Is anyone else slightly concerned that we are facing off against the likes of Clach, County and Keith and Falkirk etc are playing profesional outfits (i mean this term as loosely as one could) like Millwall and Darlington?

Maybe Im making a mountain out of a molehill that the standard we face to get ready for pre season isnt the best - bring on Chelsea!!!

Yes I am, the players aren't really having to work very hard, and as such may be at a lower level then they should be for the first days of the season.  We haven't played one biggish club.  Even Falkirk got Ajax.

I'm thinking about it this way....

Yes, we aren't playing some of the so called 'big' teams others are. But this season we'll be playing against at least 4-8 teams that are probably the same ability level as us, where only one goal will seperate us in a game. If our strikers and midfielders get plenty of chances/confidence in preseason they'll feel good for the start of the season. The same goes for the defence when they finish a match with a clean sheet.

The level of opposition: Qatar under 21, decent Romanian team with quality youth players, top 2 Highland league teams, 2 title contenders for the SFL division 2 and a decent div 3 team. All these teams will sit in and defend against us, hoping to take something on the counter attack. Something that will happen a lot of the time when we are playing at home v. Motherwell/St Mirren/Gretna etc etc, so this is good practice in having to work for goals. Indeed its been frustrating in the games i've seen against Keith and Elgin where there are 10 opposition players behind the ball, but as the game takes its toll on the other players or they chase a goal, our counter attacks have been devastating. A good sign for the games against the Old Firm/Aberdeen etc.

I'd much rather us have 75% of the possesion in a game getting practice at passing etc, than chasing the ball for 75% of the game like Falkirk could be against the likes of Ajax.

Perhaps next season we'll get bigger teams, but at this stage i'm not concerned.

pretty much standard pre season for us now and its worked not too bad so far. its the lack of home games thats annoyed me but hey, pre season games suck :012: anyway

It would be better if they did a tour of somewhere like Ireland or even Wales next season and even playing Icelandic teams wouldn't go a miss for the pre-season next year.  I'm sure that would be better than the annual run of the Highland teams.

It would be better if they did a tour of somewhere like Ireland or even Wales next season and even playing Icelandic teams wouldn't go a miss for the pre-season next year.  I'm sure that would be better than the annual run of the Highland teams.

I'd like to think a few folk from these Elgin/Keith/Clach games who went either as home fans or neutrals, may even go to a few ICT games this season. There are plenty of people I know that are Dons fans or Elgin fans, who come to the odd ICT game with me...

That added revenue of even a few thousand £'s could be better than the added costs of playing teams of about the same standard in Wales or Ireland.

It would be better if they did a tour of somewhere like Ireland or even Wales next season and even playing Icelandic teams wouldn't go a miss for the pre-season next year.  I'm sure that would be better than the annual run of the Highland teams.

I'd like to think a few folk from these Elgin/Keith/Clach games who went either as home fans or neutrals, may even go to a few ICT games this season. There are plenty of people I know that are Dons fans or Elgin fans, who come to the odd ICT game with me...

That added revenue of even a few thousand £'s could be better than the added costs of playing teams of about the same standard in Wales or Ireland.

True but I'm sure that teams like TNS from Wales or Derry City or Shamrock from Ireland would be better than playing the like of Clach and Keith.

The main bulk of the ICT pre-season budget went on the Italy trip, where we did play a couple of games against decent opposition. The reason, I believe, why we have not got a game against a bigger team, and why all our games are away, is to allow the ICT pitch to recover fully from being covered over with boards etc for Elton.

Bear in mind also that we were invited to play in two testimonials and duly obliged so things had to be planned around that. I hope the players concerned managed to make a few quid out of it.

I gave up worrying about the standard of our pre-season opponents a long time ago when it was explained to me, by people far more qualified to comment on such things than I, that pre-season friendlies were only a small part of a much larger closed/pre-season preparation programme and unless your aware of the type of day to day training the squad are doing then it's near impossible to gauge if the balance is right.

Foreign training camps and pre-season tours are a luxury and are more about building player morale, team spirit and giving the fans an excuse for a wee jolly.  That's not to say they can't be an important part of preparations, but they achieve nothing which can't be fulfilled in other more convenient and cheaper ways.

Well after seeing the two games this weekend, I thought I could see some point to it. Both days the full management team were there, and the system seemed to be the same, only the players were different each day. Also it's true that the team gets a lot of the ball and has to learn to break down stuffy teams who are defending like their lives depended on it.

Also, it has to be said, Keith and Locos were no pushovers and both gave the team a very hard workout.

Stimulating post Mantis.  :021:

Chances of their not being ready for the "gers" is remote to non-existant. :014:

I certainly wouldnt see playing a big team like Ajax as any great benefit where the team have to chase the ball for 90 minutes and possibly get annihilated but i always thought that the best way to gauge a teams progress and getting the balance right was about playing at least a semi pro team. Teams like Millwall, Darlington or Rotherham etc. And if we playing Rotherham we might even get the Chuckle Brothers! :010:

Im not a football coach but I dont want the players to get a fright at the start of the season. I really dont think anything lower than 6th this year can be success for us. Still a big thingfor sucha small team.

Mind you I'd take 8th and a cup final! :021:

Foreign training camps and pre-season tours are a luxury and are more about building player morale, team spirit and giving the fans an excuse for a wee jolly.

Well they would be if they actually released the details more than a week before! How many fans went over to Italy this year?

Fan: What's the clubs plans for a pre-season tour?

Club:We're going to Italy, I think

Fan:Where in Italy?

Club:Not telling

Why is that they can never release any details? All we seem to get is that they're going to Italy and will be playing two games. Dates and places are sketchy and hearsay until only a couple of weeks before hand, by which time it's too late to arrange travel at a decent price.

Is it that hard?

I was refering more to the idea of a pre-season tour - Italy was a training camp with a couple of games thrown in and although it would be nice to go see these things I can understand the clubs preference to concentrate on the team instead of the fans.

I wasn't saying they shouldn't concentrate on the team, but your not telling me that pre-season isn't planned months in advance so the club will have plenty of time to release dates/location.

I'm not asking for them to plan travel or anything, but how hard is it to release a statement a couple of weeks before the end of the season saying that the tour will be to xx and between xx and xx July. Nothing hard about that!

How much notice do you need Exile.

I posted this on 31st May 2007, it was common knowledge then.

Alex Macleod posted two weeks earlier that we were doing Italy again

heres my post

"I am reliably informed, (by teletext) that the ICT pre-season has been arranged for Italy from the 8th July to the 15th July at Montecattini, where the club went last year. This year Grazza is saying they hope to meet serie A or B opposition as opposed to the two low level games played last year."

From this thread

I see that they didn't play one Italian team when they were there.

"I am reliably informed, (by teletext) that the ICT pre-season has been arranged for Italy from the 8th July to the 15th July at Montecattini, where the club went last year. This year Grazza is saying they hope to meet serie A or B opposition as opposed to the two low level games played last year."

That's my point!!! Why do we have to find out by teletext?!

How amateurish is that? Oh we can't be arsed to tell the fans we'll just tell teletext and let them find out on their own

That was only one form of Media that was used.

I am sure there were other methods used to make people aware what was happening.

The official site had something on it as well, but it does not go back that far.

Maybe they will send you a personal invite next year :029:

We were in Tuscany the same week as ICT and would have gone to one of the games had we known where they were?

Boy was it hot!!!  Not footie weather hotest day on the car thermo 44degrees at 5.00pm on the sat ICT played a game!! 

How much notice do you need Exile.

I posted this on 31st May 2007, it was common knowledge then.

Alex Macleod posted two weeks earlier that we were doing Italy again

heres my post

"I am reliably informed, (by teletext) that the ICT pre-season has been arranged for Italy from the 8th July to the 15th July at Montecattini, where the club went last year. This year Grazza is saying they hope to meet serie A or B opposition as opposed to the two low level games played last year."

From this thread

I got the same info from the official ICT site.

Theres always someone complaining about the lack of info from the club yet they never seem to look in the right place for the info.

When I read the reports on Aberdeens pre-season in Egypt perhaps we are doing something right.

The Dons are playing in excessive heat, they can't even play golf/tennis etc when they are given free time, two of their players have been shown red cards and miss the first game of the season and they have been found wanting in their ability to beat unknown teams. Their manager has even gone into print to apologise to all concerned.

  What a field day there would be on here for all the 'neggie' posters if that was ICT and their management team!!

As has been remarked upon on here earlier, having games that allow our players to enjoy more of the ball will give CC a better understanding of players abilities and if the other team are able to put pressure on the defence all good and well. 

By all accounts this happened.

Given our result last night perhaps we should stick to playing Highland league teams! :029:

On the face of it our pre season opposition is of a fairly poor standard but similar pre season regimes have served us well in the past and we now appear to have shaken off our reputation as poor starters.

Have the usual pre season routines served us well in the past? I can remember ONE season we didnt get off to the usual sluggish start!!

Have the usual pre season routines served us well in the past? I can remember ONE season we didnt get off to the usual sluggish start!!

Havent got the stats all loaded up yet but

2006/07 - first six fixtures LDDDLW (loss to St Mirren, Hearts, Drew Aberdeen, Hibs, Celtic. beat Motherwell.)

2005/06 - first six fixtures WLWDDL (loss to Rangers, Motherwell, beat Falkirk, Pars. Drew Killie, DUFC).

2004/05 - first six fixtures LWLLLL (first SPL season) losses to Livi, Celtic, DUFC, Hibs, Rangers. Win V Pars).