Strewth this guy has a page on wikipedia....

Ibrahim Atiku

Trialist Checks In

Should he impress and we decide to sign, can he play before January?

Depends entirely on his current contract situation.

heard from reliable source that he isn't as good as what we already have and is pretty average....and has normal pace...i guess we haven't found our much needed rapid winger. which is a shame.

Edited October 17, 200817 yr by CaleyP

If that's correct he'll no doubt be on his way by the weekend.

Apparently we are trying to get special permission for him to play for the reserves next week

Makes some sense to see how he performs in some sort of competitive match.

Makes some sense to see how he performs in some sort of competitive match.

true...sometimes players are complaetely different in games to what they are like in training...so that would make sense to at least see how he is in a game.

I am reliably informed that this is a feckin "joke" from a footballing perspective but he is an attractive looking lad.

He's gone - next please....

We apparently had him watched playing in friendly for Morton against Rangers this week!!

Edited October 22, 200817 yr by kencar

We apparently had him watched playing in friendly for Morton against Rangers this week!!

how come Morton can arrange a closed door friendly and we cant?

Especially with our reserve game being cancelled this week, a closed door friendly would give our reservs/U19s/fringe players a run out and would also allow our own coaching staff to assess him. Not rocket science!

I only ever hear of these matches taking place between lower division sides and Rangers.

We apparently had him watched playing in friendly for Morton against Rangers this week!!

how come Morton can arrange a closed door friendly and we cant?

Especially with our reserve game being cancelled this week, a closed door friendly would give our reservs/U19s/fringe players a run out and would also allow our own coaching staff to assess him. Not rocket science!

I only ever hear of these matches taking place between lower division sides and Rangers.

Tend to agree .... whats to stop ICT being the big team in this and organising an evening closed door friendly against the likes of an HFL team or Inverness City or someone like that .... its maybe not as "competitive" as an SFL V SPL matchup, but I would imagine it would be competitive enough to assess a trialist or try out a few ideas for set pieces or positional tactics etc.

Agree K. Thats the way you find the odd gem. Though a lot of triallists come through the door that dont make the grade.

Sorry, but I don't agree that you find gems thro trials. You find gems by scouting the lower leagues and I don't think we are very active in this department (Imrie may be an exception).

Sorry, but I don't agree that you find gems thro trials. You find gems by scouting the lower leagues and I don't think we are very active in this department (Imrie may be an exception).

We signed the following members of the first team squad from lower league sides:

Phil McGuire (Dunfermline)

Andrew Barrowman (County)

Dougie Imrie (Clyde)

Don Cowie (County)

They have all been pretty integral to the side so far this season. We also signed Rankin from County and Paatelinan from Cowdenbeath. In addition to this, Garry Wood and Iain Vigurs were both taken from the fallout of Elgin City's youth set up, so they count as well. We've also made attempts to sign James McPake and Graeme Dorrans from Livingscum in the recent past.

Do we pay for these players to come overseas to Inverness? Because if thats the case then we've really wasted alot of money on trialists we haven't signed.

Last year we had the Austrian pair, another Austrian striker and Giany Joinville

And this year we had Juanjo, Kiran Bechan, Dan Wagaluka, Enrique Pla...and most recently Ibrahim Atiku (although we still don't know whats happening with him.)

I think the club usually pays for the travel and accommodation.

But you've got to kiss a few frogs before you find your prince.

Do we pay for these players to come overseas to Inverness? Because if thats the case then we've really wasted alot of money on trialists we haven't signed.

Last year we had the Austrian pair, another Austrian striker and Giany Joinville

And this year we had Juanjo, Kiran Bechan, Dan Wagaluka, Enrique Pla...and most recently Ibrahim Atiku (although we still don't know whats happening with him.)

Depends how they come. If invited we pay expenses. If they're just travelling around, as a lot of them do, trying to sell themselves then I wouldn't think there was any cost.

Ok thanks for that.

I just wanted to know out of curiousity. It makes sense i suppose and i know that you never know really what your going to get from the...but when i hear we have a trialist i automatically think that he will leave and apart from Zadi i was right everytime.

Sorry, but I don't agree that you find gems thro trials. You find gems by scouting the lower leagues and I don't think we are very active in this department (Imrie may be an exception).

We signed the following members of the first team squad from lower league sides:

Phil McGuire (Dunfermline)

Andrew Barrowman (County)

Dougie Imrie (Clyde)

Don Cowie (County)

They have all been pretty integral to the side so far this season. We also signed Rankin from County and Paatelinan from Cowdenbeath. In addition to this, Garry Wood and Iain Vigurs were both taken from the fallout of Elgin City's youth set up, so they count as well. We've also made attempts to sign James McPake and Graeme Dorrans from Livingscum in the recent past.

Good point but IMPO I wouldn,t class the 1st Divi or the demise of the ECFC Skillseeker programme as being the "lower leagues". Paati is the only one I would say came from the Lower Divis. I'm not looking for an argument here, just observing the fact that I don't believe we have a very structured scouting system for a Prem club. I do however stand to be corrected.

Says in the P&J today we have dropped all intrest in Atiku. He was pritty poor on trial for Morton apparently. Add him to the lengthy list of no-goes.

Edited October 24, 200817 yr by ajsict92

have we actually signe him??????????????