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Not to me it doesn't as things are not quite so simple. Nothing said about the loss of quality players who we were going to struggle to replace no matter who was the manager. Some posters have never wanted JH and have not been prepared to give him ant sort of leeway. To be sure, this season could have gone better but, in reality, will have been no worse, in terms of league position than many others. Clubs like ICT will always struggle to achieve consistency and the good seasons will be outweighed by ones that are less good as other clubs will snap up our good players. Just look at Dundee Utd as an example of how quickly things can change. The only way the club will really progress is twofold, by rearing more of it's own players and more fans attending on a regular basis. If that doesn't happen, enjoy the good seasons and continue to support the team during the bad seasons.

Seven pages, over a hundred and fifty posts, thousands of words but if you don't have the time or inclination to trawl through them all just read this brilliant one paragraph post. Absolutely nails it and sums things up perfectly. Well said sir...

Delighted with the result today and the performance wasn't bad however I won't be expecting to see us doing in through our last 5 games, no matter how much I'd love to see it! Killie scored against the run of play IMO although I wouldn't go as far as saying we pulled them apart! After giving off a couple chances early in the second half I thought we started the second half pretty well. Up until the red I thought we would get back into it as we were the better side but once McDonald got sent off I couldn't see us losing! Good penalty from Tansey, scrappy finish from draper and fantastic team goal for Williams goal. I would like to point out also that it's very annoying to constantly hear fans booing and shouting when the boys start passing around. Sometimes you have to be patient, sometimes you have to go backwards and it proved to work for this goal. And I'll admit, I hate seeing us settle for a point by going side to side but I enjoy watching the games when we play decent passing football like today. At the end of day we got 3 points and are as good as safe so getting players to sign is now imperative. I am not looking forward to the summer as I dread to think what's going to happen too the squad.

Who the hell would want the job ? Were the position to become vacant there would be 50 CVs in the Chairman's inbox within 48 hours at least a dozen of which will be from high quality credible applicants...

That bunch of grapes strikes me as very sour indeed. I understand and appreciate there have been issues and problems. I know that there are differences in approach and of opinion but everyone who gives up their time to get involved clearly has the interest of the club, and more particularly it's supporters, at heart. I fail to see how such bitterness and rancour publically expressed helps anyone.

I'm glad to see this has sparked some discussion. To reiterate: in the ideal world, I would love to see all three of Raven, Doran and Tansey with us next year - no question. It seems, however, that Yogi has chosen to prioritise extending Tansey's contract and to get Doran tied down at the expense of Raven. Fair play - that is his choice and he is best-placed to make a decision on Doran's fitness since his injury. I'm not suggesting that Doran's injury is career-threatening, but it was really serious and players often fail to ever fully recover to their previous best in such circumstances. I hope Aaron gets a game or two before the end of the season to prove me wrong, but it seems a big risk on allegedly our top earner. I don['t think anybody is suggesting that DR is a world-beater, but IMO he is a good right back and retaining him would enable the Meekings/Warren partnership to be rekindled - so a double-whammy. As for Tansey, he's been an excellent player for us too and I see why Yogi is keen to keep him. However, we constantly bemoan the fact that players leave ICT for free or at cut-price, generally because we fail to cash in on them before they sign pre-contracts (e.g. Shinnie, Vincent, Williams), leave on a free (e.g. Watkins) or are sold cheap because they're so close to the end of their contracts (e.g. Mckay). So, here's the rub: get a decent fee for Tansey now or let him go on a free in one or two years' time? I don't know the answer, I'm only posing the question. At the bottom of all this, we have to realise that on gate and league "winnings" alone, ICT probably make a loss of ~£200k per season (I think others much closer to the finances than I have suggested as much and it is backed up by the fact that we only made very small profits over the past 2 years, despite higher than expected league finishes, good cup runs and the sale of Billy). That means that, following a lean year, we need to find £200k in "windfalls" - we're not going to win the cup every year, sadly, so we either have to reduce the wage bill or sell a player who is in demand. Put bluntly, nearly half of the earnings from Christie's sale has probably gone to fund the shortfall from this season. Yogi has apparently opted for keeping the family silver and reducing the wage bill, which he is entitled to do. I simply put forward another option, which is to sell the family silver while it is still worth something and retain the core of the squad, with some cash left over to fund bringing in reasonable quality replacements. Either way, it is something of a gamble - you only have to look at United to see the risk of continually selling your best assets. Equally, I don't want to see ICT with accounts like Killie's (£750 k loss this year) or to have such a big rebuilding job every season as to jeopardise survival. Choices, choices...

Well it was good to see him back in the squad. I noticed after that reception and the half time warm up he didn't get to warm up again. Was Yogi worried he was getting too much affection from the fans?

He must have changed since I seen him last or I must be in good shape as well

That could have easily finished 5 all! When we had our customary spell of pressure (about 4 corners in a row) without taking advantage, and then lost a sucker punch of a goal, I thought that it was going to be the same old story. The difference for me is when Draper pushes forward - the last 4 games I've been to he has scored against county, won the penalty vs Motherwell, set up Storey against Utd and won the penalty and scored a goal today. The red card was a game changer - nice to see us benefit from some crazy defending - and the decision to pull Higginbotham was a nice double bonus. Good to see us go for the kill in those circumstances. Killie looked terrible, when they went behind you could see their shoulders slump, but we still managed to let them create a couple of chances, and they should have scored at least once. For me Draper was MoM - him taking a more attacking role changed the game. Honourable mentions for Tremarco, and Fon Williams had a couple of good saves. And what was that stand side linesman about? All in all, three points that just about ensure top flight football next season, but as others have said, let's push on and finish 7th. Starting with a win at Partick next week - so that sneckboy can complete his set of home and away wins in the top flight!

Given that Brill, Doran, Foran were all injured very early on and we had to bring in a keeper in Williams and cover in many areas across the park - R.Williams, Fisher, Hughes even the signing of Vigurs - are these players that if we never had the problems would have been here this season? I'm pretty sure the club increased the budget and dug into the 'rainy day; fund to ease our injury woes, therefore a reduction of budget for next season may not be anything more than going back to 'normal' levels.

That's fantastic thanks. Unfortunately... I mean I'm delighted to be taking my wife as my +1

It seems to be a recurring thing though. As I sit in the North Stand I didn't see it, but I was told that when Motherwell scored the winner the other week Hughes ran screaming into the face of Ryan Esson blaming him for it! There's something amiss at the club right now and for one can't shift this end-of-days feeling at the moment. I've said it before, I've felt for a couple of weeks now that I really have a feeling Yogi is going to chuck it at the end of the season. I've had no tip-offs or anything like that, but just have an inkling that he won't be with us much longer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATpr2zTdO30 he not to happy this weekend

Question for the stattos, was our third a new club record for the most successful passes in the build-up to a goal? Surely it must be. Got to grasp the positives in times like these! Great team goal. Hopefully the caley jags TV highlights show the move in it's entirety. Looking forward to the reactions of our enthusiastic in house commentator. "Amazeeen passeeen!"

Just noticed that after Toby Agdestein's first goal for Haugesund on 15 Apr, he scored two more on 20th.

Thought Tremarco was our Man of the Match again. I always felt a lot of fans were quite harsh about him on the whole but he's improved dramatically these last few weeks. Looks far far more solid in both defence and attack and seems to have worked out the rash tackles from his game. Our stand-out defender this season IMO.

John Hughes was extremely lucky to get the job as our manager in the first place. No other team in our position would of gone near him. In my view he is now degrading the club and our ambitions by his negative comments. This was our season to progress and establish ourselves as a Premier League club but this has not happenend. Hughes continually talks us down and his negativity must surely detract players from wanting to join us. When you have a solid, consistent and very good player like David Raven desperate to sign a new contract and you decide not to, in my view it is a disgrace. We are Inverness Caledonian Thistle, we know we are not world beaters and are not going to win cups every season but we want to see players with heart and passion who want to wear our shirt and sweat blood and tears for us and David Raven is this kind of player. I for one feel Hughes is forgetting about the essence of our club and taking us down a road many of us will not want to follow.

The one thing that struck me about that interview was how he looked. Look at the difference in the pictures from last season where he looks bright and healthy. In that press conference he looks like he's aged about 10 years! Public abuse of other club employees, strange subliminal digs at the board in the press, bemoaning the clubs size/level of influence on transfer targets, rumours of a cold stance behind the scenes and poor man management, openly talking of letting go Raven in order to get a more forward-minded player in without explaining what the plan is for the defence and not forgetting of course, the weird Russell Latapy departure which was never really explained. There's something not right here. There's also the fact that Foran seems to be getting no game time at all now, not even as a late sub, while Jordan Roberts has gone from being the main man only few weeks ago, to disappearing from the matchday squad completely, says a heck of a lot in my opinion. What the heck is going on at the club right now?!

I can give you a number of names I wouldn't want... When the time comes it's guaranteed someone will want John Robertson back. No thanks.

Och, even the best of friends can find the atmosphere strained and can even fall-out at times when they're away on holiday!

Maybe I was watching a different game to some of those on here, I found it enjoyable to see the team playing with determination, even more so in the second half and it was great to see football being played again in a Hughesesque fashion with space being used to the full and accurate passing. I was never in doubt that we were going to take three points. Draper again my man of the match, barging his way into the box playing an attacking role, delighted he got his goal he deserved it. Have to say J H is correct in his comments regarding strike power, We do lack that finisher. Chances went a begging again, Take sentiment out of the equation and we would all be shouting for the money to be put to that use Don't get me wrong I want David Raven in the team as much as anyone does but don't decry Devine he is young and learning fast just like Tremarco is and if you think about it Billy small c was the same when he first came to us. I would like to see Raven get at least another season. I also want to see Devine flourish There are very hard choices to be made. It is very disappointing to see conspiracy theories taking over these pages which is fuelling the anti Hughes campaign, just remember what he did for us last season and that another managerial candidate at the time has a side that didn't do much last season and is only a fraction above us this season with a team that has not had the troubles we have experienced.

Agreed, yet fans still complain and wonder why we don't have budget to offer new deals and improved packages to players? Strangest of all is that he got the full 90mins against Hibs in the cup without playing any time before or after and he was far from our worst performer that night.

That's terrifyingly low. How many will be at the United game? They might well be relegated by then and bring absolutely nobody. We can hardly expect the players to not be on their summer hols already if the fans already are! 7th might not sound very glamorous, but it will earn a stack more than 10th in prize money!

JH with that win yesterday has effectively done what his remit would suggest for a club our size.... avoid relegation. Well done JH... lets look to get some of the lads signed up for next season so you have some continuity in the squad and build from there.

3rd goal I enjoyed, shame so many fans got impatient within the first few passes, but I thought it was great and eventually what Yogi is trying has come off, sadly its not often enough. If that was a bigger club Sportscene would have showed all the passes in the move, not the last 2 - but then we got less highlights time that Rangers, so what can we expect. Some points from the game Anyone notice that Richie has the last few games sat outside the dugout, rather than in it alongside Hughes, also yesterday he was joined by Raven? Also anyone else see how after Kilie scored and we were returning to the centre to kick off that Richie ran over (from his seat) to kick the ball back, granted it was only a few yards infield from the touchline but seems an odd thing to do considering the 4th official and Rice were both closer - was that to make a statement? There was also the incident where Yogi was clearly having a real go at Warren, considering he lost his man once and performed pretty solid throughout compared to Devine - it seems odd. Clearly Warren wasn't happy at this and the touchline exchange looked quite heated. Reading too much into this or is there a rift opening up at our club with Foran (others) and Hughes?

Yes shame about the passing groans. When they had 10 men they backed off, a good time to create space through or around them with even bigger gaps if the defence lure them forward but still we still managed a good mix of different forms of attack.

Why why why Deila?

It's a funny old game. Like HawkeyeThe Gnu, after that sucker goal at the end of the first half following a period of good pressure from us, I thought it was not to be our day. But we were gifted a goal and a one man advantage which soon led to 2 more goals and a comfortable win at the end. We are now all but mathematically safe and can breathe a sigh of relief. Phew. I'm sure the manager will have enjoyed the third goal. It was a John Hughes style of goal. Patient possession, tease out an opening and slot the ball past the keeper. A very nice goal but made possible because Draper's rather less pretty goal had knocked the stuffing out of Kilmarnock and they gave us plenty of space to knock the ball about in. There is a time and place for that style of play - and that was it. But after that, they regrouped and with Vigurs having been taken off they managed to find a bit more space in midfield and were, perhaps, a little bit unlucky not to get back into the match. I was pleased that we played with a much more attack minded approach from the start. The pressure that created should have had us in front by half time and should convince the manager to persevere with this. The more positive approach was exemplified by Meekings getting forward much more than usual but, unfortunately with less effect than we have seen with Raven. Surely today's game should also have made it clear to Yogi that Raven is a better RB than Meekings and Meekings is a better CB than Devine. I have no ill will at Devine, he's a perfectly fine player and I would love to see him extend his contract - but as cover for a CB pairing of Warren and Meekings. Draper needs to be pushed forward more. He has got surprisingly nimble feet for a big man. He also looks very ungainly and when he surges forward defenders simply don't know how to cope with him. It's not that often he gets into the box but it is telling just how often he gets results when he does. Vigurs did some great work in midfield today but Tremarco was MOTM for me. Renegade is spot on in what he said above.

Deserved win today and for once the luck went for us for the penalty as we may have struggled without that boost. Today did again highlight some issues again for me. While everyone has been bemoaning our performances up front, I think defensively we were poor again today. Meekings is not a full back, only cover if nobody else to play. He quite often goes missing and caught out of position when attacking and defensively is not as effective as when playing centre back. Devine is too much of a bomb scare for me at times and his distribution can be very poor. I think this is part of the reason Warren is not playing as effectively as he can. Stand out performer in defence recently has been Tremarco. As for Yogi not appearing interested, don't know where that comes from, he was certainly up and shouting for large parts of the game.

Reading between the lines, I see it as Hughes feeling that Raven is a good earner, in a position where he feels that is adequately covered (Horner and Meekings plus others at a push) and Raven is out of contract therefore it's an opportunity to free up a good wage. I'm not saying that I agree with this, but I think that's the rationale. And objectively speaking I understand this theory- We have been lacking up front and sacrificing wages further back (where a young defender needing a deal could be easier to find than a striker) seems logical. In saying that Dave is not only one of our most experienced players, and Mr reliable, he's also one of our better players. When you have the Rave at right back it's a position you don't have to worry about. He's got it covered. And whilst ok we need to free up wages, I get that... But why do we then keep signing midfielders that hardly play/have an impact? Ryan Williams, Liam Hughes, Nate Wedderburn. Could easily punt 2 of any one of them. Plus we're freeing up wages from Williams and Vincent. Lopez has moved on. We're already committed to moving 2 on. Could move on at least 1 of those midfielders there (whilst retaining Polworth, Vigurs, Tansey, Draper etc) Are we going to keep Fisher? Can we keep Storey, What about Mbuyi-Mutombo? Are we really that desperate for wages for a striker we HAVE to sacrifice Raven?

And he had made such a success of signing forwards during his tenure!

OK - I'm going to stir the pot here. Yogi implies that his priorities are (1) Doran (2) extended contract for Tansey - if these fall through, he might entertain something for Raven... If he's lucky. Here's what I'd suggest as an alternative (controversial!): 1. If there's an offer on the table for Tansey, sell him and put the alleged £200k in the kitty. 2. Sign Raven on an enhanced salary because he's worth it. 3. Forget about Doran - he's allegedly the Highest earner at the club and we have no idea what he'll be like after a terrible injury. 4. Use the earnings from Tansey and savings from Doran to bring in a decent front line and attacking midfield. Note: I really like Tansey and Doran, so this is not a reflection of their quality, BUT, if we are going to lose players, I'd prefer them to go for a fee (Tansey) or because there's an injury doubt (Doran) than on a free (Raven).

Well that was awful viewing. Essentially saying that he doesn't really want to keep Raven keep but maybe he will but only as a last resort. What an awful message to say to the fans and the players and what an awful way to treat a loyal player to this club.

Totally agree - some of the comments in the press which are assigned to Hughes are mind boggling. Of course they could be taken out of context but as a player or board member I would be pretty disappointed to be reading that type of thing in the press this morning. If this is Raven's last season with us there are better ways of going about it. Potentially looks like we will be back to another pre-season of scrambling around for players to make up the numbers in our squad. Maybe we are just seeing another step in the great unravelling.

Hughes is quoted in the P & J as saying that Doran is his main priority once he has sorted out a new deal for Tansey. I've no idea what kind of wage Raven might be on but I can't imagine it would be one of the highest at the club. I'm pretty flummoxed by this bizarre episode. If money is tight and we can only afford to retain a certain number of defenders whilst strengthening the forward line (fair enough on the surface actually) surely you keep your best defenders which to pretty much everyone on here would be Tremarco, Warren, Meekings and Raven but Hughes seems to prefer playing Devine at CB and Meekings at RB thus squeezing out Raven. Very odd. Of course there is the real possibility that the whole wages thing is just a cover story for the fact that Hughes just doesn't like the guy. As others have said there are slight similarities to Tokely and Munro leaving but I would say that they were a bit more past it than Raven but for the most part Butcher was better at sourcing replacements. With Hughes I just don't trust his ability to source out adequate replacements for when we lost players. As Renegade (I think) mentioned, given the difficulty we have in getting players to come up here we find ourselves with a dependable, competent right back, who wants to stay, is part of our best defensive line up and is unlikely to command a high wage yet we are looking likely to release him. Mind boggling.

Spot on - to say this publicly shows a really poor grasp of man management. Even if by some miracle DR does stay how much respect will he have for a manager who effectively said he's not good enough to stay? The momentum and feel-good factor generated last season has been totally undone. Partly this has been beyond the Club's control with injuries and key players going on to bigger and better things. However the Board seems to have gone AWOL and JH has got carried away with his own hype and is increasingly making baffling tactical decisions and clumsy statements. Someone at the Club needs to be man enough to tell Yogi to take the blinkers off.

It's nice to see everyone coming together to stand up for one of our most universally liked players. He's never let us down and represents our club well on and off the pitch. A warm, welcoming, happy, familial workplace environment makes a huge difference to any professional, and has been a hallmark of our success over the years. It's almost part of our clubs identity. If managment start treating our players like garbage, as in this case, all of that will unravel. Brewsters aloofness and callous man managment was his undoing. Sadly Yogi looks like following in his footsteps.

This decision has nothing to do with finances. Raven seems to be a good honest professional who has done an outstanding job for us and would continue to do so. There is a definite link between our average performance this season and Raven's absence. This decision is Hughes doing and could be a turning point in the fans relationship not only with him but the Club.

Having read the BBC article all I can say is that John Hughes hasn't got a clue. Nothing he says ever makes much sense anyway but in this case he is totally wrong. I can only hope that he realises the error of his ways and offers Raven a contract NOW.

These comments from Yogi give me no confidence in his management ability. We have 3 defenders, and 2 midfielders signed for next season (excluding Foran and Esson, who are unlikely first teamers IMO). So, if Hughes thinks that blowing the budget on a striker will solve all his problems, he has failed to grasp the concept that a football team has 11 players and a club needs a squad of about 20! Right back is a need at the moment and the incumbent is quality. Sign him up. Then see how the budget looks for the rest. This should all have been sorted months ago and he would have had fewer gaps to fill and a clearer idea of budget. Poor planning.

I don't think it's a pre-planned move, considering Raven himself was pleading for a contract earlier in the season. It will be JH's fault if one of our rivals snaps him up and the fans will be well aware of that. To me, his comments don't make much sense. If we don't give Raven a new deal, and we only look to sign attacking players for next season, that leaves absolutely no cover at the back. We would literally have 5 defenders. Meekings isn't a natural right back and his partnership with Warren was pivotal to our success last year, so what's the rationale in breaking up that partnership. Like others, I always try to be supportive of Yogi as if it wasn't for him we wouldn't have had such success last season, but his decision making and comments to the media over the last season has made that more and more difficult. It's probably not only the fans that will be fuming at this decision, but the players too. He better hope he has a positive start to next season, or the fans will be calling for his head in no time.

As we all know Hughes likes to emphases keeping these developments in house (most of the time), but here he's almost thinking out loud about Raven's future. Is it really as he says? I doubt it. What his comments say to me, is that this is a definite invitation to other clubs to him sign a pre-contract. He wants another club to swoop in and sign him so he can turn round and say 'Nothing to do with me, it's out of my control'. This is a pre-planned move by Yogi, no question about it and I for one think far less of him because of it.

I bet JH is feeling really wanted when he reads all this bull about Foran taking over as manager. The guy WAS a great player but great players don't automatically become decent managers.I don't know if he has any coaching badges but badges don't make a decent manager! He has NO experience so he would need to get some under his belt BEFORE he could even be considered to manage a team in the top division. FFS give Yogi a break and let him get on with the job this club is paying him to do. He has already led us to levels we could only dream about and we all know why he can't be expected to repeat this marvellous achievement.

From the horse's mouth....

spot on caleyboy

Who the hell would want the job with a budget like ours? It's the people above him that need changing.