Scotty

THE MATCHDAY THREAD Discuss ICT & other games in this thread as they happen Inverness CT -V- Dundee PREVIEW 24th Sep @ 3PM, Caledonian Stadium Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Facebook Go to the Chatroom Media Coverage AUDIO BBC Sportsound Open All Mics [UK Only] TEXT ESPN BBC Sporting Life VIDEO SPL YouTube Channel ICT Official YouTube Channel TEAM LINEUPS Tweets by @ICTFC Tweets by @ICTFC

Posting this here so it gets to the widest audience .... We are looking for someone to assist with an upgrade to our stats program. I have asked this before and for the life of me cant find the response that I got from a couple of users. Basically the short form version is that it was originally written for PHP4 and we tweaked and manipulated it to work up to PHP5.5 but once again with PHP5.6 (and beyond) its going to fall over again. It was originally a paid piece of software but has not been supported by the original author for several years and is considered "abandon ware" so we cannot go back to them for the fixes. There are also aspects of it we want to enhance so that we can bring additional stats to the fore and also try to deal with things like the new league cup format and the split after 33 games so we are looking for a bit of help. There is every likelihood that we can make a small payment (to be discussed) to whoever helps us out and gets this done but if no-one is able then we will likely look to put this out to tender as its a bit beyond my coding skills !!!

This is one of the things I have hated about the green and blue teams of Glasgow for a long time because not only does it affect the domestic league, and the players themselves, but it also has a trickle down effect to our national team. They have (had) the resources to asset strip other clubs in Scotland for their best young talent at cheap prices and with rare exception they then let those youngsters languish in the reserves or sit on the bench where they are just picking up a wage but not playing. Players who were promising or exciting at other clubs then fade away into obscurity and what might have been a potentially successful career and a future as a decent international player just kind of fizzles out. I hope this does not happen to Ryan. I cant blame Ryan for going to Celtic. Quite apart from the money - and its a short career so he does have to look after #1 - the Christie household, including Ryan are all fans so its a bit of a no-brainer when the opportunity arose. Its certainly a step up and I think most of us here - as well as his Dad and his coaches - would probably agree that he has a special talent and given his chance he could shine in any team in the SPL including Celtic, but it will take something spectacular (or catastrophic) for him to get that chance in the first team as fielding a Scottish player is just not as sexy as fielding someone else from another country (even England) who has cost several mi££ion to sign. I am hoping somehow he does get into the team, and that he gets a chance to shine ... I reckon that's all he will need as his talent can and will propel him forward from that point.

So sad to hear the news of ICT Director Donnie Fraser passing away over the weekend. I did not really have too many dealings with him, but did have the opportunity to be introduced to him by Kenny and have a long chat with him on our recent trip back in May, so it was a bit of a shock to read the club notice of his death. Condolences to his family, colleagues, and friends and all those who are mourning his passing at this time.

Yes there are ... but locking a topic is a last report as is taking action against a poster when no-one had actually used the report button and complained to that point both actions have now been taken and we will deal with it.

for some reason though people did not like the bigger ones .... I got so much when suggesting we introduce them that at first I but then after having a and a and even though I thought I did all the posts from our members and with much from them we decided it was a big to the new emoticons. We will make a decision on the red dots sometime before

THE MATCHDAY THREAD Discuss ICT & other games in this thread as they happen Inverness CT -V- Celtic PREVIEW Sunday 18th September @ 3PM, Caledonian Stadium Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Facebook Go to the Chatroom Media Coverage AUDIO BBC Sportsound Open All Mics [UK Only] TEXT ESPN BBC Sporting Life VIDEO SPL YouTube Channel ICT Official YouTube Channel TEAM LINEUPS TO FOLLOW Tweets by @ICTFC Tweets by @ICTFC

THE MATCHDAY THREAD Discuss ICT & other games in this thread as they happen Aberdeen -V- Inverness CT PREVIEW 10th Sep, 2016 @ 3PM, Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Facebook Go to the Chatroom Media Coverage AUDIO BBC Sportsound Open All Mics [UK Only] TEXT ESPN BBC Sporting Life VIDEO SPL YouTube Channel ICT Official YouTube Channel TEAM LINEUPS To Follow Tweets by @ICTFC Tweets by @ICTFC

*** VOTING IN THE POLL ABOVE IS FOR PEOPLE WHO WERE AT THE MATCH ONLY *** If you were at the match, please use the poll above to vote for your top 3 players. As a bit of fun, we have also added an option to rate the referee .... Please make sure you vote for 3 separate players. If you make an error, let us know so we can fix it. PLEASE ONLY VOTE ABOVE IF YOU WERE AT THE GAME Anyone caught trying to cheat the system WILL be banned from voting in ALL site polls...this is your only warning. **NOT at the game ?** As a result of requests received, we have made a slight change to how these threads work for site users who watched the game on TV or listened to the full game live on the radio ....... You too will now be able to cast your votes, but should do it in the thread below, and NOT in the official poll above. Just list the three players of your choosing and award 5,3, or 1 point(s). You can give the ref a mark if you want too ! These votes will NOT be counted in the official total, as we only count votes from those who where actually at the game, but it IS a way for you to participate in the process .... which many people asked for .... a happy medium we hope !!!!!

*** VOTING IN THE POLL ABOVE IS FOR PEOPLE WHO WERE AT THE MATCH ONLY *** If you were at the match, please use the poll above to vote for your top 3 players. As a bit of fun, we have also added an option to rate the referee .... Please make sure you vote for 3 separate players. If you make an error, let us know so we can fix it. PLEASE ONLY VOTE ABOVE IF YOU WERE AT THE GAME Anyone caught trying to cheat the system WILL be banned from voting in ALL site polls...this is your only warning. **NOT at the game ?** As a result of requests received, we have made a slight change to how these threads work for site users who watched the game on TV or listened to the full game live on the radio ....... You too will now be able to cast your votes, but should do it in the thread below, and NOT in the official poll above. Just list the three players of your choosing and award 5,3, or 1 point(s). You can give the ref a mark if you want too ! These votes will NOT be counted in the official total, as we only count votes from those who where actually at the game, but it IS a way for you to participate in the process .... which many people asked for .... a happy medium we hope !!!!!

only joking

Bottom line is that we are going to be a small fish in most manufacturer's ponds because we simply dont have the volume of sales to make us a priority. Having said that, it should not be a challenge to place an order, receive assurances on delivery dates, and then receive the stock in a timely fashion for club and fans alike. Errea had their moments, including shutting down the factory every year for a few weeks for the traditional Italian holiday in the middle of summer in what (to us) seems like prime manufacturing time, but this mob are really taking the piss ! They have history - mostly from this year and last - if you google it, and we really should tell them to stick future contracted years where the sun dont shine. There is no point partnering with a merchant who has a retail outlet to sell our stuff if they cant f****** stock the damn stuff in the first place. Not advocating a return to Errea, but a deal with a reputable manufacturer, known to produce good quality merchandise on time should not be too much for us to ask of the club and the club to ask from any manufacturer. The club should look to have the new strip revealed before the end of season (to build or maintain momentum and/or generate some interest over summer) and have it in the club shop around the same time as season ticket renewals so supporters can have it for the summer holidays and wear it with pride on their travels, maybe even give a discount when its bought with the season ticket. I see Adidas supply many small teams in Scotland and most of these big manufacturers already mentioned can also do something off the shelf or moderately custom in a quick turnaround according to their websites. I have no idea of our commercial arrangements with Errea or with JD/Carbrini and what costs/benefits we got from either relationship but it certainly seems that all we are getting at the moment is lost sales, grief, and potential sponsor reticence to put their name to a top that doesn't arrive in the shop in reasonable quantities until late in the year ....

We should get one of those Glasgow "entrepreneurs" that seem able to produce T-Shirts and Scarves (and macaroon bars?) a few minutes after the thought occurs to them to fulfill the order .... would be quicker and probably better quality too !!!

if we enable it you see both. its on or off, nothing in between. That is my understanding. yes. and to be fair we never once made the assertion that any aspect of our reputation system (ie. likes, or green/red dots) is/was or always would be anonymous. Yes. see post 2 above this one.

Hope you dont mind but I green dotted this one There is little time involved in implementing any of the options but my concern is that we get into all sorts of bickering and arguing if we get "red dot wars" starting. I am open to trying any of the available options on this site but anything (or anyone) that causes constant grief or negatively impacts my own time or that of the mods who volunteer their time to help run the site is just not worth having on the site.

Yes, essentially We do look at this already when we see a pattern emerge. My personal opinion is that sometimes you do need the option to be negative about something, especially if you disagree ! everything is not all sweetness and light ! We already do that. Most user groups can give out unlimited positive votes per day but we restrict the negatives from 0-10 depending on your member status and those who we feel have abused the system have the option to red dot anyone removed. the permission is on or off and shows both red and green not just red or green.

The only time we had more energy than the other team at the end of games was under Brewster. He (or his coaching staff) had us the fittest our team has ever been. Every manager has brought something to the table for ICT and Richie will too !

you ask for constructive feedback and of course the 'usual suspects' red dot your post. Thanks Dougal.

There has been a lot of talk about red dots these days - far more than you would expect from a forum full of what is primarily adults, most of whom have the intelligence to support Caley Thistle - and it is clear we need to change how we do this. I get mail about this all the time and it constantly amazes me that some folk get their jollies by red dotting someone because of who they are or how they will react rather than the post itself, or that someone who knows their post is somewhat controversial or goes against the grain gets outraged themselves when a flurry of red dots appear. Ultimately, the decision will lie with myself and the moderators as it is us who have to deal with some of the childish actions and re-actions of those who dish them out and who receive them but there are basically three choices available to us that I am considering recommending to the mods. Facebook style "like" system. Maintain current system but allow users to see who voted them up/down. Allow positive votes only. The 4th option (allowing negative votes only) is not on the table. We have previously used the like system and this does work but we have never used the 'positive votes only' or the option to make all voting visible to all users so not sure about these. I welcome feedback from everyone - provided it is constructive - and will make a decision in conjunction with the mods in due course.

personally I would hope that 'reviewing our position' in terms of the shirt deal means we tell them to GTF and find or solicit tenders from a shirt company who will deliver a decent kit, on time with the minimum of fuss. Probably a non-starter, but I wonder if there is opportunity here for an SPL-wide deal? MLS does this by having a master agreement with Adidas and I have never seen or heard of any issues. The league does the deal, the clubs do the design (with Adidas) and both sell the kits online and in stores. The kits are fine, always of good quality, the launch dates are always well in advance of the season, and as far as I can tell ... launches occur 'as promised'. Works well in MLS due to the centralised nature of the league administration and setup and probably a non-starter in Scotland due to various factors, but after many years of Errea delivering late and now this mob actually making Errea look good perhaps this kind of approach, or maybe a group of smaller clubs going together as a group to negiotate better terms and such might be a feasible approach.

Time to cut ties with this outfit. If they didnt already have an extensive history of delays I would say persevere but its not exactly a new thing http://www.bcfc.com/news/article/201516-kit-statement-2582175.aspx http://www.bescotbanter.net/2016/08/walsalls-kit-delay-continues-could-jd.html http://avaccessories.net/en_paperblog/walsall-s-kit-delay-continues-could-jd-sports-deal-be-cut-short-1520530/ http://www.saintmirren.net/pages/?p=57113 http://www.lutontoday.co.uk/sport/cabrini-apologise-for-kit-delay-1-1035953 https://m.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/3itx9p/4_weeks_into_the_season_bournemouths_home_kits/ http://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/crewe-alexandra-club-unveil-home-and-away-shirts-for-2016-17-season/story-29516326-detail/story.html

fairly good window. RF has (crucially) kept what we have and added players where we all agree we need some help. whether they are the right players only time will tell, but fairly positive about his signings so far. no worldbeaters, but they all look solid enough on paper at least.

The first part of that sentence sums up what I said about him when he was here and I formed that opinion after meeting him and listening to his interviews .... the second part, mirrors what I have thought since he left and his comments in the press immediately preceding that. There is no doubting that John Hughes was a successful manager for ICT the stats do back that up totally. The debate over best or not can be argued either way and I am not interested in having that debate as all managers brought something to the table .... but there is no argument that he will forever be in our history as the manager who won the cup and who took us into Europe in much the same way as Robbo took us to the SPL or as Pele took us from D3 to D1 and masterminded our cup heroics over the likes of Celtic and Hearts when we truly were still a wee team from the highlands. I am not going to get all bitter that he left although I am disappointed in the manner of his departure and talking with fans of other teams where he has been manager there does seem to be a pattern of being successful for a short while then conflict with the respective club then a departure. Is it that he is just TOO ambitious for the 'smaller clubs' where he has been manager and has come up against their constraints, or is it something else? I don't know, I am not a psychologist, therapist or any other kind of -ist but I do know that our chairman is a reasonable man and the club in general are not afraid to back the manager outside of our financial comfort zone when they are able - just look at the cash they threw at TB to get us back to the SPL after relegation. What I do find utterly classless are his comments about Richie Foran and I hope that the reporting and quotes are out of context to what he actually meant or the entirety of his statements. Regardless of what he thinks of Foran as a person, or his ability as a manager, you dont throw them under the bus like that in public. Richie has completed his badges - he must have otherwise he could not be our manager in the top division as per UEFA rules - and despite the poor start to the season with a 'rookie' manager, he WILL come good. To go along with the coaching badges and everything he has learned as a player, he also has passion, commitment and a love for the area and ICT, so its just a case of it all falling into place (i hope). It'll be a rocky ride this year I think, but perseverance will be worth it.