OK, at the moment he is my pet hate.........can anyone defend his performances over the last few games.......

waste of space as far as I can see.

Edited August 29, 200916 yr by themann4thejob
not used to this red wine yet

give him a break. have only seen a couple of games this season so far but he seemed quite good in them. everyone can have a bad game. im going to stick up for him, sponsored his boots for the year

Two left ones I presume.

Smart move. At least you can be assured that when you get them at the end of the season, even if as the AP man says they are both for the left foot, at least they will be cas good as new!

Stratford contributed zero to the game. Only Sanchez was near him in that respect. I have seen him be crap every game this season, looks like he could do with a motivational spell in the reserves. All the other new boys seem to be improving, if inconsistently.

"All the other new boys seem to be improving, if inconsistently"

Nice to see someone is prepared to say something positive!!

Don't rate him at all. Reads the game worse than an illiterate four year old attempting to read the Qu'ran. Punt back to America on performances like these.

Edited August 30, 200916 yr by Renegade

I think he has potential. He goes about his job quietly and keeps things simple. But his lack of experience told big time yesterday. I personally think duncan should have played instead of him yesterday as he would have offered a lot more in a game like that. Give stratford time though

Of the new signings...the only real hope i have is Cox. I include Foran in this. From what i have seen and heard....he gets in great positions, then tries to pass. We dont need that. We need someone whos not afraid to take a shot.

As for Stratford....I think it may well come to pass, that he will be viewed, by most of the support, as sub standard. The worrrying thing is. Butch seems to have failed to bring in ANY player that was at least as good as, or better than his predescescor. So far...i think the bench has been housing several players that should be starting, in place of some of the starting 11. And i seriously hope its not Butch's ego getting in the way.

Smee--you impress, on occasion.

Defensive midfielders always take flak for being "anonymous". How often have we heard the same complaints about Russell Duncan and Roy McBain when playing in that position?

Having said that, i do have concerns about Stratford. The fact that he's reached the age 24 without playing first-team professional football is one of them. What does a guy who's been playing college football in U.S. know about the physical scrap that's involved in playing in the Scottish First Division? The other major concern i have is that he isn't closing down space quickly enough. After all, that's what defensive midfielders are supposed to be doing when we fans (myself included) don't notice them. This was particularly striking at East End Park when Dunfermline midfielders were allowed to shoot from the edge of the box repeatedly. On Saturday, i thought the whole midfield was dominated by County and all four of them have to take responsibilty for that.

I'm still not sure about Stratford. He might turn out to be a devent sqaud player in the future but for now we need grit and experience in the form of Russell Duncan.

Of the new signings...the only real hope i have is Cox. I include Foran in this. From what i have seen and heard....he gets in great positions, then tries to pass. We dont need that. We need someone whos not afraid to take a shot.

As for Stratford....I think it may well come to pass, that he will be viewed, by most of the support, as sub standard. The worrrying thing is. Butch seems to have failed to bring in ANY player that was at least as good as, or better than his predescescor. So far...i think the bench has been housing several players that should be starting, in place of some of the starting 11. And i seriously hope its not Butch's ego getting in the way.

Without going to games and seeing for yourself how can you make these statements ?

I feel sorry for the lad, butcher has drafted him to play at a level that he is not good enough to play at. on saturday he was ripped apart by far better players in my opinion and so was cox, however, cox i do think has potential, i like him as a player but they were better. as for him being a replacement to black...well that's just wishful thinking i think for now. back to stratford, in my opinion i blame butcher, he should know better than to sign someone who is completely unknown, yes it looks good if it works out but most of the time it doesn't. the actual fact is stratford just isn't good enough, not at this level anyway. we want to win this league, how are we going to do that if the players aren't good enough.

county's midfield were far superior to our own and i dont think that was just our midfield having a bad day, they were just out classed by better players.

I hope butcher will see this and do something about it but i very much doubt it.

I just don't think TB has the available funds already committed to his dreams to achieve much of anything right now.

Poor Stratocaster didn't have a clue yesterday.

Apart from one tackle he did very little to convince me he is worthy of a place in the squad. He just seems too slow for the scottish game.

His corners were good yesterday. Best corners I have seen from ICT in a long while actually.

I thought he had quite a decent game on the first day of the season away to dunfermline, but since then he has been non-exsistant in the middle of the park. I wouldnt of started on saturday if Duncan wasnt injured.

His corners were good yesterday. Best corners I have seen from ICT in a long while actually.

Damn, but if we had rolling subs in the first division

So are we going to say every player and staff needs to go now. Butcher signed him yes but im sure he wont be scared to drop him

He is the Assistant Manager of Scotland for god sake him must have something about him dont you think?

He is a good manager and I dont understand after one defeat yes it was against our rivals but still it was only 1 defeat we are saying he is going to have to do something to get it sorted.

Was the 6 games without defeat before that not enough to show that he is doing something right

George Burley is the manager of Scotland - It really does count for nothing. However I do agree that Butcher does have something about him and should be given more time. Last season he was trying to do a salvage job be failed by a single goal. Falkirk are showing this season that it wasn't just bad luck they nearly went down. They should have.

As for the subject matter. I'd rather be playing Mcbain alonside cox. He's as fit as anyone out there. Carries the occasional goal threat and is a competent passer. I feel he'd be a decent foil for Cox, who despite a lose of his early season form has something about him.

Previous poster said he was a "hunk" ? Of what, wood? He certainly plays like one. He's static, his game sense is poor, his tackiling isnae great and he's anaonymous for loooooong spells. However, Butcher signed = Butcher will play him.

i think he is a useless chicken who came in a hurry

I dont think he is in the right position. I think centre midfield is too big a job for him. I think he should be tried on the right wing just too see what he would be like. I really dont see why not.

I dont think he is in the right position. I think centre midfield is too big a job for him. I think he should be tried on the right wing just too see what he would be like. I really dont see why not.

A hellish lack of acceleration and top speed is why not...