on this site and the booing/abuse he got yesterday was out of order. There does seem to be a section of our support who always want to pick on certain players and they should take a long hard look at themselves as indeed, should some posters on here whose posts make me wonder why they support ICT at all as they are continuously negative. I appreciate not everything is perfect for ICT just now but some posters need to get a grip and appreciate the level we are at just now and get behind the team, not constantly carp at it. No doubt, I will be accused of being a happy clapper ( and worse) but could give a ***k after reading some of the nonsense spouted by certain posters.

Couldn't make the match and only saw some of the second half in a pub in Edinburgh, ironically in the company of an Edinburgh City supporter who was willing us to win as well. In the end, the better team won but 3-0 flattered Hearts. Other than the goals, they offered as much as us in front of goal, from what I saw, which was very little. For us to have got through, we needed to get the bit of luck we needed and that didn't happen on the day. My only real complaint is around the offside goal. I always thought that officials had to be sure before giving a decision and the attacking team got the benefit of any decision. While it was difficult to pick up the fact McCart was not offside with repeated TV replays, that only highlights the fact that there was no way the linesman could be 100% sure McCart was offside and should not have given the decision. In my opinion that is really poor officiating and the media seem to have made little of us. Imagine if it had happened to Rangers or Celtic, we would never hear the end of it. Finally, to those who complain about a lack of fight/heart on Saturday, what if we had showed more of it (and I don't believe we lacked fight or heart for a minute) and still got beat 3-0, would that have made the result easier to take, I don't think so.

Don't always agree with you caleyboy but you are spot on for this. Give the guy a chance before making some of the ridiculous comments already posted on here. As for paying £35k for players Satan, our gates and finances dictate that we shouldn't even be paying that. Where do we find the money to spend more as you appear to be suggesting. I do really despair about some of our fans understanding of the economics of the football environment that ICT operate in.

On the hospitality issue, this is primarily designed for corporate clients and not your everyday fan. For the first derby, the hospitality was sold out but that was because this was a Saturday. If you drop the price too much to then attract the everyday fan, you don't make money and, lets be honest, even if advertised on here, how many would take this up?. The 1905 kick off is solely to allow the BBC Scotland channel to shoe their flagship news show, The Nine, at 2100. Surely for one night, and especially on a Friday night, they could alter the start time of that show. Lets face it, folk will not exactly be queuing up to watch The Nine on a Friday night. Once again this just shows how much the BBC wants to show football but not consider the impact on fans. A 1905 kick off is tight for me to finish work, get home and out to the game and I stay in Inverness. The thing that really annoys with the TV companies is that decisions on what games are being shown is often taken quite late and inconveniences fans who have made travel arrangements already. They should be made to indicate which games they want to show at the start of the season and give fans some clarity.

Difficult to say if the penalty cost us points as we scored so soon afterwards. Would we have done so had we scored the penalty, impossible to say so I don't think we can honestly say we lost the game because of the missed penalty. We did start slowly and Chalmers lost the ball far too easily for County's first goal. Impossible for me to see what happened at the second goal but we didn't look to clever at the defending but may have missed something as Ridgers did seem aggrieved. I think it is also fair to say we didn't play as well as we could but, in the second half that was understandable. Some players were not at their best and Polworth had one of those nights where you want to just get hold of him and give him a good shaking. In saying that, in the last three derbies, there has been a concerted attempt by county to target him and he has received little protection from the referee. Still not convinced about Trafford's two bookings were justified and it seemed the referee wanted to punish tackles by bookings while ignoring other obvious fouls (pushing/obstruction etc) for both sides, that were equally deserving of a booking. Couldn't see what happened between McCart and Draper in our penalty area but certainly heard McCart express his frustration (polite version) with Draper. As McCart was knocked to the ground, why was he not sent off?. Also, Fox was time wasting and was warned by the referee on several occasions about it. On one occasion, he was warned, then proceeded to pick the ball up and waste more time without any sanction. Did the referee bottle it because he knew he would have to send him off, you make your own mind up. Some posters have been a bit harsh on Trafford. On Saturday he was ridiculously booked for a mistimed tackle yet was badly caught by Paul Paton in a tackle where we were not even awarded a foul. That tackle was every bit as bad as Draper's last night yet went unpunished. The inconsistency of the referees is astonishing as is their ability to actually determine what is a foul.

Totally agree with this. Referee spoilt what had been an entertaining game with an astonishingly poor performance. Don't believe either of Trafford's fouls merited a yellow but if the referee is going to do that, he has to be consistent and he wasn't. On top of that he got so many decisions wrong which is simply astonishing for one of our, supposedly better, referees. County set out to bully us in midfield and succeeded but largely because of the referee. How we missed Sean Welsh. I thought Austin did okay when he came on (Walsh did seem to be stretching quite a lot so may have been injured) as we needed some pace up front. Goals we lost were poor, especially the first one where we didn't track the county player. Was too far away to see what we were complaining about for the second goal. Second half was always going to be a struggle but again made more difficult by the referee. County's finishing was woeful and if they want to stay up next season, uncle Roy will need to spend big as I thought they were very poor at times for all the money they have spent.

A bit squeaky bum time near the end but that was of our own making. Stupid penalty to give away and a hugely deflected shot made the score seem worse than it really was. To be honest, I don't care how we win games until the end of the season as long as we win and fans will need to accept that. I'd rather we win ugly than lose games. If we win 1-0 in all our remaining games with last minute goals we will have done something special so let's just win each game and not criticise the performance of the team too much.

Buster - what a ridiculous statement. The money paid by fans goes to support the club and running costs. To say that the directors are lining their pockets with this, when some of them have invested large sums of money, with little chance of recouping the investment is just an astonishing thing to say and no evidence from you to back this up. Jockdoonsooth - while I appreciate you make a substantial financial commitment to attend "home" games, to suggest that many fans are not willing to attend games because of the current board is ridiculous. What happened previously when crowds were lower or fell away before the current board, was that because folk were pissed off with the board?. Our crowds now are not hugely higher than when we first got promoted from the first division. maybe around 800 more from memory (I stand corrected if wrong). Basically we have never managed to substantially increase our crowds year on year. Look at the Falkirk/Partick Thistle game last weekend, a bottom of the table clash but almost 5000 attended. We have punched above our weight for years but if we cannot increase our crowds then we will, and deserve to be no more than a Championship team and possibly part time. We have rarely made a profit in our existence so hardly likely to do so in the next few years. Your comment about supporters money being frittered away for the board members to feather their nests is also, as I have replied to Buster, ridiculous and again would like to see some evidence. Basically the club is running at a loss, and has done so for most of its existence. The only way to avoid another £800 k loss is to cut costs and reduce staffing levels/wages. Without that happening, the decline in the club will accelerate which none of us wants to see, or perhaps some do,

Fact - the board were asked to vote on whether the ex CEO went or Danny McDonald. They backed Danny so why he has now resigned is a mystery. I am also sure that Mr Rae would stand down as chairman if someone wants to take over. He didn't want to be chairman in the first place but no one else wanted to do the job. This is definitely a case of be careful what you wish for. Don't exactly see a queue of people wanting to take a place on the board though.

As expected, kick off times not ideal for fans from ourselves and Aberdeen and all because of a media ban on games being shown from 3pm. If the SFA want to make the semi finals a real showpiece event, would it not have been an idea to cancel all Scottish games for the weekend so the games could go ahead at 3pm (or a mutually agreed time with the clubs) or is that too simple a solution.

Still don't agree with using Hampden for semi finals for games not involving Old Firm as it will generate little atmosphere for the teams. Having been there for the Dundee and Dunfermline semis, while they were great occasions, as in being our first national semi finals, there was zero atmosphere for the games. Surely much more special for the fans and team that the final is at Hampden, not the semi finals. Just another case of the SFA caring little for fans outwith the Old Firm as far as I am concerned.

Gutted that, as my wedding anniversary, booked weekend away in Edinburgh. Will now need to try and persuade wife that I had always planned a day out in Glasgow as well!

Taking paragraphs 2 and 3, you may have a point but that would almost certainly mean the end of full time football for ICT for many years and we would become a bit of a yo yo club like the Forfars and Arbroaths. Nothing wrong with that but is it what the fans really want, if so they need to come out and say that as that is the reality of what you suggest. As for paragraph 4, that to me is the major problem, we cannot seem to attract increased interest from the public in Inverness. Even when the club has been doing well, attendances have not increased and we even struggled to sell our allocation of tickets for the Scottish Cup Final. If we couldn't do that, it highlights a major problem that nobody can solve. Don't disagree with your point about the marketing and communications director. Disagree entirely with your comments in paragraph 5. The current board inherited multiple issues from previous boards, they did not know about the rental issues with the stands for example as far as I know and various other issues of a smaller nature also surfaced. It is easy to blame the board (or the manager/payers) but some of the blame rests with us as fans who don't turn out in the numbers they should. Statements like the one you make may well appeal to some fans but do not generate any real answers. I am not a cheer leader for the board but genuinely think they are trying to do the best they can for the club and are every bit as much of a supporter as the rest of us. In reality, our financial situation is nothing new as we have been in deep financial troubles previously, the major difference is that previously we had a white knight who rescued us and we were heading upwards, in football terms compared to where we are now. We have always struggled to break even or make a profit and, more often than not, made a loss. Just think of the situation Ross County would be in if Roy MacGregor did not pump money intyo it annually. Didn't he write off a million pound debt recently for them? In essence, the club is at a crossroads and cannot continue as it is without some sort of financial injection or becoming something radically different from what we have now. To suggest something different is, in my opinion, not facing up to reality.

Either a woeful attempt at humour or a totally uncalled for comment. I do not know CB personally but know of him and some of the criticism of him on here appears totally unjustified. Seems to me that because some posters disliked/disagreed with him, he was effectively hounded off this site.

I agree with Eagle4Caley. I keep reading that the board/club need to be more open/communicate more but communicate what exactly. Is the communication worse now than previously, in my opinion it isn't any worse or better than previous boards and to suggest or imply this is affecting attendances is nonsense. The majority of fans attend each week because they want to support their club, they don't attend thinking what are the board going to say this week. That is not to say they don't care or are not interested but in terms of attending a match, it is of little relevance. I simply don't see fans of other clubs demanding the board need to communicate more as a pre-requisite to some fans actually attending matches which some appear to be suggesting. Our attendances in the Championship are probably the third lowest with Falkirk getting at least double ours, is this because their board communicate more, I very much doubt it.

As I said on the other post about the Vice Chairman resigning, what has happened is exactly what Allan said to me in September last year that he would do, so how you can come out with this statement is beyond me Buster. What do you think happened then?.

No he isn't. He has the potential to be very good but is way too inconsistent week to week and does have an attitude problem at times. How many times has Polworth made good surging runs only to delay passing to men in space or give the ball away. He can be lazy as well not tracking back when required and frequently blames his team mates when passes/things go wrong. Don't get me wrong, I would rather have him in our squad but our best player, on this season's form, he certainly isn't and that's by a country mile as well. We certainly haven't missed Yogi either and other clubs don't seem to think he is up to much either. Given that he is a pundit on midweek Sportsound, that sums up his level of ability.

I think some fans need to appreciate that we have never had large amounts of money to play with. While in the Premiership, this was masked by sponsorship/TV deals etc and larger away supports. Our core support has never grown to any great extent despite years of trying with an apathetic Inverness public. It is also hugely difficult to get players up here from the central belt for various reasons and we don't have a sugar daddy to stump up money like County or Dundee Utd. Until we can square this circle, we will continue to struggle for money.

and therein lies the problem. Our strikers may not be the best but the problem does lie further back in the midfield area. We are way too slow on the counter attack and constantly have midfielders turning backwards instead of driving forward (Chalmers and Trafford are prime examples of this).

The three central midfielders need to get a lot better defensively than they have been at the three home games I have seen. Too often they get caught too far up the park leaving us vulnerable to counter attacks. More discipline needed at times from these three (as is the ability to tackle!). I do think, depending on injuries, we need to take the game to County as if we sit back, we are not yet good enough defensively and the midfield don't do enough at times to protect our back four.

Cannot believe some of the pathetic and childish comments made by some posters on this. IHE (good on you Johndo) has taken the time and effort to try and get some improvements yet some posters still take the ****. Fraz has listed some good points as have other more sensible posters. For myself, better communication between the board and fans where they can see legitimate issues raised and discussed or resolved would be helpful although supporters have to be realistic about what can be achieved by this.

I would like to think you are being ironic but doubt it. A totally unnecessary comment based on no evidence at all. The board are just as much supporters of the club as we are. I have no personal connection to the board and will criticise them if required but comments like this do annoy me. Rant over.

Seriously, a lack of communication from the board is leading to a 1000 missed fans every week!. That, in my opinion is nonsense and there are many reasons for this, one of the biggest seems to be the lack of interest in their local football team by the good people of Inverness. This has been the case for many seasons and I wish I knew the reason why. As for communication from the board, I think some people want communication for communications sake. If there is nothing to say from the board then don't say anything as there are plenty posters on here who will criticise any message from the board whether good or bad news. This is however where CJT can play a big part in improving lines of communication between fans and the board. Is there any update from CJT?.

Haven't read all the previous posts but that was another 2 points thrown away yesterday. Created and missed numerous chances, although to be fair the Alloa keeper made some good saves as well and were horrendously poor defensively at times. In the first half, Rooney and Mckay were terrible and all Alloa's attacking threat seemed to come down that side although, as Rig states, the free kick awarded for Alloa's first goal was a joke. Second half McKay improved but Rooney did not and ultimately cost us 3 points. Welsh looks a good signing and can only assume he was taken off as he was tiring but he was missed. Don't know what has to happen for Polworth to be subbed as he was poor yesterday and just doesn't seem to learn from his mistakes. He takes the wrong option/delays his final ball so many times yet still doesn't twig why it goes wrong. Chalmers marginally better than Polworth but either could have been substituted and we would have been a better team. As for Rooney, he simply isn't good enough on the evidence I have seen, albeit only 3 games. He cannot defend, ball watches, is average going forward and his challenge for Alloa's penalty was shocking. Everybody in the ground could see he only had to keep the player wide, as he was never going to score from there so the challenge was stupid in the extreme, To me, he also looks a bit unfit and struggles later in games. What is more worrying for me is that the team, as a whole acks discipline. There are times when we have virtually no cover at the back when attacking as everyone goes forward, the midfield all seem to play too far up the pitch at the same time, all of which leaves us vulnerable to swift counter attacks which has happened in the 3 games I have seen so far. A lot of work to be done on the training ground and certain players need to be dropped to give them a wake up call. Oh and Calder has to start the next game given his recent sub performances.