Support

[finmack]

3400 for a Scottish Cup tie. One word sums that up-DIRE!

[Guest Get_off_the_park_Wyness!]

If the club were so worried about demand for their product then maybe they should do something about their RIP OFF prices. That's what every other company does.

[CaleyD]

As has ben said on about 6 other threads - ICT wanted to reduce the prices for this match but Dundee Utd refused to do anything other than a small reduction on concessions.

[tm4tj]

Need to really understand the reasons behind this.

Yes it was a pretty poor crowd. Why?

Some reasons

Prices

Scotland England rugby on TV

Season tickets are not used for cup games.

We have roughly 3000 of a fanbase that will turn up because they have season tickets. The rest of the usual crowds are made up of pay at the gates and the away fans.

A lot of our further afield season ticket holders probably gave this one a miss.

Third home game in a row.

The biggest issue is that people in the North have still not realised that ICT are for real, maybe some expert marketing required here.

Well done to United for a decent away support. Not all away supports are so good, Killie and Well are lucky to have more than 100 when they come up for SPL games. Likewise, the last time I was at Well the crowd was pretty poor from ICT.

The club still has to sell itself to the general public, crowds like this take the edge off of games and kills any atmosphere, although I thought Saturday was okish.

[Guest Get_off_the_park_Wyness!]

I wasn't just talking about the cup game.

[Kingsmills]

Given the price of tickets the size of the crowd was no great surprise.

[CaleyD]

I wasn't just talking about the cup game.

Well thats what the thread was about  :014:

[tm4tj]

I was.

The original topic was about the cup game.

The core fanbase is not the biggest in the world and the old firm domination still has to get weaned out of the genes. It will take time. In the meantime the club should be doing it's utmost to get folk along. I agree about the prices, but that is not likely to change much other than for one off games occasionally, (if ever)

But, instead of everybody coming on here and simply stating yeah it's rubbish, we should really be trying to add something constructive to the topic and it can be presented to the club maybe through the trust. Somehow, despite poor crowds we still seem able to live within our means.

[Heilandee]

Mebbes ICT have just peaked at the wrong time with Scottish crowds in decline,SPL and the folk running the game p*ssing off Joe public to the point of no return and apathy for football in general(outwith the OF).I used to go to many ICT games through the divisions but SPL prices make me think long and hard about which games i as a neutral go to,Sure their are many more incomers like me who enjoy a day at the fitba but £40 plus for me the bairn an a couple of pehs is hard to justify.I personally wouldn't consider missing a cup game just because my season ticket didnt cover it but mebbes some folks budget for a seasonn ticket and thats their lot

[Harry Chibber]

as CC said after the the game... ICT need a good cup run to get the fans interested.  Our fan base is as expected from the little history of the club, take a look at any other club in the SPL, they have had 100+ years to drum up a fan base and are only just scraping more than us.  I guarentee if we have a major success the fans will come running.

Maybe not this year but certainly in the next 2 or 3 ICT will pick up a trophy, I'm sure of it and we will then (finally) be thought of as a major SPL club and unlike Livi we have the tight finances to continue our progress.

[Guest Suspicious Mind]

It's difficult to catch the public's imagination when your playing a wee diddy team guys.

[Guest]

Would it be fair to say that bad feeling from the merger still lingers on and that's what is keeping the crowds so low up there?  Speaking to friends in Inverness, that's the impression that i get.

How, for example, can you explain the 6000 or more Caley fans who went to Perth in 1992 for a Scottish cup-tie against a 2nd-rate club, when ICT pull in half of that for a home game?

[Harry Chibber]

NO

[tm4tj]

No what Harry??? Would you like to enlarge on this.

I believe that ignorance and ill feeling from the merger still exists.

ICT have taken a few thousand to Hampden for cup games. The novelty may wear thin though, and a lot of these fans are fair weather fans and glory hunters. The real fans are the core who are there every week. For the novelty games whole families make a weekend of it, but the nitty gritty is left to the true followers.

[Guest]

Is that "NO" as in ....[insert reasoning here],  or "NO" as in "head in the sand, not wanting to answer question" ?

[Row S]

I expected this and wasn't surprised to see many ST holders missing on Saturday.  However, no doubt they will all be back with more to boot plus the usual Sellick fans wanting tickets for the next round in amongst the home support.

We also had the steady trickle of early leavers again.  I know the second half was dire, but why pay all that money to watch the game then leave 5 minutes or more before the end?  Was it because they feared another last minute opposition goal? 

[beachcomber]

There are presently whole  departments of highly paid consultants and researchers at the HIE and UHI dedicated to carrying out high level research into this very subject. They expect to reveal their findings in about 2020 with the publication of a 10 million page report and I wouldn't like to try and pre-empt their findings by commenting any further at present. :017:

[Heilandee]

There are presently whole  departments of highly paid consultants and researchers at the HIE

As long as it's no the highly paid IHE

[Harry Chibber]

is that "NO" as in ....[insert reasoning here],  or "NO" as in "head in the sand, not wanting to answer question" ?

That's a 'NO' for I'm sick of hearing this as an excuse if someone is not willing to come watch the match because of whatever reason, then they are not an ICT fan.  Look to the future not the past, all these old feckers that really have that much of a problem about the merger are gonna be in old folks home soon anyway and the new generation of fans wont give a toss about past loyalties.... lets face it if they are being stupid enough to not come to watch ICT for such a stupid reason then they are obviously thick as mince... just look what they have missed out on over the last 12 years!!

as I said, would prefer just to think of them as fans of any other club

[The Mantis]

It was the diddy opposition obviously. More ICT turned out against Ayr and P*rt*ck last season.

BNP, you'll be hoping we turn over the tims anyway  :004:

[Action Man]

Oh no, here we go again..it's feckin simple...Club+effort+marketing+profile+more feckin effort+affordability=bigger crowds!

End of.

[Guest]

It was the diddy opposition obviously. More ICT turned out against Ayr and P*rt*ck last season.

BNP, you'll be hoping we turn over the tims anyway  :004:

How goes it Mantis?  I was pinning my hopes on Deveronvale this year  :015: 

aye go on then, hammer those tims.

[Guest Spectre]

Inverness population 50,000 average support 5,000

Aberdeen population 200,000 av support 12,000

Dundee population 150,000 av support (Utd only) 7,000

Edinburgh population 500,000 av support (Hibs+Hearts) 30,000

(OK Glasgow population 600,000 av support both OF 100,000)

Our support is what you'd expect.

Maybe we should sign some Polish players to increase local interest...

[Action Man]

Inverness population 50,000 average support 5,000

Aberdeen population 200,000 av support 12,000

Dundee population 150,000 av support (Utd only) 7,000

Edinburgh population 500,000 av support (Hibs+Hearts) 30,000

(OK Glasgow population 600,000 av support both OF 100,000)

Our support is what you'd expect.

Maybe we should sign some Polish players to increase local interest...

Totally agree, brilliant idea to put a shine on the team...how about Jeri Blozom?

[Charles Bannerman]

Brand New Poster... NO, NO and thrice NO!!!!!

Can we please get this ridiculous myth about the "bad feeling after the merger" affecting crowds killed off once and for all because I am fed up with having to make this post every few months?

Please remember that, typically, Thistle and Caley between them in 1993 were pulling in around 600 fans. A majority of these were either happy enough about the merger or, even if they didn't like it, still came along to Caley Thistle games. I would doubt if the number of fans who stayed away exceeded 200 and even some of these have drifted back. That is a mere drop in the ocean compared even with the disappointing 2000-4000 home fans who now turn up for non Old Firm and Aberdeen games. Compared with the admittedly less than outstanding numbers which turn up for home games now, those who gave a serious toss about the merger are a mere minor appendix.

As for the 6000 who travelled to Perth, many of these were "I only go to big games" type "fans" (of whom there are still plenty on some occasions now). I really can't imagine too many of them caring enough about the club still to be so outraged and incensed at the heresy of the merger that they feel motivated to stay away from the glory hunting occasions which they were wont to attend in the past.

Quite simply, the St. Johnstone replay in 1992 was a massive occasion in Inverness football, possibly only upstaged by Thistle's trip to Celtic Park in 1985 and Caley's home game against Rangers in 1984. Occasions like that were Mega in Inverness in these days and of course attracted fans in their hordes. Even replaying Dundee United in 1998 was a very big occasion, but meeting them at home in Caley Thistle's third season in the SPL is bogstandard. And, in the perception of your average gloryhunter, so is the fourth round of the cup for a club which has twice been to the semis and to which the quarters are well trodden territory.

Playing an SPL team was massive pre merger and attracted huge crowds. Playing in the Third division at a new stadium was massive immediately post merger and attracted huge crowds. But to be realistic, at this rather more advanced stage of evolution, playing the SPL team immediately below you in the table is no longer sexy... especially if it's not on the season ticket and the said team has refused to allow reduced prices.

Once again the novelty factor has worn off.

But PLEEEEEASE.... abandon this myth about the merger!