DoofersDad

The Supporters Trust is not going to fold. The issue is about how we can move the Trust forward for the mutual benefit of fans and club. The position is this. The Rules (constitution) state that the Trust Board must have a minimum of 5 Directors. We currently have just 5. In the event of one of the current Board stepping down, there are a small number of people who would be prepared to be co-opted to make up the numbers to allow the Board to tick over and preserve the voting rights in the Club. Hopefully supporters want the Trust to do a lot more than just "tick over", and those of us currently on the Board certainly do. Unfortunately, current Board members have very limited free time given their work, domestic and other responsibilities. We are also hampered by the fact that because so few supporters are members of the Trust, the Club do not see us as representing the fans and are therefore reluctant to engage. There is not a lot more the current Board can do unless new people come forward and either simply join the Trust or join and get actively involved. You can find out more and join here. Cost is only £5 per annum. The success of the Trust depends not on what those of us currently working for the Trust do, it depends on what supporters who are not currently members of the Trust do. It really is important that we get new folk onto the Board to get actively involved. There is a lot we would like to do in partnership with the club in order to improve the matchday experience, to raise money for the club and to support the excellent work colleagues in the Community Trust do. We have our AGM on December 9th and nominations to the Board close on November 11th. If anyone is interested in helping out in a constructive way, it is not too late to both join the Trust and stand for election to the Board. If you would like to find out more about what is involved and maybe have a chat to discuss things further, please email to admin@ictsupporterstrust.org and I'll get back to you. Whilst the Trust does urgently need a lot more members and people who wish to work for the Trust (whether on the Board or in other ways), it is also in a better place than it has been for a while. Membership is now heading in the right direction, we have a new website and we have made significant improvements to the membership system. The infrastructure is in place for the Trust to be more active on behalf of upporters. It is now up to the fans to decide whether they want an active Supporters Trust or not. Please join and help make the supporters' voice be heard.

Arbroath are up to 3rd and have the best goal difference in the division. They are there on merit and we saw tonight the qualities that make them a very hard team to beat. They were very well organised. Every player knew what their role was, they closed us down quickly and anticipated who the ball might be played to and closed them down quickly too. Put simply, they stopped us playing football and were helped in that regard by poor playing conditions and an inept referee. But we didn't help ourselves. It was an uncharacteristically lacklustre performance, and even when we did get in behind their defence, the delivery into the box was poor (if it actually reached that far) and shooting was either very weak or very speculative. If the referee had added on another 30 minutes for Arbroath's farcical timewasting antics, we still wouldn't have scored. I'm afraid we need to up our game if we are to remain in a play-off spot at the end of the season. Good to see some youngsters making a bit of noise with the drum at the far end of the North Stand, but I'm afraid even their welcome enthusiasm was extinguished by what was happening on the pitch. Here's hoping for another stirring performance against Partick to get us back on track and to re-kindle everyone's enthusiasm.

Great to see the minute's silence in his memory observed impeccably by all at the stadium tonight.

HT. 0-0 FT. 2-1 ICT. Mckay Opp. Nouble Crowd 1734

It's Mackay with a small k.

The recent games against the bottom 3 have shown there are no easy games in this division, yet we are 5 points clear at the top. We must be doing something right. This season we seem to be managing to win games that are pretty finely balanced. The difference seems to be that the team are all working really hard for each other and when we have those "heart in the mouth" moments there is a real collective effort to clear the danger. Pressing hard and winning the ball back then gives us more chance of creating opportunities up front. Maintaining the level of intesity and the team spirit will be essential if we are going keep the challenge for promotion going.

HT. 1-0 FT. 2-1 ICT Billy Mckay Opp. Blues Crowd 1920

HT. 0-1 FT. 1-3

HT. 0-1 FT. 0-2 ICT. Gardyne Opp Popescu Crowd. 1296

The crowd annouced at the game was something in the 1800s which seemed about right. Should have been a lot more than that though with the way we are playing just now.

HT. 1-0 FT. 3-0 ICT. Duku Opp. Roy Crowd. 2111

HT 0-1 FT 1-2 ICT. Doran Opp. Todorov Crowd. 2816

I'm afraid I was unable to attend the last meeting but I understand the intention is to have the next meeting as an open meeting for anyone to attend. Thanks to those who have submitted issues for discussion via admin@ictsupporterstrust.org and please keep the emails coming. In order to better represent the wider fan base, the Trust needs to increase both the number of members and the number of folk who are prepared to do a bit of work on behalf of fellow supporters. Please nip across to the Supporters Trust section on this site for more information on what the Trust has been doing recently and what, with your help, it hopes to do in the future. (Click on "Forums" on the red menu bar at the top of the page and then scroll down to find the Trust's section.) Annual membership is just £5 for adults and £1 for under 16s.

With the introduction of the Fans Focus Group, a few folk have been asking questions about the Supporters Trust. It is true that the Trust has not been very visible for a while, but with your help we hope that is about to change. Over the last wee while, the few volunteers who make up the Board of the Trust have been working behind the scenes to improve the infrastructure to make us better placed to work effectively as a bridge between the club and its fan base. We now have a new website where you can find out a bit more about the Trust and how you can join. Improvements to the membership system make it easy to join. So what is it that the Trust actually does or would like to do? Broadly speaking, the Trust would like to work with the club in helping to improve the matchday experience for fans. This would involve identifying what issues fans have with the current experience, what ideas people have, identifying what other people think of those ideas and then working with the club to address the problems and bring ideas to fruition. This might be issues and ideas around access to the ground, car parking, ticketing arrangements, the club shop, stewarding, toilets, PR system, pre or post-match activities, half-time entertainment, catering, facilities for folk with disabilities etc. One area where we are keen to work with the club is in encouraging more enthusiastic youngsters to come to the games. When we do get a good group of youngsters giving great vocal support, it not only creates some real atmopshere in the ground, it gives the guys out on the pitch a huge boost. We all know there has been some behaviour from a small minority which has caused a problem or two, but the way to deal with that is through constructive engagement. That is why we are particularly keen to get some younger people involved in the Trust and hoepfully onto the Trust Board in order to better represent the youngsters who, after all, are the future of our club. We also want to get back to fundraising activities. Not only does this bring people together and give people an enjoyable experience, it raises money for the club and associated activities. For instance, we would be keen to raise money to help support the wonderful work our colleagues in the Community Trust do. The Trust will also get involved in other issues on an ad-hoc basis. For instance, when the club decided it could not afford the upfront costs for getting Ian Broadfoot's book "Milestones and Memories" to print, it was the Supporter's Trust which stepped in with a fundraising campaign to quickly raise the required money. As a result, there is a wonderful book for us all to enjoy and a significant profit for the club. There is, therefore, a lot the Trust can do for the mutual benefit of club and supporter. But what is certain is that all these things we would like to do won't happen unless we have both a significant increase in membership and a significant increase in the number of people wishing to be actively involved. At the last AGM, there were only 4 people willing to stand as elected members of the Trust Board. Since then we have co-opted one more Board Member, but heavy workplace and domestic committments severely restricts what we can do in our limited spare time. We need to get more folk on the Board and we need to set up sub-groups (e.g. for fund-raising, youth engagement) if the Trust is to be effective. Annual membership is just £5 and £1 for under 16s. The Trust's admin costs will be much the same regadless of the number of members so an increase in the membership will generate cash which can then be passed on for good causes associated with the club. Crucially, increased membership also means that the Trust is seen by the club as being more representative. For those acting on behalf of the Trust to be seen by fans and club alike as being genuinely representative, they need to be elected by a significant proportion of the wider supporters body. In other words, the Supporters Trust can only work on behalf of supporters if the supporters support the Trust. We therefore hope that as many of you as possible reading this will join and support the work of the Trust. You can find a bit more information on our new website or you can join directly here. It is important to understand that the Supporters Trust is not a supporters club designed to give benefits to its members. The purpose of the Trust is defined as being ‘the vehicle through which a healthy, balanced and constructive relationship between the Club and its supporters and the communities it serves is encouraged and developed.’ and as ‘being the democratic and representative voice of the supporters of the Club and the communities which it serves’. Registered with the Financial Conduct Authority, the Trust is also the custodian of a 10% voting right in the club. It is therefore really important that the Trust is as representative of the supporters as possible. To be effective and to be seen as representative, the Trust needs to have as many members as possible and to have more people actively involved. Please feel free to use this thread to ask any questions about the Trust or by email at admin@ictsupporterstrust.org. Please contact us by email if you would like to consider getting actively involved in the Trust. The Trust can also be found on Facebook. We do have a Twitter account but please note there is an on-going problem with access and we are currently unable to log into the account to post anything. Many thanks for reading all of this and I hope you will feel able to join us. Yours in togetherness Peter Mutton Chair, ICT Supporters Trust.

Buzzing after that. We were pretty flat in the first half. Little ambition when we got into their final third yet struggling to cope with Partick's far more direct attacking. We were lucky to go into the break just the one down. 2nd half was one the the best and most exciting performances for a long time. There was a really positive approach and a real desire in everything we did. Great effort all round but a special mention for Shane who put in an absolutely immense shift. It looks like having a "Head of Physical Performance" is having an impact. The exciting thing about today is that it shows we can win by playing adventurous attacking football. A bit more of that and we will have fans returning in numbers.

I think that was Miracle of the Month! Billy is a much more experienced guy than Richie was and Billy is surrounded by rather more experienced people to support him. We are a division below so I can't see the same kind of colapse happening this time round. This is a well deserved award for Billy and should set us up well for the rest of the season. No doubt we will have some poor performances and a bit of bad luck along the way, but it's looking promising for a good push for promotion.

HT. 0-0 FT. 0-1 ICT. Billy Mckay Opp. Rudden Crowd 2801

Brilliant news. Well done to all concerned.

An interesting and enjoyable afternoon. Buckie are a decent side and showed why they are doing so well in the Highland League. They defended in numbers making it difficult to find a way through, yet they broke with pace and seemed to find it easier to penetrate our defence and to create chances. They were unlucky with a great effort hitting the woodwork and had two further chances in the first half when a lack of composure spared our blushes. The introduction of players who have not been starting this season was very welcome. There were decent performances all round with Jamieson particularly catching the eye. However, a consequence of making so many changes was a lack of bite in midfield which led to Buckie getting into dangerous positions a bit more than was comfortable. We kept possession well, but I would have liked to see us be a bit more adventurous in taking players on, playing the cute passes in behind the defence and looking to shoot more often. For all our possession, we didn't create a lot and only had 10 attempts at goal. But today was not about putting on a show, it was about giving players game time whilst being good enough to win. In that sense, the game was a great success and I am sure the coaching staff will have learnt a lot from today's performance. We showed today that we are a team with good depth, and that must be a cause for optimism moving forwards.

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HT. 1-0 FT. 2-0 ICT. Welsh Opp. Polworth Crowd 3911

No. You haven't missed it. I wrote to Scot Gardiner earlier in the week to ask where this was and he responded to say that they hoped to get it out prior to the weekend. Unfortunately this has not happened. I am, however, collating issues to bring to the next meeting and therefore would take this opportunity to ask folk to email any ideas or concerns to admin@ictsupporterstrust.org. I would stress that this address is not a channel into the club but to the Supporters Trust. This allows the Trust to bring issues to the attention of the club on behalf of the fans and therefore provides us with the opportunity of having a fan led agenda and getting those views heard and discussed.

Apologies for not getting back sooner. I'm afraid our activity on Twitter have taken a bit of a back seat this year. It has been an exceptionally difficult year for the few of us who have been trying to keep the Trust in existence with workplace and personal circumstances severely limiting the time we can devote to the Trust. Our longstanding email address of ictst001@gmail.com and the newly established one of admin@ictsupporterstrust.org are both automatically forwarded to officers of the Trust and therefore if there is an issue you want a response to, then please email us. What we have been doing behind the scenes is to make improvements to the infrastructure of the Trust and we have recently developed a new website at www.ictsupporterstrust.org. There has also been. a fair bit of liaison with the club on a range of issues. To develop the Trust as we would like and to be more responsive over the wide range of social media platforms will require more people to get involved in the work of the Trust on behalf of the wider fan base. We will be saying a lot more about that in the near future.

HT. 1-1 FT. 2-1 ICT. Walsh Opp. Salkeld

HT. 1-0 FT. 1-1 ICT. Sutherland Opp. Vaughan