Scotty

0-2 now

THE MATCHDAY THREAD Discuss ICT & other games in this thread as they happen Ayr United -V- Inverness CT PREVIEW 7th May 2019 @ 7:45pm, Somerset Park, Ayr Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Facebook Go to the Chatroom Media Coverage AUDIO COVERAGE BBC Sportsound LIVE COMMENTARY - BBC Sportsound [UK Only] LIVE TEXT (ONLINE) Sporting Life BBC VIDEO SPFL YouTube Channel ICT Official YouTube Channel TEAM LINEUPS Tweets by @ICTFC Tweets by @ICTFC

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THE MATCHDAY THREAD Discuss ICT & other games in this thread as they happen Inverness CT -V- Dunfermline PREVIEW 4th May @ 3pm, Caledonian Stadium Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Facebook Go to the Chatroom Media Coverage AUDIO COVERAGE BBC Sportsound BBC Sportsound [UK Only] LIVE TEXT (ONLINE) Sporting Life BBC VIDEO SPFL YouTube Channel ICT Official YouTube Channel TEAM LINEUPS TO FOLLOW Tweets by @ICTFC Tweets by @ICTFC

Paying for cup games or playoffs is standard practice the world over. Think of it another way - as we debate our club being skint --- the club can budget or at least be aware of the fact that they will host 16 home league games. These have costs that need to be budgeted for when we set ticket prices. Costs such as heat, light, stewarding, policing, etc etc etc. We cannot know before the season how many cup games we may be involved in, or if we will be in the playoffs. If we did - and having these in the package was actually allowed - then we would have to factor in that cost into the overall season ticket price. You would not "pay" for these games when they came along as you already did so ...... I was the same over here in 2016 and 2017 when Toronto got to the MLS Cup Final .... cost me about $300 for my season ticket, then as the playoffs came along it cost me the same again over about 4 or 5 games in our run to the final each year. Same applied when the club were in the Champions League over here. We actually got the first game 'included' in the ticket price but had to pay for all others in our run to the final of that competition too ! My $300 season suddenly became about $900 ! Personally, I think crowds are down because people have so many other things to spend their ever decreasing discretionary cash on, and the football authorities have, over the years, made the sport less enjoyable and killed the atmosphere to a point where going to a game is not high priority for those outside of the diehards. There are probably things the club can do better, but its not their fault that a typical football game nowadays involves 'customers' turning up to a stadium to be treated like potential criminals for a disproportionate sum of money that has to sustain ever spiralling costs, to be fed on over-priced crap, while watching a game that is inevitably of a lower standard than we have been used to because the Scottish game just cant compete even with the lowest tiers in England because of TV money. I dont know the answer, no clue at all, but as much as the club can do, the SFA and SPFL need to try and figure something out for everyone's sakes !

This would be the same guy who literally gave away 700,000 shares via the Trust and put them under the direct control of the current group running the club? The same guy who has been pumping money into the club since the early 2000s to keep us afloat, and who has also (quietly) continued to do the same over the last couple of years despite having no direct involvement with the club or any position or representation on the board? A man who also saw a fairly simple agreement to hand over ownership of the two stands back to the club morph into a tome that Tolstoy would have been proud of which achieved the same result but ultimately cost us more, and a man who so clearly wants control that he now only has a personal shareholding of just over 50,000 shares (50,250 to be exact) instead of the 750,250 he could have retained. David Sutherland may be many things Johndo, and at times you can certainly question or wonder about motives, I know I have over the years, especially when there seemed to be that childish spat with AS but without his cash, his interest, and his stewardship we would not have a club to be talking about. That is a fact regardless of your personal opinion of him. The current board are not being held back by him, they are being kept afloat ! With all due respect to the current board, they seem to talk a good game, but you just need to read comments about hospitality, about season tickets, about budgets, read the chairman's own statements and promises on ICTFC.com, or talk to the multitude of people who have left, are leaving, or have "retired" to see that much of it is hot air and soundbites ! The excuse trotted out every time is to throw Kenny Cameron or others under the bus and blame the previous board. Lest we forget, this is a previous board our current chairman was part of ! KC was ultimately responsible for some of the premiership contracts we were weighed down by and for not sacking RF sooner, but as much as we have had to deal with that, it cannot keep being the excuse. The last set of accounts were so worrying that they have a warning about insolvency in them for the first time in 25 years. Part of that is relegation and lower revenue, but not all of it. If you think the last two years have been filled with good decisions then you are sticking your head as far in the sand as you have often accused others of doing. Take a peek behind the facade !

Maybe we should try to look into it then .... depending on the teams, the amount of wage percentage we would be expected to pay might put it out of our range but surely its worth exploring. I only mention Toronto as they are actively seeking this kind of thing ... but there must be teams closer to home who could see the merit of some players being blooded in the championship (or premiership when we get back in) and willing to work with the club for mutual benefit.

Maybe the dire financial situation requires the money to be in earlier ...... As the deadline approaches, perhaps the club will extend it to the end of the month or beyond so folk can get another pay cycle in .....

he'll no doubt be seething

THE MATCHDAY THREAD Discuss ICT & other games in this thread as they happen Alloa Athletic -V- Inverness CT PREVIEW 27th April 2019 @ 3PM, Recreation Park, Alloa Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Facebook Go to the Chatroom Media Coverage AUDIO COVERAGE BBC Sportsound BBC Sportsound [UK Only] LIVE TEXT (ONLINE) Sporting Life BBC VIDEO SPFL YouTube Channel ICT Official YouTube Channel TEAM LINEUPS TO FOLLOW Tweets by @ICTFC Tweets by @ICTFC

At Inverness Hotel prices you would be lucky to get more than a couple of days for that .... that's why we do AirBnB when we visit.

last year it was £350 plus VAT (total £420) to be the main sponsor for Liam (Home Top). Other items are cheaper but we didnt get enough sponsors to cover off anything else. The money raised all goes to the club and where it goes from there is anyone's guess .....

As we climbed the leagues, yes we did. The basic was 'reasonable' but a larger percentage of any money we got from TV and the SFA/SPFL prize fund depending on where we finished was shared with players. As our income increased, so did our wages (and contract complications) to a point in the premiership where it was a challenge. OFW is a prime example of this. His wage is always been held up as an example of the mismanagement of the "previous board" or our previous chairman but is it? My understanding of his last contract renewal is that it came about just after his stint at the Euros. The club got a decent six figure windfall payment because of this but as he was out of contract this was in jeopardy. Eventually, the club agreed a wage higher than we should have been comfortable with so that we didnt miss the signing deadline. The basic premise is that the higher wage was a way of giving him a significant share of the windfall payment which was what him or his agent wanted. Not ideal for us but somewhat of a scenario of "found money" as UEFA basically funded this contract and we pocketed a few quid out of it too. I am sure its more nuanced than that but thats my basic understanding. The biggest problem - for me - is that we got 'comfortable' in the Premiership and started to offer (low-end) Premiership wages and contracts as we thought we were becoming a permanent fixture, safe from relegation. These contracts were indeed higher than our business on its own could sustain but provided we stayed in the premiership and got the odd cup run then it was sustainable through payments and bonuses from SPFL/SFA and UEFA. Setting aside the manner of Yogi's departure as we have a whole other thread for that, the thing that further compounded this all was that we did not sack RF earlier and yes, the chairman, and the board at the time - which included our current chairman - does have to take that one on the chin. Relegation - as it did last time under Butcher - ripped a 7 figure sum from our yearly accounts and its been a mad dash since then to cut costs and try to replace some of that revenue. I really do fear how we are currently operating and if we are truly efficient and maximising revenue while minimising costs. There's a few things I have heard that do not sit well with me, and the revelation on another thread that we are putting our new CEO up in a hotel is a complete head-scratcher. If this is true I sincerely hope this is a temporary measure with a finite end date and that his appointment is also contingent on him being present in Inverness rather than commuting from Edinburgh. When it comes to signings, I think Robbo, over his two spells in charge of the club has shown he can make good decisions in managing his minimal budgets. All managers pick up the odd dud but for the most part he manages to make good choices so happy to leave it to him to try and strengthen where we need and cast off any surplus or non-performers. One area I think we might look to investigate is strategic partnerships with other clubs. I sat in a meeting with Toronto FC a few weeks ago where the president was talking about forming partnerships with clubs in Europe, or even taking a stake in some clubs, where they could act as feeders (in both directions) much like NYCFC have with Man City or that NY Red Bulls have with the various other Red Bull sponsored teams. We previously had tie-ups with various teams in England at one stage or another including Sheffield and for a while, Arsenal. Could this be an option again? Does Robbo or anyone at the club have the relevant contacts these days ..... ? Can we afford whatever the financial arrangements of such a deal were or would be ?

Can we keep this to the topic please .... the topic here is player sponsorship, not who should be in the team for the next game.

Whilst you are basically correct, I do think it is a little harsh. Lets face it, at 10, 15, or 20 most of us would crawl over broken glass to play for our local team and give scant consideration to our retirement plans. In our own eyes we are invincible and we could play forever !!! We also like to think we could be the next Ronaldo, Messi, or <insert name here> who will pull in millions and not have to worry about life after football. Its unlikely to happen for 99.9% of players, but it is the dream. I cant fault any player for trying to get closer to that dream .... Moving to a higher paying club in a higher division is one step on that ladder. You could argue that this is part of his plan to save for the future ... if he stayed at ICT because of loyalty it would be admirable, but could be a foolish decision for his financial future .... Don't think Polly will strike it rich at Motherwell but he will surely pull in more than we are currently paying him and certainly more than we can offer him on a renewed contract in the championship. That's not a criticism of ICT its simply a basic fact. Outside of the biggest teams, I don't think anyone in Scottish football could really be regarded as well paid in football terms. Maybe when compared to normal jobs, but not in football terms. Anyhoo, I wish him well, and as you say I do hope he has his head switched on and invests in his future while he is still earning a decent crust ....

Putting this out there to all users, not just to the editorial team ...... We are looking for more people to write articles ... be they match previews, match reports or just news and views for next season (and beyond). @tm4tj has been our stalwart on here in that role for many seasons but he is hoping to get a bit more rest and relaxation in his online life as well as his real life. His contribution to this site continues to be immense and where we have struggled to get something in place for some games he has always stepped up to the plate to either write articles himself or cajole and persuade others to do so. If you want the editorial side of things to continue in the same manner then we need more folk to ease that burden on him. It would be great if we could find someone he could mentor that could (eventually) take over in his role of "managing editor" ..... If you are a budding journalist, like to write blogs, or just have an opinion you would like published on a regular basis and it relates to ICT then we have no issues with opening up this platform to you. We recently did just that with the blogging system and now there are a few people whose independent blogs are reproduced on the site in what we hope is a win-win for all. Provided the content will not put the site in any legal jeopardy then there are few editorial constraints outside of using appropriate language and grammar. If you can type a reply to a post on here you can easily use our editorial system. its very straightforward and pointers can be given for any bits that are not clear. We would also really like to encourage some of our younger members - who often say they don't get a voice - to take up the torch as the rest of us are getting a little more 'mature' and set in our ways ... but anyone is welcome to contribute. The more the merrier as they say. I would also say that it doesn't matter if you have had any run-ins with me or the mods at any time. Anyone who knows me knows that unless your behaviour on the site was so egregious that it cant be forgiven I don't hold grudges. (you would not be reading this if you fell into that category). Life is indeed too short for that. If you currently contribute to the site positively then I don't care who you are or what history you have on the site. Its all about the here and now. If you dont feel up to writing articles or match reports then there are a few other areas where we will gladly accept help. The weekly match day routine involves updating tables, posting the POY voting poll, doing the prediction league updates (the other one, not Gringo's one), and entering match details in our stats program. The stats program itself could also do with someone casting an eye over it to keep profiles up to date, to adjust player info when they sign for other clubs etc. We also have a couple of seasons worth of data entry to complete from earlier seasons to get it fully up to date. These are all fairly basic tasks and each one only takes a few minutes, but when one person is doing everything then it all adds up ..... if anyone is willing then let us know and we can provide the relevant information and access to assist. We are also open to new ideas ... so if there is something we don't currently do and you have an idea, or better still, want to try getting something up and running, then let us know. We really do want to the site to continue as it is or improve with new ideas, and provided the income from ads trickles in and pays for (most of) our costs we are happy to continue running it, but we absolutely need some of those who appreciate the resources and information we have provided for the last 25 years to step up and give us a hand ... send me a message or reply below if you are interested. thanks. Scotty

Football is a short career for most, and as much as it may pain us to say so, none of our players are ever going to be able to make much of a retirement plan on our wages, especially now while we are in the Championship. Add the effect the boo-boys will have had on him (however they want to minimise it) and its a pretty easy decision for the lad. Personally, I wish him well, hope he grows as a person and as a player and is able to bank a little bit of a nest egg for himself and family. It may not be PSG as one poster has mentioned, but we're not Barcelona either, even if the colours are similar !

THE MATCHDAY THREAD Discuss ICT & other games in this thread as they happen Inverness CT -V- Dundee Utd PREVIEW 20th April 2019 @ 3pm, Caledonian Stadium Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Facebook Go to the Chatroom Media Coverage AUDIO COVERAGE BBC Sportsound BBC Sportsound [UK Only] LIVE TEXT (ONLINE) Sporting Life BBC VIDEO SPFL YouTube Channel ICT Official YouTube Channel TEAM LINEUPS TO FOLLOW Tweets by @ICTFC Tweets by @ICTFC

Ryan is scheduled to go for surgery today to address the horrible facial injuries suffered in the other semi-final. On behalf of CTO (and myself) I just want to wish him all the best for a speedy recovery and to hope that Charlie and the rest of his family are not too stressed out. Its never easy to see relatives in medical distress, especially your children !

We are happy to have sponsored him since before he was a first team regular. When we sponsored him it was a toss-up between him or Ryan Christie as both youngsters were not sponsored at the time. Here's hoping that he goes on to get the same plaudits as Ryan but not the same injury (ouch).

Over the years we have sponsored someone or something every year either through the site coffers, our users, or both. We sponsored Grant Munro through his entire ICT career and have now done the same thing with Liam Polworth who will leave for Motherwell at the end of the season. We have also sponsored various 'lesser' items like goalie gloves or Ross Tokely's boots etc ! Over the years we have taken pride in picking a young up and coming local players who might not otherwise get sponsored at that stage of their career and it paid off for us with our sponsorship of both Grant and Liam. My open question to the site users now is whether we continue to sponsor a player now that Liam is leaving, and if so, who that should be. I have to be transparent here and say my initial thoughts were to say an absolute no to sponsorship for next season. I do not take kindly - in business as a service provider, or on a personal level - to being ignored, slandered, bad-mouthed and lied to, all of which have taken place in the last year by senior club employees. Given there have been some positive changes in personnel at the stadium, and I have had a few months to let the initial annoyances, frustration and financial impacts subside, I am prepared to continue running our scheme on here if enough users want to continue. If the scheme is to continue then I would be up for sponsoring someone like : Daniel Mackay, Roddy MacGregor, Cammy Mackay, Daniel Hoban ... etc basically one of the younger up and coming guys. Current sponsors have priority over renewing so although someone suggested switching to Ridgers, he is fully sponsored and if his current sponsors renew it would not be an option. Emma will no doubt send us a list of players in the coming weeks with details of who/what is available.

We received a note from the club for the player sponsors' night on Tuesday 30th April, 6pm - 9pm. If anyone who is part of our player sponsorship group wants to go you can read more details about it in sponsors area here: I need to know by next week so I can let Emma know. If no-one in the sponsor group wants to claim the free dinner by say next Thursday, then we can open this up to other site members who are not in the group. If you are not in the player sponsor group and would like to go, please mention it in here. We will make a decision Friday (or tell the club no-one wants to go if we get no takers). As with previous years, the gift of a signed top from our sponsored player (Polly) will be drawn at a later date and will include all player sponsors in the draw from both far and near. It will not form part of this sponsors night like it does with local sponsors.

can we keep this thread to Polly please. Want to talk about Doran or anyone else, please start a new one in the correct section (depending on rumour/fact/wishlist)