Scotty

Yeah, BMO field is getting temporary stands for the World Cup to take it up from 30K to 45K. They are building a second tier above the supporters' section where i stand right now and also at the other end which is currently open as they need that for the longer field for the Toronto Argonauts (CFL). Hoping to get tickets on the back of being an inaugural season one TFC season ticket holder since 2006 but its FIFA not MLS doing ticketing and right now, they are punting tickets to those who buy Club World Cup tickets which seems to be failing miserably to sell on its own. I just want one or two games at BMO filed if I can afford it to say I have been South End of stadium. Tier 2 would be brand new (and temporary). The ball shows my current season seats. https://www.bmofield.com/events/fifa26 https://www.bmofield.com/assets/doc/BMO-Field-Renovations-Renderings-March-3-535d66de4d.pdf My fear is that all the current issues will make people want to go to games in Canada or Mexico instead of USA and it's going to be nigh on impossible to get tickets. Public transit and traffic is a nightmare in this city and only going to get worse so if I dont get tickets I may head out of country for a month, organise to rent out my house, and use that to fund it I started off going to see the Lynx @ Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke (near the airport) when I first moved over. Think of it like watching ICT from the Bught Park shinty stands. They were the only option, and they were really really bad as were some of the teams they played. I remember one team in particular because of the name ... the Rochester Raging Rhinos but they were quite good. Neither exist anymore however. Nowadays, if you dont want to go see TFC then you have York United or Hamilton Forge who are both Canadian Premier League teams in the Toronto area as well as a few other lower tier teams kicking around.

Please don't mention the 'T' word. All this 51st state nonsense is pretty raw over here ! Could also seriously derail next year's world cup which is concerning. Travel and future bookings to USA is reportedly down over 70% from Canada, Europe and UK mainly due to deportations and immigration detention horror stories and FIFA are reportedly worried because the major host is in a trade war with the two co-hosts and the rest of the world. Elon and Tangoman could teach our former custodians a thing or two about how to alienate folks and drop your company profits by 71% in less than 100 days, and also how to make a party that was losing in a landslide before DJT spoke up, win the general election held in Canada this week! Crazy times. // Tangoman for nostalgia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqm-s6h8l1I

Yup - that one will do it for me. That was incredible. Administrator in that case of course was one Bryan Jackson, who was on the recent podcast talking about, well, Administration!

These are the kind of loans - where the players do well for us and go back to their parent club as better players - that work for everyone. Derek McInnes (and others) will no doubt be more willing to send players to us if that's the result he gets. The Alfies and the others also seemed to work out well, apart from the injury to Bavidge. I also liked that Savage mentioned in a recent comment about the club having paid for operations recently for players. Thats quite a turnaround from when we had a surgeon as an interim chairman and had to crowdfund surgery for Aaron Doran which was wrong on so many levels! All these little things do a lot of positive things to turn around the reputation we gained under the previous "guardians" of the club.

Took a week for my letter to arrive and I sent it back same day so maybe another week for it to get back to BDO. A tinge of sadness at giving up the shares but nothing compared to how I would feel if the club ceased to exist. The document asked for the share certificate and not sure if that would be a stumbling block as I am sure many may no longer have it. I have emigrated and moved house twice since that was issued so it is long gone or I put it in a place so safe that I cant recall where it is !! Yes, it is pretty blunt. I wonder if there are one or more of the larger shareholders pressing pause or taking a longer time to agree? There are close to 600 shareholders but really only a handful who matter in terms of percentage if we are brutally honest. My fear, and i mentioned it here before, if you set yourself a target of 100% then its probably not achievable. There are people on the list who are no longer with us and don't appear to have their name under "estate of ..." as well as a number of companies that are also no longer around as mentioned on the podcast. How do you get over that hurdle if your target is 100%. Is AS saying 100% but happy with 75 or 80 so he can literally make whatever changes he wants due to having the required percentage to change any and all articles of the club? Now that the shares are gone, then all I as an ICT supporter can do is watch from the sidelines and hope that AS continues to walk the walk that he has done for the last 6 months. That he does what he needs to do to get our the club back on its feet, and that when it comes time to seek investors that he does whatever due diligence is required to see if we can have more of a Wrexham situation than a Wrecks 'Em scenario with another Makwana type character. Still a few chapters left in this story methinks.

It is a tremendous achievement but not sure about it being one of the greatest escapes. Its certainly significant for us so we will perhaps view it that way .... Credit absolutely has to go to Kells and the lads though. He has done a sterling job, with a depleted squad and would have finished 2nd had it not been for the 15 point penalty, and the handicap of the efforts of the previous manager to take us down without the need for a points deduction. A quick google search reveals ... -15: Leeds United: Leeds started their 2007-08 League One campaign with -15 points after failing to comply with rules on insolvency but they still finished in the play-off places. -17: Bournemouth: A year on and the Cherries were hit with a similarly huge points deduction for the second consecutive season. This time it was to the tune of 17 because they were still in administration, but, miraculously, Eddie Howe kept them in League Two after taking the job in the middle of the season. -17: Rotherham: The Yorkshire outfit were handed the same punishment as Bournemouth in League Two but they too stayed up, with Mark Robins leading them to 14th. and then there is also Stevenage in 2019/2020 who stayed up due to COVID and other insolvency events with other clubs. Not strictly the same as recovering from points penalties, but similar. https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/stevenage-fc-relegation-escape-english-football-3361957 Important part is to (re-)build a solid foundation of fiscal responsibility and sustainability on the back of this. As Bryan Jackson noted on the podcast recently, we need to manage/modify our aspirations so that we can live within our means. pound in / pound out I think was the phrase used.

Thank you Dumbarton.

With Charlie as CEO and Savage in the hot seat, I think youth will once again regain and perhaps surpass its former position at ICT and that is a great thing as it will mean we not only develop local talent, but we also might just make a few quid when they go on to bigger things. Savage was prepared to fund/subsidise the youth system even when the previous CEO was still in place so I think that tells you how important it is to him and Charlie is a believer too especially as his own son came through it and look at how successful Ryan has been in recent years. Arguably the single most successful ICT player ever. With them at the helm, I am sure it is in safe hands and will hopefully go on an upward trend to further success. That success rubs off on other youth who want to be the next Ryan Christie, Cammy Harper or Keith Bray. If they see that the youth system gives them a pathway to professional football and they see that the club are once again interested in taking it seriously, then that in itself attracts youngsters and the process slowly builds momentum. Its not instant and thats where I think we all get impatient. It could take 10 years or more to get another decent crop of youngsters ... Sounds like ICT are doing their part with training 3 times per week and qualified coaches so here's hoping it pays off for us. As an aside - My own son is going through the Canadian equivalent at his club, training 3 nights a week, all year round (indoors in winter, outdoors again starting next week) and playing a competitive game on the weekend in either tier 1, 2 or 3. He started at tier 3, which is entry level for those selected for the competitive program, worked his way into the tier 2 team where he is now one of two or three rotating captains, and is knocking on the door of a regular spot in the tier 1 (elite) team for his age group (U12) after coming in to cover injuries and absences over winter. He has reached that level because he wants to do it but also because he has good professional coaches and a structure in place to develop youth. From U14 he hopes to get selected for the elite province wide system called OPDL which sees every club follow the same training processes (Ontario Professional Development League) and then onwards to Canada wide programs. All so he can realise his dream of emulating Ryan Christie in a Scotland shirt one day! Although he wants the #3 shirt. All that inspiration came from meeting Ryan at the stadium, training with the players on an open day and being mascot one time ...

*** JOKER TO BE APPLIED FOR ANYONE WHO HAS THEM *** Scotty HT: 0-0 FT: 1-0 1st Scorer ICT: Bray 1st Scorer Opp: Dow Crowd: 1912 CDN Girl HT: 1-1 FT: 2-1 1st Scorer ICT: Mckay 1st Scorer Opp: Taylor Crowd: 2025 SOS HT: 1-0 FT: 2-0 1st Scorer ICT: Gilmour 1st Scorer Opp: Stanton Crowd: 1855

Scotty: Peterhead @ 23/20 CDN Girl: Dumbarton @ 2/1 SOS: Dunfermline @ 11/10

Only bar I know that had Highland Park on optic just for the big man.

Sad to hear of the passing of any player, but one so young is even more tragic. RIP Wayne, condolences to family and close friends.

According to one of the inflation calculators you can find online, £250 back then is equivalent to around £498 now. I shudder when I think how little I was paid back then so it wasn't like it was just falling out of the wallet or back pocket ... I had to make sacrifices to buy them back then. Once I get my letter, I will let them go as its for the good of the club, just like the share purchase back then was too. However, some form of recognition, or commemorative (non-voting) share would be a nice gesture for those who are giving these up. It doesn't give us any money or influence, but I don't think thats what any of us want as we never had that in the first place. However, as you go down the list, those with more shares might think that something like that is a pretty hollow gesture and perhaps it is for those with a significant shareholding who maybe DID want (some) power or influence ... but of the 537 names listed in the document in the other thread a little under 85% of shareholders have 1000 shares or less with 261 having 250, and around 70 having either 500 or 1000 each.

Scotty HT: 0-0 FT: 0-1 1st Scorer ICT: Bray 1st Scorer Opp: O'Donnell Crowd: 675 CDN Girl HT: 1-1 FT: 1-1 1st Scorer ICT: Gilmour 1st Scorer Opp: Alston Crowd: 575 SOS HT: 1-0 FT: 1-2 1st Scorer ICT: Mckay 1st Scorer Opp: Fisher Crowd: 601

Scotty: Livi @ 2.00 CDN Girl: Annan @ 3.6 SOS: Spartans @ 2.1

back to the age old cliches though ... Over the years, how often have we heard that "On paper we have a great squad" or even here, the assertion that on paper the stats for SK look good. Regardless of this, the game is played on grass (real or fake) and the paper doesn't matter . Lets hope for 3 points in the next game and drawing ever closer to relegation playoff safety.

I have no point to push. I work with stats every day of the week and the one thing about stats is that, outside of the extremes, you can usually make them say whatever you want. I have no agenda to push for or against SK. I find his press conferences a breath of fresh air. I like that we seem to be winning more games under him, and have clawed back 15 points but I am also concerned that we have seemingly thrown away opportunities to grab points in winnable games without any real explanation why we blew hot one week and so cold the next. The stats suggest he is doing as good a job as many other managers, but you are right, it will all be for nought if we are relegated. His stats down a division are also not necessarily likely to be super high as we will have lower quality players in that lower division ... just like as we rise the divisions we have higher quality. Steve Paterson's stats over 325 games were all from the lower divisions, never the Premiership. Robbo had a lot of Premiership games but he also had higher level players. You will NEVER have a completely 'apples for apples' comparison for any team that has faced relegations, promotions, embargoes or any other kind of situation. What I personally take from the stats, and you are free to take your own conclusions from them, is that SK has made a good start in several areas but also that it is a small sample size compared to others. Until he reaches say 50 games the stats are open to interpretation. What does seem apparent however is that Richie Foran (46 games) and Duncan Ferguson (58 games) were by far our worst managers based on multiple KPIs.

The surprise for me is Billy Dodds. He is higher than I expected on this. This is the rank based on the points system i mentioned above and I might have put Dodds lower and Charlie higher had I been doing this in my head but overall its pretty close I think. Brewster's 2nd term harmed his record or he would also have been higher. When I look at them in this order, the biggest stat that looks consistent for them to be in this order is the win %

...and in a good example of skewing the numbers ... if I add a ranking for goals per game for and against, as a potential indicator of 'entertainment value', it drops SK down to 2nd= place with Robbo overtaking him and Pele coming up equal.

The one thing about statistics is that 97% of them can be skewed to prove the point that you are trying to make. If someone wants to make Duncan Ferguson look like our best manager ever then they might mention that he only lost 9 of 31 games at home and had a positive goal difference, or that he had a 11 game spell where we only lost twice in October 2023 - November 2023 but the full record speaks for itself. 58 games, comprising 17 wins, 21 draws and 20 losses. If you look at the fixture list, it is the draws, and the lacklustre manner of those draws that were the killer. Scott on the other hand has now managed 24 games. and has won 12, lost 9 and drawn only 3. We have less draws, but at this early stage he has lost more (percentage wise) than DF. He has also got 12 wins in only 24 games so a win % of 50% which is best of any manager we have had. You could argue any of these statistics to favour Scott or to discredit him. I quickly threw all the numbers into Excel so they could be compared side-by-side. The numbers take no account of what league we were in, how much money we had or whether we were in admin like now. These are caveats the statisticians can put on any figure to dispute it. I have also ranked the managers based on their percentage of wins, draws, non-wins, non-losses, and PPG figure. It should be noted that the PPG figure is also subjective as I did not have time to deep dive into the record of each manager and see how many of their games were league or cup so I awarded 3pts for a win regardless of competition and 1pt for a draw and simply divided that by total games. After getting those numbers together I ranked each of our managers on their individual career records 1-12 to give them a total number of points based on where they are in the rankings for each column. I then ranked all of the managers based on their rank points in each of those categories to see who finished top. The lower the number of points in this case the better. Scott Kellacher is currently top based on that small sample of his games, with Robbo and Paterson behind. Richie Foran finishes last with Fergie just behind him. I would argue that this seems to match the sentiment over the years on here and as a new manager SK is likely higher than where he will end up as he will find his level and likely drop down over a larger sample of matches, but its a pretty good start to be fair. Yes he is not in the Championship or the Premiership like other managers before him, but no-other manager has had the squad constraints for administration so the playing field is as level as it can be I think. Like all statistics - you are free to agree, disagree or think they are full of ****

He would have got away with it too ... if it wasnt for those pesky kids (on CTO, the Wyness Shuffle, and the Supporters Trust)

I am still dealing with little bits and pieces of my mothers estate as they crop up and she died in 2019 ! It was (and still is) a bit of an admin nightmare navigating various accounts, shares and other stuff. She had a will but her executor had pre-deceased her so I had to go up in front of the sheriff's officer and get listed as executor. Another good example. Sure there are plenty more in there. Agreed I am in that same column too. Personally i think a lot of it stems back to when he was chairman before and wanted to achieve certain things but conflicts and pissing contests got in the way. I also believe he has the good of the club at heart but yes, my fears are also the same. He sells out to someone who talks a good game, and maybe even presents well, but is later found to be unworthy. I'd like to think he wont do that, or his due diligence may be better than our former CEO but that fear is always there. As for Ketan's special advisor, the link on his website leads to SG's linkedin page which has had the phygital treatment i think. Are "Eight Seven Six Events" related to "Seventy Seven Ventures" Sorry to say I got lost down the rabbit hole of his profile for a few minutes. It makes fascinating reading. Off to update my CV now after reading that !!!

I see a few people on there who I know have passed - Big Stew, Johndo, Ian Broadfoot, Bill McAllister to name just a few. As these are not listed as "executors of estate of <name>" how does this get handled?

Got the email yesterday, form is in the post I assume. Disappointing, but necessary unfortunately. I kinda like the idea that CaleyD had though. Perhaps in future, currently existing shareholders who give up their shares can be given some form of non-voting or commemorative share to signify the 30 years of shareholding. Most of us have them as a sense of belonging or connection to the club rather than for any influence over decisions. The reality is that very few decisions - if any until now - have ever hinged on the voting power of individual small shareholders. A few large shareholders and the board have dictated pretty much every decision overt the last 30 years, both good and bad ...

Scotty: QOS @ 1.91 CDN Girl: Arbroath @ 1.83 SOS: Alloa @ 2.00