"The ICT Thread - From the Premiership to the Seaside"

[tbsouth]

2 hours ago, ICTChris said:

As a fan based in Edinburgh, this is actually good for me.  I might drive up to Kelty for pre-season, see what lower league journeymen and English academy rejects we have managed to entice using our innovative new training facility.

I have watched Forfar at Kelty and my son played a youth game their....its a poxy junior set up....a poor junior set up at that!

[Steve_Wilkos]

Ah, so it's Kelty Cat Ticklers now! 

Joke club

[Only one David Marsh]

[1320Lichtie]

18 minutes ago, Moorie said:

No way these guys are driving the nearly 2 1/2 hours for a 1 hour visit to a hospital or a 5 minute to hand out medals to a local Inverness kids team.

might not be end of the club but sometimes this is how these things start. Just ask th Clydebank fans 

Arbroath being part time makes easier for players to do the appearances at the ground etc plus most would be in hours drive at most to the ground? 
if ICT went part time after going down this would make sense similar like other teams that do it. Find it weird a FT team think it will work especially when funding a team in the same league.

think more will come of this especially when Gardiner is involved 

 

Just over an hour to Queensferry crossing I would say and I’d always give myself 1 hour 45 to get to Glasgow - it’s really not too bad as a one off journey - I used to go to uni in Edinburgh on day release from work and it’s fine. Every day would be a chore though to be fair. 
 

Again though all of our players will be based all over the central belt and up to Dundee so getting to Edinburgh two nights a weeks not a problem. It’s a good central hub. It would make absolutely zero sense for us to train in Arbroath or Dundee. It would be an unnecessary burden to place on ourselves when we could train elsewhere and make it easier for players. 
 

The market is not worth it, kind of rules us completely out of Aberdeen based players now (had one last season who is now at Peterhead) but the pros definitely outweigh the cons.

 

Not sure what other Angus clubs do but we’re nowhere near as remote as ICT. Arbroath and Forfar are 15 minutes from Dundee, another half hour to Perth. 
 

It’s a really hard decision for Inverness but as others have said it makes no sense. You’d think this would’ve been a perfect year to target getting or having 12-15 guys who were either senior pros already there like McKay or younger guys who’s played in the leagues who really wanted to get a chance at FT supplemented by the best of their own academy. They always seemed to have quite a lot of academy players come through did they not? 
 

Is Duncan Ferguson definitely staying? If so where will be he living?

Edited May 24 by 1320Lichtie

[RiG]

Seems some folk are rumoured to have resigned from the club / Board over this. Good on them. 

[vikingTON]

18 minutes ago, KirkieRR said:

To correct the Bad History above...

Yes, Melrose has Bruce's heart (or a heart attributed to Bruce, anyway) but Dunfermline has the rest of him. Dunfermline was Scotland's capital, effectively, in Malcolm Canmore's time. It's Scotland's newest city but arguably its oldest. And its historical quarter is one of the country's best-kept secrets.

Perth had the crowning place of the Kings of Scots, the Stone of Scone, nearby. And now it's back in Perth Museum.

Dunfermline wasn't a capital because Malcolm Canmore (like all other Scottish kings before the Renaissance) had an itinerant court that had to constantly job from one place to another constantly to assert their authority. It also wasn't a city because Scotland did not have any cities at that time. The most commercially important urban settlement in Scotland before the Wars of Independence was Berwick FFS. 

I blame Fife bumpkin schools for this dreadful revisionism. Just read Michael Lynch's History of Scotland please. 

[PB1994]

8 minutes ago, RiG said:

Seems some folk are rumoured to have resigned from the club / Board over this. Good on them. 

It seems like this has been a job between Morrison and Gardiner alone. I had a bit of sympathy towards Morrison before this but that’s well and truly gone now. He his added to the list of people who need to go.

[fishy]

19 minutes ago, tbsouth said:

I have watched Forfar at Kelty and my son played a youth game their....its a poxy junior set up....a poor junior set up at that!

I've not been but your comment made me look at their ground and it is just a wee junior ground joined onto a small town's community centre. I was expecting some sort of sprawling training centre like some of the more well equipped universities have. 

So we're not even getting some high quality training facilities out of this that can help attract some better quality players.

[Skyline Drifter]

34 minutes ago, fishy said:

This is absolute genius.

[bdu98196]

The club should probably have waited to announce this slyly on the same day as some stellar Central Belt superstars who will be the advantage of this and maybe masked the news

[flood]

This is an appalling decision by the directors of ICT

Kilmarnock have been mentioned as an example of training out of town. We had a few years at Kilwinning and Glasgow and had no local presence…probably about the Michael Johnstone years….No connect with fans

We seen the error in our ways since Billie Bowie has taken over, and one of the main reasons for our plastic pitch is that it allows us to train at home in Kilmarnock. The pitch is not rented out to others and only hosts Killie games at various levels..

We have planning permission in for a training centre in Kilmarnock and hopefully this gets approval and built, desipte a few local complainers

It is no surprise that our great form last season was based on team spirit. A lot of the players such as Vassell and Lyons have chosen to stay in Kilmarnock, even Watson has moved to Kilmarnock at 19 from Prestwick as he sees benefit in being even more local. Loan players from England stay in club flats close to Rugby Park. Players are happy to interact with fans in places such as tescos and local coffee shops. We see pics on facebook all the time !

McInnes has also spoken about how the players have to be kicked out Rugby Park at 4 as they all socialise after training playing darts, pool etc……Not sure that would work if we trained in Kelty and played in Killie. Which is about half of the distance from the propsed distance of Inverness to Kelty! 

I really hope for you guys sake, it is binned before the start of the season

Edited May 24 by flood

[Ott]

3 hours ago, SandyCromarty said:

We've been in business for thirty years and purchase of houses for players etc just didn't happen yesterday, businesses owning properties is an asset and can be a write off, most golf clubs have houses for staff or visitors and they are well looked after.

I find it amazing that with all the links with Tullochs over the years they didn’t just build a load of houses for the players. 

On your other point about hotels ….July to September and March to May they’ll be paying horrendous prices for rooms! saw the Heathmount we’re charging £400 for a room a few weeks ago on booking.com! 
 

it’s a shambles and an embarrassment to inverness. 

[101]

Are you rebranding next year's thread to "The ICT Thread - The Fifer Years"

 

And I guess like all batteries the negativity of being relegated is twinned with the positivity of being Fifers for a bit.

[HoBNob]

3 hours ago, ExiledLichtie said:

I mean Arbroath is the home of the Declaration of Arbroath, and we've got an entire King buried there, not just a leftover bit that was lying around, but I don't think it should be called a city.

Just one king? Is that it? Sure we have seven. 

Correct though, Arbroath isn't a city. 

[TxRover]

Well, this one’s interesting. A quick look seems to show only two players signed for next year right now; Nicolson and McKay.
 

9 hours ago, parsforlife said:

With speculation that finances are a bit fucked is it possible that they are trying to raise funds/reduce spend by getting rid of any club houses and that's the actual motivator to move?

My first thought on this was does the club own or rent housing they offer signings?

9 hours ago, oneteaminglasgow said:

I would say that trying to reduce spend by agreeing to give Kelty Hearts a six figure sum is too ridiculous to be plausible, but then I remembered it’s Scot Gardiner in charge so you might be on to it. 

But remember you’re reducing the costs spent training in Inverness. Where were you training?

9 hours ago, PB1994 said:

This is actually quite a big thing that a lot of people don’t think is a big deal but it really is.

The community trust does a lot of excellent work and the players all get involved in it. The wee man went to the week long hot shots over the Easter holidays and on one of the last days 5 or 6 of the players turned up signed autographs, pictures etc and even played some games with the kids. The kids absolutely loved it and it can really help getting younger kids becoming fans of the team. That is going to be totally lost now though.

This is the biggest loss here. They’ll likely pay a few players a wee bit to travel up now and then, but this is certainly carrying the appearance of a break from community engagement. The Community Trust is well and good, but without those ambassadors…

8 hours ago, PB1994 said:

I may well be proved wrong but I’m not seeing these players, who don’t want to be up here in the first place, finishing training and jumping in a car for 2 and a half hours to spend and hour or so in a primary school etc to then head straight back down the road.

You’ll have to pay them, surely…that’s another cost.

8 hours ago, SandyCromarty said:

An hours trip from Hamilton to Dumfries compared to a 2 1/2 hour trip up the A9 in mid winter to visit a couple of schools? never happen, those central belt players they are talking of signing will feck that right off.

That is the ugly bit, the A9 is a millstone here.

8 hours ago, SandyCromarty said:

We've been in business for thirty years and purchase of houses for players etc just didn't happen yesterday, businesses owning properties is an asset and can be a write off, most golf clubs have houses for staff or visitors and they are well looked after.

Who owns the properties? Can the club get money to keep afloat by selling, or is someone associated with the Board about to make out nig.

8 hours ago, parsforlife said:

Yeah I know,  but if your financially struggling then liquidating assets isn't uncommon, If not particularly desirable.

That was my first thought.

8 hours ago, CityDave94 said:

I take it the club will be putting players up in our local hotels the night before a home game? Kingsmills. That's going to cost.

I need to mention that the house rental market in Inverness is on its arse right now, often less than six houses in the entire city at one time, absolutly brutal.

IDK, there’s more than a few players that drove a distance on game days…

And that market news makes me more suspicious about the intent here.

Edited May 25 by TxRover

[CityDave94]

Maybe just maybe the biggest reason for not getting enough quality players up here is who runs the club, not the distance. I do believe that is another excuse for failure, Inverness is too far away. That's the towel thrown into the ring there on that subject by the club, absolute joke, even more disconection from the city and the community itself. Just leave Inverness to the Rangers and Celtic fans.

Going to find even less ST holders this season and gates well down. Excuses for that will come out about playing in a lower league etc. Never their fault.

What is this quality they are talking about, was this all about not signing players like Lafferty?

[Fullerene]

14 hours ago, Comrie said:

Shinty is really area specific.

- Beauly
- Cannich
- Fort William
- Lochcarron
- Kingussie
- Newtonmore

Outside those with a few exceptions Shinty is an afterthought.

You forgot to mention Drumnadrochit. 

[Moorie]

9 hours ago, 1320Lichtie said:

Just over an hour to Queensferry crossing I would say and I’d always give myself 1 hour 45 to get to Glasgow - it’s really not too bad as a one off journey - I used to go to uni in Edinburgh on day release from work and it’s fine. Every day would be a chore though to be fair. 
 

Again though all of our players will be based all over the central belt and up to Dundee so getting to Edinburgh two nights a weeks not a problem. It’s a good central hub. It would make absolutely zero sense for us to train in Arbroath or Dundee. It would be an unnecessary burden to place on ourselves when we could train elsewhere and make it easier for players. 
 

The market is not worth it, kind of rules us completely out of Aberdeen based players now (had one last season who is now at Peterhead) but the pros definitely outweigh the cons.

 

Not sure what other Angus clubs do but we’re nowhere near as remote as ICT. Arbroath and Forfar are 15 minutes from Dundee, another half hour to Perth. 
 

It’s a really hard decision for Inverness but as others have said it makes no sense. You’d think this would’ve been a perfect year to target getting or having 12-15 guys who were either senior pros already there like McKay or younger guys who’s played in the leagues who really wanted to get a chance at FT supplemented by the best of their own academy. They always seemed to have quite a lot of academy players come through did they not? 
 

Is Duncan Ferguson definitely staying? If so where will be he living?

Any part time team that are in a small town and part time can completely understand why training is held else where, on Aberdeen based players the travelling for Blair Yule was getting to much when for you’s even going further back was the same for my pal Brain Thomson and that’s in the early 90s.

If ICT had went part time totally get them doing it but Inverness is a city crazy that the full time squad ain’t based there. I don’t know what kind of players they are going attract being in league 1 and still full time competing with championship teams where you won’t be on 5 hour round trips for your home games. 
cove had the same issue last season going full time the dross they signed up as that’s all they could attract.

I always picture the highlands a hot bed of young talented players which as you fa you’d think set them up better for league 1 than journey men looking for a good pay.

Isn’t Ferguson down the road after most games? This will suit him. Wonder where gardiner is based. Guy seems a right rodent of a man  

[Sergeant Wilson]

17 hours ago, Skyline Drifter said:

Really? The money's there? They reported a £1m loss in the year to May 2022. May 2023 accounts are not yet filed (due next week). Reportedly the year to May 2024 will be horrendous. And they've subsequently been relegated.

 

I'll rephrase. If they want to continue operating, then there needs to be a review of income, spending and priorities. I think they've made a mistake and that maintaining the club base in the town should have been nearer the top of those priorities.

[The Great Stagsby]

And breathe. Turns out it was a joke after all, albeit an ill-advised one.