I'm just a little bit dismayed at the incredibly negative comment on this forum about the return of Craig Brewster and I believe that at least some of it may be the result of misunderstanding and misinformation.

I believe that there's a lot of (unjust) anti Brewster feeling because the nature of his departure in January 2006 has not been fully understood. Weeks before he left, he was unfortunately "ambushed" into indicating that he was at ICT to stay. Then a very persuasive Eddie Thomson came in with an offer he couldn't refuse. I was there when Brewster made that first statement - which was solicited rather than volunteered -  and he really couldn't have said anything else, nor could he have read the future. Then when he did leave, it was only after a great deal of persuasion, a great deal of thought, yes, a very good financial offer but who wouldn't be influenced by that? Then most of importantly of all, he refused to leave unless Caley Thistle got very generous compensation. This last fact is not very well known and the cash concerned created that year's profit.

There are also complaints about his record and his style of play. His results at Inverness were pretty good and you cannot take into account his poor statistics at Tannadice. He did not suddenly become a bad manager overnight, but he did move into a much less positive football environment overnight. I don't believe many of his United players (despite their hefty pay cheques) were prepared to put in the work he demanded and I think that when he went there, working under Eddie Thomson was not quite what he expected.... as many other managers have found. On the other hand the Brewster - ICT combination has already been proved to work.

If there is concern about his style of play, don't panic. You may very well find a positively different and more experienced Craig Brewster from the one which left 19 months ago. But he will certainly not have changed in his desire to produce a fit team.

I also think that some of the anti Brewster sentiment has been generated by the fact that the new man will NOT be Neil Warnock. For some reason a lot of fans seemed to be drawn into a storm of pro Warnock hysteria... but on the basis of what? A statement from Warnock which smacked seriously of the shop window? Did the directors ever really rate him as a realistic option? Would his financial requirements have been realsitic? How big a risk would there have been of him being away in months to the Premiership or the Championship? Does he really know much about Scotland outside the Old Firm?

If fans feel deprived of their high profile manager, think back to Jim Leishman and Sergei Baltacha. These were both high profile managers taken in by Thistle and Caley in the early 90s and both proved to be failures. Apart from the refusal of both to relocate to Inverness, neither understood football at the level at which they were managing and this was the main reason for their failure to produce. I believe Neil Warnock may well have fallen into the same trap and then we might well have got a lot more of the dressing room dramatics which someone at Wednesday night's meeting said they witnessed on U Tube.

Craig Brewster is here... or at least he will be on Monday. I don't really see much reason for Caley Thistle fans not to get solidly behind him and the team who really do need to feel a positive message from their supporters and not carping about the new manager.

The same could be said of Pele and CC in their time at the club.

The most common words in match reports over the past ten years have to be "substitute in the 84th min" (the first substitute that is)  :003:

I've not changed my mind, his use of subs is shocking, his decision to take on Zibi, and even start him against Aberdeen when he had sat and watched him being lobbed from the opposite half in the preceeding reserve game would be laughable if it wasn't so painful, the one good thing is that he's not playing himself so the team are at least playing as a team and not just trying to hump the ball up to him all the time. If we lose Zander to Elgin (which is more likely than most folk think) I'll be even more p1ssed off  :019:

Craig Brewster is a talented young Manager who has learned a great deal during and since his last spell with ICT.

He is a motivator and has worked wonders with the squad.

He ensures players are at their optimum levels of fitness.

His tactics have been spot on in every game. We have been playing good passing football since his return.

His substitutions have been excellent and the timing cannot be faulted. What about bringing on that big striker with a couple of minutes to go in the Hearts' game?

As for his signings, Zibi and MacGuire in particular, Brewster had an incredibly short period of time to bring people in to patch up our defence. These two loan signings were relevant and should be applauded - as should the return of Proctor.

I was not always Brewsters biggest fan during his first spell at the club - but at present I can think of no realistic reason to criticise the man in any way.

He's no tactical genius, but seems competent enough in that area.

Giving motivation and belief seem to be his greatest strength so far.

I will give him a B+ so far.

I did not agree with his appointment, based on his managerial record at Tannadice, but he has come in and got us playing better football. The team seem to have more belief in themselves and this is not shown any better than by looking at Denzil.

Denzil is a "confidence" player and as we saw in his (Denzil's) first spell at the club as well as this one, when he isnt confident, the goals dry up . Brewster arrived on the 27th August, and Denzil bagged his first goal of this season the next day. In 7 starts (+ 2 as sub) since Brewster arrived he has scored 7 goals which is 4 more than he did in his 22 games last season and only 4 less than his 11 from 34 games in 05/06 ........

As for his signings, we have had three. I would say 1 good one (Proctor), 1 where the jury is still out (McGuire), and 1 bad one (Zibi). Of these, only Proctor is a permanent deal so we cant really fault him too much for grabbing the other two on loan for positions where we know we are struggling given that he only had 3 days to do it and there wasnt a lot out there. Zibi, for all his faults is still an SPL keeper and one who did reasonably well at Gretna on loan last season. I dont think he is the answer, but he may have seemed like the best available keeper during that late stage of the window.

As for tactics, I too would question the late subs and giving Zibi a start (after his howler in the reserves) but at the end of the day he got in there because Fraser had made two howlers in the previous game so its a case of damned if you do and damned if you dont.

The next few months will probably firm up a lot of people's minds because of three things ....

1. What kind of football are we playing? Are we playing well even when we lose or are we demoralised or playing badly? How is our fitness? How does morale in the squad look?

2. What signings does he make in the transfer window? Will he get a permanent keeper and a central defender or two? His best signing for Dundee Utd arrived after he was sacked and we would all love him to pull off a signing of that quality for ICT.

3. What will he do with youth? Managers always complain that the U21 rule hampers them. Zander and Garry Wood are both players who could be put on the bench in that category and actually come on and do a decent job for us. If he lets either of them go, some people will question this.

I think he's done pretty well thus far.  No points from our first six games followed by ten from the next five games shows progress.  I didn't really like the way he was appointed but I have no problem with the man himself or what he is achieving.

He is the best we have at the moment and  he certainly has a wealth of background experience. So far so good, al things considered.

Like Marius I think that we should give both of them a fair chance  and try to keeop the negativity down to a minimum.

It's early days anyway and if the slow but sure progress motto is still the way to go why noot just keep on cheering the team and SUPPORT them-----SUPPORTERS of the name.

:rolleyes02:

Anjd if you lot will do that I will promise to use my spell-checker more often.

:burning:

My only concern is that he has gone back to the old school.

Well I said it when we took him back and I'll say it again, he is a useless manager who can only influence a game when he's on the park.  Last night his lack of managerial ability was very clear to see, the first half performance was absolutely shocking and we gifted 3 goals to Aberdeen.  We couldn't break down their defence the way we were playing and what does he do?  Nothing, absolutely nothing!  The game was screaming out for Morgan a guy who can actually cross a ball but he waits until ten mintues before the end and brings on 3 subs which has absolutely no effect at that late stage.

Queen Beastie, do you think Sir Alex would have stopped the 3 first half howlers last night ?

Fair comment, Ralph.... but how he must regret the part he played in getting Dods transferred to Dundee Utd....

I'm sure he does but also i don't beleive he owns a crystal ball to see into the future. The improvement in the teams performance will continue but there will be blips along the way, it would be unrealistic to think otherwise !!

The defence was woeful and the midfield non exisitent, they were following the game plan set out by Brewster which was seriously flawed and it cost us 3 cheap goals.  But to not change things at half time was a big mistake, we needed something different and that just didn't happen.  I honestly don't think Brewster has got a clue how to change tactics mid way through a game.  And to go on the radio afterwards and say we played superb is an absolute joke!

So would he have been better to come on the radio slating the players mistakes and saying they were crap ? That would have been good for the team moral which has been better of late eh !!

Didn't hear it, but his comments on the official site smack of naivety? "It is very hard to take losing the game 4-1 when you consider how the game has went in the second half. I thought we were excellent in the second half". To quote we played well in the second half is immaterial when we shipped 3 goals in the first half rendering the game effectively over.

The players must know that they were poor. I think fans (well I can only speak for myself) would respect the manager more if he put out a slightly more realistic take on the match. That way at least we know he is aware and acknowledging our team's flaws. The first step towards a cure is admitting you have a problem.

The first step towards a cure is admitting you have a problem.

Are you a member of Alcoholics Anonymous..?  :024:

The defence was woeful and the midfield non exisitent, they were following the game plan set out by Brewster which was seriously flawed and it cost us 3 cheap goals.  But to not change things at half time was a big mistake, we needed something different and that just didn't happen.  I honestly don't think Brewster has got a clue how to change tactics mid way through a game.  And to go on the radio afterwards and say we played superb is an absolute joke!

This seems like a heat of the moment post to me, Brew changed tactics vs Hearts and scored the winner ( for our first 3 points)

The defence, agreed, is very nervous and not playing anywhere near as well as they could do.

Pointless changing things at half time, using your subs up then is not good tactics.

I thought we played some good football in both halves but its the silly unnecessary mistakes that we need to address. We're losing on the very basics. If you have the ball keep it, play it. Dont give it back. Make the other team fight for it.

If tactics are wrong then blame the manager. But most of the time its down to individuals who seem to panic when the ball comes near them. Maybe its confidence, maybe phsycological or are they just not good enough at this level. Time to stop the hero worshiping, discard the loyalties and kick some ***.

As I said he can only influence a game when he's on the park, he brought himself on against Hearts and scored the winner.  A decent influence I would say.  Last night he didn't have himself to play and seemed like he didn't have a clue how to change things, we played the same way right up until the end.

When I heard that Brew was being offered the job in April I found myself in three minds (I had two already) so I had multiple thoughts about it.

1. Should we take him back after the way he went to the Arabs ? - at that time I found myself delighting in the knowledge that he fecked it up - and how come Levein came along and changed it around so quickly  ?

2. I always regard him as a class player and felt that he could still do a job on the pitch and be a role model fer others.

3. I felt that he was the best coach ever in regard to fitness training and discipline around diet etc.

4. I worried that he was not tactically astute.

5. I worried that he put too much faith in the "old school", appeared to have his favourites and came down on anyone who he did not favour.

In regard to 1) I forgave him as he went to play for the club he regarded as his club. 2) I would have taken him as a player any day - but those days appear numbered 3) No doubts whatsoever 4) I am beginning to have concerns 5) I am beginning to have real concerns.

So can somebody make him a strong cup of black coffee in the morning and the daily paper - take it to his office - place it under his big nose and shout "MORNING CRAIG - SMELL THE FECKIN COFFEE"  and then show him the paper and point out the date shouting "SEE - ITS NOVEMBER 2007 AND IT WILL SOON BE 2008 - YOUR TEAM SELECTION IS THREE FECKIN YEARS OUT OF DATE"

And then pass him a wad of Xmas Wrap and ask him to parcel up Caff and Hastings with a tag to Partick on one and a one way ticket to Toronto on the other.  :001:

And then pass him a wad of Xmas Wrap and ask him to parcel up Caff and Hastings with a tag to Partick on one and a one way ticket to Toronto on the other.  :001:

With the exception of RB/RM Marvell Wynne - who WILL play in the Premiership within the next two or three years - TFC have a pretty ropey defence so RH would actually make it better !

David Beckham will be in Vancouver within a week or so --shall I ask him what has happened to the play of R H to attract such negative comments as have been on here in the last few weeks?

How can a player be so allegedly off the pace when not so long ago he was quoted as being stable and consistent?

But then again  the same comments have been apllied to other former "heros" so .....where is the problem coming from ?  :026:

I think that RH has always had his doubters - I always felt that he was a solid enuff defender but never really rated him going forward. He may have suffered as the defence on a whole went through a bad patch but he had a horro show at Love street - lost his place, got injured and surprisingly got reinstated. IMHO the most frustrating thing is that McBain really did look the part at left back and should have been given a run in that position. I am getting a bit fed up with the old school selection and feel that we need a clear out and some new blood. I get a real taste of favouritism at the moment.

I think that RH has always had his doubters

and I was one of the bigger ones !

My opinion changed last season as he had a good season for ICT .... Was that the Dods effect too ? if so we have Dods not only making RH look good but also Granty as well .... that makes Dods some machine !

RH was also a "shock" to Canadian supporters. When he was recalled to the squad for the Gold Cup the Canadian "soccer" message boards were filled with negative comments about him .... but by the end of the tournament - where incidentally he played every game in central defence - they were raving about him, not only because he was solid, but also because he showed real leadership in the final game against USA where the Canucks were behind to a very dodgy late goal and he was doing the "Roy Aitken" impersonation and shouting at everyone, urging them forward to the final whistle in an effort to get an equaliser ..... the equaliser didnt come but he won a lot of people round with his performance in that tournament.

Maybe he could go into central defence and Roy could come back in on the left if he really looked the part ?