Now that the season has finally been ended, we now await a result on league reconstruction. Other than our views on league reconstruction (which are in the relevant thread), we now have nothing to discuss so I thought I'd start a thread regarding building for next season. 

First things first, I'm worried that Hearts will come in for John Robertson, especially if Hearts the restruction vote and indeed get relegated to the Championship, which would then result in Daniel Stendel resigning. 

Hopefully the majority of our squad stay so that we can present a strong fight with Hearts and Dundee, in the push for ending as league winners. 

Imho, we need to sign quality rather than quantity and also utilise some of our promising youngsters in the first team squad. 

At the moment, we have signed Shane Sutherland and are losing Shaun Rooney to Saint Johnstone and possibly White to Motherwell (taken from Scott Burns Twitter account). 

My take on what we need in order to compete with Hearts and Dundee, which I'm happy for you to disagree with, add to or even debate 😛

Imho, our defence and a 20-25 goals a season striker would be what I'd be prioritising.  I do understand that we need money to get these, hence why I said that we need to utilise the youngsters into the first team.  Players like Cammy Mackay, Cameron Harper, Roddy Mcgregor and Daniel Mackay (there are probably more that I've forgotten to mention) are, in my opinion, capable of becoming first team regulars and making a difference :ictscarf:

If only we had a rich business man/woman that could back Robbo, like Utd (Ogren) and Dundee (Nelms) have 😟

On 5/8/2020 at 5:22 PM, RednBlackComeback said:

Speaking of building for the future - remind me why the club saw fit to release such a talented player ? 🤔

https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/sport/football/highland-league/2192395/highland-league-player-of-the-year-andrew-macrae-still-hopes-to-get-crack-at-spfl-with-brora-rangers/

 

On 5/8/2020 at 7:09 PM, caleyboy said:

Andrew was always going to be a good part-time player. When he was released the club did him a favour. A good football wage and full-time work wage instead of crap wage and small chance of a regular start.

Andrew had/has the potential to be a good SPL player , a very good Championship player , and an excellent lower league player (which he has proved for the last few seasons - best HL young player of the year x2 and now the HL player of the year) .  Probably one of the most technically gifted players to ever come through the ICT youth system and yes we should be reminded why the club saw fit to release such a talented player - maybe a question the Heathmount (Unofficial) Board Members could answer. 

3 hours ago, CaleyTennis said:

Why the hell would I know, I'm not even from Inverness 🙄

I just thought you usually have your finger on the pulse, and now time on your hands since Wimbledon's been cancelled.

4 hours ago, Jack Waddington said:

Were they social distancing? Don't need that pair in trouble with the police...again...

I don't know, I wasn't there myself.  It was reported to me by A Murray.

I don't really like the way I found it, considering the poor circumstances about the club in question, but according to the article, he's a really promising player.

Hassan Ayari. American/Lithuanian/Tunisian Attacking Midfielder, played for TW Braga (some wee club in Northern Ireland) where apparently he stood out by a country mile, and moved directly from there, into Sheffield United's Youth Ranks (U18s specifically).

If he's as good as they say he is, I'd say a potential loan offer is a good plan to make, as we need points, and he needs game time.

Only issue in it I can see is his age, as Sheffield to Inverness at about 17 or so, is a long way...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52921067?at_medium=custom7&at_custom3=Match+of+the+Day&at_custom1=[post+type]&at_campaign=64&at_custom2=facebook_page&at_custom4=DDFD4E04-A707-11EA-B94E-A7ACFCA12A29

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/hassan-ayari/profil/spieler/746754

Edited June 6, 20205 yr by Jack Waddington

Unlikely, but maybe it’s a sign that there’s a quote about the player in that BBC article “it turns out that he required an ICT” 😮

Mitchell Curry just updated his fb profile pic to this. Making a return or am I over thinking things? 👀👀

He was quite ineffective. Hopefully he has improved drastically

5 hours ago, Jack Waddington said:

Mitchell Curry just updated his fb profile pic to this. Making a return or am I over thinking things? 👀👀

Lazy scouting if he's coming back guys utter gash I'd do a better turn and I'm a middle aged man with sciatica and a dodgy knee!

I thought he did ok for us when he got a chance, which wasn’t that often. With Walsh away he could be a decent replacement with regular game time. Is he out of contract at Middlesbrough?

Right at the moment, if we are recruiting at all it is surely encouraging.

18 hours ago, Kingsmills said:

Right at the moment, if we are recruiting at all it is surely encouraging.

I'd rather not fill the squad with empty shirts like Curry just got rid of a few! I sincerely hope we are not looking at players of that calibre bad enough with Sutherland been back! 

fact of life guys we can only build what we can afford to build so let's not get ahead of ourselves

10 hours ago, Alan Simpson said:

I'd rather not fill the squad with empty shirts like Curry just got rid of a few! I sincerely hope we are not looking at players of that calibre bad enough with Sutherland been back! 

So you don't like players returning after failed attempts like Curry or Sutherland. But you appear to get rather excited about Storey? What has he contributed since his return that is worth your adoration??

Tansey did pretty well second time round too. 

12 hours ago, Stirling Observer said:

So you don't like players returning after failed attempts like Curry or Sutherland. But you appear to get rather excited about Storey? What has he contributed since his return that is worth your adoration??

To be honest I think Storey is better as a centre forward. I think he will have a good season whenever it starts.

I think Storey and Todorov would be a good combination up front.

Both are better footballers in my opinion than White. 

Given finances, I would like to see Daniel McKay come back and take Walsh's place. 

17 hours ago, Stirling Observer said:

So you don't like players returning after failed attempts like Curry or Sutherland. But you appear to get rather excited about Storey? What has he contributed since his return that is worth your adoration??

Storey done the business 1st time round bud and hasn't been played in his proper position all season maybe Sutherland will do a turn who nos but not exactly a signing to get me exited that's for sure

Sad signs when some of our fans are buzzing about players like Sutherland and Curry guys who'd struggle to get a game for Alness UTD if that's the benchmark Robbos looking at if far rather he play our young boys see what there made of that's if wev any left obvs! Frank Ross freed by Aberdeen he's a lot of potential 

9 hours ago, Alan Simpson said:

Sad signs when some of our fans are buzzing about players like Sutherland and Curry guys who'd struggle to get a game for Alness UTD if that's the benchmark Robbos looking at if far rather he play our young boys see what there made of that's if wev any left obvs! Frank Ross freed by Aberdeen he's a lot of potential 

I agree with you regarding having a look at young Frank Ross because it's the sort of age range we should be looking at signing :).

A disagree with your point regarding Curry and Sutherland though, we need to give Sutherland a chance, I mean, he scored lots for Elgin so he's not a bad player and knows where the net is. Plus Curry needs to be given a chance, be it at us or wherever he  goes.

At least its gone quiet on Jonny Hayes lol, everybody knows he's Tannadice or Pittodrie bound, anyone that thinks otherwise is crazy :-P. 

Our starting XI as it stands is probably Ridgers, McKay, Toshney, McHattie, Harper, Vincent, Welsh, Storey, Keatings, Doran, Todorov. Obviously there's plenty of room for improvement there, particularly in defence. But I reckon that puts us in far better shape than any other Championship side bar Hearts and Dundee at this point. 

Scot Gardiner's interview on The Wyness Shuffle was pretty bullish, given the circumstances. He pointed out that getting seasoned pros in their late 20s up to the Highlands was tough and so we're more likely to be targeting youngsters with potential (like Walsh and Rooney two years ago), or players from the English non-leagues like David Carson. But it does sound like we have some irons in the fire...and like our budget hasn't been cut too drastically.

Robbo was very positive about Curry when he left and I can understand why. You can't teach that sort of pace. Curry's spell here was dogged by injury and he never got a run of games. Like Storey, he's probably also better as a striker than a winger. I wouldn't be surprised if we went for him again.

Frank Ross has basically been injured for 2 years and would be awfully high-risk. If we were to take a gamble on a player coming back from long-term injury, I'd try for Calvin Miller of Celtic.

Other youngsters I'd like us to have a punt at signing:

Adam Frizzell - little winger released by Kilmarnock who shone on loan in League One

Kevin O'Hara - has left Alloa to try and get a full-time contract. Was sensational last season

Anton Dowds - has scored a lot of goals for East Fife and is trying to find a full-time team

Dario Zanatta - wasn't that great for Partick last season but was amazing for Alloa the year before

I expect we'll end up signing lots of players we've never heard of...but that's worked for the club plenty of times in the last decade or so...

Robbo signs a two year extension. Didn't see that coming! 

https://twitter.com/ICTFC/status/1272438949718433792?s=19

Edited June 15, 20205 yr by RiG

And here

https://ictfc.com/john-robertson-extends-contract-until-2022-23

Brilliant news.  Robbo is a great fit for our club.

1 hour ago, RiG said:

Robbo signs a two year extension. Didn't see that coming! 

https://twitter.com/ICTFC/status/1272438949718433792?s=19

You've gotta be kidding he'd better do something to deserve that this season then at least get us in a title fight was kinda hoping Hearts would come in for him every managers got a shelf life thought his was close feels like he's been here forever!

Good news about Robbo. I’d be worried if he was getting the dreaded 4 year contract like some in the past 😉

Mixed feelings about Curry. His goal at Cappielow was sensational but 3 days later his game awareness at QoS was shocking. Whether that’s something you can teach...

1 hour ago, hislopsoffsideagain said:

Our starting XI as it stands is probably Ridgers, McKay, Toshney, McHattie, Harper, Vincent, Welsh, Storey, Keatings, Doran, Todorov. Obviously there's plenty of room for improvement there, particularly in defence. But I reckon that puts us in far better shape than any other Championship side bar Hearts and Dundee at this point. 

Scot Gardiner's interview on The Wyness Shuffle was pretty bullish, given the circumstances. He pointed out that getting seasoned pros in their late 20s up to the Highlands was tough and so we're more likely to be targeting youngsters with potential (like Walsh and Rooney two years ago), or players from the English non-leagues like David Carson. But it does sound like we have some irons in the fire...and like our budget hasn't been cut too drastically.

Robbo was very positive about Curry when he left and I can understand why. You can't teach that sort of pace. Curry's spell here was dogged by injury and he never got a run of games. Like Storey, he's probably also better as a striker than a winger. I wouldn't be surprised if we went for him again.

Frank Ross has basically been injured for 2 years and would be awfully high-risk. If we were to take a gamble on a player coming back from long-term injury, I'd try for Calvin Miller of Celtic.

Other youngsters I'd like us to have a punt at signing:

Adam Frizzell - little winger released by Kilmarnock who shone on loan in League One

Kevin O'Hara - has left Alloa to try and get a full-time contract. Was sensational last season

Anton Dowds - has scored a lot of goals for East Fife and is trying to find a full-time team

Dario Zanatta - wasn't that great for Partick last season but was amazing for Alloa the year before

I expect we'll end up signing lots of players we've never heard of...but that's worked for the club plenty of times in the last decade or so...

Zannata and O hara defo be worth a shout good players said in another post I'd go for Miller as well be class at this level fingers crossed hope we get at least 1 player gets the fans excited we deserve it after the last few seasons

I'm not sure exactly what folk expect Robbo to accomplish. His first season back was a write-off because he inherited an absolute clusterf*** of a club and its remarkable that we came so close to a playoff spot. Last season we finished third, behind two teams who had enormous budgets in comparison to us. And this season we finished second, behind one team with an enormous budget (United) and ahead of another (Dundee). 

 

He's also managed to turn Chalmers, Donaldson, McCart, Rooney and White (and possibly Walsh and Trafford) into Premiership players. Ig you'd said that when these guys signed for us you'd have been laughed out of town.

 

He's doing all right, I think. Certainly I think that, were he to leave, we'd be far more likely to end up with someone inferior than someone superior.