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Aye, and we are using Shane in a Xavi role?

Ah! Now I understand why he let Munro and Tokely go.

Cassillas Esson Alvaro Meekings Pique Raven Sergio Warren-Ramos Graham Alba Aaron Alonso Xavi Foran Owain Tudor-Inniesta Andrew Busquets David Morrison-Silva Cesc Draper SUBS: Shane Torres and Billy Mata

From what I see would be a decent signing if it materialises. Was the only player out of contract at the end of the season offered a new one by Macclesfield.

Blimey, that pic of Tokely just shows how flattering ICT's vertical stripes are.

The SPL bribing SFL clubs to ignore their rules? Couldn't make it up...

Well given that height is a requirement for defenders and goalkeepers and that 3 of our 4 current signings are of such i would reserve that statement till we see what attacking players are signed.

profile from Macclesfield Town website: http://www.mtfc.co.uk/page/ProfilesDetail/0,,10393~41680,00.html sounds like he could add a bit of steel to the midfield along with a goal scoring touch

If nothing else some good news about the U-16 team.... http://ictfc.com/news/team-news/530-ict-u16s-march-into-last-16-at-iber-cup Hopefully the U-20 team will provide some players to this year's squad....any idea on who/what is in place for that?

I still don't think we've recovered since losing Djebi-Zadi.

Gillet, Golobart, Tokely as well as Hayes for me. Just looked so wrong seeing Ross and Grant the other night in County gear and we will notice more now that we are in the same league. Also will miss Tade for the Craic and Tuffey for the luxury of having excellent back up to Ryan Esson.

6 lads showed for a wee kick about at bught park this afternoon. 4 of which are playing in 2 weeks time. It wasnt anything formal and we all enjoyed ourselves. Not too many opertunities to get together for another kick about before the game, but may start a new thread if one arises.

County aren't some sort of homespun, Old Ma's Kitchen club. They won the First Division by assembling a squad of experienced lower league players under a good manager. Their title winning side didn't feature any youth players and the only local players were ones they'd signed from us who had come through our youth system. That absolutely isn't a criticism of County, the job of the manager and the team is to finish as high as possible and win the league and they did that. It's worth noting though that County signing Ross Tokely hasn't made them into some sort of Highland Dream XI. A lot of people on this site have turned into pantie-knotted knicker-wetting whiners, especially when it comes to County. In terms of our signings, we've always operated in the basement of the transfer market, certainly since we went into the First Division. Most of the players that everyone would laud were rejected previously by other clubs - Barry Robson by Rangers, Dennis Wyness and Russell Duncan by Aberdeen, Liam Keogh at Celtic, Craig Dargo by Killie, Darren Dods by St Johnstone. I'm not sure that this quality of Scottish players is out there in that market any more. Wyness was a youth player who came through at Aberdeen and got released - do we think there's anyone who'd score 20 goals a season in the First Division being released from the AFC youth programme now? If so, who? Dargo was released by Killie and no-one else wanted him, we even had him on trial for a week before offering him a deal - he went on to score 20 goals in his first season. What realistic targets have been released by a Scottish team this close season who you could be confident to any extent of performing like that? I'm not saying that I agree with the signing policy, it's pretty obvious that releasing Grant Munro was a huge error, one that cost us dearly in the league last season. Freeing Tokely could be this summer equivelent but we'll have to see. I can see why we target English players, England is a bigger market and there are literally thousands of players available every summer. The only question is how good are the players we bring in. We signed guys from England last close season and had a disappointing campaign but previously built our promotion winning side with guys brought in from England. We signed loan players (two of our best players last season were loan signings actually) but the results weren't that impressive but look at other examples - Killie signed Alexei Eremenko on loan and he was arguable the best player in Scotland that season, Hearts signed Craig Beattie on loan and he was excellent for them last season.

I share a few of your fears, but this last bit is slightly OTT. For much of the 18 years the two clubs have been in the Scottish league system, ICT have had a higher concentration of local players and more stability and continuity in their squad than County. Under Terry Butcher more than any other manager this has changed - some would argue that he has had no choice, others that he's gone too far too fast - but just because County has accumulated a few of our former players, this doesn't mean they should be held up as some model of visionary, ethical Highland football. Without wishing to rush to conclusions about players I haven't seen yet, I do worry that the signings so far do seem to be repeating a pattern that didn't really work last season - pretty much exclusively players who are either very inexperienced or injury-prone, from outside the Scottish system. If we had (and have) no choice but to offer only short term contracts anyway, then last season we could really have done with a couple of old heads who knew the Scottish league and the players they would be facing, and who would help to bring through the young local players. I had hoped to see Butcher try to bring in one or two of this type of player this close season instead. Maybe what we're hearing is correct - that there simply aren't such players available that we can afford - but other clubs of our size have managed it in the past (St Johnstone last season being the shining example), and the suspicion lingers that TB has a 'type' of player and that he might see older, very experienced Scottish players as less likely to bend to his authority. We'll see, though - there's still a fair bit of time left in which to add players, and some players' wage demands may become more manageable if they start to feel they're in danger of not finding a club.

I despair that some people think TB makes the decisions on what deals people are offered. Tried and tested players only get the 2 plus year deals as the club are petrified they will be stuck with average players on longer deals should they be relegated. We can't buy tried and tested players because we are skint (please don't say RT). If we can find another 2-3000 supporters a season that wouldn't be a problem. But we can't because we are average because we have to rebuild each year as we get people on 1 year deals. Some folk need to start asking the right questions instead of making assumptions. Understanding needs to be had on how our budget works.

There's no easy answer to who should go up but as we've argued with Rangers, entry to SPL should be on merit. Perhaps the 2 sides should have a play off at Hampden.

Although I agree that we shouldn't pre judge them, they don't sound like the most inspiring signings. Their careers being punted from pillar to post in the lower leagues of England and Spain doesn't fill me with a lot of confidence. We used to bring in players we thought would be good, now we bring in players we hope will be good. The thing thats most annoying for me now, is that we're not a team anymore. We're a collection of individuals brought in for 1 year then its a whole new team again the next season. I look at Dundee Utd, the amount of players they've brought in from lower leagues (even part time) who have come in and been a huge success. I don't understand why we dont look down there for players, i dare say we could afford some players on part time wages who want to go full time. And whisper it, maybe even a 2 year deal!!

Agree to a degree but the proof is in the pudding and if they come up with the goods then they will have earned respect. The issue with many is not the players but the man management and the tactics. The problem is that inexperienced players need to have a system developed to fit in to. They also need to be played consistently in the same, favoured position and get a "run" in the team to boost thir confidence but experience shows that many can be reactively benched after one poor performance or persistently played out of position and/or becoming progressively more frustrated by perceived favouritism.

Bucket was right on the ball with this post. It's the future we need to worry about and the loss of identity that ICT has, their place in North Football and Scottish football also. If Caley Thistle are unfortunate enough to get relegated in the near future then how stable is Terry Butcher's job? And if, he were unfortunate to lose his job what will happen to the team then? The probability of more loaness coming year after year from the South will be much less and ICt will then have to scramble like crazy to tget a team together that can even get back i nto the SPL. For sure, chaos will rein and this is niot a stable platform at all on which to build a team of the future. Whether or not Terry can get a team together to allow ICT to just survive, the fact of the matter is that the heart has been ripped out of this Inverness team and dpression and a strong element of disbelief, and resignation to the fates, prevails in it's place. The spirit is not what it was and if all we have to look forward to now is more of the same coming in from England with the same merrygoround occurring at the end of every season then that is not what I want or what i think is in the best future interests of Northern football. Period.

I loathe this attitude of "if you disagree with the status quo/manager/board/other fans, you should go away". Such an attitude is detrimental to everyone and leads to more alienation in some quarters of the support. ICT have never had trouble in the past of signing Scottish players which go on to be successes - then again a decade ago, the club had a manager who was the best scout and judger of Scottish playing talent bar none. How times have changed. The problem here is that Butcher seems to be marketing the club in such a way that players, particularly those based in England who have been punted by teams down south, as a kind of place to come and play for a year and attempt to resurrect their career for a move back to England. In other words, Butcher's turned the club into what is basically a Glenn Hoddle Academy of the north. If it were just one or two players that this policy was used for then it would be okay, but when you build a whole team out of it, that's when problems arise. This team needs to be a team again, as it was in the past and if it doesn't the feelings of disconnection between the players and support will continue and could well end in a having squad not good enough to compete at this level.

Realism albeit bordering on the pessimistic is probably highly representative of many fans and only happy clappers with extreme rose tinted spectacles could respond as you have.

Might i remind you....we still have the diddy "singing section" from a few seasons ago....probably much the same as Countys "wendy house", minus a roof!