Scotty

It was not his best move, but I don't think one single thing/event started our spiral. It's a combination of factors. There was a deterioration in the relationship with Yogi after that but look at his career and perhaps you might think that was inevitable. He does not stick around too long anywhere. Thats for another discussion. To me, Kenny's biggest mistake was listening to others (including fans) and appointing Richie Foran, who every one of us wanted to succeed, then not being ruthless when it was clear things weren't working. The change came too late, and we got relegated. I know that cut him to the quick as I was there as his guest on the final day of the season, with my son as mascot on the day he resigned. Lots of things happening to the side and in the background throughout those good times and the bad times. For me, the real rot started with the regime that followed. Kenny (and everyone before him) made some poor choices, but always made them with the best interests of the club in mind trying to push us on. He listened to fans and tried to communicate with us. Kenny may have left us relegated but he did leave us in a strong position financially and organisationally (assuming we could bounce back quickly). The next lot were a whole lot more insular and seemed to take the attitude from day one that everyone at the club - staff and volunteers alike - were there for what they could get from the club, not what they could give to the club. Thats a pretty sh***y stance to take when you (have always had to) rely on volunteers, many of whom have served the club for decades in various roles on a matchday. In my humble opinion, perhaps they were looking in the mirror a bit too much. They tore up a load of processes/things that were working, replaced them with more expensive procedures or services that didn't and soon made that strong position a lot weaker. They left behind a mess still being cleaned up now. I personally have no axe to grind with the current custodians of the club. They had an almighty mess to clean up. I believe the chairman does have the best interests at heart but I also know that many people have made comment about making suggestions to the club that were ignored or brushed off and that has a touch of the last regime about it. Thats not good, and neither is the communication level from the club. Given our precarious financial position we do seem to be pretty top heavy in terms of (presumably) high earners in non-footballing roles but I am no longer as close as I once was so dont have an idea of the value each of these positions bring to the table. If we are paying our CEO '£X.xx' and he is bringing in '£X.xx' * 3 in revenue or cost savings, then it's worth it. If however, the value is negative then its not. It should be a simple cost/benefit analysis on any financial aspects. The concert debacle also really hurt us I feel. We may be isolated from financial fallout but the whole thing is so murky that we are absolutely 100% affected by the moral fallout and no-one seems to have sought to address that. This is where we fall down BIG-TIME and a club that doesn't seem to care about its fans will soon find itself devoid of fans... which brings us right back to the word apathy in the title of this thread.

more likely we are just trying to get money off the wage bill.

I don't disagree. A few hundred saved could be a few thousand lost over the piece if people do take the hump. We are not in a position to ignore that. However, from a club perspective, Scottish Cup tickets are not included in your season ticket so a decision to only sell tickets for the Main Stand may be sensible if the expected turnout is less than the capacity of one area, although I hope they exclude the open wings from that calculation as that is not really comparable seating. The one thing here though, is that they already sold tickets for the North Stand so people who purchased there may not be too happy to be moved to the main stand. I can understand that. I see both sides on this one and don't know the correct decision ... I also agree with you in terms of other savings. We should be looking at every dark corner of the club to see if we are over-spending or wasting money elsewhere, to see what opportunities we can take advantage of to increase revenue at the stadium on matchdays or outside of that time, or to figure out other ways we can save or raise money throughout the club.

no idea of monetary value but factor in less electricity from heat/light as well as less cost for stewarding or security etc. Probably not an earth-shattering amount but if - as has been suggested - that we have directors dipping into their own pockets to pay wages or cover other costs then every penny counts.

I would say that is true... I remember Charlie Christie saying that part of the motivation for our players back in 2000 was the odds of 18-1 against us. After someone on Facebook wondered whether they would regurgitate the "ballistic" headline I looked at the Scottish-Sun website (I know, will bleach my eyeballs later) and in the story there, it notes Darvel were 33-1 outsiders so definitely longer odds than us for a single game. And to save others the trouble, no, they didn't regurgitate the headline, they didn't even mention us. They referenced that "they became the first non-league side to beat a topflight club since Elgin shocked Ayr back in 1966". At least when we beat Celtic we were rising stars of the leagues and would only be 4 years later we ourselves were in the Premiership (thanks in part to many of the players on that night) so a shock yes, but not as earth shattering as this one!

Jake Mulraney has joined St Patrick's Athletic in Ireland after a transfer from Orlando FC in MLS. https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/orlando-city-transfer-jake-mulraney-to-ireland-s-st-patrick-s-athletic

I guess a website is a good place for spider puns! Personally, I would prefer to play them midweek... perhaps on a Web-nesday. QP having their favourite meal tonight? Corn on the cob(-web). Ok, I'll get my coat!

Bill has a lot of anecdotes from his time as a broadcaster and journalist. Would imagine he would be quite entertaining at an event like this. But watch out for the really bad puns! He has probably been around the club enough to have a few stories or anecdotes about Aaron as well. Nicola used to be the North Tonight presenter for Grampian TV in the Highlands. Also, a long-time journalist and broadcaster. No idea how she is on the speaking circuit, but definitely eloquent and well spoken. Would also have a wealth of local knowledge. As for Gary Warren - I am sure he may have a few stories to tell also - the whole thing could be a bit more of an Aaron Doran 'roast' than a traditional after-dinner round of speeches.

have added the graphic to the sidebar on various pages to give it some visiblity.

Big Stew always used to say similar - 'Jeezo' or 'Jeezy Peeps' so not an unfamiliar phrase to me 🙂

A lot being said about Ryan Esson recently and his coaching qualifications being up there in comparison to others at the club. Might be worth a chance? Unlike a completely untested manager (like Foran was), he has at least cut his teeth with the youth teams to gain some experience. Is it enough? Perhaps, perhaps not. Maybe there are also other former players who are making their way into management that could be considered for the top job if we dispense with Dodds, or who could become assistants if there is a clearout ... Tokely, Warren, Golly, Meekings to name a few that have come up in local news recently. Think Tremarco is also still in the area is he not? No idea what level of coaching badges any of them have but if they are suitably qualified then they should be considered. Reality is that we are a 2nd tier team with a miniscule budget so whoever we do get is unlikely to be of the highest profile so someone ambitious who wants to show they can do it, or someone with a deep connection to the club who will put their heart into the job will do it for me 🙂

That would be silly if it was the reason ... 2 different occupations and skillsets. Video Analyst is surely for the coaching side. They video the game (or use footage provided by the media team or a system like, dare I say it Pixellot) and analyse that footage from a coaching perspective, whereas Andy would film (very well) and put together the media package for public consumption. I suspect we would get damn site better footage if Andy was doing it and supplying it to the video analyst. If we are back to using that garbage pixellot system, then it's definitely a step backwards. My son was watching one of these "worst" compilations on YouTube recently and this one was about football ... Wouldn't you know it, the pixellot footage where it concentrated on the ref's baldy head from the Caledonian Stadium made it onto that lowlight reel! (and now I know I am going to go down that YouTube history rabbit hole to try and find it!! )

There are a couple of entries in google for that name in Inverness area. The relevant one appears to be a student at the UHI who has a now deleted twitter account that references himself as an "Aspiring young Football Journalist. Currently volunteering at Scottish Football clubs" ... The other was from 2014 and may or may not be related but the origin of the name appears to be Croatia.

See here : Hat Tricks - CaleyThistleOnline

Merry Christmas to one and all. Whether I know you or not, whether I agree with you or not, the best wishes are the same. Having said that, I do want to take a moment to call out a few folk personally - TM4TJ especially. Without his straight talking editorial style and dedication the site would be a far lesser place. He does this diligently and without any help a lot of the time. Thank You !! Similarly, Gringo, IBM, MrCaleyJag and ICTEWD who run various aspects of the site in the foreground or background. Also, the moderators - Mantis, Yngwie, & RiG who keep things running, keep spammers of our member list, and nudge folks back into line where needed, and finally those on our editorial team who contribute what they can, when they can. It takes quite a few people to keep things ticking over and we are blessed to have a great bunch doing so. Finally, as I take a moment to raise a glass to you all in celebration, I also want to remember those we have lost in 2022. On the site, as we know we lost Kingsmills and he will be sorely missed, and fondly remembered by most, even those who crossed swords with him from time to time. On a personal level, I also lost a dear friend, a dedicated ICT supporter, and my best man, who was definitely someone who fitted that title. I will raise an extra glass to you both.

After review of the comments in this thread by the mod team we will leave the referred to posts hidden and post this to make it perfectly clear to all that this is not acceptable. The posts made had zero relevance to the thread, and cross the line in terms of our site rules. It is clear they were meant as a personal dig towards a club official with no relevance to the discussion at hand. If the poster has a beef of a personal nature with that individual or any other individual at the club this is not the platform for that kind of inflammatory post. Debate the topic, not the person, and certainly not the child of a person who is not even a part of the topic up to that point. Raise controversial topics if you want - some of these have been interesting, thought provoking and worthy of discussion up to this point - but leave the personal stuff out of it. These have been our rules for 20+ years and will remain so. Consider this a clear yellow card on the personal stuff. Emotions are running high right now because we do seem to be challenged both on and off the field, but getting overly personal loses focus from the real discussion points that we need to focus on to right what appears to be a heavily listing ship right now.

The club will no doubt argue that this is exactly what is happening. the wording of the statement is literally a 'don't travel' notification with a pretty passive aggressive dig at the SPFL. "because of our continued unprecedented injury situation and the lack of assistance we applied for via the proper channels at the SPFL, the club will have no choice but to play a team in this tie which will not include many of our current 1st team squad." If there is blowback, they will argue they asked for assistance, were given none and simply played the strongest team they could. It would be hard to argue that given recent team lines.

Agree. You put the best team you can on the park in every game. Don't risk anyone who is injured or not fully fit but put out the best team you can from those available and only put the youngsters in where you have no option or where you feel they are good enough. Bigger worry is why we have so many injured? Is it the training regime? lack of recovery plans? putting players in too early after injury? Poor medical routines? I don't recall us ever having things quite so bad. ever.

It is with great sadness that we let everyone know of the passing of one of our site moderators 'Kingsmills'. Colin had been a member of the site for many years, definitely someone you would consider one of the originals. He was also a moderator on the site for much of his time here. Like all mods, he had his fair share of run-ins with some posters but as far as I am concerned always handled things pretty fairly. To my knowledge, I had never met Colin in person as I had already moved to Canada when he became a mod and we never (knowingly) crossed paths at the stadium but in email or PM dealings with him it was always pleasant. Condolences and respects to his family and friends.

interesting. can only think of a couple of guys with a former association with ICT and an events background or history. Would surprise me if it were either of them... but you were not wrong about GB so will wait and see 😉

True - think Herchie and Rosscoe have that on him ... don't believe Zlatan ever played at the MaraCanal

Its an off the wall comparison, and I am sure Rossco would be elated to be compared to him, but Zlatan Ibrahimovic is still playing at the very top level at the age of 41. I was witness to his time in MLS with LA Galaxy where he scored his 500th career goal in Toronto at the TFC supporters section end (and a thing of beauty it was too - even though he ended up on the losing side thankfully). Even after LA he was not ready to retire and headed to Serie A which is pretty impressive considering everyone in Europe seems to regard MLS as a retirement league (it is not). The point is that he looks after himself, has a football brain, and still able to function at that level. There are games in the last few years, where even past 40 he is still outshining all the 20 somethings around him. If he dropped down to Serie B or C (not that he would - ego would not allow it) he could likely play until he was late 40s. I remember Rossco's playing career with fondness and one of the things about that is people wrote him off year after year, each time we got promoted. Even after he had been part of the team from the bottom division all the way to the Premiership people still questioned his reliability and his football pedigree. Its economies of scale, and he has put a little more beef on than Zlatan, but I don't see why Rossco can't still play in the HFL if he has the desire? He has had a gradual slide down the ranks of the leagues in terms of teams played for ... us of course, then County, Brora, St Duthus, Loch Ness, and now a step back in league terms to Nairn. If he is enjoying his football, is remaining fit, and not getting injured then why not.

mmm, indeed. Puts me in mind of the time Pele told Rossco to walk home from Ayr !!!