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I completely fail to understand why the youngsters are not given the experience of being on the bench and soaking up the match day atmosphere. Apart from becoming familiar with the match day atmosphere from the perspective of being involved as part of the squad, they would learn from what is said in the dugout. I too have heard the financial argument used (appearance bonus rather than win bonus) but if that is given as a reason, then why not also stick to just 5 subs when there are more than 5 first team squad available? But whatever the reason, what message does this give to the youngsters we are supposed to be developing and encouraging? It tells them that the club thinks they are no way good enough to be considered for any game time regardless of how dire our injury situation becomes. Our injury situation is unusual but should be seen as an opportunity for the club to demonstrate some positive encouragement to the youngsters. If the lads' contracts specify that being on the bench means an appearance bonus is payable and the club is too mean to pay them, then I'll pay to see a full bench on Saturday. Send me the bill, but for goodness sake give these youngsters a seat on the bench rather than a kick in the teeth!

The board may have a big decision to make now. As long as Hughes remains non committal on a deal the likelihood is that the players won't be too keen to sign not knowing who will be in charge. If Hughes won't sign a new deal in the near future then he may need to be 'moved aside' so we can get someone else in and start to getting players like Meekings on new deals.

The last two posts highlight the real issue--what money is available? If you agree, then without this knowledge really we are all whistling in the wind and probably some of the wind is just hot air. But, are we at a crossroads? .........Maybe! What then? Well, ask the question..." should we take the new road?" and the answer comes back "take the new road " .....because what really is there to lose? You take the new road and new opportunities arise, new challenges, new interests, new development and growth in your life. Nothing is forever and life is short so we have to savour the moment and seize opportunities that are presented to us. If you feel that your task has not yet been completed and that you should stay with it regardless of the severity of the current challenge then do so and go with your heart without spending too much time looking back. And you always come out ahead, regardlesss of which road you choose. Why? Because if you fail then you have been challenged to do better and you need to dig deeper into your past experiences and psyche to find the correct road. And, if you don't fail, then you have the satisfaction of knowing that your choices and personal growth at this stage have won the day which in itself will lead to even more challenging opportunities for growth which you can now approach without fear of the risk and with greater confidence Stagnation is the alternative. So we look forward to hearing from Mr. Hughes' as to his decision on his future pathway. The slight complication in all this, however, is the fact that he appears to still be contracted to ICT until the end of his agreement. And maybe he has to consider not only what is right for his current circumstances but what the right thing is that he should do?

Highlights can be seen on the Motherwell youtube page

Scotty - what I am alluding to is - "Why have a Development squad if we are not going to feckin develop them ?" The team against St Mirren in the Development League last week was - Mackay, Stark, Howarth, Horner, Gilchrist, MacLennan, Vigurs, Wedderburn, Trialist, Sutherland, McRae plus Hoban, Wilson, McArthur, Rennie - potentially 10 but probably 6 that could have simply warmed the bench last night. That would have been experience and confidence boosting in itself. And what was the squad for the game against Well tonight - a team that is leading 3-1. What feckin harm could it possibly do ? And I suppose my other concern is actually the number of injuries that we do have - the manner in which Draper was "injured" is concerning in itself. Most of the injuries appear to have been suffered or aggravated in training which raises questions about the training facilities and methods. I suppose that we have been unlucky but it has to be more than that. Perhaps we are saving money on sickness benefit and win bonuses.

Teams have cottoned on to Tremarco as a weakness and in the first half everything seemed to be coming down our left. Shame as he's really good going forward but defensively he's poor. I thought Devine had come on a lot in the past year and even imagined he could fill Warren's boots, but this season how many times has he let us down with horrorshow defending like the penalties v Dundee and St Johnstone. Anyway roll on Saturday as you say big man. Teams have cottoned on to Tremarco as a weakness and in the first half everything seemed to be coming down our left. Shame as he's really good going forward but defensively he's poor. I thought Devine had come on a lot in the past year and even imagined he could fill Warren's boots, but this season how many times has he let us down with horrorshow defending like the penalties v Dundee and St Johnstone. Anyway roll on Saturday as you say big man. Totally agree with Mantis. Our defensive problems all stem from Shinnie's departure and Warren's injury. Neither Tremarco nor Williams has really filled Shinnie's boots, and Devine is too inconsistent in the middle of the defence. Get back soon Gary! I also feel that Hughes has made some unwise decisions in some of the players he has brought in. I always thought that the reason to bring in a new player was to strengthen the squad. Can we honestly say that Wederburn, Roberts, Lopez, Silva meet that criterion?

I don't think giving Yogi extra money is the best outcome from this unless it's financially viable for us to do so. We need to live within our means etc.

I really don't think it's Yogi's fault in not signing players - his budget has been cut this year - even after our Scottish Cup win. The guy works under severe financial restrictions so I think he is doing what he can when he is allowed to do so.

Not many positives to take out of the game but it was good to see Greg Tansey getting a goal - and a good one at that. For me, Tansey is at his best when he comes forward in support of the attack playing a sort of Frank Lampard / Stevie Gerrard role. Not only is he capable of scoring from outside the box, the presence of players making those sort of runs pulls defenders out to block and creates that little bit more space for the front men. I don't understand why Tansey is played so deep and is only allowed the freedom to come up the park when we are chasing the game. Liam Polworth is another player with a good shot on him and who should be encouraged to shoot. Polworth was another of the positives on Tuesday. Certainly he misplaced a few passes but he saw an awful lot of the ball and some errors were inevitable. In general he looked as solid as I have seen him and played some pretty good balls, in particular a beautifully weighted ball that put Storey through and which should have resulted in a goal.

I'm thinking Caldwells

Last night: Aberdeenshire Shield - Quarter-finals Garry Wood (Deveronvale 0-2 Formartine United) Martin Bavidge (Turriff United 1-3 Inverurie Loco Works)

I don't understand why Hughes signed Wedderburn, played him in every pre season game then in the Astra game. He played poor in the Motherwell game but he was stuck out on the wing which clearly isn't his position and in a team where he's not settled yet and now Hughes won't play him at all. A bit worrying that he doesn't seem to have belief in a player he signed.

.....in the car park?!

I collected my ticket from the ticket office last night and Jason Brown was the one who served me. I know we are multi-tasking club but there's something not right about that. Other teams like Dundee United, Motherwell and Hamilton etc always use their U20. If the reason we refuse to use them because of bonuses then we should look at the bigger picture, the experience could easily aid their development.

Time to reflect. Yogi's hands are tied with respect to the number of fit players he has - for that, he has my sympathy. He has no option but to play guys out of position and make do. In addition, he has virtually no options to change things when it's not working out during a game. HOWEVER, it is his job to adopt a system that best suits the players he has and to recognise and rectify when things aren't working. For example, Vincent up front didn't work on Saturday, but he persisted with this tactic last night and.......it didn't work again! Contrast that display from Vincent with the one away at County where he played in midfield and was fantastic. We do not have 2 fit senior strikers at the club, so he cannot play 2 up front unless he's willing to go with Sutherland, who I thought looked decent last night. Vigurs in for Williams just eliminated the only player with any pace in the team - Williams made a difference when he came on. The diamond in midfield didn't really work either. The passing game when you're 2-0 down in a cup with players playing out of position is (a) suicidal and (b) ineffectual. I understand that the club bought into the philosophy when Yogi came, but he needs to mix it up with the longer ball occasionally, otherwise we are too predictable. Everybody now knows to press us high up the pitch and eventuually we'll cough it up in a dangerous position. Much as I hate us losing to County, I'm not concerned about being out of this cup. League points are, however, vital and we have another opportunity on Saturday to take something from the game. If the group that played last night are all we've got, then so be it. But Yogi needs to play them in a formation that they are all comfortable with and be prepared to go long if needs be to cut out the leakiness at the back. The strikers did well off balls into the channels for the last 20 min, so keep doing it! Equally, there is no point to passing the ball amongst the back 5, only for Fon Williams to eventually hack it away under pressure anyway - may as well do that off the bat and reduce the risk! Learn from the mistakes, Yogi, or we're in really deep trouble.

Coronation St isn't on on a Tuesday

Those people you criticise who you say 'don't really understand the football business have overseen an amalgamation of two former Highland League clubs consolidating, bar one season, in the top division for more than a decade now, under a number of managers whilst living within our means and achieving the balancing act of keeping the club both solvent and increasingly successful. With respect, in my opinion, those running our club know a fair bit about the business of football and a great deal about the business of running Inverness Caledonian Thistle in particular. We obviously have different opinions, to which we are both entitled. I am fully aware of the financial restrictions applying to the club and I feel this is down to 2 reasons, the first being distinct lack of serious investment and second the level of support providing much needed cash flow. If the board were willing, I am sure serious investors could be attracted and this in turn would hopefully improve the numbers paying to support the club. Simplistic maybe but our 2014-2015 success has placed much greater demands on how the club is run and serious investment is now needed to maintain or improve the unexpected levels the club has risen to.

Okay lets get radical - I wouldn't say no to someone like Billy Dodds - already in the area - has the potential to be his own boss !