After our dreadful performance against Dundee United I am going to give Brewster a chance to turn things around. I am still not convinced by his ability but am prepared to give him some time. he needs to sort out the defence for a start and fitness as we fall apart near the end of games. Finally I really hope we dont lose to Arbroath but if we play like we did today i wouldn't fancy us to beat anyone.

I am firmly in the not Brewster camp. I think it is a very poor appointment but I would be genuinely delighted to be proved wrong.

Craig Brewster seems like a decent man. He behaved honourably in his move to Dundee united in taking a stance which assisted the club in obtaining maximum compensation for him and his coaching team.

However the fact remains that his most recent foray into management was a disaster with Dundee United winning only three of over thirty matches when he was in charge. I my opinion it would have been better to appoint an umproven manager ather thaone who is, so far at least, a proven failure.

Tht said, I sincerely wish Craig luck in trying to turn around our fortunes this season.

I am firmly in the not Brewster camp. I think it is a very poor appointment but I would be genuinely delighted to be proved wrong.

Craig Brewster seems like a decent man. He behaved honourably in his move to Dundee united in taking a stance which assisted the club in obtaining maximum compensation for him and his coaching team.

However the fact remains that his most recent foray into management was a disaster with Dundee United winning only three of over thirty matches when he was in charge. I my opinion it would have been better to appoint an umproven manager ather thaone who is, so far at least, a proven failure.

Tht said, I sincerely wish Craig luck in trying to turn around our fortunes this season.

Ok then who would you have had as manager? within a budget we could afford of course, and putting an untried manager into this situation, bottom of the league, zero points and a squad with little confidence is quite frankly ridiculous.

For a start, I would have been inclined to much more firmly test St Johnstone's resolve as far as Own Coyle is concerned. If we were looking to Aberdeen for a replacement then I believe thay either Jimmy Nicholl or Sandy Clark would have been more promising candidates than Brewster as indeed would have been Rae of Dundee.

Another candidate who still has  strong domestic connection with Inverness is John Robertson. I know that David Sutherland was less than impressed by his conduct during his departure to Hearts but his sussequent managerialcredentials are much stronger than Craig Brewster as indeed are those of Steve Paterson and Neale Cooper.

So by my calculation that's seven possible alternatives without looking as far south as the central belt.

That said, whether we like it or not, Brewster is the new manager and we should  all get behind him and the team in striving for success.

ian mccall wouldve been top of my wishlist

robbo of the old managers

For a start, I would have been inclined to much more firmly test St Johnstone's resolve as far as Own Coyle is concerned.

:clapping03: :clapping03: Yup, Am with you on that. Coyle is more experienced as a manager and has a superior record. And he got them to 2 semi finals of national cups last season!

from wikipedia

"In 2002, Coyle joined Falkirk, being promoted to co-player-manager alongside John Hughes in 2003. After leaving this post he returned to Dundee United, primarily in a coaching capacity but also registering as a player. A lack of first team opportunities, however, led to him being loaned out to Airdrieonians' successors, Airdrie United, and this move was subsequently put on a permanent basis.

In April 2005, Coyle was named as the new manager of St. Johnstone.[1] He is also still registered as a player, although his appearances at first team level are now extremely sporadic.

In March 2006, he was awarded Manager of the Month for the Scottish First Division for his team's performance. This was the first time he had been awarded the accolade.

In November 2006, Coyle led St. Johnstone to a 2-0 victory over Rangers at Ibrox to reach the semi-finals of the League Cup.[2] It was their first win over the Glasgow club in 35 years.

On March 30, 2007, Coyle was awarded his second Scottish First Division Manager of the Month award of the 2006/7 season.[3]

On April 14, 2007, St. Johnstone lost 2-1 to Celtic at Hampden in the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup.[4]

Coyle signed a one-year extension to his contract with St. Johnstone in July 2007, which will keep him at the club until the end of the 2009/10 season."

As the playing field is not level, how exactly can anyone say his record is better than whoever.

Having better players than another team does not make you a better manager.

Yes Brew had a disastrous time at United, that does not necessarily mean that he will do the same when he comes here. He also had a reasonably good time when he was here previously

I just don't buy that Coyle would be any more successful here than Brew or indeed any other incumbent. Paterson who has received lots of support as well is not exactly setting the heather on fire ar Peterhead and his playing fields were in the lower divisions.

Brewster has to given a chance to get us back on track whether we like it or not. I am not exactly overjoyed at his return, but then again he fits the club, therefore he deserves to have the fans on his side.

The guy who wished him dead was not an ICT fan IIRC, just a visitor from another club.

I think Brew's effect will be to get us above Gretna, which will be mission accomplished in my eyes. We can worry about the long term later on.

Who knows, maybe his layoff from management has given him time to rethink how the game should be played.

The last manager where we didn't moan forever about dull route 1 football was Pele. I respect the views of others who say they won't be back, but it's a game of fitba FFS.

As my good friend Graeme Bennett said to be at the end of March - "I think I'll give Brewster a chance"

IF BREWSTER BRINGS IN A QUALITY CENTRE BACK he,ll be forgiven if he doesnt we,ll go down

Mee wrote "we're being forced to have him back!".

With respect Mee, you've already said you're not coming back so you're not really a "we" anymore.

I'm one of many who has it in their heart to forgive and welcome Craig back to the Highlands.

Forgiveness is a grown up gift.

Exactly Sophia, forgiveness is a GIFT, not something to be dragged kicking and screaming out of folk if they dont want to give it.  I am still a supporter, just not contributing so in my book that makes me more "we" than someone who only seems to exist online, that might never go to games, not that I care, plenty of folk dont go / cant make it to games, they're still supporters.

I was already p1ssed of with the Board, now their actions have absolutely made me question their ability to run this club, why on earth would I want to spend my hard earned cash to keep them in "emoluments"? I have a choice and Ive made it, you can't possibly argue with that!

I have to keep reminding myself if it hadn't been for Brewster I would probably never have become a supporter of ICT...

I had lived in Dunfermline for twenty odd years before I relocated to Sneck.... I was never really a dyed in the wool pars man, but as I lived within an easy 10 minute walk from East End Park, I was a fairly frequent attender... When Brewster signed for Dunfermline in 2002 he brought a breath of fresh air to that club and thanks to a great partnership with Stevie Crawford helped the pars to a 5th top finish in the league, season 2002/3... His role with the pars at that time was much more about creating chances for the likes of Crawford, and his style of play then reminded me very much of the late, great Jim Baxter...

It was the appointment of Brew as player/manager of ICT that got me off my butt here, and go and watch Caley.... (I had no idea that could become addictive)... He certainly didn't disappoint and set a great example to his new team-mates....

The rest, as they say is history.... The manner of Brews departure from here was far from ideal, but CC didn't do too badly when he was talked into taking the job on

The manner of Brew's re-appointment was not exactly ideal either, thanks mainly to the conduct of the board in this matter... Many who attended the supporters' trust meeting have been left with a bitter taste in the mouth...

So what now..?

Not much else for it other than to try and forgive and forget - get behind Brewster and his team, and hope he's got what it takes to get the players to play again and to somehow lift the club from one of its less than glorious periods in its relatively short history....

I think he'll succeed....  :003:

CaleyD, like most of the nay-sayers on the topic of Brew's return you are positioning yourself so you can say "I told you so" if/when he doesn't give us the return we want come the turn of the year.

One or two of you have said, "I'll delightedly eat humble pie if we are mid-table by the time Santa visits", no you won't, you'll be quietly moderating on the topics (Cup, Transfers, League etc)...with no mention of this disgusting personal abuse of Craig Brewster.

This is a pathetic episode for Caley Thistle Fans.

Wanderer - Like CaleyD and others, I do not believe he is the man for the job and my reasoning for this is clearly spelt out in various threads.

However, the more I hear "unofficially", the more my fears over CB fade into insignificance compared to my concerns about behind the scenes machinations. I will give him a chance and as I have said on many other threads, and contrary to your belief I WILL be happy to declare I was wrong and eat my humble pie if he manages to prove me wrong.

There are so many things floating around the grapevine of "reliable sources" right now about how this whole debacle was shaped and manipulated for a long time that if most of them only have a small grain of truth in them we should be very concerned about things behind the scenes.

Well said Scotty.

Johnboy,

I?m sorry but without trawling through all the posts all I can see from my vantage point is that we have made an acceptable appointment in double quick time.

Just what are the serious failings of the board?

IHE and CaleyD have alluded to dark goings on but crikey its Scottish football we?re talking about here. I?d venture that we?d be lucky indeed to get the low-down every time that there is a coming or going.

It?s a double whammy as ICT is a growing business, being so another month will mean another plan.

Mantis is correct, we?ve got the comfort blanket that is Gretna to explore whether Craig can cut it.

Mee,

Yes I can!

On that principle you?d have to grow all your own food, as I?m pretty sure that whatever large retail outlet you use will reward not a few Tory shareholders for their investments!

I don't think that Brewsters record at Tannadice makes him a bad manager overnight. From all accounts the players at Dundee utd didn't share the good attitude that Brewster found with our players and didn't take well to the new regime that Brewster put in place with regards to training. He also went from a working environment in which he was happy and relaxed to one in which he was under huge pressure and had a very poor relationship with his chairman, who constantly undermined him in the press. I spoke to a member of the Caley board back when Brewster was in charge and he waxed lyrical about how well Brewster had settled into Caley Stadium, how well he got on with everyone and how good his relationships with all the board, club staff and players were. I don't think it's a secret that he didn't have anywhere near as good a relationship with the equivelents at Tannadice.

In his previous spell in charge of Caley he did extremely well, the facts back this up. He has been criticised for his style of play, but I think this is not a fair criticism. We played some good stuff under Brewster and had some excellent results and performances, some of the best since we got into the SPL. What we need at the moment is for some belief to be instilled into us, for us to be better organised at the back and for us to sign a ******* defender. When Brewster took over in 2004 our performance levels increased almost straight away.

Also, he doesn't have that bad a record when it comes to signing players. He signed Christian Kalvanes, Noel Hunt, Craig Conway and Lee Wilkie for Dundee utd, all of whom have been good players for them (from an outsiders point of view of course, I'm willing to be corrected by the Arabs on this). He also brought in Craig Dargo on a free transfer for us and he went on to score 30 goals in two seasons.

Finally, he can still do a turn on the pitch which could be vital in the short term. We are in a dire situation and need any leg-up we can get at the moment. If Brew helps us gets points on the board leading from the front on the park then we can't complain. However, in the long run I think that Brew's coaching and influence (seen in the positive impact he had in his partners at Hibs, Dunfermline and Caley, O'Connor, Crawford and Dargo) can give Niculae a helping hand as he seems to be a Brewster type player.

I have to laugh at the conspiracism and shrill denounciations of Brewster, the board and anyone else that appears to be rampant on here.  It's a joke.

Sophia you're so full of sh1t you need your own sceptic tank  :015:

It's incredible the number of people who think they know "what is really going on". They don't.

It has always been the case in the business of football that whispers and tales emanate from sources who are not quite as reliable or informed as they claim to be, or insiders who have their own agenda or axe to grind.

Sophia, there is a large difference between a necessity and a pleasure.  Food is a necessity, and not everyone has the guile, experience, ability to means to grow their own food, slaughter their own livestock etc... so the only means of getting the food at an affordable price and standard is through retail markets.

Football is not a necessity, and therefore she can make a choice about going.  Incidentally, what was the last game that you attended?

Thats more like it Mee, I was worried for you when I read your temperate 1st reply to me on this thread.

EWS,

I was at East Stirlingshire and I was there yesterday. Unlike some regular posters on here, I stayed until the end.

Oh forgot to mention, one can argue best abilities until the bovines come back but all the above mentioned candidates are tainted by failure. All that is except Owen Coyle who we can?t afford.

I have to laugh at the conspiracism and shrill denounciations of Brewster, the board and anyone else that appears to be rampant on here.  It's a joke.

Chris. It is not a joke, its a very serious matter.

Charlie resigned last Monday and if Brewster was unveiled shortly thereafter there would have been moans and groans but nothing like the level of unhappiness shown at the moment. I believe most people would have said something like this .....

"he did crap at DUFC but he wasnt that bad at ICT. He got the team fit. He talked about loyalty but we can forgive him because DUFC was hs 'dream job'. We need someone who can settle in quickly and he knows everyone."

However, the simple (alleged) "truth" - coming from normally reliable sources - is that everything last week, including the fans' meeting was just smoke and mirrors designed to give the impression of transparency in a process that had already run its course. It backfired when Warnock was embraced by a large number of ICT fans as their preferred choice and once again, the ICT PR "machine" proved to be powered by an 18th century steam engine !!!

Brewster is probably not getting an entirely fair hearing because of that but as I have said, I personally will give him a chance and be happy to eat humble pie if he exceeds my expectations as that will mean my team is doing well. I hope others will do the same if results go in the other direction.

The nasty taste that this debacle leaves in the mouth is that for the first time in more than 13 years I have serious reservations about the board of our club. If they wanted to appoint Brewster then why not go ahead and do it. Instead, we were strung along with a false process and treated as idiots and as CD said elsewhere that just seems to make the chasm between "them" and "us" even wider.

Alternatively, the Pied Piper has led an angry mob of impressionable fans on a trip to Roswell.

Sophia, thought I would have to sink to your level in order to make an impression, I was right it would seem!

As for your foray to watch us play East Stirlingshire, when was that exactly? 

Alternatively, the Pied Piper has led an angry mob of impressionable fans on a trip to Roswell.

believe what you want, but I know what I have heard and who (plural) I have heard it from .........

Sophia, I'll save you the bother of trawling the net, the East Stirlingshire website has the last fixture between us and them as a league Division 3 fixture on the 19th April 1997, when we beat them 3-0. Two games in ten years, what a dedicated fan you are!  :rotflmao:

19th April 1997, that was my 11th Birthday!  Staying until the end does not warrant congratulations, it isn't proving anything.