CaleyD

I'd be a millionaire if I went around collecting royalties from all those who are using graphics and images I have made on their Bebo pages :015:

Is it yours or the missus who has the birthday in Mid March then? Congrats.

Every season has it's "Classic Moments" which occur on the field of play, be it a superb goal, a lucky goal, something stupid done by a player or an official and most of these get recorded within the weekly Match Reports etc. I thought it would be an idea to start a wee thread about those moments which occur "Off the Park" among fans, between fans of opposing teams, on your way to or from the match etc. They can be moments instigated by on the field events but that must not be the main feature. The one for me for this season was the chanting of Sebo, especially on our trip to Ibrox. He was subbed on to the park and the ICT fans started chanting his name. The "Classic Moment" was when you looked round at the Rangers fans and they were all staring back in bewilderment wondering WTF was going on. :001:

disappointment

Can you say that again...just a little slower this time Complicated set-up but as you say, increases the opportunity for the smaller teams to get matches against "bigger" opposition. I'd sell my soul to see one of the OF go out to a Junior team.

Nothing in that article to add any more credence to this rumour than any other rumour doing the rounds at the moment. Other than one quote from CC saying Dargo is away on Holiday and is expected to give an answer in the next few days the whole article is speculation based on suggestions that Levein showed an interest in Dargo when he took over from Brewster. Lets not forget that Brewster also tried to attract Dargo to Utd and failed. Granted their would be no transfer fee hindering a possible move this time but if they weren't willing to pay the money before and we have offered CD a club record contract then it may not all be so straight forward as the Sunday Mail would have us believe. My guess is that Utd have been unable to attract interest from Dargo so have decided to use the media to hype it up, create fan interest and possibly convince the Grocer to stretch his wallet a little further. From Dargo's point of view I don't see how this would be attractive unless they were offering serious wages. As Utd have demonstrated in the last few years, when things don't go to plan it's those on the high wages that are first to be shown the door.

I thought the following may be of interest also....... It gives a brief description of 42 "disasters" which have occurred at Football stadiums since 1902. Interesting to note that not a single one of the above incidents came about as a result of people standing in seated areas. Also very interesting to note some of the disasters which were caused by actions which seem acceptable to Stewards and Police on a weekly basis (people leaving early or rushing forward to celebrate a goal). Quite scary the number of disasters that were caused by over zealous/heavy handed policing which resulted in crowd reaction/panic.

A few points of my own....... 1. The Safety of Sports Grounds (Designation) (Scotland) Order 1998 states that the only Stadia which require a safety certificate under the Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975 are those with a capacity in excess of 10,000 - Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, Inverness is not listed in the schedule as requiring such a certificate due to the fact it's capacity is less than 10,000. 2. The SPL state that all member clubs must hold such a safety certificate and for that reason ICT do have one. 3. The Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975 does not require Tulloch Caledonian Stadium to be all-seated and it is not a condition of us having received our Safety Certificate. 4. The SPL would have no legal recourse against ICT to have their Safety Certificate removed if they were to introduce non standing or safe to stand areas as a result of the above. 5. When the SPL was formed they agreed to a 10,000 All-seater stadia minimum requirement which brought the Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975 into play by default. The rules was changed to state that any club gaining entry to the SPL must have a stadia with a minimum of 6,000 seats. 6. It is the Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975 that states that all people gaining entry to an all-seater stadia with a capacity exceeding 10,000 must be issued with a ticket for a numbered seat. A lot of people are being misled by what is SPL rule and what is law. When the SPL agreed to a reduced minimum capacity of 6,000 seats people assumed that all other rules/laws would remain intact but they do not - this is one of the reasons the SPL resisted the change for so long. In short, we are currently in a state of limbo with regards to the rules/laws governing SPL stadia with a seated capacity of less than 10,000. I am of the opinion that the SPL would have absolutely no grounds on which to eject any club with a capacity between 6,000 and 10,000 should they wish to introduce standing/safe to stand areas and if they attempted to do so then the ejection would not stand up if challenged in the courts. I am also of the firm opinion that re-opening the terracing area opposite our main stand would have no impact on our ability to maintain our safety certificate under the Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975. The SPL do have an "all-seater" stadia rule - but the rule does not say that people must sit down. The only threat they have used in the past to enforce the "you must sit" stance is removal of safety certificates. Although this would be true in many of the SPL Stadia, it is not a threat which would effect ICT in any way given the facts listed above.

A move in the right direction but they should do away with the seeding altogether - only then will you have a "true" Scottish Cup. It would also give the smaller teams a chance at big paydays and help spread the money to lower levels of the game. It'll never happen, purely because the SPL and Div 1 teams wouldn't want to add to the risk of losing out on the (potential) cup income which many of them rely on.

Nessie herself............Clicky Clicky I await the outcome of the video analysis. I for one believe their is something in Loch Ness, but I hope they never prove it one way or another.

I did have a problem when posting the above image so thought I better check the mod logs to see if I had done anything by accident but nothing showing there.

Gringo cracks under the pressure of being a Grandad!!!! [attach=1]

No disrespect LG (or the Supporters Trust) as I know you guys are doing what you can to get answers. My rant was directed at the club for (IMO) dragging their heels over this whole thing. It will be 3 weeks tomorrow since the incident and AFAIK the club are yet to make an official statement other than comments made through the Supporters Trust and answering a couple of questions from the press. I can't help but feel that they are using the whole "we're working with/talking to the Supporters Trust" situation as something to hide behind instead of having the balls to come out with their own comments on the whole issue. I also appreciate that the club may not be entirely opposed to the views, ideas and suggestions of some of the fans and have chosen to tread carefully in what they say, but this is just a prime example of politics, red tape and BS getting in the way of progress. Speak up Mr Savage because we can't hear you at the back - it's all fair and well making the right noises to select individuals behind closed doors but it does nothing to encourage the fans who pay their hard earned every week to come watch the team and many of these people are making their decisions now as to whether or not they will continue to part with their cash next season. We're being given the impression that you are behind us, the fans, on this issue - and that's great - so how about you let us hear it direct from the horses mouth instead of us relying on hearsay, gossip and second hand news.

Just reading an article on Damien Hirst and his recent piece of "art" - A skull covered in 8601 diamonds..... Do such things really constitute art and does it justify the £36 million mark-up (£14 Million to make - on sale for £50 Million). Clicky Clicky Personally I don't find it grotesque, but I fail to see the art aspect, not to mention the fact that other than coming up with the idea (even that's not genuine and has been done before with other jewels) he's not likely to have had much of a hands on in producing the piece. I'd imagine the diamonds would have been shaped in some sweat shop in a third world community somewhere and that the craftsmen would have been paid peanuts and will get no credit for their part in the skulls production. I see the piece as nothing more than an "interesting" way to display diamonds. The idea isn't even original, it's appeared in movies and comic books on several occasions and skulls covered in other jewels and semi-precious stones already exist which blow his claims that "nothing else quite like it exists" out of the water. In fact, I find little of Hirsts "art" at all interesting, or indeed artistic and see this as nothing more than another piece which will generate shock value and be used to gain him headlines and column inches. IMO, Hirst is nothing more than a designer who is fortunate enough to have the means by which to produce/commission pieces which pander to the wants of the rich and famous who fall over themselves to out-do each other when it comes to owning such things purely from a basis of increasing their status.

I see nothing "Peripheral" in the issue about standing/bringing back terracing. It is well documented that the lack of atmosphere at games is in large part due to the lack of terracing, not just at ICT but at grounds throughout the UK. It also doesn't take a huge leap to tie that in to the ongoing reduction in attendance levels, especially for the "smaller" clubs. ICT are young (in SFL/SPL terms) and as such still carry a lot of energy and passion from days when we weren't being dictated too about the manner in which we are allowed support our team. We've not yet had the stuffing knocked out of us by the SPL rules as seems to be the case with many other clubs and fans who take the "we just have to accept it" approach which only serves to fuel the SPL's delusions of grandeur. We've proved already that the SPL's rules are as set in stone as they try to make us think and I believe that the club should use the energy that exists among it's own fans at the moment to drive the issue forward in a pro-active and positive manner. The energy is there NOW, the issue us a hot topic among ICT fans so use it, lets not wait till 6 or 12 months down the line when that energy is lost and more of our fans fall victim to the "lets play the politics game" mindset. History shows that it's the rebel element in any situation that forces change. Not saying we should be out there breaking the law and causing mayhem, but there are actions which can be taken which will force the SPL and other authorities to sit up, take notice and do something about it. Like every other issue that is brought up regarding the SPL, it is sent round and round in circles until people lose the will to fight it or it gets lost in a mountain of red tape and BS. The SPL and it's member clubs need to start taking positive action, not only on this issue but on the entire setup - I for one am fed up of the powers that be simply paying lip service to the issues and doing nothing about them. The Supporters Trust have taken this issue on board. We were told we would receive further updates once investigations had been complete. We have been told those updates are due any day, yet here we are no further down the line than we were 2 or 3 days after the Pars game where it all kicked off. It doesn't take this long to complete an investigation unless people are f@nnying around and trying to cover their butt. We all know what happened, we all know who is responsible - what we don't know and want to know is what will be done about it - both with regards to future home matches at ICT and with regards comments from Alan Savage about taking this matter forward with other SPL clubs and the SPL themselves. It's time for answers and actions not politics and @ss kissing.

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.

I think we're witnessing another forum romance in the making :love03:

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.