ictchris

CJT bus at 1700 on Saturday

Gellions Bus at 1700 on Saturday

I remember people getting banned from supporters buses twenty years ago.  Memories.

If we want to play the passing game that we hear all this talk about Tansey is absolutely vital.

We are relegation candidates if he leaves and if he does without a decent replacement then we need to ask questions about our board and how they plan our transfer activity.  

Get the train with a massive carry out.

Another comparison you can do is to compare the sort of places in England that draw similar crowds to us and have a look at the size of catchment areas that these places have.

Scunthorpe United - 3724 - 72,514

Hartlepool United - 3810 - 92,000

Exeter City - 3902 - 124,328

Wycombe - 3925 - 120,256

Here are our average crowds for the last twelve seasons

2003/04 - 2375 (First Division)

2004/05 - 4067 (half season played at Pittodrie)

2005/06 - 5061

2006/07 - 4879

2007/08 - 4753

2008/09 - 4457

2009/10 - 3509 (First Division)

2010/11 - 4526

2011/12 - 4023

2012/13 - 4038

2013/14 - 3558

2014/15 - 3733

2015/16 - 3816

Average over those seasons of around 4399.  That's our core support.

One reason why the crowds are down now compared to when we were first promoted is the novelty factor wearing off.  I've posted about this before but I can remember going to the home game against Aberdeen in 2005 and literally every seat was full, a complete sell out.  The last home game against Aberdeen there were more than 1,000 empty seats.  I think that there's a constituency in Inverness, and probably everywhere else, that maybe comes to derby games or cup finals or big matches v the Old Firm but don't show up every week.  During the early seasons in the SPL they'd show up for games against the 'city' clubs but they don't now. Playing Aberdeen is normal, it's not a 'big' game unless league positions dictate that it is.

For example, in the season with our highest average ever we had 6800 for a game against Aberdeen - we got 6400 for the same fixture this season.  We had 7000 for a game against Hibs, last time they played us on a Saturday in Inverness the crowd was just over 4,000.  We had 1,000 more fans for the game against Hearts.  But if you compare games from around that time against more modest opposition, the crowds are broadly similar to what we get now.

Overall though, I think the trend is good.  For the ten years we were in the lower leagues most run of the mill league games had less than 2000 fans attending.  We've developed that into a larger, more loyal fanbase - I remember going to games and there were people on the terraces genuinely more concerned with listening to the Rangers game on the radio than our game.  We've got a far better away support, although it does ebb and flow a bit.  When I started going to away games, it was usually a smattering of a few dozen.  The character of our support is different as well, younger fans behaving a bit more like football fans than boiled sweet rattling old Highland moaners (although we have plenty of those).

I didn't mean to make a monster post but I get a bit frustrated when people constantly slate our crowds and you get huge negativity about it.  the fact is we get decent crowds considering where we come from, where we play and our catchment area. 

Looks like Jordan Roberts is one of those players who becomes better the longer he hasn't played for.

15 minutes ago, dougiedanger said:

I think it's true that attendances are generally up in the SPFL, so not sure where the gloomy scenarios are coming from. Additionally, the Scottish game is one of the best supported per capita in Europe, so there is no need to indulge in typical Scottish self-denigration over this. 

ICT has its own particular challenges, which many other clubs don't have. Time will tell if they will be overcome, or continue to hamper the development of the club.

Inverness has a population of 50,000, give or take.  Our average attendance is around 4,000, roughly 8% of the local population. 

What sort of crowds do people think we should be getting?  8,000?  10,000?  A quarter of the population of Inverness coming to watch Caley?

The season we won the First Division for the first time our average was about 2,000.  Essentially we have doubled our fanbase in the last decade.  Bear in mind as well that we've not had full-time, top flight football in Inverness before.  There's never been crowds of this size consistently for football in Inverness, we don't have the latent support that clubs like Falkirk or Dunfrmline, for example, have.

The number of fans taking public transport to games is small.  Most away fans will either drive or get a supporters bus, certainly from Inverness,

Scotrail will never put football specials on, there isn't enough demand.

David Cameron owns 3% of our club?

Reported this morning by Tyrone Smith on Twitter that Highland Hospice have been gifted more than 500,000 shares in ICT by an anonymous donor.  This gives them around 19% of the club.

Nicola McAlley has reported that these shares will be sold on by the Hospice and this has been done to aid their fundraising for a new In-Patient Unit.

A noble gesture for sure.  Questions though

- Who has given away nearly 20% of the club?

- Assuming a buyer has been lined up, who is buying 20% of our club?

That video looks pretty decent.  I like how they had a more uplifting song for the passes and playmaking stuff and an angry rock song for the tackles.  Well played whoever made that, I assume it was his agent.

As usual the Dean McDonald warning applies to all videos of players.  Also, most of the footage seems to be taken from empty stadiums and semi-public parks, leading me to wonder what sort of level he's been playing at.

We haven't had an dodgy foreign centre half who overplays everything since Nauris Bulvitis, get him signed I say.

I'm on holiday in Cyprus when these games are on so I can only go if it's there.

I've been digging a bit and have found a site that lists the seeded and unseeded sides for the Europa League.  According to that site we'll be unseeded when we enter in the second qualifying round and the following teams will be seeded:

FC København    Den    40.960    
Trabzonspor AŞ    Tur    36.520    
Legia Warszawa    Pol    24.800    
West Ham United FC *    Eng    16.078    
FC Sheriff *    Mda    14.500    
HNK Rijeka    Cro    13.700    
Rosenborg BK *    Nor    11.875    
IF Elfsborg *    Swe    11.545    
HNK Hajduk Split *    Cro    11.200    
Apollon Limassol FC *    Cyp    10.460    
AC Omonia *    Cyp    10.460    
FC Astra Giurgiu    Rou    9.759    
FC Dinamo Minsk    Blr    9.650    
ŠK Slovan Bratislava *    Svk    9.250    
SK Sturm Graz    Aut    9.135    
AIK Solna *    Swe    9.045    
Neftçi PFK *    Aze    9.000    
FK Mladá Boleslav    Cze    8.825    
MŠK Žilina *    Svk    8.750    
FC Aktobe *    Kaz    8.575    
Go Ahead Eagles *    Ned    8.195    
FK Crvena zvezda *    Srb    7.775    
Debreceni VSC *    ***    7.700    
Brøndby IF *    Den    7.460    
R. Charleroi SC    Bel    7.440    
FC Shakhtyor Soligorsk *    Blr    7.150    
FC Dinamo Tbilisi *    Geo    6.875    
FK Vojvodina *    Srb    6.275    
FC Spartak Trnava *    Svk    6.250    
5.    Gre    10,380 - 40,880    
4./5.    Sui    10,375 - 10,875

teams marked with a * are first qualifying round teams.

Anyone know when this will be confirmed?

Do we have more than enough?  If Watkins is playing up front he can't play in the '3' and Doran has been in and out this season.  For the first time in a long time on Tuesday we didn't really have anyone to come on in an attacking role.  I don't think Hughes fancies Doran, for whatever reason, so he maybe wants a bit more depth in there.

Look, he's foreign, he has a funny name and he likes a Jimmy Ping.  Stop ruining this for everyone Renegade.

McDonald has been playing deeper at Millwall.  He's not the same sort of player he wsa when he played in Scotland previously.  Also, he'll be on a decent wage and we've built our success on getting guys who weren't heralded for low prices.

Regarding promoting from within, it's fine but there needs to be framework around young players.  I don't think it's really fair to throw either Ferguson or Sutherland into the business end of an Premier league season playing up front on their own.  They need to be nurtured in, they are learning the game and developing physically.  Look at the game the other night, a very feisty, physical game - would you want a completely inexperienced 18 year old in that?

I love it when people comeon and say 'I remember that guy from Middelsborough'.  He played twenty games in the Championship, you looked him up on Wikipedia, I know it, you know it. 

Hopefully signing a player called Kink is us trying to tap into the Fifty Shades of Grey market.  Our stands will be filled with middle-aged women expecting a hunky billionaire with rippled abs to come out the tunnel and choke them while their blindfolded.  SHould be good IMHAHO.

Tremarco and Williams in for Shinnie and Draper.

Tremarco to get sentoff.

 

 

 

Marius Niculae has left Ukranian side Hoverla (3 goals from 14 appearances last season) to join Sanliurfaspor in Turkey's 2nd flight. 

Sounds like a reaching-the-end-of-my-career move - where can I get the most money?! !

I've never heard of them - but I doubt he had either, until they showed interest.

He certainly wouldn't have heard of us before signing, but money talks! I always felt he was lazy with us, although at times you could see he had class.

 

 

A friend in Turkey has told me he has left without a game as the technical director didn't agree with his wage 

 

 

Yes, it seems he wasn't paid the signing on fee he was expecting and is now looking elsewhere. A couple of Romanian clubs interested, unsurprisingly, but according to one report his old club Dinamo Bucharest only offered him 3,500 Euros a month so he's looking abroad again.

 

We should re-sign him.

How did Alex Nimely play?

That's from two weeks ago.  I doubt they'll sign him in this window.

Posted this on P&B

Derek Adams was clearly an excellent manager for County.  He took them over in the seaside leagues and lead them into the top six of the SPL, with a couple of league wins and a cup final on the way.  County's club culture before Adams took over was heavily influenced by Alex Smith, a negative emphasis of performance over results and the Largs-speak of passing football, liking 'wee strikers' etc.  Adams focussed on achievement and built an excellent group of players which County's ascent to the SPL was based on.

If you want to critically examine his tenure then he built his title winning team on solid, dependable First Division-winner players.  He built his team around Munro, Brittain, Vigurs, Gardyne, McMenamin - it was really a triumph of experience, organisation and solidity over any innovative team-building or tactics.  Nothing wrong with that of course, the objective is to win the league and they did that by miles.  I'd compare it to the Caley team that John Robertson took to the First Division title - he signed Barry WIlson and David Bingham, both experienced at that level and tightened up, improved organisation and we bagged the title.

The period where Adams impressed me as a manager was when he rebuilt his side in the January 2013 window.  He'd shown that he could put together an organised First Division side and do OK in the SPL but in signing Ikonomou, Sproule, Wohlfarth etc he freshened up his side and took them into the top six.  It showed that he could operate outside the markets he'd used previously.  Where he fell down was that he couldn't build a sustainable team the wayhe did in 2011-12 in that way, leading to the mass intakes of the last couple of windows.  To me, it was reminiscent of the business Livingston did in the seaons before they went down, everything bought in a panicked way, without great thought as to an overall plan.

Adams' character and personality has also come under scrutiny.  Leaving aside what opposition fans think of the man I think his manner may have contributed to some of the problems County had last season and this.  I've always thought that a sniping negative manager can set the wrong tone for a club and that positivity is important.  You have to assume Adams' didn't say the same things to the players that he did to the press but there was often a negative feeling around the club.  Adams obviously demanded high standards but part of that is dealing with failure and perhaps he didn't do that in a way that inspired his players.  While I appreciate that some of the players carping about him on Twitter were binned by him, I've never seen former players rejoice over a managers sacking like that before, and I've also thought that some of the transfer dealings were a bit strange.  Grant Munro started five games in a row last season and was then released to sign for Brora, the club captain?  County went on to look very weak in central defence last seaon (and this).  Munro is too much of a gent to say anything though.

From a fan's perspective, I'll miss him, he's exactly the sort of person you want managing your local rivals.  Hopefully County don't go for some meh appointment and go for Butcher, if only for the derbies, and the LOLtastic relegation.