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billyshears

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Everything posted by billyshears

  1. Cheers for that explanation, Sorted. The question remains, how much to implement the solution? I know the club (like most football clubs) is strapped for cash, but would the cost of lifting the pitch have balanced out the hundreds of thousands lost of the back of this seasons call-offs?
  2. Excellent. It will be great to hear from someone who has definite knowledge on the cause of the problem and what is required to fix it. Please can you give a brief (not too technical pls) description of what is required and an approximate cost to do this. This thread has too much theorising and speculation (including my own) and you have the power to put it to rest. Were you involved with the installation of the USH or do you had some professional dealings with such things? Apologies if my last post descended into what you refer to as a "slagging match" but you will understand my frustration at there being nobody seemingly held accountable for repeated and increasingly costly postponements. I have always been quick to defend the club in the past (tho it has been a while since I last posted) but if this issue isn't sorted out soon we may be in danger of becoming like Fir Park circa 2007-8 Happy to do so once you have addressed the issue of postponements pre and post installation of USH. Think it's important to reach agreement on the cause before deal with the solution eh? As I thought I had intimated in my previous post I am glad to bow to your superior technical and statistical knowledge on the subject. Unfortunately I am too young to remember much about postponements pre-2005 either that or my memory just isn't that good!
  3. Excellent. It will be great to hear from someone who has definite knowledge on the cause of the problem and what is required to fix it. Please can you give a brief (not too technical pls) description of what is required and an approximate cost to do this. This thread has too much theorising and speculation (including my own) and you have the power to put it to rest. Were you involved with the installation of the USH or do you had some professional dealings with such things? Apologies if my last post descended into what you refer to as a "slagging match" but you will understand my frustration at there being nobody seemingly held accountable for repeated and increasingly costly postponements. I have always been quick to defend the club in the past (tho it has been a while since I last posted) but if this issue isn't sorted out soon we may be in danger of becoming like Fir Park circa 2007-8
  4. Sorry but USH did not cause the problem. Very heavy rain caused it. Spiking would not have made a blind bit of difference because the water had no place to go. It should have gone into the firth but the extremely high spring tides held it back. Covers over the pitch would not have helped the problem. The water still needs somewhere to go. I'm just surprised IHE hasn't been around yet to explain the effects of the aquifer. Disagree Alex. TCS has endured numerous downpours over the years but, to the best of my knowledge (await correction), a match had never been postponed due to a waterlogged pitch prior to the installation of the USH system. Surely the format of the rain hasn't changed in this period therefore it must be the alteration to the drainage that is the cause? Previously, despite the location of the pitch and the impact that the tide has in its ability to drain, the pitch coped. Now it doesn't. The USH is the cause. Ask Tommy. Yeah, that's a great idea, let's "Ask Tommy" if he thinks the waterlogged pitch is down to the USH (which has been installed for 6 years without waterlogging being as prevalent a problem as it has been this season). I'd imagine in Tommy's world anything and anybody is to blame but himself - I heard a whisper that our beloved groundsman was in fact instructed early last week to take a specific proactive measure (not sure of the technical details) to alleviate the potential water problems, but in his omniscience, he decided to ignore said instruction (probably because at that point the forecast wasn't too bad, or maybe because he counldn't be @r$ed). Clearly someone has to take responsibility for this costly fiasco. Either the groundsman who refused to act on a specific instruction from the club's management, the club's management for not issuing such an instruction, or the board for not backing the club management's desire to take the action necessary to prevent the problem in the first place. Unfortunately it is Club ICT we are talking about, so the protected cabal of Sutherland lackeys will be free from recriminations and repercussion. Oh well let's hope that Motherwell's form takes a dramatic dip and we win our next 3 games, make the top 6 and this whole sorry saga can get properly swept under the carpet.
  5. "Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me." The weather has now "fooloed" the club with the same trick 3 TIMES in short order. When the Dundee Utd game was called off earlier in the season, this should have fired a warning shot to the groundsman and the club. It was going to cost a few quid in lost hospitality revenue and ticket refunds, but they must have been counting their lucky stars it wasn't an Old Firm game or , even worse, a televised Old Firm game! The club should have been seriously looking at the merits and cost/benefits of all potential solutions to the problem. When exactly that nightmare scenario occured a few weeks ago for the cup tie there should have been severe recriminations all round. The solutions previously considered should have been implemented without hesitation. The fact of the matter is that a football club's primary responsibilty is to ensure it is "open for business" on a mere 20-odd days in the year. These 3 postponements will probably have cost the club in excess of ?300k, in lost TV money, refunded tickets including the admin, lost hospitality revenue, money paid to the hospitality caterers who will have been paid in full for such late cancellations, stadium caterers for the pies they have cooked and had to throw out, potentially having to recompense Celtic for the expenses incurred in flying up and staying in the most expensive hotel in the city. If ICT was being run like any other business - I know football clubs aren't, on the whole, run like any other business but humour me - after the first postponement the senior management of the club should have been asking questions of the groundsman. What can we do to prevent this happening again? Is it likely to be a problem in the future? What investment is required? etc. They would then go to the board and make the case for spending the money to rectify the problem. After the second postponement the board, fearing the reprecussions for the lost revenue from the shareholders, would have demanded action and accountability. After yesterdays postponement, heads would certainly roll. All this may sound like scapegaoting and playing the "blame game", but the alternative is called "burying your head in the sand". As I said at the start of this post, that this has now happened 3 times this season, it is time for the fans of the club to start demanding answers and accountability.
  6. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, prices for OF game have to be more expensive than for other games. It's difficult to look at these things dispassionately, but try and see it like this. ICT are a business trying to sell a product (a football match) some of their products (OF matches) invariably sell around double the quantity of the majority. What are you going to do? The general public is effectively telling that the OF matches are more attractive, and therefore more valuable, than the other games. It is the board responsibility to charge more for the games with the greater demand. Most of what we are seeing on this thread is individuals looking out for themselves (nothing wrong with that, by the way) people object to paying higher prices just because we are playing the OF. However, truly supporting our club involves concern for what happens off the pitch as well as the results on the pitch. To this end we should get behind the opportunity to increase revenue, I for one am all for getting as much as possible from those spectators who only come to the OF matches. It is unfortunate that the regular fans have to be hit with this as well (although there is a loyalty scheme which allows you to avoid these price hikes - it's called a season ticket - I know, I know, not everyone gets to enough games to justify it, but you get my point, I'm sure). The flip side to all this, however, is that the club occaisionally have to drop prices for games that are less popular. They did so for the Gretna games last season, and I'm sure they will do something similar if the need arises later in the season. The overall thing to console ourselves with is that this so called "profiteering" over the OF tickets would only be that if an individual, or group of individuals were going to walk away at the end of the season with their pockets full of our cash. ICT is not going to be making anybody rich anytime soon!
  7. This is true, unfortunately the removal of terracing put paid to cheap football at ICT, when we got into the SPL. I personally, would have it back in a flash. Atmosphere was always better in the terraces.
  8. It is frustrating that every goal we have conceded at TCS this season has been soft and due to a momentary lapse in defence, but surely overall we can be positive about the start to this campaign. The most recent signings (Imrie, Barrowman & Rooney - still not convinced by Mcguire) have definitely added something to the squad and the youngsters (Wood, Vigurs, Duff & Rooney) have exceeded most people's expectations and are holding down starting spots on merit. Blackie looks a class act and seems to have sorted out his discipline and the defence looks a lot more solid against set pieces than at the close of last season (although pretty much anything would have been an improvement). I for one (and sometimes on here it feels like I am the only one) have faith in the boys and truly believe that we will be there or there about come the split. I'm sure I will be accused of blind optimism, but I hope that there are others out there who share my feelings.
  9. If your mate is 16 and still in full time education, he could have bought a junior family ticket for ?7, provided he bought it from the ticket office before the match. Given the number of empty seats, he could then have sat anywhere in the north stand there was space - this is one thing the stewards rarely seem to enforce, although you wouldn't get away with it at a busy (OF or Aberdeen) game.
  10. I hate to rain on your parade Billy, but the vast majoirty of the noise came fom the lads standing at the back. Yeah, thanks for that (fyi, there was plenty of noise coming from the lads in the seats beside me). However standing up is not actually a pre-requisite for singing/chanting/noise generation.
  11. I was at the Aberdeen game at the start of the campaign and there was plenty of noise and atmosphere generated, without the need to stand up doing it. It sounds like the stewards have a problem with the standing (following strict SPL guidelines, no doubt) not the singing - as long as it's clean. Unfortunately it is the nature of officials to believe they are only doing their job when they are having to reprimand someone. I find that watching the game is (usually) more entertaining than watching the stewards
  12. Comments like that will have you head-hunted by the SPL to work on the committee that decide membership criteria - that sounds like the sort of thing they would come up with!
  13. What would be "embarrasing" would be spending money building a stand that would sit empty!
  14. I can't understand why you would use an emotive phrase like "milk the fans of their money". Nobody is compelled to go to a football match, the prices are set and it is up to the public to determine whether the price is a fair exchange for the entertainment on offer. The board and senior management have a responsibility to maximise revenue at any opportunity and if that means taking advantage of the fact that OF games have a considerably bigger appeal than the other 15 or so, they should not be criticised for it. Also the downturn in attendances and season tickets is likely to be largely down to the dreaded Credit Crunch. When money is tight, football is surely one of the first things that most are going to have to sacrifice (especially for families). Maybe we should lobby Gordon Brown - forget this energy efficiency rubbish, give the people what they want, free season tickets for your local club!
  15. :018: :thumb04: Not even Gus Macpherson agrees with you on that one "We rode our luck, but sometimes you get the breaks" Gus Macpherson
  16. Do you honestly think St Mirren supporters did not go away from yesterday's game knowing they were second best for the majority of the game and that they stole the points? We had a shot come off the underside of the crossbar and goalmouth scramble that they just managed to keep out. On another day we would have been 3-0 up within the hour. They managed to capitalise on 2 of very few defensive lapses. Yes we were unlucky and fortunately Brewster recognises this and will not be panicked into making wholesale changes. It would be nice to see a bit of faith, positivity and last but not least SUPPORT on a fans forum, instead of the knives coming out when, as often happens in football, things don't go your way. By all accounts ours was not the only result yesterday that went against the run of play - it's going to be a tight fought campaign.
  17. Yeah, I'm sure the club don't care that season ticket and matchday revenues are decreasing. Fatuous comments like that will undermine any valid arguments you might have.
  18. Falkirk may not have lost revenue, but they would have had to fork out for the dozens of man-hours involved in the system they put in place. Given the most recent financial results, did we really expect the club to absorb the cost of this surcharge. I'm certain that they would have been more than happy to add the entire cost to the away end tickets but SPL rules forbid it (the same SPL who stood by and allowed this surcharge to be put in place - if anyone has the power to do something about it, its them). As has been pointed out by 5th Stand it is all about supply and demand, the club would be insane not to have a considerably higher price for games that attract almost double the fans that a normal home game does - remember the last Rangers game was a sell-out. In fact most economists would argue that the OF ticket prices are too low! It is disappointing to see "fans" of the club encouraging others to stay away from games, particularly as your protest would be in vain. Some part time "supporter" would be sitting in your seat watching in awe at how the Celtic players are smaller in real life than they look on the telly, and realising that they are massively overpaid as our lads who are on 1/10 of their wages get stuck in!
  19. I honestly believe that we were unlucky yesterday. We controlled the game for the most part, looked comfortable on the ball and were unfortunate not to have been 2-0 up after the first 60 minutes. The young guys (Duff, Vigurs, Rooney & Wood) certainly played their part in this. The result went against us, and I'm sure if you got an honest opinion from a St Mirren fan, they would admit they stole the points, but that's football. I'm sure over the course of the season we will get results in our favour that we maybe don't deserve! The main thing is not to panic when this happens. It is difficult to know what personnel changes will make a positive difference, and we are never going to be privvy to all the gactors involved in picking the team (i.e. attitude, fitness, performance in training, etc.). Yes, it would be great to have the Imrie who terrorised the Dons at Pittodrie every week, but players, like everyone, go through peaks and troughs. One thing taht I 100% disagree with is the assertion that the young players are somehow to blame for yesterday's defeat. If these guys are the future of the club then the future looks bright.
  20. Communication from the Chief Exec? Thought you said nobody from the club listened to you, CaleyD!
  21. If ever there was a case for slightly expanding the West Stand (an extra 125 seats should do it) this would be it! Firstly we would be able to charge whatever we wanted for the seats since it is not comparable to anywhere else in the ground, then allocate them to the OF and pray for rain!
  22. A double-whammy of good news! I'd always wondered why there wasn't such a facility on-site, given that the TCS is miles away from the nearest bookies. A welcome additional service, and presumably, income stream for the club. Also, I'm glad that someone from the club is showing willing by posting on the forum. Are we ushering in a new era of fan-club communication? - don't think this announcement is even on the official website yet.
  23. Scotty, we are living in the information age, and since you used to live here you know that Inverness is a very small place - everybody knows someone, who knows someone, who knows something! Unfortunately it is typical of the paranoia found on fans fora such as these, that if you can see things from the club's point of view, you are automatically believed to be connected in some way. The boring truth of the matter is that I just like lively discussion, there is nothing more tedious than a thread where everybody agrees. These are the ones which fizzle out within a couple of days, much better to stoke the debate by offering the alternative viewpoint. Hope you don't mind me adopting this attitude, and rest assured it will never degenerate into anything out of order (I'm sure I'd be getting the :thumb04: if it did). I wholeheartedly believe that the more balanced the views coming from this site, the more credible it becomes. A lot of my mates think the site is full of people coming on a moaning all the time (I obviously put them straight on that one). Also I don't know how you're numbers have been since the changeover, but a lot of these guys don't even come on here anymore since you have to register to see the full discussion threads - what was the idea behind that one?
  24. I don't see why the club should be criticised for portraying certain events in as positive a light as possible. Spin has been around since time immemorial, it is used by all organisations, and in all walks of life, why should football clubs not be allowed to?
  25. I would like to think I am as qualified as any ST holder to offer judgement on most of the above. Some only manage 2 games a year, eh Scotty? Doesn't make him any less passionate either..........though there is Toronto in the MLS....... I am certainly not questioning the passion of the likes of Scotty, who physically can't get to games, I am just pointing out that those who do regularly go to games at the TCS (like Alex) are perhaps better placed to give examples of bad stewarding, poorly marshalled car parks and achingly slow catering service at half-time etc.
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