absent friend

Seems to me that this area has been answered very well by someone who knows what they are speaking about but despite this, posters will still try and show ICT as being less than open!! Let's look at some of the offerings on here and the answers provided, to clarify the situation and convince me that there is no mischief making going on!! 'Someone should tell Bennet that our coaches haven't allegedly left yet as was quoted as saying they were gone in yesterday's Courier & today's P&J. As usual confusions reigns at ICT' What confusion?? Alex and Kel have gone Says our person in the know. 'Me thinks that those liking a bet would put a fair wager on that they will not be appearing for work on Monday!'' Who will not be appearing, the people who have left us, the management team, the players?? If it is the coaches that have gone I think I will have a wager as well!! 'Seems very bizarre, why do they think he isn't turning up for work then? You would think someone would be asking some questions' No-one is turning up for work at the moment apart from the reception staff and the club shop all other coaches are either on courses or on holiday and will all be returning on next monday for the start of the pre-season 'Yes, Danny is expected to return to the club on monday as his contract does not end to the end of July 2009 Seems understandable to me - maybe he has told pals he is finished but has not yet told his employers - that is his business but in no way reflects any wrong doing by the club. 'The club are hoping to have all the coaches contracts sealed by next monday, i.e. if there staying or going, and all coaches staying will be returning next monday and those who arent willing to sign the new offered contract, or have not been offered a new contract will obviously not be returning' Crystal clear , thanks for your help!!

Lets see Bannerman, Sorted and Absent Friend defend Grassa and indeed the rest of the board over this one... Speaking for myself, I don't need to defend anyone except me! The fact that I see areas of grey within the management of ICT when others on here see black and white does not make me pro or anti Board. The fact that I may be slow to comment on points that are not clear to me and express my disappointment that others do and they often do in a personal way, does not make me pro or anti Board - it just allows an insight into my feelings. However, I thought the remark in today's P & J that 'we are in a position to offer something concrete whereas other clubs are asking the players to wait a week or so to see what they can offer' was enlightening and perhaps shows we are in a better financial situation than many other clubs, at this time. This financial situation may persuade some players to resign with us and indeed make others consider us for financial peace of mind instead of just income. On the subject of income, I would like to see a 'win bonus' loaded income so that success provides income throughout the club and not just the players and this formula would also percolate right up to the Board Room. .

Morais is out of contract and has already said he will not be staying (or words very close to that). The only offers for Morais will be to the player himself as he is out-of-contract, a free agent, unemployed, got feck all to do with ICT .... get the idea ? Is it possible, Renegade, that he was taking advantage of some free advertising to alert the market that we have a good player for sale. I realise that this is the job for the agent and no doubt he will have done his ground work but if this free publicity gets another club interested and we therefore end up with ?1000 or two more for the club, maybe it was worth a shout. As the player himself (Morais) has said he will be away, where is the problem in Grassa repeating it ... it is called realism and far superior than trying to spin things in the faint hope he will stay. As for "player for sale" or "?1000 or two more" ... not sure where so many are getting the idea from that we will make anything .... to re-iterate .... the player is out-of-contract, a free agent, unemployed, worth nothing in terms of a transfer fee ..... get the idea ? Had a bad day and posted a load of crap!! I will accept my 100 lines...Think before you post - Think before you post... Sorry!!

Obviously there is about a 99.99% chance that he will go, but I reckon it's also quite likely Brian Kerr will go and I wouldn't be surprised to Foran away too, I just find it a little strange to come out and name someone explictly, no matter how obvious it may be. Is it possible, Renegade, that he was taking advantage of some free advertising to alert the market that we have a good player for sale. I realise that this is the job for the agent and no doubt he will have done his ground work but if this free publicity gets another club interested and we therefore end up with ?1000 or two more for the club, maybe it was worth a shout. Georgeios, how you can state that if Foran is off so is Terry, beats me. Foran has a limited shelf life, he was showcased to the SPL, by TB and must now take advantage of this financially if he has any sense. Terry, on the other hand, requires this year with us, in my opinion, to show his ability. I think this round of managers musical chairs is just too early for him - if he had kept us up however I think he would be in demand. Maybe his short time with us is sufficient for a club to take a punt on him but I doubt it. .

I have already on here mentioned that this system we have, was agreed prior to the existing MPs coming into office, to reduce the cost on MPs leaving service. i.e if salary was left at a basic amount and expenses then taken in place of increased salary, the cost to the taxpayer would then be reduced. Should the current annuity rate be 5% - the cost for each ?10,000 pa extra of pension is ?200000 lump sum, should this be required due to salary increase!! Now this gives some idea of the inherent costs, to us, in severance pay, as a further amount must also be met for the lump sum severance payment. This level of cost puts the bath tub stopper and even the moat cleaning into perspective!! I am not agreeing with the excess claims, like flipping, but you can see where keeping income down by allowing expenses to be fudged, would make sense if you were an employer, which of course we are! .

Well Dam, I am not involved in the oil industry but enjoy the spin-off from the incomes coming from it. l accept that I am not conversant with every income in that industry but the ones I do deal with are usually earning incomes comparable to the MPs. Expenses for housing alone are very often in excess of ?30000 pa. In one instance, the air travel was by private jet ONLY!! Wife 'employed' to stay at home is another less than transparent expense. Months bonus in excess of MPs income shown on payslip!! I could go on....! .

I apologise for assuming that this is a male!! Can you imagine his wife/partner stating that "I am stuck with him/her like it or not" and tell me his chance of making a move on her/him tonight or any other night for that matter!! WTF are you on about ? I realise that it is difficult, at times, to understand the meaning of words if it is beyond your grasp!! I will endeavour to assist. "We are stuck with him like it or not" to me, would appear to be less than welcoming and could create, for the target of the statement, a reaction that could be somewhat negative. "We am stuck with DC like it or not" on this forum, you may read as a compliment to you but others may not! I accept that the written word can create problems in interpretation dependant on the reader. Does that assist you in understanding my above contribution?? .

I apologise for assuming that this is a male!! Can you imagine his wife/partner stating that "I am stuck with him/her like it or not" and tell me his chance of making a move on her/him tonight or any other night for that matter!!

Think for yourselves pals, this poster is not even in the purchase stakes and he is offering advice to the ones that are buying. Not only that but he is offering advice on the type of football we are going to be playing before our signings are completed and our playing strategy is in place. Be aware!!

Spot on!!

This must be a fact 'my grannies carers son and his pal heard it from someone who read on the net that a butcher had had a problem with his supplier and threatened to go elsewhere' And look at this thread - people believe it and add arms and legs. I suppose thats why it is called rumour mill. Sad though!

I will accept it as a compliment that I am seen as a friend of the establishment! The establishment that is ICT covers all parties that make up this super club and whilst I accept that they do not all pull in the same direction all the time, the common aim is the betterment of this club. If you were kind enough to read my offerings on here you will note that I do not 'sit' on my hands however I also have the courage to differ where I see fit so maybe that makes me a friend of the establishment. Being downright rude, especially when not in knowledge of the facts, and posting personal attacks is not, in my book, very clever so maybe that makes me a friend of the establishment.. I find IHE's contribution to this forum extremely amusing and not, on occasions, without substance however some of his utterances I would not applaud so maybe that makes me a friend of the establishment. .

Rig, this is a lower figure than all the reports I have seen maintain. The figures I saw showed the income from Setanta as being 66% of our income and equal to our wage bill. There is also the 'little' problem with advertising - no TV - no adverts - no income, which will also compound the problem. I would like to think that we are immune from it all this year but that is not possible, any loss of revenue must be felt throughout the Scottish game and we must all be worse off. The SPL however could be in big trouble with reconstruction a possibility, if no new company takes over the agreements from Setanta and clubs go to the wall.

Setanta's financial input into the SPL is 66% of the total turn-over and almost exactly equals tha yearly wage bill of the players. I would submit that this is going to have an enormous impact on clubs/player pool/contracts as of this moment. Perhaps a knight in shining armour will ride in but if you were the financial director of any club you will now be wondering just how legal that contract with the wet ink is! Rough times ahead, I think.

Sorry Don, I should have started by agreeing with your posts content - with the exception of.....the above! So no, it is not selective editing!

Sorry but I can't agree! This is due to the average fans lack of knowledge of the running of a business/ club composition/ financial restrictions/ target horizons/ internal politics/ etc...that's before we get to the area that we are all best at ....armchair management of the team. It would be impossible for fans to know what's best for the club. Take our financial situation now, are we going to suffer from Setanta/parachute payment/Niculae case? Have we a united management/Board agreement re current/new players? Are we able to attempt a return to SPL in the short term? How many fans can answer that? Even a club owned by the fans have a management committee(Board) to run it and the very idea that each and every fan, of that club, can therefore impact on the management of that club is unrealistic, in my opinion! .

If we are are to discuss personal incomes that would be rather unfair on the high and low paid ones in this discussion, as the level of personal income does not make a point any more/less valid. The salary for an MP is very low for the given occupation and is earned by many in the oil industry/financial industry/etc. Expense claims, to me, have no bearing what so ever on a persons ability to carry out their duties. I offer you the the choice of two surgeons to operate on your child, one has however been found to be heavy handed at claiming expenses and the other has not claimed at all. Which is your choice to carry out the critical operation. One has an income of ?147000 plus his high expenses, the other is earning ?70000. Do I hear the cry go up 'Sack him for taking expenses from the public purse, I don't want HIM to operate on my child'?? I don't think so. Hypocrisy or what?? .

Don't think throwing in the towel is the answer BUT it could perhaps explain why the Banter from the Board is less than it was. Do you think the forum 'craic' was as personal and critical as it now is ,Scotty, in the past, when we enjoyed a better feeling of togetherness? I just get disappointed that posters feel they are a non-return valve, they can be offensive but do not expect the offended to react. We are all human, with emotions and that goes for the Board members too. .

Scotty, when this medium was used to get Brew out, I stated that things on here can never be the same again. We are experiencing it now with the 'Our Tel' thread - "I'll give him xx games and then....." - and then what? The forum will be full of the same small amount of people, saying the same thing, in a different manner, to up the pressure on the manager and players and Board. A few activists can create the illusion of mega discontent. Can you therefore blame our Board (Muppets, to some) for being less than forthcoming on here considering the depth and amount of criticism, much of it being very personal, that they have been subjected to? Lets treat them with contempt and then ask them to speak to us in a civil manner. Aye, Right!! A lot of the postings have driven a wedge between the Board and the fans and we, the vast majority of ICT followers, are now suffering for it. .

Now that the dust has settled, I find that I am looking at this situation in a different light and agreeing, in part, with Davie. We have a system of remuneration that has an accepted 'nose in the trough' element. The action to keep the basic pay low is not too silly as the salary level impacts on pension and severance pay-offs, very high costs to the system - our money- for no return as the recipient is no longer doing the job. Maybe higher income and lower pension/pay-off costs is an idea. It is the next area that this has caused, that concerns me - the loss of MPs for the sake of being outed and the resultant loss of belief, by the voting public and their potential actions, when the election comes along. I see us, right now, in a large aircraft being flown by the PM- through turbulence. He, the pilot, may have avoided part of this by changing course but he would have to go through part of it anyway. The storm was sudden and the extent was not known until we were in the middle of it. Oh, some folk looked up their calender/glass ball and by some power worked out it was all going to happen and the pilot should have known. With this knowledge they obviously are millionaires - well, no they are not and this tells it's own story. Now here is the problem, we are still flying in rough conditions, using the expenses scandal we can now make a few changes to our flight crew. Change the pilot! However, how knowledgeable is the new one - remember we have to get through this turbulence and land safely. The new one at least will have the old one for assistance and has been part of the flight crew and knows some of the requirements. Hope the passengers have their fingers crossed. Change the full flight crew! They have never flown a plane before and taking over in flight, in turbulence but feel sure they will do a better job. Why? Well they just do, they sound as if they can fly a plane and anyway, anyone can do it! Hope the passengers are now sitting with fingers crossed and saying a prayer. Change the flight crew for HGV drivers/sailors/etc. WHY?? Because we, the voters, don't like the other options and we are going to teach them a lesson! But they can't fly a plane! So what! Hope the passengers took a change of underwear! The above can all happen over the next few months but we have to come out the other side of the storm and land on firm ground and if a mistake is made in turbulent times it will be more difficult to handle and we the passengers will be the losers. Changes in any job should happen when their is a period of calm to allow an easing in for new staff - changing in the hight of trouble can cause untold damage. Happy flying folks hope you have your parachute.

Gings that's a relief, I though you were going to ask for your fee for advice!

Alex, I got excited there for a moment, I thought Bronson had come into mega cash!! I would suggest Sky will take Setanta and their contracts over, along with their debts and pay very little. Sky are very rich at the moment and are able to make such a move but will no doubt wait until the last moment so that the price will be rock bottom. The new football season being in a turmoil may however be the catalyst for an early purchase by Sky and this could help Setanta get a better price. It is not in their, the producers of the goods for sale , the sport on TV, to have a loss of interest by their clients/potential clients as this would lead to less viewing, less advertising, less income for them - lose, lose all round. The only problem for Sky is that most Setanta clients are also clients of Sky so they will not get 1.2 million new, new clients whereas Mr Branson would. .

Using your strategy I asked my son to again attack Vodophone AND IT WORKED!! The CEO, I researched for him and I approached his PA, she offered advice on presentation ('escalate it using your approach to my boss') and Hey Ho, it worked - ?600 back into his account and they even assisted him with his contract cancellation. They are a crowd of chancers but your system paid off - THANKS!

And I guess with the lack of Setanta funds there will be a lot of them knocking about as clubs try to minimise their outgoings.