Caley Thistle have not approached anyone regarding the position and will draw up a list of the three most favourable candidates after today's meeting (22-Jan-09) at Caledonian Stadium.

Inverness director of football Graeme Bennett claims the Highland club will consider all applicants regardless of nationality or experience.

He said: ?The process for the replacement of the manager has started and that will be ongoing.

?There has already been a fair bit of interest in the position and we are not ruling anybody in or out.

?We have an open book, there is no set criteria, we are just seeing who is available and we will take it from there.

?We are going to sit down and decide who we would like to speak to.

?We have not spoken to anyone about the job yet ? it is up to the board to do that.

?We have gathered some information over the last 24 hours on prospective candidates and the sooner we can arrange interviews the better.?

So if today's board meeting is going to result in three names being put forward then I think they may be:

1) J Robertson

2) A Knox

3) A N Other

I don't think we will see Terry Butcher or Ossie Ardiles on that short-list of candidates being invited for an interview at the club....

Interestingly these are the latest odds and the bookies don't often get it wrong (but where do they get some of these names):

John Robertson 2

Terry Butcher 10/3

Barry Wilson 5

Archie Knox 6

Ossie Ardilles 9

Gordon Chisholm 9

Willie Donnachie 10

Kevin MacDonald 11

Derek McInnes 12

Steven Pressley 14

Eric Black 14

Neale Cooper 16

Colin Calderwood 16

Bruce Rioch 16

Chris Sutton 16

Charlie Christie 16

Stevie Frail 18

Maurice Malpas 20

Colin Hendry 20

Alex Rae 20

Jim Duffy 22

Derek Adams 25

Duncan Shearer 33

Craig Brown 33

Steve Paterson 33

Bobby Williamson 33

Edited January 27, 200917 yr by L_G

Must say I like the sound of Butcher being our manager. Malpas on his own would frighten the life out of me!

The great thing, for me, is that Butcher will scare the life out of certain players ... he is a fine motivator and instinctive manager and, above all, will be respected (unlike CB, I suspect). To give Malpas his due, he may not be naturally suited to management, but he is a more measured and proficient coach on the training ground. A good foil the pair of them, hopefully.

Malpas, who was considered a candidate in his own right only a matter of days ago, would offer a compromise solution whereby Butcher would have solid backing if otherwise occupied

This part worries me, hopefully the board will only have considered him if he is 100% committed,

I don't really have a problem if once in a blue moon he needs to do some Scotland stuff.

So you think the long term plan is that Tel keeps us up, and then Malpas takes over when Tel moves on at the end of the season?

Malpas, who was considered a candidate in his own right only a matter of days ago, would offer a compromise solution whereby Butcher would have solid backing if otherwise occupied

This part worries me, hopefully the board will only have considered him if he is 100% committed,

So you think the long term plan is that Tel keeps us up, and then Malpas takes over when Tel moves on at the end of the season?

Never crossed my mind until you mentioned it

And here's the Sun's take on things THE SUN

Much of the same really

'Terry Butcher', heavy duty hinges being fitted to dressing room door as we speak.

First divsion beckons

There are so many "ifs" and "buts" about this...

I get the impression that Butcher is insisting he gets to carry on with both his Scotland and Setanta jobs.

The board should be dictating, and laying down the terms and conditions of his employment - not him. Are they so in awe of the guy, and honoured that he has condescended to come to ICT, they are just going to let him call all the shots?

According to Grassa one of the criteria to be satisfied with this appointment was how badly the candidates wanted the job. With his (ludicrous) earnings from the Scotland job, and whatever he earns from Setanta, Butcher certainly didn't need this job. No one's going to convince me that he's always nursed some kind of secret ambition to manage ICT.

I'm not happy with this at all. It would have been so much better to have had Robbo in place - assisted by anyone such as Duncan Shearer, Bazza, CC, DP, etc... guys for whom Caley Thistle actually means something...

Edited January 27, 200917 yr by Johnboy

And here's the Sun's take on things THE SUN

Much of the same really

"Exclusive"

There are so many "ifs" and "buts" about this...

I get the impression that Butcher is insisting he gets to carry on with both his Scotland and Setanta jobs.

The board should be dictating, and laying down the terms and conditions of his employment - not him. Are they so in awe of the guy, and honoured that he has condescended to come to ICT, they are just going to let him call all the shots?

According to Grassa one of the criteria to be satisfied with this appointment was how badly the candidates wanted the job. With his (ludicrous) earnings from the Scotland job, and whatever he earns from Setanta, Butcher certainly didn't need this job. No one's going to convince me that he's always nursed some kind of secret ambition to manage ICT.

I'm not happy with this at all. It would have been so much better to have had Robbo in place - assisted by anyone such as Duncan Shearer, Bazza, CC, DP, etc... guys for whom Caley Thistle actually means something...

The only positive to be taken from Butcher calling the shots is you can guarantee he won't be told who to play and when...

Interesting point in the Sun article about Robbo and Wilson.

The news will come as a hammer blow to former Caley boss Robbo.

He was desperate to get back into the game and rejoin the club he managed between 2002 and 2004.

The ex-Hearts ace planned to take local legend Barry Wilson with him as his No2.

Not sure about Butcher he did well enough at Fir Park but all his other managerial positions, particularly the last two, have ended in failure.

There are so many "ifs" and "buts" about this...

I get the impression that Butcher is insisting he gets to carry on with both his Scotland and Setanta jobs.

The board should be dictating, and laying down the terms and conditions of his employment - not him. Are they so in awe of the guy, and honoured that he has condescended to come to ICT, they are just going to let him call all the shots?

According to Grassa one of the criteria to be satisfied with this appointment was how badly the candidates wanted the job. With his (ludicrous) earnings from the Scotland job, and whatever he earns from Setanta, Butcher certainly didn't need this job. No one's going to convince me that he's always nursed some kind of secret ambition to manage ICT.

I'm not happy with this at all. It would have been so much better to have had Robbo in place - assisted by anyone such as Duncan Shearer, Bazza, CC, DP, etc... guys for whom Caley Thistle actually means something...

In his defence, Butcher has always said he dearly wants to get back into club football management, whether that depends the money on offer/team i dont know.

I would rather have had Robbo & Barry in to the end of the season. They know what the score is, Butcher is starting from scratch at a crucial stage of the season. And he has been sacked from a few jobs as well. His alleged assistant has not fared any better. But what do we know.

Whoever it is, we must get behind them.

Not sure about Butcher he did well enough at Fir Park but all his other managerial positions, particularly the last two, have ended in failure.

He was greatly aided in that job with players such as Stephen Pearson, McFadden breaking through at that time.

If you really think about it.... there's an awful lot of luck involved in football!!

I would rather have had Robbo & Barry in to the end of the season. They know what the score is, Butcher is starting from scratch at a crucial stage of the season. And he has been sacked from a few jobs as well. His alleged assistant has not fared any better. But what do we know.

Whoever it is, we must get behind them.

Absolutely... We do need to back whoever get the job! We're NOT going down.

confirmed

well setanta are going to know anyway. 18 month deal

He'll certainly put us on the map on a national level. Just hoping he can keep us up as well

Not my choice but he has my support. It'll be interesting to see who he can bring in before the window closes (can someone please pass him the experienced striker memo?).

Impressive if he has decided to join, he could easily sit with his easy setanta job and rake in the money. instead he wants to get back into management, and takes up a job with the club bottom of the spl and on the worst run in their history.

lets hope he leaves a more favourable impression on us highlanders than the last butcher to roam these parts, butcher cumberland, and can get us sending the weegies and co home to think again and turn the tcs into the fortress it once was!

Eh?

Quite sure that Mr Butcher is gonna enjoy taking all 3 points from the 'Tic this weekend!

Beating Celtic is now almost a rite of passage for the best ICT managers ... I've got a funny feeling

Stranger things have happened.