1 hour ago, IcyT said:

So Billy's pen saved by Mehmet on Saturday and at home on 27th Feb.  Four points thrown away because he can't beat a keeper from 12 yards.  Maybe he should have stepped aside on Saturday as keeper would have fancied it again.

There wasn’t a lot wrong with the penalty on Saturday. It was low and not too far from the corner. To me, a good save rather than a bad penalty.

As someone said above, their goalie has saved the last four penalties he has faced.

We are not in this mess because Billy has had a couple of penalties saved, and he should not be being singled out. 

Yesterday I noted Cillian Sheridan and Sean Welsh for Queens Park, Ross Draper for Elgin and Ali Sutherland for Brora. 

Firstly, credit to the large travelling away support who were noisy throughout the game. Just a pity about the idiot verbally abusing Samuel in the first half due to his Dingwall connections: totally uncalled for.

The game was disappointing. We were the better team throughout, but our inability to turn possession into goals was our undoing yet again.

I need to see the Dunfermline goal again as an awkwardly placed pillar obscured my view but it looked like an unchallenged header.

Our penalty was a bit soft but we couldn’t capitalise on it.

We were much better after Pepple came on and he took his chance well from a difficult angle.

We had a few shots but didn’t really test the goalkeeper.

I felt there was an urgency amongst the team but it turned to desperation as the game went on, highlighted by an argument between Ridgers and Boyes about who would take a free kick deep into stoppage time.

It is out of our hands now and we need to focus on beating Morton on Friday and hoping Queens Park don’t win.

He was great for us, but I feel his time has passed.

Some of his antics last season were unprofessional (punching an amateur Western Isles player, for example) and he’s not endeared himself to HL clubs in general.

Does it also mean he’s no longer coaching our youth teams?

On 4/24/2024 at 5:30 PM, STFU said:

The 'help the club continue in its current form' is the most worrying part of that letter.

That’s a very fair comment.

It highlights why getting involved with the Supporters Trust is important for everyone who cares about the club.

The Trust has made it clear that it won’t invest in shares without commitments from the club, and the commitments sought will have to reflect the views of its members.

I know some are sceptical but, I’m my opinion, the recent growth in membership if the Trust and the resulting influence it can bring to bear can only be positive. 

10 hours ago, Robert said:

Substitute Airdrie, Cove and Peterhead for Annan, Bonnyrigg and Spartans.

They tightened the rules this season so the established clubs have some time to comply.

 

If I’m reading this right, those 5 teams need to achieve bronze status by 1 July as current exemptions expire then (bottom on page 2 but I gave up during page 3!):

https://spfl.co.uk/admin/filemanager/images/shares/pdfs/Membership Criteria Letter 2024-25 31 October 2023.pdf

Also, more from Buckie confirming they missed the March deadline for a waiver:

https://www.buckiethistlefc.co.uk/news/president-statement-2847887.html

We need to assume Queens Park will win at Arbroath, so nothing less than a win will do for us to keep things in our own hands for the last game.

We need a performance like last Friday, with the difference that we find the back of the net rather than the woodwork or any part of the goalie’s anatomy.

I’m down for this one and really hoping for an enjoyable evening after winning three points in the afternoon.

Now really is the time for everyone to step up and ensure we retain our Championship place. 

1 hour ago, Gringo said:

You mean SPFL central belt favoritism?.....no....never!! 

 

Let me guess...Edinburgh City, The Spartans, Bonnyrigg Rose, Kelty Hearts and Annan 

Substitute Airdrie, Cove and Peterhead for Annan, Bonnyrigg and Spartans.

They tightened the rules this season so the established clubs have some time to comply.

1 hour ago, Yngwie said:

Wow! What does a club need to have to get Bronze status?

This:

https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/media/11172/sfa-club-licensing-manual-2024.pdf
 

Enjoy the read!

This gives the current classifications:

https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/media/11752/240424-club-licensing-awards.pdf

Reading the SPFL announcement, Buckie ignored the issue and could have made the standard had they acted.

All very poor.

Partick @ 1.91 please. 

HT 0-1

FT 1-2

ICT Billy Mckay

Dunfermline Kane

Crowd 5235

Joker please. 

8 hours ago, DoofersDad said:

I assume our Chairman has been quoted correctly in his letter to sponsors, otherwise the club would probably have issued a correction of some form.  What I find really disappointing is that he again makes the argument that permission should be given because the club is making such a positive use use of green space elsewhere in the City.  He was rightly criticised on this point by several Councillors at the planning meeting and yet he keeps banging on about it.  He just doesn't seem to understand the basic fact that those making the decision on a planning application need to be seen to base their decision on matters pertaining directly to the application.  Getting in a public huff about the fact that elected Councillors and Council Officials have not allowed other matters to be a factor in the decision, only further sours the relationship between Club and Council.  It is, frankly, naive and embarrassing.  The relevant and much stronger "green space" argument is that the proposal contains a commitment to plant a variety of trees and shrubs on the site which will increase both the biodiversity and the carbon capture potential of the site.

I'm afraid I don't have a lot of confidence that the decision will be reversed.  I also think it would be prudent to plan on the basis that it won't go through.  If I was a sponsor I would not be paying my sponsorship early, I would want to be holding back and seeing what the promised financial restructuring involved.

 

This is the wording of the Chairman’s letter to sponsors, with contact details removed:

I am writing to you today, firstly to thank you for your backing of our football club, and secondly to appeal to you to kindly continue that support. 

As I am sure you are aware, we have recently and very disappointingly, had planning refused by Highland Council for the installation of a 4 acre battery energy storage farm on the site of the former Fairways Golf Course, the reason given was due to loss of green space in a private green space area of 200 acres.  This is despite the fact that one of our many important and impactful Caley Thistle community projects involves the complete resurrection of a significantly larger green space adjacent to Inverness Royal Academy, which is a ten acre site that will be used as a community hub for the city and beyond, promoting physical and mental health wellbeing for thousands of people both young and old in the Highlands.

Our quest to seek planning permission for the battery farm has now been escalated to Scottish Government level and it is our strong expectation that the Highland Council’s decision will be overturned on appeal but this will take a number of months.

What this means is that we face significant pressure on our cash flow.

To that end, I am writing to all our sponsors to ask if you would be able to help us through this situation by renewing your advertising with us slightly earlier than normal.  If you are able to renew by return, it would be hugely appreciated by everyone at ICTFC and will not only help the club continue in our current form, but it will also allow us to continue the great work we do in the city and beyond, especially as we enter our 30th anniversary. 

If you can help us, we would be able to thank you for that support by offering a 15% discount on last season’s price for an early renewal.

If you can help, please contact our Commercial Director Keith Haggart, either on his email address of ——- or by mobile ——-. 

Finally, as ever, on behalf of myself, the Board of Directors and Executive team, it is a privilege to serve our football club and we thank you for being a part of the club which has represented the city so well in the last 30 years.

The cup final was on 3 June so would revenue for that not be reported in the year to May 2024 rather than last year?

I read on here some time back that the cup windfall was used to repay Directors’ loans. I don’t know if that was an informed comment or speculation. 

20 hours ago, STFU said:

Aside from cashflow they may want money in before the accounts are due at the end of next month, assuming they don't delay them again, and everyone gets a fuller picture of how bad a financial mess we're in.

And those accounts are for the year that ended in 30 May 2023 so nearly another year has passed, which presumably has caused things to worsen further. 

Noted on Saturday we’re George Oakley for Morton and Ross Draper for Elgin.

Coll Donaldson, Keith Bray and Josh Meekings were sent off for Falkirk, Elgin and Brora. 

At full time last night, we had 8 loan players on the pitch and the only players actually ours were Ridgers, Harper and Mckay. 

Aidan Wilson for Inverurie on Wednesday. 

I’ve only missed one home game all season, league, cup and friendlies, so I’ve suffered a lot!

Tonight was one of our best home performances and I am gutted we got nothing from it. The woodwork saved Raith on four occasions and their goalie had several tremendous saves.

Raith caught us out with one of their few chances.

McAllister, Samuel and Harper were the picks for me, but no one can fault the effort of any of our players.

We need to pick ourselves up and ensure we beat Dunfermline next week (and hope they win against Queens Park tomorrow). 

That’s encouraging that McAllister, Carragher and Savage are all fit as it gives us options.

Will Kerr be back in midfield with Duffy at right wing back, or will McAllister start with Kerr reverting to wing back?

I normally enjoy Friday night games, and I really hope tomorrow’s will be no different.

A win will help us greatly, and add to the pressure on Queens Park, who have a difficult game at Dunfermline on Saturday.

However, Queens Park travel to play Arbroath next weekend, so we have to assume they will pick up points there.

We blew our good run against Raith earlier in the season, but had a great win in Kirkcaldy when we last played them.

Now is the time to continue our winning run and get ourselves looking up rather than down.

I’m nervous though, given our poor home form.

Dunfermline @ 2.10 please. 

On 8/6/2023 at 9:54 PM, Robert said:

Trying to get to the Prediction League and getting this message:

Misdirected Request

The client needs a new connection for this request as the requested host name does not match the Server Name Indication (SNI) in use for this connection.

I got this message again today for the first time in a long time. The second link Scotty supplied back in August worked fine though. 

HT 1-0

FT 2-1

ICT Billy Mckay

Raith Vaughan

Crowd 2075

Kevin McHattie for Brechin tonight. 

30 minutes ago, STFU said:

 

I also see from the P&J that the standard of pitches is now being used as an excuse for poor past performances.

That’s a strange one given we’ve picked up most of our points away from home and our own pitch has been perfect all season.

A younger Aaron Doran was pretty useful at free kicks and Sean Welsh had a few too (when fit).