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Scotty

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Posts posted by Scotty

    ICTFC Squad Update 21/22/23/

    in Caley Thistle

    Posted

    32 minutes ago, bdu98196 said:

    Why would the manager be dealing with contracts when we have a DoF?

    Director of Football was originally setup to be a direct link from the boardroom to the dugout not to scout and sign all the players without the manager consent. He may work on negotiations on contract terms, length and other details, and may have to liaise with the board to get approvals and make the occasional case to sign a player if (when) there is no budget, but recruitment falls squarely on the manager (or should). Renewal of contracts would be the same. Cant see Big Dunc agreeing to a situation where anyone else has power of veto over him on purely footballing squad decisions unless it is a monetary issue affecting the club. 

    Sporting Director on the other hand is less clear. The club's own press release in 2021 and the BBC article naming Robbo simply said "The club say Robertson will work on a "number of specific projects. Chief executive Scot Gardiner added that he would be "a great help to the board and myself and his love of the club and the city will help drive us on"." Thats murky to say the least. After Dodds was given the job he further muddied the waters by noting he would be mad not to speak to Robbo about signings:  "Dodds says he will have the "final say" over new signings, adding: "But I would crazy not to go and ask John Robertson, who is a football man, and we will be working together to look at players and come up with targets."

     

     

    Ex ICT Players Score

    in General Football

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Robert said:

    Ross Tokely scored for Nairn in the Highland League last night. 

    It's funny (for me at least) - My little guy is glued to FIFA23 and FC24 and keeps on at me about all these current players being rated high ... Every time he asks me who he should add to his team, or tries to ask me "Do you know who is the best <insert position> in the game?" I always answer 'Ross Tokely' (or occasionally Charlie Christie to throw him off).   Awesome that Ross is still playing now and still amazing that he played for us in all divisions and I think in almost all positions at some time in his career. Oh, and I remind my son that ICT was indeed in FIFA once upon a time ... FIFA07 or 08 on the PS2!  

     

     

    • Like 1

    Duncan Ferguson & Who was in the running

    in Caley Thistle

    Posted

    I am kind of in the same boat as many. This will either be a masterstroke or an unmitigated disaster. Hoping for the first, not the latter.  

    On the plus side, he has been around some pretty big names in his roles as coach while learning the ropes over a lengthy period of time. He may have the personality and name recognition to attract players we might not have had a sniff at before and watching some of the videos I have seen over the last few days, he appears to be a different person (more likeable) than the person he was as a player. Seems highly regarded by supporters in the blue part of Liverpool. In the talksport and press conference videos he also seems to come across honest and truthfully when mentioning he has no clue about our players, or the lower leagues. Honesty and straight talking is something lacking in our recent history. 

    On the minus side, as mentioned, he has not coached in Scotland, and his Forest Green spell didn't make good reading. Having said that, Didn't a certain Mr. Butcher have a woeful recent record before he came to us.   My biggest fears are how we are affording this. He won't come cheap. He may have certain budgetary expectations that we can't meet (although I assume he knows its low as the talksport interview mentioned not blowing his budget on the hotel they put him up in). It also papers over other cracks that need looked at whether he is successful or not. 

     

     

    • Agree 2

    Duncan Ferguson & Who was in the running

    in Caley Thistle

    Posted

    21 minutes ago, big cherly said:

    Don’t know enough about his coaching credentials or results to say if he would have been any good. The fact he wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole after he did some simple research or speaking to some ‘people’, raises my respect for him and thinking he might have been a promising young manager to take us forward! #

    I believe he would have been good for us and will be a good manager for someone soon as he works his way through the coaching ranks gaining experience.

    Kind of sad he wouldn't look at us due to the shitshow surrounding us at senior levels. He was thought highly of at Toronto FC as a player and as a fan favourite. I think he would be a good motivator and whoever comes in really has to motivate this group of players to perform at their best if we are to climb the table and reach mid table obscurity as a season goal! Would also have been cool (for me at least) to have that Toronto FC and Caley Thistle link when I go to TFC games or when at ICT on trips home 🙂   

    ICT Fans Open Meeting

    in Caley Thistle

    Posted

    2 hours ago, Scotty said:

    If anyone DOES want to attend the event below and you are part of the player sponsor group, let me know and I can say you will go ... Personally, I can't wrangle several flights, a hire car, and an AirBnB all for the experience! 

    Murphy's law - one person did contact me and wants to attend 🙂 Will work with them to pass details along. 

    ICT Fans Open Meeting

    in Caley Thistle

    Posted

    I was just cleaning out my mailbox and came across an email in my spam folder from Keith at the club letting me know about the sponsorship for this season. I do not blame Keith (who has been great to deal with but was gone for most of the season then came back) but given that we have had zero communication since we handed over our cash this time last year and we are already nearly 20% of the way into this season (6 league games + league cup), I have replied to him to say NO. We have sponsored one or more players - either personally by myself, or as a group effort on here - for more than 27 years. It is pretty sad that we have to call a halt to this, but we cannot in all good conscience continue with this until there is positive change at the club and there is actual and substantive communication from those "trusted" with the governance of our club. 

    I would also take issue with the assertion that sponsorship is not about "a shirt or a picture" and being more about the experience ... perhaps that is true for (some of) those who are local, and indeed that's who you really have to cater to, but for a large number of the people who are part of our sponsors group here, it IS about those things as they cannot get to the stadium on a regular basis for any sort of experience as they are spread over multiple UK locations or other continents and contributing to sponsorship is a way to feel you are still connected to the club and town. Way to slap your diaspora in the face!  I have literally had to beg people to represent CTO at any in person 'experience' in the past as no-one local wants to go!   

    If anyone DOES want to attend the event below and you are part of the player sponsor group, let me know and I can say you will go ... Personally, I can't wrangle several flights, a hire car, and an AirBnB all for the experience! 

     

    image.png

     

    [incidentally - in true ICT style, the forms for this year mentioned in the letter were NOT attached to the email :doh:]

    • Well Said 1

    Dodds Sacked

    in Caley Thistle

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Yngwie said:

    I know you can’t draw many conclusions by comparing manager’s win rates, due to them managing in different leagues etc, but I thought it was interesting to see that our managers ranked as:

    1. 52% Robbo 1st spell

    2. 47% Robbo 2nd spell

    Also interesting to see that in 3rd place, Steve Paterson narrowly edges Billy Dodds, both on 44% - but what a contrast in the way they are remembered by fans! Bear in mind too that for some of his seasons with us, Pele had the luxury of a relatively expensive and eventually full time squad, in the part-time lower leagues.

     

    May be some rose-tinted glasses on my part, but I always thought the Pele era saw us play great attacking football utilising the full width and camber of our pitch, where we were just as liable to win 5-1 (quite a few of those scorelines back then) or lose 1-5. It was entertainment nonetheless and I seem to remember we also went some insane length of time without a 0-0 result. You always knew there would be goals, just not sure at which end or in what quantity! Ayr Utd in particular seemed to generate crazy scorelines. (even before TB's sermon in the stands). 

    Nowadays, if it hits 1-0 (or 0-1) in favour of the opposition then you really wonder if we have the quality or tactical knowledge to get back into the game. Too often, the answer to that is no. 

     

     

    • Agree 2
    • Well Said 2

    Duncan Ferguson & Who was in the running

    in Caley Thistle

    Posted

    50 minutes ago, old caley girl said:

    Darren O'Dea being touted in press now. Apparently a coach at Celtic 

    O'Dea was captain at Toronto FC for a while. Great leader on the park, a fan favourite, and apparently a pretty decent bloke off the field. Not sure where he is at with coaching badges but looking at his coaching career with Motherwell then Celtic U18s and now Celtic B then he might be a better candidate than some.  

    • Like 2
    • Agree 2

    Duncan Ferguson & Who was in the running

    in Caley Thistle

    Posted

    Not sure if a newer list is online anywhere - closest I can come is 2020 list - but lets start with a coach who already has their UEFA PRO license or is working on it now. 

    2020-2022 list: https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/news/uefa-pro-licence-lineup-announced/

    Heart says some combo of the likes of Warren/Tremarco/Tokely/Esson would be great, but we just sacked another club legend and that doesn't feel great. Barry Wilson's playing record and achievements on the park will always be there but his role as an assistant to Dudds will always give it that little asterisk against his name. 

     

     

    Where's Robbo today

    in Caley Thistle

    Posted

    54 minutes ago, IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER said:

    Putting Robbo in charge, albeit temporarily, is a ludicrous situation and IMHO another slap in the face for the fans. Dodds was always going to be the fall guy. It would not surprise me that they put CC in the hot seat / limelight and Robbo assumes a guidance role. This management team must think we are all so stupid not to see through their Self-Preservation ploys. They will eventually go but they are causing more damage week by week.

     

    15 minutes ago, Moogthurso said:

    JR took time out due to the stress of managing during covid while multiple people were suffering at the club due to long term effects while at the same time dealing with multiple personal impacts. Listen to the podcast about it. The fact he held it together for so long . Helped get support in to keep the club going in his absence and asked for the time off shows his strength not his weakness. 

     

    I agree with the sentiment of @IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER. JR is not the solution, and in many eyes, he's our very own Nero rather than Hero. fiddling while Rome burns. However, I have to also say @Moogthurso makes a good point also. When he stepped down, he did so ostensibly because he realised the depth of his personal mental health challenges and sought help to deal with them whilst very much in the public eye. No stigma or pointing fingers for that, nothing but respect. It shows mental strength to admit and deal with your issues in that way, and even to agree to take on the very role that caused the challenges in the first place. Lets not forget that Charlie also stepped away for personal/family reasons from the same role where - it has to be said - he had got some pretty good results. With all due respect to both, hopefully this is a temporary measure until we get the right person in the job, but the change should NOT stop at just the scapegoat. 

     

     

     

    • Like 2

    Dodds Sacked

    in Caley Thistle

    Posted

    2 out of the required 4 or 5 now gone. I had a lot of respect for Robbo until recently, but given he would seem to rather be anywhere but where ICT are playing on a Saturday, in the midst of this crisis, then he has to go too, as does the CEO. I have not heard anyone say anything positive about him in the whole time he has been here and the one prospect I personally set up for him needed only a single phone call to discuss a possible link beneficial to ICT but according to the other party that phone call never came.

    As for SK who has survived multiple managerial changes, and our chairman RM, I will leave those closer to the sharp end to make that determination as I really don't know the daily machinations from this side of the pond. I know from talking to the chairman in the past that he was a supporter long before he was the chairman so if its a Kenny Cameron type of "loyalty error" then I could see him stay on but anything else and unfortunately he may have to fall on his sword as well.  

    • Agree 5
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