Has he played his last game for ICT? It's been mentioned on another thread that the relationship between him and Butcher is beyond repair.

If true, and I have heard it from a couple of different sources now, it is very disturbing, especially with Fraser on his way out. I would rate Esson as one of the best keepers in the SPL and one of Brewster's better signings for ICT....

:024:

Rarely wrong I would say.

When Aberdeen signed him, was he not league 1/division 3 player of the year?

Not a clue, just remember he played for the Dons, with just under 100 appearances. Don't really know much about him now as he sort of disappeared off the radar by heading to Denmark

And i remember Roy McBain beating him with a strike from 25 yards on his right foot.

God, he must be bad if Roy McBain scored with his right foot! Maybe not!

Roy can strike them with his right when the balance/wind/temperature are suitable, as he did against Stirling in the cup.

Anyway.. Mcnulty is out of contract this month so we will possibly only have one keeper on the books, but as with all players the club need to know where they are playing next season.

When Aberdeen signed him, was he not league 1/division 3 player of the year?

Not a clue, just remember he played for the Dons, with just under 100 appearances. Don't really know much about him now as he sort of disappeared off the radar by heading to Denmark

And i remember Roy McBain beating him with a strike from 25 yards on his right foot.

God, he must be bad if Roy McBain scored with his right foot! Maybe not!

Roy can strike them with his right when the balance/wind/temperature are suitable, as he did against Stirling in the cup.

Anyway.. Mcnulty is out of contract this month so we will possibly only have one keeper on the books, but as with all players the club need to know where they are playing next season.

All the goals against Stirling were good that day, probably because they were such a bad team.

Apparently we have 16 players with expiring contracts in the summer. Thats a worrying statistic.

agree with Absent Friend. I said it on another thread but I believe that Butcher will be a big draw for players either signing or re-signing for ICT.

For one thing, he is respected in the game as a player, captain, manager (at Motherwell at least), and even as a TV pundit - a good example of this was that within days of his appointment he had been invited onto a SPL manager's committee that his predecessor had been snubbed for. For another thing, his role as Scotland assistant may well persuade a few players with a good pedigree who arent classed as "superstars" to make ICT their home in the hope they can impress their way into the international setup.

Of the players we have, I hope that Butcher can keep all those that he wants. We know we will lose Blackie to Hearts and Fraser to Motherwell, as those deals were done and dusted in the bad old days, but I havent heard rumblings from anyone else ... the only rumblings have been from the club making the point that they cannot make a decision until our SPL status is decided and that is a sensible move.

Say TB got a few young scots to come to the club. Is he aloud to tell george burley that so and so have being great and they should be in the team. Since he has the roll with Scotland and ICT maybe he wont be aloud to add any ICT player into the squad and it would be up to burley or steven press if they thought a ICT player was good enough for scotland

It would be quite something if we could get Mark Brown back. He must be getting a bit cheesed off playing nothing but reserve football with Celtic.

He would be a great signing but to be honest I think he left for the money and nothing to do with first team footy!

If Celtic make it public they do not want him then we could swoop in!!

It would be quite something if we could get Mark Brown back. He must be getting a bit cheesed off playing nothing but reserve football with Celtic.

He would be a great signing but to be honest I think he left for the money and nothing to do with first team footy!

If Celtic make it public they do not want him then we could swoop in!!

Still cant see him coming back to us. He will think hes to good now since he was at celtic

Say TB got a few young scots to come to the club. Is he aloud to tell george burley that so and so have being great and they should be in the team. Since he has the roll with Scotland and ICT maybe he wont be aloud to add any ICT player into the squad and it would be up to burley or steven press if they thought a ICT player was good enough for scotland

If TB has a player in his squad who he thinks is good enough then I would hope that GB or SP would listen to him and either give the player a chance or come out and watch him for themselves. The same would apply if SP saw a decent prospect at Falkirk. Its got to be better having a Scotland coach in the camp seeing a player in every game and in training all week than having one of them visit a game once in a blue moon and maybe seeing that player having a rare off-day !

I think TB is professional enough, and would value his reputation enough that he would only recommend someone if they were worthy ... eg. Ian Black for the recent 'B' squad.

Say TB got a few young scots to come to the club. Is he aloud to tell george burley that so and so have being great and they should be in the team. Since he has the roll with Scotland and ICT maybe he wont be aloud to add any ICT player into the squad and it would be up to burley or steven press if they thought a ICT player was good enough for scotland

If TB has a player in his squad who he thinks is good enough then I would hope that GB or SP would listen to him and either give the player a chance or come out and watch him for themselves. The same would apply if SP saw a decent prospect at Falkirk. Its got to be better having a Scotland coach in the camp seeing a player in every game and in training all week than having one of them visit a game once in a blue moon and maybe seeing that player having a rare off-day !

I think TB is professional enough, and would value his reputation enough that he would only recommend someone if they were worthy ... eg. Ian Black for the recent 'B' squad.

Would any of our players get further than the scotland "B" squad. Thats the real question???

Would any of our players get further than the scotland "B" squad. Thats the real question???

I hear Filipe Morais is vying with young Cristiano for a position in the Portuguese squad.

Sorry to drag this back on topic but it has to be said that if Butcher and Esson can't patch up their differences it could be terminal for ICT.

All we need to survive next week is 1 point. 1 feckin point... A nil-nil draw would be perfect.

Which of our two keepers would be more likely to achieve a shut-out?

Fraser will be on his bike straight after the Falkirk game - it would be an act of madness to start the game with him.

Is Butcher mad?

Esson HAS to start. Michael just doesn't command his box in the same way as Esson does, and his distribution is painfully slow. Even when we were chasing an equaliser today he still seemed to take an age over all his clearances.

Thanks DavieB - totally agree...

If we lose this game thanks to a poor performance from Fraser, I'll be feckin livid...

We all know our strikers are unreliable to say the least, but they don't even need to score on Saturday.

All we gotta do is get through the game without conceeding a goal then it's party time.

Agreed. Feel far more confident when Esson is in goals.

This is the sort of decision i would expect from Brewster but not from big Terry.

Esson was playing well. Why drop him??? It just baffles me.

Could it be possible that Butcher has predicted that it wil go down to the last day and has being saving Esson until then. Esson is a great keeper and is exactly the kind of guy we need on saturday.

This is the sort of decision i would expect from Brewster but not from big Terry.

Esson was playing well. Why drop him??? It just baffles me.

Esson and Butcher was meant to have afight and thats why Fraser has being brought back to the side

Esson and Butcher was meant to have afight and thats why Fraser has being brought back to the side

So is Butcher happy enough to continue with Esson sitting on the bench?

Our very existance could be at stake if we lose on Saturday. He's the manager - he's got one more chance to sort this mess out.

Esson and Butcher was meant to have afight and thats why Fraser has being brought back to the side

So is Butcher happy enough to continue with Esson sitting on the bench?

YES

Is Butchers ego more important than our SPL survival ?

They could have fallen out over anything...

What if Esson's attitude in training or something is proving damaging to the squad?

Butcher doesn't strike me as the kind of manager to put his own ego before the job at hand...

Does anyone know what Esson's attitude is like??? Dont think there was reports of him falling out with any other manager

Does anyone know what Esson's attitude is like??? Dont think there was reports of him falling out with any other manager

My cousin used to cut culloden fields while ICT were training there and he met him a few times and he said to me he was quite a nice guy.

I seem to recollect a while back, that one of the players said that the then trialist Dining I think was very loud, much louder than the second loudest in the dressing room Esson. Something to do with that perhaps?