Club Competion for Overseas Fans

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

I am relaibly informed that the club are planning to run a competition for Overseas fans and Smiffy has asked me to leak some of the details.

ENTRANTS MUST LIVE OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM - PREFERABLY THEY SHOULD HAVE A LIMITED KNOWLEDGE OF FOOTBALL - PREFERABLY CALL IT SOCCER OR FOOTIE - HAVE A REPUTABLE BACKGROUND AND BE ABLE TO COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY.

If you satisfy these entrance specifications all you need to do is to send a DVD of a player you feel could play for ICT - to c/o Mike Smith at the TCS. The DVD should contain clips from at least 01/01/2007 and must be accompanied by a brief report - please limit this to the players strengths only.

Please ensre that any player nominated does not have any reputable agent and/or legal representative acting on their behalf. The player can be assured that all decisions will be made on the information received and that there will be no medical examination rquired.

[Yngwie]

What's the prize?

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

The word "booby" comes to mind.

The pure satisfaction of helping out ICT from afar - apparently we already have two satisfied winners from Romania and Latvia.

Edited October 18, 2009 by IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER

[tm4tj]

1st prize is a ticket for any home game of your choice.

2nd prize is five tickets for any home games of your choice.

3rd prize is a season ticket for ICT home games.

[Johnboy]

The word "booby" comes to mind.

The pure satisfaction of helping out ICT from afar - apparently we already have two satisfied winners from Romania and Latvia.

I understand the winner from Romania has yet to receive his prize.

[CaleyD]

Do we really need another thread on these things?

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Do we really need another thread on these things?

Sorry but this is a new initiative which should not be scorned at.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

The word "booby" comes to mind.

The pure satisfaction of helping out ICT from afar - apparently we already have two satisfied winners from Romania and Latvia.

I understand the winner from Romania has yet to receive his prize.

Nor has the man from Latvia.

[CaleyD]

Glad you can still find some amusement in it all, Johndo.

It stopped being even remotely funny, as far as I am concerned, a long time ago.

[DALNEIGHCALEY]

Like the ICT board its a joke .

[TopSix]

Like the ICT board its a joke .

Perhaps Renegade's calling has arrived!

Get yer tickets booked to Fiji

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Glad you can still find some amusement in it all, Johndo.

It stopped being even remotely funny, as far as I am concerned, a long time ago.

So did the comedians who initiated the joke - but they are still around. Sarcasm rarely equates to amusement. It is often the only way to express the true feelings on this forum.

[Northern_jaggie]

I know two players that could run rings round players like rooney and stratford. One played for hibs U21 and the other for Donnegal in ireland. Currently playing with Glasgow University First team, but several scouts show up during the course of the season as word spreads fast. Brian hamilton (Cowdembeath) is looking to sign them but theyre both at uni until may. pfft thought id thow that in there...mabe a scout could be ar$ed t scout some decent talent...

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Glad you can still find some amusement in it all, Johndo.

It stopped being even remotely funny, as far as I am concerned, a long time ago.

So did the comedians who initiated the joke - but they are still around. Sarcasm rarely equates to amusement. It is often the only way to express the true feelings on this forum.

And cue the exit button - as long as a mod dissaproves the whole thread can be dismissed. Humour bypass on caleythistleonline.

[CaleyD]

We've had several site users express concern/complain about a few things recently, so we're looking to tidy things up, move threads to the most appropriate parts of the forum and merge topics which are all of a similar nature.

Whilst I will personally admit that I'm fed up of the "let's just laugh it off" nature of some of the threads (we're way beyond sarcasm and cheap jibes in terms of how serious problems are at ICT, IMO) that was not a deciding factor in anything being moved/merged...threads such as this are, by your own admittance, a joke/sarcasm, and as such belong in the area of the site set up for just that.

If you want the decision to be reviewed then feel free to hit the report button and add another layer of needles BS to the already growing pile we have to deal with.

[Scarlet Pimple]

I sent videos of Dwayne di Rosario , formerly of Houston and latterly of Toronto F.C. ,with strong recommendations to view and consider. Why? Because the man is a dynamo!!!!And his scoring record is writ large.

Further suggestions were made to the club to establish a connection with one of the North American clubs for a whole variety of reasons, all rational. all good and all likely to promote the interests of the club.

The outcome....all missives were ignored by the recipent to whom it was addressed.

There is no doubt that the club does not value suggestions or advice from overseas residents or have the slightest intention of expanding their visions or horizons in this connection by adopting one or any of the these suggestions.

The question of an exchange of promising players on loan was raised which seemed to me to be a logical component

of the framework of such a connection. Again , ignored.

The question of the playing of matches in North America (Celtic made a fortune from this the last time they were over and they only played one or two matches) was highlighted as a worthwhile spin-off from the making of such connections, designed to make money for the club, to improve their worldwide visibility and encourage young players to consider a spell with the club in the future.

Again, ignored, as was the implication that they might learn something about advertiusing and club promotion from the Americans and Canadians but the club appreaently prefers anonymity, stoic and pedestrian promo attitudes and a reluctance to think outside the box (for want of a better analogy).

So this thread may be amusing but ICT are missing out on immense opportunities to increase their profile and act positively to enhance the strength of the club by treating suggestions like this from overseas fans as

valueless. And they should answer all communications from well-intentioned persons with at least a courteous acknowledgement within a day or so because it is not only good mamnners but it makes perfect sense in terms of club public relations and it does not make perfect sense to antagonise well-intenmtioned and polite persons.

[+Wanderer]

I saw a beach ball in Paphos last week that could do a job for us in front of goal.

[PullMyFinger]

I saw a beach ball in Paphos last week that could do a job for us in front of goal.

:(

[Scotty]

I sent videos of Dwayne di Rosario , formerly of Houston and latterly of Toronto F.C. ,with strong recommendations to view and consider. Why? Because the man is a dynamo!!!!And his scoring record is writ large.

no disrespect intended Pimple, but it is a matter of public record (MLS publishes salaries) that Dwayne earned the equivalent of ?4000.00 per week at Houston in 07 and in 08 and that was raised to ?5000.00 per week when he came to TFC for 09. ICT could not match any of those salaries and it is unlikely even if they could that they would have had a cat in hell's chance of persuading him not to go to his hometown team for his final few years before retirement.

However, where teams like ICT could do well is in taking a chance on some of the MLS youngsters.

I dont really know too many from around the leagues in other teams, but there are quite a few decent ones at TFC. Nana Attakora for example is an up and coming 20 year old centre half and currently gets paid only ?400 per week. He has made 20+ appearances for Canada at U16 - U23 level and will likely be a full international soon. Played 19 of TFC's games this season and has 2 goals and 4 assists. Sam Cronin is another, drafted this year and on less than a grand a week, he is a promising midfielder. Brian Edwards, Lesly Fellinga, Stefan Frei, Emmanuel Gomez, Amadou Sanyang, Fuad Ibrahim are others that would probably fit into ICT's wage structure. Having said that, I wonder how many might get work permits and how many would actually agree to moving if ICT were to have them watched and want them.

Further suggestions were made to the club to establish a connection with one of the North American clubs for a whole variety of reasons, all rational. all good and all likely to promote the interests of the club.

I would agree that having some tie up with clubs over here is good, but realistically speaking, from a North American standpoint, ICT would NOT be even a medium draw for fans. Its a shame, because ICT and someone like TFC could have a cracking game if both played to their best but the imagination doesnt get sparked unless its the Barcelonas, Real Madrids, or Celtic, Rangers or Man Utds of this world who are coming over.

The outcome....all missives were ignored by the recipent to whom it was addressed.

All correspondence should be responded to, even if they dont like the idea.

There is no doubt that the club does not value suggestions or advice from overseas residents or have the slightest intention of expanding their visions or horizons in this connection by adopting one or any of the these suggestions. The question of an exchange of promising players on loan was raised which seemed to me to be a logical component of the framework of such a connection. Again , ignored.

Loans are a problem due to transfer windows. Look at Beckham. LA Galaxy were happy to let him go to Milan on loan so he could keep up his close season fitness, but such were the rules that he couldnt come back for the start of the MLS season.

Scottish Season - August - May/June

MLS Season - April - October

A 2 month overlap at each end that could complicate things.

The question of the playing of matches in North America (Celtic made a fortune from this the last time they were over and they only played one or two matches) was highlighted as a worthwhile spin-off from the making of such connections, designed to make money for the club, to improve their worldwide visibility and encourage young players to consider a spell with the club in the future.

See above. ICT would not be a draw for any team over here unfortunately. Celtic have about a dozen supporters clubs in Toronto alone, and thats before you include the rest of Ontario, Canada or North America !

Again, ignored, as was the implication that they might learn something about advertiusing and club promotion from the Americans and Canadians but the club appreaently prefers anonymity, stoic and pedestrian promo attitudes and a reluctance to think outside the box (for want of a better analogy).

This I agree with. I posted a few times that ICT could take a look at MLSE for example. Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment own TFC (MLS) as well as the Maple Leafs (NHL), and the Raptors (NBA) and have donkeys years worth of experience at running a successful sports entertainment business. They also own some arenas as well as several TV channels dedicated to showing live games from their teams. They know how to market, they know how to advertise, and even though they keep raising prices, they know how to tug the right strings and do it with a smile on their face !!!

So this thread may be amusing but ICT are missing out on immense opportunities to increase their profile and act positively to enhance the strength of the club by treating suggestions like this from overseas fans as

valueless. And they should answer all communications from well-intentioned persons with at least a courteous acknowledgement within a day or so because it is not only good mamnners but it makes perfect sense in terms of club public relations and it does not make perfect sense to antagonise well-intenmtioned and polite persons.

There is no excuse for not answering, but Scarlet, remember scale ! ICT is not as big as either of us would like them to be, they will never pull in 20k+ weekly crowds like TFC do, and they will likely never have the same sort of budget available to them that allows MLSE to market, promote and advertise TFC, the Leafs and The Raptors. they also dont have a catchment area with 2.5 million people in the city of Toronto and 5million in the Greater Toronto Area. They would need all this to make some of your suggestions possible ... however, they could see if any suggestions were good ones, scale them to the appropriate size and try to improve things.

[Scarlet Pimple]

Scotty

All your comments are good and all noted. On reflection you could be close to the truth on several of them.However, I am all for trying, that's all I ask of our team.

And as far as player loans were concerned my ideas were also about getting up-and-coming youngsters involved primarily. Some might have come over to the U.K. and dcided to stay and ICT youngsters who could be sent over to North America would benefit greatly from the experience for them, bringing back a dfifferent perspective on life and football and with new ideas about this and that.

However, I was stunned by your references to 4,000 pounds per week, etc. Are you quite sure that you don't mean dollars?

It was about a year ago since I wrote the first time and I remember looking up the online list of MLS salaries for all the players and the yearly totals came to nothing as high as $7,000 a week or $370,000 per annum. Much less than that otherwise I would have realised that their salary was way above what Caley thistle would be willing to pay. I think I figured that it might just be in the range of 2,000 pounds per week or about $3,600 per week. I know that the exchange rates have dropped a ton since then so it is difficult in such an unstabkle exchange market to judge any values accurately nowadays.

[Alex MacLeod]

Is it not the case that work permit rules for non EU players could be a problem. Like the SPL rule that say's the player must have played x amount of international matches for his country?

[Scotty]

Alex - you are spot on.

Work permits for players who do not possess a passport issued by an EU country are a minefield. I think you have to be in the top 25 (or 50?) nations (which Canada is not but USA is) and have to be a current international who has played in something like 80% of the countries last however-many matches. Youngsters or 'prospects' can come in, but again, if they can get past the rules of the government, they then have to satisfy the rules of the league (Jason Scotland has been mentioned already).

It is quite restrictive. I guess that restriction has its good points, but it also has its bad points as I agree with the pimple point in principle that here is good talent over here but the red tape would scupper any moves.

Pimple - salary link here: http://www.mlsplayers.org/salary_info.html. (All figures are in US$). The base salary (left column) is the actual wage packet, but the right column is more accurate as that includes any signing-on fees and any other guaranteed bonuses etc averaged out over the term of the contract.It does not include win bounses or performance bonuses as these are not "guranteed"

So here is DeRo

DeRo 2009 = $425,750 which I translated as roughly ?260K or $5K p/week

DeRo 2008 = $324,999

DeRo 2007 = $324,999

However, there is some good affordable talent in the leagues. As I mentioned, Nana Attakora is just a young lad but I would expect him to be a first team starter next season. In his first couple of youth years he got less than US$13K which is about ?150 p/week but now gets about ?400 p/week. Next year he should (if there is any fairness based on performance) double it again but its still only ?800 p/w for a defender at 21 who will go a long way in the game.

Attakora 2009 = $34,000

Attakora 2008 = $12,900

Attakora 2007 = $12,900

Just to show the silliness at the other end of the scale, here is Beckham's numbers !

Beckham 2009 = $6,500,000

Beckham 2008 = $6,500,000

Beckham 2007 = $6,500,000