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I'm actually rather disappointed with the notice of complaint. It only makes reference to the Warren incident and offers a 2 game ban if accepted. Ciftci's actions deserve a far more severe punishment and having been able to view the footage at leisure, the SFA should be able to see Ciftci's premeditated and dangerously violent conduct for what it is. The shove on Shinnie was a forceful one which sent Shinnie sprawling. It was a deliberate, malicious act and seemed designed to send him hard into the path of Meekings. Fortunately they did not collide but they could easily have clashed heads with serious consequences. It was worthy of a red card and how the referee failed to give even a foul simply beggars belief. It also beggars belief that the SFA who will now have seen the incident also feel that no punishment is warranted. The 2nd incident was even worse. This was way off the ball and whilst Warren was watching the play, Ciftci launched into him from behind and sent him sprawling. That was not a foul in the course of play, it was an unprovoked assault and if you or I did that to someone in the street we'd get arrested. Warren obviously retaliated in some manner and whilst I am not defending him, a reaction is entirely understandable. Surely the original offence (which the SFA have seen) is a far more serious offence than Warren's reaction so how can they only slap on the same punishment as Warren will get? Players get suspended following red cards when they bring down a player in a goal scoring position even when genuinely going for the ball. They get suspended for badly timed timed tackles again where there is no malicious intent and they get sent off for raising an arm to push away an opponent who has fouled them or who is threatening them. Fair enough. But Ciftci's behaviour is far worse than that. It isn't spur of the moment, it isn't accidental and it isn't in reaction to being fouled. It is deliberate, malicious behaviour designed to harm an opponent - and on Tuesday night he indulged in at least two such acts of unprovoked thuggery. If the SFA had any balls about them they would be banning Ciftci for the rest of the season. What also disgusts me is the news that Dundee Utd are appealing the notice of complaint. They should consider themselves extremely fortunate that the offered ban is only 2 matches. What they should be doing is apologising for Ciftci's behaviour and announcing that internal disciplinary measures are being taken against him. I would hope that behind the scenes our club has complained to the SFA.and will do so again in the light of the leniency of the offer. By appealing the notice one can only assume that Dundee Utd condone such behaviour. The SFA's response should be to significantly lengthen the ban and perhaps Dundee Utd should also be fined as condoning such behaviour surely brings the game into disrepute. I know this is a bit of a rant but there is a really important principle here. Football is a hard game and we know that when players are giving 100% there will be times when players are hurt by mis-timed tackles and in the heat of the moment players will over-react to incidents. Players will get sent off and take their punishment and that is simply an inevitable part of the game. What is not an inevitable or acceptable part of the game is when players deliberately try to harm opponents. If the powers that be are not prepared to distinguish such thuggery from the normal inevitable consequences of committed competitive play then we have no chance of ever addressing some of the more innocuous forms of cheating such as holding and shirt pulling at set pieces.

Won't it be a bit on the small size?

According to Wikipedia (who already have him listed as an ICT player till the end of season) he has played in 3 friendlies for Nigeria so presumably can't be too shabby. At 6'3" he's a big lad and obviously gives us options of high balls into the centre when surfaces are not so great for the passing game. His video of goal highlights is nothing like as impressive as Kinks and some of the goals shown demonstrate schoolboy defending rather than an exciting attacking talent. However, the perceived ability of a striker is often a refection of the qualities of the players around him and hopefully he has been signed because Yogi judges that he will fit in well with the squad we have. Let's make him very welcome and hope his goal scoring feats, if nothing else, are similar to Iain Stewart.

Iain Stewart = Thought fondly of in Lossie - small, Scottish, white guy. Edward Ofere = Thought fondly of in Lagos - big, Nigerian, black guy. I agree, they're almost identical!

The much maligned BBC updated Brora's situation and views fully last Saturday evening and again on the Monday morning. Brora chairman John Young said that he felt that, for a part time team, the potential obligation of trips, including midweek, to the likes of Annan and Berwick (that's 600-700 miles both ways) was not realistic and he really didn't want to make the move. However he said that if they had to do it, and he understood that this would be the case, they would - reluctantly. On the other hand, when asked if they would be dreadfully disappointed if the club failed to meet the SPFL criteria, he said that he might get into trouble for saying this, but they would prefer to remain in the Highland League. I actually have full sympathy with Brora in this situation where Scottish football officialdom has again been incapable of seeing beyond the Castlecary Arches. Most of them probably don't even know where Brora is - apart from the notion that it is up in this monolithic community called "the Highlands" (which begin at Perth) where we all live in adjacent black houses and hide each other's claymores and muskets in our thatched roofs. It simply is not realistic for many HL clubs to fulfil the requirements of the League Two fixture programme. Getting from Brora to Fraserburgh or Cove on a Saturday is difficult enough and midweek the HL has a 110 mile rule to prevent unrealistic journeys. The SPFL has created the most ridiculous of ironies here because for decades until 1994 its member clubs operated a self protection racket, hellbent on keeping the Highlands out. Since then the HL area has acquired four SPFL teams, two of which have shown a number of these erstwhile protectionists a thing or two. That has gone a long way to meeting demand for SPFL football from this geographically remote area, so there are now much fewer clubs still wanting in - at which point the SPLF go and make entry compulsory! This is just another case of football being a mirror of the society we live in since up in the Highlands we have been used for centuries to being treated as second class citizens by the Lowland Scots.

It's been an amazing turn around at Elgin since Jim Weir took over! They were dreadful, adrift at the bottom, looking like they were heading back to the Highland League and getting dumped out of the Scottish Cup by a junior club, conceding 9 goals over the two games! Now, they're looking at the promotion play-offs! Astonishing... As for Brora? I don't know. It looks like they'll win the league, although Turriff are making a real fight of it, and would actually be top if they hadn't been docked 3 points. I was under the impression that entering the play-offs was obligatory and a club can't refuse (or pass their opportunity to the runners-up). They could, of course, simply not comply with the 'upgrades' required for the SPFL! It would be a disappointing start to the pyramid-era if the first winners of the HL didn't want any part in it! Particularly as they could well continue to dominate for the foreseeable future. I could see sanctions if that was the case. Possibly exclusion from the Scottish Cup (and the Challenge Cup). Quite frankly, if Brora don't want to go up, they should resign from the HL and look to apply to the North Caledonian League - it could do with increased membership! Interesting times ahead. Edinburgh City look like they'll win the Lowland League and Montrose could be heading to the Highland League! But, as Elgin have shown, things can change so quickly in a short space of time.

ICTRoughi (page 1 of this thread) and myself (page 11) both suggested Scott MacDonald at the start of this month. This thread has virtually been defined by posters making reasonable striker suggestions only to see other clubs pick them up. Even around/before the start of the January window, Yogi was saying in the press that we should expect a bigger club to come in for McKay. I think the club was probably baiting a club to come in with some welcome money. Charles Bannerman has said elsewhere that the club budget has historically relied on periodic windfalls. This might have been viewed as another one. Consequently, right or wrong, the contingency plan must have been to "promote from within". The club would have well aware that Scott MacDonald was a free agent and I'm certain would have been given some consideration. How do you know that no approach was made to the player or his agent and that he simply didn't want to come this far North or priced himself beyond our wage structure ? I think it's legitimate enough to be critical of the club in principle for not replacing Billy McKay but it's going a bit far to criticise for not signing a particular individual without knowing whether that person was willing to come and, if so,on what terms.

The quality of stuff coming out of the BBC when it comes to Scottish football has been annoying me for some time, but tonight really brought things to a head. To say that the commentary lacked impartiality would be an understatement. At one point that fat erse Preston was suggesting that Utd players should go down so that the ref could even things up red card wise. Then after Raven's lucky escape, Nob Maclean said that Raven walked away sheepishly, which wasn't surprising given the club he plays for. Feck the lot of them.

Ofere - its big Oh ! By the Oh-way.

Ofere has been allocated shirt #7....so he's got a bit to live up to in terms of replacing the previous occupant.

He's not played in Serie A! He has....Lecce were in Serie A when he was with them.

Depends on comms between associations in terms of getting paperwork signed off...but, yes, it is possible that could happen in time for him to be included in the squad for tomorrow.

Not forgetting Mali Watkins!

Modern day Iain Stewart!! Good news I hope.

Rings true with what i've heard, hear we are looking to sign two players, one most probably being Kink but heard that Prince Rajcomar and the other lad have left #notintheknow Yeah according to my source you are correct Your source being Wickipedia ?..

I wholeheartedly agree with your rant D D. Incidentally if you look at the recent performances of D U and some of there ex players you will notice that they are all quite adept at committing subtle and not so subtle techniques of fouling and diving, almost as if they had been schooled or at least encouraged in this diabolical aspect of the game................definitely worthy of investigation!!

Didn't the highland league vote in favour of joining the pyramid? If so then every team in it that wins the title should be made to play for promotion in the playoffs. The juniors is a closed game and any team not wanting to go national should join them. It's not like it's only the highlands that are getting made to join the spfl either, there is a lowland league remember. It's not unfair to expect the league winning team to be ambitious!

Did you ever think that maybe Watkins is staying and Hughes is turning him into a striker so then we would need a winger. When we have the likes of Danny Williams, Nick Ross, Aaron Doran and even Ali Sutherland at a push, do you really think we need another winger?

Regardless of who might be bottom of the 2nd Division, who might be in the play offs from the Highland League? There is a bit of discussion above with some folk thinking that Brora were taking steps to meet the criteria for league entry. However, I recall recently hearing Charles reporting on Good Morning Scotland that Brora were unlikely to apply. Can anyone update? I was sort of looking forward to the Brora / County derbies in the 2016/17 season.

Forget "Where's Wally", let's play "Where's Ciftci?"

The sheep thing doesn't faze me in the slightest. After all its normally referred bythose of lowland persuasion who are embarassed to have ancestors responsible for shipping out good highland people to make way for woolly animals.

STV reporting Nadir Ciftci has been served with a Notice of Complaint by the Scottish FA's Compliance Officer and faces a two match ban.

The best one I ever heard was by someone actually from "up there". Just last Saturday there was a Sportsound discussion on some club which had engaged a sleep therapist to help their players sleep properly. Willie Miller then came away with a thoroughly brilliant one liner the gist of which was "When I was at Aberdeen, if we had any problem sleeping we just counted sheep."

I don't wish to 'ram' this point down your throat KIngsmills but I do think that media reporting should be unbiased and impartial, as indeed should moderating be, so if a slur or sarcastic remark is made against our team then I or anybody else is entitled to make a comment on this forum. I sometimes do wish the Highlands are another country, unfortunately we are not, despite the alienation given us by many southern counties or regions in the United Kingdom.

Believe it or not, I'm only just home from this so I've had time to think about it and discuss it with my arab mates through gritted teeth. Calum Murray lost control of the game quite early on but got seriously caught up in things in the second half. Such was his lack of control that someone could easily have been seriously injured such was the level of challenge that was escalating throughout. Greg Tansey was right - it was a fight, not a game of football and we shouldn't have got drawn into it far less match up in the way taht we did. It was a gluepot of a pitch that lent it's self to that type of game - you couldn't pass a ball on that pitch. we didn't neither did they. As the team seven points behind us they had to fight and they did. Their goal came as a result of a bobbling ball in the box and it was diifficult to create clean cut chances for either side. A draw was a fair result, and maintained the status quo (i.e. we are better than them by virtue of winning more points) to this point. So where is the vast problem that has led to some of the utter cr*p above? We have no right (and neither does any other team) to turn up anywhere and expect the three points, never mind a venue as difficult as tannadice. it was a hard fought draw on the way to where we want to finish, and that point might be the crucial one that gets us into europe as much as it might be the one that denies us the chance.

Cheaty was at it all night. It was reminiscent of Magennis on the Saturday. Two players committing numerous fouls and the referee picking on those committing one foul. Christie booked for a shirt pull and others tripping him quite dangerously and not even getting a lecture. Ciftci did significant refereeing himself. Warren's first booking was like a mob attack on the referee by the United players. Murray clearly had not seen the offence or else he would have taken action had there been reason. I would love to see his report ...'Booked Paton and then after pleas from the United players I decided to book Warren as well. Not sure why. I did not see any offence.' I always feel refereeing is a difficult job but Murray last night did not have things under control.

The quality of reporting on BBC is utter sh!te, as is the quality of most of the pundits and football programmes that are produced (Sportscene, Sportsound, OAM, off the ball etc). Some of the commentators are OK, but most are amateurs. Unfortunately, the BBC is the window onto Scottish football and the weak presenting reflects on the product they are presenting......the last thing that Scottish football needs!

Depends on whether the referee or linesman have reported seeing it. Cifti may have been carded for his actions after Warren reacted with the original incident not being seen. There is no way that Warren's card will be rescinded but the club should definitely be asking for this to be reviewed so that Cifi gets a ban if it hasn't already been reported by Murray. Might be a bit petty but it will only help us keep 3rd if Utd are without their best striker

If Kink's in the pink then he can impress on the wing. No one will call him a dink and we'll laud his success with a drink. If we don't give him a try then time will fly and Maybe Ross County will buy And then it'll be Kink the Tink and we will have lost the link. I think!

So did I. Different sort of trial.

Maybe international players in the sense that they ply their trade in a country different from birth ... Anything more than that is stretching it a bit in the case of Prince and non-existent as far as I can see for Vucanovic ... But I take your point about our existing squad maybe not all having startling career stats. Appreciate we have a budget to operate in but given we are an established top 6 team, can we not start to dip our toe in slightly more ambitious waters? Without being overly simplistic, if we have the smallest squad but comparable attendances with 3 or 4 other SPL teams, are we being slightly over-cautious? That website I referred to is well worth a browse btw ... Astonishing source of up-to-date data even to refer to if nothing else ... Foolhardy to dismiss so readily IMHO. Your point lacks logic. Existing budget only allows for small squad...if we are to pay more, then we would need to shrink squad further to be able to afford it. If there's a bit of spare cash, then it's use needs to be viewed going forward. You can't base long term spending by way of increased wages on one off, non guaranteed, cash injections...how do you cover the wages next season without it? We're not awash with cash and being "over cautious" is better than being overdrawn with debt/costs we can't sustain...that would be foolhardy!