Council Juice

So the Whitecaps have been up for sale for a couple of years now. Owners want out. They play in a provincially owned ground. Its a 50000 seater and will host world cup games this summer. They rent so dont make all the money from the ground, nor benefit from its side uses (gigs etc). This puts them at a disadvantage compared to the rest of the MLS. Despite this they got to the MLS cup final last year and are frontrunners again this year. They are also one of the best supported teams in the MLS. Regularly pulling in 24000 at home games (they use the bottom tier only most games. Unless Messi is coming to town) The MLS commissioner Don Garber, doesnt like the Whitecaps at BC Place as there's issues for a team who have to share with Canadian Football (like American Football but different) and gigs etc. Nor do they like one of their "franchises" not owning their ground (league actually "own" all the clubs, owners own the rights to that. Yeah.) Plus its an artificial surface (changing for World Cup of course). There's a memorandum with the city to have a new Whitecaps ground and complex built at the recently closed racecourse. Be a great spot but the team needs new owners who want to STAY in Vancouver. That is the BIG issue. Any prospective owners buying the MLS franchise rights would have to want to keep the Whitecaps in Vancouver. They could come in and buy the franchise and the rumours are Vegas and Arizona (like please 🙄). So here is the crunch to my lengthy post. A plea. A simple request to sign this board and also to share and spread the word. Keep the Whitecaps in Vancouver. https://savethecaps.com Thanks for reading!

Championees championees oh eh oh eh oh eh!!!! Never in doubt eh! 😜 Get in!

Hey everyone, Been a moment. I had a look via search and couldnt see anything so thought I'd come out and ask. Is anyone a member of any Caley Thistle discords (the app)? Is there a caleythistle online discord? Would anyone else be interested in getting one going/being part of one? For anyone who's not aware of discord - Google AI summary - "Discord is a free communication platform used for talking to friends, family, and communities through text, voice, and video calls. It originated with gamers but is now used by a wide variety of groups for hobbies, clubs, and social gatherings, allowing users to create and join servers organized around specific topics." Wiki - "Discord is an instant messaging and VoIP social platform that allows communication through voice calls, video calls, text messaging, and media. Communication can be private or in virtual communities called "servers". A server is a collection of persistent chat rooms and voice channels accessed by invitation links. Discord runs on Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, iPadOS, Linux, and in web browsers." I'm part of a North American Everton one and its great for live matchday discussion (works more like a chatroom/chat group) or transfer rumours etc etc. Generally lots of bantering. Good fun environment. Anyway. Leaving hear to see what people think and if people would be interested in starting one. This also goes out to the site mods to see if they'd be keen.

Having attending the 4-1 loss to NYRB there a couple of years back at the start of that season, one area they need to improve is the South stand supporters section and that big open window facing the ungodly cold wind from the lake. Sitting in the East stand and just dying. 😄 Put up a wind breaker for goodness sakes! 😭🥶 Otherwise BMO is a proper no frills football stadium. Hopefully the Whitecaps can move to something similar in the near future.

Congratulations to former ICT star Graeme Shinnie! Winning the Scottish cup today for the 2nd time (previously with Inverness). Has now captained Aberdeen to the cup with a victory over Celtic.

All in all a very decent season given the turmoil and to have a record that would otherwise have us 2nd in the table without the deduction is very good going.

Yeah it's weird how at one point it seemed like there were a bunch of prospective owners and things were going well to then a long period of silence. No preferred buyer and then the statement from BDO on the 17th stressing that liquidation was a real risk. Is the fog finally clearing and we can find our way forward. Fingers crossed but still cautiously optimistic at best for now.

Think we need to find out if ICT will still be a club next season at this rate. The squad will have to wait at this point. Hopefully we come out the other side and the nucleus of the squad stick around and we can get back to focusing on the pitch.

While it's disappointing not to win and essentially rule us out the Play off spot and virtually secure survival I hope we continue to keep looking up the table and finish as high as possible. Could certainly aim for 6th or 7th. Even push for 5th (though unlikely in 6 games). This season was all about survival after going into admin and the point deduction. (We'd have been title challengers until recently without it so form has been solid) and that's so nearly within reach. Let's get it done.

This is so depressing. Particularly given how well the team have performed on the pitch in spite of all of this. Cmon Polvsen show us the money! Pocket change for you lad.

Touching my wooden forehead as I type this tobavoid jinxing it but if we carry on like this we'll be finishing midtable. Keep the good results coming and hope everything off the pitch takes care of itself in due course. 🤞

Great win! That's 3 wins in 5 and only 1 defeat. Let's hope we can keep that form up. Gives us a chance to stay in the division.

Is there any new news? Last I saw we had an abundance of potential suitors according to the administrators and it went quiet since.

Not the first to express this either. Rab Douglas got dingied by him too. Not only dislikeable in general but arrogant. He's probably a proper suck up to his bosses so all they see is sunshine. Everyone else has to suffer though. https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/sport/football/dundee-fc/1268923/rab-douglas-scot-gardiner-dundee-fc-inverness-spfl/

Can the claim libel based on someone's "gut feeling of something say going on"? Be a stretch that. The club hasn't been well run. Well run businesses do not accrue this much debt needing hair brained get rich schemes to bail them out.

The whole Morrison fully funded stuff odds me out. We already had a bunch of shareholder debt. Was another 1.5m of loans going to tide us over in Fife? Then what? What was the next plan? Morrison himself said he didn't know much about running a football club hence why he had Gardiner around. Seems he's clueless to actually running a business as well if he thinks that is remotely sustainable. Just fund it 12 months, get those 6 players, hope to get promoted and then? Expecting a windfall in the championship where we got into serious debt in the first place? Seems Dunc was sold a pipe dream from the off.

Charles can you not just say allegedly a lot? 😅 Dinnae buy them Povlson. We're right here. The highland fairytale in all its glory. None of this nonsense. What better represents a Highland rewilding landowner than the team in the capital of the Highlands? You know it makes sense

You still sign your name after all this time Dougal? 😄 I agree with you though. I think a good season for us is first surviving as a club and an exceptional one would be staying in L1 with the -15 points. Can forget anything better than that.

Only one I could imagine doing so is Charlie. Or you're just speculating? If he's deferring his wage pre admin that's still a top gesture. If he's helping cover other costs. That's a nice gesture. There's no guarantee he'll ever see deferred wages once the club enters admin though of course he'd rightly be expected to be paid his wages (as everyone employed at the club should) if we come out OK on the other side.

400 a week works out at £10 an hour (based on a 40 hour week). So that's below minimum wage. After tax it's £356 a week. Are they all living rent and bill free? Or would this just be loanees?

Tbf we had 1 point when he was appointed. Granted he wasn't able to arrest the slide but Dodds had long since done the damage on the field. Is he a good manager? Not really. But it was 1 win from safety in the end. 🤷‍♂️ The stuff he's done in recent weeks like working for free. Also just read he's been paying for the players petrol and pitching in to hotels away from home. He might not be a great manager but he's been making some big sacrifices for the club where he shouldn't need to and deserves a lot of credit for that. Will be remembered fondly for that if anything.

Not sure why owning multiple clubs would be an issue for us. We're miles of European football. Besides anyone who remotely follows football knows this is a rule to get around and plenty do. I understand he walked into an absolute train wreck but almost starting to feel he's as full of 💩 as the rest of them. They all just seem to be in it for their own interests. It's a massive cluster 🤐 of egos and it's hampered us for years.

Sure I read somewhere it was 28000. 😄 On the whole rant. He's on a 12 month notice period so technically still an employee right?. Then this would surely be grounds for dismissal under gross misconduct for bringing the company into disrepute. I mean his complete incompetence in the job is enough alone for that. Never mind attacking the club and colleagues. https://www.thedarkblues.co.uk/topic/36410-ict-and-scot-gardiner/ He's hated at Dundee. So his waffle about his work there is nonsense. Clearly an awful person to work for/under too as per Rab Douglas in April 2020. And we kept him 4 more years!!!

Charlie did a great job when he got the gig. But a bad run and he struggled with the weight of the job and losses. I'd be happy for him as DoF or something though. Get a former player with an experienced assistant. Usually the best way at this level. Or Dick Campbell. 😄

Guy is the largest private landowner in Scotland. It would be a dereliction of duty on behalf of the board to not actively pursue any interest he might have. But that lot seem like the type who don't like outsiders and are probably significantly jealous of his wealth and standing. I could see them rejecting any advance out of spite. Part of any administration company is to consider any new bids in the best interest of the company and its creditors. Admin would surely remove any semblance of choice this board would have of a new owner. Good thing for us like. Cleaning the room is the best route forward. Need a whole new board. They let a CEO run the club to ruin. That cannot be forgotten.