Scotty

Just like to clarify that although my posts about the merchandise were somewhat negative, my opinion of the shop staff has always been positive. My beef is with Errea and their sizing/quality not with the staff

a 2-1 defeat is a footballing lesson ??? It doesnt really matter how the score goes. Nothing is going to be taken from this game as we arent exactly fielding our strongest side. It will be interesting to see how we lineup though and to see what places are made available for former ICT players who played alongside Rossco in the last 10 years.

I cant say for certain, but the club shop have allowed this in the past because of this very issue. I can't help feeling the club are losing out on sales, especially online ones because every year there are no guarantees about the size of the tops. We have home/away that are different sizes and now it appears that the new home top is yet another different size (smaller) than the previous home top .... ridiculous. If Errea cannot or will not produce a top that has a standard set of sizes that are consistent throughout their range then it is time to ditch them as they are clearly not up to the task. Would any of their other clubs stand for this ? No ? then why should we ... I am sure that there are plenty other kit makers who would be happy to provide the club not only with quality kit but also quality delivery and consistency of product. Our Le Coq shirts were excellent quality and Adidas, Nike, Reebok and Hummel all seem to produce decent tops - why cant Errea ? I am not the most svelte of supporters but I am by no means the 'chunkiest' ICT fan so there is also the issue that we are excluding a sizeable (no pun intended) section of the support as potential customers and that does not make any business sense. I love the look of the new top, and in any other clothing range (even Errea's own polos, fleeces etc) I would quite happily fit into a XXL or maybe a XXXL ... but when it comes to their replica kits, even XXXXL is a problem so sadly it looks like I wont be purchasing any of the new stuff.

Couldnt agree more. Rossco deserves to have a good testimonial season, kicking off tonight against the Blades. Like IHE, I am sorry I cannot be there to applaud him on and off the park as he has been immense for us for the last 10 years and here's hoping he has got quite a few more still in him

Cant find one of those, (thought we had a smilie with tape over its mouth for that but cant see it). However, I couldnt resist adding these new ones :hail: :banana3: :banana99: :shakebooty:

I assume you mean the pictures rather than the technology ? Having said that, considering they got the technology and the implementation of it provided to them for free that part at least represents good value. The new site will have a club shop I believe - hopefully they might get a professional photographer in to take the pictures !!!

You now have the option to sponsor players HOME / AWAY shirts, TRAINING KIT, or BOOTS. If you have a look at this LINK you will see that plenty of opportunities were available last season. Alternatively, if you cant afford to sponsor on your own, you could do the same as I did and get donations to sponsor a player. The Internutters player sponsorship started off this way through the website and luckily has continued under the watchful eye of Guzz as the Innes Bar Supporters Club sponsorship. I havent spoken to CaleyD about this as yet, and realistically we still have too much to do to get the site fully operational for the start of this coming season, but I would have no problem if we looked into organising paypal style donations over the course of the season so that at the start of the next season we could do some form of sponsorship ... there would need to be something worked out for 'shares' so that someone who donated say 100.00 had more chance to win the signed top than someone who donated 5.00 but if people were interested we could certainly look into it.

If Boyd can continue the way he ended last season, Rangers wont have problems scoring goals - hope Celtic do start badly as we play them early :004:

couple of comments Thats all well and good, but it doesnt provide any long-term idea of how much is coming in from one week/month to the next so there is no way to know what your final total would be .... and therefore no way to plan on how much you have to 'pay-a-player' Dont get me wrong, I like the idea of something like PayPal for one-off donations but but perhaps you might be better served in buying some of the unissued shares instead, ordering some merchandise or subscribing to an online commentary service (see next para.). Hopefully the new official site will have subscriptions for things like audio/video coverage like other PTV sites .... I will have absolutely no problem subscribing to a service that gets me coverage over here and it would feel like I am almost paying my admission :003: Pay-a-Player was being discussed around the time that the Trust idea was first mooted - I always envisaged that although I was going to try and get it off the ground that a representative body such as this would have to run it so as to ensure that there could be no allegations of impropriety.

Do you have Ian Broadfoot's book ? If the answer to that is yes, then look up my name and you will see that I proposed a similar scheme called 'pay-a-player' back in the days before David Sutherland took over. Whilst it was both a simple and I think great idea on paper, and people and businesses were very enthusiastic, it took on a whole different perspective when you actually started talking to people about direct debit forms, or yearly invoices ..... There was also the issue in the scheme that I was trying to organise of how you could 'ring-fence' the monies donated so that they went to the manager for players or the wage bill and werent gobbled up elsewhere at the club as it was haemorrhaging money left right and centre at that stage. Fortunately, we had David Sutherland and his solution was easier to organise !!! After going through the agonies of trying to setup that scheme, I would say that if you want to fund a player, the best way to do it is to sponsor them - now that sponsorship of tops (H/A), shorts, socks etc is available there were very few players who had full sponsorship last season so loads of opportunities are available.

I still maintain that we need an experienced (veteran?) striker as cover .... BUT, I also agree that there isnt much out there so we shouldnt just sign someone for the sake of it ... At the end of the day, I am quite happy with how our squad looks on paper other than the need for a striker and have enough faith in both Grassa and Charlie that if the right player becomes available either permanently or as a loan option then they will hopefully take the plunge. If we have to, we may need to sacrifice a midfielder to get a striker.

Think Charlie will have a hard time selecting his strongest team for a lot of games - and that is a good thing as players will need to be focussed on their performances so as not to lose their places. Central midfield is going to be one of those battleground areas with McBain, Hart, Keogh, Black, Rankin, Duncan, and Fox fighting it out for 2 spots in the centre and McBain, Morgan, Wilson, Proctor and possibly Campbell fighting it out for the wide positions on either side - we have less competition in defence or up front but I am reasonably happy with the defence as I am sure Caff wants back in the side at the expense of someone, Proctor wants regular games, Golly wants to get his armband back, and Parratt wants to break into the side .... I can see one or two casualties in that list depending on their form, but I still think we need an experienced striker to act as cover for Denzil or Dargs if either gets injured or goes off the boil. Bayne is a hardworker but not a goalscorer and Rory is not yet ready - this season may see whether he goes down the Wyness/Dargs route or the Bavidge Boulevard !!!!!

I guess so :004: - but I also added my subs :002:

BROWN TOKELY --- DODS --- MUNRO --- HASTINGS WILSON --- BLACK --- RANKIN --- MORGAN WYNESS --- DARGO Subs Fraser McCaffrey Proctor Keogh Duncan Hart Bayne

I can see where Charlie is coming from as technically we have signed (or may sign) 8 players. However only 2 could be classed as "first team ready" - the others are mostly youngsters who hopefully can develop in the same way as we have seen with Black, Proctor and Morgan by playing in the SPL reserve league and as kencar has posted, probably so that we can use some of them to meet the U21 criteria on matchdays. Of all the 'unknowns', Campbell seems to hold the most promise for breaking into the first team but I guess we will see. 'removed from squad at end of 05/06 season' Juanjo (end of contract) Finnegan (released) Brewster (transferred to DUFC) Jackson (released) Wyness (end of loan) 'added to 06/07 squad' Rankin - signed from Ross County Wyness - signed as free agent Smith - signed from youth team Soane - signed from youth team (technically added to 05/06 squad at end of season) Sutherland - signed from youth team (technically added to 05/06 squad at end of season) Kerr - signed from youth team (technically added to 05/06 squad at end of season) Campbell ? Glass ?

I really do not know why we continue to use Errea. The quality is "decent" but the sizing is a complete lottery. Our home and away tops are completely (and significantly) different sizes for the same 'size' that is printed on the label !!!! We also seem to have a huge problem actually getting stock before the start of the season every single season. I sincerely hope that the club look around at alternatives as and when the existing contract comes up for renewal. PLEASE NOTE: The Shop URL quoted in a posting above was changed when we moved servers recently. You can reach the new url either from the link on the Official Site or at this link ~ CLUB SHOP ~

No disrespect intended, and I know he does work extremely hard, but if he is a striker who cant score goals he's as much use as a chocolate fireguard. Liam Keogh had a similar problem and is now a midfielder. Perhaps Graham needs to be used as an attacking midfielder or an 'assist' player just behind the front two ...

Shamelessly stolen from P&B ..... you absolutely have to watch this video where Walter gets wired in about Chick ....... all I can say is "heh....heh.....heh"

my guess would be that Wyness will take No.8 that was vacated by Hissy and was his number when he was with us before and that Rankin will take No.11 that was Juanjo's squad number. Other players may change numbers but I think Brown will retain 1, Tokely will retain 2, Dods will retain 4 and Wilson will keep 7

Squad numbers not assigned for anyone yet AFAIK although you can take a pretty good guess at some of them ....

Dont think they need to name and shame. If this is true - we will be able to figure out who they are from the teamsheets or by seeing which officials run onto the park. very disappointing indeed as the officials not only get a fee but also out of pocket expenses such as mileage etc. .... not sure what the ref fee is these days but now that we are an SPL team it is a good bit higher than it used to be. If players from other teams can come from Dundee, Perth and Sheffield to donate 90 minutes work on the park for the cause then I dont think its a lot to ask a local ref/linesman to donate all or at least a part of his fee for the same cause.

No worries for the 29th then :015: :015: :015: ..... and I remember when St Mirren was a BIG game :016:

Unless things have changed radically, there will be 0% chance of after match entry for the kids. Colin has been asked this many times and the answer was always the same. It has something to do with the laws surrounding letting kids in with their parents only when food is available. No food available on Saturday nights so no kids allowed. I think Dmacca knows this from the posts on the other thread but is hoping one of you guys who go into the Innes can confirm with Colin or Scooby to save him from a potentially wasted journey to the Innes when he could be in the social club or somewhere else :004:

I understand what BF meant, even if no-one else does Trialist A = Campbell Trialist B = Glass Trialist C = Donaldson still no idea who any of them are though

Think I believe the Richard Gough story more than this one !!! A division 1 midfielder doesnt miraculously turn into an SPL striker overnight .... must try harder IHE