Scotty

Not necessarily. Some discussions need to stay private until it is time to make them public. Nature of the beast unfortunately. If the trust representatives were - for example - given some privileged info to allay their fears which would allow them to endorse the call to purchase season tickets but might jeopardise the discussions with potential investors if they divulged that info, then staying quiet is absolutely in the best interests of their members. However, the longer things go with silence from the ivory towers (or farty towels if you prefer), the harder it is to believe they were not just sold a ‘bill of goods’!!

Just when you think those running the club can't sink any lower, they do manage to find new depths to go. Regardless of that, I am still an ICT supporter, proud or otherwise. On the one hand I am beyond Derek Adams level seething with our current board and the CEO who are NOT ICT, or certainly not the ICT I want to be associated with. These people will be held accountable for their actions (or inactions) and history will quite correctly not be kind to them. BUT ... WE are ICT. The players, the fans, the city and I still say I am proud to be ICT when I stand next to all of those people who DO make me proud. These are the people who contributed to Aaron's fund, just like most here, or who have been outraged at the treatment meted out to him and others, who have raised questions about our missing manager or who have shown passion and eloquence on the podcast. Every one of us is ICT and that's the ICT community I am proud of still. I am extremely transparent in my thoughts on our current board, elected to, but doing a piss poor job of stewarding our club. I would not and will not raise my hand, in person or via proxy, at any future shareholders meeting to re-elect any of them. With each passing day, and each new comment, it becomes harder in my own mind to accept even those who I thought I would be comfortable with remaining... Also, in another thread where I said we would restart sponsorship, I said it would not happen until the CEO has departed. Rumours online that this could be up to another 6 months... so that would mean we don't do it for 6 months. Its not rocket science, its simple. No effort to commit to any financial obligation, be that sponsorship, merchandise, or anything else until the keys are handed back and the door has closed on him for the last time. In my opinion, he is not to blame for every single thing that ails the club but is one of several lightning rods that need addressed. I would also - as a shareholder - like to know what the notice period for our CEO is as it is clearly a factor in people holding back personal or group investment in the club. I also have fears about the lack of accounts being posted which in some ways worry me more ... is this the sting in the tail just before the season begins? So to reiterate and confirm my last post: I AM proud to be an ICT supporter because it means i can stand with and mingle with people like our supporters and others in our team's COMMUNITY. The ineptitude, inefficiency and seemingly utter disregard for our club from those who should be speaking now will not deter me from that. THEY are not the club. WE are the club, whether we have been here for 30 minutes or 30 years.

Yes. players talk and word gets around. We are now a cancer amongst players until we get our house in order.

I will give you a name .... Scott Young He is relatively new to the board and from what I have seen and heard he is more open to fan engagement and enthusiastic about working to right things. He has turned up to the supporters' meetings and generally been positive and as open as allowed to be in terms of interactions or dissemination of information. I have never met him, don't know him, and that's just my impression. Could he have done more recently? perhaps, but as stated above, there are and will be constraints on what can be said publicly or even divulging what's going on behind the scenes. I didn't actually want Ross M to go. He was a fan long before chairman, so IMHO always tried to have the club at heart (hence the money he pumped in). However, he had to go. His biggest mistake - in my opinion - was loyalty for too long to one man and the ceding of day-to-day power to that man. As for the remainder of the board who have condoned the situation we find ourselves in either actively or passively with their silence, and then compounded things with the treatment of Aaron Doran (and others presumably), then root and branch they have to go if the club is to salvage any reputation. A full rebuild with new blood and no bad blood behind the scenes is required.

more like Bertie Feckin Basset

I can understand why he got it, but like others before him, the way it is being handled is not good. The man has given basically his entire career to ICT and not only did they allegedly tell him to 'walk it off' in regard to his ACL injury, but also then made him pay for the required op himself. (Thank goodness for Shane's initiative). He is, and will always be, a club legend. He is up there with the likes of Charlie and Rosscoe for length of service and has earned every bit of the respect he should be afforded. His playing career may be winding down (or over depending on the op results) but as a club we must treat our players (and other employees) right. There is no excuse for emailing a P45 to an employee. You do that face-to-face and look them in the eye, regardless of how uncomfortable a conversation it may be. Anything else is disrespectful or cowardly. Its not going to happen right now given the financial precipice we are at, but I would love to see a situation where long-serving players (like Aaron) have career discussions with the club and the club helps them plan for life after football. Thats what happens when your focus is community. If it is clear a player has dedicated a large portion of their career to playing for ICT then is it too much to ask ICT to dedicate some time and yes, some resources and/or money to helping the player plan the next stage of their career after football, whether that is funding or subsidising coaching courses, college courses or something else to give them a way forward. Treating players like something on the bottom of your shoe will come back to haunt the club. Players talk, and a dissenting voice is louder than anything else. Treating them right can and will bring benefits in the end as players will see that the club cares, and that trek up the A9 may be less problematic than signing for Kelty.

5-a-side fixtures?

The man has literally told the club in several different articles to "come sign me". He is showing blind loyalty to a club that day-by-day erodes and ultimately does not deserve the respect he is showing it. FFS, sign him or at least tell him you want to and then figure out the details when the dust settles. A 1 month or 2-month contract (up to before the end of transfer window) so everyone has options and a get out clause in case things don't quite work out. If anyone actually wants to play for us then (very) short-term contracts may be the way to go until certain individuals have left the building and others have entered.

Can't see Ferguson agreeing to be gagged. At worst he says something that makes him look like a tw**! The performances have already done that and have his managerial career circling the drain. If he says something remotely sensible or even slightly conciliatory or (re)constructive then it's an improvement on what went before. A win-win for him. In my head, I imagine his reaction if someone told him to button it would be something like this...

Agreed. He has literally ghosted the club (or his visibility at the club) since May 18th. No comments on many of the things tearing the club apart, but worse than that, no comment on contracts, retaining players, or the player strategy for 2024/25. I get it he has to have a holiday, (I am sure the players enjoyed theirs through all their uncertainties this summer), but either he has a job to do, or he does not ... He should be back at it or terminating his contract "by mutual consent" if he is not up for the challenge of working on a budget that would not even qualify as shoestring.

At the end of the day I think we all want the same (or a similar) outcome and that is to have ICTFC back on stable ground, challenging for promotion back to the Championship and ultimately, hoping to get back to the Premiership one day soon. How long it takes is anybody's guess, and we will all have different ideas about the route we take, the timing, the methodology and the personnel but for the most part we all agree on the desired outcome so that's good I had someone who had not been on here for quite some time comment to me recently that the quality of the debate on here has risen quite substantially since the end of the season. I have to agree. We have had very little moderating to do. There have been a lot of passionate discussions, and although there have been differences of opinion about the minutiae and the timing, the dire nature of our predicament has - I think - seen fans all pull in the same direction or conduct themselves in a mature measured manner in discussions. Long may that continue. I also love the increased profile that both TWS and the Supporter's Trust has managed during this time. The podcast quality and content has been excellent and very professional, rivalling that of so-called knowledgeable football pundits who do this for a living, and the Trust has really stepped up to provide a leadership umbrella for various groups of supporters who on their own might have no impact on the club. These are definitely positives from this negative situation. Personally, I usually only buy merchandise in-person, when home on a trip, so me not buying merchandise this month or next month has no effect. I also don't maintain a season ticket so no effect there either. Our biggest input here on CTO is in sponsoring one or more players for the last 20+ years with 2023/24 season being the first season since the 90s that we have not done so. I think I have heard enough now to say we will look to reinstate that sponsorship in 2024/25 provided the leadership situation is resolved to our satisfaction. It's headed that way, so we are prepared to take that leap of faith, I think. Watch out for the sponsorship thread coming soon....

Not imported. This is the cost off the shelf in the club shop as well as the Adidas store and anywhere else like Sportchek (think JJB or similar). You can pick up ‘replica’ kits (same kit but no official branding for league like a real player shirt) for about $115 which incidentally is the same cost as an official Scotland shirt in that same Sportchek store. Unfortunately didn’t have my size though

My son called it the Minecraft kit with all the blocky pixels. I think I would have to see it in person although I also tend to fall into the polo top or other leisurewear categories too. Looks nicer than the new Crystal Palace kit though! Wow that one is really busy. Gringo - it’s $190 over here for an official kit (that’s about £110). Guess that’s the cost of having Adidas do all the strips for the league. Another good reason to buy more reasonably priced polos, t-shirts or unofficial/replica kits

I don't recall the details as it was close to the time I was emigrating but there was quite the controversy, because it was a per-person cost for your team and being amateur it would put most of them under a lot of strain. The IDAFA was pretty vocal against it and I think this was one of the straws that eventually broke the camel's back in terms of Inverness' membership of the SAFA and eventual withdrawal/expulsion from it. If memory serves me correctly, I think it might have been limited to liability insurance in case your player hurt another team's player rather than insuring your own team's individual players for medical expenses.

I seem to recall that back in early 2000s when i was running a team in the amateur league (IDAFA) it became mandatory for us to pay a fee to the SAFA for player insurance. Surprised there is not something mandatory at club, or player union level ... obviously not, given Aaron (and Shane's) experience, just surprising.

No doubt ICT will time the release of any statements to tomorrow around 8PM UK time so that we are all suitably distracted ... but f*** it, time to shift focus to what is hopefully Ryan Christie's 50th cap for Scotland and dare I say it, with things so bleak at ICT, a better chance of a positivity coming out of Munich than the Longman!!! Currently sitting in the office with a Spotify playlist blasting Scotland/football related tunes in my ear. Not getting much work done as I am watching the videos all over Twitter of the Tartan Army in Munich and wishing I was there. (in my defence - it is lunchtime here). Have also been scouring Toronto for some car flags, and this week have had my son belting out the Tartan Specials "We'll Be Coming" in the car and now he knows all the words Job Done - heard him tell his pals "We play Germany on Friday" and extolling how well we might do. The Tartan Army ethos and optimism has been indoctrinated into him now Even the guy who does the pixellot stuff at his football team said to me last night he has Ryan in his FC24 video game team. Apparently if we win, Ryan gets an instant skill boost of +20 to 93, whatever that means!

Getting close to £10K now and if displayed names are genuine, there are some pretty recognisable names in there, including former club officials and staff, two former managers, and one assistant, players going back from now to 15+ years ago and even possibly one of our former CEOs or someone with the same name at least (no, not the current or recent CEOs).

indeed ... Will always remember @The Mantis getting me in trouble with Stevie Hislop for something he said on CTO about his running style.

Lots of talk of being embarrassed at being an #ICTFC fan on other threads but it is things like this that still make me proud to be one. We rose as a COMMUNITY of fans, current and former team-mates, club staff (past and present), families of all of the above, and, it has to be said, also several football journalists to donate to this cause initiated by a former team-mate who himself went through injury hell and didn't get the support he needed and should have received from the club. £7K in less than 24 hours is great. Aaron will get his op and whether or not he plays football again, he should at least be able to play with his kids, which the article said he couldn't even do right now. That's the least he should expect after almost a decade and a half of loyal service. Look at the list of names in there and you will see many folks whose names you recognise but you may also notice - unless donating anonymously - the glaring lack of any names you might hope had developed a conscience and personally donated to the cause even if the club couldn't or wouldn't. I AM proud to be an ICT supporter because it means i can stand with and mingle with people like our supporters and others in our team's COMMUNITY. The ineptitude, inefficiency and seemingly utter disregard for our club from those who should be speaking now will not deter me from that. THEY are not the club. WE are the club, whether we have been here for 30 minutes or 30 years.

I think this is appropriate and also linked to the club before the cup final in 2015. This song is not so much for the board but more what the board should show players, staff and supporters:

Almost £4K of the £5K target raised in just a few hours, initiated by a former player because that’s his mate, and looking at the names of the donators, actioned by fans, colleagues and family. That is what you call COMMUNITY and that’s the power that can be unleashed if those who should never darken our doors again don’t let it hit them on the way out. If everyone pulls together we can perhaps stop the club from flatlining… anything else, while perhaps looking inevitable or unavoidable must still be regarded as unthinkable.

We have complained about the club being tight lipped before over many years - not just in the here and now - when difficult subjects came up, but the sheer level of silence to staff, players, and fans right now is utterly mind-blowing. It pains me to say this, but at this moment in time, I don't think we will have a club taking to the field for the 2024/25 season and there are quite a few people who will need to look in the mirror and ask themselves about their part in that. They can blame the fans, or the lack of sponsors, or the failure of various Walter Mitty schemes dreamt up by the CEO, but in the end, I hope they can feel proud of themselves when our club dies. They will go down in infamy. ICT (2025) to be reborn from the ashes? The Eagle and the Thistle rising from the ashes like a Phoenix under fan ownership and backed by the community and the city? Lets hope so.

You are right, you can't make firm offers... but you can have the decency to talk to people like Mark Ridgers and other squad members and say exactly what he has already stated. I.E. let them know if they are wanted or not, but temper that by telling them you can't make an offer until you know what's happening. Is that too much to ask? The guy is literally pleading for the club to tell him they want him, so he has an excuse to stay and we haven't bothered our @rse to speak to any of them by the sound of it.

He should have had those conversations before he went, but hey-ho, he's on a reputed six figure salary so what does he care about players, especially those he didn't sign or loan-in.

With Wallace Duffy now posting he is away, because no-one spoke to him all season about a new deal so he assumed he was heading out the door anyway, then again, it is really bad man management. It's the job of a football manager or the DoF to sit these players down at some point in the season and either put an offer on the table or let them know they will not be offered a contract. Anything else is sheer cowardice and disrespectful. If the manager is on holiday then this is something that must be done before he starts that. Anything else is f***ing ignorant. If we take what Ridgers has said, then he's not even looking for the details, he is just looking for someone to say "look, we want to keep you here, you are a great servant to the club, but we simply don't know what or how much we can offer you. We will understand if you seek employment elsewhere, but as and when we know what's happening, we will offer you what we can". Thats does not seem unreasonable, nor does it bind the club to anything, but it at least lets their (former) employees know they are still wanted if something can be sorted out.