MrCaleyjag

Worst kept secret going but not surprised, if County want to take him to warm their bench then fair enough and good luck to him. Given the opportunity of a new job with more money without the need to move your family and home we'd all take it. The meltdown on social media however is comical, probably from the hundreds who have forgotten where our stadium is. Always tried to put in a shift and has improved in the later half of the season and while at first when I heard the rumors a few weeks ago I was a bit down beat, now I see it as an opportunity for some one else to come in and impress.

Indeed, congratulations on staving off the competition and late push from @DoofersDad, I sadly couldn't quite keep up with the pace but will settle for 3rd place. Echo the above thanks given the amount of time and effort you put into running this each season.

You must have come to the wrong place for your Sunday fishing trip

Given our budget, resources and player turnover recently and most people's expectations at the start of the season, had you given us 3rd place and Scottish Cup semi final at the start of the season, I reckon most would have said fair enough. Yes we always want more but you reap what you sow. Sluggish start to the season, too many draws, toothless at times and a smaller squad have ultimately cost us. I really can't fault the players effort and endeavour all season, we were just beaten by superior players and clubs with bigger budgets. Hopefully Utd go up as I can't do with another season of them in the Championship, they can take their big budget with them and level the playing field. When Utd got their penalty and scored it's the most disappointed I've felt at a game for as long as I can remember. All hope drained as it did the players from what was a very good first half display. That's the positives we need to take forward into next season. Onwards and upwards and promotion next season

Your inability to have a decent debate, as you called it on another thread, and result to insulting people on here shows no bounds. Mods please step in because I for one have hard enough of this, hopefully you do p*ss off and leave us to enjoy lively debate so we don't have to put up with this.

Worst thing is we hadn't really been threatened and looked comfortable, need to take our chances though

Here and buzzing, let's take it to this lot and get stuck in

My excitement is building and as soon as 5:30pm arrives I'm in the car and down the A90, definitely going to the game and really hopeful of a result.

............. but we continue to wonder why we lose users on this forum?

My prediction HT: 0v0 FT: 2v2 1st ICT: Doran 1st Opp: Clark Crowd: 7713 Caleyjag's prediction HT: 0v0 FT: 1v1 1st ICT: Donaldson 1st Opp: McMullan Crowd: 7564

Guess we won't be approaching them to see if they are interested in sponsoring or advertising with us ?

Haha you literally posted this one minute before I finished a similar post, I've locked mine. Good to see us signalling our intent in the transfer market this week early and shows Robbo wants a core squad to have a full pre-season with.

So on the eve of our biggest and potentially last game of the season, who's all going and who's all watching on tv/listening on the radio? I am travelling down to Edinburgh after work tomorrow so might just stop off for a rest in Dundee on my way down, it would be the first ICT game I've been to without Caleyjag. It's all or nothing to be honest and I fully expect Robbo to have the boys firmly fired up and ready to go, I'm trying to temper my excitement as it often leads to disappointment but I truly believe we can take the game to Utd and come away with a result. Would love to stick it up to everyone that doesn't believe or doesn't want us to win.

I agree with you regarding Macdonald and I've been encouraged by the bits I've seen of him, I do believe he brings a bit more directness to the team however that's where my agreement ends. This is not a game we want Robbo's hand twisted in to have no alternatives and we need our best players available especially given who we have out. We need the likes of Walsh, Welsh and Polly available and the use of the bench and effectiveness this season highlights this need. For me Polly is one of these players that you truly don't know what he brings to the team until he isn't there and my fear on Friday is exactly that. He doesn't get the plaudits he deserves and is an easy target for people to point the finger at. I really hope I am proved wrong and hopefully in a good way we don't miss him. I'm not sure what more White has to do either to prove his worth and a lot of ICT fans are very fickle in their outlook, he's our top scorer and brings a lot to the team. He's struggled not having an effective partner up front who can run off him which will hopefully change next season but don't forget he's still young, learning and has drastically improved this season and imo will get better. I'd rather him as an improving player already scoring goals than Austin who's not improving and not scoring goals.

I think the level of disappointment surrounding the result and the Polworth sending off coupled with the optimism most feel about Friday night is testament to how much we have progressed this season. 3-4 months ago it would have been all doom and gloom so it's good to see everyone is still upbeat and full of hope. IMHO we are more than capable of turning Utd over, if we can hit them quick and take the play to them their fans will start to slowly get on their back. Hopefully they start with Sow rather than Clark as I feel we've a far better handle on him, I'm not sure how you solve McMullan as without him playing to his potential Utd are average. Find a way of keeping him quiet or make his head go down could be key.

I suspect you're correct, I did a quick online search and couldn't find anything concrete but Dundee Utd are advertising the second leg at the same prices - I'd say this backs up your theory. Also keeps it in line with the final ticket prices as a consistent rise in price which to be honest I'd say is expected.

Completely agree with Kingsmills and it would be great to sit in two weeks time and stick our fingers up at all who don't want to see us promoted. In relation to the playoff format and the press release from the club regarding ticket money allocations, it's obvious to see why the authorities want as many playoff games as they can in the format they have. Like everything in football it's all down to money and self-preservation and unfortunately it'll never change, in fact it'll only get worse.

Echo the sentiments above and good to see us make an early singing of a player who I'm sure most of us will have heard of or have first hand experience of seeing. If Austin leaves then so be it, I'd rather have a player come in who has greater pedigree and experience that can hopefully compliment White.

It's been my best NPL season since being on the forum and has added to the excitement of the season. Just can't quite get close enough

MrCaleyjags prediction HT: 1v0 FT: 2v1 1st ICT: Walsh 1st Opp: Mcdade Crowd: 2863 Caleyjags prediction HT: 0v0 FT: 2v0 1st ICT: White 1st Opp: Moore Crowd: 2175

MrCaleyjag edit ICT 1st goal - Walsh

My predictions HT: 0v0 FT: 2v0 1st ICT: Doran 1st Opp: Ryan Crowd: 2965 Caleyjag's selection HT: 0v0 FT: 1v1 1st ICT: Doran 1st Opp: Jackson Longridge Crowd: 2453

Ayr v Alloa - draw @ 3.50 please Big thank you again from me for all the hard work you put into this, it's much less painful getting this wrong compared to a coupon although it still annoys me lol. Good to have an eye on another result each weekend.

While I agree on all the above and also to an extent that our crowds are our crowds so get used to it, that doesn't stop the club from trying to bring in new fans and bulk up the fan base. The fact of the matter is the club as a whole seems to severely lack on the basic fundamental skills to engage with existing fans, prospective fans, existing sponsors, prospective sponsors and the local and wider community as a whole. With every new and passing comment I read on here it is very apparent that the new CEO has a huge job to do and a lot of changes to make in order to change that culture. It needs brought back to basics, the club need to look at what we do or more so what we don't do and go from there. If we want to engage with the younger generation then we need to start with social media as the club lacks hugely in this area. They need to engage more with schools and local community groups and I don't mean with free tickets; invite schools and community groups to the club for youngsters to meet the players, have open days, host events etc. Yes it costs money but make use of the facilities and staff they have around them to negate a lot of cost. In terms of sponsorship, even though I have no business experience in the Inverness and shire area, I would say that the club are in the enviable position where they are far enough away from the central belt to not be competing with too many others clubs and businesses for money/sponsorship. Make use of the fact that we are almost removed from other clubs and promote that for the better, businesses want to know what they are getting for their money, give them more tickets (we've got enough empty seats), give them better hospitality, start advertising them better on the website, social media platforms and around the ground. Promote the club as a family club as businesses love this and want to be affiliated with other businesses that promote themselves in this way. More importantly start engaging with the current fan base better and a lot more effectively, even when it comes to season ticket renewal it would appear that we are poor at this. Yes we know that it comes around every year but it still should be advertised better. Listen to people's genuine fears and gripes they have and take on board all comments as making people feel like they are being listened to goes a long way than just taking their money. It seems like there are just too many people at the club doing just enough or the minimum or it could quite simply be that the resources just aren't there to implement any of the basics and people are stretched. For me if this is the case then that's a huge problem. It needs a fundamental review of all operations within the club and firm plans put in place to change it all. It's not insurmountable and just needs someone who is far more progressive than those that are currently there. PS: excuse the long post, it could have been a lot longer

Completely agree on the above, we are in danger of becoming like the ugly sisters from Glasgow who are more interested in each other. Do we really care that much about County to constantly looking over the bridge, surely the only time we should be interested is just before we play them. Totally agree with Kingsmills as well, possibly we can take a leaf or two from Roy McGregor's book in terms of how he connects with his fans and portrays his club publicly. Let's concentrate on ourselves first and foremost, as if our only aim is to be better than County then we'll never improve or reach where we want to be again.