STFU

14 hours ago, buckett said:

It's taken them a while but it finally looks like they've made a decent appointment in Big Dunc and there is now an air of optimism about the club. Hopefully results will continue to improve and more spectators will be tempted back to the Longman on matchdays.

As a long-time supporter of Caley and then ICT, I personally couldn't care less about the mechanics of the upper management structure, or what they get up to on matchdays. My interest goes no further than the team on the pitch and that's what I pay to see and financially support.

Continue your one-man campaign against Gardiner and Robertson by all means, but by doing so you are, sadly in common with the majority of Invernessians, not supporting your local team.

You're entitled to your view, and maybe there is some merit in burying ones head in the sand and blindly following the on pitch activities with no regard to the clubs long term viability.

However, the club are not entitled to be supported just because they exist.  And in that regard, what they are getting is the support they deserve.

In my opinion, if anyone is letting the team down, it's the off field decision makers who have created an ever growing disconnect between the club and the city.

58 minutes ago, Huisdean said:

How is this helping the team. It seems that we have a core of "supporters " who profess to support the team but won't actually attend any games as they believe, in that doing so, they give support to the board. What garbage,  if more fans actually attended games, instead of finding reasons to not attend,  we may be in a better position financially and be able to challenge the board more robust.

Whatever you think of the board, the majority have invested substantially in the club, with little hope of any return.  True, they have made mistakes and communication is terrible but they have put their money into the club. It's a pity some fans don't want to put theirs into the club because they don't like the board or CEO.

I've not once tried to defend my position by saying it's supporting the team, because it's not.

I've also not once said I'm taking my stance against the board, other than our anonymous Chairman.

What I am refusing to do is make any contribution towards the salaries of Gardiner or Robertson.  The former treats the fans with absolute disdain and has overseen huge losses, and the concert fiasco which means there are many local companies who will no longer have anything to do with the club.  The latter seems to be picking up a wage for doing nothing and spends more time over the bridge than he does at our games.

I'm all for diversifying the business, but battery farms, freeports and Robertson commentating on County matches isn't going to bring fans back.

If the decision makers think dropping fan numbers and fan income are worth it to have Gardiner and Robertson as employees, then either they're missing the point of a football club, or I am.  Or maybe they just prefer watching home matches in silence?!  It's their money keeping the club afloat (for now), so their choice I guess.

4 hours ago, The Mantis said:

We’re all agreed that the board need to grow a set and sack the charlatans that are bleeding us dry so forgive me my moment of euphoria as I’ve just spent several weeks in hospital and Saturday was a real treat. A real pint in a real pub and a real fitba stadium in a real fitba city.
However my comment was aimed at stayaway ST holders of whom there must be a fair number going by the deserted stands which are at odds with the crowds announced by the club.
These fans have already spent the money anyway, as I did in a moment of madness, although I hardly ever get up the road these days. They may as well be at the stadium lending a bit of atmosphere laced with hopefully a few anti- Gardiner chants rather than the morgue it is at present.
Alternatively, go and back the team at away games where it’s only the players that benefit, not the club. The main thing for me is to compete in the championship. To use your analogy, if the paper stops covering the cracks we’ll soon be part time in the seaside leagues.

Papering over the cracks doesn't make them go away, or prevent them getting bigger.  It just stops people from seeing how bad they are.

My decision to stop attending games and spending any money with the club has nothing to do with performances on the pitch and it is the same for a few others.

We may be seeing an improvement in performances on the pitch (and I'm enjoying that), but there's zero sign of improvement off of it, and that is every bit as much a threat to the club.  Arguably more.

Forgive me if I don't subscribe to the papering over of the cracks.

I'm in agreement with BDU.  We should be going into this fully expecting the win, and a strong win at that.  Any talk of caution, especially from within the club, will only serve to put doubt in the minds of the players, and we've had enough of that from the previous manager.

Take the reins off, trust the players, and let them give Cowdenbeath a battering.

39 minutes ago, Moogthurso said:

Looks like we are getting battered on bbc website.

 

It's always the positivity that brings me back, Moog

A very erudite response which did make me smile, but my worries and comments are not directed at the players.  I believe in the team and their commitment to doing the best they can.

My expectations of those in charge of the club are not high, but you are spot on in saying that my opinion of them is low.  I suspect I am far from being alone in that.

I shall leave it at that so as not to drag this thread any further off topic. I fear I may already be invoking the wrath of the site's invigilators!

3 hours ago, Moogthurso said:

It's always the positivity that brings me back stfu....

Thanks for letting me know.  You have no idea the number of nights I've laid awake wondering why you return time and again.

2 hours ago, Robert said:

Wonder if these will withstand a dishwasher?

https://shop.ictfc.com/product/big-duncs-highland-army-mugs

They are awful.  I didn't even know that wordart still existed.

Not often you see us sending out players to bigger clubs!

https://twitter.com/ICTFC/status/1715427665719517302

I don't think Doran is a 90 minute player, but still useful to have in for the first hour of a game, or off the bench.

What "value" that has to the team is for the manager to decide when handing out contracts and agreeing wages.

One of the challenges in games like this is that we generally have a blended squad if first team, fringe and U18 players who aren't used to playing together.

I'd much rather we just stuck out our U18s and allowed them to get the experience, and would also be more in the spirit of us entering this tournament.

Good signing, and given his most recent injury, sensible to not tie us into a longer deal.  Hopefully he can stay fit and contribute enough to give us the confidence to extend his stay.

21 hours ago, Donview said:

Just as well the powers to be aren’t investigating the ‘perks’ that uncle Roy foots the bill for over the bridge!

We have greatly surpassed Ross County on that front for a number of years now.

5 hours ago, ictbob said:

David Cameron is paying the wages David sutherand is paying there accommodation. David Cameron is punping money in and also buying assets back and gifting them to the club.

This is the kind of thing that the financial fair play rules were designed to prevent.  If true, then hopefully we're not digging a deeper hole for ourselves.

Anyone remember Gretna?

I'd rather we just got our house in order and weren't splashing large sums of money on wages for an incompetent CEO and absentee Sporting Director.

A clean sheet against the league's top scorers.

Even without all our struggles of late, that would have been a positive and a draw more than acceptable.

Hearing that we were hoping to have one of the trialists signed in order for them to be in the squad tomorrow.  Friend of a friend type thing, and may not be totally reliable info.

What a breath of fresh air listening to Ferguson's pre-match, especially how much he values and appreciates the fans.

If only our CEO and Chairman shared that view!

21 hours ago, dougal said:

One thing this appointment has done has highlighted how many ICT fans support either side of the old firm something I suspected all along. 
 

Dougal

Classic projection.

I suspect that dougal is one of those who enjoyed Caley (or Thistle) being in the Highland League as it meant they rarely came up against their big team, so he never felt he had to choose between them. 

When the merger happened it forced them to choose (or made them feel like thay had to).  Jumping on the anger of the merger gave them an excuse to turn their back on Caley Thistle and keep following their big team with a perceived 'clear' conscience.

Caley Thistle's success, and some people choosing them over their previous 'bug' team, only fuels that anger because it was never suppose to be like that.

Trying to call out people who support, or once supported, one of the erse cheeks is just dougal searching for common ground with others.  dougal claims they have lots of friends of a similar view to theirs, but here they are, desperately looking for vindication on a Caley Thistle fans forum.

I actually feel a little sad for them and their insecurities (or regrets?), and hope they find peace with the situation sooner rather than later.

6 hours ago, bdu98196 said:

Dodds back on the radio today seeming perplexed about why he was punted while Chick Young and but chums wax lyrical about caley being rash and Billy being treated unfair. Also ducking and weaving any acknowledgement or interest into the action at Gayfield.

If Dodds genuinely never saw this coming or thought there were issues then hes clearly as narcissistic and deluded as the rest at the club.

 

In fairness, I'd be a little perplexed if I'd just been handed a 2 year contracts extension a few weeks prior to being dumped, and following the drivel Gardiner spouted in the statement explaining it.

Apparently one of the Directors is covering Ferguson's wage bill, so I'm wondering if was Gardiner's decision to get rid, or if he's just trying to milk some credit for it.  Either way, it fits with suggestions the club were in a position where we couldn't afford to sack him.

Great to get a win, and 3 goals from 3 different scorers.

Sounded like the subs were as much to do with replacing tired players/injury than anything else and hope Longstaff is ok.  From comments following the last 2 matches it sounds as if we've upped our pace, hopefully player stamina will grow along with that.

No sign of any loans coming in, so that leaves free agents if we're going to add anymore depth.

Like Ferguson's honest, no BS interviews.  Was laughing at the "what the feck type of question is that" look he was giving to some questions in his pre match, and the sympathetic smiles to the lad behind the camera who seemed to be just repeating stuff back to him in the post match.  Nowt wrong with the latter, I imagine interviewing Ferguson can be quite intimidating and he'll be shitting bigger bricks after a loss!

The only thing that would have made the day better is news that Gardiner had fallen down a large hole somewhere and could never get out.

3 hours ago, IBM said:

I am sure he has always been at our home games doing hospitality but I don't know if he ever went to away games in recent years but others might know.

As County are rarely at home when we are, that makes sense.

5 hours ago, ictchris said:

People talking about him being appointed for 'staunchness' are being silly.  The guy played about ten games for Rangers thirty years ago.  I don't think he's particularly renowned as a Rangers guy at all, Everton are the club he's identified with. He was really considered a big disappointment by Rangers fans

 

I don't think he was appointed for for his staunchness, I think he was appointed because of our CEO's staunchness!

8 minutes ago, Duke of Inverness said:

Gardiner and his ego still need to go imo. 

There was a small part of me hoping this morning's press conference was to announce a new CEO.

Sadly, I think the only way we'll be rid is when he's driven the club into administration.

If we've got money to bring in a big name manager, and money to bring in more loan players, then why was it not available for Dodds?

If they didn't trust Dodds to spend it wisely, then why give him a new 2 year deal?

If we believed there is more ability in the squad than they've shown and it just needed a little more time, why sack Dodds?

As has been the case since Gardiner was appointed, every action leaves us with more questions than answers.