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Thought this needed a thread of its own. Alex McLeods comment re the above being a reason for fans staying away from Old Firm fixtures is, to my mind, an anachronism. I have attended many matches in Glasgow throughout ICTs history ( hardly missed any probably) and have never found this to be the case. On the contrary, especially at Parkhead, the pre-match banter is excellent and hostelries are mostly very accommodating. Part of this is probably down to the fact that we are not seen as a threat to their lofty status ( the facts and figures may prove otherwise). The downsides for me are the way we are corralled into a corner, kept back after the game and overcharged for the privilege. But Rangers and Celtic both have fantastic stadiums and the fixtures have never lost their gloss for me. Getting one over these guys has you on a high for weeks. The animals can fight amongst themselves as much as they want...........it doesn't bother me........and they never have. My car has never been touched and, I am sure that, even if Mantis took his, it would remain likewise. Indeed, now I come to think of it, the only things that have been shouted at me after a game are "well done lads" or " you deserved that". It is a shame that our attendance has dwindled so much over the years............the team deserve a better support when they are down there. The quite pathetic levels attending now must be for a whole range of reasons. So what are they? Lets do a survey? I can assure you that if you are staying away for fear of trouble then you are being misled.

The "loss" of atmosphere is more down to stadium design than location.

Yeah, you're right. What has McManus ever achieved? Apart from the 3 Championships and 4 Cup winners medals as Celtic's captain. I know everyone basically picks Scotland's best players then gives them a kicking (how many times has Davie Weir, probably our best centre-back for the last decade, been called a cart-horse for instance) but he was the backbone of the team, with the meanest defence in Scotland (and a GK that wasn't always there) until Mowbray decided to 'improve' the team. Just like Gary Caldwell (player of the season at the time), BTM knocked their confidence for six, couldn't play to their strengths and destroyed the team. Ki cost over ?2M to be a bit-part player (who would you have? One Ki or two James - McCarthy and McArthur - with cash left over?). And he's still not as good as Robson. Who would you rather play for Scotland (if eligible) - Ki or Robson? Same with McManus and Rogne. The former Celtic players both times for me. I watch M/boro quite a lot. Three players I thought didn't deserve any blame for WGS getting sacked were McManus, Robson and Wheater. Willo Flood also did well but too many injuries for any real assessment.

In what way? There is a quite obvious problem with the coaching in Scotland and simply saying "but there's Scottish coaches in England doing well" doesn't mean that the coaches here are doing a good job. As Mabawsa pointed out, the only players you see coming through youth systems these days are the one's that have the physical attributes. Usually heavily weighted to being able to run for a long time at different paces. The point I'd raise, is why do we waste time in training sessions getting players to run pretty much constantly. Your level of fitness, once achieved does not disappear over night or even over the course of a week. Why then, do we not use some training sessions to introduce players to a ball and say "Look lads, this is what you'll be kicking about on Saturday, let's see what you can do with it..."? The real problems with Scottish football are so brutally obvious it genuinely pisses me off that nothing is being done about it. Sod it, let's just go out and spend the half billion quid "required" to repair Scottish football on the say so of some no-mark ex footballer.

None I'd suggest. If you properly coach a player how to play football, he will become a better player. In Scotland, players are left to rely on their 'natural ability' and just get told to get stuck in and show 'plenty of heart' by their coaches. That's where we falter as a nation.

Third time round - so do I, so I am not even going to bother to reply to the OP on this occasion. You think nothing of it when it happens once and somebody floats a suggestion which is clearly miles out of tune with the vast majority. When it happens a second time, you are tempted to become impatient but do your best to be sympathetic and take the "poor soul,well I suppose there's one born evey minute" line. But when it gets to number three you do realise that such persistent idiocy can only be the result of a wind up! However I have to say that I wasn't too convinced by the suggestion on another similar thread that, partly on the grounds of similarity of name, the wind up merchant was one B Hornell. As I said elsewhere,even in the interests of winding up people on an ICT site, I simply couldn't conceive of BH writing of that club in such positive terms. In particular I think he would rather choke than refer to Inverness Caledonian THISTLE in the first person plural! So what will the next post be from "dougal"? Merge ICT and Ross County and build a new stadium at Tore? I just wonder who it is, though? I don't know how many folks have been on here long enough to remember an absolutely brilliant wind up which went on for ages (something to do with Larsson was it??) and was the work of a certain IHE?

Naaaah.... Can't see that happening. He wouldn't get a game here unless Rooney and Eric were both injured.

Cant speak for the first two but I doubt very much that either Kingsmills or IHE would agree that the state education system let them down judging by their chosen careers and success in what they do.

Ok i seem to have further damaged my reputation by this topic:annoyed: Sorry to dissapoint the ones that have replied on this thread but i most definitely do not have a hidden agenda and i'm not on any fishing trip Being an outsider i maybe dont have the same local knowledge as most on here I have no idea who this B Hornell is but it most definitely is not me I'll admit to maybe have been under the influence of alcohol last night but i'm genuinely interested in all things ICT and the football academy I dont see either of my polls as failures ,they were valid questions that i never saw asked anywhere else on this site thats all I'll think or do some research first before i post anything in the future Sorry Dougal

is supposed to be a studio guest on STV's Friday Night Sports Centre after the ten news.