CaleyD

It wasn't "great" in terms of an entertaining game of football, but it was pretty decent as far as the team getting a bit more of a workout and testing some of the stuff they've been trying out on the training ground to see how it works in the real game. If you're going to these games expecting a show, then you'll come away more disappointed than not most of the time. Elgin obviously planned to sit in from the off, making it very difficult for us to play through their 8 man defence. Further evidenced by the fact that our own back line spent most of the game camped on the half way line. This meant that it was almost certainly going to take a goals from set pieces for us to win the game...and that's precisely what we did. We're going to get ugly games like that in the league this season, so it was good to see us maintain discipline and concentration to grind out the win.

As the question says....how confident are you that ICT will have a successful season? Not intended as a question on what we each might consider "successful"...as opinions will certainly differ on that. Just looking to find out if people are confident that the team will achieve what they, as individuals, think would be a success.

Players with numbers 31 and above are registered U20's....that's not to say that they aren't/won't be considered for the first team (quite the opposite), it's purely an administrative thing.

Personally, I think the lack of silly rumours is down to the fact that there's no need for them. The club, whilst still not 100% there yet, are becoming much better at communication. This means that there's plenty of "real" stuff for people to be talking about.

We'll still get a couple of trips to the wee team in Dingwall.

http://ictfc.com/news/events/957-fun-day https://www.facebook.com/events/341017636028167/ Fun Day: CALEY JAGS FAMILY FUN DAY Sunday 21st July 2013 - 2pm till 5pm Come on down… http://t.co/aaLXP491oq #ICTFC — Official ICTFC (@ICTFC) July 8, 2013 http://miinverness.co.uk/business/inverness-caledonian-thistle/ It was in the Highland News today, (hopefully) Inverness Courier tomorrow and MFR have been asked to give it a punt. Club has (or is due to) send out an email to everyone they have on their mailing list. Unlike the circus, people are not being charged between £10 and £32 for a ticket to attend, so there's no budget/resource to print and distribute hundreds of flyers & posters. However, each of us have the power to help the club promote events etc. It takes just a moment to press like/share/retweet via the social networks and/or we can embrace the most powerful communication tool in the world...word of mouth...to tell people about the good things that are being done.

The new away shirt sizes are a bit bigger than the current home shirt sizes. In the past it was probably safer to go up 2 sizes whereas with the new away shirt you'd probably get away with just going up one size.

You're the one putting yourself out there as the perfectionist...if anyone should have known!!!

Players shirts use all caps....with small c used for "Mc" names. Quite happy to put a wager on with you over the correct capitalisation if you wish.....name your price.

I'd say we were using a fluid 4-4-2, moving from a flat formation to a diamond in the middle when LB/RB were pushing forward...akin to more traditional wingbacks.

It's Mckay (small k)....as someone so hell bent on ensuring everything is spelled and presented correctly, you sure are looking unintelligent and unprofessional.

Albert Einstein, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, Michael Faraday, Paul MacCready, Leonardo Da Vinci, Erin Brokovich, George Washington, Nelson Rockefeller, Walt Disney, Steven Speilberg and Richard Branson...to name just a few who might disprove your theory. In fact, I would say that your statement makes YOU look like the one who struggles when it comes to intelligence.

Other than a couple of clearances when under pressure at the back, I don't recall a single "hoof" being played in the match versus Keith. Even with the grass being a bit on the long side and holding up the ball on occasion, we (and Keith) played everything on the deck. Good mixture of direct play (carrying the ball into the box) and spreading it wide and then whipping in balls with pace...both high and low...with a bit of pace and not just floating them in. What was most notable, especially as it was the first pre-season match, was the pace we were playing at. We kept the ball moving and there was lots of overlapping play...which is what Keith really struggled to cope with. Was also pleasing to see us able to make 7 subs without needing to alter the formation or play players out of position....something we wouldn't have been able to do last season. First game so not going to get carried away. Still a few guys to get up to speed fitness wise, but saw nothing to give any cause for concern ahead of the new season...quite the opposite.

I'm fairly sure it is still TUPE, because the SFL Co basically agreed to transfer its operations over to SPL Co, regardless of the legal technicalities of how they actually implement that transfer. Edit to add this from a recent article in the Herald: "Billed officially as a merger, in reality this will involve the larger, more commercially driven Scottish Premier League subsuming the SFL given the company running the SPFL will still be the Scottish Premier League Limited and it will have the same company registration number. Under TUPE employment law, the SFL staff – six of whom are full-time – will be transferred over to the SPFL but what roles await them is unclear". Yeah, that would explain what's to happen with the staff coming over from the SFL....it doesn't explain why Doncaster should be expected to re-apply for his own job though.

What persistent knee injury? He does not have one.. That must make walking very awkward.

Aye

On the commercial front I actually don't think there's much that Doncaster can be criticised for. Considering the environment he's had to operate in, I think he's probably done a pretty decent job all in all. Where he's not so hot is when it comes to communicating with the press/media, and I'm of the opinion that's not his job anyway and should be a task undertaken by an organisations PR Dept and/or Chairman. Can't speak too much about Longmuir and he seems to have done an ok job of keeping things ticking over at the SFL. Where he's really let himself down is with his disruptive and often, IMO, poorly thought out attempts at de-railing the restructuring process....showing many signs of being a man massively out of his depth when it comes to accepting, handling or driving change. Even setting aside the recent stuff in regards to the bonus/severance payment, I don't see him as being the person capable of undertaking and/or succeeding as CEO of an organisation that now has responsibility for the entire professional game in Scotland. In summary....let's keep Doncaster, but please do the guy a favour and let him concentrate on what he's good at and leave the press/media to someone better suited to that task.

Wouldn't be TUPE as it's the same company (same company number etc) and not another entity taking them over or transferring of the business. It's effectively a change of company name and all the SFL Clubs had to apply for membership (SPL Clubs didn't).

It's being referred to as a bonus, but apparently it's actually a severance payment. There has always been allowance for such a payment in the contracts, but the fuss seems to be that Longmuir (and possibly Ballantyne) increased the level of payment due in the contract without telling the rest of the SFL Board. If true, then apart from being morally questionable given that they knew the SFL's day were numbered, what kind of setup allows two people to change their contracts for self benefit without it needing sign off from elsewhere? Especially hypocritical when you consider there was an expectation that the SPFL would pay it and Longmuir's favourite line when dealing with the SPL over reconstruction was "Due Diligence" as he was worried about any surprise liabilities coming from the other side. As I said, if true, then this is not incompetence, it's corruption and he shouldn't even be considered for the CEO position at the SPFL. Also, as a bit of a side point.... My understanding is that the SPL (as a company) is remaining in place and just being rebranded and restructured into the SPFL. If that's the case then there's no position to be filled as Doncaster is the CEO of that company. Surely they can't just ask someone to reapply for their own job in that manner?

Not quite as it seems that nobody other than Longmuir and Ballantyne knew about this "Bonus". http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/reconstruction-talks-disrupted-bumper-bonus-2014841 Also some chat going round that Ballantyne is in line for a similar pay-off and that it was only added in to the contracts of both men in the last few weeks.

Apt that he should sign for The Blades. Glad someone got it

Oscar Pistorious is to get a game for Sheffield Utd.

Improving his fitness levels was certainly something he tried to work hard at, whether their was any underlying, or suspected underlying, health issue or not I have no idea.

That's actually want I meant about Roberts....although reading back what I wrote it's not what I said.

2nd