CallieAnne

Very upset by the attitudes shown in this thread. Feel we are being castigated for not continuing to “support” the Club, after whom I am even named. My Dad was brought up and attended matches in the sixties and we have been regular attenders for the last dozen seasons or more. It is extremely disappointing then to have my name challenged and be told to go and support another team. Good riddance indeed! For the last eight years we have missed at most one home game a season (only due to holiday commitments) and attended several away games, even altering holiday routes to take in games. Attendance at home games alone costing about £500 a year in fuel alone, then with parking, programmes teas etc there were significant additional costs. So to have our loyalty questioned is quite offensive. I would applaud all the posts from people who have renewed although they wouldn’t be able to attend, unfortunately that is an option that is not financially viable for our family. The opening post asked what was the solution? Simple the quality of entertainment is poor. Even the most fervent of posts on here acknowledge that is what is wrong. What are you going to do. Well we are not going to renew our season tickets, we are simply going to find alternative uses for our hard earned cash (that won’t be moving our seats over the bridge and further away). Please don’t abuse us for making that decision as that would only put us off ever returning. The answer then is simply to improve the entertainment value. Perhaps offering free tickets, complimentary tickets or even concessionary tickets is counter productive. Last year we convinced a family friend to come to the first Aberdeen game on Christmas eve as it was always a good game with a good atmosphere. It was the second worst game of the season beaten only by the next Aberdeen game, when a crowd of only 3,487 appeared. Once bitten twice shy. However undaunted we then persuaded a friend who is a St Johnstone supporter to come along to the rearranged midweek fixture for only a fiver with his son getting in free. Just over 3,000 saw a pitiful performance and I doubt I could persuade another friend to go along as word gets about! The only solution is to make people WANT to come back and to do that the entertainment value must be improved along with the overall package on offer. A further point, my last for a while (because not being an attender I feel would not grant me an opinion). Whilst attending the Kilmarnock game on Saturday I looked through the team and noticed:- No Jonny Hayes, our most creative player in the last few seasons. No Gregory Tade, our top scorer last year. I then asked the question who has replaced them??????????????? I would end by wishing everyone at the Club all the best for the season ahead, and I shall continue to follow the Club in the future and just hope we can be tempted back in the very near future.

Luke, having been a season ticket holder for the last 10 years or more, I feel entitled to moan about the product, and then exercise our right not to continue with the season tickets. However we are not blinded by what is on display unlike some, and the very recent and rapid decline in quality. I couldn't agree more though that Rangers are to blame for everything. Did they not back Hitler, Idi Amin and Bin Laden. Push them right out of football altogether that will cure everything. Oh boy. Keep taking the tablets.

Sorry Forza but it is entirely on topic. Is THE topic, however you will not see it. Until the standard of football in Scotland improves (not just ICT) then more and more will vote with their feet. It is not a case of withdrawing support but more so the expense of attending a match with all the add ons, when there are many many other more appealing options. As NormaStitz says leaving a game saying that was fun means you will come back or are certainly more likely to come back. I could count on my head how many times I said that last season. Yes I only have one head, and that's how many games we enjoyed. It is far from a case of walking away, it is a case of finding alternatives, like a family trip to the cinema (cost of one adult ticket) or even a months subscription to SKY Sports (cost of one concession ticket). It is not a case either of picking and chosing games because last season proved that didn't work as what should have been the top games were invariably the worst. I am afraid that as far as our whole family is concerned, until the entertainment at ICT comes up to an acceptable level then other pursuits are far more appealing and a lot cheaper, where we can park for free and not have to wait half an hour for the free for all to clear. I don't think this is a problem for ICT alone, there is a general malaise about Scottish Football which has not been helped by the race to be second, nor the media hyped race for top six - again I would say please please lets get back to entertaining people and not trying to ensure survival in a League that is nothing more than a laughing stock throughout the football world.

Callie happens to be my name - I don't hide under a nom de poison. Named after the team (so unless you know any Caleys). This is just a typical and bitter response I have come to see on this site and will never attract and rather will repel supporters. People call it happy clapping, at times it appears moronic clapping. Support the team regardless of the dross on display is not the way forward. Improve the entertainment value and people will come. Please please realise that IS the only way forward. Glory hunting - pah! We kept our season tickets for the season in the first division and very glad we did the matches were far better - teams played to win - very refreshing. The standard of football was also quite a bit better (especially from ICT). However as I have said previously the standard of football, entertainment, pies, parking, programmes etc etc has gone seriously downhill and I am afraid my family would rather spend our very hard earned cash in a different pursuit. I am sorry but that is our opinion and ultimately our choice. Please have the decency to respect that. Also as I have said previously - there are none so blind as those that will not see!!!!

Anyone wanting to help the club financially Wait a minute sub standard football i can moan about, but sub standaard car parking with a 50% increase in price I can't tolerate. We have to travel over 50 miles home and decide to wait half an hour or more before trying to get out of the car park. We went to a game at Motherwell a couple of years ago and were in Edinburgh after the game - at a time we wouldn't even have been out of the ICT car dump. Does anyone else have suspicions that it is more than coincidental that the price goes up and suddenly it becomes illegal to park on the kerb? On another point - what is happening with the match programmes?

I am one of the season ticket holders who hasn't renewed. We were very kindly given complimentary tickets for Saturday's game and attended. Unfortunately the fare on offer did not prompt us to change our mind and renew. Our main reason for not renewing is simple, as stated the poor quality of the games. Last year it was a dire season and on several occasions it was not an oh great it's matchday - it was oh no it's matchday. That doesn't make for a great journey to a home game which consists of over 100 miles round trip, and too often the highlight of the day was listening to Jim Traynor on the way home. We have our own opinions as to why the games were so poor, several of which have previously been aired, like the fear of losing rather than the reward of winning. The lack of ability and obvious tactical ineptitude shown throughout the season(long high balls to a diminutive striker). General poor quality throughout the premier league. The ludicrous top six/bottom six split. The list goes on and on but the main and most compelling reason was the lack of fight (not OTJ style), passion, commitment shown by the team at home last season. We feel that the turnover of players, who have never been replaced by better players, has taken the heart, the passion and the team spirit from the Club and resulted in poor lacklustre performances. Gone were the games where the team competed against the Old Firm, games against Aberdeen were played to virtually full houses and were good games. No last year was full of dismal days and nauseous nights and on the evidence of Saturday the forthcoming season shows no signs of improvement.

No one has kicked rangers when they are down, Rangers went into liquidation the Newco applied for league entry and have been told to start where anyone else applying would, in fact they ar lucky they are allowed entry at all considering they have no audited accounts etc Yep none so blind! Vitriolic pious nonsense to the end. Airdrie?

Please please people start realising that everyone has been quite happy kicking Rangers while they are down. So hard that their feet are now bleeding. Shortly gangrene shall set in. The legs will have to be amputated and the patient will die. The clowns that are running Scottish Football have produced the usual shambles, and not just the ICT board, the whole lot of them. The fact is the SPL chairmen wanted to be seen to support integrity, passed the buck on to the SFL and they haven't made the decision they were told to make, again supporting sporting integrity (WTF is that?). Now people are shocked. Oh boy there are none so blind as those that will not see. All that has happened is the ICT board are waking up. The rest will follow and in record quick time the winners of div 3 next season shall gain automatic promotion to the new 16 team super duper league. Quell surprise.

I am in absolute shock at this thread - shock that everybody is surprised by what is developing. Hey these are the guys who brought us the SPL. These are the guys who spiced it up by having a top six bottom six split. These are the guys who only months ago wanted to reduce it to 10 teams. These are the guys who only days ago wanted to expand it to 16 teams. These are the guys who tried to impose an embargo on Rangers signing players These are the guys who threatened to raise sanctions against the new club These are the guys who run Scottish Football - sorry missed an i These are the guys who will ruin Scottish Football Yes I am shocked

Don't want to labour my point, however I don't feel the quality is the issue. TB has signed some good players but where are they? My issue is that by bringing in loanees and signings from English lower leagues is NOT providing the continuity and stability that the club so badly needs. Almost every topic raised has someone mention that the team ethic has gone. It will never return staffing the club with guys up here for a year's holiday or at best putting themselves in a shop window, albeit only a slightly bigger shop. I couldn't agree more - don't judge the man before he has kicked a ball. However I am no Mystic Meg, but if he turns out to be any good he'll be off after a year. If not so good he will follow Aldred and probably as quickly. I just see no building for the future just a stopgap for a season, also when I mentioned local I meant more Scotland rather than the Highlands alone. I would finish by asking one question to back up my point. Apart from Foran who is the longest serving of TB's signings left?

I for one can fully understand the common despair throughout this topic and several others. The reason being:- I was unlucky enough to miss only one home game last season. There were times where I was in dire need of the number supplied by Kingbeastie. We managed to survive to the end of the season but enough is enough. Either several of the posts on here are from people who don't attend games or their pain threshold is extremely high. I too despair if for one minute someone had ANYTHING positive to say about last season - other than it is over. We truly had all optimism well and truly beaten out of us throughout a very painful season. The games against the old firm were dreadful - the team didn't turn up. The games against Aberdeen were so poor, mirrored by the dismal attendance at the last one. This will continue as long as the entertainment value is so low and dropping. I have posted before that to my mind if we were to source local talent this would encourage more loyalty both from the players and the fans, and rebuild the team spirit and performances that we enjoyed in previous years. This was mainly due to the good work of Pele (now with Rosscoe leaving that era is gone). It doesn't have to be lost forever though. I would use St Mirren as an example, lauded for playing attractive football with a manager prepared to shop around the lower leagues of Scottish football and take in experienced journeymen. This will continue to pay off in the future as they will attract more crowds and retain their squad. I don't see shopping in the lower reaches of English leagues as being the foundation on which to build a steady ship. There is no doubt that some of the players brought in have been good, but where are they? They are not here for the long term and neither are we. But unlike them we hope to return.

Your dog is about the same height as our target man then. Now that Billy McKay has signed we can continue the high punt up the park. Getting back to the topic though, TB has made some good signings in his time, but how many are left? They just move on. This is not building for the future it is preparing for next season and the next exodus. Someone made a good point earlier about signing from the lower Scottish Leagues, which may well prove not only more cost effective but may produce some degree of permanence. I am afraid that the heart is not in the team and last years performances reflected that, and especially at home. So much so that we have decided to follow Rosscoe's lead and have not renewed our season tickets. Perhaps when the team spirit is back in the team we shall come back too.

Have just read the Daily Don (P&J) and TB's take on the game. It was Tokely, Gillet and Meekings fault in that order. I have been supportive up until now but must reopen the Grant Munro case, surely chickens coming home to roost as we have struggled in central defence all season, while by all reports Grant has been player of the season up the road, and may well punish us next season. Terry may well have won his battle last year, but is clearly losing the war. Also his persistence with playing players so clearly out of position and so consistently all season (injuries are not the case yesterday - why was Shinnie preferred to Nick Ross, Shane Sutherland and who is this Winnall everyone is asking about? Even Gnakpa why was he leaving the ground at 2.45?) I am afraid there are more questions arising every game and the answer is certainly NOT to blame individuals even if their mistakes lead to the goals that cause our defeat, That just installs fear and destroys confidence???, something that is so obviously missing. Come on terry sort it out take your share of the blame, then maybe we can all pull together and get some team spirit back. Also should mention the from the stands piece from David Sutherland in the DD, couldn't agree more, the fans are being short changed, buying a season ticket not knowing what you are buying 18 (usually) 19 (sometimes) 20 (never) home games. That and the poorer performances may well have something to do with the dwindling performances. Like many previous posts we are considering our commitment next year. Not all doom and gloom though at least we now know who our penalty taker is.