STFU

I'll be disappointed if we don't put out our best available squad. We're nowhere near strong enough to be underestimating any team, and the more time our starting 11 get playing together, the sharper they'll get.

Sounds like ILI are using/renting the club name in return for being able to tap into the "this is great for the community" and "it'll save the club" angle. One of the club directors owns the land so maybe it, or a cut of the income from it, has been promised to us. As with everything, fans are last to know. So far we've been told the concerts would secure the future of the club, and that didn't happen. Then it was some magic to do with being in the Green Free Port that was going to be a game changer, and the Chairman has admitted there's nothing for is in that. Now it's our involvement with the battery storage, which appears to have been poorly handled and looking less likely to bare any financial benefit. But, it's never the clubs fault and always someone else to blame. Constantly whoring the club name out like this is embarrassing. Even if successful, there seems to be a fair bit of opposition to it from the residents and businesses in that area (aside from the ones who've been offered payment if planning goes through... that's called a bribe in most places) and reputational damage will be done, again.

Not playing at our best and still picking up points, not to be sniffed at. Up to 7th and still a game in hand of Ayr in 6th who are only a point ahead. Moving in the right direction.

Maybe if we stopped with the "We're entitled to...XYZ, just because we're a football club" attitude, it might help. Comments made elsewhere suggesting that consultant reports in support of the application were done on the cheap, and by the Chairman's own admission, we couldn't even get all the paperwork in on time. Add in the number of local businesses who lost large sums of money from the concert fiasco, and we've not exactly been making a lot of friends the last few years. The Trust is a separate entity. Remember when our CEO and Chairman went to great lengths to point out the importance of that with the concert company? How positions on these things can change to try and work a situation in your favour! It's also comical that the club consider themselves to be so hugely focused on the community, when they can't even manage simple fan engagement. Just another embarrassing episode in the Morrison/Gardiner tenure, regardless of whether planning is given or not.

Great job by Harper to spot the run for the second, and a perfectly weighted ball for Wotherspoon. That's the kind of play that comes from a bit of if confidence and trusting in your teammates. I know I'm only basing it on a few highlights, but the team are looking sharper and fitter throughout the squad. Promotion play-off places are not beyond us, but given where we've been I'll take survival at this point and something to build on next season. We just need to get far enough from the bottom that a points deduction for administration doesn't also relegate us.

Any update from the meeting?

Finding it hard to get excited for the game so soon after the devastating news of Robertson's departure. Hopefully the players aren't being impacted too badly by it and can pull off a win to keep us moving in the right direction.

Gutted

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.

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.

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.

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!

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

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.

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

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.