SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO ?

[Scotty]

On 6/2/2024 at 5:34 AM, Eagle4Caley said:

I see quite a few blaming the players for having no fight, I'm not sure thats true, tactic's seem more to blame, and as I said several times lack of a proper winger. [Shaw and Longstaff could probably have done the job, but Shaw was used as a centralised player-maker before his injuries, I thought Longstaff showed promise but was out injured too long too]

Both are factors. However, next season, if this does happen, then a third factor comes in and that is the purely mercenary aspect. I get that at it's heart, football itself is mercenary, but at this level, a player connected to the club and the city will usually have fight. A loanee who is enjoying his time at the club and the city may develop some fight during their time there, but a mercenary, in Fife for the paycheck, or because they can't get another gig, will not fight for the city, the team, and a set of supporters they visit every other week. They will not put down roots in the community or develop friendships that matter or can provide them with motivation. they will simply turn up and have a day at the office, good or bad, then go home and forget about it. 

 

On 6/2/2024 at 5:34 AM, Eagle4Caley said:

I kind of understand the reasoning behind using Kelty as a training base, but obviously also understand why that rankles, it might ease one problem, but what happens to the youth team?

From a purely business perspective, then it makes sense at some level. You cut your accommodation costs, you increase your potential employee pool, and its all great. (in theory). When you factor in the costs of maintaining two locations, added travel costs for home games, having coaches up here for the youths, and the loss of season tickets and local sponsorship, then the business logic may just not add up. Far be it from ICT in the recent past to have a business idea where the numbers don't stack up!! 

However, football is not a logical business, its tribal and emotional. We want local players playing for us, or we want players who are currently living locally regardless of where they came from. We will support and embrace them because they chose our club and our city and we appreciate that. My favourite player from ICT is Big Bobby, and my son's is David Raven, and there's not much of a "right enuff" or "chatty doof" in either of their vocabularies!

We want players we might bump into in Tesco and have a conversation, or those whose kids might go to school with our kids and therefore we get to know them outside of football, or who come and coach our kids in their spare time and we appreciate them. Players who might visit schools and give nutrition or fitness advice, or who might pop along to Raigmore and visit ICT supporting kids (or adults) who are under the weather ... all the aspects that make this the community club that it has been since 1994 and which it has been drifting away from with a quickening pace since the 2017-18 season. This in turn gives the club intangible benefits as part of the community. It's about good will, it's about sponsors who see value in the club and give them services at low or no cost over and above sponsor money, it's about volunteers who donate time, energy and yes, money when they feel appreciated or think there is something they can do to help the club. For those of us without pots of money, then we can do things in little ways as it all adds up. That gets hard when certain individuals (and that is pointed to more than just our current CEO) start to look down noses at people and treat them like something on the bottom of their shoe. Thats where it gets hard - when your so-called leaders start to treat you like s***, look down noses, take sponsors for granted and either reduce the offering thinking everyone will just swallow that s*** with a spoon, or take advantage of them a-la the concert fiasco (allegedly).     

You see the outpouring of anguish at relegation and the kelty folly from players who have been at the club in the past, whether local boys, or those who came up from the south (and by that I mean both Central Belt and England). Many of these former players would crawl over broken glass and put every ounce of energy into performances as they had both an affinity for and a close bond with both the city and their fellow team-mates. The team that got promoted to the Premiership has just had a reunion!!! We have heard it mentioned so many times about the bond at ICT being so special and 'different' because of the geography rather than in spite of it.  You will NOT get that with short term loanees based in Fife or where those players go in half a dozen different directions after training and never socialise or mingle outside of work. We very well might get some performances, or we might get nothing, but the players, the manager, and the already fife-dwelling officials of the club will have very little affinity or connection to the area and the city they are supposedly representing. 

We likely all have anecdotes or examples from the last few years of behaviour that rankles and the whole Kelty thing (which was slated to happen regardless of relegation or not), for many, is the straw that broke the Camel's back.  If there were transparency and communication over the last few years perhaps things might be different, but this is just a further disconnection from the fans, the city and the area.  

 

[GaliantGrunt]

Looks like we could be staying put after latest news just breaking!!