Scotty

I mentioned in our last blog that we would be updating the rules/terms/privacy/copyright and cookie policies that we use .... and we now have !!!! The rules, as well as our privacy and cookie policies are now posted and active and can be accessed by clicking on one of the links at the bottom right of the page. We have done away with the lengthy rule set that tried to cover every eventuality that happened on the site over the last 18 years, or may happen in the future because not only were they unwieldy and unwelcoming for new users, but they were also like a lightning rod for the tiny minority of users whose sole function on the planet seems to be a desire to create chaos or discord or to try and get one over the mods by finding something we hadnt covered ... Those guys can continue to play their games somewhere else, but the vast majority of users are not going to be subjected to a huge rule set just on their behalf. We're not playing that game anymore. The new rules are about as generic as we can make them and although we have added a few specific examples based on things that have happened on the boards and which required moderator or admin intervention over the years, we are pulling back a bit and putting the onus on users to police their own behaviour somewhat. Lets face it, most of you know what is appropriate or inappropriate in terms of the words, images or links that you post or the attitude you display. If you have to wonder whether you will get away with something you post, or the tone in which you post it then maybe you need to think again ? Thats all we are asking !!! I know some folk will read this and not bother to click on the link, so for those users, here's a list of a few specific things that will bring you to the attention of the mods. Its not the full list - read the rules for that - but just enough to fill this blog post ! 1. Personal Abuse / Agressive Behaviour: As we note in the new rules, we do have a minority of users who seem to delight in this and in making everything personal. We will continue to take a dim view of this and those who want to carry on doing it will soon find out how the new points system works. Its fine to disagree or discuss and debate the issues with someone, thats what forums are about, but you should be able to do it without making it personal or aggressive. We would also include passive aggressive behaviour in this such as posting snidey comments that denigrate someone for starting a topic you dont like. If you dont like a topic, ignore it and dont post in it rather than again making things personal .... 2. Inappropriate Posting / Swearing etc: Its a football forum with a primary demographic of male users of a certain age range. there's going to be swearing and there's going to be things that are perhaps not totally "PC". We are not going to get our underwear in a knot if someone lets the odd profanity go, or there is the odd image or link that gets close to the edge, but be aware of where that edge is. We have an audience that ranges from teenage to 80+ so bear that in mind when posting. 3. Illegal Content: There is nobody who likes to see ICT on the telly over here more than me, and yes I have partaken of 'dodgy feeds' to get that fix, but please dont post those links in open forum. Also, please try to refrain from posting copyrighted material if you dont have permission. We're not saying this to be assholes, we're saying it to protect the site from even the vaguest hint of action from various organisations or the authorities. We have developed good relations over the years with the club, with photographers, with the likes of the BBC or other media, and with people within the SPL/SFL/SFA and we still work closely with a lot of those folks ... it allows us to post things other sites may not get, or just to get verifiable info and such like. We wont allow anyone to jeopardise that. 4. Topic Hijacking: Topic Hijacking is not to be confused with going a little "off topic". We can all go a little off-topic here and there and thats to be expected and wont get you in the bad books unless you do it all the time and all over the place. Topic hijacking is where you purposely try to bring the topic around to your own different and unrelated agenda by changing the topic entirely rather than drifting into off topic territory ... and is usually quite recognisable as it is done on multiple threads if the poster feels strongly enough about a subject or wants to get a topic across. This is tantamount to bully boy tactics and wont be allowed. You want a topic on your subject, then start its own one ... if its of concern or interest to site users it will gather its own momentum. So thats my personal top 4 .... like I said, there are a few more in the actual rules, but its basically all just common sense stuff ..... With regards to the privacy policy, we didnt change anything there other than making sure you could get to it from the link at the bottom of the page, and adding an additional portion to the end detailing the cookie policy. The next post in this blog will be details of our re-vamped Verbal/Yellow Card/Red Card warning points system, but this will probably be next week now as the mods are still going over the finer points of it ... we want it to be fair, transparent and consistent and I think it will be ...

story here: http://ictfc.com/new...are-on-the-way- This season really is a make or break season for us IMO and we really need to assemble a squad capable of firstly remaining in the SPL but also hopefully challenging for mid-table. Talking to players under contract?? Think league of Ireland is coming into mid season transfer window. Window opens tomorrow in Kenya and I think France season finishes soon. I suppose also that some players may be contracted in UK till end August. Players in Scotland/England will also still be under contract until May 31st in most cases but free to talk since Christmas if they are in the last year of contract .... English window is already open as far as I know as it starts at "end of season". the Scottish (and France, Germany, Italy & Spain) window officially open on July 1st, Denmark on 11 June, Australia on 1st June, Holland on 9th June. MLS mid-season window opens on 27 June, and as mentioned Kenya opens on Friday. lots of options, but the club can still talk to out of contract players across Europe anytime, its just the actual transfer date that might be up in the air if the contract is still to expire. I will stick my neck out here with one player name I think could do a job for ICT. Nana Attakora. 23 year old centre half, 31 caps at U17-U23 level, 3 full Canadian caps, not currently with a club, but registration may still be held by San Jose or MLS itself (its complicated). Had a trial at Hibs last year which was extended and Hibs fans seemed pleased with him. Not sure if he was offered a contract or not, but he was offered one in Germany but rejected it and decided to go back to MLS ...... after half a season without a club in MLS (and therefore with little or no wages unless he is drawing a basic salary from the organisation itself) he may be of a different mindset now and I know from personal experience of watching him in a significant number of his 68 appearances for Toronto FC that when paired with the correct partner he can be an excellent defender. Wages wise, he might be affordable too as his last published salary in MLS was $45000 which is about £30,000 per year or a little under £600 per week !!!

apparently, according to the link he is also quite a skilled manufacturer of communications equipment .... "I have phoned Terry and thanked him for the opportunity he has given me. It was the hardest telephone I have made ...."

I know some of our members think we never listen, but for the last year or more, the moderators have been discussing tweaks and changes to our site terms, rules, privacy policies and such like and it is largely based on feedback from the community of users as well as a couple of other factors. Normally, rule changes happen as a result of something bad happening on the site or some member or other pushing the limit and responding with "well, its not in the rules ... where does it say that?" .... forcing us to add yet another line, paragraph or section to the ever expanding rulebook to cover this or that eventuality. However, this time it may surprise some folk to hear that we are going to be going in the other direction over the summer and simplifying them !!! The reason for this is threefold .... Almost a year ago (or possibly longer) we received a detailed suggestion and framework from a site member who is neither a mod or an admin suggesting we adopt a system of "golden rules" that relied on the common sense of users to know what is and is not appropriate on the forums at any given time. We liked this idea and it formed the basis for a lot of discussion over several months before we put it to one side as we got busy with other. We did however vow to come back to it later ..... well now it is later ! The software we use for the boards - especially as it relates to warnings and banning - has evolved since we started discussing the changes we wanted to make, and it now fits nicely into the framework without too much effort. This was fortuitous rather than planned. Until last month you all had warning bars you could see beside your user info on your own posts (but not on other peoples) and we (mods/admin) would issue warnings based on our interpretation of our not inconsiderable ruleset. Sometimes you would get 10%, sometimes 20% sometimes none .... no consistency. This system has been replaced by warning 'points' and we can now assign a value and reason for each infraction with specific points awarded - so consistency regardless of moderator/admin personal feelings. Minor things may attract a single point, more major breaches would have a higher points total. Once you reach a certain points total you may find that your posts are moderated for a while, that you have a posting (but not viewing) ban for a specific time, and ultimately of course the "Ban Hammer" is still around ! Its still the same consequences, just a more consistent way of reaching the decision. Of course, if you are sensible and dont disrupt the forum then this is all irrelevant ! As we are a football forum we are classing these as Yellow / Red Card offences. Get a yellow and all that happens is your points add up. Once you reach a certain number of yellows you get what in football terms would be equivalent to a 1 or 3 match suspension (moderated/suspended for a short length of time). Get a red card offence and you will either be moderated or post-banned but eligible to return after the suspension is served ... unless its so serious we remove your account privileges forever. All points are valid for 14 days and automatically disappear after that so again there is consistency and no bias in the matter as the system does this all automatically. The final reason for implementing this is because, under European law, we now have to add another page to our terms detailing our cookie policy and this would mean new users having to wade through Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, Forum Rules, Copyright Notice and Cookie Policy before joining .... I am tired just thinking of this.... let alone reading it. We want to simplify all this so you can basically enjoy the site, use common sense to govern your own behaviour, and only need to refer to the rules/policies if you have a specific query. So what to expect ???? We havent quite worked out the full details yet, but you can expect the Terms of Service, Forum Rules and Copyright Notice pages to be rolled into a single Rules page that is shorter and vastly easier to read than the original. The current pages run to about 4000 words of legalese that we have had to add over the years. The new draft is about 1500, and although that might sound a lot, its written in plain English so sometimes takes more words to express the same thing !!! I would say that overall, the document is about 25% of the size of the original ! By the time it gets to final draft, the rules may be even shorter if we can manage it ! We are not going to get rid of the privacy policy as we feel it is necessary to inform users of how we deal with privacy and other concerns and of course we are also mandated to now have cookie info which may or may not be part of the privacy page. These will be linked to in the rules rather than printed in full. ....... more to follow soon including details of new rules, the points system, and privacy/cookie policy

ICT cannot really make a statement other than to say they dont know whats going on can they? The player is currently a free agent, he is on holiday abroad, and his agent has, by the sounds of it, sourced or agreed a deal at Aberdeen that meets whatever requirements he (JH) may have set the agent before he left on his hols .... only JH himself can issue any definitive statement to say whether he will accept the offered/agreed deal ...

disappointed. If true, it seems to be a move motivated by money rather than career enhancement or ambition and I thought JH was a bigger man than that. nothing more to say really. unfollowed on Twitter !

Bottle Crashing (sorry Heilandee )

disappointed really as I felt he was one of those who could possibly step up a gear. Sometimes effective, sometimes not ... but I had the inkling that there was a spark there waiting to be ignited ..... As others have said, not irreplaceable, but like CaleyD he would have been on my "keep" list !

Ach well, 12 years in this competition for Vancouver .... 0 wins. 5 years in it for TFC and 4 wins We enjoyed the win ... nothing else to celebrate so far this season TFCpics TV: http://www.youtube.com/user/highlanderict

Yeah that was Eric Hassli and 99 times out of 100 it would have gone miles over but he caught it just perfect on the volley.

I would put (legally earned and fully tax paid) money on that scenario being exactly what happens and if it does then I cannot see how I could continue to maintain my current/previous position regarding the current sanctions being enough. if everything that is coming out now about the EBTs, on top of the other stuff, is proved to be correct, Rangers would have to be kicked out of football at any level .... and a few folk will be getting a bit twitchy as each passing day brings more revelations that could and perhaps should lead to criminal charges.

on the actual topic .... Given that it has been reported that he vowed never to play football again in his statement of mitigation then he is not only a convicted killer, but a liar too. I see the Swindon chairman has said "He wants to come back and give something back to society. The best way we can do that is to rehabilitate, and that’s the role Swindon can play...... Luke might have done 3½ years but he undoubtedly wakes up with a life sentence every day and thinking about what he’s done. Does he try and do something positive with the rest of his life and give something back? If one life is saved in the future because of that, then it’s the right action.” Sorry. but for me, the way to save lives as a convicted drunk driver who killed two kids and put the father in a wheelchair with a broken neck and back is not to return to your former profession as if nothing happened but to become a spokesperson for the likes of CADD or Brake in the same way that reformed drug addicts frequently talk to kids or vulnerable groups about the dangers of drugs from a perspective of someone who has been there, done that, and suffered the consequences .... not a positive role model, more of a warning of what can happen, and how you can wreck families with this action .. If he is truly contrite, he would at least consider something like that.

OK, lets not get personal here. Post has already been reported to mods and will be dealt with.

with Barry Robson and Eric Hassli in the team, Vancouver will definitely be the biggest bunch of whingeing bar stewards on the planet ! If he's there by 11th July I might get to shout at him when TFC take on Vancouver in MLS !

Bit of 'Euro Snobbery' going on here methinks !!! Decry the Canadian Championship (or MLS) all you like ... but the winners of this competition qualifies as Canada's representative in the CONCACAF Champions League and the winners of that competition compete in the Club World Cup. Toronto got to the Semi-finals last year knocking out several good Mexican teams as well as a couple of powerful MLS teams (like Beckham's LA Galaxy, the reigning MLS champions) before eventually losing in the semi to the Mexican Champions .... 2 games away from the Club world Cup !!! Club world cup this year will have Chelsea, Monterrey (Mexico), Auckland (NZ) as well as the Champions of Asia, Africa, South America (winners of Copa Libertadores), and the Japanese 'J' league champions (as the host nation). In the last few years, this competition has been won by Barcelona (twice), Inter Milan, AC Milan, Man Utd, Internacional (Brazil), Sao Paolo (Brazil), Corinthians (Brazil) ... so call it Mickey Mouse if you like .... Yeah, official articles on this particular official website are never the best !!! If you are interested, then I can see if I can post a better link thats more 'normal' !!! Suffice to say the game was 'interesting' ! For now it is Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Edmonton as these are the only fully professional teams in Canada. The cup is actually called the "Voyageurs Cup" and was only started in 2002 as a cup given to the Canadian team with the best record in USL (the league below MLS) over the course of a season. It was paid for by fans and until 2008 all costs were borne by fans via donations etc. In 2008 it was brought under the wing of the Canadian Soccer Association and a new format for the competition started ... Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal played off in a group in a round robin competition and the winner of the group got the cup. this changed last year with the addition of Edmonton and now its a straight knockout with each game taking place over two legs. In the 5 years since the CSA took it over, Montreal won it the first year, and Toronto have now won it for the last 4. Hopefully more teams will be added, but for now its just the 4. Football is still developing over here (and yes it IS developing not declining !!!) so plenty of scope to expand it in future years ..... figured I would post this last night as some may be interested in MLS or following a league that is still in play while the SPL season is over ... but if no-one is interested in doing anything other than looking down on MLS with a feeling of superiority then I wont bother my arse in future .... For my own part, after 20+ seasons of watching Scottish Football and now 6 years of watching MLS (and USL before it) I can certainly compare the two and can also see the quality of MLS increasing year on year. Although its nowhere near the level of top European teams or even South Americans yet, it is a league that is growing in quality and also seems to be very focused on parallel development from the grass roots up so the foundations are strong. MLS are one of the few leagues that actually learned their lesson after burning brightly when originally formed back in the days of Pele, Beckenbauer, Best etc .... before crashing spectacularly. MLS 2.0 has strict fiscal controls in place, a salary cap, a requirement to have a fully fledged Youth Academy at every club and all sorts of other things designed to develop the game ... and every year the results of that are evident .....

Just got back from BMO Field where TFC, despite having 0 points from 9 league games have just won the Canadian Championship against Vancouver (after beating Montreal in the last round) Lots of talking points, 2 red cards, seriously dodgy ref, but a bit of positive feeling tonight after league woes ....... More posts tomorrow perhaps and maybe a few pics if anyone is interested :)

Until we have a single league structure rather than 1 entity with 3 divisions and 1 entity with an 'elite' single division then we leave ourselves wide open to this ..... forget Rangers for a second .. the whole structure needs to change. That would have been interesting, especially as technically there is no barrier to applying !!!

Precisely the point I was making to the poster I replied to. Using any other team as an example (eg. Gretna) is irrelevant as this has never happened before and there is/was nothing in place to cover this eventuality .... the fact that there will be something in future might stick in the throat a bit (a lot) but applying a new rule retrospectively is wrong in my opinion especially as we all know that had it been a team outside the OF that this discussion would be long finished !!! I don't disagree with you, but the simple fact is that the SPL and SFL are separate entities and the only agreement in place is that the bottom team in SPL is relegated with the top team in D1 being promoted if their ground meets the criteria or if they have suitable plans in place to ensure they are playing in an SPL compliant stadium. To the best of my knowledge nothing covers expelling a team from the SPL into the lower reaches of the SFL. Until the SFL, SPL, and SFA combine into a single governing body this kind of cluster**** is always going to be on the cards ! Actually there is, its called Motherwell !!! They went into administration in the SPL, had no penalties applied and came out of administration via a CVA which saw them pay something in the order of 8 pence in the £ to creditors and remain in the SPL. Disagree. 10pt penalty should be applied to any team for going into administration. Further penalties or sanctions should then be applied depending on the scale of the 'crime' (just like your example where the guilty parties would get different sentences despite both being guilty). I have no problem with Rangers getting a huge fine, nor with a transfer embargo, nor with the SPL witholding a % of the money they would be due in future seasons ... its about the only things they can do at this point in time under the current rule structure other than kick them completely out of the SPL .... the 'newco' thing in my mind is basically tantamount to the SPL kicking old Rangers out and making a decision on whether to allow newco Rangers straight into their single entity league or whether newco Rangers need to apply to the SFL for entry to that league after a second SFL team comes up via the promotion/relegation agreement ..... Doncaster is spinning in the wind and making no sense so we already know the decision is likely made .... but regardless of the decision, the ramifications are huge ... Rangers in the SFL (assuming they get in) means a lot less money for all and maybe more teams into administration, and yes, I also agree, that newco Rangers, straight into the SPL (which they are allowed to do within their rules) is also tantamount to cheating or at the very least some extremely shady practices that will definitely drive a lot of fans away from the already ailing game .... its a no win situation and if this response sounds contradictory, it is because I honestly dont know whats best for ICT in all of this and that is the only team I am bothered about. That works for me

I dont want to be a spokesperson for Rangers .. but as I have posted numerous times, you cannot compare Livi / Clydebank / Gretna / Dundee or any other team who faced sanctions/administration/liquidation to the current Rangers situation. The ONLYteam to have faced sanctions by the SPL (before Rangers) were Gretna. They were deducted 10 points and at the end of the season, relegated (by way more than 10 points). At this point they ceased to be a member club of the SPL and became a member club of the SFL. The SFL then sought assurances from them that they would be able to fulfill the next season's fixtures and when they could not, they were demoted to the bottom of the SFL's own structure (ie. D3) and subsequently went into liquidation. The same applied to Livi when the previous owner was playing silly beggars in the SFL's eyes. Already in D1, they could not guarantee to fulfill fixtures as a result of council action over the stadium and were also demoted to D3 and began their climb back up the divisions. Dundee were hit with the 25 point penalty by the SFL after going into administration for a second time ... the first time it happened they were in the SPL and received absolutely no penalty. Livi also received no penalty for going into Admin when in the SPL and Motherwell also escaped punishment so as much as many folk would like to say Rangers should be hammered and dropped to D3, it would be a far more savage punishment handed out than any of those that were vaguely comparable. In a sensible world, where the national sport had a singlegoverning body instead of three major ones and several other ones for various non-league bodies like junior, welfare, HFL, etc then dropping them to the bottom of the structure would make sense, and I would probably support that notion, but in reality, the SPL cannot drop Rangers to the bottom of someone else's league structure even if they wanted to...... you want to get pissed off at the SPL? then get pissed off at the cluster**** way in which Scottish football is organised (or disorganised). We dont need 3 governing bodies with three sets of rules and with built-in preferential treatment for some over the others, and making rules up as they go along ... we need a single entity controlling however many leagues we end up with and with set punishments for breaching certain rules including the option to relegate from top to bottom ... However, we need to draw a line in the sand, change things now and apply punishments moving forward. We cannot apply these retrospectively, we cannot let (some) use the situation for 'revenge' on Rangers but equally it does stick in the craw that the SPL can basically do whatever they like in terms of inviting Rangers (newco) into the fold as a replacement for Rangers (screwed-co) As for Caley Thistle ? Thats entirely different. I am a Caley Thistle supporter, have always been one since formation, and will always be one whether we are in SPL or any other division. My situation does not allow me to get to games very often, but you can rest assured that when planning future trips back home, it will not co-incide with games against Rangers.

Tokely ... 99 yellows in 589 games .... 1 every 5.95 games. 9 reds - 1 every 65 games Foran ... 34 yellows in 134 games .... 1 every 3.94 games. 1 red - 1 every 134 games !

might even be appropriate to add this link from our old story during his testimonial year .... http://caleythistleonline.com/page/index.html/_/archives/news-2009-10/a-tribute-to-tokely-r625 [photos are screwed up as we changed our article system since the article was posted ... but the text works !!!]

Quick calculation so there is a chance of a mistake ... but I make it as follows

At the end of the day, I am not bothered by the terms offered -- that is between Tokely and Butcher/Club -- and to be frank, a little bit personal to the topic of discussion under our site rules. Whether he is offered 50%, 100% or 200% of his current wages is really none of our business and I am not going to get drawn into that ..... and would politely ask that posters respect some of the more personal aspects of this and other contract details they may hear via gossip or even from players/friends etc during the close season ..... My main point in all of this discussion is about performance, and based on comments made and votes received this season, I firmly believe that Ross Tokely can still do a job for our club in the SPL and he should be offered a contract on that basis and that basis alone. The secondary point I am making, and its secondary nature may be getting lost in all the chatter .... is that I believe he has shown extreme loyalty to the club in his time here and the aforesaid loyalty should afford him a certain degree of respect from the club in negotiations over a contract. Call it favouritism if you like, call it treating him differently because of his loyalty if you like ... but the simple fact of the matter is that after 16 years at the club he has earned that right in my personal opinion. We have never had a player stay so long at ICT and probably never will again .. that makes his situation 'special' and one which should be handled appropriately. He will stop playing for ICT at some point, and I would hope that everyone concerned would actually work out an exit strategy for that rather than closing the book abruptly. In sixteen years he has played hundreds of times for thousands of us and many of us have seen both the good and the bad of RT ... but when he goes, the fans and the player should be afforded the courtesy of a proper goodbye ..... I will be hugely disappointed if he is not in the squad next season, and doubly disappointed if the comments already made in this thread prove to be the reason why (and we all know the reasons will surface in the end regardless of any spin that is attempted on either side). I know I will not be alone in that feeling as his exit from ICT - whenever it happens - will truly be the end of an era and it may be a lot more emotional for some than the club, the manager, or even the player realise !

there's not enough forum space to list how many rules that photo broke IHE !!!!

hard to tell without seeing who is signed ...... I think County will surprise a few folk and will not be cannon fodder in the way the Pars were. Hibees will surely be better next season too ..... Also have a feeling that Hearts will implode quite a bit with the end of season contract terminations. the Rangers circus will still rumble on and unfortunately I see ICT struggling again next season .... but hopefully that might change if we can retain the core players or sign suitable replacements for those who choose to move on .....