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The "suggestion" in regard to Foran, Tokely et. co were MINE. If you are criticising me then I have raised doubts about Rosscoe, periodically over the last 3 seasons,but I have also praised him when he has regularly turned in performances to prove me wrong. I dont actually think now that he will manage a full season - but hey this is the fourth pre season that I have had that "fear". I have rarely criticised Foran apart from individual poor performances and his indiscipline. I have always praised him for his effort and committment. I still feel that he is more useful out wide on the left or in the attacking "hole" as he was often used in the SFL. I felt that some of his poorer performances were becos he was being played out of position and I did not agree with the favouritism shown to Foran and Tansey, a partnership which did not click. In essence the mere presence of experienced "professionals" like Esson, Tokely and Foran is essential when we are looking at blooding youngsters and untried at SPL players alongside them. I have always tended to laud Ross and again his main problem was that he was played all over the place, in and out of the team and never given a run in a favoured role. I have also been one of the main supporters of Sutherland and Morrison - who I also feel have been in the same position as Ross - and have been both used as bit players - especially Morrison. Why we needed to bring in the likes of Gnapke and others when we had those three - who could have been really tested and blooded - beats me. Finally Sutherland is a bit in the Rooney mould and that is what we should have been concentrating on. He aint exactly the daintiest or skillful of individuals but he knows where the goal is and isnt scared to have a go - not the kind of opportunities that he had wide on the wing or trying to play in intricate feckin patterns with the equal in Tade. In conclusion, as fer Proctor, I criricised him as a player but not as a person or for his committment. He always seemed to amke a mistake that got punished. But again his self confidence was shot by the inane persisitence of playing him as a feckin centre back. It appeared to me that his position was as a midfielder, especially a holding midfielder, and that he would always be a useful squad player if played in that type of substtute role. As I have alluded to before I appear to have been a season behind everybody else - i was looking for the experimentation and consolidation last season. There was an outside chance but the constant chopping and changing fecked that up and - in my personal opinion - has fecked off quite a few of the players who are now voting with their feet.

Luke if you get worried I WILL be worried!

Really? Tbh I don't recall many people complaining about Tokes and most of the complaining about Foran was in the first half of the season after he said he was gonna score x amount of goals as was playing up front.

What a pity we didnt think of this before Jimmy says aye to a Kille Pie !!

It's not a cut and dried issue to me. He was very foolish but I am sure he did not set out to harm anyone and therefore he probably agonises about what happened every day of his life. We should not brand him as a murderer as the OP does but rather we should reflect on our own driving behaviour. I am sure that probably all on this forum who drive have driven over the speed limit at some time and many will have driven whilst over the limit. Nearly all will have done so without incident. But if you were unlucky and someone ran out in front of the car or you hit some black ice or someone else did something foolish and you crashed and killed someone as a result, would that make you a bad person? No it would not. I know nothing about Luke McCormick other than what has been said on here but I'll bet that there are many worse people than him playing professional football and that having served the penalty that the legal system imposes, he should be given the opportunity to get his life back on the rails and make a useful contribution to society. However, I think Caley D has it spot on in post 18 when he says that if his career is such that his name features in the media from time to time, that will only add to the hurt the grieving parents feel. If he has got any sense, he will try and pursue a career which will not put him in the public eye. If I was a manager I would not sign him but I think you do have to accept that there will be players who have some kind of record and I don't think there can be any hard and fast rule here. Each case needs to be judged on its merits and in general what matters is how players behave when they are contracted to the club and not what they did before.

Wow! What a gorgeous day it's been today. Not a cloud in the sky and temperature in the mid 20s. It's been just great getting out early, doing a bit of morning shopping, out for lunch and then doing some much needed odd jobs in the garden before enyoing a drink or two on the patio and having my tea outside listening to the sounds of the birds. Thank God we don't have summer football. I have been spared the choice between enjoying myself and parting with my hard earned cash to watch 22 footballers play even worse than usual because it's too hot for football.

I can agree with a lot of that IHE. With Butcher I never get the sense that he is moving towards on objective, or has a clear tactical philosophy - it seems to be a constant meddling, changing, playing players out of position, misguided loyalties and grudges - occasionally it works, and then the next week it is back to square one. I find him exasperating, and questionable in his approach, and worry about the effect it has on players. Has any of our players ever given him a ringing endorsement?

Rather apt when talking about handicaps ?

I'm sorry to see him go. People may argue about Butcher's attitude towards Tokely but there is surely no doubt that he wanted Tansey to stay. He brought him to the club and the lad was beginning to show some real promise at the end of the season. The fact that he has gone to a League 1 club is a probably a reflection that the club simply cannot offer competetive wages and perhaps supports the view that there is no conspiracy regarding the Tokely situation but simply a lack of money. I understand Luke's point about not offering longer term contracts because we don't know where we will be in 3 or 4 years time but that should not mean we can't offer contracts which promise more or less depending on where we end up in the league. For instance, a contract could be offered for an agreed sum in the first season which would be increased the season after if we finished top six but significantly reduced if we got relegated. It gives the players both security and an incentive to play for the shirt. In addition, it gives the player the assurance of the managers belief in them. It also provides the opportunity of income from transfers should a player really blossom and attract the attention of clubs with more cash to spend.

Sepp Blatter would have been saying penalties were wonderful had Bayern won. Things only need changing in his view when an English Team does well with the rules as they stand. Rather than getting rid of penalties, we need to replace Sepp Blatter.

It's true we struggle financially, but that doesn't excuse Butcher's random jumble sale/revolving doors philosophy. He is not helping, and his style of play is depressing fans. We were a better, more committed team not so long ago, when the finances weren't that much better.

The best news i'm likely to hear all close season. Absolute shocking player who thought he was some sort of steven gerrard or something. Promised a lot when he came but really didn't deserve to wear the jersey. Will get found out big time down there at that level and we will be a million times better off without him. He is up there with andy barrowman!

Can't be that good if tanseys replacing him as I didn't rate tansey in the first place

While I do not disagree with a lot of what has been said, surely part of the way to go is to rear our own players. While it will be difficult to produce a complete team, I think we should be aiming for at least 5 to 6 home grown players. I think we are definately missing out here. I also think we should be trawling a lttlle closer to home in the SFL and possibly Highland League as there must be 1 or 2 gems out there.

Luke if you get worried I WILL be worried! Ask me if I'm worried in June. There's 2 things that worry me the demise of ict and armageddon. I am worried about being worried about not having enough players next season. So in a way i am indirectly worried.

It's not really a surprise everyone is leaving. Butcher sold the club to these guys as a platform to move back to England anyway. He also put the short term deals on the table. The blame is solely his. It's clear that the current nature of his signings don't work out up here. I don't think it's unreasonable to think he could find some up and coming players in Scotland or a few players in the last chance saloon like we used to. It never failed us before anyway.

Agreed we've got to start offering 2 year deals if the club are serious about staying in the SPL - also at least then if anybody's interested in a player after a year they will command a fee, however modest. Restricting finances to the extent that we are continually stitching a team together from other peoples cast offs is false economy and will end with us playing part-time in D1.

I'm worried, but I'm not sure there's a better way for the club to be handling things with the way Scottish Football is at the moment. ICT are not the only team suffering an exodus of players heading south, and that is as much to do with the state of Scottish Football as it is to do with the state/running of any individual club. ICT (as with others) are fighting a battle on several fronts....most notably the lack of money, the lack of security (where the feck is Scottish Football headed?) and a growing unease amongst fans. Now more than ever the primary target needs to be stabilising the ship and preparing for the worst. Scottish football is heading for a massive slide and survival itself will be hard enough....trying to steer a course headlong into the storm by spending money you don't have and which you don't know you will have is sheer folly. Whether by default or design, ICT seem to be taking an approach of battening down the hatches and riding out the storm. It might not be pretty and it might not be exciting, but hopefully it will stop us from sinking.

As I understand it he's not actually been released yet and has only been training with the club once a week on day release and doesn't actually get fully released until next month...having served only half his sentence. I have an issue with that in itself, but the that's the system and you can't blame Luke McCormick for that. I'm all for people being released after serving their time (even if it is cut short) but have to agree with the op to a certain extent insofar as thinking he should choose a new career path. That's largely down to the nature of the offence and the fact that the parents will face a situation whereby they could pick up a newspaper, turn on the tv or be browsing the internet on any given day and end up being faced with news/photos of the person responsible for the death of their children. Just as Luke McCormick has rights, so do the victims and the family of victims and they should not be subjected to the risk of the above scenario. I wouldn't want him at ICT, because I wouldn't want ICT to be attached to the idea that every match report, story, interview or headline involving the club/player would be bringing potential pain and additional heartache to the family.

It musn't happen, and this is why. ICT have already reduced the playing staff budget for next season and have recent experience of making draconian savings as required (when relegated to SFL Division 1 in 2009)There is nothing in the public domain to suggest that this could not be done again if required, and nothing to suggest it would be required. St. Johnstone, Dundee United and Hibernian have likewise all survived that journey. According to received wisdom, this position of cost cutting would be mirrored at every other SPL club except Celtic and so would not place ICT at any further sporting disadvantage. Indeed, Inverness could well be better off than most clubs, given that gate receipts lost from a defunct or relegated to SFL Division 3 Rangers would be compensated for by the addition of local derby income from Ross County’s promotion to the SPL. Last season, Rangers accounted for gates at TCS of: 13.08.11 6,623 26.02.21 6,046 In 2009-10 Season, Ross County games accounted for gates at TCS of: 29.08.09 5,846 30.03.10 5,411 There is no reason that the difference of less than a thousand customers in both cases cannot be made up by the added attraction of the fact that the next round of matches will be in the SPL. There is an added draw in that fans (especially those with families) may be more willing to patronise SPL matches without the rancour and sectarianism displayed by Rangers and Celtic. We need those families to ensure that more kids playing football in Inverness wear ICT shirts, not blue or green ones. We have nothing to fear. The deciding factor for most clubs is the fear that broadcasting rights money from Sky and ESPN will be reduced or withheld because of reduced exposure in the event of the SPL breaching contract to show a minimum number of old firm games per season. This is extremely unlikely for several reasons: ESPN and Sky operating models are based on subscription uptake, not viewing figures. The SPL is such a small part of their overall operation that a fall in viewer numbers will have no impact upon them. The only channels that will suffer are Celtic and Rangers PPV channels. There is no doubt that the first SPL north derby will be an SPL/ Sky broadcast and nothing to suggest that Sky/ESPN income would reduce, and certainly no definitive statement to that effect from the broadcasters. It remains a fear – nothing more than that – that is illogical but powerful until challenged, when it crumbles. There are Leagues aplenty in Europe that are broadcast where one club is seen to rule the roost (even on a temporary basis) Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Austria are cases in point. We have nothing to fear. All sport is based upon integrity, and any club that disregards this should be punished. Rangers have effectively boosted their playing performance for years by employing people of a standard that they could not afford and subsidising that standard by illegally withholding PAYE and disguising this by issuing double contracts and EBT’s. In effect, this is no better than doping to artificially raise physical standards whilst cheating the regulators to disguise the fact. Not paying tax and using the funds to purchase players like Jelavic from Vienna with no intention of paying in full is cheating. Material difference to games? – he scored against us when he should not have been purchased, never mind been on the field. It is, on every level from a moral to a legal one, wrong. This is a club that has lost it's moral compass completely. There is a further perception that the SPL product would be lessened in its appeal if Rangers were not part of it. This is demonstrably untrue. The removal of one half of a virtual duopoly within the SPL would simply serve to open the League up to more meaningful challenges to the sole part left – Celtic. This season has shown all of our clubs what can be achieved with a level playing field – Motherwell in the Champions League and St. Johnstone in the EUFA league. How can experience like this fail to bring standards up? How can the chance of achieving European status fail to make the League more worthwhile to compete in? How can that chance fail to attract players to our League? If, at some time a Newco Rangers regain SPL status and do so under fair means they should be afforded their place at the European table rightfully and not by default. We have nothing to fear. There seems to be a widespread opinion that Rangers have suffered enough because of the sanctions applied against them already. This is ridiculous – they have committed acts that are at best unsporting and at worst criminally illegal and are unparalleled in Scottish football. They have cheated on a grand scale for years as the previous and present owner have mired them in financial shame. Those within the “institution” who could have and should have whistle blown did nothing. It is clear that Rangers have infringed multiple rules and therefore warrant multiple punishments. The Newco is Rangers and must inherit it's shame. This is how the fans feel. There is no illogical bloodlust to see a wounded Rangers further bleed. There is simply an overriding wish to see right done, and that right exercised by Chairmen next week despite the machinations of the SPL and the Old Firm. There is nothing to fear.

The existing Club have received punishment...opinion will differ on whether that is seen as just or not. I also agree that any new company should not be subjected to punishment....but they should also not be allowed automatic entry to the SPL. If they want to be treated as a continuation of the existing club and argue their right to a place in the SPL, then they must accept ALL that comes with arguing that case. This idea of taking "all that's good" and just casting off the bad stuff and stuff they don't like is ludicrous. Life does not, and should not, work like that. Where's the moral compass in all this? Has society become totally bereft of the concepts of accountability? If "Rangers" want to walk away from all the bad crap then they have to walk away from everything and that includes a league membership and position which was gained by foul means. If they don't, then they have to accept accountability and punishment for what has happened. In no other business would a case of "Business not liable for the actions of it's owners/directors" be admissible, let alone argued. I honestly find it totally incredible that the SFA and/or SPL (and its member clubs) are even giving the slightest consideration to allowing a NewCo (New Club) direct entry to the countries top league. Put a cross on the calender because this could be the event that officially marks the moment the world went mad.