The Long Man

8 hours ago, Charles Bannerman said:

As a result, Scot Gardiner’s ego trip appointment of Duncan Ferguson not only accelerated Gardiner’s own welcome demise, but also brought the club’s situation to a head just in time to save it from disappearing altogether.

Yes, that was my point. The football gods do indeed work in mysterious ways.

I find it impossible to dislike him as a person. He is a happy-go-lucky affable guy who has been in plenty of scrapes and has charmed a lot of people along the way, as well as playing some great football. Very entertaining to listen to. Clearly, however, he is not cut out to be a manager, and I place the blame on his hiring on the person who thought a big name character would be a managerial coup. Well, it was, just not in the way he thought.

Any other manager, including the maligned Dodds would probably have kept in us in the championship. The funny thing about that is, though, that might have prolonged the dysfunctional running of the club and in turn might have made matters even worse than they turned out to be. In other words, the relegation under Duncan might have been the catalyst for everything that has happened since, ie the resurrection of a club in imminent danger of extinction and the hopeful survival on a more stable and financially responsible footing.

So every cloud.. etc. That decision to employ Duncan might have been, perversely, the saving of us, in the long term. It's a funny old world. No point in remonstrating against Dunc, though. He was the fall guy for a bigger fish.

Ewan Murray, who writes for the Guardian on Scottish football, has posted a very good overview of our situation in the Observer today, He has always been favourable to ICT, seeing us as a refreshing addition to the Scottish leagues over the years. Interesting profile of Alan Savage and Scott Kellacher, neither of whose backgrounds I knew very well at all.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/jan/12/super-caley-fall-on-hard-times-alan-savage-inverness-caledonian-thistle

The way I look at it is to add the deducted points back. I know it is pointless, but it does give you an idea of how we measure up against the others. That we could be 3 points off the top after a poor start and plenty of the season to play tells you how well we are doing in relative terms. If we keep this up we will catch those above in due course and then it's all to play for.

The question wasn't really about what should happen, or what we would like to happen. It was about the obligations of the administrator. Is he obliged to accept the highest bid, in order to give maximum return to creditors, regardless of the long term implications and intentions of who might be making it? So a short term financial solution might be a long term bad solution for the club.

I wonder what the qualifications are for a successful bid? It is more than likely that some of the bids will be chancers who see an opportunity to acquire an asset on the cheap. There could be property developers, asset strippers, clueless glory hunters, all sorts. What reassurance can we be given that football and the existence of the club will be the priority, or are they bound to take the highest offer regardless of the intentions of the applicant?

The forensic audit has been done, and the results posted:

https://ictfc.com/club-update-2/

it is a sobering read, and if you had any doubt of the dire situation we are in, then this will clarify that we are on the brink of administration. The lifelines are a crowdfunder for £200,00 by Oct 16th, two weeks away,and so far unidentified investment.

There is a meeting on Monday 7th for all concerned to discuss the crisis. At least we now know the facts, which have been unclear and muddied for the last two years, and can hope to address them with some clarity. Thanks to Alan Savage for keeping us going in the interim and doing all this necessary work.

Well, whatever the financial labyrinth we inhabit, the good news is we have signed a forward on loan until January:

https://ictfc.com/charlie-reilly-joins-ictfc-on-loan/

Sound like a very promising young lad, hope he can give us a lift and bang some goals in, that will change the atmosphere around the place and lift us up the table.

1 hour ago, bigterrybutcher said:

Certainly not the case having spoken to Robbo the club contacted him last week and he said he is willing to settle amicably but Certainly isn't chasing it as is mentioned . 

If that's the case, glad to hear it and withdraw what I said, fuelled as it was by apparently misleading press article.

I can't believe Robbo, who has rinsed the club for the last two years, has the gall to want more free money. I believe it was him who recommended Gardiner in the first place! How cosy are those two?

Will we never learn? The dream of outside investors with big pockets is a much trodden path for small teams, very few, if any, which benefit, and many are left ruing the day they signed up. We have just escaped a potentially catastrophic example, no need to rush into a repeat. By far the best way forward for teams like us is to build a sustainable model, not dependent on outsiders who have far different motives and reasons for 'investing'.

We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Alan Savage, and all of the people he enlisted to write off the debt. It is probably not too dramatic to say that he saved the club, as it seemed likely it would go bust under the proposed buyout from the asset stripper. What a relief to have the club back in the hands of people who are local and care deeply about the club. I have no doubt there will still be a rocky road ahead, full of ups and downs, but I think we can all live with that, knowing we have been here before and will rise again. 

If only IHE were here to see the rebirth of his beloved club - ICT v.2.0!

The stats say we had 61% possession, and 17 shots at goal, nearly half on target, to their two. How did they escape with a point?

C'mon Caley, they are down to ten men!

Apart from scoring 5 goals in their semi-final, Hamilton have finished League 1 with  a goal difference of +45.

Not really looking forward to these two matches with our current form and glaikit manager.

Is he Richie Foran in disguise?

For feck's sake. A draw would have been a good result, but a penalty as the last kick of the game......sigh.

Another Wotherspoon/Mackay combo. Sweet. One shot on target was all we needed!

Well, no sooner said than.... What a stunner, well done that man! Upwards and onwards. Sit tight now, lads.

The stats so far are 60% possession to Raith, 7-0 for shots, 3-0 for shots on target and 7-2  for corners. So I think we can say if we get a point out of this it would be a real achievement. A win would be massively agains the run of play, but it is football after all. Fingers crossed. Could be a long second half.

Two games in hand over the next two above us. Win one of those and we rocket up to 5th. What a turn around. All credit to Dunc.

Good interview with the Gaffer, I like his thinking for the game and the way it worked out.

Great result against the league leaders, which proves we can hold our own with any of them. Don't want to get carried away, but the 5 teams above us are separated by 2 points, and three of them have played two more games than us. So, if we can keep collecting points and get into that group, you can climb 4 or 5 places with one win, as Dunfermline did this week. So, plenty to play for, if we can just maintain this good run under Dunc.

Going to be a great and of season with the prospect of possible play offs too. This will be great for the confidence.

Well, well. Billy's third make it a perfect day for him, and us. What a match he is having. We def got a lucky break with the 'penalty', but i am glad to say Billy has proved we didn't need it to win. Apart from Ridgers' moment of madness, we have coped well with Falkirk, who have made some decent chances and are no mugs. 

Don't forget, we might be looking at a 120min game and pens!