big cherly

10 hours ago, caley1 said:

He’ll probably head for Dingwall and go Fuk where am I going .
**** wrong club 

Agree!!, 

Yesterday’s man and too tarnished by showing he would rather get a purse by commentating at Dingwall knowing it would irk the ICT fans (basically giving them ‘the fing-ir’)!

What that action and image did whilst being the ICT ‘Director of football’ as our team went on defeat-after-defeat won’t be forgotten or forgiven by me!

Know it’s interim and CC is their as a crutch to share any flak if results are poor, however knowing JR previously had to take ‘time-out’ due to pressure, is this a responsible decision by the those that made it? Smacks of self preservation for me!

bc

2 hours ago, STFU said:

I didn't say fans shouldn't do anything (have you read any of my posts on here recently?), just pointing out the mentality of the kind of people we've got running the club just now.

Yes to your posts and position (and mindset of the powers). I just think everything the fans and trust could do has been done. The only thing that registers with the powers is unfortunately money and it’s reducing that source will get hopefully some of the other board members to act!

bc

28 minutes ago, STFU said:

Not convinced it will register with decision makers.  They already have money from Season Ticket holders and home walk ups are/were minimal anyway.  Not showing up away makes no difference to us financially, and as we're easy points then it may actually encourage larger away support at our place which, bizarrely, will be more financially beneficial in the short term.

Not suggesting this is a deliberate move by the club, just  posturing on why they may choose to continue ignoring fans and fan actions.

Can’t agree, it’s the strongest card the fans hold. The alternative is what, more of the same of the current system and structure? Ask the board nicely via the match day survey the fans would like a win? 
bc

14 hours ago, Jaggernaut said:

Whoever had the final disastrous decision to award the tactically naive talentless excuse of a coach a two year deal, needs to be first out the door. It smacks of giving him protection against the sack. In one of the Wyness Shuffle podcasts, Gardiner was asked about how close we were to changing the manager when we were on that eleven game winless run, and he said something along the lines of very close, so, any CEO worth their salt wouldn't have handed out a two year deal, when they know that he has that in his locker, it should have been at least a rolling contract, or in a perfect world, Dodds would have left after the Scottish Cup final, with nothing, that would have been in the best interest of the club, which the CEO is supposed to be responsible for, instead of putting them in such a perilous position. Is another defeat today against Raith acceptable to the club now? Or are they waiting till we hit eleven games without a win till they act?

Also who backed that decision and who registered any objection??

bc

19 hours ago, tm4tj said:

The only good thing to come out of this is that Raith now know that we are far superior to them. Could easily have been 3 or 4 ahead at the break. Dabrowski was MotM for a string of saves in the first half. However, despite our defence picking them off easily, we conceded a late goal and the rest is history 

Understand (I think) what you mean, but maybe ‘ICT was the better team on the day but couldn’t score’ more accurate! 

Nothing (on or off the field), to back up ICT are superior to RR just now. 
bc

2 hours ago, The Mantis said:

Pinched off p&b. Us in January compared to us yesterday…

Yes, says it all Mantis. Ultimately this is the only measure that will register with the lot in the boardroom. It’s the only power the fans have to force change!

bc

Hard to be objective or see anything positive when we’ve just lost again on the back of a disastrous start of the season. I’m not going to defend the players, manager, CEO or any other official here (the results lay bare our shortcomings). 

Their is an air of resignation and acceptance from most of the fans that irrespective how much they complain or register their dissatisfaction the club batten down the hatches and adopt a bunker mentality and ignore any criticism.

I wasn’t at the match but taking in the comments from the fans that were, the performance of the team was good and should or could have taken something from the game if we would have put the ball in the net, (their goalie had a good match by all accounts)!
The defence appears to be improved and tighter which is where bulk of our losses came from. 

So there are signs of the team getting it finally together. It wouldn’t surprise me if we carried this over to next Saturday and finally get a win!!

I don’t take BD’s line he wants the win for the fans, it’s to save his own skin. A win against DU keeps BD secure for now. I’m all for getting rid of SG, but unless the Chairman and Board have the courage and conviction to challenge him nothing will change.

Slow signs of improvement by all accounts, but far too late!! 
bc

I don’t believe BD is the root problem here, merely a symptom and part of a deeper problem in the declining fall of the club as a whole. 
Sure BD has been found out to be a poor to average ex-player manager that was/is unable to get (imo) average players to compete above their abilities. His shortcomings in any structured patterns of play just compounded the problems. The results, (facts) speak for themselves.

Simply BD was available, local and cheap, so the fitted the ‘Powers’ specification! 
DB reign is already slipping away, it’s just a matter of time now!

The problem in getting a manager that can get better results that doesn’t bury the club deeper in debt, (love for someone to prove that wouldn’t be an issue). A better game plan will reduce the goals lost and improve the chance of wining (not hard right now I know). It’s not too late to still make a fist of it and maybe get into the playoffs, however I believe that’s a stretch too far. Being ‘safe’ from relegation this season would be a success for me!

Anyway, back to my main point. As long as the club maintain the same strategy then we will end up with a short term fix. I don’t think I’m the only person that believe the club has to look at what is realistic with the expectation of the fan base and income from merchandise and ‘other’ sources. Ventures so far (concerts) have done more damage than good with local businesses and put the club on the back foot! 
Throw in an incomprehensible communications policy just exasperated the aging and reducing core fan base to alienate a good number. Getting them back will be a challenge, but it must be done. 
 

Others have already said it on the forum, and I have to concur, I can’t see the board in its current structure being able to have the backing of a good bulk of the support to have faith in them to make a success of things. 

It may take the courage of other board members with imagination and new contacts for funds-investment to step forward and propose a different route from the current path. Certainly a reset of fan relations would be a simple and welcome gesture. This would require the CEO and possibly the chairman and the SLO to change roles, but they may recognise the clock is now ticking on their tenures and a managed change may suit everyone!
The fans have to also come to terms with where ICT are and what is achievable in the current and next 5 years. Everything about ICT right now says Championship. Progression will be slow and based on youth players coming through better than the past (how I don’t know), and a steady and imaginative way to increase our fan base.

Really putting this up as ration assessment where I am rather than just ‘let’s get rid of the manager’. Results are everything in football so just hope any change is thought through long term.

bc 

On 9/10/2023 at 4:27 PM, Fraz said:

Where were the personal jabs? Just pointing out the truth that nobody is stifling your opinions as you suggest. 

‘And the band continued to play on the Titanic’!

bc

1 hour ago, DoofersDad said:

I don't speak for the Trust, but what I can tell you is that the Trust exists to represent the wider fan base.  Proof of that is the Matchday Experience survey which involved a lot of work to get and report on the views of all fans who could be bothered to complete the survey.  It was not restricted to members only.

The survey results will be useful to the Trust Board in pointing out to the club what the views of the wider fan base are on the issues raised in the survey.  But in terms of the credibility of the Board representing the supporters as a whole is concerned, that can only come from those on the Board having the backing of the supporters.  As I have said before, Trust Board members are elected by the Trust Members.  If people don't join the Trust, then the Club will say the Trust isn't representative of supporters as a whole and will remain disinclined to engage.

Now, I absolutely get that you may think the Trust Board is not doing enough or you don't like what they are doing, but you aren't going to change that by bleating from the sidelines.  The Trust Board, unlike the Club Board, is a democratically elected body.  If you don't like what the current Board members are doing then you have the power to do something about it by joining the Trust and either voting for someone who has views more aligned to your own, or standing for election yourself and see if your views are supported by the membership.

Whatever your views of the current Trust Board may be, the fact remains that the current Board members are keeping the Trust functioning. They are keeping the supporters voting stake in the club alive and maintaining some level of communication with the club.  They are also the only supporters of this club who, at the moment, appear to be willing to do that on behalf of others.

As for this Forum, it is completely separate from the Trust.  It exists for exactly for the reason you suggest and therefore you are both an insider and very welcome on here.  You would also be free to give your opinion as a member of the Trust.  Indeed, your membership of the Trust would make it more, rather than less likely that the changes you would like to see would be taken up by the Trust.  You said in an earlier post that radical change is needed.  So, what are you going to do about it?  The Trust is the mechanism through which supporters can obtain influence and change within the club, but it will only achieve that if far more supporters join the Trust and shape its future.

As long as supporters stay outside of the Trust and moan about the Trust and the Club from the sidelines, then they are part of problem.  Change happens when some people do something and when others support them in their efforts.

 

 

We all get frustrated when our team and club is in the precarious position we find ourselves now. I’m no different from anyone else in that respect.
I’ll take you comments with the respect of someone that has put in more any any I can recall on the forum.
We’re all in the same boat, just I sit in a different area (so to speak). 
 

Genuine good luck with the Open meeting, I hope it enables us to move forward.

bc

1 hour ago, Fraz said:

Who on the forum is stopping you having or posting whatever opinion you want? Be it regarding the Trust or anything else. If your opinion is a more marginal one that most others don't agree with then so be it. Own it, don't give it the 'woe me' line. 
 

 

Yes, thank you, where to start! - I take full ownership of all questions or posters I raise and don’t hide behind any veil. Not frightened to challenge laziness or incompetence or personal jabs as you have. So if my posters irritate you and ‘others’ of a sedate sensitive disposition then that gives me more satisfaction and know I am achieving the level of debate on the matters I believe are necessary! 
Wish I didn’t, but what the hell, if we can’t ask difficult questions of our club and selves in our current position, when can we??

Woe is me, bc

47 minutes ago, Yngwie said:

Gotta disagree with that. We should play our strongest team in league and Scottish Cup matches. This diddy cup is the ideal opportunity to rest some players who play every other match, and more importantly give fringe players and youngsters some experience and a chance to show what they can do in a competitive game. If you can’t do that in this fixture, when can you do it?

Some of the squad players took their chance, and in the highlights Cammy stood out in particular.

Kind of agree here. Was listening to the bbc radio yesterday Dundee United - Dunfermline game, and it seemed that it was a training match for both teams. Dunfermline knew they’d loose and put out a pub team ‘level’. 
 

Mickey Mouse cup for M-M teams and is treated like such! No wonder the fans don’t turn out for these nothing tournaments.

bc

10 hours ago, Satan said:

Ffs, you think the trust is in cahoots? 

Jeezy peeps.

I find it odd that folk who don't join the trust seem to think that they have a god given right to have the trust represent their opinion when they have made no effort to engage themselves. 

And when nothing happens,  its the trust at fault. 

It's not up to the trust to scour the Internet for whatever fan views prevail.

Ever decreasing circles. 

Again you pump the same theme. ‘Only the Trust is mature enough to represent the fans’. And the rest shut up!

I joined the Forum as I considered it a conduit free to ICT fans to communicate anything regarding the team and club they support. - Now if the Forum is solely for the purpose of unofficially promoting the Trust’s ‘Line’ and it’s members recruitment campaign, then fine I know I’m an outsider and not welcome!

I like to remain free to give my opinion be it confrontational, stupid or thought provoking on the club’s future progression.

So here’s a simple question to whoever can speak for the Trust.

‘Did the Trust vote and back/support the 2 year contract extension for the manager’.

That would help me clarify my misinterpretation of the Trust!

bc

1 hour ago, DoofersDad said:

Today marks the 30th Anniversary of the historic votes which led to the merger and the creation of ICT.  The intervening years have brought a great deal of success with the club having won the Scottish Cup, had several years in the premiership, and played in Europe. There have been some hugely memorable days during that period and we can look back with a lot of pride. Against that history it is very sad, 30 years on, to see where the club is now. We are struggling in a lower division, getting beaten by part time sides, haemorrhaging support, and have a Board of Directors and senior management that seem to care little for the supporters and their concerns. It therefore seems like an appropriate time for people to make their views known to the club. The current decline on and off the pitch needs to be turned around, and soon.

As STFU says, the Supporters Trust is best placed to represent the fans.  Hopefully an open meeting will be the opportunity for people who are concerned about the state of the club to come forward and offer some constructive help to the Trust.  The Trust Board is democratically elected by its members and all supporters are welcome to join.  The Trust Board is, therefore,  what the supporters make it to be.  If the supporters want the Trust to be more effective, then the supporters have it in their power to make it so.

Do you speak on behalf of the Trust, or are they so aloof that unless you’re a trust member then you don’t count? 

We are where we are with the Trust being a formal part of that broken decline over the past years.                        Radical change is needed, not more appointments, surveys, committee reviews or SLO emails
 
Until the trust is transparent and in communication with all fans then for me, it remains part of the problem. 

bc
 

7 hours ago, STFU said:

What I'm seeing in this conversation is that there are fans who would like to see some action being taken, even though there's no real consensus on what that should look like.  There's even a growing number of fans who were against the idea or sitting on the fence who are moving towards the idea that something needs to be done.

The biggest hurdle to any action being taken by fans seems to be the lack of leadership/organisation.  No group is better placed to do this than the Supporters Trust, and it is part of their objectives to represent fans/community in these matters - https://www.ictsupporterstrust.org/the-trust

In my opinion, they are complicit in their total silence and lack of acknowledgement of the the fans' concerns outlined in this thread and on the wider forum.  This only serves to strengthen the club's position that fans don't/should not have a voice, and can be ignored.

We've had all the excuses from ex trust board members and volunteers.  Time for the chair/board themselves to show face, tell us what they are going to do, or give reason for why they are doing nothing.

Too complicit, compliant, frightened and too late!

A mealy mouthed timid ‘can the club possibly look at getting a win’ - ‘that will help us get more signed up members’

Change will only come when it hits them in the pocket. Nothing else counts to this lot! The most visible way is low attendances. But the way things are going that’s already happening! 

bc

5 minutes ago, Super Caley Man 94 said:

Our only chance of silverware and success this season gone. Also a great chance to lift some heads.  People saying this game was "meaningless" certainly wasn't to me. People forget what the cup win in 2018 did for the teams morale and confidence after an horrendous start the season. This team badly needs something to hold onto and we've chucked it away. No way will we reach the later stages the Scottish Cup unless the draw is kind to us. 

Reaching the final would've also given fans something to cheer about a day out to look forward to instead it's complete focus on what will be a long league campaign  

We have the Inverness Cup in the cabinet. Silverware already festooned with ICT colours!!

bc

Yeah, 

Listened to what Stevie said, also the hanger - on media pals.  
 

Almost as if ‘nothing to see here gov, move along’. Willie I’m great Miller, “Fans are fickle but thick, they’ll be back as soon as good old dodsie gets a win under his belt”!!

bc

40 minutes ago, DWH said:

Yet another embarrassment: how low do we have to go really before Dodds is shown the door?????

We have a sporting director on name only.....

What an embarrassment of a club..

 

 

 

 

 

 

W

Take the positives out of today. Dodsie believes the team is not far off a victory and is expecting the team to ‘click’ and go on a run of 9 or 10 good results! No reason that could not be next Saturday! 
There was no Coonty home game today so Robbo would have been at Gayfield today to add value! 
 

bc

9 hours ago, ICTPaisley said:

Let’s be honest, Dodds probably needs to go. Even if he turns it around to a point where we reach the playoffs you will still have the usual suspects moaning. 
 

 

Not me, I didn’t agree with giving Dodds a new (any) contract. However the ‘powers’ pulling the levers seen something in Dodds that satisfies their interests and gave him a 2 year contract extension! As such I respect that’s their prerogative and accepted it (still do)!

I don’t like, (or understand), the system or game plan Dodds plays as it’s too boring (back line and goalie square passing for 70 odd minutes or so a game), but I was prepared to give him 18 months of the 2 years to turn things round.
So far the only thing constant with the club is a seamless continuation of last season’s fare. (I exclude the cup run as  that was a freak. We were lucky in the final Celtic didn’t really turn up at tall)!

So where am I now on Dodds giving the results (that’s all that really counts)?? 
 

I expect the team will eventually cut out the defensive blunders and will form something more of a threat up front!  We’ll loose more than we will win, but I doubt if anything more than a bottom half of the table is our lot.

Realistically I don’t think there is any manager we can afford to encourage to come north! Paying off Dodds would severely dent the coffers and put the club in a more vulnerable position. I think it suits the current ‘powers’ to stick with what we have and keep things ‘calm’ until they can make a structured exit. The backbone of all clubs is the fans, and the reality is we just don’t have near enough to trigger or finance a better product. Only Arbroath has a lower fanbase than us and they are part time!!!

So in closing, I believe we stick with Dodds and hope he manages to keep the club in the 2nd division (as it will always be for me)

bc
 

The ‘powers’ will pay no attention to anything written on the forum. (I doubt if they have any minion even read and report back). That’s not to say the forum doesn’t provide a platform, it does, but it has no influence in the machinations of ICT decision making! 
 

If you want to get your message elevated to where it would register with some of the board power-players that may begin to think the way you do then there two options that has been previously proposed:-

1) Protest. Last Sat was a damp squib because it was not sufficiently organised or backed with enough fans.

2) Hit them in the pocket! Slower but more effective if again enough fans do same.

You have of course to ‘ride’ the diehard fans that will deride your position and stance. Throw in sooner or later Doddsie will win a match and the air is sucked out of any action against him!

just my tuppence worth!!

bc

HT 1-1

FT 2-3

CT Shaw

DU Cudjoe

2457

2 hours ago, BobbyDazzler said:

No way was there 2388 fans at the game. I'd say around 1800 tops 

Pravda, for those under 40, this was the fore runner to ‘spin’. I spent a lot of my youth being shown pictures of Latin American and African tribal camp kids in ‘tic’ tops declaring their long lasting admiration and loyalty for ‘their’ team. Even thou they could not speak or understand a word of English. Or pick Europe out a map never mind Scotland!!
Ahhh, blissful, ignorant happy daze!!    (Spelt right).

bc

40 minutes ago, STFU said:

Ridgers caught in two minds.  Once he starts out he has to commit to going for the ball or, as happened, it's an easy goal for them.

Nevermind, that's us now on an unbeaten run

I’m just concerned Hibs might come in for Doddsie now!! Gardiner will be doubling his contract to frighten-off potential suitors!

bc
 

Can someone tell me where the happy clappy section of the ground is? I’m fed up being berated by angry cursing miserable old gits when I cheer the team.

No aspersions on the type of coarse fans I’d leave behind (Some old Howden Shed guys could come to mind but I’m not sure). 

So reading other posters there is a more pleasant area in the ground where the finer quantities of the sport is appreciated!

bc 

1 hour ago, robbylad said:

Took a while but just occurred to me. When does he scout for players if not in a Saturday?  Can't see us affording any players on display at Victoria Park.  

He hopefully is negotiating a good fee for Shaw plus a couple of the surplus Coonty players before the transfer deadline. 
Shaw gets to play at the level his ability deserves and we get a couple of 34+ seasoned veterans to ‘strengthen’ our team.

Why do you think robbo’s been up in Dingwall. He’s been working hard on vital relationship with Sir Roy on what players he would like at Dingwall.

As we desperately need the money, clearly this was robbo’s instruction from his employers!

bc