CaleyD

I think people have made sensible suggestions, and have been making them for a long while now. The frustration (certainly from my point of view and experience) is that suggestions seem to be totally ignored. As for CC not having a go at the fans who do turn up, again I have to disagree and it's not only CC. We've all seen the articles about wanting more noise from the crowd, wanting people to get behind the team more etc etc. We've also all seen the articles where the constant answer to crowd sizes is that fans should bring a friend. First off, it is the actions of the clubs (or more sspecifically their emplyees) which are killing much of the atmosphere - the sit down shut up approach taken by stewards leaves many people looking over their shoulder when they do decide to get a bit vocal, or stand (even for a few seconds) to cheer on the team. They feed us stories about the SPL/Safety rules not allowing it blah blah blah, yet they continue to allow it in the away end and when you look around just about any other all seated stadia in the country you see fans standing and cheering without so much as a sideways glance from stewards or mention of many of the problems we seem to have had in this regard. Secondly, many people DO try and encourage people to come along each week, but they are farting against thunder due to pricing/conditions/lack of pre-match & half time entertainment/delays getting away from the stadium/insufficient serveries etc....they all might be small things in themselves, but taken as part of the package then it is more than enough to give people the excuse not to go. I don't think anyone is expecting them to do it all and come up with all the answers - but we are just as powerless to bring about change on our own as the club is on their own. The club needs to be doing more to help us help them. Between us we need to remove all (or as many as possible) excuses for people not to attend - Football is a team sport, both on the park and off it, and we all have a part to play. The guys on the park can't perform at their best if half the team stands around pointing the finger at the other, and the same goes with the club and the fans.

They'll have to resort to printing another story about our interest in Mackie :015:

Shame :001:

No :002:

After talk not so long ago about the Courier using quotes from this site in the Fans Letters section I had to have a wee chuckle to myself last night. Sat down to fully read all the ICT news in the paper, got to the Fans Letter section and saw that I had been quoted - started cursing and blinding that they had used some journalistic license on what I had said which twisted the whole point I was getting at (1 more sentence would have made my point clear). I then had to stop and have a wee laugh after realising that I was getting worked up over something I had told people not to get upset over only a couple of weeks back :015: Also good to see this site getting a positive mention together with the large section on the questions/answers session that had been done with Alan Savage - So I guess it's swings and roundabouts.

If true, the story hasn't been picked up by any of the big news syndicates and appears nowhere else.

Sounds like we're creating thebest of the chances. Was a bit worried early on when they mentioned we didn't have any players in attacking positions, but seems to have been sorted.

Barry has indicated in the past that he wants to move into coaching when he retires from playing so I would suspect that any renewed contract will be for X amount of time playing with an option to extend playing if he is still up to it or to move into a coaching role. Either way I think ICT will be his first choice and I'm not too worried about him wanting away to anywhere else.

We really do need a tongue in cheek smiley :015:

Be interesting to see how CC chooses to set things up tomorrow if Brewster starts. He (CC) seems to have been making a lot of using the 3-4-3 in the press in the last week or so, and I can't decide if thats a bluff or double-bluff in our run up to this match.

Was in the Highland Snooze yesterday aswell.

Hmmmm :024: Cowdenbeath Official site reporting that No Deal has been done Clicky Clicky

Near lost his leg back in March 2006 accorcing to the BBC

You obviously missed the 2nd to last paragraph of my post - I have read Article 17 and it contains no such clause - Neither does FIFA Circular 769 which was another document quoted by the press last June when all this was going on.

ok, so if my reading of the whole situation is correct, he has signed a pre-contract that will see him here at the end of the season and the club are trying to arrange an immediate release with Cowdenbeath so he can join us now. Probably explains why all the reports so far have been conflicting.

They are only allowed to pay 2 players more than the capped amount and wages in excess of $400,000 must be paid by the club and not the MLS.

I think Mad Vlad and all the (currently) laughing Hearts fans will be left with a bit of egg on their face with this one. Some Facts....... 1. Webster terminated his contract with Hearts under Article 17 on the basis Alex mentioned above. This made him free to sign for anyone else. 2. Webster moved to Wigan on an International Transfer Certificate on 30Th August 2006. This proved he was a free agent. 3. As per FIFA Articles and ITC can only be issued "providing the player is not under written contract to a Club, is not suspended from football for disciplinary reasons, and has fulfilled all obligations to the former Club." This proves that he had severed his contract with Hearts and fulfilled any remaining obligations. 4. As per FIFA Articles an "ITC must be issued free of charge and without any conditions or time limitations." This proves that no restrictions could have been placed on his signing for Wigan 5. As per FIFA Articles a player can be registered with 3 teams in any sports season, but can only play for the first 2. This proves that their is nothing preventing him from registering as a player through Rangers. Although depending on dates, could prevent him playing (see below). Taking items 1-4 above into consideration, there is no possible way that Hearts can claim ownership of Websters registration Even under item 5 above, Websters contract wiTh Hearts was terminated on June 30th last year. As the new season doesn't start until after that date then Webster was not registered with Hearts for the Season 2006/07. That means his first club was Wigan and his second club would be Rangers. Also, there is nothing in any of the FIFA articles which states that a player cannot return to play in the same association within 12 months after exercising his rights under Article 17, which is what seems to be the basis of some of the arguments in support of Mad Vlad's actions. In short the Lunatic Lithuanian is blowing smoke out his Erse - although it is funny that he seems to be giving Rangers and the SFA a bit of a runaround :015:

May can leave if she likes, didn't rate her much anyway :004:

I wouldn't take the cut in pay personally :015: Harry, they only play 8 months of the year £128,000,000 / 5 = £25,600,000/33 = £775,757 A Week 5 Day Week & 8 Hours a Day? £19,393 an Hour :015:

Call yourself a real fan :014:

Which is probably why we manage to land him (Dargo). Comes a time when you have to cut your losses, I don't want to see him moving on, but in the grand scheme of things it's probably a sensible move for the Club. And who knows, if he does ok on his loan spell, remains injury free and finds old form, then we may offer him a position back here again.

8 Games last season due to injury and only 10 this season - As much as I like the guy and think he has what it takes to play at SPL level, we simply can't afford to have players with recurring injury problems on the books long term.

I don't think people are blaming CC - just stating that the fans shouldn't be his first/only port of call when it comes to pointing the finger. Yes, the fans can do their bit, they can "Big Up" the product etc. The problem is, it doesn't matter how good you tell someone something is, if it's out of their reach financially, then they ain't going to buy it and they certainly ain't going to buy lots of it.

I think this may be, in part, down to the fact that he now has Morgan chasing him for his place. Prroof Positive that competition for places on all areas of the pitch is needed

The same works in reverse - whats the point in increasing prices if you reduce crowds to such an extent that it negates the extra money taken from tickets. We are (currently) 5% down on average attendance compared to last season - when you add on any lost revenue from "other" sales, such as programmes, merchandise etc - then it is unlikely that income will have increased in this area.