Scotty

I think pricing has a lot to do with it ... I am not intending to be over critical of the club here, as prices do have to rise in proportion to the division we are in, the costs we incur, and the recommended ticket pricing structure that the relevant league imposes, but maybe there needs to be a radical look at the way the charges are computed, especially for kids as we need to get them young and turn them into lifelong ICT fans and we cant do that if they wont go to games because the prices are too high .... Is it better to have a stadium half-full at 'expensive prices' or totally full by offering cheaper deals ? I would say the latter as it generates additional business for things like programs, 50-50 draw, merchandise, catering etc which in turn trickles back into the club's coffers either directly or indirectly (higher rent for catering hatches for example). However, as well as looking at prices, we also need to do more to make fans feel "valued" so they actually want to come back. We have heard grumblings about stewarding, lack of facilities, and other things over the years and this along with other measures (such as the potentially easily abused FBOs) has helped dilute the enjoyment factor to an all time low (not just at the TCS). The diehards will always go, but will potential 'new' fans return if they feel they are being treated like something nasty on the bottom of your shoe if they have the audacity to enjoy themselves ? I have just purchased a season ticket for Toronto FC (no worries, not jumping ship just need to see some live footy) - The ticket cost me $200 Canadian dollars (about 90 quid) but I had a range of price points to choose from depending on where I wanted to sit in the stadium (see picture at end of posting) and they have lots of things they have added in an attempt to make the supporters feel "valued". Toronto is of course a brand new team and are pulling out the stops to try and create a hardcore fanbase in a city more renowned for Ice Hockey, Basketball, Baseball and even Lacrosse so these incentives may erode over time, but maybe ICT could steal one or two of their ideas to enhance the "ICT experience" ? Here is what I get for my $200 (bullet points taken from TFC's marketing literature and have added some of my own comments in red) [li]Personal account executive to deal with all queries/problems. I feel valued already, any problems or queries about my season ticket and I have a direct line number to someone who can help me. OK, i realise he also deals with hundreds of others but I have spoken to him twice already to choose my exact seat and he remembered my name and has a great telephone manner[/li] [li]Special member prices for Toronto FC tickets, including purchases of additional tickets. mmm, buy additional tickets at a slight discount for friends who might only come to one or two matches, there's a good idea[/li] [li]Members entrance into BMO Field 15 minutes prior to the public. Jump the queue - always good for making you feel special :015:[/li] [li]Access to exclusive Toronto FC members-only team related events, parties and promotions. They already invited members on a pub crawl with Mo Johnston :015: and have sent out info about merchandise that will be available prior to official launch[/li] [li]15 home games and up to 5 additional matches. Basically all league and cup games[/li] [li]Advance window / discounts to other International games, friendly matches, Canadian national team games. Youth world cup here next year and I have first choice on my own seat for it.[/li] [li]Toronto FC membership card. gimmick but kinda cool[/li] [li]Advance access and 15% discount on team merchandise. they make money and I save money, everybody wins[/li] [li]Access to our ticket exchange program. I like this idea, and think it would work well at ICT with 'away' ICT fans who travel to games but dont buy a season book as they dont know how many games they will get to. This program means that if I cant make it to a game I can sell my ticket to someone else and the club will help me find that person. Not sure how it will work but presume it will run in conjunction with the second point about members being able to get additional tickets. I believe that I can also use the 'exchange' to upgrade to other parts of the stadium for matches where i might want to sit elsewhere (with visiting friends for example).[/li] [li]FREE access to all home games of the Toronto FC Reserve team. no big deal, but decent enough offer[/li] [li]Four issues of our team magazine "Free Kick". They havent got a full squad yet, but already their communication with members is excellent[/li] [li]Commemorative inaugural season Club Member pin. another gimmick but a kinda cool one[/li] [li]Special offers from our corporate partners. The only feature i didnt like, it means they are sharing their membership lists with sponsors and unlike UK, I dont think I can opt out.[/li] As I mentioned above, there was a wide range of price points from $200 up to $1600 for normal seats and from $25,000 to $40,000 for one of the 30 corporate boxes that line the main stand giving the club a chance to let normal fans in for a normal price while also allowing others to pay a premium for premium seats .... could that work at ICT ??? Seating chart. (with my seat in 113 marked - its where a section of supporters i used to meet at Toronto Lynx games decided to buy seats) [attach=1] Corporate boxes [attach=2]

found this interesting snippet about Denmark and taxes ....... Denmark is the master of tax. According to international statistics, Denmark has the highest overall taxation in the world. The following is a selection of the taxes: * A complex system of income taxes takes up to about 70% of peoples' salaries. * Plundering of personal pension funds. One of the underlying principles is that the funds are allowed to grow with the inflation plus 2-3%. Any revenue above that is confiscated as tax. In fact, the calculations are so complex that it's impossible for anyone to verify them. * The Value Added Tax is the highest in the European Union with 25% on all products and services, food and children's articles included. * Excise duties ("punktafgifter") add some extra tax to specific products like alcohol, tobacco, chocolate, soft drinks, packaging, matches and petrol. The excise duty is calculated on the goods and the VAT, resulting in a system where one pays tax on tax. * Car registration tax of 180% of the car and the VAT (the first 45.000 kr. are taxed "only" at 90%, and there are deductions for some safety equipment). Note that this includes a "tax tax" because the registration tax is also calculated on the VAT. * Annual road tax. * Tax on car insurance. * Fuel tax. * Energy taxes. * Green taxes. * Driving licence tax. * The European Union's most expensive television licence of 1894 kr. a year. * Various stamp duties, such as 600 kr. for a passport. * Tax on the number plates for cars of about 1200 kr. * Full income tax on all savings interests and capital gains. Many countries have taxfree schemes to encourage individual savings. Not Denmark. * Property tax. * Another tax on owned property. This used to be called tax of lejeværdi af egen bolig (letting value of own habitation). The communist principle behind it was that the habitation represents a potential taxable letting income. The letting value was calculated on a progressive scale from 2.5% to 7.5% of the public valuation. The letting value was added to the personal income before income tax was calculated. Thus, one paid tax of an income one never had. The principles have now been changed in order to hide the fraudulent nature of this tax. This tax is due even on properties abroad owned by residents of Denmark, and even if such properties abroad are already taxed in the country where they are. * Inheritance tax. * Emigration tax.

Very good interview with Donald Park on the official site from our very own Charles Bannerman. (believe its a copy of the article that appeared in the Highland Inverness News) CLICKY CLICKY

Ended up at Elgin City working in the commercial department AFAIK .... not sure if he is still doing that or not. Mike was a great guy too .... back in the early days of the site when we managed to get a few of the players to do live chat sessions Mike was always the first volunteer and seemed to enjoy it - think he did it twice or three times in total.

yup, my vote goes to Jimmy Calder too !!

and your just the man(tis) to help him - give him the benefit of your experience with your own male menopause :015: :015:

I knew I was missing something when I typed my comment ..... I cant speak for most of those countries, but having spent a little time in both Denmark and Sweden this summer, I can tell you there is one thing they do have that I think most Scots would baulk at and that is the level of taxation. Its a different mindset, as Swedes and Danes seem reasonably happy with paying high taxes as their social programs, education etc are all very well funded, but would you pay twice for your car they way they do in Denmark ? I was shocked when, after commenting on the sheer number of pushbikes lining the pavements I was told that the tax level on a new car purchase is 100% Dont get me wrong, as i said earlier, in my heart I would like to see an independent Scotland within my lifetime, even though i dont currently live there, but my head keeps thinking of the pitfalls that such a move could bring. 300 years of negative propoganda ? perhaps. But also 40 years of being kicked in the teeth by politicians of all flavours ..... I will watch the debate with interest.

It may not have been debated as long as in Scotland, but there has been a debate raging about this in Canada for years ... just substitute the word Quebec for Scotland. Last Week, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper headed the nationalists off at the pass by putting forward a proposal to "recognise Quebec as a nation within a united Canada" .... My heart says that I would love to see an independent Scotland, but is it workable ? I vaguely remember taking an interest in politics back in the heyday when the SNP were very strong. All sorts of claims were made that Scotland would be in the top 10 economies in the world due primarily to oil revenues, but once that is gone, what is left ? Agriculture? Fishing? Fish Farming? Tourism ? Call Centres? .... (although I am sure that Scots as a traditionally resourceful people would find something) However, even if Scotland were fully independent of the United Kingdom, we would probably just apply to join the EU and instead of being ruled by London with a puppet parliament in Edinburgh have barmy rules imposed on us from Brussels (at least Westminster does manage to filter out some of the dafter ones !) ..... At the end of the day, no member nation of the EU is truly independent but membership does does negate some of the anti-independence rhetoric that might be thrown up as EU citizens have rights in all member countries.

very Clark Kent !!!! not as bad as some of his previous ones though

picture or link for those of us who haven't got a clue what yer on aboot ?

If it was entertaining to you at the time, then it doesn't matter a **** what anyone else thinks !! I think your comments that "as a passionate supporter of that team I have never failed to be entertained" might be taken with a pinch of salt, as I have seen some games that (also as a passionate supporter) failed to entertain me ... but our passion for the team may be why we as supporters think games were better/worse than the neutrals in the media or those listening on radio etc.

sounds like we were both lucky and unlucky .... we were lucky that the 'first choice' Hearts side lacked match fitness but unlucky that they played better than the other first choice team that has played the last few weeks ..... we were lucky that Mark Brown, Darren Dods and the defence had great games but unlucky that our strikers couldn't seem to hit a coo's erse with a banjo despite bunches of chances. Richie Hart seemed to do well after coming on - he must surely be close to getting a starting spot ? Ian Black got booked yet again ... now this wouldn't be so bad if it was like last year when he was getting booked for hard tackles, but from my listening this season, it sounds like most of his bookings have been for petulance .... I am sorry, skillful though he is, he needs to be dropped (maybe for Hart ?) until he learns to stop being an erse. As for the strikers, maybe McSwegan should be given a try ? no-one else seems capable of getting goals so what would be the problem. However, it does show - despite the grumblings - that we are definitely progressing when I am ranting about 'dropping 2 points' against Hearts !!!!

:004:

Rankin and Bayne drop to the bench and Black and Wyness come in ... has Charlie been reading the suggestions of some people on here ??? ICT [attach=1] HEARTS [attach=2]

I'm getting worried Sandy, we have agreed on a few things lately and you have summed this up pretty well :004:

Welcome to the forum ggz ...... I had a trawl through this thread and with the exception of maybe one comment, fail to see where Rossco is being blamed for it ? The users of this site have always had a pretty high opinion of Rossco and have rubbished previous stories surrounding his personal life as well as going on the offensive on sites like P&B when the usual St Mirren crowd try to call him allsorts .... To save you reading through all the comments again, here is a selection of them. I think they are more pro- Rossco than anti ...... ...it isn't going to help the opinion of him. Shame really. ...I'm really not interested in these stories, they are pure speculation usually very one sided ...if you read the quotes and ignore the journalists attempts to sensationalise the whole thing you can see it looks to be no more than a heated argument ...Hopefully forum users will recognise this as nothing more than 'gutter press' and not give the journalist responsible the reaction he is obviously looking for ...Typical gutter press garbage ...I see just about everybody whose commented afterwards thinks its an awful story ...There was obviously an incident but only those present can comment on what happened or who was to blame ...Don't believe anything the sun prints- worst newspaper has to be said.Maybe the journalist is a Buddie ...What really gets on my tit in all this is that some prat, who witnessed what went on, felt the need to contact the Sun. And, secondly, that the Sun would print a story, and gloss it up the way they did, based solely on heresay ...I now do not believe this story as Sandy Grant and Rosscoe were related. Sandy is the uncle of Rosscoe's ex wife

According to the Courier ..... "No disciplinary action is being taken against full back Ross Tokely after he became involved in a row with financial adviser Sandy Grant in Inverness’ Heathmount Hotel. Caley Thistle director of football Graeme Bennett, who witnessed the altercation, played down the incident yesterday and said no blame was being attached to the player." Its in the last paragraph of the article about Richie Hart : CLICK HERE

This is a great topic ... well done for thinking of it Mrs PB Like anyone else, players are entitled to their privacy. However, as Alex says, they are put into the public eye by the press and need to keep their wits about them as there are plenty of people ready to take pot shots at them or filter stories to the press if they think they know something "juicy" or think they might get a few quid. I have been out in company with some of the players over the years and luckily most of ours are (and always have been) just normal guys with normal egos and normal failings. I have been present when some of them have done daft things, or had too much to drink, but personally I see no need to go running to the press or to publish the information on the web as it was their personal time and I was not there with the purpose of getting content for the website. In other words, I respected their right to privacy. I am sure that if I printed half of what I had seen and heard on nights out I would never have been able to enjoy a pint with any of them (when invited) ever again !!! I have also been out an about and bumped into players who are out with their friends and have maybe said hello and had a 1 minute conversation but then, knowing that there must be boundaries, have left them alone to get on with their night out in the same way that I got on with mine ..... I dont think any of our players are too bothered about fans saying hello or telling them how good a game they had, but there have to be limits - if you are keeping them away from the people they came in with, or from doing whatever it is they are trying to do, then you may have overstepped that limit.

:015: :015: aint no way I am kissing his a.............vatar :015: .... besides, we arent arguing, just having an exchange of disparate views :004:

report card : I still maintain - as I did from day one - that CC is the right man for the job. However, it would be naive to think that he is anything like the finished article ..... YET. He has made a good start but there will always be plenty of room for improvement. The good thing is that CC seems to know that and is pursuing further coaching badges in an effort to become better at his trade. (not to mention that the club manager needs an 'A' license for the team to be eligible for europe) At the end of the day, if he does a **** job he will be sacked and while other managers might not have been too bothered about that if it happened to them at ICT (with the possible exception of Pele), I think Charlie will continue to be even more determined to be succesfull as ICT has been a part of his life since the club was formed. As a 'new' manager he is prone to the odd mistake but seems to learn from them.

Would agree with that ... or even McSwegan on from the start and replaced by Denzil after 60 mins

Instead of the two of us filling up this thread with off-topic moaning and whining (from us both), enlighten me via PM/Email ... gimme some examples of postings you have made that have been moved that you feel should not have been, or other people's posts that are similar to yours that havent been moved that you think should have been .... I can check the logs and see who moved it and enlighten them if I think they are wrong. All users have the option to complain about any post using the report to moderator function - doesnt just have to be a dodgy post, let us know if its in the wrong place and if we agree we will move it (or move it back if it has already been moved in error). We dont get it right all the time, but I disagree with you that there are different rules applied for different posters by any of the admins/mods ... unless of course you can show me I am wrong.

There can be no better time to do it. Dressing room in uproar, no idea who is 'officially' in charge, Romanov unlikely to be there in person to pick team, Pressley Hartley and Gordon totally cheesed off, one half of the squad unable to communicate with the other half ....... we shouldnt be complacent as Hearts are still a decent team despite all this but if we concentrate on playing a decent game of football then we must have a **** good chance of a decent result.

I take it you have been reading the Record ? CLICKY CLICKY TYPE THING classic quote .... A spokesperson at Tynecastle said: "It is too early to say who will be in charge this weekend."

Just a reminder .... the deadline for submitting questions is midnight Friday ...... send them to questions@caleythistleonline.com