The Long Man

1 hour ago, Scotty said:

Our club has done pretty well on Social Media at times. has even won awards. It went through a rocky spell a couple of years ago when it became corporate messaging and marketing spin with very little actual engagement but does seem to be back on track again now. 

I'm not knocking them at all, but there are some interesting examples in that article of how you can reach fans outwith your own club.

Here's a very interesting article, starting with Berwick, about social media and footy clubs:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/jul/17/football-clubs-social-media-berwick-rangers-bayern-munich-roma-celtic-motherwell

Motherwell sound quite switched on. Maybe our club could take some inspiration from the examples cited, particularly the philosophy of getting fans, not just from our club, involved.

Cheers, Danylo, glad to hear you are still rooting for us. Should be an entertaining season. Top three?

White or Walsh to score first.

I expect Robbo is of the view that whatever the height of the challenge or the intent, studs were raised as he went in. It may look worse than it was, but they are very likely to rule it dangerous play whatever the appeal - it's one of those things that tends to be an automatic red whatever the circumstances and  they are unlikely to give any latitude around.

Not a disaster. Heads didn't go down, even after a rather fortuitous rebound. Polly was daft raising his boot that high. But we know what we have to do now, and we are capable of it. Should be an exciting match.

16 hours ago, Huisdean said:

Some absolute nonsense written about this game and performance by some posters. Up until the second goal, there was nothing in this game and it had been quite entertaining. The second goal for United changed the way the game panned out completely. United had a cushion and we had to take some risks to get back into the game. I have no worries about facing United in the paly offs if it happens as do not think they are a great team and will not always get the breaks from a poor referee yesterday.

Some will argue that the referee did not cost us the game but he certainly altered the course of it. How he missed the hand ball for the second goal is unbelievable. He wasn't far from the incident but to not see that was poor poor refereeing. To say that it hit McMullen's shoulder is just adding insult to injury and for the linesman not to see this either was equally as bad. The sending off of Brad was also a joke. Looked to me as if he cautioned him for a dive which if correct is another ridiculous decision. Everyone knows that refs will make mistakes as they have only one opportunity to see an incident but both these incidents were so clear cut, you don't need a TV replay to see the ref was wrong. Generally thought he was poor in other respects as well, White being continually fouled when he jumped for the ball and Nicky Clark never jumped for the ball at all, preferring to jump at or into our defenders while he was on the park but got away with it.

In saying all that, we didn't play at our best, especially in midfield. I think a few of our players are out on their feet just now or carrying knocks and they need a rest. I don't agree with those shouting to give the "young" players a chance prior to this game but hope that one or two may get a chance in the next two games. It seems that Austin has become the new whipping boy for the keyboard warriors on this site and the booing/abuse he got yesterday was out of order. There does seem to be a section of our support who always want to pick on certain players and they should take a long hard look at themselves as indeed, should some posters on here whose posts make me wonder why they support ICT at all as they are continuously negative. I appreciate not everything is perfect for ICT just now but some posters need to get a grip and appreciate the level we are at just now and get behind the team, not constantly carp at it. No doubt, I will be accused of being a happy clapper ( and worse) but could give a ***k after reading some of the nonsense spouted by certain posters.

Thankyou, Huisdean, for saying what needs to be said.

Hi Danylo,

Thanks for your reply, always interesting to find out why people take a shine to a club from far away. Your reasons are sound, and I hope you get to see the view from the stadium yourself one day.

I was in Kiev a few years ago, and had a good time, met some great people. I really wanted to go to a game but didn't have the time unfortunately. Maybe next time.

As for your questions, we did sell Christie to Celtic,  so we got some money for him. Shinnie i think was at the end of his contract. Rooney I can't remember. But you are right - we are a relatively small club, with modest attendances, compared to big city clubs from Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. We have a very good track record of developing players, bringing in those who need an opportunity, as well as giving young players a chance. We have built some great squads over the years with that approach, and are doing so again. The downside is of course that the best will get offers which we cannot possibly match, as well as wanting to play for bigger clubs. So you have to accept that, enjoy them while they are here, and hope that we can reinvest the money in good players. 

Yes, in theory we have the whole Highlands to draw on for our support, but I think you will find most of the Highlands is quite empty! But you are right - there is a constant battle to get new investors, or sources of income, if we can. The best hope is promotion to the SPL which will great increase our income. It is a constant battle keeping financially afloat, for a club like ours.

I hope you get to watch the semi final in Ukraine.

This is great. So who is doing the commentating?

More evidence, should it be needed, that we are establishing a solid, winning team. Next two games will be very interesting.

Hey Danylo, don't take the sarcasm to heart. Glad to hear that you know some of our players from way back. How on earth did you get attached to ICT? Do you also support Dinamo or another Kiev team? 

You get the feeling it's coming together at exactly the right time. Could be an exciting end to the season. 

Indeed. Much better to have an early decision, instead of waiting until near kick off. If it was badly waterlogged at 12:30 there is no chance of it being magically ok by this evening.

Or it could be a giant red herring. In the shape of a conspiracy theory.

I believe she was a great advocate of social media for increased profile of the club and engagement of sponsors and fans. i shall leave you to judge whether that was effective.

The only other match that night is Doncaster Rovers v Barnsley, which many pubs will automatically show, but  there is a good chance that you can ask a friendly barman to switch it over to our game. These are the ones that come up, but wouldn't take it as gospel, would check with them first:

https://www.matchpint.co.uk/bars-showing-inverness-ct-vs-ross-co-356606

More general:

https://www.designmynight.com/london/pubs/football-pubs-in-london

I don't see why they should wait. They could just assume there is a strong possibility of an Old Firm semi-final and proceed accordingly. Doesn't matter if it turns out to be Aberdeen instead.

Odds on it is Hearts, Robbo will surely relish that.

Great opportunity! Neither side looked any great shakes tonight. Bring it on.

So it's a Men of the Match Award for the team.

And who did't love Robbo's jig of delight when the winner went in?!

One of them did say at half time that we didn't get the credit we deserved for our style of play. Really feel the team is gelling now, with the midfield coming together and White making the most of his skills as front man. Could be a great run in to the end of the season, if we can keep that up.

Fabulous stuff, and a very well deserved result. Can't think of any of our players that didn't perform at their best. Doran, White, Chalmers, Donaldson, all of them. Robbo got the tactics spot on. Please, please give us the winners of Partick and Hearts - I reckon we could make the final that route. Well, why not? 

A Cup Final, then win the play offs. How does that sound?

Whatever you do, lads, don’t sit back and try to see out a 1-0.

Ya beauty. Well deserved, don’t think Ridgers has touched the ball. Robbo set us up nicely, after what he saw on Tuesday night. Let’s have some more!