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So here we are again. Coming off the back of a ground-breaking season(which included the most exciting match of all time, at Easter Road), we once again find ourselves facing the challenges of a new season. What are our expectations? Well.....unrealistic if you ask me. We KNOW how far this club can go given the circumstances. The list of opponents makes for wearisome reading. The doom mongers are peddling their wares already. All I ever want is to be entertained ( win, lose or draw). Lets give Yogi and the boys a chance for God's sake. It strikes me there IS only one answer to our perennial pre season gloom.............relegation................and another glorious season in the best division in Scottish football. Is that what you all want?

A lot of work was done in the latter half of last season securing the services of our established players where for the first time in a long time we went into the summer with a secure 11 in place. Some of these players were fresh intakes last year and have proven well and others been influencial in getting us consecutive Top 6 and soild cup runs. The fact we only consider the requirement for an additional striker the bit of business needed then we shouldnt panic too much yet. There is still time in the window and there will still be available players who may have been holding out for a 'bigger' deal that ICT can offer who may yet come in as their time and options reduce. If we can bring in back up or even solid competition for Billy then its been a successful 6 months in terms of securing a squad. The released players never did enough to show they were going to contribute so are perhaps not a big loss plus we have some good youth coming along. I'd rather be where we are this season than doing a County/Motherwell/Dundee who have brought in a large number of players hoping they gel.

While I can't really argue with what has been posted, a few positives I took from Saturday were that Birmingham City are a much bigger team than us playing against superior opposition each week than we do and we were not totally outclassed, in fact for a large part of the second half I did feel that we were the better team and anyone who didn't know the teams playing would have said we were the team with the bigger budget. Also the were parts in the second half where Ryan Christie was brilliant, this season could really be a big one for him. If he shines we will struggle to keep hold of him. And despite the fans feelings on the tactics being used and the general apathy that seems prevalent, the players still seem to have the camaraderie that has been without a doubt our biggest asset over the past few seasons. Anyway, those are the positives that I took from it but I also agree with most of the worries, concerns and frustrations that have been voiced. Also thanks to good people of Brum who were all very nice to us, particularly the pub near the ground we were in. Some of the kids were looking at us like we were from another planet! A great day was had.

Show-business moguls say ..."there is no such thing as bad publicity, whether it's good or bad, it's all keeping the spotlight on us." Without the black to contrast it, you can't see the white ! Fair people use their own judgment and try to find the balance. If you obliterated this website for 6 month then all overseas members would wither and die on the vine. How dare you make such a suggestion . Even old fogies and emigrants need their footie to avoid losing touch with reality in a world basically about to implode....

I doubt you will find a single soul who supports the club who wants us to be relegated. Last time might not have been too traumatic from a footballing point of view but was a financial disaster and good people lost their jobs.

Met Wyness101 in the check in queue at Brum airport and had just finished telling him "that was shite today" when I realised Russell Latapy was standing next to him............

JH needs to get the message that the average fan shows up for entertainment and excitement. Some also show up to watch very pleasing, fast, skilled moves. That means attacking footbal no matter which way you slice it . And playing tippy tappy football in our own box, as some fans say is happening more and more, would not appear to me to be exciting unless you are willing to risk a heart attack to get your jollies!. Let's say both teams come out of the tunnel dead set on attacking then thrills and spills will almost certainly result, regardless of the outcome, and the average fan will leave the stadium going.."phew that was some game, man, I am sure glad I came today. Show business is entertainment ! That means variety and energy.

Real played a similar type of passing game against the Dons and absolutely tore them apart. Again, similarly to us , shots were blasted high and wide until such time as they settled and took their chances to polish the Dons off. Admittedly Real's defence stood mostly firm but there was the odd slip up. It is nearly impossible not to have the odd slip up We are still learning this passing game, where we lack the skill is drawing the defence and making the gaps for the players to run into to score. Our finishing does improve as the game goes on but still has to be improved on. When the lads gain the confidence to run and pass instead of the standing passes we will create more opportunities to score. We will also have a team that will be the envy of all the other teams' supporters, a winning team at that. Patience is a virtue.......................but it can be learned......just like the passing game. Come on ICT..............

Pretty + Ineffective = pretty ineffective. I think this is going to be a theme this year! Our possession stats will be brilliant, but we'll continue to leak sloppy goals and will struggle to score because a slow build up is not playing to McKay's strengths. It's a goals business, JH....please prove me wrong!

I agree with the post above. Any team where Andrew Shinnie can't get a start probably has far more quality than us.

1. Inverness Caledonian Thistle 2nd to 12th. Don't care.

ICT Celtic Aberdeen Dundee utd Motherwell St Johnstone Dundee Partick Hamilton County Killie St mirren

To make top six we're gonna have to score more goals than we concede, which is fairly obvious. At the moment, I am unsure where all these goals are going to come from. I'll settle for tenth until we have genuine back up for Billy.

My fear about this season, rests not with the players, who we all know are capable, but the manager. My fear is that Hughes doesn't really care if we get into Europe or into the top six or win one of the cups. All he's interested in playing football "the right way". Now passing sequences (apart from when the defence lose it) might be nice to watch, but they get very monotonous when time and again they go nowhere. In fact last season, we seemed to stop our own attacks by someone putting his foot on the ball and passing it sideways........or more commonly backwards. Does Hughes look at this club as somewhere he can improve and kick on with or as a project to show the rest of Scotland that you can play that style of football here? So far it seems like the latter. We'll find this season how good Hughes really is, but I would be lying if I said I had high hopes.

I also think we're in for a long hard and boring season. We don't look like scoring, the whole point of football. We knock it about back and forth around the defence and midfield keeping the ball nicely but just never look like hurting anyone. You need really creative dynamic centre midfielders, plus width for this style of football to work. We seem to play really narrow now and creative wise we have Greg Tansey. I also don't think we're getting anywhere near the best from Doran, Vincent, and most importantly Christie, who really could be a talent if played correctly. Even Draper we're not getting the best from, hes a combative midfielder and we're asking him to take the ball and be creative and for me he's not that sort of player. Mckay has basically been anonymous since Christmas. Also after the first round of games all teams will well and truly have seen we play one way and that's it, we have few alternatives other than the league cup final tactics of defend defend defend. I gave Yogi the benefit of doubt last season as he hadn't had a chance to sort out what players he wanted to stay and what he wanted to bring in. I honestly thought he would have brought in maybe 2 or 3 of his own signings to help the brand of football he wants to play. But he hasn't and if he doesn't I really do fear we may be in all sorts of trouble this season.

Celtic ICT Aberdeen Dundee Utd St Johnstone Motherwell Those 6 teams will be clear top 6 by February. The rest will battle it out till the end to avoid relegation/ play offs and they could finish in any order.

Those are the optimistic posts wait until the others get a hold of this. Will be interested to see where the majority believe we will finish this season. I think if we sneak 6th that will be a really good result as we definitely have the ability within the squad. At present though I more feel a dogfight may be more likely unless things drastically change tactically.