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I would imagine that if Shinnie does exit in the summer we already have as good a player ready to slot in & re- establish himself. Step forward Nick Ross

Lagerback was linked but he is manager of Iceland at the moment. Strachan's managerial record is pretty decent: - Coventry: Kept them in the Premiership for three seasons, sacked when they got relegated, subsequent evidence suggests that they aren't a Premiership level club. - Southampton: Finished 11th and 8th and got them to the FA Cup final. - Celtic: The first Celtic manager since Jock Stein to win three successive titles. Took Celtic to the knock out stages of the Champions League for the first time and then did the same the next season. He did this against a Rangers side who spent a lot of money and invested heavily during that time. - Middlesborough: Terrible record, just didn't get it right. He was a success at Southampton and Celtic, half-and-half at Coventy and a failure at Middlesborough. He's managed and played at a high level and has a superior record to Levein, who was overpromoted after a semi-decent spell with Hearts, abject failure in England and a good spell at Dundee Utd. One thing that's important is that he'll have a good level of self-confidence and a more natural feel for this level of management than Levein did. Things like 4-6-0 smack to me of 'over-thinking' and a lack of self belief. Strachan knows he's succeeded in England and managed in the Champions League. he's a good motivator and that's important for an international coach. As for him not being a nice person, I think that's often overstated but in any case if he can get the team winning then I doubt people will care whether or not he eats live puppies and votes UKIP. Scotland actually have a decent side at the moment, if we were set up right. We have players competing regularly in the Premiership in a number of positions and a manager who can set the team up well could have success.

i dinnae ken whit ah the bathers aboot,eh left skail at 16 and never hud any problem expressin masell and comunicating wi abod'y fae paupers to prince's.Some fowk look for a misplaced apostrophe or missed out comma but shairly the general gist can be grasped beh the reader and only someone no really wantin to ken whit yer oan aboot gets it affy wrong.Thankfully meh bairn leaves skail this year before this nonsensical curriculum for mayhem kicks in, eh kinda get the feeling cheenge for cheenges sake is the order of the day,wi dafties wanting numbers and statistics regardless of the lack of substance and real learning or understanding.Anyways, ehm aff noo as meh Latin for beginners class starts in fehv meenits.

No we don't i have heard he is away back down to England. Wanted to move back to where his family are Is this all because they covered his car in post-it notes?

Someone cleverer than me once described education as what is left when what was learnt has been forgotten. I rather like that because whilst obviously not completely true it points the way to the reality that there is much more to education than the simple learning of facts. What is important is to know how to think. There is no point in knowing facts if you can't apply them. If you know how to use facts and address problems, it doesn't really matter if you don't know certain relevant facts because you can always look them up. But my perception is that things are improving. There was a time when we saw a lot of youngsters with top grades all through school and university who were hopeless in the workplace because they had no idea how to apply their knowledge. These days the education system, particularly in the universities, trains students in the practical application of knowledge and hence academic qualification tends to be a better judge of how they will perform in the workplace. It seems to me that that is partly due to teachers such as the Mantis. The best gift a teacher can give a student is not the tools to pass an exam but the curiosity to thirst for knowledge and the skills and desire to learn for themselves. Youngsters who have embraced that gift from their teachers may not pass all their exams but they won't fail in life.

he has had plenty of poor games this season aswell as the match winning ones. might be best for him to sign the best deal he possibly can with anybody. ive said it before but with the league being so tight, we're only a couple of points away from the whole campaign taking on a very a different complectionm. we arent points clear into seocnd by a long shot and only a poor 90 minutes or a goalkeeping howler from being nowhere in the cups. if we have 2/3 bad games in a row, if we play celtic in the league cup final (fingers crossed) and get cuffed 4-0, if killie knock us out of the scottish cup... then suddenly the chat on here about "MIRACLES" etc will explode into a puff of mediocrity and the asking price for our players will correct themselves in line with the overview of the season. the likes of shinnie could be seriously out of pocket if he waits until the summer to see what we can come up with. everything is on a knife edge right now, a memorable season is still on the cards, its just the margin for error is minimal. if there is a contract offer from aberdeen or anybody else for shinnie, knocking back any offer worth more than we can give him is a MASSIVE gamble. he'd be risking about 100k over 2 years on one or two games going our way this year and the hope he can get a bit more in the summer, which is insane. put me in his shoes and its a no brainer, get the pre-contract signed. id expect nothing but 100% commitment from him for the rest of the season regardless of his decision, as would his current team mates, manager and future employers.

OCG... you raise two very valid issues there. Firstly, I'm sorry to say that I would be just a bit nervous if I had a child in S3 at the moment because there are unfortunate "lose - lose" isssues here. If it's at a school which has rushed to espouse what they are are calling "Broad General Education" in S3 and are delaying course choice until S4, as Big Brother and the HMI Thought Police demand, then that is a particularly bum deal. There are two problems. Third Year now amounts in many respects to a continuation of Second Year and hence a prolongation of what has always been the weakest stage of comprehensive education. And then when they move into Fourth Year their certificate options are reduced from eight to as few as five subjects - hence the so called Newspeak "BGE" is quite the opposite since it vastly reduces S4 certificate options.This also has massive negative implications for Higher choices in both Fifth and Sixth Year and hence on university options. On the other hand if the school has done the sensible thing and continued to start "certificate" courses, with choices (which will in later years be forbidden in Highland among others, as I understand it), then your only problem is that your child will be first into courses of which teachers have been given vastly inadequate details far too late. And all of that is before you take into account the vast dumbing down, Mickeymousification and trivial methodology which go alongside these other two items of educational Newspeak the "Curriculum For Excellence" and "Deep Learning". The parallels between CfE and Orwell's 1984 are actually quite astonishing and if Big Brother is reading this, then he will already be making arrangements for me to spend my last 5 months in the job teaching in Room 101! The second issue is that of pupil support which is available nowadays compared with earlier decades. That has improved dramatically, as you observe, and most Learning Support teachers just want to get on with the job of helping pupils with needs rather than constantly be reinvented with trendy new titles.

Great opportunity to remind everyone of England's 1938 shame!

Pray tell me Alex how do you know how good our youth coaches are? Oddquine is making some really sensible points and you reply with your usual drivel! My count of first team squad players who have come all the way thru our YDP is Laing, Polworth, Ross & Morrison. From my reckoning Shinnie and Sutherland arrived either at U17 or U19 but I stand to be corrected. Any others I have forgotten?

Industrial? Have they got that far yet? This side of the county has, we even have TV. Not so sure of the Wick side though

Lets face it. We cant hold on to our best players forever. If we have done all we can do to try and keep him then so be it, life without Hayes hasnt been so bad we will move on and get someone else. He has the potential to play at a really high level and he has shown what he is capable of during his time here. If he stays then that would be fantastic but at the end of the day he's a young player with high aspirations, he's gonna want to challenge himself at a better level...though it has been a season so far of bucking trends, there is still time to sort something out. If he is to go at the end of the season my only hope is that it isnt purely based on money and that he gives his all for the club as we've got a chance to make a bit of history for the club this season...nothing better than going out on a high.

Oddquine, we have very good youth coaches. We may even have good players at youth level being coached by these good coaches. Unfortunately, and partly due to our relegation, there is a big gap in age groups. We haven't had the talent come through, in the last season or two, that could do a first team job. Coaches can teach the laws of the game, they can teach how to play the game, they can nurture talent but they cant produce the talent. That is something born into the individual and if it isn't there then it can't come through. I do think you should take a good look at our first team squad and count the number of players that have come through our youth system. Approx 30% of the current squad came through our youth system. I'd say thats a pretty good reflection of what we do. It is a rule of membership of SPL that we must have a U-20 team. Prior to this season that league was U-19. Prior to that it was a U-21 / reserve league. There is no reserve league so we need to field eligible first team players to give them match experience.

Do these "nat hats" come pre-fitted with rose tinted glasses? Anyway, your broadcasting idea would breach EU laws.

Initially huge respect to both Chris Hogg for fighting to this level of recovery and to the club fer sticking by him. Unfortunately it may be a case of easing him in with hope that he returns to his previous self. If he doesnt then at least we have witnessed the "battle" of a clearly very determined young man - that places himself in a legendary status to me. My wish would initially just be to see him on the pitch in a first team shirt again, even if it was a 89th minute cameo appearance. With such injuries a return to the hurly burly of the SPL is hugely doubtful but lets hope that he has a few more seasons under his belt at a lower level left at least. As fer Cooper - he is a child fer fecks sake - he is learning and has coped fairly well fer being chucked in at the deep end. We dont have that much spondoolachs and he is an excellent cover player. I was really impressed with his performances in pre season.

Glad to see him making real progress as been a long haul for him and his family. As for the OP regarding Matty Cooper well I can only assume that this person didnt have to learn their job. Matty is a young man learning his trade and as such should be given a chance.

Without having access to the full article (and I refuse to pay 60p for the privilege) then it's impossible to tell if there's any substance to the story or if it's just a bored journalist making something from nothing in order to fill some column inches.

So the under 20 team consisted of 4 (as far as I can see) over 20 first team signed players, plus Laing who, as far as I can ascertain, is signed to the first team, (going by the Courier blurb when he signed) earning appropriate wages and Cooper who has been benched and has played for the first team, even if ICT may not yet have upped his wages. Devine and Roberts are imports from England,..so of the players in the under 20 team....only Skinner, Watson and Ferguson are homegrown ICT youth players...and the only ones, (apart from Devine who has been here ten minutes) with no first team experience. Heck that bloke with the funny name we don't appear to have signed got more games for the under-20s than most of our own youth players. So excuse me if I am being logical here....but was the whole idea of the under 20 set up not to give a cross between allowing up to four over 20 (first team ) players (not an obligatory four over 20s) to get match practice after injury etc and the eligible players in the youth system to get accustomed to playing against older, more experienced players, given the lack of a proper reserve league and nothing but the under-20s at a level above the under-17s? If what ICT is producing is a reserve team-lite...what do the other seven of the signed under 20s do..twiddle their thumbs every week, because there is nowhere for them to get a competitive game? If we are so hard up for cash....why bother with an expensive youth system at all, when we can do as we have been doing over the last couple or so seasons, taking kids from other clubs, not playing those we have been raising from the age of nine or ten and just punting them at the end of the season? Why are we paying out for what appears to be crap coaches raising players the ICT management appears to think are crap?

Interesting (and perhaps somewhat encouraging) to hear that this might not be the only new signing in this transfer window according to Butcher in his interview last week. In all positions, I'd say that there's cover all over the pitch, even with players ready to step up the mark if the likes of McKay et al were to get injured. The only area I would say that some cover is needed (and this is where the Arsenal link might come in handy) is at left back. With the loss of Brislen-Hall and the punting of Blackman, you've got to wonder what would happen if Graeme Shinnie at left-back. Warren can apparently play anywhere across the defence, but I think something would be lost if he wasn't in the centre. I don't think I'd fancy seeing Raven or Meekings drafted in there. Simon King may be option as he's left footed but he seems to have disappeared into thin air! All in all, I think a back-up left back is needed.

Very true. When I started teaching in 1981 I thought I was able to inspire pupils by going off at a tangent and telling them things that were irrelevant, but which pricked their curiosity and made a potentially dry subject more interesting. That was in the days of the Scottish Examination Board who could set a paper that tested candidates' understanding and ability to think. Fast forward a few years and we got the SQA, the bastard offspring of the SEB and Scotvec, with Scotvec unfortunately being the dominant parent. The SQA has fostered the idea that education is just a set of building blocks, and that everybody, no matter how limited, can keep adding bricks till they have an honours degree (I'm not saying the idea is all bad). Hand in hand with this philosophy is the idea that the pupils, (sorry, students) should know what to expect in the exam, so Q1 will be about percentages, instead of being a nasty surprise. So when you try giving your class something interesting but slightly off-topic, somebody will shout out "is this in the test?" , and when you reply that it's not, somebody else will shout "what are we daein' it for then?". Of course this sort of anti-learning culture spreads like wildfire, so that nobody thinks anything is worth learning any more unless you will need it in your job. For this reason, studying languages at school, for example, has become very unpopular, even though the benefits of learning one language in addition to English are well known. It's now worked its way into the adult population, so that, for example, if we're debating whether Gaelic is of any use (and believe me it is, even if you are only curious about Inverness place names and what they mean), you will get certain posters (I mention no names) whose posts show debating skills that are at the same level as "is this in the test?".

Hey there?

Speaking as an Englishman, I would say that English players would far rather face a Scotland team led out onto the park by Levein than one led onto the park by Strachan. Scotland is too small a country to have a team of top quality players but it can have a top quality team. One of the key ingredients of that is passion. Not only does Strachan have that, he can transmit that to his players. I think he's the man for the job.

According to wiki Michael Mcintyre is funny...

I've taught Ryan Jack and Cammy Smith at their respective secondary schools and have taken in quite a few of their youth games. Cammy is light years ahead of Ryan in terms of ability and attitude. He will definitely end up playing for Scotland IMO...

I've not seen Laurence play so can't make an objective comparison. However, I'm very happy to have such a talented youngster as Roberts in the squad.

oh appologies for not being an expert on birmingham folks!

No feud at all. Here's the unpleasant email I sent. It was a response to outlandish comments you were making on Scottish Independence. My point stands. You are asad person with a real chip on your shoulder.

If one or two of the guys are interested in building the current stats segment then I'd be inclined to give them the power. I would,however, ask that they use spell checkers and good grammar and make sure the profiles look professional. The Wikipedia ICT page looks like parts of it have been written by a barbary monkey on acid.

Was in today getting 22 tickets and was told we have sold just over 1200 so far . Unless there is a big surge in the next week and a half we could go down with a support far less than our team and management deserve . The club have done virtually nothing to sell the match to people who do not attend matches on a regular basis . Surely we should be on Moray Firth radio trying to encourage the local community to support the club as it tries to make history !!!!!! When our neighbours county were in their semi there was non stop coverage on both the radio and the local press ,which resulted in a fantastic response .

I am with Alex on this one ..... TB has pretty much issued his own "hands off" statement to other clubs for the remainder of this season. His ambition for 12/13 is to get us into the top six for the first time ever (achievable), maybe even the top three (impressive), and if possible, second spot (remarkable). Whilst technically possible to even claim first spot, lets be realistic here and say that is just a pipedream ... but "best of the rest" and a spot in Europe would be a fantastic achievement most of us would accept with our arms wide open. If he can also take us to one or more cup finals that would be the cherry on top of an already sweet season. If TB achieves most or all of that, he will be (even more of) a legend in Inverness, and could quite rightly claim he cant really take us any further .... The lure of European football might keep him at ICT beyond this season, but I am guessing a new challenge, at a higher level, may be of more interest to him. I cant claim to know what motivates TB, but given that he could have jumped ship last week for bucketloads more cash then you have to question whether money is his main motivator. I would tend to agree that the quest for success seems higher up his list and loyalty also seems to come higher than money. He may also be somewhat reticent about jumping back into the wrong end of the tables in England given his previous experiences there ... Being a very astute man, he probably also knows that taking ICT to their best ever finish and possibly a place in European football will raise his stock in the UK, and look far better on his CV than a relegation battle he might ultimately lose in England, at a club where he might be made the scapegoat .... As much as I would be happy for him to stay at ICT for the rest of his career, I have no doubt in my own mind that he will leave ICT at some point in the not too distant future. There is only so much he can do at a small club with a limited budget and how would you top a season like this one ......