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Transfer in and outs


ferben1994

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42 minutes ago, AlexJones said:

The way some people are carrying on you'd think we'd just lost Lionel Messi. Let's get real folks. Big Drapes was a good stopper, a big lump who put himself about and caused chaos in and around the opposition penalty area - but he could also struggle to string a straight 5 yard pass at times. Technique-wise we're talking North Caledonian Super League level. Don't get me wrong, every team needs a stopper in the middle of the park - however, I doubt very much that Russel Duncan was on £2,000 a week, or anywhere near to being our highest paid player - and there's a very good reason for that. The reality is, County have a wealthy suitor with money to burn, we don't. We have to cut our cloth and get on with it. 

People always moan when stalwarts leave (Munro, Tokely, Duncan etc) but if you want to make an omelette, you have to break a few eggs. You can't rebuild a team unless you clear the decks first. Anyone who sat through the dross of last season could see a rebuilding job was needed. The young lads who are coming through - Calder (21), Seedorf (22), Oakley (21), Mulraney (21), Brad Mackay (24), Polworth (22), Cooper (23), Bell (20) - are only going to get better. I'd much rather get back to the SPL with a fresh generation of players who can keep us there long term and potentially reach new heights than simply bounce back with the same declining team who'd only be clinging on at the bottom of the table as soon as we got there. 

 
 

Fair points there. Enough of the old No.8 talk and focus on who is here, and wants to be here wearing an ICT shirt - i.e. David Raven. 

OFW - either play him or get/let him be on his way and free up his wages. 

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10 hours ago, AlexJones said:

The way some people are carrying on you'd think we'd just lost Lionel Messi. Let's get real folks. Big Drapes was a good stopper, a big lump who put himself about and caused chaos in and around the opposition penalty area - but he could also struggle to string a straight 5 yard pass at times. Technique-wise we're talking North Caledonian Super League level. Don't get me wrong, every team needs a stopper in the middle of the park - however, I doubt very much that Russel Duncan was on £2,000 a week, or anywhere near to being our highest paid player - and there's a very good reason for that. The reality is, County have a wealthy suitor with money to burn, we don't. We have to cut our cloth and get on with it. 

People always moan when stalwarts leave (Munro, Tokely, Duncan etc) but if you want to make an omelette, you have to break a few eggs. You can't rebuild a team unless you clear the decks first. Anyone who sat through the dross of last season could see a rebuilding job was needed. The young lads who are coming through - Calder (21), Seedorf (22), Oakley (21), Mulraney (21), Brad Mackay (24), Polworth (22), Cooper (23), Bell (20) - are only going to get better. I'd much rather get back to the SPL with a fresh generation of players who can keep us there long term and potentially reach new heights than simply bounce back with the same declining team who'd only be clinging on at the bottom of the table as soon as we got there. 

 
 

You make some good points there AJ, especially about the ages of the new group, which is a positive point, although I had hoped Draper with be the experienced man that sticks everything together. However we have to move on; without the sugar daddy that Ross County appear to have (although they couldn't keep Boyce), we have to act like the club we are, a small team with a low fan base in a league than earns pennies not millions. At least we got a transfer fee for Draper, I don't know whether a combined fee and alleged saving in wages of £200K indicates that we are in a bad way debt-wise or just represents sensible business. The glory days of success cup final appearances and top six SPL finishes are for now gone, the team and the 'spirit' that gave us that virtually gone. Hopeful there is enough potential in the lads we have brought in to become something decent over time and bond together as a group. Importantly many are on contracts longer than one season, and probably one or two will give a transfer fee when they eventually move on.

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40 minutes ago, bdu98196 said:

where do you suggest given we have so many keepers - perhaps he could try a stint as a midfield enforcer ;-)

Ridgers - questionable quality

Esson - past it

Mackay - injured

Hoban - on loan

Foster - on loan 

 

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I think Draper saying that it was an easy decision for him to make to swop ICT for County  is a bit of slap in the face for the club that resurrected his career. He won a Scottish cup winner's medal, league cup runner's up medal,  played in Europe and was loved by the supporters. It might not have been the smoothest of transfers, with both parties coming out with different accounts of the deal, but he could have thanked the supporters and the former management teams for the great seasons he had with ICT. I liked Draper a lot but was very disappointed in his statement. 

Edited by Jaggernaut
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I've tried to stay ambivalent about the Draper move but his interview here really sticks in the throat. Would have been nice to see a bit more loyalty from the players who dropped us in the doo-doo to fight to get us back up ... and by the way let's not market the new season kit through pictures of former player(s). Get the ICT FC website/ FB page updated pronto!

 

https://stv.tv/sport/football/1395427-draper-it-wasn-t-a-hard-decision-joining-highland-rivals/?utm_content=buffere66a5&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

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6 minutes ago, cif73 said:

I've tried to stay ambivalent about the Draper move but his interview here really sticks in the throat. Would have been nice to see a bit more loyalty from the players who dropped us in the doo-doo to fight to get us back up ... and by the way let's not market the new season kit through pictures of former player(s). Get the ICT FC website/ FB page updated pronto!

 

https://stv.tv/sport/football/1395427-draper-it-wasn-t-a-hard-decision-joining-highland-rivals/?utm_content=buffere66a5&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Again, do you think he would have made those comments had it not been for our statement saying he requested a transfer acting like he instigated the move?

Regardless, a lot of what he says is sadly true.

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13 hours ago, AlexJones said:

The way some people are carrying on you'd think we'd just lost Lionel Messi. Let's get real folks. Big Drapes was a good stopper, a big lump who put himself about and caused chaos in and around the opposition penalty area - but he could also struggle to string a straight 5 yard pass at times. Technique-wise we're talking North Caledonian Super League level. Don't get me wrong, every team needs a stopper in the middle of the park - however, I doubt very much that Russel Duncan was on £2,000 a week, or anywhere near to being our highest paid player - and there's a very good reason for that. The reality is, County have a wealthy suitor with money to burn, we don't. We have to cut our cloth and get on with it. 

People always moan when stalwarts leave (Munro, Tokely, Duncan etc) but if you want to make an omelette, you have to break a few eggs. You can't rebuild a team unless you clear the decks first. Anyone who sat through the dross of last season could see a rebuilding job was needed. The young lads who are coming through - Calder (21), Seedorf (22), Oakley (21), Mulraney (21), Brad Mackay (24), Polworth (22), Cooper (23), Bell (20) - are only going to get better. I'd much rather get back to the SPL with a fresh generation of players who can keep us there long term and potentially reach new heights than simply bounce back with the same declining team who'd only be clinging on at the bottom of the table as soon as we got there. 

 
 

I couldn't disagree more with the bit I've highlighted.  Technique-wise we're not talking North Caledonian Super League level and to say otherwise is just being ridiculous.  He's a talented enough player that another Scottish club have paid a six figure sum for him - Rangers and Celtic aside, Scottish clubs have paid six figure fees for players only ten times this decade.  No, of course he's not Lionel Messi, but he's a player who would walk into most Premiership midfields.

 

As for the omelette metaphor, we didn't want to make an omelette, but we've managed to drop all the eggs on the floor.

 

The young lads who are coming through are not necessarily going to get better - in fact Cooper has already failed at Championship level with Falkirk and didn't impress at League One level with East Fife.  Part of the problem is that we are building a team around youngsters who are not proven at all and who are at least as likely to fail as succeed.

 

I agree completely with everything RiG has said on the subject.

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19 minutes ago, RiG said:

Again, do you think he would have made those comments had it not been for our statement saying he requested a transfer acting like he instigated the move?

Regardless, a lot of what he says is sadly true.

Do you really know for absolutely sure that he didn't instigate the move? I don't see anything particularly wrong with the club statement.

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3 minutes ago, RiG said:

Again, do you think he would have made those comments had it not been for our statement saying he requested a transfer acting like he instigated the move?

Regardless, a lot of what he says is sadly true.

I've explored this in a bit more detail on another thread, but the bottom line is this.   At the Inverness end, Draper instigated the move by expressing a wish to leave after County's initial offer.  Had he not done so, County would have been told to politely f**k off and that would have been the end of the matter.  

I agree with your last sentence.

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17 minutes ago, SMEE said:

Draper comes across as a real mercenary in the STV report. lost all respect for him

Haven't watched it.  But consider this.  Look at all the complaints here about the way that the club has been run for the last season and a half. Now imagine that you are inside the club, much closer to everything. What must it be like?

I've moved jobs when I've felt that my employer was lousy and that I couldn't make a difference.  Why should it be any different if your profession is footballer?

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18 minutes ago, Adamskibeats said:

Seemingly we're signing Canadian midfielder Charlie Trafford next week. Only going on 3 random tweets but it's something.........

https://twitter.com/EscapeToSuomi/status/896037204539187204

Scored a nice header. Has the height. Less bulky and more mobile than Drapes. Reckon he could be a decent acquisition. I reckon we may have just sold bronze and bought silver for less money. Let's hope Robbo can turn him into gold.

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His CV isnt that impressive and his club career in Canada before that is not exactly stellar and was at a pretty low level (maybe North Caledonian as someone talked about earlier!) but the header was pretty good ! I cant imagine we scouted him so if we are indeed offering a contract are we signing players from YouTube highlight reels again or is he coming on trial with a contract dangling like a carrot if he impresses ? 

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There may be the small question about getting a work permit.  I don't know all of the rules but I thought that you had to play in a percentage of your countries international games to get one automatically and I don't think his international career is good enough as his last cap was against Scotland in March this year when he came on as sub in the 94th minute. Sorry to be a pessimist. 

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21 minutes ago, Scotty said:

His CV isnt that impressive and his club career in Canada before that is not exactly stellar and was at a pretty low level (maybe North Caledonian as someone talked about earlier!) but the header was pretty good ! I cant imagine we scouted him so if we are indeed offering a contract are we signing players from YouTube highlight reels again or is he coming on trial with a contract dangling like a carrot if he impresses ? 

He's got the same agent as Susan and Seedorf, we seem to be using them for recruitment.

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2 hours ago, SMEE said:

Draper comes across as a real mercenary in the STV report. lost all respect for him

That's harsh. We only saw what the broadcaster decided to show, so there may have been positive comments, who knows?

He did well for us, and that was recognised near and far, so his departure was inevitable since the end of last season.

Yes it is galling that he has gone to County, but if settled in the area, with not that many years playing time left, he has to look after his family.

We are all fans, but how many of us can honestly say we would not have taken the opportunity to get better financial security?

We should be thanking him for his efforts, and looking forward to locking horns at some time in the future.

 

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1 hour ago, Fraser54 said:

There may be the small question about getting a work permit.  I don't know all of the rules but I thought that you had to play in a percentage of your countries international games to get one automatically and I don't think his international career is good enough as his last cap was against Scotland in March this year when he came on as sub in the 94th minute. Sorry to be a pessimist. 

Work permit should be fine as he has a Polish passport.  Couple of articles I found here : The first from 2012 is an interview with the player and the second (that mentions the passport) is from a couple of years ago when he got called to the Canadian squad as a replacement for an injury call-off. His CV may not be much to write home about but I kinda like the attitude and the fact that he always feels he has a point to prove and views himself as the underdog who will keep trying.  

http://www.rednationonline.ca/Interviews2012/RNOInterviewSeriesCharlieTrafford.aspx

http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/charlie-trafford-canada-poland-korona-kielce-finland/

 

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1 hour ago, Scotty said:

Work permit should be fine as he has a Polish passport. 

I've no idea if this applies to Trafford, but there's a scheme whereby descendants of Polish Jews impacted by the holocaust are eligible for a polish passport. Thats why Gil Blumenstein had one.

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1 hour ago, Scotty said:

Work permit should be fine as he has a Polish passport.  Couple of articles I found here : The first from 2012 is an interview with the player and the second (that mentions the passport) is from a couple of years ago when he got called to the Canadian squad as a replacement for an injury call-off. His CV may not be much to write home about but I kinda like the attitude and the fact that he always feels he has a point to prove and views himself as the underdog who will keep trying.  

http://www.rednationonline.ca/Interviews2012/RNOInterviewSeriesCharlieTrafford.aspx

http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/charlie-trafford-canada-poland-korona-kielce-finland/

 

Well spotted.  You obviously have too much time on your hands.

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