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Unfortunately, in this day and age we have very few who can't be discredited in some way shape or form, be it religious groups, politicians...heck, even the courts are starting to ignore the real issue and make decisions on technicalities (BA Strike Injunction). People need to start thinking for themselves and extracting the important info and facts from the hype and spin or we'll quickly reach a situation where nobody can ever be held accountable for anything.

The main reason I posted the report was because I found the information regarding Football Club ownership interesting. Regardless of who has produced the report, the details surrounding who owns what and by what methods and the fact that the true ownership of some clubs cannot even be traced is a bit of an eye opener and an indication of just how far removed football has become from it's roots. Unfortunately, as your response demonstrates, attention is easily deflected from the underlying issue by the amount of whataboutery that is practised every time subjects such as this are raised.

Interesting report done by Christian Aid on who owns what clubs and by what methods. Report is written from the angle of how the money that clubs avoid paying in taxes etc through non-transparent set-ups could impact on world poverty etc. But even if you're the kind of person who views that as someone else's problem, the report still makes for a good read. http://www.christianaid.org.uk/images/blow...week-report.pdf

All depends on how the holding company is structured and who owns what with it. If Chelsea have no connection with the company other than the fact they have a shareholding in the club then the debt won't come back to haunt the club. If Abramovich was to call in the loan then it would be holding company liable to pay, not the club. Even if the holding company were to go bust, the worst that would happen is the shares would be sold to the highest bidder. You'd really need some understanding of whether or not the club own/control/are liable for any of the Holding Companies debts through any other means to ascertain if any risk exists beyond that of being able to survive at current levels if the money dried up.

He fed it to his dog!!!

I'll be insisting that all players follow a balanced diet. A pie in each hand should be suffice.

I managed to resist my instinctive reaction of flying off on one with this and posting before doing a bit of homework. From reading the article and a couple of other conversations I have had with people today, none of those being asked to move have any real issue. It's all a bit "Well, we're not happy and having to move is a pain, but we understand the reason and the club are doing their best to sort us out with a suitable alternative" It also seems that it's not so much segregation of hospitality but setting things up so they are all together. At the moment those in hospitality are dotted about a bit and visiting hospitality can find themselves in among a sea of home fans....obviously not an ideal situation, especially when incidents such as the one at the last game occur when a Dundee fan in hospitality had to be removed from the stadium. Apologies were given and those involved left willingly, but I can understand the club not wanting to take that risk in the SPL where number of visitors in hospitality can be higher and "flash points" more common. If they can get all the hospitality together in one spot it makes it easier for them to keep an eye on things and ensure everyone's safety. As much as the idea of the "prawn sandwich brigade" being given priority at the expensive of the "normal" fan can stick in the throat, I actually think the club are doing this for the right reason and no any bias or favouritism towards hospitality punters. All in all, a bit of a non-story and the P&J are perhaps guilty of a little sensationalism to fill a few column inches during the close season.

Terry Butcher.....Manager.....A Man Barely Able to Walk. Gentleman, We Can Rebuild Him....We Have The Technology. We Have The Capability To Make The SPL's First Bionic Manager Terry Butcher Will Be That Man Better Than He Was Before Better, Stronger, Faster

Good to see confirmation that contracts have been offered to Esson, Tokely, Golabek, Proctor and McBain. http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1740321 With 12 already signed, adding the 5 above would give us a pretty strong base squad for next season with a good mixture of experience and younger, ambitious guys. Also leaves room for a few new signings as I imagine we'll want to run with a squad size of around 22 which would be both sensible and in keeping with the need to watch the pennies and not be carrying any dead wood.

I'm all for Freedom of Choice....it's the "You can't support a rival and be a real fan" argument being used against those wishing C*unty well, followed by the "Come on the Arabs", "Hope C*unty get trounced" etc comments that don't make sense. In fact, if you follow the very logic of such posts, then those wanting C*unty to get beat and questioning the loyalty of anyone who disagrees are, in a word, hypocrites.

What I'm struggling to fathom out from some of the posts on this thread is why it's totally unacceptable to support our Highland Neighbours, but apparently perfectly ok to support a team from Dundee? Surely, based on the arguments given that "you should never lend support to a rival" then all those having a pop at anyone wishing C*unty well should be totally apathetic with regards the outcome of the match? In fact, as we're n ow back in the SPL then Dundee Utd are far more of a rival than C*unty....so the logic of the arguments being put across becomes even more bizarre!!!!

If I didn't have other plans for this evening then I may have been tempted to make the trip. I went down the the Cup Final involving Gretna and it was a great day out. I had no preference for either team going in to the game but I did find myself caught up in the atmosphere of the occasion and supporting Gretna....but I put that down to something I believe exists in the Scottish psyche about always wanting to see the underdog do well. People find themselves coming together for various things and various reasons in life. Rivalry between areas of Inverness goes out the window when we're all Invernessians, and rivalry between towns goes out the window when we're all Highlanders, that disappears when we come together as Scots and then again when we're defending the UK and for some when we stand together as Europeans. The majority of us will Support players from other teams when they our out there representing Scotland and it doesn't make us any less of an ICT Fan. For me the same logic applies today. Many will see todays match as Ross C*unty representing the Highlands, so it's little surprise that fans of other teams will be out lending their support....especially those from the area.

From speaking to him, he thoroughly enjoyed his time here and didn't actually want to go back to Aberdeen after his loan spell finished. Also thought he did a more than decent job whilst here, not easy to slot into a totally alien setup and hit the ground running, but he managed it. The question is, how would we use him, and does he offer anything more than what we have already? P.S. Going to move this to non-ict as there's no actual basis for rumour in this, purely whether or not we should be showing an interest.

McBain can also play at LB so it's not cover we need.

It's all a bit of a lottery. A player who we may realistically let go for ?100k could easily end up going for many times that figure if he attracts interest from more than one club with a bit of cash to splash.....or they could end up seeing out their contract and going for free. Deals like those mentioned above for players from Hamilton and Livi are the exception and happen once in a blue moon for these clubs. Our day will come when we secure a nice large sum for a young talent....but I wouldn't try predicting when and/or who that would be. It could be someone like Hayes or Rooney and it could just as easily be a player years down the line.....who knows???

I've already told Alan Savage to start saving because he's going to have to shell out big time for our top six finish this coming season and our Euro adventures the season after. Back to the question.... Can we win the SPL? Yes, any team in the league can win it, that's the whole point. Will we win the SPL? Who knows, I'm not as gifted as IHE with the tea leaves. Do I think we will win it? No, but I wasn't convinced we'd win Div 1 either and I'd be delighted if I was proved wrong again. Seriously though, it's the whole Aims v Expectations argument that crops up on here time and again and it's the pitfall that many fans fall in to which then leads to much of the negativity that can occur. For me, our Aims for the start of the coming season should be SPL survival and our Expectations should be that we do that fairly comfortably.....i.e. no last game deciders. Anything beyond that falls into the category of hopes and dreams.

Something not quite right with that statement!!!

The Orion Logo is going to be a pain in the butt to add to the strips, IMO. Companies can be quite precious about how they layout/use their logos, however, if they are willing to break the mould slightly then it could be made to fit quite nicely.

Something you have in common then :huh:

I always felt their was more to Imries departure than met the eye. Could never doubt his commitment when on the pitch, but I wonder if it was pure coincidence that the team seemed to find a bit of get up and go when Imrie (and Barrowman) got up and left.

IMO Captains have very little "on field" responsibility above and beyond that of every other player. Other than tossing the coin and perhaps being the man to relay the instructions from the bench. Every player out there should be a "leader" in terms of rallying their team mates, pointing out where they're being caught or giving each other a kick in the butt when needed. This comes more naturally to some will stand out more than others and appear to us as more of a natural choice for the armband. It's off the park that the Captains duties tend to lie more these days. They have to be a "Player Rep", a public face and a bit more of a club ambassador than perhaps is expected of the rest. In that regard it's perhaps better having someone who has been around the houses a bit more, seen what happens at other clubs, knows more people and is generally better known over a larger geographical area. Whilst an interview with Grant might grab the interest of those who read the local press, an interview with Foran will command a wider audience and might just grab us a few more column inches. "Local Lad Done Good" suddenly starts appearing in the Irish papers as opposed to just the Courier, Highland News and P&J, Forans name catches the attention of people at clubs he used to play for etc. People then become more aware of ICT, other players become more aware of ICT and it all helps improve our image/profile and perhaps play a part in tempting players up here who would otherwise have not even considered it. We're moving back up to the SPL under a Manager who is more worldly wise than any we've had before and all the above needs to be taken in to consideration. Things change and we seem to be learning to adapt to those changes in a proactive fashion.....long may that continue.

In the current economic climate I would be very surprised if the deal was as good as we'd had with Flybe. In fact, the Flybe deal was considered to be extremely generous comparable to what clubs of a similar level to ourselves had been/are getting. I forget who it was I was talking to (a fan of someone like Falkirk, Pars or something) who said that they considered ?50k/?60k a year as good business for them on the shirt sponsorship front....so 6 figures over 2 years would seem like it's decent enough. Further to that, having a Sponsor with a genuine interest in the club will hopefully bring benefits in other areas as they prove more willing to work with us as opposed to just throwing some cash at the club in return for name on shirt and whatever else they can squeeze from the deal for themselves. Not suggesting for one second this was the case with Flybe (far from it) or any past sponsors, but I have seen it happen in other sponsorship situations where companies expect almost as much back in perks as they hand over in cash.

http://caleythistleonline.com/news/footbal...t-sponsor-orion Great news that we've managed to secure a new sponsor so quickly. Aside from the fact that it throws a bit more money in the pot early doors (helps with planning), it also means that we're not, fingers crossed, likely to face too many delays when it comes to producing the home kit for next season (one less hurdle if nothing else). Looking down my "big news outstanding" list, that just leaves details/pics of the new home kit and season ticket prices to be announced. Pretty good going with only 10 days of the close season under our belt. At this rate, we'll be running out of stuff to talk about and no cause for any moans or complaints come June...what on earth am I going to do with my Summer!!!

I'll have a look.