Reading my way through the various threads, very often there is points made about CC and his man management/team selection/touch line behaviour(or lack of it) - so I wish to have my say.

There is no doubt that CC came into management after lots of pondering, the sign of a mature person.

He took over a team considered successful and has gently eased them into another playing pattern, in my opinion, better on the eye and more successful.

It is natural when games are lost disappointed fans turn on the players and manager without much consideration being given to the ability of the opposition.

However, I would contend that we now have a better run team, playing better football, managed by a better manager, making better use of his subs and.....not only does he talk sense but he is more articulate than any other manager in the SPL and most of the professional presenters.

All in all, I am proud to be a CC supporter at this early stage of his management career.

As much as I am glad at the job that CC is doing, there are some changes and developments that I would like to point out.

1) He needs to make better use of subs.  Against Celtic, he only made 1 sub and that was to bring on Wyness and go 3 up front.  At the moment, I can only think of one game that he has changed really, and that was the Falkirk game.

2) Stop the long ball.  We have been resorting to it far too often, and the last few games I have seen (Rangers away, St Mirren away, Aberdeen home, Celtic away) we have resorted to just humping the ball up the park after 3 passes within the defence.  My brother tells me that this isn't a rare occurance.

3) We need to get a fast paced winger who will run at players.  As much as Barry is a great player, too be honest he is slow and fat.  I wouldn't even contemplate dropping him, but we need a fast paced winger who will run down the wing, take on players and swing a decent ball into the box.  Players like Burke spring to mind.

4) Don't be afraid to drop players that aren't performing.  Duncan springs to mind.  Sure he came in to replace Black, but it was quite obvioius that he wasn't good enough and making too many mistakes.  Against St Mirren he was awful.  Hart should have been given a chance.

5) Give the youngsters a chance.  I have heard so much about Sloan, Sutherland and McCallister.  I want to see how they will fare in the SPL.  If what I have been told is true, then Sutherland may be the player that I noted in 3).

6) To build on the point about subs.  We had a problem under Brewster that he wouldn't make a substitution unless he had to.  Well, Charlie tends to make subs really late in the game, and I would like to see him making them a bit earlier.  If we are one down, bring on another striker, maybe sure up the midfield.  I am thinking around the 60-70 minute mark.  At the moment, the games I have seen we have been making Substitutions about 80 minute.  Far too late to change the game in my opinion.

I am not trying to be negative, just a couple of points that I have picked up.  I am more then happy with how our team is playing, but as Charlie grows and develops, he will become a great manager, and a ICT legend.

Totally disagree with the point regarding subs.  I think CC makes intelligent use of substitutes and if you look back at the timings you will see that they varely largely, which IMO, shows he is making changes with a purpose and not just because the game is coming to an end and he is panicing or making changes for the sake of it (Games we are winning aside where changes are often made to eat up the clock).

From having a quick glance at the stats I would say about 40% of our substitutions have been made before the 75 minute mark.

As much as I am glad at the job that CC is doing, there are some changes and developments that I would like to point out.

1) He needs to make better use of subs.  Against Celtic, he only made 1 sub and that was to bring on Wyness and go 3 up front.  At the moment, I can only think of one game that he has changed really, and that was the Falkirk game.

2) Stop the long ball.  We have been resorting to it far too often, and the last few games I have seen (Rangers away, St Mirren away, Aberdeen home, Celtic away) we have resorted to just humping the ball up the park after 3 passes within the defence.  My brother tells me that this isn't a rare occurance.

3) We need to get a fast paced winger who will run at players.  As much as Barry is a great player, too be honest he is slow and fat.  I wouldn't even contemplate dropping him, but we need a fast paced winger who will run down the wing, take on players and swing a decent ball into the box.  Players like Burke spring to mind.

4) Don't be afraid to drop players that aren't performing.  Duncan springs to mind.  Sure he came in to replace Black, but it was quite obvioius that he wasn't good enough and making too many mistakes.  Against St Mirren he was awful.  Hart should have been given a chance.

5) Give the youngsters a chance.  I have heard so much about Sloan, Sutherland and McCallister.  I want to see how they will fare in the SPL.  If what I have been told is true, then Sutherland may be the player that I noted in 3).

6) To build on the point about subs.  We had a problem under Brewster that he wouldn't make a substitution unless he had to.  Well, Charlie tends to make subs really late in the game, and I would like to see him making them a bit earlier.  If we are one down, bring on another striker, maybe sure up the midfield.  I am thinking around the 60-70 minute mark.  At the moment, the games I have seen we have been making Substitutions about 80 minute.  Far too late to change the game in my opinion.

I am not trying to be negative, just a couple of points that I have picked up.  I am more then happy with how our team is playing, but as Charlie grows and develops, he will become a great manager, and a ICT legend.

1. He might not have changed every game with the subs he has used but even you must see that his use of subs is 10 times better than Brewster

2. If this is the same strategy that saw us unbeaten in 87 games until we came up against Hibs & Celtic... what a disgrace  :014:

3. Can't disagree there but I'm sure CC will have noticed this and will be looking at options if not in the christmas transfer window then definately at the turn of the season. Bazza has argueably been our best player this season and I'm sure since Burke has pulled out of contract talks at Rangers ICT will be his first option  :006:

4. What about dropping Black because he wasn't performing to the high standard he set for himself last season, even though we have lost the last 2 games I think we have played better football since Duncan has come into the team.

5. Youngsters will get their chance when they are mature enough (if that makes any sense :017:) if CC thinks they are up to the occasion I'm sure CC wouldn't hesitate to play them but you don't want them to blow their load to early... ease them into things

.... my point is you could pick holes out of every manager even the great sir Ferguson but CC has shown that he is more than capable and think absent friends comments are spot on!  :025:

1. He might not have changed every game with the subs he has used but even you must see that his use of subs is 10 times better than Brewster

2. If this is the same strategy that saw us unbeaten in 87 games until we came up against Hibs & Celtic... what a disgrace  :014:

3. Can't disagree there but I'm sure CC will have noticed this and will be looking at options if not in the christmas transfer window then definately at the turn of the season. Bazza has argueably been our best player this season and I'm sure since Burke has pulled out of contract talks at Rangers ICT will be his first option  :006:

4. What about dropping Black because he wasn't performing to the high standard he set for himself last season, even though we have lost the last 2 games I think we have played better football since Duncan has come into the team.

5. Youngsters will get their chance when they are mature enough (if that makes any sense :017:) if CC thinks they are up to the occasion I'm sure CC wouldn't hesitate to play them but you don't want them to blow their load to early... ease them into things

.... my point is you could pick holes out of every manager even the great sir Ferguson but CC has shown that he is more than capable and think absent friends comments are spot on!  :025:

1) Yes, our subs are better, however it still seems that he uses them far too late in the game.  With Caley D's point about "40% of subs are made before 75 minutes" then that is far too little.  15 minutes is not long enough to make an impact in a game, and we should be looking to start to try and change the game around the 70 minute mark.  I firmly believe that Caley have the ability to beat any team in the league (with the exception of Celtic) and so if things are not working out, then it should be dealt with early.  We should not be playing for a draw...ever.

2) I'll ignore your little typo.  But, how many did we win?  How many did we draw?  And how many did we get lucky with, and were hanging on to the draw?  We got caught out against Hibs and again Celtic with this tactic.  And if we try it against Hearts, then we will get caught out again.  Let's play some better passing football, like the first 40 minutes against Celtic.

3) You know full well that I wasn't alluring that Burke was going to come here. It was a comparison.  We need a player like Burke.

4) Did you see the game against St Mirren?  I took two of my friends to the game, offering to show them how good Caley were.  Duncan was terrible.  I was embarrased not only because Caley were awful, but because we had a player like Duncan who looked out of place the whole game.

5) These youngsters are the future.  The sooner the better.  These players may actually be able to play some **** decent future, and enhance the team.  You never know what they are like until you give them a chance.  Look at Rooney....

Of course you can pick holes in managers. Doesn't mean you can't point them out.  Or would you rather stick your head in the sand and pretend that he doesn't have any faults at all?

It's called constructive criticism...

1. He might not have changed every game with the subs he has used but even you must see that his use of subs is 10 times better than Brewster

2. If this is the same strategy that saw us unbeaten in 87 games until we came up against Hibs & Celtic... what a disgrace  :014:

3. Can't disagree there but I'm sure CC will have noticed this and will be looking at options if not in the christmas transfer window then definately at the turn of the season. Bazza has argueably been our best player this season and I'm sure since Burke has pulled out of contract talks at Rangers ICT will be his first option  :006:

4. What about dropping Black because he wasn't performing to the high standard he set for himself last season, even though we have lost the last 2 games I think we have played better football since Duncan has come into the team.

5. Youngsters will get their chance when they are mature enough (if that makes any sense :017:) if CC thinks they are up to the occasion I'm sure CC wouldn't hesitate to play them but you don't want them to blow their load to early... ease them into things

.... my point is you could pick holes out of every manager even the great sir Ferguson but CC has shown that he is more than capable and think absent friends comments are spot on!  :025:

1) Yes, our subs are better, however it still seems that he uses them far too late in the game.  With Caley D's point about "40% of subs are made before 75 minutes" then that is far too little.  15 minutes is not long enough to make an impact in a game, and we should be looking to start to try and change the game around the 70 minute mark.  I firmly believe that Caley have the ability to beat any team in the league (with the exception of Celtic) and so if things are not working out, then it should be dealt with early.  We should not be playing for a draw...ever.

2) I'll ignore your little typo.  But, how many did we win?  How many did we draw?  And how many did we get lucky with, and were hanging on to the draw?  We got caught out against Hibs and again Celtic with this tactic.  And if we try it against Hearts, then we will get caught out again.  Let's play some better passing football, like the first 40 minutes against Celtic.

3) You know full well that I wasn't alluring that Burke was going to come here. It was a comparison.  We need a player like Burke.

4) Did you see the game against St Mirren?  I took two of my friends to the game, offering to show them how good Caley were.  Duncan was terrible.  I was embarrased not only because Caley were awful, but because we had a player like Duncan who looked out of place the whole game.

5) These youngsters are the future.  The sooner the better.  These players may actually be able to play some **** decent future, and enhance the team.  You never know what they are like until you give them a chance.  Look at Rooney....

Of course you can pick holes in managers. Doesn't mean you can't point them out.  Or would you rather stick your head in the sand and pretend that he doesn't have any faults at all?

It's called constructive criticism...

I'm not saying it isn't, I'm just poinying out my thought son what you said.  In essence I can't really disagree with what you are saying but the thing I like about CC is that you can usually  justify his decisions while on previous occasion when Brew or Robbo were in charge, at times I would find myself completely bemused at what they were trying to do.  I wasn't taking the pi55 with my point about Burke but just trying to highlight that players like Burke don't grow on trees and it is all very well saying that you want a player like him but I don't see any about our wage price that would happily choose Inverness as their home.  I am in no way Duncan's biggest fan but what he does do is sit back and let the attackers attack, while when you have Black in the team Rankin and himself seem to do the same thing

.... I obviously meant 8 games unbeaten  :016:

Perhaps the foregoing supports my comments.

It would appear that any positive comment MUST be replied to in the negative.

I like the comment that even Fergie gets it wrong at times - well not often - but I bet their forum is also full of 'know better' armchair managers. ''He should have subbed Rooney not Ronaldo'' What luxury!

Well we don't have that luxury but we can still have our say.

Thanks for making this board so enjoyable with your (mature most of the time) differing views.

Perhaps the foregoing supports my comments.

It would appear that any positive comment MUST be replied to in the negative.

I like the comment that even Fergie gets it wrong at times - well not often - but I bet their forum is also full of 'know better' armchair managers. ''He should have subbed Rooney not Ronaldo'' What luxury!

Well we don't have that luxury but we can still have our say.

Thanks for making this board so enjoyable with your (mature most of the time) differing views.

What exactly are you trying to say?

Charlie Christie is still relativey inexperienced as a manager and, as such, makes mistakes.

However, it sems to be that he is gradually maturing both in ability and confidence.

I have to agree tha this use of substitutions is generally purposeful and certainly must more effecctive than Craig Brewster who semed to have a blind spot for effective substitutions.

We seem to be rather obsessed with subs. If the proper team is picked there should be no need to substitute unless the game plan hasn't worked or injury forces it. Yogi Hughesw made his first substitution in the eighth or ninth game of the season. Didnt do his team any harm.

EWS. Thank you so much for revealing this hitherto hidden talent of yours! What an incredibly authoratative and extensive report card you have written there on Charlie Christie's weaknesses and competance as a manager. Where on earth did you aquire all of this impeckable tactical knowledge of football? Perhaps from your brother who seems to be an even more accurate observer of CC's use of the long ball than you are? But no matter - what a glaring omission the Board seem to have made by apointing Christie when you were obviously available to do a so much better and more perceptave job!

At least he wont feck aff and leave us in the **** in mid season.  :001:

Lets feckin face it. That is the main reason that he got the job and considering that he is on a learning curve he is doing pretty feckin alright so far.

Hardly dropped us in the sh!t mid-season.... CC was able to come in and not only kept a good run of results going pretty well, but actually improved results & performances as the season wore on....

Brew leaving when he did was a blessing in disguise....

Read the post again thicky.  :015: :015: :015:

Eh .. Partick Thistle.  :006:

EWS. Thank you so much for revealing this hitherto hidden talent of yours! What an incredibly authoratative and extensive report card you have written there on Charlie Christie's weaknesses and competance as a manager. Where on earth did you aquire all of this impeckable tactical knowledge of football? Perhaps from your brother who seems to be an even more accurate observer of CC's use of the long ball than you are? But no matter - what a glaring omission the Board seem to have made by apointing Christie when you were obviously available to do a so much better and more perceptave job!

You seem to be the type of fan that I really do detest.  What I have done here is pointed out how I think the team can improve.  I've seen the same games that you have, I've seen the same failings, the difference is that I think we can grow on and become better then what we already are, where as you are content with how we are doing at the moment.

You never moaned about Caley before?  Or other team?  I'm guessing that when Bertie Voghts was destroying the Scottish national team that you sat back, shoved your head in the sand and went'

"Well, he is the manager.  He's got the qualifications blah blah blah yackety smackety and a big tall glass of OJ *snore*"

Christie CAN improve.  Caley CAN improve.  I have merely pointed out ways in which I think they can.  Like I said earlier, it's called constructive criticism...oh wait.  I forgot, obviously it isn't allowed on here.  Or at least, according to you.  Have I misunderstood the idea of a forum...is it not a place to discuss our beloved team, and discuss ways that they may be able to improve.  Discuss the failings that they had?

Guess you won't like me mentioning that it seemed that during St. Mirren, Tokely had a stinker, and it seemed like he was a bag of nerves?  Guess I don't know anything, seeing as I am not a player...

Perhaps from your brother who seems to be an even more accurate observer of CC's use of the long ball than you are?

It's not hard to see when the team is playing long ball.  As I live in Glasgow I cannot get to as many home games as I would like, so I rely on my brother to tell me how the team played at home.

But speaking about the long ball.  Against Rangers, we used it extensivly.  We got lucky that Letizi is such a cack goalkeeper, otherwise that game was ending 0-0 because we were not creating any chances.

For 40 minutes against Celtic we passed it, moved a bit, and played along the ground.  We had more chances to score in that 40 minutes (against the better team) then we did in the whole match vs Rangers.

Guess what we did in the 2nd half?  In fact, the best thing about the 2nd half was that Celtic fan being thrown out for hurling abuse at us.

See, as a fan, I am allowed to point out what I think is wrong.  I make a point of calling things how I see them, and this is exactly how I see it.  If you had not been so blinded by the sand clogging up your retinas, then you would see that I was actually happy with the overall performance of Charlie, and these were merely suggestions on how he may improve in the coming seasons.

As many have said on here "Imagine what will happen when we click?"

But I feel fully justified in what I have said, knowing that I am not the only one to believe this, and that others have pointed out some of the things I have brought up independently of me saying this.  Read what I said again, take it in, and tell me that you do not agree with at least a part of it.

Or is that sand far too comfortable for you?

Do you mean "Feck aff" ??

In more words...yes.

report card :

I still maintain - as I did from day one - that CC is the right man for the job. However, it would be naive to think that he is anything like the finished article ..... YET.

He has made a good start but there will always be plenty of room for improvement. The good thing is that CC seems to know that and is pursuing further coaching badges in an effort to become better at his trade. (not to mention that the club manager needs an 'A' license for the team to be eligible for europe)

At the end of the day, if he does a **** job he will be sacked and while other managers might not have been too bothered about that if it happened to them at ICT (with the possible exception of Pele), I think Charlie will continue to be even more determined to be succesfull as ICT has been a part of his life since the club was formed.

As a 'new' manager he is prone to the odd mistake but seems to learn from them.

You seem to be the type of fan that I really do detest.  What I have done here is pointed out how I think the team can improve.  I've seen the same games that you have, I've seen the same failings, the difference is that I think we can grow on and become better then what we already are, where as you are content with how we are doing at the moment.

You never moaned about Caley before?  Or other team?  I'm guessing that when Bertie Voghts was destroying the Scottish national team that you sat back, shoved your head in the sand and went'

"Well, he is the manager.  He's got the qualifications blah blah blah yackety smackety and a big tall glass of OJ *snore*"

Christie CAN improve.  Caley CAN improve.  I have merely pointed out ways in which I think they can.  Like I said earlier, it's called constructive criticism...oh wait.  I forgot, obviously it isn't allowed on here.  Or at least, according to you.  Have I misunderstood the idea of a forum...is it not a place to discuss our beloved team, and discuss ways that they may be able to improve.  Discuss the failings that they had?

Guess you won't like me mentioning that it seemed that during St. Mirren, Tokely had a stinker, and it seemed like he was a bag of nerves?  Guess I don't know anything, seeing as I am not a player...

Perhaps from your brother who seems to be an even more accurate observer of CC's use of the long ball than you are?

It's not hard to see when the team is playing long ball.  As I live in Glasgow I cannot get to as many home games as I would like, so I rely on my brother to tell me how the team played at home.

But speaking about the long ball.  Against Rangers, we used it extensivly.  We got lucky that Letizi is such a cack goalkeeper, otherwise that game was ending 0-0 because we were not creating any chances.

For 40 minutes against Celtic we passed it, moved a bit, and played along the ground.  We had more chances to score in that 40 minutes (against the better team) then we did in the whole match vs Rangers.

Guess what we did in the 2nd half?  In fact, the best thing about the 2nd half was that Celtic fan being thrown out for hurling abuse at us.

See, as a fan, I am allowed to point out what I think is wrong.  I make a point of calling things how I see them, and this is exactly how I see it.  If you had not been so blinded by the sand clogging up your retinas, then you would see that I was actually happy with the overall performance of Charlie, and these were merely suggestions on how he may improve in the coming seasons.

As many have said on here "Imagine what will happen when we click?"

But I feel fully justified in what I have said, knowing that I am not the only one to believe this, and that others have pointed out some of the things I have brought up independently of me saying this.  Read what I said again, take it in, and tell me that you do not agree with at least a part of it.

Or is that sand far too comfortable for you?

I think there is a lack of realism at the moment, a lot of supporters with their head in the clowds expecting ultimate football from ICT when they obviously don't realise where we have come from.  I don't think any supporter would say we are playing the best football at the moment but as you have pointed out yourself for 40 minutes against Celtic we played some good stuff and passed it about the pitch well but to lose the goal at the end of the first half was obviously going to make it very difficult in the second half....  you also mentioned the game against Rangers that we played rubbish but still won and I mean heaven forbid we didn't score and only managed to get a 0-0 draw at Ibrox :017: get a grip mate

You have to put everything in perspective as Charlie has tried to do in his last few interviews, on paper we shouldn't even be in this division and consolidation for another season would be another success until the we catch up with the SPL off the pitch. 

"blah blah blah yackety smackety and a big tall glass of OJ "

Quote of the day.

Do you mean "Feck aff" ??

Brilliant summation there, IHE.... love your choice of words.... :021: :021:

I think expectation is understandably high because of previous results.

CC has been a superb manager so far, my only criticism is that in the past

he hasn't seemed vocal enough.  But, to be fair anyone would look quiet

next to DP! ( :notworthy01:).

My tuppence worth on CC after originally thinking he may have been a bit lightweight for the job is he is more than proving himself  big enough for the position

Mrs PB.I hope your going to take the HN journo to task for nicking your DP signature to qoute in his article.....unless he asked nicely,did he?

4) Don't be afraid to drop players that aren't performing.  Duncan springs to mind.  Sure he came in to replace Black, but it was quite obvioius that he wasn't good enough and making too many mistakes.  Against St Mirren he was awful.  Hart should have been given a chance.

St Mirren was Duncan's first game for ages. He was fine in the first half. Second half he was knackered. At least he had an excuse, unlike the rest of the side who failed to show up second half.

Sure he could have been subbed but I can't see why you think Hart, an attacking right sided midfielder, can do the holding job that Russell does.

4) Don't be afraid to drop players that aren't performing.  Duncan springs to mind.  Sure he came in to replace Black, but it was quite obvioius that he wasn't good enough and making too many mistakes.  Against St Mirren he was awful.  Hart should have been given a chance.

St Mirren was Duncan's first game for ages. He was fine in the first half. Second half he was knackered. At least he had an excuse, unlike the rest of the side who failed to show up second half.

Sure he could have been subbed but I can't see why you think Hart, an attacking right sided midfielder, can do the holding job that Russell does.

:025: :025: :025:

I'm a great lover of statistics:-

2005/06.- Inverness  p15....pts18

2006/07.- Inverness  p15....pts19

Well done Charlie (and the players of course) for the continual

progress of the incredible phenominin that is, ICT