CaleyD

Don't know about anyone else, but I thoroughly enjoyed my evening....thanks to everyone who took part, and don't forget to check if you've tugged on your YKK today!!! :004:

I know CD does do a lot of moderating, but he is strictly speaking admin, so doesn't really count for this question! So.... If there isn't a gagging order in place I would be interested to hear what Alex MacLeod, Rig, Yngwie, Mantis. Kingsmills, TM4TJ, L_G, Maimie, etc, etc, might have to say on TB's appearance on STV last Wednesday.... Could he, or should he have done more to raise the profile of the club? Scotty... Feel free to express an opinion on this yourself! Gagging Order??? That's fair cheered me up.....thanks.

Interesting (and positive) to hear, but is it not the case that if/when we get back to the SPL, one of their rules states quite categorically that tickets (inc. season books) should be for "individual, numbered seats" thereby negating what could be a good idea. Not sure of the SFL rules but the numbered seat excuse was trotted out when this was raised in the past. You're right about the SPL Criteria for numbered ticketing, and that has been taken into consideration. Whilst the SPL remain so anal on such things then we'll never have an ideal situation, but with a little lateral thinking and the cooperation of everyone, there's no reason we can't come up with a more suitable and acceptable setup.

We can't afford to let him go (assuming he even wants to stay) unless we are bringing in at least 2 other Central Defenders.

Have just put the finishing touches to tomorrow nights quiz, and I'm now thoroughly looking forward to it. See you all there.

The Supporters Trust have had talks with Darren about this very subject....and in fairness, it is something that Darren raised with us. I won't go into any detail as it's not fair to get people's hopes up or lump expectation on the club to do things which may turn out to be impossible, but it is something which is very much on the radar and which both Darren and the Supporters Trust are keen to find a solution too. Having these types of discussion on the forum and people throwing ideas out there, however extreme they might seem, helps give an idea of what fans want and what fans would find acceptable, so fill yer boots and be assured that this is not a conversation that is falling on deaf ears.

Next chance I get I shall raise this heinous crime with the relevant people and ask that it is never repeated. Hopefully you can all sleep a little better tonight now.

Butcher will have little, if any, say in what caption is used next to his name and the production crew will use whatever they deem to be the most prestigious titles.

The last (totally unrelated to subject) response has been removed. On the subject of this topic....any neutral would have been absolutely delighted to have seen that game yesterday and I totally get where you're coming from. Unfortunately I wasn't a neutral and, at the end of the game, I was far from being a happy bunny. Que Sera!!!

I've removed all the posts not related to the OP's question and merged them into the matchday thread.

Was rather amusing yesterday. Before departing (9:30am) we had a phone around to find out if any decision had been made. Responses included..... "No inspection needed" "If we start the game now everything will be fine" "Someone's about to go out and have a peak to see what it's like" "Call back before you leave" ("We're leaving now") "It should be fine then" Then, whilst sitting in the pub before the game, someone comes in and says "Sorry lads, just been on the news the game is off".....unbeknown to the wind up merchant the TV above his head had Sky Sports on and just at that moment it came across the screen that the game was confirmed as going ahead

We have a few people looking for others to make up a team Joe, so if you get no joy then come along and we'll make sure you get in a team. Would be good though, if we managed at least one "CTO" Team.

Some people seem to be having trouble with the OP's question which was very specific about what you would have done at HALF TIME. Any other points on who people thought played well, didn't play well or what happened after the whilst blew for the re-start should be in the matchday thread. Back on topic...... Having witnessed what we did in the first half then I wouldn't have expected to see any changes at HT and Butchers talk should have been something along the lines of "We're doing well, but the first 45 is in the past. We have to go out there and win the second half, we need to step out with the view that the score is 0-0 and the job is still to be done". Also, he should have known that Dundee would change things and he should have told players to be prepared for that and Grant should have had instructions to keep an eye on the bench for direction on what we should do depending on the changes faced. I have no reason to doubt Butcher followed this kind of approach, and do not think it was the HT talk that was responsible for what happened in the second 45 yesterday. I don't buy into the arguments that say we should have gone out all guns blazing or we should have sat back for the first 10 minutes.....you have to see what you're facing before you can make those decisions, and as we'd been tearing them a new one in the first half it's impossible to predict such a huge swing in the run of play, even if we had done nothing differently. We can only speculate as to what happened and what was said at HT...but whatever it was and whatever we think it should have been, it's not what lost us the game.

It's been a long time since I felt as angry with the team as I did at full-time yesterday. Butcher has mentioned a couple of times in interviews this season about how they have let the fans down etc and I've thought he was being a bit OTT, but not yesterday....in fact, it wasn't the fact that I felt let down yesterday that annoyed me the most, it was the lads letting themselves down. So I was one of the ones who didn't stay to see them getting their meddles and I thought they had a bit of a brass neck to be coming over seeking some kind of gratitude from the fans. I was thinking about all the people that I'd been speaking to in the run up to the game and some of the stories about the effort and lengths fans were going to so they could come to the game, the distances travelled, the cost etc....all the things that fans do without a second thought....and they were, in my mind, at that time, being short changed. Whether I was right or wrong to be feeling like isn't the point, that's how I was feeling at that time and as a result of that game. You then get out of the stadium, you chat to a few people, you share a few views and you get it out of your system. The anger is short lived and you start to put things back into perspective...you find a few things to laugh about and although still upset you console yourself with the fact it's just a diddy cup anyway :huh: You then get home and decide to torture yourself some more by watching the game on TV again, rewinding every contentious issue and analysing individual performances and moments in the game...looking for somewhere to pin the blame. That's what I did anyway, and I don't imagine I'm alone in that. I'll still go back, and I'll find myself going through it all again....that's football. The players will be hurting every bit as much, if not more, than us this morning. These guys don't go out there with the intention of doing these things and whilst you can point to this thing and that as the reason for the defeat, I don't think there's any glaringly obvious "big" problems with us at the moment. There's nothing like a game of this nature to identify the strengths and weaknesses in a team, and I just hope that we learn from them and make the adjustments necessary for improving things for us in the league. Onwards and, with a bit of luck, Upwards. P.S. Not forgotten the bet Heilandee, I shall ensure everyone here upholds their end on that front. Would have cost us more in cleaning if we'd won the cup so your welcome to it

That Gringo guy has a lot to answer for!!!

The new stock is due in at the start of December. I've asked Darren to let me know when it arrives so we can spread the word.

Our own Mann4theJob has also put together a great review here

I'll cover ?20 of that bet....would have offered more, but gave my usual Children in Need donation earlier. Any other ICT fans want to chip in to make up the ?50?

Yes is probably the short answer to that one. Unfortunately their was certain jobs/tasks which were undertaken by the shop staff that are no longer such a burden following relegation....pre-match ticket sales etc. Whether more could have been done to increase shop activity in order to retain staff is a different argument though. I would echo pretty much what has been said above. The shop staff have always been a credit to the club, and given the fact that they have (in some areas of the job) had to work with one hand tied behind their back then it never ceases to amaze me that they continue to operate as efficiently as they do.....and always with a smile.

Get 15% off all orders placed before 29th November by using Voucher Code "NOVEMBERSALE" at check out.

Another short video...albeit a bit of a plug...here

I would like to put this old v young argument to bed. As I said earlier, we don't have any more trouble from younger posters than we do from older ones. The issues that arise with each group are different and they may get handled differently, but in terms of volume of "incidents" we have a fairly even spread. On that basis I don't see any need for age related sanctions/limitations or the like. I was 17 when CTO first appeared on the scene (I originally posted as BigD) and I was probably a bigger pain in the erse than any of the younger posters we have on the forum today. Why? Because like the younger guys today I thought it was great that I had somewhere I could go an post as much as I liked in whatever manner I liked...it wasn't "real world" so what did it matter if I called a few people names or wound people up? I had more than my share of run ins with Scotty and i've probably spent more time banned from CTO than any other user on the site. How does that person end up being me, here today trying to tackle the exact same problems I was creating back then? It happens because instead of lowering themselves to my level, the users back then took the time to show a young guy with a shared interest in ICT the error of my ways. This is perhaps why I am a bit more tolerant when dealing with the younger users and am of the opinion that the older ones should know better. We have other users like that on the site today, ones who take the time to have a word with someone who seems to be falling foul of the rules on a regular basis. Unfortunately we also have users who seem intent on leading younger users astray or using them to do their dirty work. Some people think we're stupid, that we don't know what's going on. We generally have a good handle on what's happening, but perhaps we are a little stupid for allowing some of it to manifest itself on the site instead of nipping it in the bud before it starts. The problem is, if we act before something is in the public eye then we get the old accusations of being heavy handed, censorship etc etc. Public floggings and (s)hit lists are not my favoured way to go.....we're trying to stop the witch hunts, not create more. From reading the input provided so far I am liking the sound of replacing the rules (certainly ones pertaining to what/how people should or should not post) with a Code of Conduct. That coupled with a 3 strikes and your out....3 outs and your not coming back approach to dealing with any incidents could provide a much easier to understand system which also reduces the burden on moderators and allows them to get back to enjoying the site in the same way as the rest of the users. There's not much we can do about the negativity, as has been stated, this is something that reflects the current mood of the fans in relation to the club/team. What we can and will do though is stamp out the abuse...be that abusing each other, stadium staff, players, manager or whatever. There's no need for it and criticism can be passed without the need for abuse. Besides our (CTO's) interaction with fans on a daily basis we also petition the club and other parties about things that can be done to improve the whole setup. The more time we have to spend on dealing with crap on here, the less time we have to work on trying to get things like online highlights or improve the matchday tweeting, or pressing for online fan commentary. Boardroom Banter has slipped, partly because of lack of time and drive on our part....match previews and reports are becoming more sporadic because we don't have the time to do them all ourselves and those who volunteered haven't delivered. We're struggling to get the stats up to date, photo galleries have all but stopped this season, blogging which had started to pick up has stalled. Those who were assisting with the various prediciton leagues have now had to take over most if not all the work themselves because we're dealing with idiots or simply don't have any inclination to sign on to the forum because we know there's going to be another chit storm to deal with. So it's not just the forum itself that's suffering, there's wider implications which have to be considered also. Their comes a time when fans/site users have to change their mindset. For years now it's been take take take, but those willing to give are burning out or finding themselves stretched too far. It's time for others to step up to the plate, to realise that their has to be a bit of give and whilst not everyone can write a report or be a moderator or whatever, they can make changes in how they interact with the site/forum/other users/fans which reduce the burden. We'll play our part and do as much as we can, but you all have to do your bit as well.

I always thought it would have been good fun to buy an old Double Decker, park it on the West side of the ground with a view of the pitch and sell it as the "Rebel" box.

I have but one wish for moving forward, one "Golden Rule" that I always try and follow when I post/reply and that is when I disagree with what someone says then I argue against the point, not the poster. I've enjoyed some very interesting and, at times, heated debates with many of the forum users over the years and whilst I have a tendency to be like a "dog with a bone" I do like it when people challenge my thinking by way of reasoned argument. If I banned all these people because I disagreed with them (as some suggest is done) then we'd have a very empty forum. Not everything needs to be serious, and of course their needs to be banter. I don't think we'll ever see a return to the "good old days" in that regard because the site is so much bigger, and it's no longer the case that we all know each other as well as we might have in the past. Some (and it''s a small portion recently) of what is seen as "abuse" is probably banter, but when you have so much that isn't it becomes very difficult for the moderators to distinguish between the two. We also have some users who seem to get a kick from pushing the boundaries and then trying to tie the moderators up in nots with whataboutery and they will refer to some of that banter as justification for their abuse......."He/She got away with saying that there, so why is it a problem for me to do the same". They ask us for things and then when we give it they use it against us. I have been labelled a bully, which I actually find quite laughable, as will those who know me. I could name at least a half dozen posters on this forum who started out as a thorn in our side, but I have shown a lot of patience with and given a lot of time too and they are now welcome and interesting contributors to the site. On the flip side there's users who have been a thorn in not only the sites side, but mine personally, for many years. I go out of my way not to post in reply to them or to contribute to threads where they have an opposing view to mine because I know that will be twisted in to some kind of criticism of me as a person and my involvement with the site. Moderators go out of their way on occasion to protect the site users, but when they move to protect themselves, then they are faced with a multitude of criticism and abuse. Despite my avoidance of these people they still seem to go out of their way to have a go or bad mouth me at every opportunity.....and I'm the bully? Where possible we will give reason for our actions. That's rarely done publicly as we tend to communicate our reasons via PM. Their is, in reality, very little "because we said so" reasoning and when it does happen it is often after protracted discussion with people who are proving to be awkward....people who are very quick to forget or ignore the pages of communication that came before the final "the decision has been made, if you don't like it then go elsewhere" reply....a reply that is only given when a person comes over as being impossible to reason with. Going back to the opening paragraph, I am of the opinion that if people took the approach of keeping the personal stuff out of the discussion then many of the other issues would take care of themselves. Nobody is saying you can't be critical or make negative points on anything, but you have to go about it in the right way. Yes, we'll all get frustrated with something or someone from time to time and let something slip, but we can deal with that and provided it's not a common occurrence for any single user then they're never going to find themselves getting anything more than a shot across the bow. It's the users who make the site what it is, and I wouldn't say we get any more hassle from younger users than we do from some of the older ones. Sometimes we have to make a judgement call, and that may look like we're treating some people different from others. That's just the way it is because we don't live in a world where one size fits all and from experience we know that different characters need to be handled in slightly different ways from time to time. If Scotty and I thought that we should have a rigid set of rules and fixed punishment for breaking them, then we wouldn't have appointed a free thinking and wide ranging set of moderators....we would simply have a group of yes men/women carrying out our wishes.

I often wonder how many people know the real story behind the headline...... It actually sat on a shelf in the sports office at the Sun in a slightly different form..."SuperAllyGoesBallisticCelticAreAtrocious"...but it never ever happened and when we beat Celtic one of the reporters seized the opportunity to alter it slightly and finally put it to good use.