Seems to me that if we aint doing our annual robbing County of their players...we are sourcing all our players from the the lower leagues. Thats fine on occasion....but do we have to do it on the cheap all the time? We need experience too!

Is it possible that the Board actually believes all that c**p about Inverness being so remote that no decent established player would even consider the move? Maybe we've never asked them? After all, there are loads of other professionals who jump at the chance of a move north.

We shouldn't dismiss it as a possibility.

I'd rather sign promising players like Rankin and Cowie, than do the Aberdeen routine of plundering Dundee United and Dunfermline squad players  :022:

Inverness is a nicer place to live than Falkirk or Kilmarnock.............

if we ever come up with a decent size transfer kitty and pay wages on a par with most other clubs.  so no,  not under the current stewardship

We signed Craig Brewster !

....and Barry Wilson.

... and Phil McGuire

We signed Craig Brewster !

manager lure

....and Barry Wilson.

:024:

... and Phil McGuire

was firmly established in pars first division reserves

What is an established SPL player? Is it like Fraser, Tokely, Proctor etc?

We signed Wyness and Proctor. They were both established SPL players.

Why does it matter where they came from?

It is their ability that matters.

I'd rather sign promising players like Rankin and Cowie, than do the Aberdeen routine of plundering Dundee United and Dunfermline squad players  :022:

Couldn't agree more, young lower league players are the equivalent of penny shares to the stock market, if they come good.

Why buy players from teams who don't want them, when we have a good enough team already,unless they compliment our style of play, Why not add young hidden gems to the team and hope they come good.

We also have a very promising youth team.  

Caleyboy - the question was "Will we ever sign an established SPL player?" ... you can dismiss how they came to be at ICT, but the three examples were all SPL quality. 2 of the 3 were in the SPL when we signed them, and the other was approaching 200 SPL games.

We signed Craig Brewster !

manager lure

28 appearances for Hibs ... 25 in SPL, 95 appearances for Dunfermline ... 77 in SPL signed when Pars were in SPL.

....and Barry Wilson.

:024:

124 appearances for Livingston ... 66 in SPL (2 in UEFA Cup) ... signed when Livi were in SPL

... and Phil McGuire

was firmly established in pars first division reserves

180 appearances for Aberdeen ... 153 in SPL, 32 appearances for Dunfermline ... 25 in SPL. He might have been signed when the Pars were in Div 1 but you cant argue he has an experienced SPL pedigree.

Brewster played for us coz he was the manager....he didnt sign exclusivly as a player and we hardly got much use from him! So that leaves Mcguire and Wilson in what....4-5 seasons in SPL.

Can hardly class Wyness and Proctor as experienced SPL players at the time we signed them. Proctor had played a handfull of times for Utd before going on loan to Airdre

Inverness is a nicer place to live than Falkirk or Kilmarnock.............

or Paisley or Motherwell or Aberdeen.......

Brewster played for us coz he was the manager....he didnt sign exclusivly as a player and we hardly got much use from him! So that leaves Mcguire and Wilson in what....4-5 seasons in SPL.

Can hardly class Wyness and Proctor as experienced SPL players at the time we signed them. Proctor had played a handfull of times for Utd before going on loan to Airdre

McGuire has played one game in the First Division in his career, the rest of his time in Scotland has been in the SPL with Aberdeen and latterly Dunfermline.  Barry has a lot of top flight experience at Livingston.  Malkowski has played 50 odd SPL games for Hibs.

As for players from the lower leagues, can't complain about Cowie, Bayne, Dods etc.  Many people were spitting feathers when we sold rankin as well.

Forgot about Zibi.

IMO Wyness and Proctor were both established.  Wyness played for Aberdeen before coming to us then Hearts before coming back. 9 starts at Aberdeen. 49 starts including 1 Uefa at Hearts.

Proc 16 for us and 11 for DU.

David Bingham could be added to the list as could Duncan Shearer who'd receiveved his last Scotland cap not so very long before he joined as a player.

I think there are many reading this topic will generally agree with the point SMEE is making.

I actually meant since we have been in the SPL but never made that clear in my original post. Am not against taking educated punts on lower league players at all....but would like to see established, experienced players come here too now and then.

Am not complaining, just trying to gauge whether i am alone in my thoughts

ICT create established SPL players.

The OF, on the other hand, destroy them.

Dods had played for Hibs in the SPL 64 appearances for them.

Chap called Dargo, you may remember him, he played 101 times for Kilmarnock and has UEFA expeience having played against Viking Stavanger. Playing for Killie he scored 22 goals.

Gary McSwegan, he played for a few SPL clubs  ( Rangers [18] Dundee United [92] Hearts [82] Killie [63]and has played in England for Notts County [?400K] and Barnsley.  Notts County were in the top league around that time  He also played twice for Scotland scoring once .

Rory has played in the SPL, does he count as an established SPL player..............

ICT create established SPL players.

The OF, on the other hand, destroy them.

:clapping03:

Inverness is a nicer place to live than Falkirk or Kilmarnock.............

or Paisley or Motherwell or Aberdeen.......

Or Glasgow, or Dundee, or Dunfermline (where brew came to us from originally of course) .....

Or Glasgow, or Dundee, or Dunfermline (where brew came to us from originally of course) .....

Johnboy came from there too, so it must have something going for it...  :022:

Yes, everywhere has it's problems