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QUESTIONS / OBSERVATIONS TO THE BOARD


IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER

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Not a bad start don't you ALL think ?

Dear Supporters,

Let me begin by saying thank you for your loyal support – it really does make a huge difference and everyone at the Club is most grateful.

ICT 25th anniversary celebrations:  Preparations have begun for the celebration of our 25th anniversary, which gives us all a great opportunity to generate new interest in the Club within the community and provide loyal fans with many exciting events to look forward to.

Liam Dalgarno, a Director of the Club and a prominent businessman in the city, is chairing the Committee that includes three personalities who have been with the Club since our formation in 1994 – namely, Charlie Christie, a former player, manager and now Head of Youth Development Jim Falconer, Club Secretary, and Dave Milroy, Club Ambassador.  Our CEO Yvonne Crook and Director Gordon Fyfe are also supporting this Committee.

We also have a representative of ICT Supporters Trust on the Committee and are engaged with other supporter groups, who are eager to make this a year to remember.

There are some exciting opportunities for existing and new sponsors to back the Club which is a big player in the local economy. We have a proud history and a very bright future ahead. 

We have just confirmed that our first major event will be a Grand Ball at the Kingsmills Hotel, Inverness on Saturday 2 March, 2019.  It was on 24 February, 1994, that the new Board of Directors of ICT held their first meeting at Balnain House, Inverness.

Some of the other high level ideas being suggested for the year of celebration are:-

  • Organising a keynote match against prominent opposition
  • Creating a museum within the stadium, featuring a hall of fame and memorabilia
  • Producing a photo-led book on the Club’s history called Milestones and Memories;
  • Staging a Hall of Fame Night
  • Creating new merchandise including, a special commemorative strip

The Club played pre-season friendlies against St Mirren and Bolton Wanderers before our first competitive game was played on 9 August 1994 – a 2-0 win over East Stirlingshire at Firs Park in a Coca Cola Cup Round 1 tie.  The Club’s first Scottish League Division 3 match followed on 13 August – a 5-2 home win over Arbroath.

Good news:  I am delighted that our Manager John Robertson has extended his stay with us for one more year - until the summer of 2021. The Club has not lost a game in the Championship since winning the Irn Bru Cup in March with an unbeaten run extending to 19 games. I’m sure you’ll agree John is doing a great job for the club. He is an excellent spokesman and ambassador for the Club, enjoying a frequent and engaging rapport with our supporters.  We value John’s leadership and wish him and the team the very best.

Landmarks for Carl, Aaron and Liam:  I was delighted to recently present commemorative quaichs to three of our players for reaching important landmarks in their playing careers.  Captain Carl Tremarco played his 150th game against Queen of the South and it was a good chance to mark the 200th appearance of Vice-Captain, Aaron Doran, and the 150th appearance of Liam Polworth. Well done lads.

North of Scotland FA Cup Final: Our young players had scored 26 goals without loss in reaching Sunday’s final against Ross County but fell at the final hurdle 3-2.  Well done to coaches Barry Wilson and Ryan Esson and the team for their efforts.  I have no doubt many good times lie ahead for our hugely promising crop of young talent.  And we all wish Ryan a successful and prosperous Testimonial Year, which he so richly deserves.

Sad passing of Alan Hercher:  The club’s first home league match against Arbroath in August 1994, saw our skipper Alan Hercher, score a quick-fire hat-trick before half time to put us in the driving seat.  Alan passed away in August – just one day before his 53rdbirthday.  He was hugely respected and popular man, who was a credit to his family.  In his three seasons with ICT, Alan played 79 times, scoring 23 goals.  He won a League Division 3 winners’ medal in 1996/7 and was awarded a testimonial against St Johnstone on 28 July 1997.  He later played for Clachnacuddin and Brora Rangers.

Alex Main:  We also said farewell to Alex Main, the most successful manager in the history of Caledonian FC, winning 15 trophies during two spells at the Club between 1976 and 1983, including 4 Highland League titles.  Alex was 86.

MacMillan Fund-Raiser:  Well done to our staff for raising £300 from a coffee morning at the stadium to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Relief.  A great effort.

Stadium update: Peter McCallum, who looked after security and IT at the stadium, has retired after many years of loyal service to the club.  We wish Peter well in his retirement.   Andy Johnstone, a former Highland firefighter, has taken over as Stadium Manager. Andy also videos our games, with the highlights featuring on Caley Jags TV.  The team also use his recordings for post-match analysis.

We have significantly upgraded the Press and Journal Suite on the first floor and the Reception area and intend to continue our investment to improve the match day experience of our fans.

In his new role, Andy has been carrying out essential maintenance on the stadium. 

These include: -

  • Repairs to the West Stand toilet and server area, which suffered significant water damage due to frost bursts;
  • Repairs to the roof of the Main Stand, which has stopped the water ingress into both stairwells, the third floor corridor and second floor toilets
  • Repairs to the Sports Bar, which suffered from flooding from leaking pipes;

An assessment by structural engineers of the North and South Stands has resulted in the replacement of 96 boards and 27 steps and in the Main Stand severely corroded PA speakers have been cut down and advertising boards re-secured.

Significant electrical refurbishment work has been undertaken to make safe electrical installations in the main building ground floor and the north concourse

Volunteers:  There are opportunities at the club for volunteering.  If you feel you can offer us assistance on match-days, especially in the areas of Turnstile Operations, Hospitality, Executive Box Catering and  Club Assistance Ambassadors, please in the first instance contact Andy Johnstone for an introductory conversation.  There will be further opportunities once  ICT25 celebrations get into full swing.

Liaison with supporters:  We recognise the importance of effective liaison with our supporters and this will be the focus of increased attention in the months ahead.  Each SPFL club is required to have a Supporters’ Liaison Officer and at ICT this, initially, will be shared by our senior staff, with Stadium Manager, Andy Johnstone, taking a co-ordinating role.    We will ensure that communications from supporters and feedback are dealt with by the correct department and that the necessary actions are delivered. A  Supporters’ Liaison Officer email is now active - slo@ictfc.co.uk

As part of our engagement with supporters, we are organising an open night focusing on supporter liaison in the Caley Social Club between 7 – 9 pm on Thursday 25 October.  This meeting will be chaired by Director, Gordon Fyfe, who initially will be the Board’s link with supporters.

We welcome the involvement of ICT Supporters Trust on our ICT25 Committee and we hope this celebration of our first 25 years is a chance to establish a positive and constructive working relationship.   On ICT25, it has been encouraging to engage with supporters who organise buses for away games and those supporters living in the south of Scotland who cheer us on when we are in the south.  Working together will make such a difference to the Club. We are working very hard and I hope you feel we genuinely do value our supporters and communicate effectively with you.  Since becoming a Director, and then in my role as Chairman, the Board has issued 35 statements covering a range of Club activities.  Additionally, I have participated in numerous TV and newspaper interviews and met with various Supporters’ Groups on multiple occasions. Moreover, I have had face to face meetings with more than 40 individual supporters and in some cases, groups of people, who have identified gaps or shortfalls in our operations, and/or wish to share their views on potential opportunities for improvement.  We have had interactive sessions with season ticket holders and shareholders, with more such Q and A meetings planned for the future. As many of you know, the Club is active on social media platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook, You Tube and Instagram.  We are also in the process of upgrading our web site. We recently attracted funding to appoint a graduate communications officer and Liam Morrison is taking the lead in editing our social media platforms, including the digital match day programme.  Our Manager is a most able communicator, keeping fans up to speed with his frank and insightful pre and post-match interviews.  We post highlights of all our games on Caley Jags TV.

Of course, we can always do better.  Please let me know if there is anything more you think we should be doing to liaise or communicate with you more effectively.  As always, if you have any feedback on Club activities or suggestions on how we can improve, please email them to me at graham.rae@ictfc.co.uk - I’d be pleased to hear from you.  What’s important is that as steadfast supporters, we unite behind our manager and the footballers and demonstrate our collective allegiance and patronage for this great Club.

Graham Rae

Chairman

Edited by IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER
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7 minutes ago, Shorty said:

You have had the runaround then with not getting the promised response and fobbed off and people having to resubmit questions by another means only for them to go back to him to answer anyway.

Oh I got a much longer response. Can you read Shorty. Apologies if your knickname was given becos you are short-sighted. Perhaps you are tiny and have difficulty getting up high enuff to see the screen. Nothing worse than a short sighted vulture.

 

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Credit where credit is due.  The chairman's statement on the official website gives a lot of positive detail.  Some of this detail could and probably should have been communicated earlier, but better late than never.  There also seems to be an uplift on the level of communication generally and hopefully this signals a change to a more communicative ethos in the Club.  This coincides with the re-energisation  of the Supporters Trust which bodes well for future engagement between club and supporters.  A quick look at the new Trust website  https://ict.supporterstrust.org/ makes it clear that the Trust's AGM on 6th December should be a much more positive event than in recent years and that the new Trust Board should be in a far better position than before to engage with the Club Board on matters of concern to supporters.

Regardless of the rights and wrongs of what is in the past, there does seem to me to be an opportunity now to develop a closer relationship between Club and Supporters.  I know there are certain  specific areas where close relationships do exist but I am talking about relationships in a much broader sense with the views of the supporters being proactively sought by the club and the club communicating more openly.  It is clear from the contributions to this thread that there are a lot of things a lot of supporters are not happy about.  Not all of them will be things which can be addressed as those voicing the concerns may wish, but when that is the case, it is always good to receive a considered reason as to why.

The club needs to get more revenue to increase the playing budget.  And it needs more supporters through the gates in order to get more revenue.  Supporters will attend games if they have a good match day experience and if they feel valued as supporters - if they are made to feel part of the club.  This requires the club to actively engage with supporters and we all need to work together to make sure the relationship between the club and the supporters is as constructive  as possible. It is great that the club are holding a Q&A session on the 25th of this month and I sincerely hope it will be a constructive and informative event for all concerned.

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58 minutes ago, DoofersDad said:

Credit where credit is due.  The chairman's statement on the official website gives a lot of positive detail.  Some of this detail could and probably should have been communicated earlier, but better late than never.  There also seems to be an uplift on the level of communication generally and hopefully this signals a change to a more communicative ethos in the Club.  This coincides with the re-energisation  of the Supporters Trust which bodes well for future engagement between club and supporters.  A quick look at the new Trust website  https://ict.supporterstrust.org/ makes it clear that the Trust's AGM on 6th December should be a much more positive event than in recent years and that the new Trust Board should be in a far better position than before to engage with the Club Board on matters of concern to supporters.

Regardless of the rights and wrongs of what is in the past, there does seem to me to be an opportunity now to develop a closer relationship between Club and Supporters.  I know there are certain  specific areas where close relationships do exist but I am talking about relationships in a much broader sense with the views of the supporters being proactively sought by the club and the club communicating more openly.  It is clear from the contributions to this thread that there are a lot of things a lot of supporters are not happy about.  Not all of them will be things which can be addressed as those voicing the concerns may wish, but when that is the case, it is always good to receive a considered reason as to why.

The club needs to get more revenue to increase the playing budget.  And it needs more supporters through the gates in order to get more revenue.  Supporters will attend games if they have a good match day experience and if they feel valued as supporters - if they are made to feel part of the club.  This requires the club to actively engage with supporters and we all need to work together to make sure the relationship between the club and the supporters is as constructive  as possible. It is great that the club are holding a Q&A session on the 25th of this month and I sincerely hope it will be a constructive and informative event for all concerned.

Most sensible post in months. :groovy: Lets hope that vultures can become doves !!

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There's a 5 page thread here where users were asked to provide questions, most sensible (some not) and this statement doesn't address these or make reference to when they will be answered only that they need to be submitted by other means. Through a position or post that the club hasn't bothered with a press release on, only to have it hidden away in reams of text, hopefully this is just advising the role being filled and it gets the level of announcement that it deserves so fans on all platforms (not just this forum/thread) get visibility of primary contacts.

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IHE

Wot's yu got against Canajins, eh?  
 Be nice now and I'll send you an Eskimo's fur coat for yer Christmas. That will allow you to attend more matches in the freezing cold of a Scottish Winter. Once you have mastered the art of wrapping yourself in  Polar Bear fur I'll send you a  racing sledge so you can entertain the troops at half times. The huskies might prove to be a problem though. When they think the signal to mush is about to be given they howl and yelp as if their mother had just hoven over the horizon with a couple of baby seals in her pouch.

It's gonna be fun Itchy.. If you win the Iditirod big race I'll help you to celebrate by holding your winnings in custody. I wouldn't trust them thar Mounties though. They will remand you in custard at the slightest twitch of yer bunnet. Especially if yer drunk and incapable., like.

Aye.......O.K. Mush, mush boys. We're off. Wheeeeeee!

Aye, mun, wha's like us, eh? :mountie::tongue:

 

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SP - Graham Rae was born in Inverness but he went to Canada as a young boy and when he returned he dressed like an Eskimo and spoke broad Canadian. My reference was towards him and I have no doubt that he will have a response of similar ilk to me. At least he has come out with a detailed AND personal response and I feel that my mission to silence some of the vultures Angry Birds has been successful. 

:canada:

Edited by IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER
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Och! I'm only teasing you, old chap. "'cos I know you love it and can tease right back in spades. By the way, How does one speak Canajin, like?

Believe it or not the purer the accents become going from the Deep South of the USA up to, and through, Canada.  And  a lot more interesting as well.

Now, back to business. That wannabee Canajin that you mention sounds like quite a guy. Stick with him and live and learn, I say.

 

 

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1 hour ago, IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER said:

SP - Graham Rae was born in Inverness but he went to Canada as a young boy and when he returned he dressed like an Eskimo and spoke broad Canadian. My reference was towards him and I have no doubt that he will have a response of similar ilk to me. At least he has come out with a detailed AND personal response and I feel that my mission to silence some of the vultures Angry Birds has been successful. 

:canada:

sorry IHE but I don't see answers to some very pertinent questions asked on this thread?

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Perhaps he should have written a book ??

5 hours ago, ICTPAISLEY said:

Who cares anyway let’s just get back to the football. 

Exactly.

6 hours ago, caleyboy said:

sorry IHE but I don't see answers to some very pertinent questions asked on this thread?

Well I thought that it was better than it has been - it wasn't pointless in that case. Lets hope that the new directions on how to make comments and receive responses begin to show an improvement as well.

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9 hours ago, bdu98196 said:

There's a 5 page thread here where users were asked to provide questions, most sensible (some not) and this statement doesn't address these or make reference to when they will be answered only that they need to be submitted by other means.

Club representatives have recently indicated (to others) that they have no confidence in dealing with any group, organisation or body that has any association with or involvement from Don (@CaleyD ) ... whether that is CTO (where he has not held any role for many years other than being a member like most users), whether that is the Trust (where he is the democratically elected Chairperson), or it would seem with InTorNet Design, our jointly owned hosting and website design service, where the club will not reply to our emails (but will make factually incorrect statements about us to un-associated third parties).  I will leave the Trust and Donald to address the issues involving them as they are not my concern, but I will defend both this site and perhaps more importantly my business by any means necessary from both scurrilous rumour and downright defamation. However, I will not go into further detail on that subject for now.  

Based on the above I would say not to hold your breath for any answer on here. To get an answer would require dialogue and as much as I personally reached out to both the chairman and the CEO in an attempt to maintain the cordial and mutually beneficial dialogue we have had with every single board of ICTFC since the club and this website were formed in 1994 - regardless of sometimes fraught interpersonal relationships with those involved - it seems impossible to continue to attempt to do so in such a one-sided fashion and be completely ignored by those who have been put in place by our shareholders to bring good stewardship and responsible governance to our club. 

The crux of the issue, in my opinion, seems to be power and control. It would seem that the current incumbents think that ceding any responsibility or involvement to others outside their tight circle erodes their power (the reluctance to put a named person in the SLO position is a prime example) or that groups like the Trust or CTO seek power and/or influence over them. This is not new, other people in those roles viewed the Members' Club, Supporters Club, CJT, CTO and others suspiciously in the past. However, it has been shown time after time that these relationships are intended to be symbiotic and collaborative in nature and can (and have) actually help(ed) them in many ways.  I cannot and will not talk for the Trust as I am not involved, but I can say that CTO has no interest in having any power or influence at the club. What I do, and have done for the last 25 years is simply to provide a platform for supporters of the club to talk about issues, good or bad, surrounding the club. 

I did this initially as a hobby because there was no other platform available, and although other platforms now exist and all are equally valid, I continue to do it from 3500+ miles away as it keeps me in touch with Inverness, ICT, friends and others. We still get between 500-600 unique users per day, nearly 2000 unique users per week and upwards of 25,000 page views on an average week so although this is less traffic than our heyday as some prefer the other platforms or social media, and there has been a drop now we are in the championship too, its still not insignificant viewing numbers.  Sometimes what is posted on the site are good things that draw praise, other times those are negative things that draw criticism, but through it all I think CTO has been shaped over the last 25 years by the users and we have, by and large, set our own standards where users more or less self-police the system and dont let things go too much in either direction. Look at some other football fora or indeed the various social media platforms to see discussions that spiral dangerously into territory our users do not allow. If the club choose to read the views of individual supporters and reach out to them or to change things at the stadium based on suggestions posted here - or indeed sent to them by any other means - then more power to their elbow, if they choose to ignore requests sent via any format then that is their right, but also their risk. As a supporter I will call them out when I think they get it wrong, but I will have no hesitation in praising them when I think they get it right ....  and despite what is posted above, I do think there are many things they have got right and are getting right and which I hope to see them continue to improve and get right as they move forward. (the e-Programmes and the recent stadium commentary initiative to name but two) 

 


As the club appear to have made a conscious decision not to acknowledge or respond to my emails, I will once again make this clear in a public forum ..... I remain open to working with the club, and having CTO be one of those avenues they (continue to) use to help communicate with the fans as they have stated on the website, in the matchday program, as part of their recent email blast, and on social media .... but I will do it in the same manner as I have done for the last 25 years. I don't do bullshit, I don't do politics, and I don't accept bullying behaviour be it overt in nature or passive aggressive. I am also not going to sugar coat my responses to anyone in email or on here. I have the ability to separate the personal, professional, and leisure aspects of my life and will happily work with others who share that ability and don't let personal grievances bleed over into other areas. I am more than happy to enter into public/private dialogue with the club, be it the chairman, CEO, a named SLO, or anyone else ... can they say the same ? 

 

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I can now fully appreciate your recent sensitivity and frustration. Am I being naieve BUT there are now different stated lines of communication. Try them all - I will too - and every other poster on here should do as well - ALL asking the same question - Does the club have an issue with communicating with the CaleyThistle Online forum ? As a forum member and a follower of the club I feel that communication is essential. We may be losing valuable supporters without this communication. How can any rift be remedied / resolved ?

And then the same question is posed at the Q&A Forum.

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33 minutes ago, IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER said:

I can now fully appreciate your recent sensitivity and frustration.

No, you have a sense but not the full picture as I have only posted a small part of my frustration as it relates specifically to this website. Next time I get over we can have a voddie/coke session and put the world to rights and you'll maybe pry more out of me ! 

As i noted at the top of my post there are certain parts of the narrative that I touched on but have left compartmentalised and have not elaborated on. That would be the business aspect, and if I were to air that particular subject in open forum then I truly believe there would be absolutely no way to repair things and no desire to do so on either side. It is because I am still open to working with the club that I have held back on doing that and I have noted my willingness to draw a line and move on with things in several emails, all of which remain unanswered. 

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I can read between the lines (although a double voddie chat would be helpful) BUT I am at a loss to see how the Supporters Trust and the Club can communicate at all if there is a significant stance by the Club with the individual who chairs the Supporters Trust. Perhaps more than one member of the Supporters Trust ? 

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Oh and I should add that I did not start all this off in order to get the Club responding on CTO. I started this off to get the club demonstrating the available channels of communication and responding to individual comments and concerns. The statement recorded does tend to define the lines of communication. If it does not come up with the goods then it is open to complaint by a lot more than the Angry Bird Brigade. IF ?

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Well I got an immediate reply from Andy Johnstone. Very polite, very well worded, appearance of being an invite to sit down and talk things through. I can see where he is coming from. I aint going to add any more but I have forwarded it on to Scotty. If we are going to get anywhere we have to leave it solely to Scotty.

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It seems obvious to me that the club already have an open channel of communication on this forum via their pet mouthpiece, the Immortal Howden Ender.

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