Scotty

If you look at the photos for that night at Parkhead you will see DM celebrating with the team on the park ..... DFS was on the scene before the cup game but if memory serves me correctly, they were doing a sort of long handover at the time, dotting all the 'i's and crossing all the 't's etc.

thank you M'Lud ;) Just one minor correction (before Mr Bannerman gets in with it) ... by the turn of the century we were indeed called Inverness Caledonian Thistle, as this was added at the start of season 1996/97. The rest of your comment pretty much mirrors my understanding of the bill-of-goods we were sold and the shareholders meetings of the time.

and that is the very nub of the question that is being asked ...... As you mention, The shareholders of the club voted to allow the transfer of the stadium to a CHARITABLE TRUST. However, it is not clear if this is actually what happened and if it did, whether or not this was then subsequently transferred to another company or companies. The waters are all very muddy. The shareholders of the club most definitely DID NOT vote for anything other than a charitable trust. Some clarification on the matter, to explain the current status and dispel the suggestion of shady dealings is most definitely required.

might TB have been 'ticked off' with the 'swagger' also and thought similarly to you? This could have been done to teach a lesson or try to bring a player down a peg or two if he felt he was getting too big for his boots ... its the old carrot and stick principle. Where Rosscoe is concerned, I think TB's hands are tied ... He hasnt done anything to show he has lost faith in Rosscoe, he put him straight back in the team after injury and not slagged him off for anything. As far as contracts are concerned, he isnt able to do anything, its the board's remit.

link to P&J article referred to above: http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1589055 "Midfielder Dougie Imrie felt he had no option but to leave Caley Thistle after falling out of favour with manager Terry Butcher. A strained relationship existed between manager and player and the 26-year-old was often a frustrated spectator on the substitutes? bench this season. He said: ?It was difficult as I started off well early in the season and then I was out for nine weeks through injury. I got back into the team and then got sent off in the Challenge Cup final against Dundee. I did not see any action after that for the next two months which was disappointing. I had a great relationship with the manager when he first came in after Craig Brewster ? we were unfortunate not to stay in the league. As a manager you have to make decisions and stand by them. I want to play every week, I wasn?t getting that at Caley Thistle and in the end I thought it was best to move on."

;) No Thanks !!! I get enough grief from running the website !

Just to make sure i'm not mistaken, according to that, TCS is not only a tourist attraction, but a main feature that the area surrounding will be built to compliment? That is indeed the original theory ..... and when DFS invested in the club and ultimately ended up controlling the destiny of the stadium, I think that most fans, myself included, thought: "ok, this is fine, he is an ICT man, has done a lot for us, and will make sure ICT benefit from all of this development. He will likely make a small fortune himself as he has positioned things so he or his companies can get the building work but thats ok, we dont begrudge him that because he will make sure that ICT are safe and also benefit from it." The current conspiracy theory that I have heard doing the rounds, and I might add, well before Don raised the ownership issue, but which that issue does nothing to minimise, is centred around the thoery that the TCS occupies a huge footprint within this area and were it to move or cease to exist somehow, the rewards for those involved in any development would increase exponentially. I dont buy into any particular theory, and I am not saying this is the intention, but an answer to the ownership issue and a clear plan for the future of ICT (similar to our 'road to premier league football') could quite simply quosh this theory and allow us to move on with recovery ......

I think you are spot-on. I can understand why we are in a predicament financially because we have lost more income than many of us might appreciate .... SPL money, sponsors revenue, TV money, advertising, even revenue based on hospitality, season ticket and match ticket prices. However, I would question whether we managed our finances particularly well over the last 5 years in the SPL? and how we are managing them now? There are loads of rumours flying around right now about our finances, and not just on this site, but in Inverness in general. Some are true (according to sources), some may have a grain of truth in them but have been embellished (sometimes wildly), and some are just pure speculation or guess work, but one thing I have heard time and time again in the last couple of months is about how we needlessly frittered cash away (at times) during our SPL years and how we are now scrambling around to try and make ends meet. The exit of Imrie and Barrowman may ease that burden somewhat as they were both on a decent wage (excessive some might say in the case of Barrowman) but bottom line seems to be that the cupboards are bare and we dont have much leeway to fill them up again short of a bailout package ! I mentioned on another thread that I would like to see the current board come out and show us an honest plan for turning things around. It might be painful, it might contain things we didnt like (such as an extended stay in Div1) but if they did that and showed that they had a plan, be it a 2 year, 3 year or 5 year plan to get us back to the SPL, I think they would have the fans backing. If they also cleared up the stadium ownership question at the same time, perhaps we could get back to talking football and pulling in the same direction. Right now, I would be happy with Butcher continuing beyond the end of the season if both he and Malpas were happy with a salary commensurate with 1st division status (maybe with an incentive of a big bonus for getting us back to the SPL). Its taken a while and there have been a few bumps along the way but finally the additions to his squad seem to be gelling. We have not lost in 7 games, we are not leaking goals so badly and if one or two players who have made glaring misses recently can start hitting the net then we might even start winning the odd game by more than a single goal. With Dundee faltering a little, if we can keep momentum going and win our games in hand we are right back in it. In all of this, we also have to remember that its been "bedlam, bedlam, bedlam" behind the scenes so fair play to him for trying to keep himself and the players focussed on the task in hand. I am disappointed but not surprised at the silence coming from the boardroom. Any time there has been a crisis or a perceived crisis at the club, its been a case of manning the barricades and making sure no-one pops their head above the parapet, you just need to look at the calls for Brewster's head for another prime example. I know that many of the board members are succesful businessmen, and although we all think we could run the club better, I very much doubt it is as easy as we would like to think. It may very well be the case that they are the right people to take the club forward but right now it doesnt seem so. They are not showing either of the two qualities that I as a fan (and shareholder) expect of the people elected to run our club ... Leadership and Direction. C'mon Mr Fraser, you have been anonymous as a chairman through several major incidents in the last few years - Brewster hiring, Brewster firing, relegation, Niculae transfer, staff layoffs, questions about stadium ownership, and now questions/rumours about finances ..... If you had stepped up to the plate for any of these and played a leadership role you could have minimised the effect of them, nipped things in the bud, or corrected any misinformation that is out there. The board as a whole also have to be ultimately responsible for the current state of our contracts. Our DoF may do the negotiations but he too needs direction and agreement from the complete board as to what is available and what his budget is. With AB gone, I think that now makes it 3 players who have a contract beyond the end of the season. That is preposterous. These guys all have committments, be it families, mortgages, rents or just normal living expenses and for them not to know what is going to be happening come the end of May is not only dangerous (in terms of losing them to other teams) but also, in my mind, irresponsible and immoral. Get it sorted. Like TB/MM, offer them a contract for D1 with nice bonusses for winning the title but also build in something that allows the contract to be renogotiated should we ultimately win the title and be promoted. some might not go for it but at the very least they will see they do have some form of job security if they choose to accept it .... right now they have nothing and if any leave it is fully and squarely on the board's shoulders not the players. I will end my rant with a direct and honest plea to the board as I am sure this will be another thread that is printed off !!! Gentlemen ... PLEASE. I know most of you loathe this website and many of the posters on it but NONE of us would be here if we did not care DEEPLY for OUR club. We know that most of you have done good work in the past and we know you can do it again in the future and most fans would like to work TOGETHER with you to make that happen. However, to do that we need some leadership, direction, and honesty. We know its a tough time, the drop out of the SPL has been devastating for all both emotionally and financially but by burying heads in the sand and saying nothing whilst providing no leadership or direction things are only getting worse. Will someone (anyone) be the man who will step up and have the balls to say "ok, we screwed <insert incident> up, but here is our plan to fix it"? Will someone take the criticism on the chin, admit to mistakes (your only human after all) and then move forward showing that lessons have been learned? Will someone take the bull by the horns and start working with the fans, be it supporters trust or some other body, to move the club forward? Lets hope so ... because ICT has always been a club which operates far more effectively when all of its parts - Board, Players, Management, Staff and Fans work as one team pulling in the same direction.

Page 3 of the attached PDF makes interesting reading .......... longman_draft_db.pdf

FT Killie 1-0 .... Will Mogga be on his way out ? Hearts also losing 1-0 to St Mirren in the League Cup semi .... Ian Black booked then hooked :D Jaggie1994: Yes, Maguire came on as a sub for Aberdeen in the last round so I guess he will be cup-tied.

I have added an article to the front page of the site (http://caleythistleonline.com) that details Imrie and Barrowman's stats for us and also highlights the ins and outs at other clubs. Ins and Outs taken from club websites and fans of the other teams on P&B so dont blame me if any are wrong :D

Barrowman booted from the topic for flaming. His posts were also removed as they were nothing more than trying to slag off several posters. This thread has not done too badly so far in terms of getting too personal ... lets keep it that way.

When playing well - this is a bad thing When struggling or off the boil - no difference.

The site is not hosted at the stadium and could therefore be accessed from anywhere. Having said that, we seem to be moving away from talking about the site and focussing on an individual tasked with working on it which is wrong. None of us know what her current remit is. for example, as has been pointed out, if she only has a certain number of hours that have to be dedicated to the site per day or week in amongst other duties then I would fully understand why it is not getting updated so frequently or why she wouldnt bother to login from home and update it. Like most of you however, I feel that the whole thing is shoddy. not on her part, but just shoddy in general from the generic design and incorrect information upwards. From my own personal experiences, I would say the club have never been web savvy and it still looks like they treat the internet like a passing craze ...

I have always been very supportive of the job done by ICT's webmistress as noted from my post below, but the simple truth of the matter is that there is definitely a lag on "real" news on there now. Whether that is because of pressure on her other duties (I believe she is also press liaison) or whether her hours have been cut, I dont know but it is certainly noticeable compared to what it was like even up until recently.

well, I'm certainly not paying his bus fare ;) seriously though, we do get asked to do many projects and being just the two of us we sometimes dont have the time, or the skillset to do what is asked. We are not afraid to admit that. However, I would far rather refer someone who has an IT need or a web design query to a fellow ICT fan in the same field than some random person who might support County or the OF !!!

rather than lookup all of Don's posts or ask him to do more work and cut and paste everything together in one place would it not be simpler for the club, or more specifically, the major shareholder just to come out and explain it all in words we plebs can understand? Unlike Don, who has extensive experience in the banking field, when it comes to financial matters, I am a relatively simple man. I work, I get my wages in the bank, my expenses come out via direct debit and what I am left with is mine to spend. Even the portfolio in my personal pension plan is taken care of by my bank. So the minutiae of all this alleged or potential skullduggery goes right over my head. I will admit that I did wonder at the time how the debt managed to disappear but bottom line in all of this was that at the time I was more interested in discussing the fact that it had gone than I was in figuring out the machinations or method of its disappearance. Surely it is simple, if there is nothing to hide, and everything is above board, then why does it seem that no-one involved is willing to debunk Don's theories, comment on the story, or clear up any misconceptions? Not only would this kill the story but I am sure some of the principles would love the opportunity to see Don with egg on his face. If Don is right - and I can say with all sincerity that I hope he is not - then it doesnt bear thinking about.

Karl - we are always on the lookout for people (especially ICT fans on this site) with IT/Web skills that we can refer clients to if we are too busy, or sub-contract parts of projects to where we might not have the requisite skills. Assuming this is of interest to you, If you let Don and myself know what you can do we can maybe add you to our list of "go-to" people ......... S.

Good on you Karl and good luck !!! I hope you have more success in breaking through the barriers of suspicion than we did even when we were the official site ! At the request of the chief executive, I first put an offer on the table for them before they signed the contract with PTV 6 years ago and it was viewed with suspicion by certain people. At the time we were still the official site and their was no animosity or hard feelings that CTO was to split from the club in an official capacity, in fact it was a huge relief as it was becoming more and more apparent that either the official tag had to go or the forum had to go as the football authorities were taking clubs more and more to task over web comments of fans and I was in the unenviable position of being able to please no-one, not the club who wanted comments sanitised and not the fans who did not. Our offer - as die hard Caley Thistle fans - was very favourable, free design, free hosting, free email system, free integrated club shop, free maintenance and free upgrades to the platform/technology as the need arose. It also included 100% control over the site itself including content and advertising as well as being able to retain 100% of the advertising revenue (minus any capital costs for additional features they wanted that actually cost money to provide such as SSL certificates and such like). A win-win situation if ever there was one. The only concession we asked for was that the club extend their copyright to allow us to use images and/or stories on here if we needed to (with a 24 hour time delay for breaking news articles meaning news was always on their site first). We even agreed to try and split the types of service available on each site .. eg, we would have a forum, they would not, they might want a gallery so we wouldnt have one, we would share the same stats database and this sort of stuff. As I said, this was viewed with a lot of suspicion. I think some could not believe that we would provide this for free and wondered (but never asked) what the catch was. It was simple, there was no catch, it was a genuine offer because we are fans of the club. Our biggest benefit would have been advertising our own web business by way of a "designed by" link and therefore use the site as one of our "flagship" designs (which also means we would constantly make sure it looked its best). The chief exec chose PTV, because it supposedly offered more guaranteed revenue generation opportunities (and less effort on the part of the club to keep it updated) and the rest is history. We are not actively pursuing anything as we have enough work to keep us going for now but the club are well aware that pretty much the same offer is still on the table should they wish it ........ Hopefully Darren turns out to be less skeptical and suspicious than his predecessor over the motives ... which are the same as they always were.... to provide at service for ICT at no cost to them for the good and benefit of the club whilst raising the profile of our own business.

And when will that be, as Hamilton know it's done. There is a few clubs today who only update there websites when they have done all there business And there are a few who recently dont update theirs with football news in a timely fashion at all. I know you are only trying to stick up for the club but as someone who has always tried to post positively about some of the stuff on there and the job that is done by a single person, I am finding it harder and harder to do that. Today is one of the 3 or 4 days of the season when hundreds of folk will be hitting the site looking for information. No information = no return visit. The website will be updated shortley after midnight ONCE ALL DEALS CONCERNING ICT, OR POSSIBLE DEALS CONCERNING ICT HAVE BEEN COMPLETED 2AM your time.

mebbe so, but it is better than a blanket ruling that would restrict people's access to the forums based not on what they actually do or say but rather on their employer or status with that employer ..... anyhoo .... back on topic

knew it was bogus !!! I might have clicked it had it been in the transfer thread, but not the website one B)

GIRFUY, Hobbit ! http://www.theglaswegian.co.uk/football/pa...02692-22011124/ McCall blasted: "Everybody was angry and Terry Butcher didn't make it any better when he agreed that it wasn't a penalty!" ..... "the behaviour of the standside linesman was absolutely appalling - telling players to eff off and things like that. It's unacceptable. I rarely speak out and I rarely get in trouble with officials. The last time was many, many years ago. But it was towards the players and towards me. Just appalling behaviour. I don't know what football is coming to." paint cans, water bottles and a turd in a shoe ..... ring any bells Frodo ?

It may have been one of the articles I mentioned that I had read ....

ok, can we get back on topic here. We are not going to stop anyone logging on based on where they work or what position they hold. We are not going to stop anyone printing off stuff or anything else like that, and if we feel that any copyrighted material from the members area of this site including, but not limited to, forum discussions and or postings have been used in an inappropriate way then we will make a decision on how to proceed based on a private discussion between the operators of the site and any posters directly involved in the copyright breach.