TheCommissioner

Not much between the teams tonight. Dundee were less sloppy with passing but that was about it. A game entirely dictated by a referee. There were calls for a penalty on Doran but I'll wait until I see it again as I'm not sure if he dragged his feet but from where I was sitting it looked rather convincing. Dundee's number 8 targeting Vigurs as well resulting in Vigurs lashing out, nothing new. Atrocious refereeing in the first half that gradually got a bit better during the second half but not by much. I can't believe that I'm going to say this but I miss the Willie Collum days. 

The game completely changed when McKay came on and we looked better team by far. The entire team came alive when that change was made and the change should have been made just after half time. 

Correction: Doran, not Bell. 

17 hours ago, Garrincha said:

The degree of abuse Polworth receives, must depend on where you sit. There’s a bloke near me in the main stand who shouts at him, but he shouts at several other players who he also seems to dislike.

There are a handful of 'supporters' like that in the main stand and honestly, it's a big reason why I don't visit anymore. Makes for a rather unpleasant experience. I do love a good atmosphere but to not even be able to think due to a few loud mouths is really uncomfortable. Stressing few here, but that's already two too many.

Also why is it that the ICT YouTube channel can get highlights of a game that we lose up within a day but when we win there seems to be zero media coverage? I get that there was the altercation with Polworth and Kellacher but surely they can at least show those of us who don't attend the goals. -_- 

Just a friendly reminder of what OFW did for us week in, week out while he was on top of his game and injury free.

I wonder what went wrong?  This man needs to be back in goals. Ridgers has had his opportunity now. 

I reckon after a while it would have clicked for Foran. No one will ever come close to his love for the region and the club. We seem to be worse off without him. Bring OFW and Raven back into the team (despite what I've said about Raven in the past, he's clearly the better option here) as the longer you keep them out, the more their want to play for the club diminishes. 

2 minutes ago, ictchris said:

The official account 'liked' a tweet by a porn account.  Clearly someone with access to the account has forgotten which account he (or she) has been logged into and accidentally liked the tweet.  it happens.

There's absolutely no need for such a puffed up statement.  Just say nothing and it'll be forgotten about.  Now the entire 'episode' is compounded by that utter embarrassment of a statement, referring to an 'investigation' and the 'appropriate authorities' being informed.  What authorities?  Is our board going to phone up the police and tell them that there's pornography on the internet!  Hold the front page!

Looking forward to the season starting so we can be pissed about the sub-standard football rather than the shambles of an administration.

This is what happens when a bunch of old media farts treat digital media in the same light. If this was published in a newspaper, then you should release a statement. Absolute embarrassment for the club. I wouldn't put it past the club to have emailed Twitter support to report pornographic material without first glancing through the terms of use to understand that twitter really don't give a **** about porn being on their platform. 

3 hours ago, jingsmonty said:

Hopefully just a rumour..

To be honest, I wouldn't miss him too much. I think Hughes was onto something when he was going to be let go. Seems to be 50/50 and on his last legs, imo. Definitely not the player he used to be. 

Calder confirmed on two year deal with Matty Elsdon joining on loan from Middlesbrough FC without mention of length of loan. 

The rapid increase of signings that appear from first glance to be more useful and dynamic players than signings made by both Yogi and Foran is starting to fill me with optimism for the season ahead. Perhaps Robbo coming back is a stroke of genius? Only time will tell but I'm starting to get really excited! 

I'm not surprised with Richie's comments. What is he meant to say? His future employers will be looking at the tapes, taking notes, he can't afford to seem anything other than professional and collected. We have no idea what bollocking he may or may not be giving the team in the dressing room and in training. I think it's better for his career as a manager to take to a cookie cutter response when he himself may be gobsmacked at the performances we've seen over the season rather than let the frustration that he is no doubt feeling show in footage that is eternally archived on the internet. 

The problem with the club predates Foran's appointment by a number of years. Since Butcher left, we have been entirely incapable of replacing the class of players that have left. We should have let Hughes go speak to Dundee United and should have sold Tansey rather than letting him go for free. We should have probably held on to Billy McKay while he was in form, rather than letting our top goal scorer leave for a (in football terms at least) tiny fee. 

At a club of our size, that can not go on cup runs season after season, we really need to be making smart decisions regarding turning over players. Why are we so incapable of scouting? Football is a business and we really need to be buying cheaper players and selling them on later giving the club some form of income to re-invest in young talent. 

Yes, I agree that now is the time for Foran to leave on his own accord, as I can't see the club being in any position to release him of his duties, but the board really need to answer for the years of neglect in the business side of things. We've had some fantastic players over the years go on free transfers. Why not (when a players contract is running out) speak to the player and ask where they want to be next year, and if they are hesitant in any way shape or form about staying with Caley, offer to put them up for transfer in January? 

A large portion of our best players came from the lower leagues in England where the transfer fees are arguably less than the average in the SPFL (maybe not by much, sometimes). Ryan Christie's sale could have brought in a whole bunch of  players to rotate the squad, or maybe one or two players with a bit of class that could have been sold in a season or two. 

It's next week. 

Not getting my hopes up, but if you are going to go 2-0 down, it's best to do that as fast as possible. No time wasted, nothing to lose. Fingers crossed Motherwell will tire themselves out quickly and our players show at least a little composure. 

Listening on OAM, what is an ibrooks? Is that one of those apples? 

Got a good feeling about today! Looking forward to dragging the wretched down into the battle while we climb the table with a cheeky smile. 

Terry Butcher still doesn't have a club...

The truth is, we, as normal, every day supporters of a football club have very little say in how a club is run. Demanding an overhaul of the board room without any knowledge of what is happening nor having any knowledge in how to run a football club is just ludicrous. The team, and board need you behind them, not routing against them. 

Fantastic result today. Glad to see changes made during the second half pretty much leveled the statistics after Hamilton seemed to dominate (according to statistics on the BBC). Although a possible three injuries in 93 minutes? Further questions need to be asked of synthetic playing surfaces. 

1 hour ago, DoofersDad said:

I disagree with both the Commissioner 's options above. There is no reason why allowing folk to see who put dots of either colour forces those who disagree with a post to say why.  Rather, it makes people publicly accountable - a fact which will deter the cyber bullies who currently hide behind the anonymity.

To abolish voting altogether is not really an option IMO. It is important that a mechanism exists to show support for something which really strikes a chord with the community. This could just be a summary of a game or perhaps acknowledgement of something above and beyond the call of duty by someone at the club - thanks for organising travel at short notice, perhaps.

whilst I personally favour having both colours and showing who used the dots, the red dots are less important. No doubt a post which deserves a few red dots will get at least one reply which shows why it was a bad post. If we can only give likes then we have the option of liking the reply. 

I do get what you are saying. It was especially bad in the past with gaming communities as the majority of the users were teenagers fighting over Call of Duty clans and who was the best at ''quick scoping'' so understandably not the case here, however I do see some the similarities appearing on these forums. The above opinion is just how I would deal with it. In the end we opted for abolishing voting altogether and we found more communication between users was developing. Sadly, as is the case with the niche I was working with the quality of content dropped, but I don't believe that would be the case here with a more mature audience. 

An alternative that I know exists for the Invision Power Suite (this forum software, at least it was available in older versions with a mod from the marketplace) is where if a reply gains too many downvotes, it is hidden until a staff member can review it. 

1 hour ago, tm4tj said:

This being an unofficial site, it has little to do with the club. What community do you mean. Local, forum or what?

I am referring to the forum community. It could be harmful as I am sure supporters of rival clubs will check this site out. I often check out other forums to see what rumors are going around and to see opinions on previous matches between the clubs, especially around transfer windows. It's just a bit of fun, especially when we destroy County. It's not a major cause for concern but I do believe this situation could have been handled differently. 

Honestly, in my opinion, if you want voting, leave it as it is. I've had many years of experience (admittedly fewer years than the admins here) running forums and other communities for various video games with moderate success and I can't help but feel if we at the time were to open up the voting and allow users to see who is upvoting or downvoting, it would lead to more friction. 

There are realistically only two suitable options:
 

1. Keep voting, but hide user information as to allow someone to disagree with a comment without having to create a reply to explain why.
2. Abolish voting, forcing those who disagree to come forth and write a reply as to why they disagree with a comment thus creating more discussion, but also opening up your forum to low quality posts. 

Trolls will be trolls. Cyberbullies (in the case of downvoting a username regardless of the content or quality of their contribution) will be cyberbullies and groups will always form. Don't let things get more personal as this will just cause more upset. 

EDIT: I would also like to add that in my opinion, it's rather embarrassing that it's come this far, for both the community and the club that we all support. 

3 hours ago, ictchris said:

I've seen a few places say that Larnell is Andy Cole's son, he isn't.  Andy Cole does have a son about the same age who is signed to Man City, I think, so I can see why people might make the mistake.

I'm a little worried by Foran saying that he thinks we've got enough goals in midfield to make up for him not getting another forward in.  Over the past few years we've had a solid striker - last season Storey scored 13 goals, season before Mckay made double figures and Ofere got a goal every other game when he came in, before that we had Mckay hitting 20 a season.  I don't think Fisher, however hard he works, is a goalscorer, he's more of a Graham Bayne style forward, which is valuable of course.  Doumbaya seems more of a target man but the juries out I suppose.  Boden has really struggled from what I've seen and his confidence will have taken a knock after being dropped and Sutherland is a kid.  The lack of goals is palpable and if we are relying on guys like Cole or Mulreany then we could be found wanting.  Both are pretty raw, especially Mulreany.  The fact that Ross Draper has been our main goal threat tells you we are lacking something.

Best case is that we are just adapting to how Foran wants us to play - pushing up and attacking down the wings with King, Mulreany, Cole and even Polworth, getting balls in to Fisher and Doumbaya.  Worst case we've got strikers who can't score backed up by guys who aren't experienced or good enough to make up for that.

Time will tell.

I do feel that over the course of the season we could see ICT become a team of goalscorers. I'd much rather see goals pop in from all over the pitch than one player that we rely on to pick up points. What would our seasons with Billy Mckay be like if he went out injured for an entire season when he was in form?

1 minute ago, tm4tj said:

The commentary from the Radio West Fife is mint, an absolute gem.

The audible sigh was phenomenal. 

FT 1-2 ICT

Esson subbed :O 

Set up by Boden. I'm very, very excited to see Boden play at the TCS seems like a gem. 

7 minutes ago, Bush said:

Strong line up, but Raven and Meekings missing.  Are they both injured?

Meekings picked up a knock last week apparently. Richie doesn't sound too concerned but resting him to be safe.