Scotty

The general consensus on P&B is that bids of 65K were accepted last week but rejected when Hibs entered the hunt. Doubt we will ever know for sure but if true, we look bad.

I dont think 100K is in the least bit unreasonable for a somewhat free scoring SPL midfielder who we bought as a good SFL1 midfielder. He has undoubtedly improved since we bought him so the valuation is fine. What ticks me off is that the club should have said that from the start. "You want Rankin, the cost is 100K+ .... end of story." but if what we read on P&B is correct we have been moving the goalposts almost daily and that makes us look like amateurs.

you never know ..... There's a certain event in September that we are hoping to attend but we are going to Cuba in June for our anniversary (hence the new "relaxed" signature) so it all depends on the cashflow.

Is it possible for interested parties who live outside Inverness to become members via PayPal ?

Its just sound-bites for his new club. nothing to get too wound up about as he does have some truth in there !! I wish him well as he tries to get on the good side of Bingham Legend :004: With all respect to Inverness, I believe Killie are a bigger club, having been in the top flight for a lot longer. I think this could be said to be true most seasons but for how much longer is the real question ? They are at the wrong end of the table and struggling with debt. You could arguably say that Dundee, Dunfermline, St Johnstone, Partick Thistle and others are bigger than ICT but you are only as good as where you finished the last season and each of the those clubs have been dealt hammer blows by being relegated and if/when they come back to the SPL they will perhaps have the potential to be big clubs again (sleeping giants and all that guff) but its not a divine right. If Killie were to go down in the next season or two, would they recover ? Expectations are different as well. There are only a few clubs in the SPL who at the start of the season say their aim is to avoid relegation and Caley Thistle are one of them. Kilmarnock say 'we need top six', rather than 'top six would be nice'. I agree with him to an extent here as the one thing that used to wind me up about Charlie was his constant use of the phrase "a club of our size". All clubs want top six, all clubs outwith the OF realistically want third place but the reality is that most clubs in the SPL have two aims at the start of the season - avoid the relegation battle and get into the top six for the final few games. If you get blase about your league position, expecting to be in the top half, you might find yourself in 9th place, 9 points adrift of ICT. For all the moaning some of us (myself included) have done about CB, I did like his comment - when we were 12th - that his aim was always to catch the team in front of him ... he's done that and now we are chasing the team in 6th place. Another reason Killie might be saying we "need" top six is to service their debt :023: In Caley Thistle's case, it is therefore correct to say that top six would be nice as we have no debt to service. Although we might now "need" top six because we aint getting a cup run. That was another factor in my move. No. The factor in your move young man was that your contract ended and you werent offered another one. It was perhaps good luck that you ended up at Killie.

Aww feck :009: Any chance of you mentioning Saturday as an option Scotty, Im sure there are others in my position who will be unable to make it due to work, uni etc the next day. I am sure Angela and perhaps Darren will both read this thread and see your comments. I doubt they would be able to do anything about this event at such short notice or other events where dates have already been set but hopefully they will note your comments for future events that have not been advertised yet.

Got an email from ICT's commercial manager Darren MacKintosh wanting to publicise a few events that they hope will be geared to "normal" fans moreso than some of the recent black tie or business oriented events. Quiz Night [attach=1] We are holding a quiz night on Thursday 7th February at the Stadium, we are looking for 25 teams of 4 at ?5 per head. (Winning prize tbc) Arrival 7.30pm for a 8pm start. The bar will be open and hopefully it should be good craic! If anyone is interested in putting in a team, phone the club for a entry form on 01463 227454, e-mail [email protected] or download the one below (PDF) [attach=2] Future Events [li]St Patricks Day Party on Saturday 15th March[/li] [li]Casino night on Saturday 5th April.[/li] Booking form.pdf

Aye, and in the very same game I am a tactical genius who has taken ICT to the top with the same squad we have now and who all the players love because of my grasp of the game, winning training techniques, and the way I handle the press ........ meanwhile, back in the real world ...... I make a great armchair manager, but I wouldnt last 5 minutes running a 'real' professional team.

A lot of things have changed - not least the fact that there will eventually be something akin to ring road round the town - but I am still not convinced the Bught, which is essentially still just a large park in the middle of a residential area, is the right place. Another thing that has changed - and I believe this may become the driving factor in any proposed stadium move - is what has already been said in this thread, and that is the potential of the area where the stadium is currently located. I saw plans more than five years ago that showed the stadium at the heart of what was essentially a leisure/tourism strip that ran to the north of the A96 (and rail line) from almost Allanfearn following the current coastline round and to the east of the Kessock bridge. The plan showed more reclaimed land than is currently there which would make the strip wider and there was lots of green space plus hotels, several marinas, waterfront developments and such like. I dont know if these plans have changed, I suspect they probably have as it seemed to be one of these sort of "pie in the sky - this is what we could have..." sort of ideas, but if TCS was going to be in the centre of such an area then pressure on them to move and allow more lucrative businesses to take up the space might make it viable or even inevitable. At the end of the day, I wouldnt be against moving the stadium - despite its spectacular views - but only if that could be unequivocally shown to be in the best interests of the club and its fans. For example, if we were to be offered a suitable plot in an accessible area with a plan for a stadium that had 4 stands and good public and private transportation links for fans without disrupting existing residential areas then that would be fine ... but the problem is getting all those boxes ticked !!! Until then, TCS will do just fine :003:

if you had added ... :tic01: then perhaps it wouldnt have been so funny, but as I think you are being serious, all I can say is :029:

I mentioned in the front page article before the game that the last 4 games between the sides had been won by the home side .... shame that now stands at 5 games ... especially with the prospect of a home 5th round tie against Rangers which would likely be a TV game so worth a fair load of cash in terms of attendance and TV payments.

Are you including yourself in that we because I was under the impression that you did not get to hear our usual commentators, or at least you keep telling us that. Not having listened to the "open mic" I would not really know much about the other commentators. **** 3-0. :029: we can hear SPL games against Gretna, Hibs & Motherwell - the rest are blocked.

Whats really interesting about today and listening to "open mic" is that you can hear how much better some of the other commentators are compared to the usual dross we are subjected to !!!

2-0 Shiels again

Ian Black just went very close with a 25 yard effort according to "open mic"

indeed.

On the "open mic" show we can hear the reactions from the commentators at all the grounds - sounds like Mike Fraser has made a couple of decent saves ?

feck. unfortunately, cant hear this today as Scottish Cup is blocked overseas. having to listen to "open mic" show instead ... 2 goals in Falkirk V Dons game in a couple of minutes 1-1. Hearts just scored too. now 2-1 Aberdeen

Did you bother to read the other threads before posting this ? If you did you might have found out that the rumoured name in the frame is Dean Shiels

Can we keep the Rankin transfer talk to the thread thats already there please.

so what you are telling us is that Rankin is not playing ? guess we will see the team lines soon.

[li]Discuss the game in this very thread right here :004:[/li] [li]Get to the chatroom HERE[/li] [li]See the subs / bookings / report - after the game starts - HERE[/li] [li]See the stats etc after the game has ended by choosing today's game from HERE[/li] [li]At the game ? - Dont forget to vote in the POLL after the game has ended. HERE [/li] [li]At the game ? SUBMIT A MATCH REPORT [/li] LINEUPS HIBS [attach=1] ICT [attach=2]

asked and answered in a single post. well done. three ways - 01. sell the leasehold on the whole site and move 02. sell the leashold on portions of the site furthest away from the stadium itself and use money to improve / buy back stadium 03. allow developers to build office/hotel etc in the corners between the stands and use money to improve / buy back stadium

Shouldnt that be Romanians ? :004: If the long term plans for that area of the longman come to fruition, the land value will skyrocket and we wont need anyone else's money to either finish or relocate our stadium

I am guessing here ... but Sutherland / Tullochs - 29% Catto - 16% Savage - 12% Ross - 5% Un-issued Shares - around 20% (?) Supporters Trust ??% (less than 12% but have a 12% voting right) small shareholders ??% (probably around 10-12 % ? mostly in blocks of 250) As the club have already said its not going to happen, I am mindful to believe them. If you consider that the major shareholders are unlikely to sell - Savage and Sutherland have already said that, and I am sure that the others would have a similar response if asked - an investor wanting a takeover would have to buy all the unissued shares which is not going to happen because DFS or someone else close to him or the club would snap some or all of them up. They would then have to buy virtually all the shares from small investors to get a holding close to the same level that DFS currently has. I cant see Catto selling as he is already involved in the harbour deal is he not (?) and will be well aware of what may happen to land values in this area in the next few years. I dont know Roddy Ross so not sure of how he would think but 5% is not a huge holding in terms of buying enough to take over the club. I am almost certain that the supporters trust would not sell theirs under any circumstances and even if they wanted to they probably wouldnt get approval from their members and there would likely be a lot of red tape involved given the members' club transfer, their own constitution and their voting rights. The majority of small shareholders would also be unlikely to sell, even for a modest profit as we bought these shares to be a part of the club rather than for any long or even short term financial gain .... Unlike other shares I hold or have held, I have always viewed my ICT shares as a "donation" to the club and wouldnt bother selling them unless someone offered me truly stupid money which is not going to happen. If someone wants to come in and buy the unissued shares without strings attached then fair enough, but if, as speculated there could be conditions attached, like a controlling interest etc then no dice.