DoofersDad

Have we been paying Dodds too?

It is, of course, encouraging that we are to stay full time, but that statement is both pathetic and patronising. There is nothing of relevance in it which could not have been pre-prepared and issued a minute after the final whistle. There were people weeping in the stands on Saturday and they have had to wait 3 full days for any kind of comment from the club. And when comment comes, the Chairman has the gall to suggest that the fans' commitment to the club is an inspiration to the Board. Pull the other one! The 72 hour delay in putting anything out to the fans was absolutely shameful and demonstrates just how little they care about the supporters.

I can understand why so many are saying they are not going to be putting any more money into the club at this stage. It is though, important for people to spend a modest fiver to join the Supporters Trust if they haven't already done so. Whatever the outcome of the current crisis, it is crystal clear that the fans need a voice in the running of the club. That voice needs to be loud and representative. To be loud and representative, we need as many fans as possible to join the Trust to vote for those who put themselves forward for the Trust Board. The more fans the Trust represents, the harder it will be to ignore us. The money men on the Board have no right to control what happens at our club. The purchase of a season ticket, club merchandise, car parking, a half time draw ticket, food and drink all add up. Long standing fans will themselves also have put in thousands to the club over the years. Many fans will have spent a similar proportion of their disposable income on the club as the Board's money men have. In some cases, maybe more! We have a right to demand change and to have our say in the running of our club.

It would come as a surprise to me if they got rid of the web/social media person as I didn't realise they had one in the first place. The website is still listing Liam Delgarno as a Director despite the fact that he resigned from the Board in December.

The Board have dug themselves into a hole. The big issue for them has not been whether we will be relegated or not, it is whether the Battery Storage proposal will finally get through. That may take a few more months for a decision to be made, after which, the ICT Battery Storage company (i.e, Morrison and Munro) will have to find a new buyer after the original £3.5m contract buyer pulled out. Then, once the sale is complete, there is the issue of the secured loans which club directors have made to the club. The club may have to pay these back in full unless the Directors feel they can afford not to call in the loan. These are big uncertainties. I am heartily sick of this big business approach to running the football club. I am certainly not opposed to the general concept of having some non-footballing initiatives to help boost the coffers, but first and foremost we should be having the club as a community football club. The club should be a focus for the local community and money should be spent on making the stadium a welcoming place where people want to come to. The current management have alienated so many local people who would be either potential regular supporters or who would be happy to contribute financially. Whatever happened to the concept of "Togetherness"? It has been them and us for quite a while now. I very much doubt that the outcome of the Board meeting will produce the radical change of direction and personnel that is required. They will maybe just decide to use some different shovels. I hope I'm wrong.

Dunc defends himself by saying that results since he came here would put us 5th if the season had started then. He also points out the bad run of injuries we have sustained. Both of these are legitimate points. However, closer inspection of the issues suggest he is probably not the man for us. When he arrived there was some understandable excitement. This was fuelled by the new manager "bounce" when we picked up 15 points from his first 8 games in charge. Then reality hit. Just when a good manager would be consolidating the team's performances as he gets to know the players better and what challenges the opposition provide, our form dipped. Despite picking up a good few points at the death, our "post bounce" total of 26 points from 22 games would also have seen us in 9th if averaged over the season. And whilst we have had injuries, the Board have somehow managed to support him to bring in several players on loan. We have had regularly been able to have a full bench without having to call upon untried youngsters. We have had far worse injury problems over our time in the Championship without any real threat of relegation. So not only have his players and his style of play produced a low end of the table performance, his turgid style of football is just so frustrating and boring to watch. Now that we are in Division 1, at least let us have a manager who is going to put a team on the park that plays an attractive, exciting style of football.

Is there a 5-a-side league we can join?

Well, we are relegated now. Presumably the Board have had some kind of plan in place for whichever outcome arose today, so we can reasonably expect some significant announcement in the next day or two. The aim must be to bounce straight back next season. But we will need to have a squad capable of winning league 1. We don't have many players on contract for next season and will be an even less attractive prospect for potential players from down South. Going part time would probably destroy any prospect for an immediate return so the club needs to focus funding on the player budget. It also needs to invest in the fan base and generate income by making the matchday experience more attractive. Today demonstrated that there is potential for a larger and more vocal support than we usually get, but to come more often, people need to feel welcome. There will therefore need to be some serious cost cutting in other areas of the club's operation. No prizes for guessing the first thing that needs to happen!

The worst day in the club's history by some margin.

Maybe get the hat trick of records next season

Congratulations, Gringo, on your victory and for the way you have managed this game over the years. Your efforts are very much appreciated.

HT. 0-1 FT. 1-2 ICT. Billy Mckay Opp. O'Hara Crowd 2263 Yellow. Gilmour

We've had bigger games but this is probably the most important game in the club's history. Not that you would know that by looking at the club's website. The club seem to be treating this like an ordinary match. As ST holders we have simply had an email telling us that as loyal supporters we have to pay full price for our ticket. Nothing to encourage us to come or encourage us to bring along someone else. For this vitally important final game of the season there is no pre match entertainment, no enhanced hospitality; nothing to encourage anybody to come along and cheer the team on rather than watch it on telly. It is pretty quiet on here too as though the club's apathy is infectious. It is as though the club has had its life and soul sucked out. I just hope the club's temporary employees on the pitch can demonstrate a bit more enthusiasm than their employers. They will need all the support they can get from those of us who will be dipping into our pockets to watch in person.

When ICT Battery Storage Ltd was set up in May 2022, it was set up with Ross Morrison and Allan Munro as the 2 Directors and with the club owning the single share with a nominal value of £1. In other words, the battery storage company was wholly owned by the club. This fact was actively promoted by the club when the planning meetings were going on. On 26th March the 2 Directors agreed to allot a further 99 £1 shares which appear to have allotted equally between the 2 Directors and David Cameron. As I understand it, this would mean that, in effect, the 3 club Directors now own the Battery Company. What I don't know are what the reasons are for this change or what the implications are. It is, however, worth noting that in the Battery company accounts dated May 2023, there is a statement that the directors recognise the club as the "ultimate parent company". Also, in the original Certificate of Incorporation, the club is identified as the "relevant legal entity". It also states under a heading of "Nature of Control", that the relevant legal entity holds, either directly or indirectly, 75% or more of the shares in the company. How this ties in with 99% of the shares now being owned by 3 of the club's directors, I don't know. It would be good to get some clarification. I am sure this is not as much clarification as you would like, Lizi, so hopefully someone else will be able to shed a bit more light on it. Anyhow, regardless of what happens off the park, I, like you, will continue to support the team on the park regardless of which league they are playing in. Thanks to STFU for drawing attention to this change. Interesting!

If Gilmour had to be subbed at half time, you have to wonder why he started. Cannot understand why Longstaff was preferred to Lawal. Longstaff certainly gives his all, but unfortunately there is never any end product. Lawal was the player who was making things happen today. Pepple also looked good when he finally came on. His goal was very well taken but he was causing the defence a lot of problems apart from that. I've no idea why Billy is played so deep. He is tidy enough in keeping possession but he's a goal scorer who isn't going to score from the halfway line. He'll score goals if played alongside Pepple though. We can't afford the 2nd leg to go to pens and therefore we need to score 2 goals more than Hamilton on Saturday. So let's start with the players who are most likely to create and score the goals.

HT. 0-0 FT 2-0 ICT. Billy Mckay OPP. O'Hara Crowd. 1566 1st Yellow. Duffy

HT. 1-0 FT. 2-1 ICT. Harper Opp. Hester Crowd. 2084

Cue big Dunc saying how well we played and how well placed we are now to press home our advantage in the home leg.

HT. 0-1 FT. 0-3 ICT. Harper Montrose. Hester Crowd. 1089

I may be wrong, but I would assume that it was the responsibility of the SFA to issue a suspension notice to the club. If they fail to do so, then the player isn't suspended even if he should have been. But it could be argued that the wording of the rules makes clear the circumstances where a player is subject to suspension and therefore as there is no need for any decision to be made by the SFA, the club should know when a player is suspended whether they have received the formal notification or not. I agree the club need to raise the issue.

My thanks too, to Gringo for keeping this going. It is always a bit of fun and very quick to take part in. Hopefully a few more taking part next season. Congratulations to Robert for his back to back successes. I left it too late again and didn't quite manage to pip you on the post. Bring on the new season!

As far as I'm concerned, they are all young players.

I think what we deserve is to stay in the Championship. When big Dunc arrived at the club, we had played 6 games in the league and had only 1 point. If the league table had started when he arrived, then we would have finished 5th. Given the number of injuries we have had over the season, that's not too bad a record overall. I've said before that Ferguson's style of play has often been a pretty hard watch, but if we can just find a bit of spark up front, then there is no reason why we can't be competitive and entertaining in the Championship next year. If we do go down, then I think we have the potential to bounce straight back under Ferguson. I do think we have enough to get through the play-offs though and hopefully we will do so with a good support at the home games.

A surprisingly large crowd for this game. Brilliant vocal support from all the youngsters in section D too. But where the f**k have you been all season?

HT. 1-1 FT. 2-1 ICT. Harper Morton. Muirhead Crowd 2040