Scotty

Someone mentioned Christophe Berra a while back and I note from Hearts Twitter today that he is one of 11 players whose contract ends today .... Wonder if our target is in the same boat with a contract expiring on May 31st and we have it all sorted just cant announce anything until tomorrow .... or we are taking our time, or we are slow off the mark ... in other words, I have no clue either!! just hope we get it right.

Got this in our Facebook inbox .... feel free to drop some memories in here and/or send message to me for the email address & phone number if you want to talk to him directly. My own memory of the night is surprisingly clear ..... We had organised a bus from the Caley Inn to the first game that got postponed just as we turned onto London Road! One of my pals from work phoned me and told me before we heard it on the radio and I thought he was winding me up. We were devastated when we heard it was true but made the best of it with a few (friendly) pints in the Celtic club nearby! I also ran one of the buses for the Feb 8th game when these were provided to the club. Got interviewed on 5 Live after the game and just about managed to not swear (I think my word of the night was F...F..antastic!), then down to Glasgow that weekend for Off and On the ball sandwiched in between a limp defeat at Love Street. I have a weird coincidence surrounding this game too. Later that same year, I was visiting Toronto (before I moved here) and scored tickets for a pre-season ice hockey game involving the Toronto Maple Leafs ... got talking to the person sitting next to us at the hockey and it turns out they had been visiting Scotland at the time and had also been at that game with a Celtic supporting friend. Small world! I still have the 'Ballistic' newspaper in a frame on my wall next to a game worn shirt from that night, the program, and my ticket.

Or that they already know who they want and are just testing the water to see if anyone else bites ....

That was my first thought too ... Chairman, CEO, Sporting Director, Head Coach, then assistant coach and more under that with ex-players also in coaching roles ... all seems a bit top-heavy and potentially expensive if we have little revenue and no cash pot to draw on. My second thought was that he is not really the 'first' sporting director because it appears to be just a rename of the 'Director of Football' role that Graeme Bennett held .. or perhaps not, I guess it depends on the structure and responsibilities of the role. Putting all of that aside, I think the concept is a good thing for the club. Robbo is synonymous with us and does seem to have a good eye for bargain basement signings and if his remit as sporting director is to liaise with the manager and the board to make that happen then it could be a win-win. We still dont know what was going on in his personal life, and we have no right to do so, but slotting him into this role does seem like a way to keep him involved and associated with ICT but relieve him of some of the stresses and strains of day-to-day management that clearly, he was not able to deal with at the moment. In that context I am happy that the club put his mental and physical health first and did this. As for his successor - I would assume we would first talk to NM and BD about this opportunity and gauge interest. If neither want it - or we can't afford them - then who might be a good candidate? Would Robbo be a suitable mentor for anyone already at the club - like Kells, Esson, Wilson? or do we look externally. Who is a realistic target externally? Who is perhaps in a lower league looking to step up, or a player working his way through the coaching badges that could lean on Robbo for support and experience ..... bearing in mind that a head coach has to hold or obtain various coaching badges under UEFA club licensing.

Well done to @IBM. Completely random arm's length draw on randompicker but pretty fitting given how much hard work you have put in this year in getting our player information up to date on the site. I have sent you a message with relevant details needed.

Here are the draw results for 2020/21 season to see who receives Cameron Harper's signed shirt from this season just past. WINNER - SIGNED SHIRT : @IBM The names in the hat for each of the seasons are based on the members who joined the sponsorship group each year (see topic linked below). The draw itself is conducted using a random generator website (www.randompicker.com). We have used this same site to conduct all our draws over the years and have also successfully conducted several test draws on the current data that completed without any issues. The draw is completely and utterly random and no-one on CTO or within ICT has any influence or control over the names that come up. This is important to note as there are people connected with the club and with CTO who have subscribed and are therefore eligible and who will not be excluded from the draw. If anyone has any concerns or questions about this process, please feel free to PM me or mention it in the thread below. 2020-21: List of participants 2020-21 Draw Result on the randompicker website

it was 5-0 at half-time .. I slept for the second half! September 22nd 2001 ... remember that flight well as it was just after 9/11 and everyone was very nervous!

ahh yes, before I moved over here permanently, I remember getting the redeye flight back from Canada, picked up at Glasgow Airport by ITN, witnessing a 5-0 thrashing, then up the road - luggage and all - on the supporters bus! Those were the days

they kind of remind me of the cricket world cup shirts

I will always appreciate those who step in to assist in times of need both personally & professionally and NM and BD did that on both levels, personally for JR in his time of need, and professionally for our club in ours. They steered us away from the playoffs at the wrong end and almost got us into the playoffs at the other end. Thank You Neil. Thank You Billy. It is appreciated. We hope that Robbo returns to his position for next season, but if for any reason he and Kells are not able to continue then I think most fans would have no hesitation in either or both of them holding the reins.

Yes, that was not lost on me either, but the more clubs or people who participate the more they can be shamed into getting their own house in order and not just paying lip service to it.

When did it get some ?

Governing and league bodies across both the men’s and women’s games join forces with clubs to cease activity on social media from 15:00 BST on Friday 30 April to 23:59 BST on Monday 3 May. Not sure if this was aimed at supporter sites and their social media channels, but in the interests of solidarity and because we wholeheartedly support the ethos, we will also cease any and all social media posts from tomorrow until Tuesday. The forum will operate as normal, we just wont be promoting anything to our FB/Twitter etc. #FootballUnites https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/news/scottish-football-unites-to-support-social-media-boycott/?rid=13929

Totally agree. Not only did Robbo have to manage the club in the middle of a pandemic, in circumstances that no other manager in our history has ever had to do, or hopefully has to do again, but he also had to deal with his own personal challenges along the way and the loss of his assistant to illness part way through. And that's before you even go look at the financial side of things and all the other challenges we face there. In those circumstances this season is not one to be judged on! If Robbo chooses to continue, and Kells is able to return then no hesitation in them taking the reins again and having another bash at it. Robbo has taken us to the premiership before and he can do it again. They may even be somewhat refreshed after their down time. If either or both decide that they cannot return for some reason, then, despite initial misgivings about both NM and BD, I would be happy for them to continue also, although I think our status in the championship and lack of funds might pose a problem in being able to persuade the duo to give up more lucrative work in the central belt. Failing that - then I dont know. We certainly can't poach a manager from a premiership club, our current financial situation would not be a good fit for Yogi and his typical budget demands if Uncle Roy punts him, and other than the usual suspects, I dont have a list of inspired names to trot out.

Prediction: We get Brad back only. It has been noted by a few after the match that Allardice seemed to be a straight red - I dont know I was working so not watching - if that's the case they might drop it from a red to a yellow, and with him already being carded then it's a second yellow so still a red. Big difference being a one game suspension instead of more. With Brad, the debate on here is some saying it was a red and others saying not ... so I dont know but they appease us and give us one player back to show 'fairness' ....

It beggars belief why they choose to do so. AndyCam has consistently shown he can provide a better product, one that was good enough when we were in the premiership and which many people have agreed is superior. Does someone have shares in Pixxelot, a relative working for them or did we sign a bad contract without any get out clause?

Can't speak for other regions, but fans in North America are not by and large 'nouveau'. Thats a pretty big generalisation for a sport that is growing quickly (exponentially even) in this region and regularly attracts 30,000+ in-person fans to about 20 of the 27 teams in the league. These are average gates (pre-COVID of course). Dont get me wrong, some fans are 'nouveau', never been to a ground in their lives, and jump on the big team bandwagon, just like some are in the UK, but there is a long history of support for many European clubs in North America, primarily from the diaspora but it spreads organically once that support is established. There is also a large grass roots supporter base who are not justfair weather fans and are, despite some opinions to the contrary, quite knowledgeable about football. I personally know a huge number of TFC supporters that I have mingled with over the years as part of our supporters' group and we can come up with literally dozens of teams that are represented in our group due to heritage, history, or, like me, migration. We are not lesser supporters due to distance .. and even the one or two Man City fans I know were also fans of that team before they had money and to an extent think that ruined their club. LA Galaxy are a bit showy in that respect, signing the Beckhams and others of that ilk but take a wee look at the grittier Los Angeles FC and their setup. Both these clubs get a lot of supporters through the gates, and I would guess that for every MUFC or Chelsea shirt you saw, you would see dozens of LAG or LAFC shirts. Drive a few hours North to Portland or Seattle and the level of grass roots support in that region is eye-opening. The same at TFC - I have seen Celtic, Rangers, Man U, Man City, Caley Thistle (not being worn by me), Bayern, PSG, Barca and Real of course ... but the stadium itself is a sea of TFC red in comparison to these pockets of other teams. Snapping up merchandise and watching remotely are two of the few ways the international diaspora for any club can contribute. The US Major League Soccer system actually works well. Yes, they decide who is getting in rather than having promotion and relegation, but they learned from their mistakes in the past when it burned brightly for a few years with Best, Pele et all, and then fizzled out. The model now is financial responsibility, fixed budgets, and also other items that dictate that teams must have academies and valid infrastructure before getting in. As a result of these requirements, Toronto FC just signed their 26th Academy player to the first team this week, and that's 26 in about 10 years as it took a few to get things up and running ... and these are decent players not journeymen. There is currently a lot of talk around a 16-year-old TFC player called Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty going to Europe just like Alphonso Davies went from the Vancouver Academy to Bayern so the MLS invitation approach where teams have to prove they have the resources to get in works and assists in league and player development ... Contrast that to the SFA who have for decades tried to find ways to exclude teams from outside the central belt and despite having to let us and County in, they continue to try and keep the likes of Brora and Kelty out, teams that could perhaps contribute and maybe rise through the leagues and in future maybe develop players, which the perennial bottom dwellers, with all due respect, do not..... At least MLS is transparent in its setup which is not the case with the current system in Scotland. Indeed 🙂 Incidentally - I stopped watching Champions League on TV years ago. If it's on and I catch it great, but I am not setting my calendar to watch it like I do for TFC games or for ICT games. It lost value to me when it stopped being a tournament of champions from each country and became a tournament of rich clubs that were grudgingly forced to let champions from other countries in but made them jump through so many hoops in pre-qualifying rounds that most fell by the wayside and never reached far enough to play the 5th place team from last year's EPL who went straight into the group stages. The romance of the cup, the idea that an undergo can rise to the top is all but gone.

I am thinking they should be on me after all that effort being put in -- including by you too !

fixed it for you. We were online in Jul 1994, a little before the club played its first competitive game. Was little more than a front page and a guestbook, but we were there. There was actually another site online around the same time too, possibly even slightly earlier but it was short-lived and the person who had it moved on.

I want to take a few moments to say a huge public thank-you to 3 specific forum members who have been toiling behind the scenes to update our entire stats program during the course of the pandemic. Its mind-numbing and repetitive work but it helps us immensely. Step forward: @IBM @ictewd and last but not least @tm4tj We are now at a stage where, if you go into any of the sub-menus from the main menu items shown below, the data you are presented with should be complete. This was a truly gargantuan task with every ICT game needing to be entered, team lines added, checking for yellow/red cards, substitutions and all sorts of other data. It also involved going through every single season and entering ALL the results for every team from that division for every season so the league table in the match report area showed the weekly table within a tab in the match stats .... If you want to check how it works ... go back to the fixtures page for season 2009/10 and relive Dundee's bottle crashing by viewing the table for each week as the season progresses ... its fun 🙂 : https://caleythistleonline.com/team/fixtures.html/. Ross Tokely, for years had the wrong number of appearances in our stats as some of the earlier seasons had incorrect or missing data. Not anymore. He is rightly at the top of the charts with his 589 appearances and 36 goals. 36 goals! That makes him our 10th top scorer of all time ... With Dennis Wyness now showing his 101 goals as the top scorer ... These stats have all been checked against Ian Broadfoot's stats which are and will forever remain the gold standard for ICT data, so I know the guys have done a tremendous job when it matches with those stats. A big benefit of having all this data up to date is the TM4TJ can have confidence to use our own stats in the previews and reports instead of having to go searching multiple sources to verify any information, which has meant that more recently he has had these online either in real-time or barely 10 minutes after the match has ended. I cannot thank these guys enough for all this effort, because I know how much it takes to keep it up to date. Separately to the stats stuff, TM4TJ has also spend a s***load of time going back many years and entering and updating match reports which is why you might see them on your feed as new items every so often. Whilst I have not been completely active in the data entry process, I have been around in the background tweaking and adjusting the coding within the stats program and trying to see if I can pull more data out of the database using my somewhat limited PHP/SQL skills. This work will continue because the guys - after taking a well-earned break - are hoping to go through the player data and get the player profiles entered/updated and up to date. We ask for volunteers all the time but this time around we hit the jackpot with @ictewd and @IBM. If anyone else wants to get in on the act and help us to enter player data or other info or offer help with other stuff, then please let myself or @tm4tj know. Those people who keep an eye out for EX-ICT scorers for example may want to help with highlighting a player's other clubs in their profile. I also know TM4TJ is always looking for people to help with articles, and I would be especially keen to hear from anyone with PHP/SQL skills, especially if you have knowledge of converting PHP5 to PHP7 as that's another project I have in the works for the stats as they were originally written in the earlier version. Once again THANK YOU guys. It truly is appreciated.

@The Long Man - That's why I prefer the Championship. In the space of a month we have gone from staring down relegation to playoff candidates and in most years thats the scenario, with still something to decide on the last day. Its a shame the top division isn't as competitive usually … and that the championship doesn't have the same financial rewards.

nope. According to "Milestones and Memories" the fastest goal was 31 seconds and it happened twice. Craig Dargo on 18/12/05 against Celtic and Dougie Imrie on 03/05/08 against Gretna.

Toronto FC strip for this year just got released. Thought it might appeal to some of our supporters 😉

no live game for me unfortunately. BBC dont make it available over here and its my work day so cant stream on work PC even in the home 😞