bdu98196

The whole concept of an unelected house of members who use the powers they have to protect each other, manipulate and hide needs to be disbanded. People like this and many others have no place in representing anyone in society. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-33243782

How many times have we seen in Scottish football that a club does develop a talent and then they leave, which is part of life so accepted. In some (few) cases clubs might get a decent transfer fee - recently DUtd have done ok with this, but other times they get picked up by the OF who refuse to pay the parent clubs valuation, goes to a tribunal and in almost every case the board decide that the development fee paid is insultingly low almost matching the OF valuation. Again keeping the strength and wealth of Scottish football within the duopoloy. I'm not suggesting teams dont develop their own but like any business if you develop a product and invest you should be able to sell that comodity for a fair price, sadly football isnt structured like that and even when systems are in place so it should be then it can be exploited and manipulated at the expense of the small clubs.

Given the position of Gray, I feel its picking on an easy target. We are a small club with 21 years existance, small fanbase and limited funds to invest in youth but easy to slate as we are provincial and the central belt biased media will always back this along with the majority of narrow minded fans. Where is the mention of Celtic & Rangers both clubs who have invested in multi million pound facilities for training and yoth development yet produce nothing in terms of proportion of success V's investment - preferring to fill their teams with overpaid journeymen or European imports of varying levels of quality. Even County for their facilities produce little first team youth players, so its not just ICT, although even compared to Killie, Hearts, Hibs, D Utd we are lagging behind. Perhaps the likes of Gray and the SFA should do more to help clubs invest and gather talent, put caps or limits stopping bigger clubs poaching local talent at the expense of the smaller teams, take the disproportionate wealth distribution and even it up so all clubs can have the same basis for youth investment. Instead they use clubs like ourselves as a platform to gain some publicity and become a talking point - as cup winners we become an easy target and he knew publicity would follow.

We can ignore Kink as a loss since he never played but we shouldnt overlook Billy leaving in Jan at a time when I think all agreed we were already a striker short in squad size. But reality is thats 5 off established first team players who have gone and none of these young lads got a look in last year but we are expecting them to step up and fill the places vacant, thats a huge ask. With the players we have its going to be a huge season for guys like Doran & Vincent to prove they are a mainstay player for the full season and not someone who drops in and out.

Organised trialist game meant to be on Sat at Broadwood. Hopefully Yogi will be there to watch............

With Watkins away and Ofere too, I thought we'd have pulled out the stops to secure Nick. Starting to worry about our squad now with Eurpoa games only 3 wks away - we look very weak.

I expect the times and even the days will be confirmed based on TV and obviously the SPFL will ensure we will have a good few Sunday games to accomodate our Europa League group games.

Perhaps another problem we always have is that people in Scotland (central belt) don't want to move up north to Inverness and see it as the back of beyond, yet English players may see it differently and be keen to move away from their cities etc for a different lifestyle. It seems that all the guys who take the chance to move up always enjoy their time and so do their families - perhaps we are just seeing a narrow minded view of location from our lowland countrymen?

​So we know that wont be a problem for us cos the Dons will be knocked out by then..... ​

Looking at who is still under contract next year, is this what we have and cover for positons? We look a bit light in midfield and definately need a striker or 2. Hopefully Nick Ross stays, can any of the young lads step up? Esson / Brill Raven / Meekings Meekings / Devine Warren Tremarco / Williams Draper Tansey Doran Christie / Vincent Williams Foran?

Any idea whats happening with Nick Ross, anyone know if he has had other offers or if he may yet stay?

With the signings Hibs have made so far and the state of that Rangers team, it may well be another playoff next season for them

With money as it is and timescales this tight, then playing local HL teams seems logical. A bounce game against the dons or even St J would benefit both - where else will any team get decent quality opposition before the Europa games, but think it would be a better idea to have fans - even if its just a few quid in and money to charity. It would be good if we can get one big pre-season game though before the SPFL season starts against an English team - I'd like to see a friendly against Arsenal as we are both national cup winners but sadly that would never happen.

I was surprised by the number of ICT fans who left at final whistle too, quite a few I could see from where I was walking out, if this was a home game the number would have been noticeable but feel those who stayed did more than enough to so the players appreciation.

Should this not be no more sleeps.......I mean is everyone not too excited now to be sleeping tonight? Dont want to sleep in tomorrow and arrive late or even miss it!!!!

HT: 1-1 FT: 1-3 1st ICT: Ofere 1st Opp: Loy Time of 1st Goal: 20 mins 1st Yellow Card: Taiwo Crowd: 34500 *Joker*

Esson Raven Meekings Devine Shinnie Tansey Draper Christie Watkins Doran/Williams Ofere Tansey & Draper holding, breaking up the play and distributing as usual. Doran impresses against DUtd and showed the problems he creates going forwards so could play ahead of Williams.

He wont come to Inverness, city doesnt offer enough for him. With Watkins and maybe Nick Ross leaving he could certainly slot into the midfield with Doran & Christie which would be quite an exciting 3 infront of Draper & Tansey

I'm pretty sure Toni would be cup tied, but may be wrong - I think he could be a godo signing again but only if we have major doubts over Brill regaining full fitness and recover, if not we have 2 able keepers and the money woudl be better spent elsewhere. As with most SPL clubs released players they dont have anyone better than we do that would improve the team,

Well considering one game is a nothing friendly with Qatar then yes maybe it is a good time. Reynolds was an example of a lesser ability player getting picked and I'm sure given shinnies versatility he could play anywhere in the back line but could Reynolds? Mulgrew may be fresher but 135mins of football max in 6 months wont make him match sharp or fit.

Whilw I'm an fan of what Strachan is doing with the national team, I'm somewhat comfused by some selections Charlie Mulgrew - a guy who has played 45mins on Fri night after being out for 5 months Mark Reynolds - is he international quality? Scott Bain - a keep who has never had a look in before? These and other slightly odd selections and yet chooses to ignore the likes os Shinnie who has been in all SPFL teams of the year and has shown he can play LB/RB & CM - versatility like Mulgrew has. Least he never picked anyone from the lower Scottish divisions this time at least http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/32780203

Personally I disagree with Denayar being nominated as he isn't even a Celtic player, but on loan from Man City so hardly a product of a Scottish youth system which in some ways I believe these awards should recognise - good talent brought through by a Scottish club not just bought.

Forgot to add, only part of the day that disappointed was that 50% of the small band of fans left before the players did their lap of honour/awards. For some reason they took I long time in the dressing room to reappear but after a fantastic season of finishing 3rd, even being potential title challengers at xmas, a cup final and Euro football folks didnt want to show appriciation. We need to make sure the players feel wanted by the fans if not we will loose them elsewhere.

Thought the first half was a bit flat even though we were the better team, at times DU just didnt look interested right across the park. Doran had a really good first half getting in behind a few times, was deffinately deserving the MoM award. Some good saves by Esson and I thought Marley go into good positions but again failed to score when presented opportunities. Devine looks solid at the back so worth getting on another deal - could he partner Warren next season with Josh at RB - seems to good to be a bench warmer. Nick Ross did well coming on, but I thought Vincent was very average and didnt do enough to try force himself into the final. Good to get another win and maintain momentum towards the end of the season.

Ibrox for him? Mccall signing was he not originally?