Scotty

Then the supporters Trust as the main group representing fans MUST clarify this, as the public statement by the club is contrary to this story (and I have heard it too). If necessary, the ST must also try to galvanise the support (members or otherwise) into forcing an AGM/EGM where this is the main subject. Secondary subjects to include board accountability for all this bulls*** and for the treatment of players. There should also be a nomination to get fan representation onto a newly elected (or in one or two individual cases, re-elected) board. If this ties in with new investors (not owners) then so be it, but the current state is just a slow decline into oblivion and no-one in authority seems to care. It is just fans who have no power (at the moment) who seem to give a flying f*** !!!

We sponsored at least one player, sometimes more than one, for TWENTY-FIVE years. We stopped last year for one reason. That reason is working his notice (allegedly). We will think about resurrecting that sponsorship when he has left the building for the final time and handed back his keys and any other ICT property. It may only be a small amount when looked at individually, but that's the same story that we keep hear being repeated ad infinitum when it comes to ICT sales, sponsorship, season tickets and merchandise, so a lot of small amounts soon add up to one big amount! There also needs to be a lot of change at board level too. Its not (just) Gardiner responsible for the treatment of Doran, Ridgers, and others, including Shane Sutherland, going back several years. Plenty of blame to go around on that front too and they should not think they can escape it by making SG the lone scapegoat.

Its strike 3 for me. He needs to be in the car as and when the CEO drives back down the A9. Strike 1 - His tactics and what appear to be personal issues with existing players got us relegated. He is the boss, the fault stops at his door. He has doubled down on that saying his tactics won't change. That is insanity. He may have been a good player, and he may even be good in a lesser role at Everton, but as the #1 guy, he is a disaster, and an expensive one at that. Strike 2 - He didn't bother his @rse to speak to the players under his management to tell them what was happening. He buggered off on holiday instead. Even in a normal season that would be ignorant as you need to let your guys know what's happening, but in a season where you just got relegated, contracts are ending, players have families to consider, and the club is going through well publicised financial issues, to not utter one word to your employees, or colleagues is so far beyond ignorance that I dont have a word for it! Strike 3 - He continues to toe the company line and is blaming fans, and one supposes all the outlets such as websites, podcasts and the supporters trust for encouraging fans to either not go, or to not buy merchandise or season tickets until the CEO has finally left the building. FFS man, you have eyes in your head, use them, read the room, and know that how you choose to lead now will forever define that leadership. Right now, you are merely a cardboard facade. like a Hollywood set., plenty on the front, but no substance behind. I think back to Robbo when we achieved promotion to the Premiership. He didn't meekly toe the company line, and say oh well, no 10,000 seats, we are doomed. He challenged the board to make it happen, backing his players who had achieved promotion, and putting the board in the crosshairs to have them find a solution and argue with the league to match the players success that they worked so hard for. He may have lost his shine as the years went on, and his exit was less than glorious but it is also telling that he too was helping to raise money for Aaron. I think Brian Conley summed it up best:

The importance of this is often overlooked, as is the unheralded/unadvertised provision of staff, infrastructure and even office supplies while things were really rough.

Can't really disagree with any of that. The Iceland model is a very good read. In 2012 they were 130th in the FIFA rankings. By 2018 they reached 18th. That may have been an anomaly affected by having a golden crop of players amongst the improved infrastructure, but the 3 factors they attributed this to were: First class training facilities, high level of coach education and a good generation of players. https://www.ksi.is/library/contentfiles/Why is Icelandic football so successful recently 2018 upd.pdf#:~:text=We can firmly point to three factors to,mentality and culture may also play a part. Canada is another on a slow burn. The Canadian version of the SFA is a mess. Too many blazers, too much controversy and player disputes over payments and such like, but despite this, the Canadian team continues to try and improve. They were typically floating below 100 in the FIFA rankings on average and hit a low point of 122 in 2014. and 120 in 2017 but since then have steadily climbed to a high point of 33 in 2022 and 48 today. They finished top of the group that went to the last World Cup, dispatching both Mexico and USA, and promptly did a Scotland when they got there! They will undoubtedly climb up a bit after a good showing at Copa America over the last 5 weeks and should really have seen off Uruguay in the 3rd place playoff at the weekend. In many ways they are a bit like Scotland in terms of the governing body, but what does set them apart - for me - is Major League Soccer!! Laugh and scorn and call it a retirement league as much as you like, and to an extent that is true, but even in 2007, when Toronto FC joined the league, quickly followed thereafter by Montreal and Vancouver, one of the key criteria placed on all teams (in both USA and Canada) is that they must have and meet certain benchmarks for training of youth and having (functioning) purpose-built academies to foster and develop new talent. It is a condition of entry to MLS. The Toronto FC academy is regarded as one of the best in MLS for facilities and along with both Montreal and Vancouver, who also have highly rated academies (Alphonso Davies anyone!) then the Canadian team are starting to see the benefits of 15 years of development at grass roots level. MLS may have ageing superstars, but those ageing superstars are mentoring the next generation. Even below the professional level, there is a structure in place to identify and put talented kids on a development pathway at age 13. My own son started at age 4, playing 'little kickers', then as he progressed, he went through various different levels of recreational football, and this past year went from 'House League' (where all teams in one organisation play against each other) to "rep" which is a competitive league across various cities to the north of Toronto. The "rep" team have different levels (white, gold, black) and you progress in those so that by age 13 you are either selected for "skills for life" or "OPDL". Skills for Life is a taditional pathway, but OPDL is the Elite Professional Development program and ends up with kids getting sent to the likes of Toronto FC academy or to universities in the USA and (hopefully) future MLS drafts. We will see how he progresses, but there is definitely a clear pathway and a standardised set of standards and benchmarks. Its a bit of a long post, and kind of off-topic and not really related to the "in dunc I trust" topic but I have to admit, its a fascinating subject for me now that my own son is trying his hardest to be as good a footballer as he can be. Perhaps this needs its own topic ....

I guess it has to be this one .... from the Hibees

Don't think we could have Loch Ness Monsters ... wasn't that the American Football team in Inverness at some point. Kind of with @Charles Bannerman on this one though. It would be complicated to have a 'takeover' or 'new owners' given the current ownership structure. No-one, not even the craziest or richest American is going to pay £20m for a complete buyout and control of the festering mess that is ICT right now and the current board cannot agree to 'sell' the club as its not theirs to sell. Will be interested to hear the proposals as and when they are available. Tulloch had control of the board for a few years and started by restructuring and getting rid of our debt, then put fiscally responsible processes in place to try and ensure we didn't reach that chasm again. Love them or hate them, and there are folks in both camps, and that's a whole other discussion, but that's what they did. It was only after they departed that we did once again, over the ensuing 7 or 8 years reach that precipice yet again. If by "takeover" or "new owners" we are talking about a group who have 'control' without ownership and they have a plan to emulate what Tulloch's did, then I personally am broadly in favour of it, cannot really say more than that until we know more details, but as has been the habit for our club, there are no details and no communication to shareholders. What concerns me - if we are talking about £2m as reported - is that this may not be enough. We have reportedly lost out on at least £5.1m on just the battery farm and Park-n-Ride schemes and even that would not see us as a going concern for years to come, it would paper the cracks and maybe give us two or three years to try and get back to the Championship, then the Premiership but what then? We were a Premiership side for many years, and if we get back we are realistically always going to be relegation candidates on any given year if we don't get recruitment or tactics right, and even in the Premiership we need cup runs to make ends meet. Add this to the reputational damage we have taken in how we have treated our players and staff over the last 2-3 years and this is a very hard mess to get out of. Does any incoming investor have the stomach for this?

now forever known as Ben Greenhouse

**Case Update – 05/07/2024** The case has been placed on hold pending receipt of missing documents and clarification of others

mmm. Have you ever been seen in the same room together at the same time?

To be honest, I think Tokes could be a very uniting figure. To the older fans out there, we remember him as a player through all 4 divisions. Every time we went up, people wrote him off, but he proved them wrong time and time again. Thats the stuff of legends and kind of embodies the ethos of ICT "punching above our weight" which if ever we needed, we need it now. To the younger players, he seems to have become a bit of a mentor, and they can likely relate since he has played in every senior division in Scotland plus the Highland League. I think he could be incredibly impactful because of that, especially if we have to rely on youth for a few years. If he were to get a highly regarded youth coach as an assistant, for example someone like Ryan Esson, then maybe that could be a dream team. [obviously players treated so badly recently coming back to the club would require several people in leadership positions - not just the manager - to be out the door before that could even be a possibility]. Slightly off-topic, but my son bombards me with football stats he has picked up and my answer to every player question is Ross Tokely! (except when he expects it and I say Bobby Mann or Charlie Christie). He hears it so much, that he has created "Ross Tokely" in his FC24 career mode, and he was won everything ... multiple Champions leagues, world cup, all of it with an average of 8-9 goals a game . (if only that were real) On the other side of the coin, even if he were agreeable to it, would we really want to expose him to what appears to be a particularly toxic swamp as his first experience of managing in the senior leagues? He has not got the managerial experience yet, and if it all goes pear-shaped due to circumstances beyond his control, or his inexperience, then I personally would not want to see his status at ICT tarnished because of others or because he was thrown in at the deep end without a lifeline. On balance, I have to say Ross Tokely - future manager of ICT... someday. just not today!

Two words. Richie Foran. Would love to see Tokes in the dugout, perhaps with some combo of Doran, Esson, Ridgers, but that may be more sentimental than sensible. He has been quietly doing some coaching and hopefully gaining his badges (?) so if at some stage he feels he has amassed enough experience, is ready and has proven himself at his current level then why the heck not. I am sure he would crawl over broken glass for ICT as a manager given his history and loyalty to the club over the years. If we are using the current manager as a benchmark, then the bar is not that high!

steady on.

So his back spasms were from google searches on how easiest to get out of Inverness? or was it yet more lies from the IV1 1FF postcode?

This

yup. its an effort for us to try and prevent bots from hitting the site hard.

Had load issues again. Seemed to be coming from a different site. Should all be good now.

No, that doesn't make him to blame for it all ... it actually increases the culpability of those who gave him a job, free reign over all decisions and no oversight! He doesn't get a pass, far from it, but there are more than enough bad decisions and debacles for the blame to be spread around amongst all who are culpable.

I think this is us all. I have not always agreed with individual decisions made by the club but could usually swallow it as I felt they were part of an overall positive mindset and attitude at the club which was to do what was best for ICT, its employees, the players, team and fans. Sadly, this is no longer the case. I hope I am proved wrong by SY or someone else, but it feels like a rudderless (and spineless) ship since May. SG gets the blame for all of this, and he does have to shoulder some of it (most of it) in his position as CEO, it goes with the territory. However, as much as he's painted to be the ultimate Bond villain, there is no way he can be solely culpable in all of this. His personality, general demeanour, and past history at Dundee and Hearts makes it easy to paint him as the sole problem, but every single person on that board has an opinion and a mouth to express it and they have said f*** all! Perhaps some stayed silent as they disagreed but that makes them just as culpable as whoever made certain decisions. Every single one of them is responsible, individually and/or collectively for the demise of ICT, the wholly unacceptable treatment of now former players, and the current situation we find ourselves in. I hope they all feel good when they look at themselves in the mirror each morning and tell themselves that its all SG's fault and their hands are clean. They are not, and fans will not forget.

elected or co-opted is important but makes no real difference in this situation. Their purpose on being on the board, however they got there, is to work for "the good and benefit of" the club. I don't see much of that. We do seem to "re-elect" on a regular basis, its one of those things that get lumped into the AGMs (when held!) as a motion to re-elect en-masse the directors who need to stand for re-election. As there are seldom any actual elections its really just a rubber stamp to renew a term. Perhaps if the board will not co-opt a Supporters Trust member at the next AGM (if and whenever held) then we could nominate one or more people to see if that triggered actual voting!

Clearly - as and when we get a new board or new investors - we need someone who knows how to write contracts! Ours have been like Swiss cheese for years, stinky and full of holes!

I think they got hoodwinked in the same way we all have at some point. There are one or perhaps two people on the board that appear to be trying to get things done, and they (ST) wanted to believe or took a leap of faith that this would happen, and they (Board member[s]) would be true to their word. Whether the board member[s] were farting against thunder and couldn't get things done for some reason at board level, or it was all just blowing smoke at the ST, the assurances the ST got clearly didn't come to pass. I think the line in the sand for many is that the CEO needs to be gone first and foremost. We know he has resigned and is working his notice, but we have no idea what that period is and when he will leave for good. Is it a week? a month? 3 months? 6 months? Rightly or wrongly, he is clearly the largest lightning rod for criticism and the focus of all the blame. We will probably never know the full details but clearly very few people want to do anything at, or for, the club while he is still there. Personally, I am disappointed in the board also. I have never been one to jump on any #SackTheBoard type campaigns but its getting almost impossible to have any other opinion of the current incumbents of the ivory tower. With the treatment of Doran, Esson and others, as well as the complete and utter lack of any communication or apparent action coming from this board, what else are we to think? These people are elected by the shareholders, to work for the good and benefit of ICT FC. Clearly, they have not fulfilled that role on multiple levels and don't even have the balls to come out and tell it like it is, and spearhead a call to get back to basics and foster the TogetherNESS that worked well in the past. We have players not contacted since May. Even if the manager is on holiday, sipping cocktails and enjoying himself knowing his own contract was secure, then surely the Director of Football or another director should be talking to these players. More worrying is the accounts situation. I don't pretend to understand the dates and company law rules, but it is not rocket science to know they will not be good and could be triggering in terms of admin events. The manager gets lumped in with the board here. He should not have gone on holiday without letting his squad know where each and every one of them stood for next season. Some difficult conversations for sure, and maybe some wage negotiations if anyone is a relatively high earner but we want to keep them (and they want to stay) but to completely ignore the squad, is unforgiveable. It certainly seems contrary to the process we used to do as someone mentioned elsewhere in this or another thread. I get that we possibly can't afford to pay him off, and there is likely no way he will walk away as if he does, he will have yet another 'failure' on his record in club management. Best for all would be him swallowing his pride, adjusting his management style (autocrats rarely ever win in the end), and trying to do well this season. If he does well, we do well, and if he does really well, perhaps someone 'bigger' might come looking for him

... should any actual games take place, then I think we know where the erstwhile 'fans' of Polworth and Vigurs will direct their 'support'.

Would have thought so. Only going of what I read on social media today, no other sources:

certainly sounds from social media that Ridgers is - quite rightly - looking elsewhere now.