Scotty

whilst I do agree with the sentiment, and don't like plastic pitches either - especially after seeing it at BMO Field in Toronto for a couple of seasons until Rangers actually paid for it to be replaced with grass courtesy of the Maurice Edu transfer fee - I do want to take issue with your last paragraph which displays your usual lack of knowledge and misplaced superiority complex about MLS. lets look at the facts here rather than your assumptions: Scotland - 12 of 42 pitches are 'artificial' (I make that 28.5%). This is a better article on the BBC: http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/35551542 MLS - 5 of 20 are artificial (25%) and only 1 of those stadia is a single use stadium (Providence Park in Portland). The others are multi-use facilities like BC Place in Vancouver which was used for the winter Olympics in 2010 and houses the BC Lions Canadian football team, the Citrus Bowl in Orlando which is a college football stadium, the stadiums in Seattle and New England house the Seahawks and Patriots from the NFL

mmm, I remember those times ..... when one of my good friends was accused of being a racist for chanting "Brew, Brew, Brew" and the cloth ears of some jobsworth determined it was monkey noises. Thats when the same gentleman mentioned above forgot about the 5 hour time difference and phoned me in the earliest of hours demanding that I take the forum (on what was then the official site) offline because he was getting a hard time for those actions .... I declined his offer in my best rudely awakened at 4am mindset of course, and within weeks we were back to being an unofficial site and the club was on its way to letting the 'perform' group 'provide them with a service' for a little while. interesting times indeed.

job done. into the QF

Jordan Roberts gives Chic an orgasm apparently 2-1

replay apparently this Tuesday night (9th Feb) if it goes to one ....

sounds like we were talking to him during the window but from Yogi's reaction at the time it sounds like the second we started talking privately his agent or someone in his camp leaked it to the press in the hope of getting a better offer. Yogi basically said at that point that we were no longer interested. I agree with Yogi on this one

storey scores ... just after McDonald hits the bar at the other end

THE MATCHDAY THREAD Discuss ICT & other games in this thread as they happen Motherwell -V- Inverness CT PREVIEW 6th Feb @ 3PM, Fir Park Motherwell Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Facebook Go to the Chatroom Media Coverage AUDIO BBC Sportsound Open All Mics [UK Only] TEXT ESPN BBC SKY Sporting Life VIDEO SPL YouTube Channel ICT Official YouTube Channel TEAM LINEUPS Tweets by @ICTFC Tweets by @ICTFC

PRESS RELEASE FROM CLUB For Immediate Use Carl Contract Confirmed John Hughes continues to bolster his squad for next season with confirmation that Carl Tremarco has agreed a contract extension which takes him up until the Summer of 2017. Carl, a Liverpool lad, joined the Caley Jags in July 2013. A highly experienced defender, his professional career began at Tranmere Rovers in 2003, making his debut in the FA Cup the same year. He stayed at Tranmere for five years, making 52 appearances before spending a year with Wrexham. Macclesfield Town signed him in June 2009 and he went on to make 89 appearances for them before going on loan to Malta. In his three seasons with the Caley Jags, so far, Carl has made close to 60 appearances and bagged himself a Scottish Cup medal along the way. Carl said: “I’ve been discussing my contract for a little while and it’s good to get it sorted. I can now concentrate on my football and plan a bit more for the future. We’ve got a Scottish Cup match this weekend and the first aim is to get through that and try and move closer to another final” John Hughes said: “Carl is a great player with a great attitude and it’s good to get him signed up for another year. There’s other players who we’ve also made offers too and hopefully we can get some more sorted soon.”

I have no idea about exact numbers, but its been reasonably well known in the past that ICT wages are on the low side but the bonuses are pretty good. (Another reason why we perhaps don't make as much from cup runs as some folk think but that's another subject). Personally I think 2 year contracts are mostly a waste of space as really its only a year and a bit because the player is free to talk to other clubs so soon. 3 year contracts (or longer) offer that much more stability, but also have some risk (mainly if you end up being relegated). In either case, you also have to deal with what the player wants or will agree to as some will indeed want a longer contract and some stability whereas others may want a shorter contract that can be negotiated more frequently or give them an opportunity to move on earlier or more easily. Its a minefield to say the least ... one which we have negotiated successfully at times but not so much at other times ......

You can offer a contract to someone ..... doesnt mean it will be signed or that the terms you offer will be agreed to. there are (at least) two sides to every contract negotiation. I would hope the club have offers on the table to all our soon-to-be out of contract players by now, and we are just not hearing about it ... if the likes of Polworth, Raven etc dont have something to consider then yes, the club is in the wrong. As an aside - I have never been a fan of the 2 year deals the club always offered in the past, but i understood the rationale behind it (fearing the cost of relegation etc) so it is heartening to see that in the recent past - now that we might be considered as an established premiership side - that several longer deals have been offered to key players. This gives me hope that we can tie up more key members of the squad sooner rather than later.

not sure if I am putting 2+2 and making 5 but based on the various bits of info (rumour?) floating around perhaps its a case of the agent touting the player without his knowledge or agreement? That would fit the comments made up to now and does not then make McInnes or ICT liars .....

really?

On the face of it banning 30 people with one stroke seems like overkill but it is clear there are two sides to every story .... we haven't fully heard one side let alone both. There are a number of people here who likely do know the reasons, both from CJT and from the group that were present on the bus. The floor is open for them to tell the story if they wish. HOWEVER - The floor is not open to call people on either side of the debate arseholes, perverts or anything else derogatory or defamatory. That crosses the line of our rules on this site and we have hidden a couple of offending posts. Lets not go down the road of having to moderate or close this thread please ...... I know its emotive for many people, but it can be emotive without being abusive !

a few points to consider ..... 1. Caley Thistle have never (to my knowledge) put a release clause into any contract. Why would a club do that? This is usually the player or their agent. Long gone are the days when the clubs could put a contract down and a player would sign it regardless. there are TWO sides to a signed contract and its not always the club making the demands. 2. If the release clause amount is met there is little ICT can do about it and little chance of getting anything back as a sweetener (eg. the suggestions about Goodwillie). Aberdeen dont need to offer us anything, just meet the release clause amount. 3. As Yngwie mentions, the terms of payment may be the only stumbling block and where the club might have some power. If Aberdeen want to pay it out over a protracted period of time we might be able to stall, or kibosh the deal as it is likely we could demand a single up front payment.

If the release clause has been met we have no choice. Now its up to the player to decide what he wants to do. I sense that the club will get slated for having a release fee "as low as 200K" .... Considering that ICT have never been known for release clauses AT ALL in the past, and I have no clue if they were in any other contracts (certainly dont remember anyone being sold after meeting any quoted figure before), I think it may be safe to assume that the player or his agent had a hand in setting this figure as a condition of him re-signing with us in the first place.

Press Release from the Club: Press Release : 27th January 2016 : For Immediate Use PAY WHAT YOU CAN : ICTFC REACTION Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC are pleased to say that we are happy with the outcome of Saturday’s Pay What You Can initiative for our home match against Partick Thistle. Both home and away fans attending the game were given the opportunity to pay what they felt able to afford, which saw a rise in the expected attendance. 3556 supporters, including 358 visitors, took in the match which finished honours even…gaining ICTFC a point which keeps us in the top half of the league table. This was an increase of just over 800 fans from a comparable match in December 2014; the last time the two clubs met on a Saturday at 3pm in the Highland capital. Commercial Manager Iain Auld said: “We first trialled the ‘Pay What You Can’ initiative in January last year for a midweek fixture versus St Johnstone and the confidence gained from the fan’s response to that lead to the decision to run it again this year; and to do so for a Saturday 3pm match.” “The numbers still have to be fully analysed and we’ll also seek feedback from those attending for the first time and those who attend less regularly before drawing any definitive conclusions on where we go from here. However, the data from this, and other initiatives, will allow us to better understand how many more Caley Thistle fans are out there just now and how much they are willing to pay. We’ll run that information alongside what we know of existing fans and then look to see what we can do to increase attendances on a more regular basis without jeopardising the club's financial position.”

Speaking from personal experience I would say there is a time/place for it .... As I mentioned earlier in the thread, for years it was not allowed at Toronto FC (or other MLS clubs). This ended up with a situation much like that being faced in Scotland right now. People who wanted to do it - many of them young, enthusiastic and perhaps at times over exuberant, but a few supposedly older and wiser heads too - got hold of inappropriate materials. I have seen people roll up at TFC games with road flares, marine flares, industrial smoke grenades and all sorts. Bottom line is that these are not safe in a crowded environment either because of the temperature of the flares or the noxious nature of the smoke that is not meant for a confined space with several thousand pairs of human lungs ! The club, the league, and the police - quite rightly - clamped down on this. Arrests were made, banning orders were issued and bag and body searches are still a regular occurrence because of this. (although we have not yet got to the (league mandated) stage that they have at hockey and baseball - even in Toronto - with a full airport style metal detector scan) There was a lot of trust lost between club and fans in those ensuing years as two specific supporters groups continued this and eventually got banned. The 'responsible' supporters groups who had been asking for the same thing since the very start, and were happy to work with the club just like the supporters at a couple of teams who allowed (controlled) pyro got short shrift because of it. Fast forward to last year and one of the changes in the close season was that smoke is now allowed. it is supplied by the club and rated safe for use (even if it still gets in your throat), the persons using it have been safety trained (legal liability requirement) and its use is loosely agreed for certain portions of the game (after a goal, or at certain points where specific songs are sung). Its maybe not as 'dynamic' as lighting it up whenever you feel like it, but its a damn site safer for everyone and does definitely add something to the atmosphere.

Cant be the green brigade - there were no spelling errors !