CaleyD

Easter Monday is not actually a holiday in Scotland (Bank or Public) so many people will be working. As for playing Hamilton, as I pointed out, it;s the furthest trip possible for the bottom 6 teams and as clubs generally have end of season parties/dinners etc on the evening of the final game scheduling has historically been done to avoid unnecessarily long journeys. The accompanying notes on the SPL Website tell us that the OF games were prioritised on the fixture calendar and then everything else has been fitted in around it. Why? Because they can't be trusted to have an OF derby as the title decider. The outcome..everyone else has to fit in around then, regardless of the inconvenience. What's more, as Charles has pointed out, with the fixtures all over the place, in order to fit our replay in against Celtic we could be left playing 5 games in 15 days!!! And that's just the issues it creates for us....I'm sure other clubs will have ample complaint as well (Hamilton playing St Mirren 3 times away when they are battling each other for relegation for example). If I was looking for a conspiracy, I might even go so far as to suggest that it's been made as convoluted as it has for no reason other than adding weight to the argument for a 10 team SPL with no split!!!

Pretty certain you need to contact Aberdeen directly.

I believe the club are just finalising the finer details for next year and announcement on prices etc shouldn't be too far away.

Not even 3 days..... 7:45 Kick Off on Wednesday, on the road by 10pm realistically and they need to be in Hamilton for 3pm Kick-Off on Saturday......that's only 65 hours to cover 170 miles (give or take), which is nigh on impossible for one person to do the complete end to end. Yompa did Inverness to Dunfermline in that timescale, but that's 30+ miles shorter....or 8 to 10 hours walking. One thing's for sure, the HMers have never been beaten yet and I don't expect they'll be beaten this time either.

What a total dogs breakfast of fixtures....Football on Monday afternoons and the two teams furthest from each other playing on the closing day of the season!!!

Lucky them.

Oh well, if you're going then I better make the effort

Would like to see Dunfermline coming back in, think they probably edge it in terms of being able to make a go of it and if that helps get St Mirren relegated next season, all the better.

I believe they are planing on releasing the fixtures at some point today.

No truth whatsoever. I was at the Stadium when he arrived back from the training session where it happened.

As most people are already aware, there's a car boot sale held at the Stadium most Sundays and I was asked to put up a note saying they need some help. What you may not be aware of is that all the proceeds go to the charity, "Inverness Caledonian Thistle Community Development". I'll not lay on the bleeding hearts plea any more than to say that things such as this rely on the good will of volunteers to ensure they are worthwhile and effective fund-raisers. Without that, then a lot of the Community Work done at and via the club would not be possible....and most of us will have benefited from, or know someone who has benifited from these projects, so this is an opportunity to give a little something in return without the need to put your hand in your pocket. With the Car Boot Sales operating weekly at this time of year they are looking for anyone who is willing/able to come along and assist on a Sunday Morning. It doesn't need a commitment to come every week and a rota is used with the hope being that nobody should need to commit to more than one Sunday in every three or four....although if you can do every week, nobody will refuse you!!! Main duties involve getting cars/traders parked up properly, collecting pitch fees, answering any queries and being generally helpful. In return, you'll be fed and watered. If you are willing/able to help out then contact Kenny/Peter at the club (via 01463 222880), or if you want to drop me your details via PM then I'll pass them on and have someone contact you. I'll confirm the times, but off the top of my head, people are needed from 7am onwards. Not everyone is needed to be there right through until the end, but the biggest job is getting everyone in and parked so highest demand for numbers is early on.

If we go to 10-team is it next season that 2 will definitely drop?...have completely lost track of all this political shenanigan. Apologies, slightly Don't think anyone knows the answer to that one, although Butcher did say in his post match interview on Saturday that clubs should be given at lease a 2 season notice on the change as his preparations in planning for the season where the league reduces (if it reduces) would be different than for a season under the status quo. Allowing clubs to prepare for next season and then landing them with the news that 3 teams will be relegated was utter nonsense in his opinion...and I agree.

Revenue distribution is still the same as that Scotty.... + All revenues generated by the SPL are effectively put into one pot. This money comes from TV deals and other commercial contracts. + A support payment to the SFL and parachute payments to recently relegated clubs are then removed. All associated costs of running the SPL are also deducted. + The remaining amount is split two ways to the member clubs: 48% is divided equally between all 12 clubs while 52% is distributed to teams dependant upon their final league position. + The higher up the table that a club finishes, the more money they will receive. League position - % of cash pot 1 - 4% + 13% = 17% 2 - 4% + 11% = 15% 3 - 4% + 5.5% = 9.5% 4 - 4% + 4.5% = 8.5% 5 - 4% + 4.0% = 8.0% 6 - 4% + 3.5% = 7.5% 7 - 4% + 3.0% = 7.0% 8 - 4% + 2.5% = 6.5% 9 - 4% + 2.0% = 6.0% 10 - 4% + 1.5% = 5.5% 11 - 4% + 1.0% = 5.0% 12 - 4% + 0.5% = 4.5% The current TV deal (?13 Million/season) is worth only slightly less than what Setanta were paying when they collapsed (the new "higher value" deal hadn't yet kicked in..or more accurately they collapsed before they could pay it). So I would imagine the 2007/8 distribution figure of ?18 million will be comparable to current figures. On that basis the payout for this season will be somewhere in the region of what's below, give or take a few thousand. 1 - ?3,060,000 2 - ?2,700,000 3 - ?1,710,000 4 - ?1,530,000 5 - ?1,440,000 6 - ?1,350,000 7 - ?1,260,000 8 - ?1,170,000 9 - ?1,080,000 10 - ?990,000 11 - ?900,000 12 - ?810,000 + Parachute Payment, which actually means they get more than 10th & 11th!!! How much is a semi-fit Hayes really worth to us in the run in, especially when there's the risk he could get crocked in the next game and further aggravate his injury? No team should be dependent on one player, and if that's the case with us then a league place or two is the least of our worries.

I was talking about a scenario where one (or both) the OF failed to exist, but even looking at them moving I think we have sufficient strength within the rest of the game here that we could overcome the loss as opposed to slipping into football oblivion. Admittedly, I am more than a bit out of my depth discussing football in other nations, but I think I would be right in saying that with the Welsh leaning more heavily towards balls of a different shape, football has never enjoyed the same success/popularity there as it has here....interesting point of discussion though and wouldn't mind more of an insight into the comparisons between Scotland/Wales/N. Ireland from those who know more about it than I.

A trialist is someone you bring in to check them out with a view to signing if they prove good enough. Since Dundee could not sign anyone then their exploitation of the facility is without a doubt making use of a loophole. Whether you agree with it or not, you can't argue that fact. It's this kind of thing that is ripping the arse out of the game all over the world. Players, Clubs etc getting away with things on "a technicality" or using a loophole. I was brought up playing lawn bowls, a game in which the handbook has more pages on etiquette than it does on rules and where breaking etiquette is seen as a bigger offence than breaking a rule. Etiquette exists ( or should exist) in all sports, but with football business has encroached so far into the game that it's killing the sportsmanship...."In the spirit of the game" is a phrase that no longer exists in football and it's far worse off as a result. Dundee are not the only ones and they are certainly not the worst culprits.....in fact I would be surprised if any club (ours included) could claim they've not exploited a loophole or used a poorly written rule to their advantage at some point in time. And that's the worst part.......when everyone is doing it, who's the one who is going to stop it or reverse the trend?

I know Terry & Mo have another season on their contract, but I'd like to see an extension for them coming at the end of the season. Think that kind of stability (or as stable as it gets in football) might help persuade players to move/commit to ICT over the summer.

Don't think they do have any Champions Mugs left, but you'd be best contacting the shop through proper channels to make sure.

Confirmed as Wales

The OF aren't the financial lifeblood that they are portrayed to be. Much of the additional income from increased crowds they bring to games is lost in the need for additional stewarding, police etc....plus it's been a while since they actually sold out their entire allocation anyway. TV interest/income without the OF? Since they take the lions share of that income anyway, we could afford to a sizeable drop in what TV companies pay for the rights before it starts impacting on the income of the other 10 clubs, so this argument is a bit of a red herring. Many of the rules/regulations and many of the issues in the way the game is run to protect the top teams would be lost. The vast majority of the bad press we get from the sectarian issues would disappear. The league would be more competitive/interesting and as a result would attract more spectators. You wouldn't have the OF influence being pressed on the younger generations across Scotland which would lead to more kids growing up to follow their local teams. The rest of Scottish football would be allowed to breathe and that could only be good for the game in the long term.

Only thing more dangerous than Doncaster trying to push through the 10 team proposal is the fact that he doesn't seem to realise or accept just how opposed to it the majority of people are....if ever their was a case of someone being in denial, this is it.

This is ridiculous...what kind of democratic system allows the delay of a vote because someone knows they aren't going to get the outcome they want? The longer it drags on the more time and money is being wasted on plans and proposals that don't meet the desires of the people. Get the vote over with, scrap the bollocks you've put on the table, resign if you don't like it and allow someone else take over and do the job properly. On the face of it, yes, most of that would make sense....but when you start to peel back the spin and look at each of the proposals in more depth you find they are fundamentally flawed and, IMO, many of them would never come to fruition and are only now being put out there so that if (when) the plans for a 10 team SPL are rejected (if we ever get round to seeing a vote on it) then Doncaster and his cronies can say "look at all these good things we were going to do and you voted against them"....much the same as what happens with lobbying and manifestos etc in the lead up to a General Election. Why must Doncaster play the "all or nothing" card? Why can't things like redistribution of money within the SPL, relaxing stadium criteria, creation of additional relegation/promotion place, obligations towards youth initiatives and the early start/winter break all be introduced without the changes to the league size? No reason I can think of, other than using them to bribe clubs into accepting the 10 team top league and allowing the SPL the remit to take control over the whole game in this country. They can't look after the 12 teams they have already, heaven knows what kind of shambles we'd end up with if they were looking after another 30 teams.

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I'd put good money on the answer to this being a big fat yes! Yeah, I should really be careful of tempting fate where the SPL are concerned!!!

I just had a look on ebay and nobody is selling 350,000 litre water containment tanks....back to the drawing board.

So ICT agreed to delay, Celtic agreed to delay, and even ESPN have kind of admitted that whilst not ideal they would not have been averse to a delay even though it would mean the match probably couldnt go out live ..... yet some dickhead penpusher at Hampden with no authority to make a real decision quotes the 15 minute rule as a reason for inconveniencing everyone, and lets the referee shoulder the responsibility of actually postponing the game when a simple bit of common sense might have allowed travelling fans (of both teams not just Celtic) to complete their journey and see a game they set out early in the morning to watch ! What a wunch of bankers ! Had anyone at the SPL been willing to listen to the case being put to them they would have been aware that the police DID have concerns over this and would far rather have had the game delayed than called off. As a result of the call of they ended up with a situation whereby large numbers of travelling supporters landed up in Pitlochry while they awaited trains back home and Pitlochry were simply not prepared for the influx. Police would rather have had them complete the journey and spend an extra hour in Inverness as they were at least prepared for it. ESPN weren't happy, but they would rather have had only an hour or so to fill and shown as much of the game as the could than not show the game and have to fill the entire slot. A very strange rule that says you can postpone a game without sanction but delay it by more than 15 minutes on the day and we will fine you!!! I also find it hard to believe that, in the grand financial scheme of things, had ICT been told it will cost you £5000 to delay or a larger chunk of revenue to postpone that they would have chosen the postponement. I very much doubt they were given the option. Can the SPL become any more of a laughing stock with it's ridiculous and petty rules and operation?