I see John Robertson is using the forums at the moment. I wonder John, as an ex manager and player, if you wouldn't mind sharing your views on fans vocally showing displeasure at a performance on the pitch? Does it put the player's heads down? Does it spur them on to prove the doubters wrong? Does it make the players fell guilty for letting down the fans who pay their hard earned cash week in and week out? How do managers feel about it?

Missing the point here guys , us fans pay the players wages .

Customers in TK Maxx pay the staffs' wages there too. As a customer, does this entitle me to pop in every second Saturday and shout abuse at the checkout girls for 90 mins?

You can't really conflate a checkout girl at TK Maxx with a professional footballer earning a grand a week. Even so, if you were short changed and received goods or services of inadequate quality, you would be perfectly entitled to complain.

It would obviously be wrong to 'shout abuse' at somebody who was trying to do a job but simply wasn't very good at it. ICT have never been world beaters, and expectations of what can be achieved on the pitch have to be realistic and fair.

But considering the time and money most fans invest in supporting ICT, it isn't unreasonable to expect 11 well paid professional footballers on the park to give 100% effort for 90 minutes once a week in return. If fans don't think this is the case, they have every right to vent their feelings from the stand. It's part of football, and anyone who can't handle that should either grow some b"lls or find another hobby.

Missing the point here guys , us fans pay the players wages .

Customers in TK Maxx pay the staffs' wages there too. As a customer, does this entitle me to pop in every second Saturday and shout abuse at the checkout girls for 90 mins?

From bitter experience, I can inform you that TK Maxx don't tolerate that (spoilsports)

I booed when we lost 5-1 at home to County. Nothing wrong with booing at the right moments - booing after a 0-0 draw at home to Ayr is a bit Old Firm-esque though.

I remember when we beat Albion rovers 6-1 in the 3rd, people booed because we didn't score in the second half!

Not likely to get a reply this week anyway as Robbo over in Croatia doing the TV for the Hearts game

Has the internet not found its way to Croatia yet???

Yes I am sure the internet has found its way to Croatia but please excuse Robbo if he didnt take his laptop with him while working for the BBC to take the time out to reply to questions on ICT online

Dead Ball Specialist

I do believe you may mean "compare" do you not? I mean "conflate" the check out girls is a new idea for sure.

Go on, you really meant to use the word "inflate" didn't you, you saucy devil?

Missing the point here guys , us fans pay the players wages .

Customers in TK Maxx pay the staffs' wages there too. As a customer, does this entitle me to pop in every second Saturday and shout abuse at the checkout girls for 90 mins?

You can't really conflate a checkout girl at TK Maxx with a professional footballer earning a grand a week. Even so, if you were short changed and received goods or services of inadequate quality, you would be perfectly entitled to complain.

It would obviously be wrong to 'shout abuse' at somebody who was trying to do a job but simply wasn't very good at it. ICT have never been world beaters, and expectations of what can be achieved on the pitch have to be realistic and fair.

But considering the time and money most fans invest in supporting ICT, it isn't unreasonable to expect 11 well paid professional footballers on the park to give 100% effort for 90 minutes once a week in return. If fans don't think this is the case, they have every right to vent their feelings from the stand. It's part of football, and anyone who can't handle that should either grow some b"lls or find another hobby.

The wages bit is an interesting one. At what point does the money paid reach a level worthy of abuse? If it is ?1000 per week then this would mean that many of the squad should be excluded. Even as an SPL club we had guys going on the pitch on ?500 per week and less, regularly.

I reckon there will be a number of staff in TK Maxx that would be on that and more but it's how we identify them. Maybe we can put a sticker on their shorts or shop uniform stating wether they reach the cut off point or not.

Fans have every right, all of us. That means I have the right to support and encourage. i will continue to do this as I have not reached the stage that I believe our players go out to fail on purpose. I also know more than four words.

Missing the point here guys , us fans pay the players wages .

Customers in TK Maxx pay the staffs' wages there too. As a customer, does this entitle me to pop in every second Saturday and shout abuse at the checkout girls for 90 mins?

As a TK Maxx customer you pay for the goods, not for the service provided by the checkout girl. At ICT you pay to watch footballers perform, a different service altogether.

Missing the point here guys , us fans pay the players wages .

Customers in TK Maxx pay the staffs' wages there too. As a customer, does this entitle me to pop in every second Saturday and shout abuse at the checkout girls for 90 mins?

As a TK Maxx customer you pay for the goods, not for the service provided by the checkout girl. At ICT you pay to watch footballers perform, a different service altogether.

you pay to see a game, no more, no less. performance, service, quality or results have nothing to do with it but people will moan regardless. its part of the game whether its their right or not

I think being away I have maybe lost the thread of this!! TK maxx staff, on 500 GBP a week?? the police here, in Latvia, get 200 gbp, per month, hence footballers from here in Latvia looking for a contact in the UK.

I do know good players here but cannot afford the envelopes / backhanders to become an agent in Latvia, all down to money here.

But so far a good start to the season, mostly positives, so far, but treat each game as a final, and maybe .. just maybe!!!!

This thread is mad!

This thread is mad!

Hi GENTLEMEN and Ladies

apologies but was in Zagreb last week with BBC not the best result but very good trip to see how they trained tactics used etc so just catching up with e mails etc now happy enough to answer questions if need be

Kind Regards

Robbo

John

Is the Scottish game really so far behind in terms of quality, as Hearts were clearly outclassed by what looked like a technically superior side.

Any chance of answering the original posters question Robbo ?

John

Is the Scottish game really so far behind in terms of quality, as Hearts were clearly outclassed by what looked like a technically superior side.

Hi M4TJ

Scottish football is behind in terms of some things thats for sure and needs plenty of work but to improve cant blame SCOTTISH football in general for thursday as hearts only had 2 scottish players starting the game but here goes

SET UP FOR LEAGUE

14 team premier league may mean more meaningless games toward end of season but WOULD allow teams to blood the youngsters and give experience to them wouls also mean 38 games guaranteeing 19 home and 19 away games 10 team 1st div full time then 4 regional leagues(north south etc) if it can work for germany spain italy france regional leagues can work for us

improved training facilities for teams lots of clubs still dont have indoor training or even dedicated training facilities

relaxation on EU players only i watched Zagreb have team with 3 Brazilans 2 argentinia ns i chilean none internationalists but miles ahead in terms of ability in scotland you can only sign players aho have played around 70% of countries last 2 years of internationals cant be right surely the croatians give them passport after 2 years and bang they end up in germany italy etc if they stay 5 years croatia get an Eduardo

reinstate reserve league where are at least a third of all spl players going to play this season? plus get one national body to run game not the three we have at moment

I see John Robertson is using the forums at the moment. I wonder John, as an ex manager and player, if you wouldn't mind sharing your views on fans vocally showing displeasure at a performance on the pitch? Does it put the player's heads down? Does it spur them on to prove the doubters wrong? Does it make the players fell guilty for letting down the fans who pay their hard earned cash week in and week out? How do managers feel about it?

Hi BIRDOG

apologies for being so long in getting back to you as 1 was in Zagreb AND 2 some people dont feel i have a right to answer questions anyway tough a i do never hid from anything in my life!!

fans showing displeasure is part and parcel as what is seen as a dissapointing result eg ayr 0-0 and i dont think you would hear any manager saying any different to be honest and pretty sure that without getting to big for their boots and sounding arogant theplayers would also be pretty fed up so would not take the booing from the fans to much to heart.good players will always use as motivitation and stay mentally strong as they realise it was 2 points dropped and it really would not affect them.personal abuse can depending on the players mental strength can get to them at times certainly not one off stick but regular abuse or cat calls will see certain players perhaps go into their shell and not play to the best of their ability

the players i can assure you (99%) of them really do hurt and really do feel they have not only let the fans down but also themselves and that is a big let down when you know as a player you had the opportunity to do something about it on the pitch that hurts and it does hurt players when they think that the fans think they dont care or have not tried their best every players tries it sometimes is not your day and every player loves and appreciates as in all walks of life when they are encouraged so please keep encouraging as much as possible especially whe a player is not having a good time of it i have left players out/taken players off when i thought the crowd was affecting him and ultimately the team but they should be strong enough to shrug it off

managers are generally perfectionists in that we want like the fans the full package ie play really well make lots of chances score lots of goals and keep clean sheets(though you guys might want a 5-4 now and again it does nothing for the managers heart rate)its about getting the right balance example i know lots of fans hanker for the pele days when Caley swept through the divisions with lots of goals for and against and got to the point where they were established 1st div club when pele left and donald and i came in our thoughts were one on;y premier league!! we worked out that by keepin goals column in high figures but getting goals against down would give us real chance not rocket science i know but we had in our opinion have to change from a back 3 man marking to a back 4 and 4-3-3 formation not as cavalier but effective and ultimatly successful there lies the differfence find the right balance!!! if a player is not playing well the occassional bit of get your finger out is ok and agreed with by manager constant stick the manager will protect his player as valued member of team so dont think by saying that he thinks fans out of order he does not agree with you !! he has to man manage the player and trust me you have to be a mum dad brother sister doctor psychiatrist psychologiist the whole shooting match to keep your players focused

so to end that one yes stick whe warranted not a problem constant abuse will see player head drop eventually an d will affect him and team without going to much into it can i just add i feel it is terible the stick that young KYLE ALLISON is receiving no matter what team he supports he give his best for caley and i can assure you if that was me and continued i would be thinking vary seriously about playing for those supporters GET BEHIND HIM PLEASE

so to end that one yes stick whe warranted not a problem constant abuse will see player head drop eventually an d will affect him and team without going to much into it can i just add i feel it is terible the stick that young KYLE ALLISON is receiving no matter what team he supports he give his best for caley and i can assure you if that was me and continued i would be thinking vary seriously about playing for those supporters GET BEHIND HIM PLEASE

Well said

SET UP FOR LEAGUE

14 team premier league may mean more meaningless games toward end of season but WOULD allow teams to blood the youngsters and give experience to them wouls also mean 38 games guaranteeing 19 home and 19 away games

Not sure I follow here. Are you including a split after playing each other once home and away as that would leave 26 games and then play each team in the top/bottom 7 home and away once to get 38 games?

so to end that one yes stick whe warranted not a problem constant abuse will see player head drop eventually an d will affect him and team without going to much into it can i just add i feel it is terible the stick that young KYLE ALLISON is receiving no matter what team he supports he give his best for caley and i can assure you if that was me and continued i would be thinking vary seriously about playing for those supporters GET BEHIND HIM PLEASE

Well said

Excellent point hope these idiots might finally keep their mouths shut now. Don't mind the anti-County songs when he warms up I think that can be seen as light-hearted banter but not the some of the personal abuse he was getting.

Following on from TM4TJ's question earlier, as one of the few countries to have a six star rating for our grass roots level football how do we still manage to come up short against teams from countries where very little is spent on this kind of projects.

Edited August 24, 200916 yr by BA

SET UP FOR LEAGUE

14 team premier league may mean more meaningless games toward end of season but WOULD allow teams to blood the youngsters and give experience to them wouls also mean 38 games guaranteeing 19 home and 19 away games

Not sure I follow here. Are you including a split after playing each other once home and away as that would leave 26 games and then play each team in the top/bottom 7 home and away once to get 38 games?

sorry yes thats what i would do also have bottom down top up and play offs similar to rugby league eg 4th place travel to 3rd winners travel to 2nd winnners travel to 2nd bottom all one off games can you imagine the crod interest and increse last year with Partick Dundee Livi Pars QoS Morton all possible qualifiers for play off spots

last seaso would have saw dunfermine v dundee (5-6k crowd) winners to partick(5-6k crowd) winners to st mirren crowd same again?

the 4 regional league winners would play off in semi and final with the winner able to challenge for the bottom of division 1 if they coulf fill the full time plus stadium criteria if not bottom woulsd stay in league does not stop ambitious teams from progressing and allows junior clubs etc to join thir regional league and give more than half the first division something to play for

Edited August 24, 200916 yr by Yngwie
sorted quote

so to end that one yes stick whe warranted not a problem constant abuse will see player head drop eventually an d will affect him and team without going to much into it can i just add i feel it is terible the stick that young KYLE ALLISON is receiving no matter what team he supports he give his best for caley and i can assure you if that was me and continued i would be thinking vary seriously about playing for those supporters GET BEHIND HIM PLEASE

Well said

Excellent point hope these idiots might finally keep their mouths shut now. Don't mind the anti-County songs when he warms up I think that can be seen as light-hearted banter but not the some of the personal abuse he was getting.

Following on from TM4TJ's question earlier, as one of the few countries to have a six star rating for our grass roots level football how do we still manage to come up short against teams from countries where very little is spent on this kind of projects.

ba

we do very well at most youth ages up to and including u19 but then start to struggle from u21 onward as most or at least some of our unger 21 dont play regular first team football celtic res rangers res english team reserve players plus agai facilities you drive through most towns abroead and they have community pitches that would put most spl and certainly all 1st div teamms to shame

Robbo appreciate you answering questions no matter what some sad idiot thinks.

I was wondering if you had the chance to work with Gordon Smith before he was appointed head of the SFA? I always thought he was a decent pundit because he was never afraid to share his opinion (although I disagreed with the majority of what he said) but I think when Scottish football has had such a battering over the last few weeks we need to look at whoever is top of the tree. Do you think Gordon Smith is the right man to represent Scotland at executive level?

As has been said, Thanks alot for coming in here John. Its not often clubs get legends coming on and talking on forums. Its appriciated by most on here.

But to a question i have for you, and many others might have, slightly off topic it maybe, BUT....

Whats it really like to be a football manager? You always get people, myself included, that because we are good at Football manager 2009 we would be a good manager. But whats it really like, in terms of pressure and things?

Hi Robbo,

Since you were in Dingwall on Saturday i thought i'd ask - just how bad are Ross County and how many goals do you think we'll pump them by next week?

Hi Robbo,

Since you were in Dingwall on Saturday i thought i'd ask - just how bad are Ross County and how many goals do you think we'll pump them by next week?

Aye come on Robbo... Try your hardest to give us an unbiased prediction !

Also what's better Barry Wilson's mums cakes or the pies at Victoria Park ??