Alex MacLeod

Charles, they say the child learns more in its early years. Some of those who you refer to may well have been taught by your good self fairly recently. Oh! and I second all you say.

Now now Don. May I suggest you take the word tongue and add it in front of the word in which should be inserted in front of the word cheek. And anyway I wasn't responding to you in particular.

We already ahve a boardroom full of fans. Every last member of the board is a fan of ICT.

The question is could we afford to go up. The Setanta problem may, or may not, result in some teams going to the wall. Teams will have already set their budgets based on tv money. Without the money they may not be able to perform. The SFL is also going to suffer. I dont think we need worry about whether or not we would get back in. I believe if nobody takes over the Setanta committments and no other tv deal can be found then the SPL as we know it will not be in existance. Without tv all other sources of revenue will diminish. No tv means no advertising exposure.

To be forgotten should mean nobody remembers them so how come so many names are appearing. If they've been remembered then they were never forgotten. hero (hir′ō, hē′rō′) noun pl. heroes -?roes Myth., Legend a man of great strength and courage, favored by the gods and in part descended from them, often regarded as a half-god and worshiped after his death any person, esp. a man, admired for courage, nobility, or exploits, esp. in war any person, esp. a man, admired for qualities or achievements and regarded as an ideal or model the central male character in a novel, play, poem, etc., with whom the reader or audience is supposed to sympathize the central figure in any important event or period, honored for outstanding qualities Not one of the above names could fit any of the criterea for hero.

Whats done is done. A new season coming. A new beginning. New challenges. Only time will tell whether or not further success's are on the horizon but I for one will start the season giving my full support and encouragement to the team who begin the new season. Including Andy. I think everyone else should be doing the same instead of setting out to destroy confidences before a ball is even kicked.

I just don't want a man who has little success as a manager in charge of the team i support. I added some reasoning to my post above to make thing's a bit clearer to why I have no faith in Butcher. Pele Patterson......little success as a manager..........took charge of ICT....successfull. John Robertson.....no history as manager................took charge of ICT...successfull. Craig Brewster......no history as a manager..............took charge of ICT....successfull. Charlie Christie.....no history as manager.................took charge of ICT....successfull. Craig Brewster......little success as manager............took charge of ICT....failed. Over the years I think we've done very well utilising managers with little success.

What? Highland March? Yes if your fit, able and have the time to train and take part.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/s...rem/8060108.stm St Mirren, St johnstone and us Are St Johnstone still classed as a 1st Divsion team if we're classed as an SPL one? At the time that article was written we were an SPL team

The residents of Dingwall prepare for the journey across the bridge for the first local derby since 2004

To reply to the above and to Scotty my understanding is the SPL Board is a company who administer the league on behalf of the member clubs. They control funding and distribute as and when required. The majority of what they administer comes from Setanta. They dont hold hoards of cash. Each member club has shares in the 'Board'. After administration costs and any commitments to others, such as SFA, monies left are what the teams recieve for league positions, parachute payments etc. If setanta fail to make their installment, or Clydesdale Bank fail in theirs then their is no money in the pot to distribute. So all payments, be they league position or parachute come, ultimately, from the sponsors. Not from the SPL

traffic congestion between Dingwall and Dornoch

According to one paper yesterday we have been paid our twelvth place reward. it said that all bottom six clubs had been paid after the split the equivalent of the bottom place. the rest were waiting on the individual placing differences. We could be waiting on the parachute payment though.

I blame those who campaigned for the bridge. At least when it was a ferry crossing we could be selective about who to let across.

The only reason we had an U-19 team was because SPL rules dictated it. The two outfielders who have been offered contracts are deemed to be as good as, if not better than, Vigurs and Wood and will come in cheaper. The reason both those players have been let go has nothing to do with their skill or ability. Its more to do with finance. People can comment till the cows come home about the board and the club letting talent go but the bottom line is, if we are to survive and recuperate from our relegation, we need to take stock, cut cost and rebuild. Not too sure about giving Kyle a contract though. Nothing to do with his ability but more his injury and what effect that could have on his confidence in the future. Not sure caleyboy, where your coming from about vast amounts of money being spent.

Question to all: If there was no 'three players under 21' ruling. How many of those younger players would we have seen?

Whocares everyone knows it as the C.I.S cup To some it will always be the Skol Cup. And to some it will even be remembered as the Bells cup and the Coca-Cola cup. But now, for those who live in schemes as opposed to estates, its the COPIE CUP

Why don't you go home? Why don't you go home? The link is over there--------------->Genetic mutants click here Why don't you go home? How we've missed the days of this type of banter :P

I think finances are dictating some of the actions. Though I also think Zander is a bit too small for the rough and tumble of SPL. We are getting rid of U-21 players who were on senior contracts. We have a number, who have played reserves, U-21 and U-19 who are on apprentice contracts. A few of them have been excellent in their class. I wonder if the hope is that some of those will step up to the plate and do a job for us in div 1. Butcher went to Motherwell, when they were in serious financial crisis, and took a core of players plus a few youngsters and built a team. Some may remember the outcry at the time when eight or nine good players were let go at Well. One Mark Brown was amongst them. Butchers one real success in management then had two common denominators that are evident now but were never evident anywhere else he went. 1. He built a team from next to nothing. 2. He had Maurice Malpas as his No.2. He told Motherwell he could sort them out and put them back on the right tracks and he did. The two of them are a team with a proven success. Working apart they have both shown not to be up to the job. With four or five weeks yet to pre-season I am not unduly concerned.

I can see this as being a big chance for Branson. Virgin Media would love to get into the sports side and a company with the infrastructure already in place is the sort of proposition they would seek. Lest we not yet realise, this could also impact hard on out club. We were paid our share for finishing 12th in April. All bottom clubs were paid that same amount with the shortfall for league placings due to be paid at seasons end from the latest installment. Top half were paid the sixth place amount with the same provisio. It may well be that the cash is not available to pay out the parachute payment and that could be very significant in our quest to rise back up.

Hence I said the league would fall into the gutter.

If any team in SPL was to fold before the start of the new season, I believe, we would be re-instated as the first option. It wont happen though cos if it did Perth, Hamilton, St Mirren, Falkirk, Killie and Motherwell would all struggle to maintain the current contract set up they have in place, which is based around the TV money so the league would be fekked. If Setanta were to go to the wall the whole SPL set up would, IMO, fall into the gutter. Unless, of course, the big two were to take a smaller cut to save the rest or a buyer was found to take over the Setanta committments. Mr Branson??

Maybe the club should offer him SPL wages for this season and see what happens at the end of season or in january. You never know he could play sh*t hot for us next season and maybe a club will come in for him in january Ok, so lets say an SPL wage is about ?60k per annum + company share of taxes and insurances, say ?25k + signing on fee ?10k. Thats ?95k to find for one player. Or, at an average ?160 per season ticket a cool 600 bums on seats. Maybe 20% of ticket sales. Not economical sense is it. Some assumptions in that but its not so far from reality as some may think. And my estimated season ticket average price is a bit of guess work but probably close when you take the number of adult main stand, adult north stand, family section and various concessions into account.

Terry, do you think that this thread has become a load of absolute drivel?

We have eleven contracted players and a decent sized squad of U-19's to call upon if worst came to worst. I believe by the end of June we will have signed a few more.