Wholesale change needed. We're going down. Sack the board. We need investment, new ideas, new direction. 

Edited December 31, 20168 yr by TopSix

16 minutes ago, Charles Bannerman said:

That's all very well, but it's also somewhat revisionist. What "should have" been done is a matter of debate and you may well be right or wrong. However the reality is the situation which applies at the moment and that is a team which has consistently not been performing well sitting four points plus goal difference adrift of safety and with six games to go - three of these against the two sides immediately above them. What has happened can't be changed and the best possible course therefore must be to make the best out of what remains until a numerical conclusion is arrived at one way or the other.

'To get the best out of what remains' do you not think it would be beneficial for the club (board) to make a defined statement then? Either stating they are backing the manager and have faith in his ability - thus stopping all the media pressure and speculation which is only fuelling the fan unrest with it? As you state highly important games yet there is a growing air of uncertainty now around RF so how can we expect the players to focus when they've struggled most of the season before the pressure really started to build - make a statement and put everyone's mind at rest so they can fully focus on what needs done on the park.

You seem to suggest that the team is consistently not performing well, yet provide no position other than looking to prefer the status quo and have the board ignore the unrest and situation they have created. I have to agree with RiG there is a lack of leadership shown on the park and off it appears not much better - nobody seems keen to step up, show fight and take control of this situation.

Edited April 12, 20178 yr by bdu98196

It still staggers me that Foran was kept on after that shambolic defensive show at Ross County on December 31st. He had 3 weeks to get an organised defence and blew all the beans on bringing back McKay.

As much es he is better than Doumbuoya or Fisher, what we needed was a defence. That's been the case all season, and he hasn't bothered getting one.

And the one player with a decent defensive mind, Draper, was sent up front, presumably to hold up the ball. Who would win the ball in the first place never came into the equation. A sorry state of affairs, and I would sack Foran at the split no matter what the result on Saturday. There'll be 5 games to save our skin mostly against other teams who have struggled, and an impact on the mindset is needed.

Edited April 12, 20178 yr by scottwhat

4 minutes ago, bdu98196 said:

'To get the best out of what remains' do you not think it would be beneficial for the club (board) to make a defined statement then?

You seem to suggest that the team is consistently not performing well, yet provide no position other than looking to prefer the status quo and have the board ignore the unrest and situation they have created. 

Certainly a defined and effective statement or indeed rallying call aimed at focusing minds in the face of desperate danger would be beneficial and very probably overdue. The main problem is that in terms of delivering it, Winston Churchill has been dead for over 50 years! To continue that analogy, this is like when the Germans were continually bombing the airfields during the Battle of Britain. One can only hope that Hamilton and/or Motherwell do Inverness a favour and make mistakes such as bombing London instead. One or two Churchillian exhortations wouldn't go wrong either though.

Quite frankly, there aren't too many options left now and you can analyse what did, or didn't, happen in the past until you're blue in the face but it won't make one iota of difference. The ONLY options that remain are those which will maximise the points take between now and the end of the season - especially in the three games against Hamilton and Motherwell. I also believe that a certain sector of the Inverness fans need to take a look at themselves in all this. Constant undermining of players and management in various ways, including booing at matches, will have done nothing to boost confidence and morale. This is without doubt a "perfect storm" scenario where a number of adverse factors have conspired together but the reaction and to be blunt, the Holier Than Thou self-righteousness of SOME fans has most definitely contributed.

Interestingly, STV made no reference at all to the club's statement on their 6pm sport bulletin.

2 hours ago, Charles Bannerman said:

.

. I also believe that a certain sector of the Inverness fans need to take a look at themselves in all this. Constant undermining of players and management in various ways, including booing at matches, will have done nothing to boost confidence and morale. This is without doubt a "perfect storm" scenario where a number of adverse factors have conspired together but the reaction and to be blunt, the Holier Than Thou self-righteousness of SOME fans has most definitely contributed.

It isn't the fans who have won four games all season or assembled the assortment of dross we have a first team squad. The idea that we have an ultra demanding fan base is laughable, plenty of other teams supports would've been baying for blood months ago. Fans should hold the team to the highest standards possible, not just happy clap along as the fat lady sings.

Thursday would be a good day for the team to do something different to get away from the football blah blah. 

10 minutes ago, ictchris said:

It isn't the fans who have won four games all season or assembled the assortment of dross we have a first team squad. The idea that we have an ultra demanding fan base is laughable, plenty of other teams supports would've been baying for blood months ago. Fans should hold the team to the highest standards possible, not just happy clap along as the fat lady sings.

That sounds a wee bit like the claim that the NHS in Scotland is OK because it is allegedly better than the NHS in England. What I am saying is that there are SOME Inverness fans, including those booing loudly at full time on Saturday, who have been very quick and early to turn on various parts of the club. One concern I have is that, notwithstanding the fact that the team's situation is indeed very bad, some fans are already assuming that relegation is inevitable so are demanding a reckoning now rather than at the end of the season.

It's just as well James Vincent didn't come to that conclusion in the 2015 Scottish Cup Final, or the scorers of the four goals after Ayr United went 3-0 up or the team and management after Dundee built up a huge lead in 2010.

3 hours ago, scottwhat said:

It still staggers me that Foran was kept on after that shambolic defensive show at Ross County on December 31st. He had 3 weeks to get an organised defence and blew all the beans on bringing back McKay.

As much es he is better than Doumbuoya or Fisher, what we needed was a defence. That's been the case all season, and he hasn't bothered getting one.

And the one player with a decent defensive mind, Draper, was sent up front, presumably to hold up the ball. Who would win the ball in the first place never came into the equation. A sorry state of affairs, and I would sack Foran at the split no matter what the result on Saturday. There'll be 5 games to save our skin mostly against other teams who have struggled, and an impact on the mindset is needed.

Green dot for the first sentence. 

19 minutes ago, Charles Bannerman said:

That sounds a wee bit like the claim that the NHS in Scotland is OK because it is allegedly better than the NHS in England. What I am saying is that there are SOME Inverness fans, including those booing loudly at full time on Saturday, who have been very quick and early to turn on various parts of the club. One concern I have is that, notwithstanding the fact that the team's situation is indeed very bad, some fans are already assuming that relegation is inevitable so are demanding a reckoning now rather than at the end of the season.

It's just as well James Vincent didn't come to that conclusion in the 2015 Scottish Cup Final, or the scorers of the four goals after Ayr United went 3-0 up or the team and management after Dundee built up a huge lead in 2010.

The NHS in Scotland is better than the NHS in England. 

42 minutes ago, Charles Bannerman said:

That sounds a wee bit like the claim that the NHS in Scotland is OK because it is allegedly better than the NHS in England. What I am saying is that there are SOME Inverness fans, including those booing loudly at full time on Saturday, who have been very quick and early to turn on various parts of the club. One concern I have is that, notwithstanding the fact that the team's situation is indeed very bad, some fans are already assuming that relegation is inevitable so are demanding a reckoning now rather than at the end of the season.

It's just as well James Vincent didn't come to that conclusion in the 2015 Scottish Cup Final, or the scorers of the four goals after Ayr United went 3-0 up or the team and management after Dundee built up a huge lead in 2010.

Nobody has given up.....but a lot of us are fed up.

27 minutes ago, TopSix said:

The NHS in Scotland is better than the NHS in England. 

The poster concerned never lets mere facts and statistics get in the way of a dig at the democratically elected Scottish Government even when entirely irrelevant to the topic of the thread.

1 hour ago, Charles Bannerman said:

That sounds a wee bit like the claim that the NHS in Scotland is OK because it is allegedly better than the NHS in England. What I am saying is that there are SOME Inverness fans, including those booing loudly at full time on Saturday, who have been very quick and early to turn on various parts of the club. One concern I have is that, notwithstanding the fact that the team's situation is indeed very bad, some fans are already assuming that relegation is inevitable so are demanding a reckoning now rather than at the end of the season.

It's just as well James Vincent didn't come to that conclusion in the 2015 Scottish Cup Final, or the scorers of the four goals after Ayr United went 3-0 up or the team and management after Dundee built up a huge lead in 2010.

I'd rather gouge my own eyes out than discuss Scottish politics online and it's completely unrelated to anything being discussed so I'll leave your opening sentence to one side.

We have had an absolute abomination of a season. Four wins is abysmal, unacceptable. There is no other team in Scottish football who have a record as bad as us. It's one of the worst seasons in recent SPL history, it's certainly the worst team we've had in the top flight. The idea that booing after a 3-0 home defeat represents fans being very quick to turn in the club is bizarre. I think our fans have been too slow to express how bad things are, mainly because of who the manager is.  

Listing comeback wins from the past is all well and good but we aren't talking about those games. We are talking about this team, this season and, based in the evidence we've got, relegation is overwhelmingly likely. We need to win about as many games in our final six matches as we've done in it's 32. I can't see anything in our recent performances to suggest that we are in the verge of a step change in how we play. I hope we do and the split can throw up unexpected outcomes but I'd say that we are odds on to go down. 

 

 

Sustaining a Premiership team long term in a remote location with a turnover of £3-4M, crowds often struggling to reach 3000, relying on windfalls and asset sales, and with no current benefactor is a highly marginal activity. Rather like walking a tightrope (there you go - non-political analogy this time!) it doesn't take much of an error somewhere for things to go badly wrong and that's what may very well have happened this time. The nature of any errors can certainly be speculated about, but any inquest is best left until a final conclusion has been reached. Efforts are meanwhile best focused on maximising such chances of survival that remain. Getting angry about the situation isn't going to make it any better.

If anything is remarkable, it's that errors capable of upsetting the tightrope walker which is ICT have been as infrequent as they have. Indeed the largely error free transition (one major exception) from the Highland League to the Premiership in 10 years and remaining there for 13 with just one instantly redeemed hiccup is what has been truly remarkable, and not that the odds this time appear increasingly likely to catch up with the club.

I wouldn't perhaps go as far as saying that Premiership status has become taken for granted. However I do think there needs to be a greater awareness each relegation time of the "there but for the Grace of God go I" principle (religious analogy now ) which has often given Inverness Caledonian Thistle a hefty rub of the green in very marginal circumstances.

Edited April 12, 20178 yr by Charles Bannerman

8 hours ago, caley100 said:

So you would be happy with Brian Rice in charge for our last 5 crucial games?      no feckin thanks!

Can't see Richie improving anything : he seems to be in denial mode.

If the Board thinks Brian Rice can save us in the last few games, then it rather begs the question of why they didn't offer Rice the post when Hughes left (always assuming they didn't, of course!).  Maybe Rice prefers being in the number 2 role - many folk do - but it always struck me as bit of a strange one that an experienced guy like Rice would be happy to be number 2 to a rookie manager who clearly wanted to play in a style radically different from the Hughes style that Rice was familiar with.  Whether this relationship has resulted in tensions I don't know, but on the face of it, it is not an ideal pairing.

We always knew it was likely to be a rocky road with Richie but I thought he would grow into the role and would succeed.  I think he's been unlucky with injuries and the rub of the green at times and it is also clear that some of the senior players are not as effective this year as previously.  But is that Foran's fault for not getting the best out of them or the players'?  Tansey seems to have picked up from a generally poor season but Draper has been regularly below the standard we have come to expect from him.  Warren is also not the player that he was and I wonder whether he has ever fully recovered from his leg break.  He is not as young as he was and sadly it seems his best days are now behind him.  With key players like this under-performing and players like Meekings and Doran plagued with injury it has not been made easy for Foran and I think he is rather unlucky to find himself in the position he is.  

But he is where he is and the more the season goes on, he seems to be going backwards rather than forwards.  There are times when it seems the side is screaming out for the kind of attacking intent which he promised he would deliver, but increasingly he has not been brave enough to play a creative side.  Instead, too many players are played out of position and things are changed from week to week.  He persists with some players who have not played well and then inexplicably drops players who seem to have brought fresh life to the team.  

It's all too easy to criticise Foran, but whilst he is the manager, he does not work in isolation.  He has an assistant, a team captain, experienced staff like Charlie Christie etc to seek advice and get opinions from.  So what advice are they giving him?  One get's the impression that he is floundering with little support but we really can't know what is happening behind the scenes.  Of course, a win against Motherwell could kick start a little run which could see us climb to safety, but with each week, relegation looks a step nearer and it does look that all is not OK behind the scenes. The Board is not going to sack itself and the shareholders are not going to change the Board.  We simply have to trust that the Board has the matter in hand, although if it has a strategy, there is no evidence that it is anything other than hoping that remaining results go our way.

7 hours ago, DoofersDad said:

It's all too easy to criticise Foran, but whilst he is the manager, he does not work in isolation.  He has an assistant, a team captain, experienced staff like Charlie Christie etc to seek advice and get opinions from.  So what advice are they giving him?  One get's the impression that he is floundering with little support but we really can't know what is happening behind the scenes.  Of course, a win against Motherwell could kick start a little run which could see us climb to safety, but with each week, relegation looks a step nearer and it does look that all is not OK behind the scenes. 

Perhaps the issue with Foran is not the lack or quality of advice from those around him, but rather his lacking of heeding advice when it is given. 

Edited April 13, 20178 yr by Renegade

10 hours ago, ictchris said:

We have had an absolute abomination of a season. Four wins is abysmal, unacceptable. There is no other team in Scottish football who have a record as bad as us. It's one of the worst seasons in recent SPL history, it's certainly the worst team we've had in the top flight. The idea that booing after a 3-0 home defeat represents fans being very quick to turn in the club is bizarre. I think our fans have been too slow to express how bad things are, mainly because of who the manager is.

A good point this. If Hughes had still been in charge I suspect a lot of fans (TBF probably myself included) would be burning an effigy of Yogi outside the stadium. I don't want to see Foran fail but he has had a pretty easy time of things compared to previous managers given our record this season.

Edited April 13, 20178 yr by RiG

http://www.highland-news.co.uk/Sport/Football/Caley-Thistle-board-back-boss-as-Foran-plots-survival-12042017.htm

That's simply the same statement they issued earlier in the week.  It's the kind of sloppy reporting you expect from the Highland News.

On Tuesday, April 11, 2017 at 0:14 PM, Kingsmills said:

Foran is not blameless by any means for the situation we are in. However, I do firmly believe that the board have failed both him and the fans by not providing him with the experienced assistance that, as a new and inexperienced manager, he requires.

It is increasingly evident that, whatever else he may be doing, Brian Rice is not fulfilling that role.

I really don't get this Brian Rice attack. I doubt if anyone on this board knows him or has any idea about his coaching abilities. Sacking the board isn't an option at this stage but they should take the bull by the horns and replace RF with BR NOW. We do however need a new chairman without delay. Whether he comes from the existing board or is externally appointed doesn't matter to me but Kc needs to go with RF.

11 minutes ago, DoofersDad said:

That's simply the same statement they issued earlier in the week.  It's the kind of sloppy reporting you expect from the Highland News.

That doesn't reflect events at all DD. The ICT statement was issued at 9pm on Tuesday, just 16 hours before the HN's deadline at lunchtime on Wednesday. It is also, and it remains as I write, the last statement made by the club with any reference at all to the situation of the manager or indeed on anything. The only other source of information is the manager's own pre-match comments to the HN where he is hardly going to speculate on his own future. The HN's report therefore was at time of publication, and remains at the time I write this, the most up to date account of the situation available.

13 hours ago, Charles Bannerman said:

Sustaining a Premiership team long term in a remote location with a turnover of £3-4M, crowds often struggling to reach 3000, relying on windfalls and asset sales, and with no current benefactor is a highly marginal activity. Rather like walking a tightrope (there you go - non-political analogy this time!) it doesn't take much of an error somewhere for things to go badly wrong and that's what may very well have happened this time. The nature of any errors can certainly be speculated about, but any inquest is best left until a final conclusion has been reached. Efforts are meanwhile best focused on maximising such chances of survival that remain. Getting angry about the situation isn't going to make it any better.

If anything is remarkable, it's that errors capable of upsetting the tightrope walker which is ICT have been as infrequent as they have. Indeed the largely error free transition (one major exception) from the Highland League to the Premiership in 10 years and remaining there for 13 with just one instantly redeemed hiccup is what has been truly remarkable, and not that the odds this time appear increasingly likely to catch up with the club.

I wouldn't perhaps go as far as saying that Premiership status has become taken for granted. However I do think there needs to be a greater awareness each relegation time of the "there but for the Grace of God go I" principle (religious analogy now ) which has often given Inverness Caledonian Thistle a hefty rub of the green in very marginal circumstances.

It's perfectly possible to sustain a Premiership team on our budget, in our location and with our crowds.  We've been in the top flight for more than half of our history, us being in the division isn't some sort of outlier.  We don't have a much lower budget than the teams we are competing against, we aren't playing in Fair Isle, we are a couple of hours drive up the road from the central belt.

There isn't any reason for the factors that you list to explain the season we've had - I look at two clubs in Partick Thistle and St Johnstone who get similar crowds, have a similar budget and aren't exactly glamour locations, it hasn't held them back from both having excellent seasons and building the kind of team we used to have.

Finally, you can't say that we've had the "rub of the green" - as a club we've made good decisions in how we've spent our resources in terms of managers, players and staff.  That's why we succeeded not luck.  We've failed this season because we've made poor decisions about how we spend our resources on those things and that's lead to the disaster that we've had.  

2 hours ago, Charles Bannerman said:

That doesn't reflect events at all DD. The ICT statement was issued at 9pm on Tuesday, just 16 hours before the HN's deadline at lunchtime on Wednesday. It is also, and it remains as I write, the last statement made by the club with any reference at all to the situation of the manager or indeed on anything. The only other source of information is the manager's own pre-match comments to the HN where he is hardly going to speculate on his own future. The HN's report therefore was at time of publication, and remains at the time I write this, the most up to date account of the situation available.

er - I think that's what I said.  It's the same statement.  But what the statement does not do is to to say that the Board has given its backing to Foran although the headline suggests it does.

The STV report said that a board meeting was convened to discuss Foran's future.  The club statement says that in fact, the board meeting this week is routine.  Of course, you can use a routine board meeting to discuss his future.  

5 hours ago, DoofersDad said:

er - I think that's what I said.  It's the same statement.  But what the statement does not do is to to say that the Board has given its backing to Foran although the headline suggests it does.

Agree and normally the devil is in the detail and we are not privy to that!!!!