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

[TheScarf]

6 minutes ago, Worktheshaft said:

James Anderson

The big lad is Connor Bunce, he's always number 10.

Edited 4 hours ago by TheScarf

[TheScarf]

1 minute ago, ICTChris said:

At the very start of our banter years we tried to sign Gary Fraser from Buckie but expected them to cough him up on a free.  I'm sure we were also linked with Blair Yule but couldn't work it out.

Do you mean Kevin Fraser?

[ICTChris]

2 minutes ago, TheScarf said:

Do you mean Kevin Fraser?

Yeah that's it.

[mozam76]

12 hours ago, DiegoDiego said:

Surely it's the mid-sized clubs who overspend to end up in (inter)national cup finals that are most at risk? Last eight admins in Scotland:

Hearts: League Cup finalists 2013, admin 2013.
Dunfermline: League Cup finalists 2006, Scottish Cup finalists 2007, admin 2013
Rangers: UEFA Cup finalists 2008, admin 2012
Dundee: Scottish Cup finalists 2003, admin 2003 (& 2010)
Livingston: League Cup winners 2004, admin 2004 (& 2009)
Gretna: Scottish Cup finalists 2006, admin 2008

Given Thistle's precarious finances we obviously threw the match against Clyde to avoid a cup run which could end in admin. How else can one explain Ashcroft's own goal?

 

 

I see the point you're making, but you can't possibly label all those clubs as "mid-sized". 

11 hours ago, Sergeant Wilson said:

Getting that through to a Livi supporter is like nailing jelly to a wall.

Not this one. 

Edited 4 hours ago by mozam76

[SandyCromarty]

25 minutes ago, TheScarf said:

Savage also mentions the 'Brora Rangers centre forward', who I presume he means Jordan MacRae.  He's one of the 4/5 HL players we should be signing in the summer on free transfers IMO (99% of HL players will be on 1 year deals).  We should be getting him back to the club.  I think he was released in 2016 aged 17/18.

The only hurdle would be these boys will all have day jobs.

A couple of months back I mentioned that we should be trawling the HL for players,  reason being that that type of player did us well in our early days coming through the lower leagues, however one or two posters rubbished that idea so I'm glad the club is looking at that possibility.

As for the day jobs if we can offer them full time I'm sure they will prefer their sport.

[SandyCromarty]

15 minutes ago, Central Belt Caley said:

Do you reckon if the old regime was all gone Sutherland would fancy another go playing for us? Think he still went to some games when he was injured and had no club so probably still loves The Caley (who doesn’t?) 

I'm sure he would.

[Sir Tarmo]

18 minutes ago, SandyCromarty said:

 

As for the day jobs if we can offer them full time I'm sure they will prefer their sport.

Not so sure about this. Some younger P/T players don’t have fully fledged careers in the real world yet, for example, they might work at Tesco on the checkouts, or they might be studying, and still have ambitions to go pro. Some others won’t want to risk giving up their career for a one-year full time contract at League One level, the likes of Rory McAllister and many others fall into this bracket. I think a hybrid model is quite sensible at our level.

[Comrie]

27 minutes ago, TheScarf said:

The big lad is Connor Bunce, he's always number 10.

I think both Anderson and Bunce could play at a higher level than the HL. Bunce is the better all rounder.

[welshbairn]

1 minute ago, Comrie said:

I think both Anderson and Bunce could play at a higher level than the HL. Bunce is the better all rounder.

I've missed the last few games but Bunce has to learn when a simple one touch pass or toepoke is better than holding onto the ball and trying to do something fancy. He and Anderson are basically shite and the Caley would be best advised to stay well clear, even if they could get close to affording them.

[RiG]

Seems a letter has gone to shareholders saying we need monies by 16 Oct otherwise we will go into admin as we will be insolvent.

[fishy]

1 minute ago, Sir Tarmo said:

Not so sure about this. Some younger P/T players don’t have fully fledged careers in the real world yet, for example, they might work at Tesco on the checkouts, or they might be studying, and still have ambitions to go pro. Some others won’t want to risk giving up their career for a one-year full time contract at League One level, the likes of Rory McAllister and many others fall into this bracket. I think a hybrid model is quite sensible at our level.

Unless you have a you have a young player that's dropped out of a professional teams academy and trying to work their way back up you're going to struggle to convince players to go full time in League 1.

I reckon we would struggle to match the wages of the day job of someone with a decent career let alone the day job plus part time football. Someone on £36k (a quick google has Scottish plumbers earning an average of £38k) would be on £700 a week and a part time deal could be worth £200 a week. At a pure guess we're not offering more than £900/1000 a week for a full time player that is dropping to this level. A part time player stepping up would be offered less. 

There's also the fact that I think people underestimate the step up from the Highland or Lowland leagues to League 1/League 2. There's usually a reason older players are plying their trade at that level and there is a big step up in fitness and professionalism. 

[TheScarf]

Savage could give that 200k no bother, but he'll be wanting admin.

[RiG]

F'ck me!

 

[Sherrif John Bunnell]

Unless ICT are in a position to offer very decent wages in the summer, then any HL player from one of the big money clubs would be mad to risk to risk making the move there.

I'm fully in favour of Bunce and Anderson being sold by Clach though. Ross Tokely would be a great replacement for Ferguson as well.

[glasgowlichtie23]

6 minutes ago, RiG said:

F'ck me!

 

“This figure assumes a second place finish in the league”  That seems to me like a strange assumption to make? 

[SandyCromarty]

12 minutes ago, fishy said:

Unless you have a you have a young player that's dropped out of a professional teams academy and trying to work their way back up you're going to struggle to convince players to go full time in League 1.

I reckon we would struggle to match the wages of the day job of someone with a decent career let alone the day job plus part time football. Someone on £36k (a quick google has Scottish plumbers earning an average of £38k) would be on £700 a week and a part time deal could be worth £200 a week. At a pure guess we're not offering more than £900/1000 a week for a full time player that is dropping to this level. A part time player stepping up would be offered less. 

There's also the fact that I think people underestimate the step up from the Highland or Lowland leagues to League 1/League 2. There's usually a reason older players are plying their trade at that level and there is a big step up in fitness and professionalism. 

At the start of the the 96/97 season while in the old Division 2 most of the team went full time, things were obviously different then but most who went full time gave up their day jobs, like I say there was a very different feel to the club then of optimism and a hunger for success unlike the despondency cloud that surrounds us now but if we manage to put the financial woes down and we bring in players as mentioned above the way we were could return. A glass half full rather than the obvious.

[1320Lichtie]

55 minutes ago, TheScarf said:

The big lad is Connor Bunce, he's always number 10.

Funnily enough I actually thought this lad looked a player on they highlights but then again Mark Stowe looked like the second coming of Arjen Robben before coming to Gayfield from Linlithgow Rose

[ICTChris]

Reading the open letter they just published, the club is completely f**ked.

Every few weeks we seem to say that we are about to go into admin, then we aren't, then we are back again.  There is just so much weighing the club down I don't think there's any prospect of getting out from under it.

[RiG]

4 minutes ago, glasgowlichtie23 said:

“This figure assumes a second place finish in the league”  That seems to me like a strange assumption to make? 

One of many sentences in that statement to unpack.

I am staggered that our losses for 23/24 are projected to be double what they were the season before. We've allegedly been cutting back for years yet we still return eye watering losses and now we are forecasting even more significant deficits for 23/24 and 24/25. Where is all this money going? What is it being spent on?

The way this club has been run over the last few years, and the last two especially, is simply appalling. 

[glasgowlichtie23]

1 minute ago, ICTChris said:

Reading the open letter they just published, the club is completely f**ked.

Every few weeks we seem to say that we are about to go into admin, then we aren't, then we are back again.  There is just so much weighing the club down I don't think there's any prospect of getting out from under it.

200k needing raised in the next 2 weeks looks bleak