CaleyD

Thought I would start a thread for people to put forward constructive ideas for things we can be doing as fans in order to smooth the transition between SPL and SFL and also to give the club every possible chance of realising the target of bouncing straight back. I'm not interested in finger pointing and the blame game, nor am I interested in people knocking other people's ideas and getting into personal/petty squabbles. There's other threads where you can get involved in that kind of chat. There's the obvious stuff like continuing our support where we can by buying season tickets, sponsoring players, buying the new shirt when it gets released etc. These things will put money in the pocket of the club.....but what else can be done?

The biggest thing we have going in our favour is that we don't have a crippling debt which will send us into immediate oblivion and meltdown, meaning that all effort can be concentrated on getting the job done on the field. Granted it's only a couple of days in, but all we've had so far is that the fans and local businesses will need to keep supporting the club and doing their part...would be nice to hear something about what part the Board will be playing other than having meetings and stating the bleeding obvious in the press. Simple question....what form will this "Support" the board are offering to TB & MM take? Will they be investing directly or seeking investment, will they be talking to the Bank Manager and arranging an overdraft....what? I'm all for a policy of pushing straight for the top, but what's the cost?

You're missing the point. As I said in my first post on this thread, I'm not getting involved in the "Who should stay and who should go" argument. When it comes to cutting the cloth then there's inevitable victims, people we'd all perhaps like to see kept, but it's just not possible for that to happen and all the moaning in the world won't change it. Butcher will have been told what his budget is, he will have decided which players he wants to keep and how much he thinks they are worth and/or we can afford to pay them. What you or I think a player is worth doesn't come in to it......and even if it did, there's only a finite amount of money for us to be putting a team together next season. You like Vigurs, someone else likes another player and others prefer someone else...no matter who was axed we were going to have people moaning....and then we have those who will simply moan at every decision for the sake of it. It's crap that we have to let anyone go....I'd rather we didn't. I'm all ears though, and if you want to tell me how the club can keep everyone and give them wage increases whilst having to slice a couple of million from the overheads then I'm willing to listen.

There's the words of a man who's worried that Butcher will mastermind taking 12 points off his team next season

well then we will never keep SPL status, we cant play with the big boys if we are'nt going to pay wages...full stop. So the last 5 years is just a figment of our imagination? We might not be "mixing it with the big boys", but we've done OK and our relegation is (IMO) not directly attributable to the level of wages we've been paying. I'd rather a season or two in the SFL and still have a club in a few years than the club bankrupt themselves in the next 12 months by paying wages they can't afford.....and that's where you can stick your full stop!!! cant afford an extra 50 pound a week, aye good one. if the club distributed the wages more efficiently then we would be able to afford better players. a season or two, haha you make me laugh, try a bit more than that. it's not rocket science, we went down because we didnt have the players to keep us up, we dropped players we cant replace, you will have to pay more than 400 a week to get a better player than vigurs. you didnt think about that did you. there's your full stop. Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda........(The last words of a fool)

You're spot on, and we do have players at the club who are (IMO) on far too much money....and were as "SPL" players. The problem is that we can't just tear up contracts, contracts which the previous manager and existing Board Members were responsible for, contracts which are perhaps hindering our ability to keep one or two players we might have preferred to have kept. It doesn't change the fact that the club cannot (and should not) be spending money we do not have, and all the moaning in the world won't change that. Without some kind of investment the club will need to cut overheads by something in the region of ?2 Million for us to break even next year.....that's the reality of it.

well then we will never keep SPL status, we cant play with the big boys if we are'nt going to pay wages...full stop. So the last 5 years is just a figment of our imagination? We might not be "mixing it with the big boys", but we've done OK and our relegation is (IMO) not directly attributable to the level of wages we've been paying. I'd rather a season or two in the SFL and still have a club in a few years than the club bankrupt themselves in the next 12 months by paying wages they can't afford.....and that's where you can stick your full stop!!!

Nobody is knocking the lad, they're just saying that if he thinks he can get more than he was offered here then good luck to him wherever he ends up. We can't pay what we don't have, and there's not a player out there who we should be putting ourselves in debt (or more debt than necessary) in order to have them at the club.

I don't really want to get caught in the "who should stay and who should go" argument, the only thing I want to add is that I think one of our biggest weaknesses as a club in the past has been showing too much loyalty towards certain favourites and whether I agree with which names appear on which lists at the start of this thread, I actually take some confidence that we have a Manager who's not looking too, or willing too tick along next year with someone else's squad and is keeping the ones HE wants there and will bring others of his choosing.....no manager has ever been allowed to do that here in the past, and it's perhaps a small sign of a change in mindset.

As the full time whistle blew on Saturday I was devastated by the fact that my team had just been relegated. I was feeling disappointed, angry, hurt and all the other feelings that I'm sure we all felt. I then left the announcers box to head downstairs and I arrived in the reception area to receive a real reality check. Their was staff there who not only have a day to day job to do in the running of the club, but are every bit as much fans as you or I and it hit me....many of these people are not only having to deal with the relegation of their team, but the chance that they could find themselves looking for new jobs next week. It kinda put my own feelings on the situation into perspective, and to be honest, it made me all the more determined to do what I can to ensure that we come back from this bigger and stronger. I don't know if there's much we can do as individuals or fans to help the situation. The damage is done and I just hope that there's enough people involved with ICT to allow us to minimise the damage. Some might be able to throw a few quid at the club, some might be able to offer services to help reduce overheads and for the rest, it's simply a case of rolling the sleeves up and doing what we can to help the club come back bigger and stronger....we owe it to ourselves, and more importantly we owe it to those who will very likely become the real victims of the relegation.

They are in the Kingsmills

No :021:

These things are all in hand, just make sure you're all ready to make plenty of noise.

Guys are passing Daviot. Mixture of sun and showers and they have a poor reporter in tow who travelled up from London last night to do a story on them!!! Don't forget to john them from Falcon Square at back of 11 tomorrow for the final leg....let's descend on the Stadium making loads of noise to get everyone right up for the game.

The guys got first full night of sleep last night after what had been a punishing early March schedule. They are well underway today and heading over the top from Kincraig to the Slochd Summit.

Yeah, still on target and they were actually singing as they stepped on to the hills this morning...seems to be a lot of singing this year!! I've kept them off the beer in the evenings this year, but might let them have a pint in Carrbridge tonight

The guys got a bit of a soaking yesterday but the sun is on them today as they walk through Glen Tromie.

The marchers are just over 12 hours in and everyone got through the night safely, although we did have one retire at about the 25 mile mark...Wumba, but not bad going for a new recruit. They should be about 36 miles in when I next rendezvous with them in just over an hours time.

Would have been nice to set off on the back of a win...but not to be. Everyone safely on the road and HM7 officially underway.

Thanks to everyone for the good wishes. Will be doing what I can to keep you all updated on progress during the week. Will see those of you going to the game there tomorrow.

The deceased gets a bite....that was far too easy, are you sober? :blah01:

Not at all....was DJing from the age of 12, so I already knew what I would be letting myself in for when it comes to not being able to please all the people all the time. I also know that there's some people you will never please!!! General Pipe Band Chat now moved to here

You're getting better at this whole rating thing IHE....glad my advice was of help after the Hamilton game :004:

If we're safe and it comes down to the last game for Falkirk and St Midden then I'd happily cheer a Falkirk win on the final day. (Disclaimer: I would prefer an ICT victory, but would be happy to see St Midden relegated)