CaleyD

So we just sit back and do nothing? The whole standing/sitting debate has gone on long enough - it's time for someone to stand up and do something which will really grab people's attention and force the issue beyond the "debate" stage before the atmosphere is lost in football grounds forever. The courts may be reluctant to get involved in the internal affairs of the SPL but they have done so in the past on other issues. They would not be asked to pass judgment on whether or not standing should be allowed. They would be passing judgment on the legal situation of the SPL having such a rule in place and their ability to enforce that rule by expelling a member club from it's "Business". The mindset that the SPL is above the law is what has led to many of the problems in Scottish Football, especially at it's highest level and it is aout time people started to take them to task on a few things.

I am of the opinion that it will take just one club to push this issue all the way to the courts for the SPL to be forced to back down on their self imposed "no-standing" rule and bring about a lot of changes. It is, of course, a risky business to push any matter that far. The SPL threaten us with the fact that local authorities would step in with regards to Safety Certificates, but the Local Authorities would be powerless to do anything to remove our safety certificate as we do not fall into the "10,000 capacity" guidelines which are set out in Scottish Legislation for all-seater stadia. If ICT were to re-open terracing opposite the main stand with just 2,000 added capacity and stick the 2 fingers up at the SPL then yes, we could be ejected under the SPL rules, but I believe we would have a great deal of support from within the SPL and also from the courts in preventing them enforcing the rule. We would likely receive a shot across our bows (possibly a fine) in the first instance but it may just be enough to force the issue without risking expulsion. I call on the club to implement such a move and for the fans to support them by conductiong themselves in an appropriate manner should they choose to go down such a road.

Future C*unty Captain me thinks (will he be the first to wear the armband both sides of the bridge?). You gave your everything when you pulled on the ICT shirt and will be remembered as one of the players who was instrumental in the rise and rise of Caley Thistle.

My 6 or 7 was just an example of how little I think it would take for us to be pushing more for top 6 and I'd fully expect Wyness to chip in with more if he comes anywhere near capturing his pre-injury form.

What I read from that article is... "I scored shed loads in my first spell at ICT in the lower divisions, I'll be going out to score goals again but due to the higher level don't expect me to be banging in 2 or 3 every week". I see nothing wrong in that, it's all about managing people's expectations and he's just telling us not to expect miracles. If he can chip in with even 6 or 7 goals next season and other players perform as they have this season then we'll be pushing for that top 6 we dream off.

Rather amusing that you should mention the Highland Marchers doing their lap to Highland Cathedral. I may be speaking out of order here, but we had a situation in regard to the walk round at Love Street. It wasn't agreed until the day before the match that we were actually going to be allowed to do the walk round (nothing new, it's been this late in being arranged elsewhere). We asked if they wouldn't mind playing our choice of music for us as we did this and were met with a "no can do" response. When the subject of "why?" was pushed we were told that all music being played at the stadium must be approved by the Police and Match Commander in case it had any sectarian underpinning!!! Understandable issue, so we went to the trouble of getting the music we wanted copied on to a separate CD and delivered to the Stadium early on the Saturday morning to allow the Match Commander and police the chance to have a listen to it beforehand. We arrived just before the match as was arranged, got ready by the tunnel and waited...then waited some more, and waited a little longer before being set off on our way without our music. We had supplied 2 choice of tunes - Highland Cathedral and Jean Michel Jarre - Rendezvous IV. OK, I could understand the possible objection to Rendezvous IV as it has exerts from a speech given by JFK, but surely Highland Cathedral was a no-brainer as being "safe"....it doesn't even have any words :029: Anyway, to cut a long story short - The discussion regarding the use of Highland Cathedral for the team to run out to has been had before. Some thought it a good idea, some thought their were better options but nobody really had a "I'd never return to the stadium if we played it" attitude. Having being subjected to Jean Michel Jarre - Rendezvous IV constantly for a week it was starting to become a little grating, but I think it would be a great tune for the team to run out to.

What do we expect from a guy who has absolutely no interest in the game? He doesn't even watch when he is at the stadium on match days. When he was appointed he said... "My priority will be the business side of things, leaving the football operation to director of football Graeme Bennett and the football management staff." Therein lies the problem. He is a glorified accountant who seems to have been tasked with keeping the bank book in order and is out of his depth when it comes to dealing with anything else. He hasn't the first clue when it comes to knowing anything about the fans, their wants/needs or expectations but finds himself having to deal with these things on a regular basis - either because it is part of his job description or because the club have failed to appoint a suitable person to deal with these things and he is trying to fill the gap. My concerns are twofold. Firstly a person in his position at any club should have the skills necessary to be able to step in a deal effectively with just about any of the clubs operations in an effective manner, and secondly, the club are allowing a person who has demonstrated time and again that he isn't the man for this roll to continue making the same mistakes time and again. In Summary.....What is his job? - I would imagine it is the same as the Chief Executive of any club/company. He is there to oversee ALL club operations. As in any company he is the man with which the Buck Stops in regard to day to day operations (and that includes Match Days). If that is not his Job Description then I too would like to know what it is he brings to ICTFC to justify his 6-Figure (or very close too) salary.

Thanks Alex. Paypal addie is [email protected]

It is important to note that slander and libel do not exist in Scottish law, it is all covered under 'defamation of character' so your definitions count for little here. To my mind nothing has been said here (or in other threads recently) which cannot be backed up by facts. i.e. Calling someone an idiot is not defamation if you can provide evidence to support it.

Bidding currently at 10 on each. Any advances?

They were/are a size 7 - A few people asked this question which I found confusing....surely if you were bidding on them it wasn't with the intention of wearing them!!!

If we can get a list of all contenders then I'll stick up a proper site poll for everyone to vote on and we can do a proper Top 5 or something like that.

The Supporters Trust forum last night had 2 gentleman on the panel who I have a great deal of time and respect for. Namely Charles Bannerman and Bobby Wilson. Although this topic never came up specifically one conversation did touch on it and both these guys commented on what they thought was one of the biggest factors in ICT being where they are now. It is something we have talked about on here before but it was reassuring to hear it confirmed by 2 guys who have a deep knowledge of both the club and the game. They both agreed that the Ethos that exists in the ICT changing room has contributed most ot the rise and rise of ICT. Praise was given to Pele for being the man to have created it and it was acknowledged that Robbo, Brewster and Christie have all continued it. It was also credited as a major contributing factor in ICT succeeding where C*unty have failed. Bobby Wilson commented that in all his years he had never seen a changing room with so much desire to play for each other and how even in the early years of ICT it had become a tradition which has and is serving us well. Both these guys went on to say that it wouldn't be wise for ICT to change that Ethos by introducing a lot of new players at any one time or indeed to be too keen to be chasing down the path of signing a lot of foreign players. On the flip side though, they did have a concern over how the club could sustain the Ethos in a couple of years time when we will need to be changing more than just a couple of players, either through necessity or desire to progress to the next level. But for now it seems the general consensus is that the club are just about getting it right. Scotty mentioned on another thread that the teams in the SPL are split into 4 groups with us currently sitting in Group 4 and having listened to these guys and to what others on here have had to say about the situation I still have concerns that we may not have the correct personnel in place behind the scenes to take ICT that next step to reach Group 3 and become regular visitors to the top 6 of the SPL. Again, I have nothing against Grassa, I think he has been a tremendous servant to the club, but I can't help but think that our current position has created a bit of a comfort zone which he is not best suited to push us through. If constant consolidation is the aim then he's doing a Grade A job, but if the club share the fans, players and managers ambition of pushing on just a little to the next level then I think that is the one position within the club that needs to be looked at. Grassa has to be pressured in to breaking out of the comfort zone and introducing just one or two more players to the mix to prevent major upheaval in a couple of seasons or he should step aside and make room for someone who can/will do it. Making the change in a couple of seasons isn't good enough - prevention is better (and easier) than cure - so the time to act is now. In summary, replacing those who leave on a year by year basis is fine but it won't see us progress and it will leave us toiling a bit in 2 or 3 seasons (sooner if we were to lose 4 or 5 key players in a season). I'm happy enough for the club to be taking it slowly in terms of growth but we may be in danger of taking it a little too slowly and letting opportunity pass us by at a time when many other teams are in a bit of upheaval as they cut the cloth and learn to live on a tighter budget. The club are about to announce next years new sponsors, a deal which I am led to believe is the biggest in the clubs history by some way. Now might just be the time to commit an extra 100/200k or so to develop the depth of the current squad without any real risk of stretching the finances to breaking point.

Hopefully both of them get a place in the squad, it will be far better preperation for them for next season than the friendlies the club have announced so far and a couple of goals for Rory at this level just might be what he needs to improve his confidence in front of the net.

I hear they've got Feb8th signed up for this one already!!!

Not enough - need a new job

Welcome back

Any Forum users attending that wish to submit a match report and details on how the lads get on are welcome to do so and we'll get it up on the frontpage. Accompanying pics also appreciated if possible. Send via E.mail to myself or Scotty (donald@ or scotty@ caleythistleonline.com) or post on the forum here and we'll copy it across.

Anyone know if this is being covered on the radio or anything anywhere? Am to lazy to go look and I'm sure someone must have already :001:

Hope for the best (top 6) and prepare for the worst (relegation dogfight) - I think that would be a realistic summary of ICT's position in the SPL for now.

When will the SPL and it's member clubs learn that such initiatives take time to get up and running and show their worth. Ditching the scheme before it has even had a chance to get off the ground properly is nonsense.

We also have the added bonus of prime advertising space being available on the back of the Scoreboard should it be placed opposite the main stand. Given the reaction of a few people in the main stand to the singing section, Werthers may be interested in sponsoring it!!!

Tug, this is one thing I would like to introduce to the site but unfortunately Scotty and I have so much on our plate with other things it's not happened yet. If anyone would like the job of doing a weekly round-up of all the ICT/SPL news (in and out of season) which we can post on the main news section of the site then feel free to step forward. It doesn't have to be just one person, maybe 2 or 3 of you would like to form a team and work it between you. We have the tools, we just don't have the time or the bodies to make it happen. Tug is just one of a few site users who would be grateful of such a feature.

LG, I will be at the meeting tomorrow night so can bring everything except the towel which is with Gringo in Coventry. I'll be e.mailing all the other winning bidders tomorrow to ascertain who's local and wants hand delivered and who I need to post to further afield. From the usernames of the winners it looks like most are from here.....so a big thanks to everyone. We've all been taking this week to chill after the March and haven't done the sums yet, but we'll let you know the Total raised by this years Highland March in due course. It's still not too late to make a donation, either contact myself or one of the other marchers to hand over your cash in person or you can donate using Credit/Debit Card or Paypal via the site www.highlandmarch.co.uk

From a poster that used to hang on the wall of one of my Primary School Teachers. Good - Better - Best Never let it rest Till your Good is Better And your Better Best That's something I think all players can take on board without having to single anyone out for special praise or criticism.