DoofersDad

The Board of the ICT Supporters Trust is delighted to announce the launch of its new website. With Covid restrictions all but over and a new season nearly upon us, now is the time for the Trust to show a new public face as it strives to better represent the fan base. The new website is bright, dynamic and welcoming. It gives details of the role and goals of the Trust; of the Board members and what the Trust is up to and it provides links to other websites in the ICT family. Moving forward, it will be giving details of fundraising and other events and a members only section will allow the Board to seek the views of members on specific issues we will be discussing with the club. And, of course, it details reasons why folk should join the Trust and how. Please check it out here use the feedback options to let us know what you think. The launch of the website coincides not only with the new season but also with the new membership year. Membership renewals from existing members are coming in steadily but we desperately need new members if we are going to achieve our goals and provide the type of role we have sometimes been criticised for not providing. Communication with the club has not been easy these last few years and the main reason stated by the club is that the Trust is not sufficiently representative. Unfortunately, there is little the Trust Board can do about that other than encourage people to join the Trust and help to give the fans a stronger voice through the Trust. The Cub's Board of Directors has recently confirmed to us that they agree a good working relationship between the Club and the Supporters Trust is important both for the Club and the supporters of the Club. We are currently finalising a date to meet with the SLO in order to get a good working relationship back on track. There is so much we want to discuss with them and we are keen to get back on the fundraising trail again following the success of "Milestones and Memories". We are also finalising a date and venue for an open meeting for fans which will help to explain to folk what it is we want to achieve and why we so urgently need new members. It will also be an opportunity for fans to tell us about the things you want us to raise with the club. The new website is a marker for a new and dynamic chapter in the history of the Supporters Trust. Under the leadership of our Chair, Jennifer Aitchison, the Trust is now in a position to deliver on behalf of the fans and club alike. Key to this is increased membership. The Trust will only succeed if supporters of the club join the Trust to make it properly representative of the fan base. Please click through to the new website and join us.

Glad to hear that the Duran Duran concert went well. I was at the Andrea Bocelli and whilst the performances of all the singers and musicians was superb, there were a host of organisational problems and sadly there are some pretty traumatic tales on social media today. Tickets clearly sold better for this, but it was still far from full although I would suspect that a significant part of that was no shows because of Covid. We were in block E of the South Stand and the attached picture (sorry about the quality) shows the view we got. That's Nicola Benedetti in red playing the violin. Seats cost us over £100 each with the booking fee and with no indication there would be an obstructed view. Even without the sound system scaffolding obstructing the view of the main performers, the view of the stage was severely restricted with us able to see about a third of the orchestra and unable to see the choir at all. Apparently there was a huge screen at the back of the stage but we couldn't see that either. The screens at the side of the stage were very small and were not angled to give those in the North and South Stands a reasonable view of them. There were a significant number of people to our left who would have had an even more obstructed view. Not good. We were speaking to friends after the concert who had been in the £150+ "platinum" seats near the front. They were very unhappy because the height and depth of the stage meant that from their seats on the pitch their view was also significantly restricted. Other complaints were about the limited food and drink outlets, no programme, very long waits to gain access to the stadium and, most serious of all, huge problems faced by folk with mobility issues in getting to and from the stadium. It's great that the club want to be imaginative in finding ways to find alternative income streams, but there are a lot of folk who will certainly not be returning if similar shows are put on next year. The club needs to proactively seek feedback from concert goers on what went well and what was not so good. They need to address the not so good aspects and communicate the steps they have taken to address them if they are to persuade people to buy tickets for similar events next year. The tickets for Doofer's Mum and me cost more than my Season Ticket. Believe me, I am not going to be complaining about not getting value for money from my season ticket this year.

Hardly headline grabbing signings, but our club does have a knack of identifying players who have not realised their potential at other clubs and then bringing them on well. Time will tell if these lads come good too.

Thanks for posting that and congratulations on writing such a good objection to the Council. I don't know how these development plans work, but I assume that this is not saying that the land will be used for these purposes, rather, it is saying that should the owner wish to develop the sites then these are the kind of developments that would be allowed. It might be better though to state that whilst the ground remains where it is, the land can only be used primarily as a car park. If there was any concern about this plan impacting on the club in the near to medium term, I would have expected the Club to have made a noise about this and to have urged all in the ICT community to pile in with objections. Nevertheless, it is, perhaps one which could be raised at the clubs next AGM.

Speaking as an Englishman, I didn't enjoy that at all. Biggest home defeat since 1928 and just such a turgid and uninspired performance. It was so bad it makes you wonder whether England have recruited John Hughes to advise on tactics. I enjoyed the cricket though.

It is an interesting article. It would obviously be nice if the club could operate without a significant operating loss, but it is very encouraging the losses are much less than they were. The strategy of diversification appears to be paying off and there has been a huge amount of effort behind the scenes to establish a more stable financial base to support the club moving forwards. One area where the club has not done so well is in terms of communication and supporter engagement. This needs to change. The Supporters Trust has recently written formally to the club to get a commitment from the Board to work constructively with the Trust and are pleased that the Board agree that it is in the mutual interest of club and supporters to have constructive engagement with the Trust. We have followed this up with a suggestion for an agenda which would include a discussion around the Trust's recently agreed goals and, specifically, picking up on our earlier offer to lead a fundraising campaign to raise money towards a cover for the West Stand. If the club can, once again, be seen to be engaging constructively with the Supporters Trust, then hopefully more supporters will join the Trust and help to give it the manpower and the credibility it needs to be successful. I hope to be able to give some positive news about the Supporter's Trust in a couple of weeks.

It will be very interesting to see how the concert venture works out. The idea of setting up their own production company was so that a 3rd party doesn't cream off the profits. But making profits requires strong ticket sales. I've no idea how many tickets have been sold or how many need to be sold to make a profit, but Scot Gardiner said in his statement last Friday that there is still availability in all levels for both concerts. If people from further afield were thinking about coming to Inverness for the weekend they might find that costs of overnight accommodation will make them change their mind. According to booking.com, a couple of nights (Friday to Sunday) in a basic Holiday Inn Express room will knock you back £582 whilst the Glen Mhor is charging £1,040 with breakfast extra! In his statement, Scot also said that the date of the Club's AGM would be announced this week. Hopefully it will be happening before the start of the next season so that the financial position and on-going plans will be a bit clearer before the next campaign starts.

With Andrew and Harry wanting to get in on the act "The boys are back in town" might be appropriate?

That's a really informative and timely statement from Scot Gardiner.

Good post. I'm not a fan of flares myself but they are commonplace on the continent and rarely cause a problem. Problems happen when we get too restrictive on what folk can do and and what you can't. Flares can cause injury if thrown and can disrupt games if thrown onto the pitch. If you ban flares, then when people defy the ban by lighting flares then they are more likely to also throw them - it minimises the chance of them being caught literally red handed. Rather than ban flares, far better to allow them in specific areas of the ground on the understanding that they won't be thrown. I like the idea of mixed family areas as a first step to having mixed crowds as they do in other sports. As many rugby fans will tell you, the craic with fans of the opposing team can add significantly to the enjoyment of the occasion. We are all different and like different ways of watching the game. Grounds should cater to that, but with the best will in the world, clubs are constrained by the legislation. Obviously the Hillsborough tragedy was awful and avoiding any chance of a repetition was a priority, but I think the legislative response has been OTT. It has resulted in a one size fits all type of accommodation which has far less appeal to youngsters than the large open terracing of old. Football at our level needs to attract the younger generation if it is to survive. Mixed family area would be a great way to introduce the younger children to the game. Open terracing would allow the older children to move about a bit and have a bit of fun and socialising meaning they would enjoy the occasion even when the game was rubbish. I'd go for the open terracing myself as long as I had a safety railing to lean against and a roof over my head. That can all be done and be done safely. It is well beyond time that the powers that be listened to what the fans want and got the legislation changed.

So when do the lads have to report for pre-season training? It's not much of a break for them and even less for the management team.

We can be really proud of the team. For a club with our budget to get so close to promotion is a fantastic achievement. At one point in the season it looked as though we might even slip into the play-offs at the wrong end of the table, so the turnaround must give us hope for next season. The turnaround has also brought in new supporters and hopefully the excitement of the latter part of the season will persuade them to attend regularly next year or become season ticket holders. We will be saying goodbye to several of the squad, but one thing this season has demonstrated yet again, is how good the club is in finding new players down on their luck who come up here and do really well. I have every confidence that next season will see some new faces who will become key players in the push for promotion. Obviously there will be a feeling of great disappointment tonight, but as i say, we can be really proud of the team and can look forward to next season with optimism.

Sadly I can't be there tonight, but it is just fantastic to see such a large number heading down the road. Hopefully folk will be heading back in jubilant mood. If we should lose, it certainly won't be due to a lack of effort from the lads on the park or a lack of support. Win or lose, let's hope the enthusiasm for supporting the team will be carried over into next season.

HT. 0-1 FT. 1-2 ICT. Samuels Opp. Rooney Crowd 7931 Yellow. Broadfoot

HT. 0-1 FT. 1-2 ICT. Billy Mckay ST J. Rooney Crowd. 3872 Yellow. Carson

It appears that Willie Collum also reports for the BBC. This is what the BBC report said about Devine's red card. "The visitors were reduced to 10 men when Devine contested a high ball with Jack Hamilton and the defender pulled the Arbroath frontman to the ground as he looked to race clear." Brilliant spirit from the lads winning in such difficult circumstances. My thoughts are with Shane who was obviously in a lot of pain and looks to have sustained a pretty serious injury.

HT. 0-2 FT. 1-3 ICT. Samuels Opp. Jack Hamilton Crowd. 4811 Yellow. Little

As RiG says in his excellent summary, Arbroath's pressing in the first half was relentless. They did it well but rarely made much of the opportunity when they won the ball. But it is not something they can keep up for 90 minutes hence all the time wasting and other antics. Arbroath's tactics suggest to me that they know we have the beating of them, but we do need to exploit our strengths better than we did last night. We need to press them as hard as they pressed us last night. We need to move the ball a bit quicker, use the width of the pitch better to make them work even harder and generally make our pace and fitness count. It won't be easy though. and an enthusiastic home crowd will be helping them find their reserves of energy. It's a game I believe we should win but we need everyone to be on their game.

HT. 2-0 FT. 3-1 ICT. Samuels Opp. Jack Hamilton Crowd 2877 1st yellow. McKenna

Looked about right to me from the TV pictures. I was expecting more away fans, but also it was pretty patchy in the Main and North stands. Remember too that the league attendances are always boosted by counting ST holders whether they attend or not because they are deemed to have bought a ticket for the game. Hopefully over the 3000 tonight.

Yes he did, but to be fair to him, they actually improved under his tenure but not enough to avoid the drop. I won't get involved in the debate either, but suffice it to say that one would assume Dunfermline will part company with Yogi now and that he will find it difficult to get a job other than in a cycle shop.

HT. 2-1 FT. 2-2 ICT. Sutherland Opp. Graham Crowd 3021 Yellow -Carson

Excellent result with a superb 2nd goal. It was a great pass from Hardy for Sutherland to run onto in space and his cross was inch perfect. Samuels then did really well to get on the end of it. Hope we don't carry too many injuries into Friday's game. For a while in the first half I thought Dougal Sim might end up as MOTM.

HT. 1-2 FT. 2-2 ICT. Sutherland Opp. Graham Crowd. 3301 Yellow. Crawford

The point I was making was that as this was not a dead rubber from Hamilton's perspective, we had a responsibility to field a competitive side. Earlier in this thread you disagreed with me stating "Our only obligation is to field a team and fulfil the fixture." I'm glad to say the manager selected a highly competitive team and ignored your advice and that of others who would have had us fielding a team of youth and squad players. Funnily enough, on the other thread you congratulate the manager on getting his team selection spot on! Also contrary to your post, Hamilton were clearly very concerned to try and get something out of the game and maintain the gap over Morton. They fielded a strong side and were out to win it. Unfortunately for them, we also took the game very seriously, were clinical and blew them away in the first half hour. To give Hamilton their due, they never gave up and in the second half worked very hard right to the end to get something out of the game. They won several corners, had a goal disallowed and we needed some pretty last ditch defending to keep them out.