Scotty

Looking at the squad list I posted, I think we look pretty decent in most areas. I am not sure what the young defenders are like but maybe that is where we are lightest and will probably need experienced cover. If Dargo does decide to leave then we will probably also need an experienced striker. Any combination of Wyness, Dargo and Bayne did alright when one of the others was out but if, as happened this season, we lost our main two then we would be in deep doo-doo The big question is WHO will become available ? .... there's no point signing anyone who doesnt improve the team or who wont fit into the team ethos (spirit/teamwork etc) but if a player becomes available who will improve the team, and who is happy to come to ICT, and to fit in with the existing players then we should consider them.

Here is the squad (so far) - where do we need to strengthen (other than defence or if Dargo goes, as commented above) ? GK Fraser Ridgers DEF Munro Tokely McCaffrey Hastings MacDonald (youth) Duff (youth) Kerr (youth) MID Wilson Paatelainen Black Duncan McBain Hart Rankin Cowie Sutherland Morgan (?) Vigurs (youth) FWD Dargo Bayne Wyness McAllister Wood (youth)

June 1 is usually the end date of most expiring contracts in SPL circles and the transfer window opens again sometime around June 7 I believe so dont expect much before either of those dates. At the end of the day, Dargo will do what Dargo wants to do and will do it once he has actually decided what he is going to do .... whether Charlie badgers him or not he will make his own decision and we should respect that decision as he stuck to his word of not declaring anything until the season was over. As for players to come in .... here is my tuppenceworth GK - seems Ridgers may be the choice as backup to Fraser - I am fine with that. DEF - need cover in all positions LB / CB / RB or a utility player who can cover more than one. MID - think we are overloaded here so no-one needed unless an exceptional player becomes available to us FWD - Depends on what happens with Dargo - if he stays, think we are ok, if he goes we might want to consider a proven goalscorer if one is available. Priority 1 = Defensive cover as there is no-one really there to push (or cover for) the now first choice lineup of --- Hastings / Caff / Munro / Tokely --- for their spots. Midfield is fine, Up front is also fine, moreso if Dargo stays.

target #1 is always to survive in the SPL and next season is no different. However no-one succeeds with only a single target and survival should be the very minimum we are shooting for, other realistic, and more challenging targets for next season should be to try and qualify for Europe (via UEFA or InterToto routes), and to finish in the top 6. This is 'do-able' and anyone who says differently may be guilty of a lack of ambition. While Charlie may play these targets down publicly, I dont think he has a lack of ambition and these will doubtless be very real targets in the dressing room. On a personal level, CC (and possibly others at the club) will also have to upgrade coaching qualifications as there are minimum requirements to be eligible for European competitions and I dont believe any of our coaching staff have that .... yet.

a scoreboard is a "nice to have" feature but not at the expense of something else. If it could be paid for by sponsor cash then thats good, but I would far rather see money spent on improving what we have or laying the groundwork for a 'singing terrace' opposite the main stand (if the club can actually persuade the SPL that this can be allowed).

Yes ... Andrew Fraser was the one who helped ... the other was just a mod :004:

please do a search before posting duplicate topics - there are already about 3 or 4 on this subject alone

Interesting site in the Wheatsheaf before yesterday's game against DC United .... did I hear someone say "luvgravy" ??? [attach=1]

hope the game is better in person than it is on the radio ....... falling asleep here = one decent effort from Black, and a near thing from Tokes is about all that has kept me awake

.... cant resist this, (and call me hypocritical if you like) but .............. WHO ATE ALL THE PIES ............

[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]At the game ? - Dont forget to vote in the POLL after the game has ended. HERE [/li] [li]See the stats etc by choosing today's game from HERE[/li] LINEUPS St Mirren [attach=1] ICT [attach=2]

unfortunately, Scotland are playing the opening rounds in British Columbia - 3500 miles west of Toronto. They might manage games in Toronto in the latter stages depending on how they qualify (or if).

season tickets range from $200 up to $1700 at the half-way line. (see here: http://toronto.fc.mlsnet.com/t280/tickets/seating/) Individual tickets in the season book are marked at either $15 / $30 depending on the opposition (international tickets were announced later as $110). My season ticket in section 113 (singing section) cost a total of $220 - about £100 ...... that gives me 10 'normal' home games (@$15 each), 5 'premium' home games (@$30 each), 1 U20 friendly (@$30) and two international friendlies [benfica and Aston Villa] (@$110 each) ..... or as they would say over here .... "a 550 dollar value for only $220 ....." There are also discounts on merchandise, a free scarf, a limited edition 1st season 'pin', a couple of wristbands and more. The books/tickets themselves are of a good quality and you get to retain the whole ticket after entering the ground - they just scan the barcode as if you were in Tesco - so my inaugural season book will still be in pristine condition years from now. You can also print out the ticket via the Ticketmaster website up to 2 hours before kickoff if you have lost/forgotten the original or use the same site to send an electronic version of the ticket to a friend/colleague etc if you cant make the game. Its a very advanced and user friendly system. At the equivalent of £7 each for normal games and £15 to see the better teams (including David Beckham's LA Galaxy) the season tickets are incredible value and the PR and merchandising of the club has been excellent. As for the level of play ... after watching the first couple of (away) games on TV I thought "uh-oh ... this looks bad" but now, a few weeks later, the side is beginning to gel and they are looking pretty good. I would say that most SPL clubs would beat them right now as the skill level isnt quite there but with a marked improvement in every game so far, by the end of the season perhaps they might be bottom six SPL or top half division 1 ... certainly far higher than Highland League However - the standard of refereeing does make SPL refs look wonderful favourite chants from wednesday night when TFC beat MLS champs Houston Dynamo ..... pretty quick witted some of these guys "....I'm blind ! ... I'm Deaf ! ..... I wanna be a ref" - as I said, refs are crap "Huuuuuugh-Stonnnn ...... you have a problem ........"

PS - as to other sports .... Hockey is long gone by June (in Toronto at least as they never seem to qualify for the post-season Stanley cup), Basketball is also finished but there is always Baseball where the Blue Jays are blowing hot and cold at the minute. Worth going to see a game if Roy Halladay is pitching as he seems to win, but if you hear the name Josh Towers - stay away as he always loses. Toronto played again last night and made it two wins in a row .... after demolishing Chicago on Saturday by a 3-1 margin, last night was a lot tighter as they played Houston (current champions) and beat them 1-0. It was pissing rain and felt very 'scottish' but still a crowd of 19000+ showed up to the open air stadium .... great fun. If you do get to a game and make it to 113 look out for at leat two ICT supporters .... myself who normally has on an ICT Baseball cap and Polo Shirt and Luvgravy who usually has on a blue or white ICT top ...... doing my 'Scottish team count' .... so far I have met supporters of the following teams who are all going to the TFC games regularly ..... - ICT - Celtic - Rangers - Dunfermline - St Mirren - St Johnstone

Season goes from April - October so it gels pretty well with the close-season in Scotland :003: June fixtures are 2nd (SAT) @ 3:30pm V Colorado (H) 6th (WED) @ 7:00pm V New York (H) 17th (SUN) @ 1:00 PM V Dallas (H) 23rd (SAT) @ 7:30PM V New England (A) July is a month where all games are away games because of the U20 world cup - not sure of fixtures for that. If you are looking for tickets, I would get yourself onto one of the supporters sites (U-Sector / Red Patch) to see if anyone has spares - single game tickets are hard to come by and depending on the crowd on the day you may or may not get a good deal from the touts outside. If you can get them, sections 112 and 113 are the places where all the noise comes from. see torpics.com - a little photo site I threw together for links to the main supporters site.

If you finish bottom you should go down, simple as that. As for promotion, there are a few scenarios that would work... 1. If your ground meets requirements - no problem, no argument, you are up. 2. If your ground does not meet requirements then you should still be able to come up provided that you can show that your home ground (existing or new) will meet the criteria by the start of your second season in the SPL (if you are lucky enough to stay up) ie. by submitting plans of the work to be done. You should be able to continue using your existing ground (to save money on groundsharing costs) but can only use those parts that are SPL compliant. [eg. if we look at the original TCS - we would only have been allowed to use the main stand in the SPL until we built the other stands. once built and certified we could use new facilities immediately]. If you do not meet the criteria by the end of season 1 in the SPL you are automatically relegated. This would do away with the ridiculous gamble that some clubs are forced to consider - spend a wad of cash on upgrading the ground when they are not sure they will win the division and not only that, have it ready nearly three months before the end of that season (the 31 March deadline) just in case you will be eligible to play in the SPL nearly 5 months later. Tullochs have shown how quickly stands can be built - so clubs could quite easily get it done in the close season or use the full season (and the extra cash it brings in) to build more permanent structures. if this option isnt attractive then there is always the good old standby ..... 3. If the team that wins Div 1 is not eligible to come up or cannot show work plans for making their stadium compliant then team2 comes up, if they are not eligible then its team3 or team 4 or team 5. I would make a cutoff point at team 5 (top half of division) at which point the SPL team would be saved from relegation. realistically, with Div1 being full of some reasonably large teams at least 2 or 3 of the top 5 will usually have a compliant stadium.

ahhhh ....... so all we need is a few tubas (other than those in yellow jackets), trumpets and trombones and IHE and the gang will be fine :rotflmao:

friendlies confirmed against County and Inverurie so far !!! ..... no doubt Peterhead, Elgin and others will be added to that list.

Not doubting the accuracy of your info LG - but how is this possible if, as you said in an earlier post "it is clearly stated in the SPL Ground Rules that standing in an all seated stadium is forbidden" ? Either it is allowed and anyone can establish a section like this or it is not allowed and Rangers are not only breaking but also flouting the rules. If they do allow a sizeable proportion of their fans to stand I would think they might be the first club to support the notion of adjusting this rule ... anything else would be hypocritical in the extreme.

DJS - Thanks for the response. Between your answer and maimie's earlier answer I think the vagueness of the original statement has been rectified. I also understand that the expanded responses from you both are 'personal opinion' and cannot be attributed as any official statement from the trust as a whole. I think one of the huge issues here is consistency. Fans have been saying for years that there is no consistency in the application of certain rules in different parts of the ground or when 'certain' teams come to call. I think everyone realises that the rules as they currently stand mean that the club has to enforce things a certain way and the all-seated rule is one of these. However, it seems ludicrous to invite fans to form a singing section and then treat those very fans with a higher level of scrutiny or to single certain ones out and then do nothing about those standing in other parts of the ground. It is also disturbing to read the accounts of how people were manhandled which seems to go against the stewarding company's own job description for a steward ..... "Providing assistance and safety advice to people attending a wide range of events including many types of sporting occasions, outdoor and indoor concerts. The ability to work within a team, displaying initiative and common sense to the benefit of the public and the occasion. No experience is necessary, however you will be required to undergo compulsory training including basic first aid and fire safety. In addition to this a "first day" induction course will be provided that will enable you to become familiar with your workplace prior to being assigned your duties."

No Maimie, I do have a reasonable grasp of the language (as does DJS) so I was actually looking at what he was saying and it amounted to nothing. It had the feel of a joint press release where the consensus was 'we need to say something without actually saying anything'. If that is the case, I would much prefer the supporters trust to retain its integrity and come out and say something along the lines of the following example as opposed to this spin. "we held discussions with the club where we put the supporters' concerns about the incidents of Saturday to them. Although nothing has been conclusively resolved we feel they did listen sympathetically to these concerns and we will be organising a further meeting in the near future to discuss the matters further when the club have concluded their own investigations. We will also be arranging a meeting for fans in the near future, to which club representatives will be invited. The purpose of this meeting will be for both sides to discuss how this initiative should move forward." My version essentially says the same thing but without using empty phrases like "it is clear that much can be learned from what happened" which is dubious and sounds like spin to say the least ....... what can be learned ? who is doing the learning ? anyhow .... moving away from the semantics of the original statement, I prefer your version which is a little clearer and gives us a better idea of the path..... [li]concerns have been put to the club [great - just what was asked for][/li] [li]club will investigate these concerns - [thats fair enough - they need to do that][/li] [li]further dialogue after investigation - [exactly whats needed][/li] [li]stewarding an issue, club sympathetic - [i hope so -THIS TIME - it has been raised dozens of times and fallen on deaf ears each time][/li] [li]club to listen to fans ideas (at future meeting we presume) - [good - club can say what is possible, fans can say what they desire and a consensus can be reached][/li]

To be fair to the club on this one, this situation is not entirely their fault (kind of). I have previously been told that Errea see ICT as one of their smaller clients with a limited fanbase and they treat us accordingly. we have to submit orders months in advance and shipping takes forever due to payment arrangements and the fact that they also shut down for a summer break which i believe is common in Italy (?). when delivery dates are given to the club they are frequently not met by the supplier. personally, I would like to see us use a UK manufacturer that made strips in consistent UK sizes and delivered on time .... a UK manufacturer might even realise we are now a more prominent team than we were when we first signed up with errea.

We'll be lucky to be wearing them for the first game of next season if previous errea delivery schedules are anything to go by :023:

No disrespect intended DJS but that statement does not answer a **** thing. Comment: The Trust took to the Club the concerns of fans about events at the game >> And the response ? Comment: It is clear that much can be learned from what happened and further dialogue and investigations are required to complete this process >> Has anyone actually held up their hands and said 'we were wrong' or is it all the fans' fault again ? Comment: However, we are pleased that the Football Club remains committed to the Singing Section becoming a permanent fixture at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium >> Are they just as committed to allowing certain stewards to continue to treat fans with utter disrespect and physical intimidation bordering on assault ? Comment: The Trust will arrange a meeting for fans in the near future, to which club representatives will be invited, to hear how fans feel this initiative should be taken forward. >> I note the use of the word HEAR rather than LISTEN !!!

I would be happy with whichever one of the following CC decided to choose : Barry Wilson, Grant Munro, Ross Tokely