Scotty

He is not asking questions about the shareholder's business, I dont think any of his building or associated companies or his farm have been mentioned. What he is asking questions about is the disposal of a club asset (the stadium) and in a lesser manner, a club liability (the debt) with the disconnect being that it does not seem to be under the management of the body that the club's other shareholders voted for. If this could be clarified, the issue would go away. I agree with this statement 100%. His contribution to the club is not and never has been in question and I would say that most fans, myself included, cared not a jot whether he made a few quid out of the deal by positioning himself and his companies in the best spot to take advantage of any potential "leisure village" development in the Longman area as we all thought that ICT would ride on his coat-tails and benefit too. However, as with the point above, it is the lack of clarity on what should be a simple question about the stadium ownership that sets sphincters twitching. As a shareholder, my recollection is that I (and everyone else) voted to transfer the stadium to a charitable trust. If this was not done, or it was subsequently moved to another company then should the other shareholders not have been consulted? If the stadium is owned by anything other than the charitable trust then it is not what we voted for. Perhaps there is a reasonable explanation, perhaps there is no ulterior or dark motive in all of this but the continued silence on the matter from both the major shareholder and the board of directors of the club only serves to allow this story, and its accompanying conspiracy theories to grow arms and legs and become far more sinister than it may be in reality. Again it is a failure to communicate. Again, I agree with you. The public actions of our major shareholder do certainly appear to have been for the good of the club. He has dipped his hand in his pocket to finance things that perhaps wouldnt have been possible otherwise, and he has also done other things quietly when times were bad (as mentioned in an earlier post of mine). However, lets not get carried away here, he has had some return for all this "philanthropy". He has control over 30% of the shares, he has the right to appoint 3 directors (out of 6) as well as the chairman, and he is heading into his sixth year with his company name as part of our official stadium name. This perhaps is not financial return but it is a return. I would also question his "non-involvement at board level" as you put it. He may not be on the board of directors of the club but he is - and some might say quite rightly as the single largest shareholder - pulling the strings. If you think he knows anything less than 100% of what goes on at board level, and doesnt express his opinions, then I would suggest that is naive ! Also, if he is so uninvolved, why was it him and not the board who denounced the Supporters Trust chairman over the Brewster sacking? I have several issues with the club right now and unfortunately I cant agree with you that anything has been taken as a learning opportunity as we seem to make the same or similar mistakes on a yearly basis ! - Communication is my #1 issue and has been for more than 10 years. This is the 21st century yet our communication strategies are firmly rooted in the past. A lot of the crap that comes out, whether true or not can be avoided, minimised or even turned on its head with effective communication. Virtually all of the points below suffer from communication issues - either between the parties involved or between club and fans and if we had learned from past mistakes might not have happened or escalated. If the club are talking to people, be it the trust, this website, fans, shareholders, supporters club, centenary members or any other group then a lot of the grumbles instantly disappear (we have seen this reaction when Boardroom Banter was getting done honestly). If the stadium issue or the finance rumour had been addressed and explained (or debunked) in some manner then they wouldnt take on a life of their own and become the divisive issues that they are. The same applies to anything else .... you proactively take a (breaking?) story and if it is bad you explain it from your point of view and people will normally forgive you or at least appreciate the honesty of the answer, conversely, when something positive happens you take that story and promote the crap out of it .... we never do that, and never seem to learn that sometimes its the best course. - Brewster sacking. I believe you covered that one but again it was the disdain shown to the fans that stuck in my mind. This was not just a few hundred fans on here, who always get told they are moaning faced w*****s, it was a significant portion of our supporters with no affiliation to this website and yet they were condescendingly denounced. - Niculae Debacle. I think we have done this to death but yet again, our failure to communicate - this time with the player - was our undoing. If the club thought they had a case then fair enough, but once courts and the sport's governing body have ruled against you then it is time to suck it up, pay the man and move on. - Contracts. This is where we never learn. Every year we seem to lose someone for a miniscule fee or on a Bosman because we cant offer any more than 2 year contracts (which effectively become 1 and a bit year contracts due to Bosman). It has been compunded even further this year by us not offering anything and communicating what at best is a poor excuse as the reason behind it. It is preposterous to only have 3 players under contract beyond the end of the season. - Finance. It doesnt matter whether we are actually struggling or not, the club should have closed down this rumour months ago. If we are struggling (which I believe we are) then just tell us. We will understand. Most of us realise that we took a huge hit in revenue between SPL and SFL1 but maybe we dont realise how much. The club could simply have said "yes, things are tight, but here is how we hope to get through it". The best form of spin is sometimes honesty!!! Instead, we have a chairman telling us the board will make every effort to "bounce back" at the first attempt but others saying the opposite, and rumours coming out of the stadium from multiple sources that back all of that up. - Stadium Ownership. Yet another area where effective communication could have stopped an issue before it had really started. If there is nothing to hide and there is a reason for the apparent or alleged 'slight of hand' in the ownership debate then just come out and explain it. Again, if things are different to what was actually voted on explain it honestrly, be prepared for a rough ride, but ultimately, the fans are not stupid and will accept an explanation if it is a reasonable one.

1997/98: Wick, @Harmsworth Park 0-5 (19/07/97) 1998/99: Thurso Academical @ Thurso (18/07/98), no score available. labelled as a "centenary match" 1998/99: Wick, @Harmsworth Park 1-6 (08/12/98) 2003/04: Wick, @Harmsworth Park 1-3 (09/08/03) - 2nd team played, 1st team had league game at Stenny 2007/08: Wick, @Harmsworth Park 1-1 (27/07/07) - 2nd team played, 1st team played the next day in Dingwall

Here are all our pre-season friendlies since 1994 1994/95: St Mirren, Bolton, Brechin, Celtic, Highland League Select (at end of season) 1995/96: Inverurie, Huntly, Lossie, Buckie, 1996/97: Fraserburgh, St Johnstone, QOS, Hamilton. Highland League Select (last game at Telford St), Inverness & District Select (first game at Caledonian Stadium), Aberdeen (end of season), 1st Battalion Highlanders (end of season at Catterick) 1997/98: Wick, Dunfermline, Lewis/Harris Select, Deveronvale, Huntly, St Johnstone (Hercher Testimonial), Rangers, Celtic (Christie Testimonial), Chic Charnley Select (Charity - Cerebal Palsy), 1998/99: Cove, Keith, Rothes, Aberdeen, Hamilton, Lossie, Alford Amateur, Wick, Thurso Academical, Hibs (Calder Testimonial), Fraserburgh, 1999/00: Fort William, Clach, Cove, Forfar, Keith, Lossie, Forres, Dundee, Rothes, St Johnstone (Noble Testimonial) 2000/01: Lossie, Mansfield, Peterhead, Aberdeen, Fort William, Huntly, Rothes 2001/02: Huntly, forfar, Lossie, Celtic XI, Peterhead, Elgin, Orkney, Buckie 2002/03: Morton, Montrose, Peterhead, Lossie, Huntly, Elgin, Benbecula, Deveronvale (twice) 2003/04: Clach, Forres, Brora, Aberdeen, Livingston, Lossie, Forfar, Hearts, Nairn, Wick 2004/05: Brora, Huntly, Lossie, QPR, Deveronvale, Forfar, Hartlepool, Elgin, Clach (twice) 2005/06: Denmark Tour (3 games - Nykobing F Alliancen, FC Nordsjaelland, Hornbaek), Blackpool, Peterhead, Ross County 2006:07: Italy Tour (2 games - Montecatini, FC La Fenice Pistoia), Elgin, Huntly, Peterhead, Deveronvale, Ross County, Clach, Sheffield Utd (Tokely Testimonial) 2007/08: Italy Tour (2 games - Qatar U20, Universiatea Craivoa), Deveronvale, Elgin, Clach, Keith, Inverurie, Peterhead, Clach, Wick, Ross County, 2008:09: Clach, Inverurie, Ross County, St Johnstone, Denmark Tour (3 games - Lollandfalster, FC Nordsjaelland, Herfolge), Burnley, Liverpool (Wilson Testimonial) 2009/10: Clach, Buckie, Elgin, Huntly, Brechin, Forres, Dundee Utd

Barrowman is no longer an ICT player and is therefore back to being irrelevant.

Just for the record, the ICTOnline twitter account was setup by this website, not the club and it is us (sometimes even me from Toronto based on openallmics and other twitter users) that update it. It is also us who have seen fit to publicise club events or initiatives via our Twitter feed on non match days. OUR Twitter service will continue as normal, it just wont be from the announcers booth I was quoting directly from the Courier article Scotty... These were the faceless, anonymous club spokesman's very words. Also : Weren't plans to film future home matches evolving through this (CTO) website thanks largely to CD's efforts? JB - I wasnt sure if that was direct from the article or not but if it was, it is factually incorrect and the club seem to be labouring under the misapprehension that they have ownership of that twitter account. I was just clarifying that the ICTOnline twitter account is registered in my name, was setup by me, and was updated usually by either Donald or Alan (LG's son) or if they werent available or were too busy, by me all the way over here in Toronto !!! The club had no interest and very little involvement in it other than allowing Alan to join Don in the booth. Even the advertising of events and such like to our twitter feed was done proactively by us. As for the video service, yes we (CTO) have been instrumental in pushing this to the front and Donald had not only secured the services of camera people but also the equipment and the editing technology to create the clips (you are only allowed to show a certain number of minutes per game). We had jointly supplied the storage space on our webserver and were in the process of trying to work with the club to figure out how best to get it online (initially via the official site but potentially - in the future - by establishing an ICT owned media site which we would design and implement for them for free). There were several other initiatives in the pipeline, all of which would have cost the club not a single penny but would have taken their electronic offering to the next level but I guess its all back to square one now as they seek to "develop ways, electronically and by video highlights of benefitting supporters who cannot attend matches" and presumably do that on a platform that they already know, and have admitted, is not fit for the purpose. NEWSFLASH !!! The ways are already professionally developed, they were just waiting for the all clear to be implemented. I am bloody angry about this, seething in fact. Some might say Donald's actions could have no other consequence but I say bollocks to that !!! His actions may very well have cost him the announcer's job, and he knew that, but everything else was a joint venture between CTO and the club not Donald and the club - even if Donald was acting as the frontman on the scene - and they have not had the decency to communicate with either of us ...... In fact JB, because this is not in the online courier, your confirmation of the story in the printed paper is the first I have heard that CTO is no longer involved in any of these ventures. Its a very unprofessional way to do business, but if thats the way they want it, so be it, we will move on with other plans and with other projects for other clients. Funnily enough - we have had some communication from the club this week ..... I received an email this morning asking us to publicise/publish the Sportsmans Dinner info (which we have done) so it seems that they do still need/want us for some things !

Just for the record, the ICTOnline twitter account was setup by this website, not the club and it is us (sometimes even me from Toronto based on openallmics and other twitter users) that update it. It is also us who have seen fit to publicise club events or initiatives via our Twitter feed on non match days. OUR Twitter service will continue as normal, it just wont be from the announcers booth

Excerpts of the Supporters Charter (from the club website)

thats it, we are putting 'peh' on the swear filter :(

That little nugget doesnt seem to have made it into the online edition but I have to say its a crying shame. I think we all knew that your stand might/would have repercussions, and that you were prepared for the main one which was no longer doing the announcing, but for them to put the kybosh on the other stuff, and to do it in such an unprofessional manner seems to be a case of cutting their nose off to spite their face. A lot of the initiatives were not prominent ones and you were more "in the background" of them even if you were the "on site" person doing the running around to organise it. Marketed correctly, these initiatives, at worst, would have been self financing and broken even but given the club much positive PR, and at best might have made the club a few quid on a regular and ongoing basis. At a time when we seem to be lurching from one bad situation to another and our finances may take another hit, (see Courier story about the doubt over our FlyBe sponsorship continuing), the club needs to build bridges and/or mend fences rather than be pushing people away just because they have the audacity to speak their mind and ask questions.

Pat Nevin commented on this once on a tv/radio programme .... cant remember how it came up, or which programme it was, but he categorically stated he was not born in Inverness, he was born somewhere in the Glasgow area. Having said that, his STV bio does say he was born in the Sneck: http://scotland.stv.tv/greatest-scot/panel...-michael-nevin/

Guys, lets stop the flaming of each other now. It is spamming the discussion and taking what promised to be a light hearted thread way off topic and is not warranted. If you want to have a pop at each other please do it via PM !

looks like it was fun. well done ;)

only if the "Bus Convenour" hasnt organised things properly ;) Actually though, I didnt think it was that bad. Its a bit basic, but thats fine for their needs presumably. More importantly, it is easy to navigate and gets the job done. Only thing I can really pick up on is the typos all over the place but criticising that means our next few articles are bound to be riddled with them too !

It is widely accepted that goals per game is the ratio used in official stats all over the place including ICT's official stats. I have a slight issue with that as it doesnt always take account of minutes played (ie. whether the player was in the starting lineup or came on as an 89th minute sub !) but thats the criteria that is in use. A ratio of Goals/Shots on a game by game basis might be more accurate but then you would just have people arguing about whether one particular effort was a "shot at goal" or not .... so it too is not perfect. Barrowman can score goals, that is not in doubt given his 29 goals in the 2nd division, but is it our style of play? or is it him finding his level? A certain Rory McAllister is top scorer in his division right now (if not in the entire country) and we all know he could score goals in our reserves but came up dry most times he was added to the first team ..... Rooney has a better strike rate but it still doesnt come close to that of our best strikers like Wyness, Stewart, Dargo etc.

It is an interesting read but IMHO it answers nothing. Lets break it down "That Celtic game did us a power of good," explained David Sutherland, then the Caley Thistle chairman and, while no longer a board member, still the majority shareholder of the club. Indeed, it did. We earned a few quid, got national (and international exposure) and everyone was happy. It also made the transition from the chairmanship of DM to the chairmanship of DFS a smooth one for him as not only was the feelgood factor there, but shortly thereafter all our debt "disappeared" [*]"Relegation from Scotland's top flight last May has come at a typically heavy cost for Inverness. They were hardly free-spenders in the SPL but, as any other club will discover and by Sutherland's blunt admission, decline in supporter numbers and television revenue when in the First Division has a major impact for any club" Cant really argue with most of that, and I wont question the decline in revenues from TV, and other advertisers which is probably greater than we would like to think. However, I would question one of the variables because as we know from press releases at the beginning of the season, season ticket sales were UP on last season as fans acted on the plea from the club to support in bigger numbers. Whilst cash ticket sales may be down on a weekly basis, the simple math is that we have more season ticket holders than before and it doesnt matter (financially) if they attend a game or not, the money still goes to the club. [*]The local businessman, who has invested ?5million of his own money into the football club without any return, disputes local rumour that Caley Thistle are somehow in fiscal difficulty. He may not have had any FINANCIAL return, but I would suggest he has had plenty of return in other ways. As the major shareholder, he has been the man able to steer the ship whether he was "on the bridge" as chairman or not. He has the power to appoint 3 directors and the chairman so retains complete control over the club. Of the ?5m reportedly invested, I believe that a lot of it is in shares bought in the name of his company or companies, yet I believe his personal shareholding is still only 250 shares which matches the amount thousands of other small investors have bought, so you could argue the semantics of whether it is "personal" finances or his company finances? I have no idea about company taxation and such like but in my mind it also raises the question of whether his main businesses received any tax benefits for investing in a money losing business? However these questions are indeed a matter of semantics as I would say that whether personally or through one or more of his companies he has caused a significant sum to be invested in the club one way or another so I would give him a pass on that one. Another portion of the ?5m is presumably the cost of the stands that were built. Again, you could argue the returns on this. Without question, I would say he has not seen any financial return on them, but again, he was not the sole contributor to these, ICT also paid money towards it (250K is memory serves me correctly) and the one BIG bonus he got from it was stadium naming rights for the entire duration of our SPL years. If Stirling Albion can value their club naming rights at ?50K per year in the 2nd division, what price the rights to name the stadium in the SPL and get all the coverage on TV and in print where the name "Tulloch Caledonian Stadium" is frequently used over the course of 5 years (and beyond). [*]"I will always help the club out not if, but when, that is needed," he said. "But we have a pretty focused and wealthy board in place at Caley Thistle now." What has the "wealth" of the board got to do with anything? If they are so wealthy and we have money in the bank and such like then why are there so many examples that when taken separately might seem innocuous, but when lumped together seem to indicate that all might not be as rosy as we are being led to believe. As the major shareholder in the club, why is he also not pressuring the board to answer the questions of the rank and file shareholders and dispel these scurrilous rumours? As I have said before on this matter, I do have respect for Mr Sutherland, and I am not seeking to minimise the contribution he made or the effect of his interjections in times of need. However, what we need now are some straight answers to the legitimate questions that have been raised both in terms of the club finances (which this interview touched on only briefly), and on the whole stadium ownership issue (which this article avoided like the plague).

To be fair to Barrowman, he was hardly ever played. When he was played, he was either played out of position or didn't receive the service he needs. Rooney appears to be Butchers favoured striker - but why? I'd be embarrassed of his strike ratio. Rooney: 08/09 (SPL) - 6 goals in 36 appearances (11 starts, 25 sub) = strike rate of 16.66 % 09/10 (SFL) - 13 goals in 31 appearances (17 starts, 14 sub) = strike rate of 41.93% Overall - 19 goals in 67 appearances (28 starts, 39 sub) = strike rate of 28.36% Barrowman: 08/09 (SPL) - 2 goals in 33 appearances (15 starts, 18 sub) = s/r of 6.06% 09/10 (SFL) - 1 goal in 8 appearances (2 starts, 6 sub) = s/r of 12.5% Overall - 3 goals in 41 appearances (17 starts, 24 sub) = s/r of 7.31%

Imrie MoM for Accies today !!!!

according to Chick (who is no fan of ours), ICT were in control for the first half hour, in fact the first goal was somewhat against the run of play. He has also commented that we came out in the second half and looked better. Our problems in this game seem to have been two-fold. 1. We cannot take chances when we get them. Our finishing in terms of how many chances we need to score a goal are woeful. 2. Cammy Bell has had a stormer. Twice or 3 times now Chick has commented on the keeper making unbelievable saves

3-0 to Killie, Kelly with his second of the game. all over now, attendance 4473

agree with you there Jay, although Killie are struggling, they are still an SPL team and we are not !! They also have the bonus of the "new manager" bump .......

apologies for cross posting this in two threads but ot looks like our major shareholder has been talking to the jounalist that some lovingly call "squirrel" http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/scottish-c...road.6049172.jp seems he was also interviewed the day before about Tullochs http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/business/T...e-to.6041312.jp

Looks like our major shareholder has been talking to the jounalist that some lovingly call "squirrel" http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/scottish-c...road.6049172.jp seems he was also interviewed the day before about Tullochs http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/business/T...e-to.6041312.jp

thats cos he is our secret weapon

.style2 {text-align: center;}.style6 {border: 1px solid #FFFF99;text-align: center;}.style8 {text-align: center;border-style: solid;border-width: 0;}.style10 {color: #FFFF00}.style12 {font-size: 18pt;font-weight: bold;} THE MATCH Kilmarnock -V- Inverness CT PREVIEW Rugby Park, Kilmarnock 3:00 PM ...follow us on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/ICTOnline ...discuss it during the game in the CHATROOM Live Match Coverage AUDIO: BBC Open All Mics (browser) BBC Open All Mics (Real Player or Windows Media Player) Moray Firth Radio (browser) [uK/VPN ONLY] TEXT UPDATES: BBC Sportbox SKY TEAM LINEUPS

The only way I can see that happening is if the Supporters Trust was able to to substantially increase the number of shares it controls. Why? One of our previous chairmen has (or had) a personal holding of only 250 shares (the minimum). I a sure - especially in these times of stony silence - that there would be significant support from a lot of small shareholders for a fan representative. Think that is a great idea.