Why havent we built on promotion to the top flight

[Scotty]

Do you know anything about the invester? Is there a chance Sutherland was preventing a dictatorship like there is at Hearts?

Think he meant Alan Savage rather than any mystery investor and we all seem to know a little about him. The only person who could come close to an overall majority shareholding at ICT is Mr Sutherland himself

Some/most would say that's a good thing!

Not when you are undermining the person who is elected/employed to do that. You cant have it both ways.

Warnock admitted he was never interested in the job

Only after the spin got out of control did he admit he was never interested in it .....

Not sure, never had to worry about it, the team I support has always made sure I don't have to worry about it.  I care about the club but at the end of the day I pay money because I want to watch them play football.  The internal matters I leave to the people that are paid to do them. 

There is a lot of that statement I agree with but at the end of the day, I - like many others on here - am a shareholder of the company and although not likely to ever see and dividend from those shares would like to see the company run well. For many years, I was more than happy with how things were going but in the last few years ... since we got to the SPL in fact, things have been going downhill and I would like to see them improve.

I am more concerned with what has sparked this sudden paranoia when nothing has gone wrong!  You/I don't see the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes but what you can see is the continued success of SPL stability.  Since being establised we have never had to deal with failure and for that the board deserve full credit.  If we did get relegated, and that's a big if, we wouldn't fall to pieces because the board have kept wages to be one of the lowest in the SPL.  Personally I hope that the majority of the fee we receive from the Niculae transfer will go towards improving things at the stadium as well the playing staff but we need that massive investment to push things along.

I dont think its paranoia and its definitely not sudden. The last 4 or 5 years have seen a steady erosion of the club's affinity towards the fans as the focus switches to looking after the corporates. Part of it is a necessary evil I suspect as costs are higher and money needs to be brought in, but it doesnt make it right. The two can co-exist if the club make the effort. There has also been no improvement in things like stewarding, the club shop, the car park, Errea, and I also know of plenty of people who say that our hospitality offering is still not as good as our neighbours across the bridge was several years ago but as I havent sampled it in a few years (and it was good when I did) then I cant say for sure on that one.

One biggie for me is the club's (lack of) a proper PR person. 90% of the moaning and groaning could be swept away if the club had a qualified and dedicated person doing the PR and doing it well. I am no PR expert, but if I were in the position, I would immediately do two things .... first I would re-establish communication with the fans through something like the Boardroom Banter series of articles that we used to have on here. It could be done on the net simultaneously via the official (non-interactive) site and this (interactive) one, it could be done via the program as not everyone goes to either site, and it could also be supplemented by having some informal social gatherings where fans could meet and mingle with players and officials. This would re-establish a feelgood factor. Secondly, as a PR person, I would try to make sure that whatever rumours are doing the rounds, the club's stance is explained in a way that is truthful. The club cannot do spin, and when they get found out, fans get more and more distrustful over it. I accept that not everything can be commented on for various reasons, but if they can actually talk up some of the good work that they do actually do ... and nip bad rumours in the bud while re-establishing communication with the fans as per the first part of my plan, then I feel they would quickly regain a lot of the ground they have lost with the fans in recent years.

Most of us do NOT want to moan and groan, to lambaste the club, or to pick holes in what is said, but quite frankly, right now they want to wrap everything in a veil of secrecy despite the leaks that exist all over the place and when some news does get out it is hastily spun without any sort of plan and it makes them look amateur. Tell us what you want to do, or tell us why some 'hot-button' issue cannot be done and most of us will support the decision, just dont treat us like idiots.

I want to end on a somewhat positive note so I will grant you that we have stability and that this stability takes a lot of work. I mentioned this in my previous post. David Sutherland put a plan in place several years ago and regardless of what people may think of Mike Smith in his matchday duties, the simple fact is that his trade is accountancy not football and so far he has made sure the accounts have looked pretty good every year he has been at the club so far. Hopefully this years will also look good (?)

[Jay_7]

Scotty's pretty much answered for me but here we go:

1) We would probably never see a Hearts-like dictator ship, but Sutherland isn't far off that himself.  Savage was chairman, not majority shareholder.

2) How can that possibly be a good thing?... You just said you didn't want a dictatorship...

3) I wasn't blaming Warnock, I was blaming those in charge for letting us believe that he was in the running.

4) OK you've answered the question regarding the team, but what about when the running of the club is such a shambles there is only one way the club can go?...  We've seen what effect the boardroom squabbles can have on the team.

As Scotty has said, it's not paranoia and it's certainly not sudden.  As I have said many times now, I am grateful for what Sutherland has done for ICT, but if he or his puppets can no longer take ICT forward, it's time to look for someone who can.

[Harry Chibber]

first of all, it was very gay of me to number my answers

I just can't agree that the club is not progressing; we have just had a player represented in a international competition, as a buisness the club has excelled since it was established and we are playing in the premier division.  I think if a fan from another team looked at this thread they would accuse us of being ungrateful for the position we are currently in.   

not everything can be done at lightspeed

[Jay_7]

first of all, it was very gay of me to number my answers

I just can't agree that the club is not progressing; we have just had a player represented in a international competition, as a buisness the club has excelled since it was established and we are playing in the premier division.   I think if a fan from another team looked at this thread they would accuse us of being ungrateful for the position we are currently in.   

not everything can be done at lightspeed

Fair enough, I will agree the club as a business has done well since we were established but wouldn't go as far as to say excel.  If fans from other teams think that, then that's up to them.  Sutherland has already pretty much said that himself.  The fact is though, he actively stopped Savage from doing his job as chairman and prevented him from making improvements.  Not everything can be done at lightspeed but Sutherland made sure nothing happened at all.

[Scotty]

we have just had a player represented in a international competition

please remember this comment in the days ahead  :004:

[Alex MacLeod]

What really went on between Savage and Sutherland most of us dont really know other than a bit of spin from both parties.

I agree with most of what Harry says. By staying in this league we are progressing. There are 10 teams in it who will always be competing for places and none of these are more or less deserving than the others. There are a half dozen in div 1 who would also compete. The first priority must be to put together a team that can keep us in the top flight. After that league positions and cup runs are a bonus. That applies to every team bar the OF and always will. None of those teams are leaving us behind as has been suggested. I work alongside an Aberdeen fan whos held a season ticket since he was a lad. This season he is not renewing and doesn't intend to support his team any longer. Why? Because Aberdeen are going backwards according to him. St Mirren are spending this season from the windfall they got from a supermarket. Will they sustain that in future years? Who's Hamilton brought in that we couldn't compete against? Killie are still in a bad way financially. Motherwell have had one good season..........will they continue the same?

I believe there isn't a team in the league that we should fear. That is progress.

[CaleyD]

OK, so you've made an argument for the fact that you think we have progressed on the pitch....how about off it?

[luvgravy]

we have just had a player represented in a international competition

This is not a new feat for the club.  Richard Hastings has been involved with the Canadian National program during both his stints at ICT.  He actually scored a game winning goal in the Gold Cup (a CONCACAF tourney...quarterfinal game vs. Mexico and Canada won the tourney) for Canada in 2000.

Also, Davide Xausa was a member of the Canadian National program during his tenure at ICT.

[Alex MacLeod]

OK, so you've made an argument for the fact that you think we have progressed on the pitch....how about off it?

Not privy to what goes on behind the boardroom door but yes there's room for improvement. Though if rumours of relocation are near truth then perhaps they're waiting.

[tokelyisvictorious]

What is it really you are complaining about?  the players? the stadium? the management? the style of play?  or is it just the money...

Not complaining about any of those, just saying we are doing well. 

[CELTIC1CALEY3]

Not sure if anyone locally contributed to the linked article but to the doubters yet further confirmation of our progress!!! No other club in the SPL has come so far, in so little time, and been supported by so few.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/39339-i...ed-at-euro-2008

[Alex MacLeod]

Come on guy's!! We've now got nice new storage units in the portacabin  :023: :tic01:

[CaleyD]

As I said already....nobody is doubting what we've done or how far we've come...It's the fact we've made next to no progress (on or off the field) since we got here.

Whilst it's great to think back to our successes in the last 14 years I'd like to think we still had a few more to look forward to instead of resigning myself, like many seem to have done, to accepting this is our lot.

[RiG]

I think the online ticketing is a step in the right direction but there needs to be a lot more done off the field to match the progress on it.

[Scotty]

I think the online ticketing is a step in the right direction but there needs to be a lot more done off the field to match the progress on it.

Indeed. and it only took a bit over 5 years from inception to final deployment although to be fair, the ticket office have been using it internally for a couple of years or more.

There are many people who work **** hard behind the scenes at ICT and I am in no way casting aspersions about them or their abilities, but it seems that improvements are slow in coming and that the people trying to do something to achieve those improvements are hamstrung at every turn.......