davie

It was pretty frustrating yesterday, watching two teams struggle to find a decent pass on a pitch that was rock hard. Greg Tansey must have been tearing his hair out by the way that the ball just skited off the suface any time it was hit. Yogi was right about the first half DD, we did dominate it in terms of space, passing etc. but didn't create anything. That (I think) was why we increasingly lumped the ball forward, which Watkins found as easy to control as a cat on fire. It wasn't a great day at the office, let's see what the game v Dundee brings. The good side to this is that we lost no ground on Dundee Utd, and just the point to Aberdeen so it could have been worse. Although we have a tough run of games coming up, I suspect Utd have just as difficult a run to be faced with much less justified optimism as us.

Sunday at 12.15 then by the sounds of it. Absolute erses, the lot of them. Oh aye, and Fraz you are right. LOL.

Nope. It was filmed by two guys from Raith, both really good people. They were filming from the back of the main stand.

I'm with Fraz here, in a way doesn't matter what size of a crowd we take, we are at the national stadium on merit and that will attract considerably more than our core support through interest created by the venue. I'm happy if "neutrals" want to swell our numbers - it's just more income for the club. I don't share your unspoken viewpoint that these will be rangers fans, I think our brand of football will attract more than that to watch us. BTW, we didn't "struggle" to take 7K people to the LC final, that's just the number we got in what was a lesser competition than the SC. Maximising our semi final crowd might be best achieved by remembering how long it is since we have been to hampden and remembering that Celtic are chasing a treble. If we get them in the semi (and I hope we don't) that might be some people's only chance to see ICTFC at hampden. They need to be there.

National Stadium. we've won the right.

Kingsmills out pedanted!

I think back to the Hugh Keevins article in the DR last year that said that "ICT bring nothing to the table" You look at the allocation of places in sportscene and wonder. then the BBC put our highlights under rugby union (Ross Draper might agree with that) then introduce the game on the news as "a battle in the highlands" BBC Alba (who you would think might have something of a taste for highland clubs) haven't been seen in months. It isn't a media campaign, it's just sloppiness and disrespect. Good that Cifti has been cited but I think it might spell doom for them in the league and cups. How much more easily do we qualify for europe if the arabs are out of the equation?

Believe it or not, I'm only just home from this so I've had time to think about it and discuss it with my arab mates through gritted teeth. Calum Murray lost control of the game quite early on but got seriously caught up in things in the second half. Such was his lack of control that someone could easily have been seriously injured such was the level of challenge that was escalating throughout. Greg Tansey was right - it was a fight, not a game of football and we shouldn't have got drawn into it far less match up in the way taht we did. It was a gluepot of a pitch that lent it's self to that type of game - you couldn't pass a ball on that pitch. we didn't neither did they. As the team seven points behind us they had to fight and they did. Their goal came as a result of a bobbling ball in the box and it was diifficult to create clean cut chances for either side. A draw was a fair result, and maintained the status quo (i.e. we are better than them by virtue of winning more points) to this point. So where is the vast problem that has led to some of the utter cr*p above? We have no right (and neither does any other team) to turn up anywhere and expect the three points, never mind a venue as difficult as tannadice. it was a hard fought draw on the way to where we want to finish, and that point might be the crucial one that gets us into europe as much as it might be the one that denies us the chance.

Maybe international players in the sense that they ply their trade in a country different from birth ... Anything more than that is stretching it a bit in the case of Prince and non-existent as far as I can see for Vucanovic ... But I take your point about our existing squad maybe not all having startling career stats. Appreciate we have a budget to operate in but given we are an established top 6 team, can we not start to dip our toe in slightly more ambitious waters? Without being overly simplistic, if we have the smallest squad but comparable attendances with 3 or 4 other SPL teams, are we being slightly over-cautious? That website I referred to is well worth a browse btw ... Astonishing source of up-to-date data even to refer to if nothing else ... Foolhardy to dismiss so readily IMHO. Your point lacks logic. Existing budget only allows for small squad...if we are to pay more, then we would need to shrink squad further to be able to afford it. If there's a bit of spare cash, then it's use needs to be viewed going forward. You can't base long term spending by way of increased wages on one off, non guaranteed, cash injections...how do you cover the wages next season without it? We're not awash with cash and being "over cautious" is better than being overdrawn with debt/costs we can't sustain...that would be foolhardy! Think you should change your Avatar. Maybe appropriate in your past life but nowadays you seem to roll over, believe everything your told and then defend it with your all. Are you offering to tickle my belly? Jesus!!!!! Please, please don't offer to do that. You'll never get over it. Never get over it!!! You saying I have a big belly? Do I really need to get myself into more trouble over this? I just thought the poor boy had no idea of what he was getting in to. He'd never see the sun again...

Maybe international players in the sense that they ply their trade in a country different from birth ... Anything more than that is stretching it a bit in the case of Prince and non-existent as far as I can see for Vucanovic ... But I take your point about our existing squad maybe not all having startling career stats. Appreciate we have a budget to operate in but given we are an established top 6 team, can we not start to dip our toe in slightly more ambitious waters? Without being overly simplistic, if we have the smallest squad but comparable attendances with 3 or 4 other SPL teams, are we being slightly over-cautious? That website I referred to is well worth a browse btw ... Astonishing source of up-to-date data even to refer to if nothing else ... Foolhardy to dismiss so readily IMHO. Your point lacks logic. Existing budget only allows for small squad...if we are to pay more, then we would need to shrink squad further to be able to afford it. If there's a bit of spare cash, then it's use needs to be viewed going forward. You can't base long term spending by way of increased wages on one off, non guaranteed, cash injections...how do you cover the wages next season without it? We're not awash with cash and being "over cautious" is better than being overdrawn with debt/costs we can't sustain...that would be foolhardy! Think you should change your Avatar. Maybe appropriate in your past life but nowadays you seem to roll over, believe everything your told and then defend it with your all. Are you offering to tickle my belly? Jesus!!!!! Please, please don't offer to do that. You'll never get over it.

Johndo's right. Get yourself to tannadice on tuesday - there's still space on the bus and it could be pivotal to our season.

That was some game. Three good goals from us, and Killie scrapped like hell - as said above, they are a far more motivated side under Locke than they ever were under Johnston. There was an an element of luck about two of their goals, but it would be churlish to grudge them the draw. We are more suited to going away from home against teams that come out and attack but we scored enough today to put most teams away - roll on tuesday night. Just finished watching man City demolish Newcastle in the EPL, wasn't half the entertainment that you saw at TCS. Sure it's a higher standard but only one team was ever going to win - money talks. I just didn't fancy listening, give me Caley Thistle above that any day.

This second half thing is developing into a pattern, especially away from home. What seems to be happening is that home sides (Partick, St. Mirren etc.) have to come out in the first half and attack us, which means we have a midfield that we can play through. At the moment, the standard is so good that we can do this almost at will. Having a focal point to the attack with the pace of watkins is frightening for most teams and by the time they can readjust, we are invariably two up. At that point, sides tend to stiffen the midfield but because they have done that they lessen their attacking options and find it hard to create more than a couple of chances. It's hobsons choice for them really, because if they continue to attack, we continue to counter and score. At home, it's different and teams line up defensively from the start and we can sometimes have a hard time breaking them down. If I were Aberdeen and Dundee United, both of whom we play away in the next month, I would be very very worried.

It says nothing about scottish managers and everything about an unsustainable money driven model of short termism in the EPL. It wlll swallow up and spit out managers regardless of their nationality.

Step forward John yogi Hughes. Massive congratulations.

I hope that they can survive, but fear that they can't

To quote "Narey's toepoker" on twitter, ICTFC have played three games in this years scottish cup. The sum total for all the highlights put together? 5 minutes 10 seconds. Typical BBC Glasgow.

No, you old fool. The "we" refers to Andycam, the largish guy with the sh*t shirts and the cadaverous teenager that follws us around sometimes.

Listen, like the OP i'm not that great with twitter. I only figured out how to connect my phone to wi-fi ten minutes before kick off, after the swiftest pint ever in the bon accord with my weegie dwelling daughter. The signal was so weak that it wouldn't upload photos (the plastic whistle media guy said "don't worry pal, it drops out all the time!!) Then nearly ran out of battery because I'd listened to music on the feckin A9 (again) The panic. Still, got that done then let Andycam get his stuff together and carry four bags of kit whilst I find out who the papers want to patronise/ interrogate and find Scotty Kellacher so he can round the players up. This is generally as easy as herding cats. Then we set up and interviews get sort of done. Andy then gets techie & geeky on the way up the road and uploads the stuff to you tube when there aren't things like mountains in the way. This can be challenging. Anyhoo, we do it because we feckin love doing it and if that makes us cringy at times, that's the way it goes. It also makes us enjoyed and followed by more of jock tamson's bairns than I thought possible. Then we get home at some late hour and I begin my journalist training course by soaking myself in whatever drink is available. Large red wine thanks, seeing as you are asking. BTW, does anyone know where my wife is? I haven't seen her since Friday...........

It's desperate when we are digging up things about unproven (at that time) youth players from 2009 to use as criticism for our conduct in this transfer window. Please consider that this club has the smallest squad size, the smallest playing staff budget and the smallest turnover of any premiership club. Until income improves, that will always be the case. Therefore it's always going to be difficult to attract people here without blowing the salary structure out of the water, incurring debt and venturing down an unsustainable road that has inevitably lead county to where they are now. I think that's why we hang on to people; we have to put an awful lot more into getting people here in the first place and it makes sense to squeeze every last drop out of them rather than invest energy in chasing windmills. We need to attract people who actually and really want to be here and that's not everyone - we need the likes of Tansey and for the past few seasons, Mckay. I agree that we really need to now tie in the others who have said they want to stay - Meekings and Raven for a start. Then we can look at what can be brought in. The other aspect of this is that the winter window is an artificially inflated place to buy anything, fuelled by fans desperate to add to their side and agents and players knowing that, if they are in demand, they can wait until the last minute and maximise their income. The minute any club sells, especially in a crucial position, the price of a replacement automatically goes up. If anyone gets wind of a buying club sniffing around, they sense weakness and hey presto - the price goes up. You can either accept that, swallow your principles and dig deep (a la Roy McGregor) or simply not get into the game. Either way, getting up and making your buying strategy public is only liable to add on a couple of zeros to any price that has to be paid for a player. Would you give the game away under the circumstances? Would you respond to a market that says it doesn't matter what you buy (and that's been said on this thread) as long as you buy something? I don't think so. The players in this squad have got us to where we are in a league where it looks increasingly likely that 4th place will be enough to secure european football. Celtic have ensured that they can beat all others now, funded by an income base that is literally a hundred times bigger than ours. Aberdeen are strengthening but everyone else looks weakened. By that token, 3rd place remains eminently achievable and a good cup run could concievably fund strengthening the squad or retaining those who people with no real evidence are deciding are "as good as gone". Take it in this light, are we really in such a bad place? I don't know that we are, but surely the proposed new Nando's at the retail park will save the day

Glad to see you back to your encouraging best DD! You obviously didn't walk on that pitch on Saturday but it was glutinous and heavy. As I 've already said, it's a miracle Tommy and Mattie got it playable in the fiirst place. Brave? If we had attempted to pay the usual passing game beginning with Esson playing short balls out, it would have been suicidal. Although County are a side getting to know each other, they are fighting for their lives and will pull out results such as Saturdays. I would have preferred to see subs used earlier, but I can quite understand why an inexperienced boy whose game is reliant on pace wasn't put anywhere near it.

We had 4 cleared off the line, their goal was a hand ball (raven sees it and claims straight away) and we don't get a stonewall penalty. We still get a point on a pitch that it was a miracle was playable at all. I'll take that.

Aaron Doran can easily play there, and loves a goal against the county.

Manfer, opinion is NOT fact. It is opinion. The OP has made allegations. At this moment they are NOT fact, they are allegations. Others are therefore entitled to voice contrary opinions, it's just balance. Neither can you moderate in the way you have done and then dismiss contrary opinions with "life's too short/ pedantry" dismissals which are frankly arrogant. Explaining argument and pointing out rule infringements is simply something that you have to do as a moderator - it's your job. I never thought I'd see such poor moderation on this site.

Manfer, you are free to hold that opinion and I fully agree that as a moderator your task is keeping order. That is entirely different to "getting morality back" or inferring that democratic disagreement is "mob rule" You will be aware that I have posted on here and in other places about acceptable conduct, and I've taken people to task about the Dougie Imrie chants before - to their faces - and would do so again. It's factually incorrect, it's tiresome and childish. I'd much prefer that our support didn't chant it. You also need to be aware that Tourette's is a medical condition of an uncontrollable nature, not a voluntary use of vocabulary. As a final point "whatever they are called" has not been asked to check out anything on this matter and if you want that to happen a clearer description of what you want would be needed. If it's on the issue of the OP's allegation, then a request from him would be appreciated.