davie

I tend to agree with Alex here, and I'll see if we are right at 4.45 on saturday. Celtic won't walk this league, they haven't been able to reinforce their gang of one status enough since the untimely demise of their sister. Funnily enough, they might be the side that suffers most. After drawing with Dinamo Moscow, I'm inclined to think that Dundee United will prosper this year, as might Aberdeen. Motherwell have shown nothing to suggest that they are any great shakes, Dundee and our near neighbours are unknown quantities (but Dundee are really weak) so that leaves us to battle it out with St Mirren, Killie, Hibs 'n Hearts and Perth Saints. Given the relative states of the clubs, we can get results against most. St Mirren look particularly weakened this year, as do Killie and Hearts juniors may or may not cope. So I think that this might be one of the most open SPL's in years, with the accent on beating those around us instead of not losing, and our traditional ability to win way from home might be more important than ever. Improve on the home form, get the crowds back in and our world could be a little bit rosier next May.

Love the references to the barca stripes. Anyone seen their strips this year? Home one's got a single sort of sprayed on stripe down the middle and the away one is utterly horrific. They are nike though so they have that lovely swooshy thing going on, so just thank goodness we haven't followed that road. On the quality of errea, this seasons look no bad and the fact that the sponsor logos are dye sublimated should stop them falling off. I originally thought it looked like a beach towel but now I'll probably get one on saturday. You really have to see that barca away strip though......

Maybe he was just having a spring clean or something then. Have you seen that shop????? He was probably just buried alive under a heap of t shirts!

This really is an affirmation of faith in the supporters and in scottish football by the Board and particularly by the Chairman. I have no doubt that we will all be asked to dig deep this season to support the club, but I for one will do so on the back of this decision.

mannie in the market is still there - at least he was on saturday!

mercy, they are a touchy bunch eh? Still, any sh*tstorm on P&B is better than none, even one with an allegedly dodgier mileage than Arthur Daley attached to it!

Here! these mileages are my fault, not Don's and I checked them all off the AA route planner and a nice wee app called bikely.Right enough, it might identify a different route to the one that anyone else might, but hey. This one http://distancecalculator.globefeed.com told me it was anywhere between 94 and 102 miles to Dundee! RAC tells me it's 137.79 miles. D'you reckon Kenny knows the difference? I know it's neither, because that's whar ehm frae as heilan dee would say.

Disagreeing here boys. There's six weeks until the start of the season and there is no way that Pariah FC will be ready by then. I reckon suspended from all competition for a year while league reorganisation and funding rationalisation takes place. Where they go depends upon what further skeletons rattle their way out of the cupboard - and there is the potential for some feckin huuuuuge ones, never mind what Charlie Greens or Strathclyde Polis's next move might be. £124 219 412.37 in debt, of which 94 426 217.22 is due to the nice tax man? There are questions in there that are going to take a lot longer than 6 weeks to answer. Oh aye and the SFA have still got to give a new, approved punishment? Take a year out please chaps, and get your sh*t together.

If anyone listened to today's radio scotland phone in, it would have divested them of any last shred of sympathy for this odious "institution". There is so much unsubstantiated rubbish being peddled as fact by the west coast media (because if there was no rangers, what would they write about?), their arrogant fans and Mr. Green that the reality seems to be buried under a great steaming pile of bull s*ite. The SPL will be in a position to vote within the next two weeks about admitting the newco. There can now be no further sitting on the fence on the grounds that its all hypothetical, now is the time to act. It is therefore incumbent upon every SPL chairman to indicate which they will vote in order that supporters (the people who pay the wages) can have their opinion heard and lobbied to these self same chairmen before the vote is cast. Tell the club what you believe should happen. There is not a single shred of evidence that Sky will pull or devalue the broadcast contract if Rangers (called this for simplicity) are demoted to D3. Sky have said nothing, at least publically.There is a lot of doom laden opinion but NO evidence. No Rangers means a north derby, an edinburgh derby and probably a dundee derby. Each of these games, in addition to being attractive to broadcast will attract greater crowds because there is a chance that the outcome of the games might have some relevance to the outcome of the league. Greater compeditiveness means that standards will rise, or do we pass up this opportunity to watch a hate filled festival of bigotry and bile four times a year? Look at what congregates at the Portland Club every year in July to march through our City and tell me that you'll miss it. Or do nothing for "financial stability" We may well miss the crowds that Rangers brought to TCS, but are we not on their list of clubs to boycott after our chairman had the temerity to criticise them for bypassing SFA/ FIFA accepted standards to overturn even the meagerest of punishments that have befallen them so far? Kenny Cameron has a chance, a single chance to come out on the side of decency in this. If he does and things do get financially tight, or we struggle because of it I will remember his decision, do what I can to help and back him to the hilt. I will, however, find it difficult to forgive if we vote to admit the newco with or without further sanctions. I suspect that others will find it equally unpalatable and stay away. From these boards (and others) this is not an isolated opinion. we could lose support in droves and find ourselves equally if not more financially straitened than if we as a club had done the right thing. In reality, there is little to consider here. Rangers have behaved abominably, cheated and swindled and still refuse to contemplate that they stand or fall by the same rules as the rest of us. They are not too big to die, we don't need them and Mr. Cameron, you need to tell them that we don't want them.

Agree with the OP 100%

The intellectual rights can be sold. History and honours funded by money they didn't have can't be. Also, as the oldco was "The Rangers Football Club" there are rules that prevent any newco from implying connection by using a name that is similar (apart from reasons of geography) Leeds were ok, so were Middlesborough but no Glasgow in the same so, without leave of the Court, sorry. There are also rumours abounding that Sky have privately given "comfort" to SPL clubs that they will not ditch the tv deal. There are also real reasons as to why others (including the liquidators) might not let Mr. Green buy the club with loaned money and so any newco may not be formed for ages. tick, tock, tick, tock.........boom!

I despair. I really do.

I'm laughing.Why do these ex-players all "have a point to prove against us?" They have simply moved on to another employer in what is, after all, a job. It's us that have the emotional investment by and large. I know what my emotions are after Tokely signing for the one club he said he'd never go to. If he is to be deployed against us next year as Mr. Angry, I look forward to his utter lack of pace (which was increasingly exposed last season) being shown up by Doran etc and resulting in the inevitable red card. Teamed with Boyd and Munro, they will have the most pedestrian back line in history and if Tokely has done this in answer to the personality disordered behaviour of ICT's management, I wonder how he'll deal with the truly deluded at the caravan park. I'd say bring it on Ross. Really.

No it's not. As Luke says, there are points that need to be addressed, but it isn't all gloom. Doncaster rightly says that this is one of the best supported leagues going (by percentage of total capita) and there is evidence that Mark Wotte's part in McLeish's initiatives is beginning to show fruit. Football sufffers from a lack of uptake at grass roots level, but there is improvement there too. What is wrong is a slavish reliance on an outdated financial model that is perpetuated by two clibs. Sort that and we might get somewhere.

Oh dear, did he have the temerity to disagree with you? As a summary of all of the viewpoints on this forum, I reckon starchief's encompassed things just about perfectly. Don't see anywhere that he's claimed ownership of all of these points of view, just reflected them. Bitter? how? Tell you what mate, rather than be narcissistic enough to claim all knowledge and rail against any opposing point of view, he's just thrown a pail of your own p*sh straight back at you. Never mind, you should be magnanimous enough to deal with it.

No. Why should they? This is a matter between Hayes, his agent and whatever potential employer he has identified. The only statement that I would expect from ICT is if he decides to sign a contract with us.

It musn't happen, and this is why. ICT have already reduced the playing staff budget for next season and have recent experience of making draconian savings as required (when relegated to SFL Division 1 in 2009)There is nothing in the public domain to suggest that this could not be done again if required, and nothing to suggest it would be required. St. Johnstone, Dundee United and Hibernian have likewise all survived that journey. According to received wisdom, this position of cost cutting would be mirrored at every other SPL club except Celtic and so would not place ICT at any further sporting disadvantage. Indeed, Inverness could well be better off than most clubs, given that gate receipts lost from a defunct or relegated to SFL Division 3 Rangers would be compensated for by the addition of local derby income from Ross County’s promotion to the SPL. Last season, Rangers accounted for gates at TCS of: 13.08.11 6,623 26.02.21 6,046 In 2009-10 Season, Ross County games accounted for gates at TCS of: 29.08.09 5,846 30.03.10 5,411 There is no reason that the difference of less than a thousand customers in both cases cannot be made up by the added attraction of the fact that the next round of matches will be in the SPL. There is an added draw in that fans (especially those with families) may be more willing to patronise SPL matches without the rancour and sectarianism displayed by Rangers and Celtic. We need those families to ensure that more kids playing football in Inverness wear ICT shirts, not blue or green ones. We have nothing to fear. The deciding factor for most clubs is the fear that broadcasting rights money from Sky and ESPN will be reduced or withheld because of reduced exposure in the event of the SPL breaching contract to show a minimum number of old firm games per season. This is extremely unlikely for several reasons: ESPN and Sky operating models are based on subscription uptake, not viewing figures. The SPL is such a small part of their overall operation that a fall in viewer numbers will have no impact upon them. The only channels that will suffer are Celtic and Rangers PPV channels. There is no doubt that the first SPL north derby will be an SPL/ Sky broadcast and nothing to suggest that Sky/ESPN income would reduce, and certainly no definitive statement to that effect from the broadcasters. It remains a fear – nothing more than that – that is illogical but powerful until challenged, when it crumbles. There are Leagues aplenty in Europe that are broadcast where one club is seen to rule the roost (even on a temporary basis) Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Austria are cases in point. We have nothing to fear. All sport is based upon integrity, and any club that disregards this should be punished. Rangers have effectively boosted their playing performance for years by employing people of a standard that they could not afford and subsidising that standard by illegally withholding PAYE and disguising this by issuing double contracts and EBT’s. In effect, this is no better than doping to artificially raise physical standards whilst cheating the regulators to disguise the fact. Not paying tax and using the funds to purchase players like Jelavic from Vienna with no intention of paying in full is cheating. Material difference to games? – he scored against us when he should not have been purchased, never mind been on the field. It is, on every level from a moral to a legal one, wrong. This is a club that has lost it's moral compass completely. There is a further perception that the SPL product would be lessened in its appeal if Rangers were not part of it. This is demonstrably untrue. The removal of one half of a virtual duopoly within the SPL would simply serve to open the League up to more meaningful challenges to the sole part left – Celtic. This season has shown all of our clubs what can be achieved with a level playing field – Motherwell in the Champions League and St. Johnstone in the EUFA league. How can experience like this fail to bring standards up? How can the chance of achieving European status fail to make the League more worthwhile to compete in? How can that chance fail to attract players to our League? If, at some time a Newco Rangers regain SPL status and do so under fair means they should be afforded their place at the European table rightfully and not by default. We have nothing to fear. There seems to be a widespread opinion that Rangers have suffered enough because of the sanctions applied against them already. This is ridiculous – they have committed acts that are at best unsporting and at worst criminally illegal and are unparalleled in Scottish football. They have cheated on a grand scale for years as the previous and present owner have mired them in financial shame. Those within the “institution” who could have and should have whistle blown did nothing. It is clear that Rangers have infringed multiple rules and therefore warrant multiple punishments. The Newco is Rangers and must inherit it's shame. This is how the fans feel. There is no illogical bloodlust to see a wounded Rangers further bleed. There is simply an overriding wish to see right done, and that right exercised by Chairmen next week despite the machinations of the SPL and the Old Firm. There is nothing to fear.

What "miscommunication"? the lad's been released. it happens at every football club in the land without hand wringing knicker wetters like you bleating on about misery. Get a life.

Exactly but you know and I know that will not happen, the fans will not even be brought into consideration which sadly seems to be the norm Dougal second post of utter pish today - well done dougal.

Esson was injured.

Not quite sure what I need to elaborate on? We (ICTFC) are an absolute joke (not very good at football). It's pretty self-explanitory. On a side note, not only are we an absolute joke on the field but we are a joke off it as well. The management team is a joke, the "coaching" is a joke, the Board of Directors are a joke. Just cause we get beat, everyone in the club is a joke. Can't see the logic behind that one. On a side note, not only are we an absolute joke on the field but we are a joke off it as well. The management team is a joke, the "coaching" is a joke, the Board of Directors are a joke.] No Jay, you are the joke. It's no disgrace to lose 4-3 to a side who are pretty much on a par with us, and who have won a cup this year against the runaway league leaders. To have run it close when we are down to 10 men isn't a joke either. You are entitled to your (as far as I can see) jaundiced view about the management team, but I fail to see how you can rubbish the Board in the same sentence (the same board who are trying to get funding to improve this side) Face facts here; we are probably about the tenth best supported side in Scotland. We live in an area that finds it difficult to attract talent and we have probably the smallest budget in the SPL. Our local patch for finding football talent is limited to say the least. And yet, for failing to live up to your unstated expectations, we are a joke. Were you at the game today? Were you shouting your head off about what you see wrong with this club to those that you blame? Were you going ballistic when we scored? Thought not. Tell you what, get off your arse and support this team on wednesday and next week, and bring Smee and the rest of these never pleased/ never will be pleased moaners with you. No excuses, no whining, just do it. Then I might just have some respect for your point of view, however condescending, twattish and juvenile you might seem when you put it across. And if you can't, you lost whatever moral authority you might have deluded yourself that you have and you can look forward to choruses of telling you to quite simply shut it. And, for what it's worth, I hate when we lose.

I pity the fools respect the brave souls who are travelling so far to cheer the team at a time when the team is giving us so little to cheer about. Hopefully the journey long home will eased by confirmation that relegation has officially been avoided. Nae wonder people don't bother. as my mum used to say "if you've nothing good to say, it's good to say nothing" In your case, rather more than good.

There were some c*unty fans just below us in the main stand (including one peculiar cross dresser (!) :0 who looked like they were heading for a lecture on safe animal "husbandry". All bad shirts and flat caps. They gave Rosscoe his usual pelters, and I asked one if it had made his day when Tokes scored. He looked like a bulldog chewing a wasp when he was told to get used to it for next year.

It's a curious thread this. I don't know if I'd turn up for the party for a couple of ex-employees who I'd decided to "let go" and endured the backlash from customers outwith the business who have decided that it's their business to opine about it because the buy the product and liked those two employees. Butcher was graceful enough at the testimonial dinner etc. time, could well have felt that the game was just dragging this out. Who knows?

This really is a crisis of our times where a large corporate body is allowed to behave with financial recklessness and when the whole rotten structure crashes, it is bailed out by less powerful people because the consequences of failure are too horrible to contemplate. Think RBS, think Greece, think Northern Rock. In all of these cases, the institutions themselves have emerged only slightly (if at all) altered, and the people who presided over the mess have largely gone unpunished. They think it's clever that what they did was just the right side of fraud and so they celebrate that rather than be shamed by the fact that their actions have brought worry and misery to those who have suffered in their wake. If you think that's melodramatic, remember that Dunfermline couldn't pay their players when Rangers didn't honour their obligations. And yet we are led to believe that a 10 point deduction for a couple of years is enough of a punishment for this? Let's try the same with ICT then - live above our means, mortgage the family silver to the hilt, get liquidated and then see what happens. A 10 point deduction? I don't think so, we'd be thrown to the dogs because we are small enough not to be able to fight back. Unedifying but that's how bullies like Rangers behave and that's why, even now, they bleat about the injustice of a deduction for any newco and of the timing of the debate. It's all so wrong, and the media go along with it to sell their wares on the back of it. Of course they can't go to division 3 because the SPL and SFL are seperate entities - what fine chance. Tell you what Rangers, how's about the humility to say that you have acted apallingly, are sorry and you want to change by making your relationship with the rest of scottish football a more mutually beneficial one? Do that and we might reconcile ourselves to giving you the chance, but the moral compass of the SPL/ OF / Scottish media is so fecked that there is more chance of County winning the SPL next year. They will simply revert to trying to railroad us again, but the time has come to say no and I hope our Chairman will say so. No change, no chance.