The latest from Mr Savage......

[Alex MacLeod]

.........courtesy of THE COURIER

[RiG]

A small temporary seating area was constructed over the summer in a bid to give supporters who wanted to sing the chance to join forces with other like-minded individuals, yet slowly but surely numbers using the stand have dwindled.

I wonder why...

"However, with it coming up to winter it is not the best place to be, so we are looking to put a roof over it and that is being costed as we speak."

Good to hear  :003:

[caley100]

' "There are procedural problems in terms of getting to the singing section that we need to look at, and that is being done at the moment.

"I asked for it to appease the fans and the supporters' trust and I still firmly believe that we have got the mechanics of it right.

'

I disagree, the wee west stand will never be a success for the singing section, make it bigger (ie. higher)

put a roof on it and make it the family section, less complaints re bad language, and freedom for the noisy ones to go behind the goals where they belong.

The last few games where they were at the back of section G made a big difference to the atmosphere.

[Guest TinCanFan]

What's the point in putting a roof on it if ICT are looking into building another stand.

[+Wanderer]

"Moves, however, are in the pipeline to rectify that, although much will depend on whether the number crunchers at Caley Thistle can justify what is certain to be a costly exercise."

The pipeline's getting moved.  :029:

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

I feckin hope that they take the aquifer into consideration - We could be sitting in the West Stand and all of a sudden we are under the feckin ground and heading at speed towards the feckin Firth.

Given the present lobbying of parliament we may look at a specific standing and singing section in the near future.  :001:

[Alex MacLeod]

Its ok Johndo, the aquifer has been taken into consideration. The plans are to build a super stand with recreational/fitness facilities underneath. The aquifer will be tapped to provide a spa type swimming pool. It will also provide the new bar with mineral water for your whisky. Oh! and unbeknown to Transco the gas line will be tapped to feed the new boiler.

[Scotty]

Its ok Johndo, the aquifer has been taken into consideration. The plans are to build a super stand with recreational/fitness facilities underneath. The aquifer will be tapped to provide a spa type swimming pool. It will also provide the new bar with mineral water for your whisky. Oh! and unbeknown to Transco the gas line will be tapped to feed the new boiler.

for some reason, I get this mental picture of wee Shuggie the corgi gas fitter trying to tap into this (extremely) high pressure mainline and being blown halfway to Nairn  :rotflmao:

But seriously, if the plans are anything more than soundbites then they are to be encouraged and applauded.

[CaleyD]

I'd rather see the club spending money on extending and covering the wings of the Main Stand before they even think about building a full West Stand - Upgrading the North and South Stands and incorporating a gym and bar would be my next priority.

What I wouldn't want to see is some half ersed shabby looking West Stand with a dozen rows of seats which would do nothing to improve the ground whatsoever.

The remark that the West Stand was built to appease the fans and the Trust is rather interesting.  IMO, not only does it come across as condescending, it confirms the suspicion many had that, it was nothing but a gesture to shut up the fans following the grief they were getting as a result of the hassles at the Pars game last season.

Also, you can't just throw in seats anywhere and call it a singing section.  If you want to improve the atmosphere then you have to have the most vocal supporters at the heart of your fanbase, not cast off into isolation.  The moaners who constantly complain about the "noise" do nothing to increase the atmosphere and they do nothing to bring in more supporters....if the club are looking to improve on these things then they need to evaluate their priorities and make some tough decisions, not continue to look for the easy options.

[Pele_Is_God]

He thinks were as good as Dundee United if not better, has he seen them this season? :024:

[EWS]

He thinks were as good as Dundee United if not better, has he seen them this season? :024:

I'm quite buoyed that he has said that.  Shows ambition.

[Alex MacLeod]

To be honest I agree with him in that statement. None of the teams between 4th and 12th have shown anything spectacular and they are probably all pretty equal at the minute, regardess of league standing. The true form will show after the second round of games.

[Pele_Is_God]

Fair point Alex. He certainly does seem ambitious, which is a good thing :clapping03:

[Tug]

now i may be wrong (and frquently am) but i was always under the impression that the nort and south stands were temporary? ????

surely the priority should be to get permananent fixtures in at each end before a West stand???? :symbol_question:

[Alex MacLeod]

now i may be wrong (and frquently am) but i was always under the impression that the nort and south stands were temporary? ????

surely the priority should be to get permananent fixtures in at each end before a West stand???? :symbol_question:

Not temporary as such. They can be dismantled but there is still a few thousand cube of concrete foundation below them. Originally the request was to install the sort of stand that is used at golf tournaments etc. Normally structured from scaffolding but this was refused. Ours is concrete, H beam steel and a bouncy decking.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Oh - fer fecks sake - does nobody on here ever read between the feckin lines - Savage is the best thing that ever feckin happened to this club - He may toe the corporate line - which he has to - but I firmly believe that the **** has Inverness and ICT at his heart - even if it is his feckin business orientated heart - We survive and prosper in the SPL and our ground will move to our training facilities - and fer once I am not reliably informed - I am merely reading between the lines.

Long Live Mr Savage - Mr Bennett - Mr Brewster - and hopefully Mr. Hagi.  :023:

[TSTtiger]

think a new stand west stand would be a good idea if done in the right way.

i would focus more on incorporating top class conference facilities, press area and hospitality plus a new bar and shop for supporters and training facility for the players. seating could be kept to a minimum, along the lines of seating the size of the old terrace, because we really dont need loads more empty seats but do need improved facilities and things to generate more revenue.

the stadium would look more complete and at the same time suit our needs more than a stand for the sake of it which would probably just get filled by the old firm anyway

[Wilsononourwing]

Actions show ambition not rhetoric.

[4ize]

Seems his real point is that we never approach filling the seats we have except when Invernesian Old-Firmers swell the ranks of the home support (and get home supporters chucked out for complaining about their presence  :rolleyes02:).

It's a nice sound-bite (print-bite?), dripping with vibrant ambition, but it's just back-page filling in a slow sports news week. The club will build another stand once we can fill the ones we already have? Well blow me down...

Btw, I love the talk of a bar at the ground, but does anyone really think it'd encourage more people to come to the game? I've been to grounds with bars which act as a real draw for the community, which encourage support (and which are open all week) but they're in or nearby residential areas or town centres, not two miles out on an industrial estate. A bar at the TCS might bring in a bit of money on match days but you'd need to divide the car park into 'Post-match drinks' and 'Away home' sections to avoid chaos afterwards; and would you ever trek out there when there were no home game, when there's Greig Street and Innes Street so much more accessible? Hmm...  :024:

[Scotty]

David Sutherland said it before and Alan Savage is pretty much saying it again ..... A full west stand will never be built until such time as we can fill the ground for more than OF games ..... and that is spot on IMHO.

What is the point of having a stand that costs you money to build, costs you money to maintain, and costs you money on a matchday (even if its empty) when we cant fill what we already have. Its a nice idea, but a waste of money and both of these gentlemen are businessmen who know the value of money. With rising prices, and lowering "matchday ambience" in many grounds (including TCS) thats as good as saying it will never get built.....

As for the bar at the ground, the same could apply ... its a "nice to have" but is it an earner? Busy on a matchday, yes, but that leaves another 12 or 13 days every fortnight where its empty. Maybe a little passing trade from the industrial estate if it does good pub lunches but will that make a profit or even cover heat/light and staffing on those days? It certainly wouldnt be a hotspot in the evenings ..... unless the long term entertainment / marina village plan for that part of the longman comes to fruition.

the stadium is a good location for conferencing and stuff like that and to my mind thats where the club should consider focussing .... upgrade what we have already, find a location for a permanent and proper club shop within the stadium, and if we build anything like a bar, do it in such a style that it is first and foremost a conference hall that can serve double duty as a bar on matchdays.

Look at the corners of the ground ... could they be developed with offices or anything like that? could the current offices at the front of the stadium be moved in there and the space converted into a long thin bar / conference room? Could we cover the wings of the main stand and have the singing section where it was for the Dunfermline game - right in the middle between two home stands !

There's lots of potential ideas - we just need to find the right one that maybe costs a little but can give a lot back in return .....

[RednBlackComeback]

Is there really any point upgrading the ground? How long is the club going to remain in its current location? I still reckon that the land the stadium is on is growing in value greatly, especially now that more land nearby is being reclaimed. A prospective buyer for the land will likely purpose build ICT a stadium elsewhere around town as part of any deal! :024:

[caley100]

I think we better get used to being where we are, with the prices of land the way they are ( and going) its going to be mighty expensive to get a new site, unless of of course we go further away from Inverness, and we surely dont want that.

A 'proper' west stand is not really viable, there are not many teams in the SPL that can fill the stadium outwith old firm games, so unless we can buck the trend i cant see a proper stand getting built.

[clacher_holiday2]

I asked the question last time this came up and never received an answer, what percentage of the two home stands are full over the course of a season?  The figure that was being banded about on here was that when the ground is 80% full we could then justify a West Stand, which will never happen aslong as 2,000+ empty seats currently exist in the away end for most games

[Charles Bannerman]

Is there really any point upgrading the ground? How long is the club going to remain in its current location? I still reckon that the land the stadium is on is growing in value greatly, especially now that more land nearby is being reclaimed. A prospective buyer for the land will likely purpose build ICT a stadium elsewhere around town as part of any deal! :024:

I'd just point out that Caley Thistle don't actually own the land on which the stadium is built. It is leased by the ICT Trust from the Common Good Fund until 2093, but effectively that doesn't alter the fact that the site's "value" (in terms of what might be raised from any transfer of the lease) will indeed be increasing.

There are one or two obstacles to a move. Firstly, as ASDA found, there could be huge cost implications for any incoming tenant if the Kessock Bridge roundabout needed upgraded. Secondly, and I suspect more importantly, as Caley100 very rightly says, an alternative site at a realistic cost would be very difficult to find in Inverness. Even way back in 1993 when Bruce Hare of Percy Johnston Marshall did his original study, he looked at 13 sites, most of which were no hopers. That was boiled down to four and then to only two which were realistic - Stratton Farm and East Longman. Stratton might have been great for kick starting the Golden Mile but the merger partners were strongly opposed to it so the football club eventually won the battle against INE and East Longman it was.

I've read the Bruce Hare report in entirety and even in 1993 there wasn't a great choice of site available. Remember also that for a number of years before that, Caley (sic) looked at various options such as the Carse, Charleston, the Bught and the Northern Meeting Park and it all came to nothing.

As an aside, the "Carse Farce" came reasonably close to being realised. Had it done so, I believe there would have been no merger, but we've already discussed how a solo Caley bid have fared and I don't want to go there again!

[CaleyD]

Fact...as the Marine/Harbour development gets underway the value of the land and associated leases at East Longman will go through the roof.

Fact...local authority will want to maximise income from the area and they aren't going to manage that with a Football Stadium sitting on it - i.e. They can charge far higher rates on a commercial property than they charge ICT at present.

Fact...other options will be opened up for a (cheaper) more suitable location in the next few years - i.e. The completion of the Westbound section of the Bypass will open up land in that direction for development.

So, we will have developers desperate to get in to East Longman, we'll have a Local Authority who want them there, we have a football team who wants a new stadium and we'll have land which will be far cheaper than East Longman available for development, and we'll have a road infrastructure capable of handling matchday traffic.

It's a Win-Win-Win situation and people will be falling over themselves to make it happen.

As far as I am concerned, it's not a case of IF we relocate, it's simply a matter of when and where.  The cost of building the new stadium will factor a good bit down the list of priorities given how cheaply they can be thrown together these days.  5,6,7...even 10 or 15 million is a drop in the ocean and developers/local authority would easily claw that back pretty quickly.