Northern_jaggie

ICT and Country to battle it out for the top spot, that sounds fab to me! Lets make it happen!

Good luck Yvonne!

Barles Channerman and ICT Chris have a point that the world doesn’t owe footballers everything. But that’s not the bottom line or even the point of what I was trying to suggest. I wasn’t suggesting the public sector was the way forward because I don’t think the taxpayer should have anything to do with it. But thank you Caman for offering a constructive suggestion to progress the debate as opposed to others who try to simply shoot things down without a decent alternative suggestion. If it’s not constructive, how can we build anything? My next commendation is to Weekend Hacker and Caley D, it might not actually be practical to instigate and the 3 year suggestion of a contract was a bit wild, but at least these comments move us forward. So, the next question is what couldn’t possibly entice employers (in the private sector) into taking an ex player on? For me they have to be cheap, have roots set in the area and a commitment to re-train. Now then, how about ICT pair with Skills Development Scotland as well as potential employers? SDS has a budget of £1m to keep off-shore workers trained for example. If ICT were able to tap into this, perhaps employing a temporary resource using SDS/grant capital from e.g. HIE that would assist ICT too. A player development manager if you will. There is no harm in everyone brain storming in a creative manner even if it is pie in the sky stuff, I don’t see the harm - you are more than welcome on the topic I created (unlike others who feel impulsed to snipe/dredge/discredit opinion, I can’t be bothered with that).

Players approaching the end of their career, regardless of how the playing career panned out must get worried about how to bring in a wage as they approach their 30s. We have a recruitment problem because of our geographical location. Imagine ICT having a framework agreement with local businesses that looks to offer a re-training option at the end of their career with a 3 year temporary contract in the 'non-football' career. The risk of injury prone players could be mitigated by stipulating conditions in contracts that enable 'early retirement' from football. Benefits for ICT; Higher caliber players with proven football capability are brought in. No obligation to honor long contracts while players are injured. Better on the park performance. Good PR. Enhanced ticket sales. Benefits for employers; Cheaper labor than in the market currently signed up for longer terms (i.e. lower long term salary than recruited in the market, by capping salary for example). PR boost from the name association. Loyalty of ex playing-staff brought on from a 'second chance' after football. Benefits for the community; High caliber individuals moving to Inverness, probably family orientated with stability in mind. Benefits for players; 3 year rolling playing contract with security and re-training, followed by a 3 year deal with a business. That is 6 years of family stability. Surely our board and high-profile associates could set up this initiative? It takes a leading Commercial Manager to establish and enable such means. Try it with one player, why not? This is not a novel idea as it has been proven to work elsewhere...over the bridge for example. Jobs for the boys....

Hit the nail on the head CC - the fact this late in the season and we have a chance is to be heavily credited.

Same team as against QoS?

So Dumbarton play Brechin again to close the points to just 3, with two games against us back to back in the league to go. Elgin are 4 points from their playoff and it’s not impossible we could be in their league next year! You couldn’t write it!

Dear Board, Please have a read of this (there will be better examples out there); http://thurlownunnleague.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Mark-Bradleys-Best-Practice-Guide2.pdf We should look at all of the variables of the club as a whole that affect fan experience, create a 5 year improvement charter and implement things ranked lowest investment first; CONTENTS 1. Chairman’s Introduction 3 2. How to use this Guide 5 3. Fan Engagement & Growth 7 4. Promoting Dialogue 9 4.1 The Principles of Successful Consultation 11 4.2 Find Out What Matters Most 13 4.3 Understanding Expectations 15 4.4 Delivering Fan Value 17 4.5 Surveys & Questionnaires 19 4.6 Other Forms of Consultation & Engagement 21 5. Improving the Fan Experience 25 5.1 First Impressions / First Contact 29 5.2 Journey to the Match 43 5.3 Stadium Vicinity 49 5.4 Retail 59 5.5 Refreshments 65 5.6 Inside the Stadium / The Match 73 6. Summary of Top Tips for Fan Engagement 8 Brentford Fan Research: https://www.brentfordfc.com/news/2017/september/research-piece/ What is our 'travel plan' for fans? http://www.bettertransport.org.uk/sites/default/files/research-files/Door_to_Turnstile_CfBT_FINAL_web.pdf Some of the basics; I stopped taking parking in the stadium car park when I saw a parking steward give the fingers to a car turning the wrong way and it took me until 17:25 to get out onto the road. A complete joke. Segregate the car park in two, allow traffic to go right and left respectively depending on where you want to go home to, then it will make it quicker to empty. Provide a new path and steps behind the car park to stop fans interfering with traffic on their walk back to town, delaying everyone involved. You have to fight your way through the brambles in the early season...it is a shambles. Buying a ticket from a window is an extra inconvenience for walk ups. Imagine an old firm game now with this set up. Investigate deals with a Harry Gow or Ashers to replace the offering. Half time entertainment (any!). Survey the fans based on your ideas. Check the tannoy & volume Paint / refurbish what you can Long term strategic options A novel and cost effective transport solution to get fans to the stadium. A sub-let area within our title of the land (IF WE HAVE ANY!), tendered to pub chains etc. Use the sub-lease lease money to enable an external investor to inject cash, improving fan experience. Invest in a hotel/accommodation via sub lease (IF WE HAVE ANY LAND). Inverness has a shortage of accommodation. A 3g pitch either built locally or rented in Inverness, run as a soccersixes style league every night of the week in a tiered 'promotion' format, available all year round. The refs would double as scouts. The winners of the top league play an ICT team at the end of the season. (for reference, Soccersixes lease 3g pitches in Inverness and charge £30/game per 6 a side team of which there are up to 12 in a league = £360/night in revenue). Free publicity, community engagement, extra converted fans, media interest, maybe a player prospect or two and a scout or two wage subsidised... whats not to like? Soccersixes make it financially viable to fund refs and organisers, so why cant ICT?? Make it available to every Joe bloggs. The stadium is primarily used 18 times a year. Develop a plan to share the facilities and make money from them. Imagine a 3g pitch in the stadium, sub-let to fans or to junior players. a 3g pitch does away with the wage to 'maintain' the grass.

Make no mistake, we are one of the form teams in this league right now.

Vigurs deserves the MoM award! A great performance from him. What an asset he has become and it’s great to see him celebrating towards the fans for his goal. A lot of criticism was given to him in the past (not least by me!) but today his defensive run from penalty box to penalty box exemplified his change in character on the park. I thought he showed restraint by not reacting to being floored, only to be booked! No wonder Robbo went mental at the ref.

Fab stuff! Gutted I couldn’t get along. Hopefully Mulraney and Tremarco aren’t on the injury list for any length of time. Bring on Saturday! A chance to catch Queens on points and equal the points totals for those in playoff places, it’s a bonus it’s at home too. In 2009 when we won promotion we were 15 points behind 1st place by mid January. With a win and results going our way on Saturday we can be in the exact same position again. It’s definately possible to win the league from that position, we’ve proved that before. It’s not up for debate because you can’t change the past! The playoffs are more than achievable thanks to the improvement we have seen up to now. Well done lads ??

How has the midfield performed so far? Is Baird up front himself? I’d take a draw right now

I should add to the positive comments about Ridgers too- he had a great save in the first half and strongly commanded his area all day. His kicking was faultless all day too. Looking where we are with the back four and GK, id even go so far to say Coll and Carl are SPFL standard right now, Mark isn’t far off and if he keeps steady for the rest of the year he could be that standard too. Brad gets most of the key things right: marks his man, is close or wins most headers but his distribution is needing improvement. He is improving all the time too. Our right back situ is an unknown quantity but maybe Seedorf can come at. Well done Robbo.

The system we played towards the end with Doran, Oakley and Mulraney left our wide players too isolated. Good game management from Robbo overall and I agreed with the changes: a solid 3 points. Coll was absolutely superb today and fully warranted his MoM. Unfortunately Baird will miss his slot up front in the next game if sense prevails, even Doran would do a turn up there.

Great news!! Coll has been a revelation at the back and a two year deal is far beyond my expectations and great news for all concerned!

That ref was a total joke. A complete fool. On a separate note Robbo needs to have a real look a discipline - players all over the park losing the head and wasting time - Vigurs was good today (as was Polly in the first half) but you make your own luck and if you rage at someone you can expect cards, which costs games at times. Not convinced Gary is up to it. I’ll reserve my opinion on the lead up to the penalty because it was hard to make out exactly who was a fault from where I was sat. Baird had a few neat touches (and some honking ones!) but how much longer will we persevere with him up top? Well done again to Donaldson and Bell. We can’t blame Robbo for going for it at the end, id rather lose 2-0 trying than 1-0 sitting in waiting for the ref to award another pen or free kick to them.

It’s easy to look back and learn the lessons. The hard part is taking the lessons and moving forward in a sustainable way and I believe that the coherent statement from the board is a positive step indeed. We can all share opinions and feel closer to the club knowing more about the goings on, which can only help encourage fans back to their seats. I’ve think there’s strong grounds for optimism here.

When is the pitch inspection??

Like the idea of designing strips, of designed by the fans then surely they will sell more?

Is it possible to have a section for safe standing or was that ruled out due to cost? Some seats in the main stand could be replaced with the seats from the north, which could become safe standing. A paint of the stanchions would be good. Local pie suppliers would be great, Harry Gows...mmm! A roofed disabled section sounds good. Much, much better parking arrangements are required. Just look at how many people park further away and walk, if it was £2, quick and easy to get out then that’s a small profit and better match experience. The area behind the bar has enough space to be extended by quite a distance and made into a really appealing pre-skite venue. Its great to see the new club shop which is a much more professional setup!

I will happily eat humble pie for the criticism I gave him a while ago. Great to see him as the player he is at the moment.

I really liked the article. It feels like we have a good board there based on the text. Things like that letter will do great things for positivity amongst us fans.

Good good good. How did Donaldson play? Can’t help but notice our fortunes since he has been in the team.

Agreed tm4tj. Polly should be dropped, that kind of attitude will drag down the dressingroom

It was great hearing everyone willing on the young lad Mackay and for him to get a goal. Even the main stand cheered him when he went down the tunnel!