DoofersDad

I collected my ticket yesterday. I passed nobody else on the way in, there was no queue, the girl in the shop was immediately available to serve me. I looked through to the front reception desk and the person there had nobody at the desk and did not appear to be on the phone, but I couldn't be sure of that. I passed nobody on the way out. All in all, it seemed very quiet, so it is a bit concerning that you are experiencing such difficulties. One would assume that staff are being transferred from other tasks or temporary staff have been drafted in to meet the extra demand and ensure that emails and voice messages are responded to as quickly as possible.

The Courier is reporting that the Inverness Common Good Fund has agreed to subside the cost of travel to the cup final for "young people". It say details are still to be finalised. Hopefully some announcement soon.

If you think people with sympathies towards Rangers or Celtic should not be made welcome at the Caledonian Stadium, I would politely suggest you take the issue up with our CEO. I am sure he would be delighted to have a chat with you about it.

Having the vote close a week after the last home game of the regular season is amateurish. It's pretty contemptuous of the players and fans alike. it's little things like this which maybe make players decide not to sign a new contract here.

I'm looking forward to the final more than in 2015. Back then I was anxious that we might get turned over by a lower league team in the final. This time, I have absolutely no expectation that we will win but am just astonished that we are actually in the final given where we were a few weeks ago. I'll enjoy the occasion and I will enjoy the atmosphere of a nearly full Hampden despite it being mainly a wall of green and white. I expect us to be soundly beaten, so anything positive about the team's performance will be a bonus. And if, somehow, we managed to win - well, wow! It is remarkable that we are heading to our 2nd final after only having been in existence for such a short time. It could be a long, long time before we get to a final again. Whatever the outcome, the day will last long in the memory and so I really would urge as many who are able to attend, to do so. But finances are a real issue for people and are a major reason why people don't attend more matches and won't be able to travel to Hampden. It is the fans in the stadium that provide the atmosphere and who spur the players on. With the eye watering sums of money that are poured into the top levels of the game these days, it really should be possible to divert some of this money to keep ticket prices down to allow more people to attend occasions such as this.

I have absolutely no sympathies or loyalties to either Celtic or The Rangers, but if any of their supporters, or supporters of any other club, wants to come to watch a game of football either supporting ICT or as a complete neutral, then in my opinion, they will be most welcome in the North Stand. The money generated for the club by neutral fans and fans supporting more than one club coming to the Caledonian Stadium makes an important contribution to the finances of the club. Intolerant views such as yours harm the club. You presumably object to supporters of those clubs because of their bigotry, yet by saying that those with sympathies for those clubs are not welcome here, you demonstrate a level of bigotry of your own.

Is this a new change to their website or have they simply not bothered to update following the SFA's confirmation? Would be good news if there is some serious reconsideration going on.

Falkirk obviously don't fancy playing us again next season.

The First final was in the 1873/4 season, so this makes it the 150th anniversary of the competition. But because the trophy wasn't played for in the war years, it won't be the 150th final. It is historic enough though and there is no need for us to lose by more than 5 goals to make it any more historic.

Tell them that if they don't sign a new contract, they don't play in the final.

I can't see the Board not offering Dodds a new contract unless there are circumstances we are not aware of. I would be opposed to a contract of more than a year though as his record is decidedly mixed. It is true that we have had a bad run of injuries but Dodds does rather overplay that in order to deflect blame from himself. Before Friday's game he was saying that apart from Sutherland and Walsh, he had a full squad to pick from. One must therefore assume that the 11 he put out on the park were what he considered to be the best 11 in the squad. However, with the exception of Carson for Deas, we had the same starting line up for the 2 woeful defeats at the hands of Hamilton in February. On the other hand, when we thrashed Cove 6-1 on January 2nd, there were 5 in the starting line up who didn't start on Friday night. There is more to our poorer performances than just guys on the injury list. For me the key factor is our ability to hold onto our better players and the ability to recruit new talent. We have never been great at retaining our better players, but that is understandable as players who excel here will always get offers elsewhere which our Board can't match. But we have generally been good on the recruitment side and in recent years it is Robbo who has been the key man here. He has always had an excellent network of contacts. Whatever the the Board decide, it will be vital that we have somebody in the club who can identify and persuade promising young players of the calibre of Delaney, Deas, Henderson, Shaw and Samuels to come to Inverness. Unless we can maintain that ability, the only way we will be able to get out of the Championship is through the back door. Without good recruitment it will take a much more astute coach than Dodds to keep us in the Championship.

Congratulations, Robert. To be fair, I was never really in the hunt. But rather like ICT, I came into some late form only to slip up a bit in the final two rounds of games. Hard luck, Gringo. Maybe next season will be your year. You could then pull the plug on the game and be the champion in perpetuity! Many thanks for running the prediction league. It is a bit of fun and it is a shame the numbers get fewer each year. Hopefully a bit more competition next year.

HT. 0-0 FT. 1-0 ICT. Shaw Opp. Akinyemi Crowd. 2424

You said you wouldn't attend the Semi-final because tickets prices were too high, and then criticise the Supporters Trust for suggesting the SFA should reduce ticket prices for the final. Make your mind up! Do you want lower prices which make going to games more affordable for fans or do you want higher prices so the club gets more from gate receipts? I can't answer for the Supporters Trust as I'm not on its Board any more, but I read the comment about reducing prices as a tongue in cheek remark. We all know that the SFA aren't going to reduce ticket prices just because our Supporters Trust has made that suggestion, nor is there any serious prospect of them putting the kick off time back to 3 O'clock. But at least the Trust is speaking out on behalf of the Supporters and getting a bit more publicity about the SFA's shameful decision.

Courier picking up the story with Supporters Trust statement.

It is not a question of helping ICT, it is a question of preventing trouble and their club getting fined or having sanctions taken against them for the behaviour of their fans.

With Celtic having such a huge support, that is probably an issue regardless of what our allocation is. It needs Celtic to warn supporters that if they are found to have bought a ticket from our allocation, they will be banned from Celtic games next season and, if they are a ST holder, removed from the ST list.

Of course, Celtic fans would argue that they have 50,000 season ticket holders and several thousand on a waiting list, so why should they miss out on a final and the opportunity for the Treble just so that thousands of ICT "fans" who rarely if ever make the effort to go to games can attend? I have some sympathy for that argument, but on the other hand, Celtic have these big occasions as a matter of course and fans get lots of opportunities to apply for tickets. For small clubs like ours, these occasions are a very rare so fans should be given a realistic opportunity to buy tickets as many will never get the chance again. Also, the game is supposed to take place on a level playing field, so to speak, which is why it is held in a neutral venue. There should be the opportunity for both sets of players to be roared on by an equal number of fans, otherwise, one side is given an advantage. We should, therefore be given the opportunity to sell as many tickets as we can, but it would have to be on the basis that we would have to return unsold blocks of tickets if we haven't sold them within a defined timeframe.

How come they are only talking about this now? The fact that the 2 finals are taking place on the same day has been known for months, so if the broadcasters were keen to avoid a clash, they should have been negotiating kick off times months ago. One understands that audience figures are important to Broadcasters, particularly commercial ones who rely on advertising and/or subscriptions, and that ICT v Celtic is less of a draw for neutrals than Rangers v Celtic or Man City v Man Utd. But the point is, that regardless of which teams happen to be in the respective finals, if they are played at the same time, total audience figures will be lower. Given the opportunity a significant proportion of the TV audience would watch both games. One wonders if payments for broadcasting rights have already been fully agreed or whether there was a clause which links payments to audience figures. If the former, then the SFA should be telling the Broadcasters where to go. If the latter, then the clubs should be telling the SFA where to go. We know where we are going, but sadly we don't quite know when.

I don't know that anyone can be considered a major shareholder as to the best of my knowledge, no individual owns a double figure percentage of shares . Nor do I know if those individuals who have the largest shareholdings were present at the meeting. I do know that the most pertinent questions raised during the meeting were raised by people who only have a very small shareholding. And whilst the situation may be very unsatisfactory, it is not really "odd" at all. We may have reservations about the way the Club is being run at the moment, but what is the alternative? I'm not aware of any individual or group that is interested in taking over the running of the club, investing more money into the club and implementing better income generating practices than the current regime. Meanwhile, the current regime continues to cover any shortfall and has financed the club to allow the recent massive improvement on the park to take place. Until there is a more viable and attractive alternative on the table, then despite reservations, there is little option but to support the current Board and for supporters group and others to try to work with the current regime in improving the way the club is run. I am no longer on the Board of the Supporter's Trust but at least the Supporters Trust is trying its best to engage with the Club in order to make improvements. The matchday experience survey is an example of this, but please note that the survey closes at the end of today so if you haven't completed it yet and want to have your say, please CLICK HERE NOW! Of course, the Supporters Trust can only be as effective as the supporters as a whole allow it to be. If people don't join the Trust and support its work, then the influence the Trust can have on influencing the Board will continue to be minimal. The Trust has a minimum 10% voting stake in the Club and therefore could be very influential should some other group with money to invest in the club show their hand. Also, with an increased and more active membership, the case for an elected supporter representative becomes stronger. There's no point just having a pop from the sidelines. If people are unhappy with aspects of the way the club is run, then they should do something about it. Join the Supporters Trust and support its work, because the Trust is trying to work with the club and improve things for the supporters.

Today is the deadline to complete the Supporters Trust Matchday Survey. Whether you think the matchday experience is brilliant or awful or anything in between, the Supporters Trust wants to know. From tomorrow, detailed work will start on collating all the data and preparing a report which will be presented to the Club and made publicly available. This is an opportunity to make recommendations about potential improvements to the matchday experience which will be backed up by firm evidence of the supporters' views. This is your chance to give your views about what is good and not so good about the matchday experience. Help the Trust to help you. CLICK HERE NOW to get your voice heard. Many thanks to all of you who have already completed the survey.

Brilliant day out and a great performance from players and fans alike. We were helped by an early intervention from our first experience of VAR. Without it there would have been no goal, but under the present ridiculous handball rules it was probably the right decision. One of Billy's better penalties gave us an early cushion and probably settled a few nerves. One balance, we deserved our win. Falkirk had periods of possession but never created much. We were more incisive with our attacks and scored 2 excellent goals as a result with Shaw being desperately unlucky not to score with 2 excellent efforts. We also created 2 excellent chances for Falkirk who failed to capitalise on our defensive howlers. With the enjoyable and profitable distraction of the semi-final, the team now needs to put the final to the back of their minds and focus on the more important task of trying to get back into the premiership. Following yesterday's league results, our game on Friday is now a must win just to get into the play-offs. Hopefully the excitement of yesterday's game will encourage a large and vocal support on Friday for the most important game of the season so far.

HT. 1-0 FT. 3-1 ICT. Billy Mckay Falkirk Kennedy Yellow. Duffy Time of 1st goal. 36 mins Crowd. 13,741

Charles has just beaten me to it! Quite a low turnout last night. 30 or so shareholders I guess. I felt the mood was generally one of the shareholders tolerating the Board for the time being but not being at all impressed with the way the club is being run at the moment. With regard to the Concert fiasco, Scot Gardiner was at pains to separate the Club from the Concert Company. He reported that the Concert Company had paid the Club an unspecified 6 figure sum for the hire of the stadium to include the use of the Club's staff in performing relevant functions. He stated that making such payments up front was standard procedure in the entertainments business. He then went on to say that as the ticketing agency for the Concert Company, the Club collected a booking fee for every ticket sold and that this amounted to another 6 figure sum. In other words, the Club made a profit of at least £200,000 whilst local business were left out of pocket and people who had a dreadful concert experience received no compensation. Meanwhile, the Chairman, who was a Director of the Concert Company which went into liquidation last year, said nothing. I have to say, that as a fan and shareholder of the Club who wants the best for the Club, this situation makes me feel very uncomfortable. On the wider financial front, it is clear that the club continues to meet its financial obligations courtesy of the Directors meeting the shortfall. This year, in addition to the 6 figure profit from the concerts, there will be the unexpected windfall of reaching the Cup SF. The CEO explained that gate money from the 2 semi-finals is shared between the 4 clubs and as a result, this promises to be the largest ever gate receipts for the club. Prize money will also be significant. Other than that, plans for future funding are somewhat vague with the CEO talking about prospects for commercial developments on the land associated with the ground as part of the Cromarty Firth Freeport zone. There was also a rather complicated motion which has the effect of increasing the maximum holding of shares available in the Club from £5M to £7.5M. It was pointed out that as the full 5M shares have not been taken up at the moment, a large investor could, in theory, buy the additional 2.5M shares and the current unsold shares and perhaps take a majority shareholding. Scot Gardiner clarified that most of the 5M shares have been taken up and that anybody buying the balance plus the new allocation would be some way off a majority holder. On behalf of the Supporters Trust, Laura asked if the Club had any thoughts on how they could capitalise on the current run of form and the interest in the Cup to bring additional support back into the fold to attend games more regularly. She referred to the disconnect between the club and the supporters. The Chairman and other Board members looked almost incredulous that there was perceived to be a disconnect! Clearly no thought has been given to this and there were comments about how all clubs fail to capitalise on the bigger crowds that cup success brings. The CEO accepted that it was a good idea but took the opportunity to say he has been used to much more active Supporters Trusts at other clubs. The Trust would be more active if only the Club engaged with and encouraged the Trust. Hopefully the Club will start to engage properly when presented with the results of the matchday experience survey which the Trust is carrying out. I know others attending who are on this forum, so please correct me if I have picked up anything wrong or if I've missed anything significant.

Young Dan MacKay has come in for a bit of stick this year and it is disappointing that he hasn't fulfilled his early promise. But it was great work from him to drive into the Dundee defence and get the ball across to Austin Samuels. Hopefully this will give him a bit of confidence and allow him to make a positive contribution. Great to see Austin Samuels back in the goals too. The ball bounced very awkwardly for him and he did really well to control it and quickly poke it past the keeper. Absolutely agree with RiG about Shaw being played in a number 10 role. He is so much more effective playing wide. Don't understand the logic of this. Missed Sean Welsh and hope he is not going to be missing for the SF.