CaleyD

Hope so 👍

Hope for the best....expect something a bit less. News from AGM last night is that we're still haemorrhaging money, so every penny counts and I'd love for it to be nearer your estimation than mine.

Eh? There's nothing emotional expressed in those posts....they are simply part of a discussion on the (perceived) realities of a situation. In saying that, if we were to attach emotion then I'm not sure being happy about getting a pittance from the semi final would be appropriate!!

75000 combined? You're having a giraffe!! Even assuming 50000 for the other game, there's no chance our game will do 25000. Take off the SFA/Sponsor/club freebies as well. A not inconsiderable number of tickets will be concession and in the cheaper seats, so I think we'll be struggling to do £20/ticket average. Then there's all our own expenses, player bonuses, accomodation (I imagine they'll stay down at least the night before) etc. So, yeah, gross income may be more...but, as I said, net figure will be lucky to get into 6 figures.

A quarter share after SFA have deducted stadium costs and taken their percentage. In reality we'll get about 12% to 15%. As I have tried to explain on here before, the cups, even the Scottish Cup, aren't anywhere near as lucrative as people think. Net income from this semi will barely make it into 6 figures.

Robbo is the most knowledgable person I have ever spoken to about the use of artificial pitches. I recall him telling me he was involved in or was very close to, some study that was done on their use in Scandinavia or something. If he reckons there's a product out there that could work for us, then I think people should listen. We're not the ones who have to play on it, and I don't see any argument that it leads to an inferior quality of game. I know there was the big thing from the PFA recently, but listening to players talking about it...both when I was in a position to talk to them directly and what's been said in the press...then the older players see the merit of it, but are at a stage of their career where it would be tough to adapt. Younger players will tell you that they have had more exposure to it and wouldn't have any major objection. In fact, from memory, the thing that I recall Robbo talking about was that it's the transition from grass to artificial that causes the greatest problem for players by way of injury...and those are injuries related to additional/different stresses as opposed to the argument made for "catching a stud" or "going over on an ankle" etc...for which there is no evidence to support any more likelihood. Players who have grown up using it or who play on it regularly don't suffer the same problems. We're all very good at moaning that "money always comes first", be it the financial benefits of a plastic pitch for a club, TV money for Semi-Finals or whatever...however, the truth is that just to sustain the level we are at and the costs that come with it....then ticket prices would have to at least treble (at current attendance levels) if you took all these other 'bothersome considerations' out of the equation. Where's the money coming from? We seemed to manage to find about £1.5 Million to spend on as yet unexplained items in the year ending May 2018...enough to install at least 3 artificial pitches...so 🤷‍♂️

If anyone deserved the title of Mr ICTFC...it's Jimmy.

Always amazes me how much everyone hates football on TV....until they want to sit down and watch football on TV 🤷‍♂️

Slammed when they make a late decision and slammed when they make an early decision....the proverbial "can't win" scenario. The fact that they called an inspection so early would indicate that there was no chance of the game going ahead tonight...which is unsurprising given the amount of rain that's fallen the last few days and continues to fall today. Still, moaning about this is a welcome break for people moaning about the semi final 🙉

I recall the discussions surrounding it at the time and the "only 3 countries thing" was a bit of editorial license as it was only 3 countries who responded to say that they still actively enforced it....I suspect that if only 3 of the 55 member associations were for it, then it would have been removed before now!!

It's UEFA Article 48 that prevents it, so outwith the powers of the SFA or the SPFL; even if they cleared all other games. https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/about-uefa/news/newsid=19817.html

Looking forward to the announcement that we've managed to get our game changed to 2pm on the Sunday... https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/inverness-caley-thistle-slam-sfa-14131708

Just think of how many potholes we could have fixed!

2 Goals, 3 Points, Clean Sheet, No Bookings and no sign of any injuries...that's a good day 👍

Hearts and Aberdeen have both relied on waking up a large sleeping support who had become disillusioned. Hearts foundation are not funding the team or youth...they are paying back Ann Budge and will ultimately have majority ownership in return. The club itself is currently running within it's means without that funding going to it. Aberdeen have the carrot of a new stadium/facilities to get people interested and involved. Motherwell and St Mirren situations are more on a parallel with ours...but both plans to move towards fan funding involve fan ownership. All if the above 4 scenarios have relied upon an element of cash up front and/or assistance from a wealthy benefactor to become a reality before any additional fan funding is/will kick in. Setting aside my own personal views (which you are aware of), I don't think there's any route towards the kind of community funding you're talking about without a move towards fan ownership...and I don't mean the half baked community ownership model that the Chairman talked about at the last AGM which seemed little more than an attempt to cap everyone elses voting right, whilst maintaining their own. Perhaps Muirfield Mills could make a gesture of goodwill, and demonstrate their involvment is not about ego and power, by passing back the 700,000+ shares they got control of for £1 (and which were previously tied up with the stadium ownership) to the club. I think that could/would prove every bit as vital to securing future investment as Tullochs gifting back the stadium itself.