Leaderboard

I find it "laughable" that you chose to compose such a long winded and frankly arrogant response to what is MY opinion on the situation, without actually offering one of your own. None of us are close enough, or know enough about the dealings at higher level at the club to know exactly what is going on, and sometimes we have to go on the information available to us, and our own personal experiences and feelings. I like many of the fans today am feeling extremely frustrated, angry and saddened by recent events, and offered MY opinion on the situation and how I feel about things. I am not telling it as facts and I'm not expecting everyone to agree with them, but I don't expect to have some sad little man belittle me and my comments without offering some degree of opinion himself

I don't believe the faults lie with Richie, I firmly believe the issue lies with Brian Rice and Scot Kellacher, I say get rid of them both and bring in new fresh coaches with fresh ideas, to work WITH Richie.....but the problem is the club cant afford to do this, and simply wont so theres no point in talking about it. If we go down we go down with the rats on board

Following in the fine tradition of RiG, Mary, Chris, etc, I also will cut and paste from P&B: My first game since County at Hogmanay and even since then the drop in belief was stark. Apart from maybe big Drapes, nobody willing to fight for the jersey. Wee Billy must wonder what sort of club he's come back to. Players hiding all over the park scared to take any risk or show or make an angle for a teammate. Typical hoofball pattern from a team in desperation at the bottom. In any case Accies just hoovered up the high balls of which we didn't win one all night. Even Imrie was winning headers at one point. I've been a supporter of Richie up till now but I can't see how even starting again in the championship he can build a team with a decent system and gameplan. I wonder whether it's worth the risk or whether we would just be the next St Mirren.

Your absolutely right, hes not bomb proof and I don't think for a minute hes blameless in all this, however what I DO believe is that Foran whilst the manager, will have a relatively lesser input to the training drills and sessions midweek, which due to "experience" will fall largely at the feet of Rice and Kellacher. Now, albeit last season we were nowhere as bad as we seem to be this season, however we were still relatively uncreative and although we managed to at least string a pass together, we couldn't create anything in MF or upfront to lead to a goal. Who was the 2 coaches under Yogi,.....Rice and Kellacher! I believe the only reason we managed to get a run of wins and draws to drag us into 7th was Yogis attitude and the fear factor that's sadly lacking with Foran. I quite often pass by Fort George and see the players training with.....yes you guessed it, Rice and Kellacher. Foran is generally standing watching, now whether that is right or wrong I have no idea, but hes obviously letting his coach and assistant take the lead in training, probably due to his inexperience, and this I feel is where he is going wrong, as hes obviously not learning the correct way to do things, and the mistakes of last season are being repeated and accentuated by Forans inexperience. The amount of training injuries we pick up, also is a huge area of concern in my opinion and displays a worrying level of training quality He picks the team every week, so yes hes got to shoulder a lot of the blame, but I think if theres an area to target now, its the training area. We've got a pretty good team, stronger as of yesterday and we should not be where we are based on players, but as on Saturday the players look like they haven't seen each since the previous game and have no idea where each other are, something is far wrong from the training aspect

im glad most of you didn't have to endure that shambles tonight, i wish i had stayed in and watched big brother! There are no voices on the pitch now, no one wants to stand up and take responsibility anymore! Yes blame Foran and i agree his tactic are woeful at times but the players need to have a meeting amongst themselves and sort out how they can get some spirit back into their games.

I haven't voted, results are just as good as a poll. This season I haven't been overly concerned, or should really say worried, regarding the points on the board, until now. The points tally to date is irrelevant if another 6 teams are mediocre then they will never be far away, it's just the other teams are all beating each other and creeping up the table. It really is time for action on Saturday not kamikaze but a well thought well planned gutsy performance. Get the fans on side. I want to see the Richie who scores goals with his face, I want to see the Richie who shouts his mouth of on the pitch, I want to see the Richie who I thought was going to get sent off for grabbing Hayes by the throat for not putting enough effort in against Dunfermline. Its time for that guy to make an appearance. As for the players if we go down the club can't afford your wages next season. Inverness is a horrible place to come. That long slow awful A9. That exposed cold miserable stadium. Worst of all our awful mouthy fans, let's give Dundee as hard a time as we can and let Foran get on with his job of getting stuck into his players. A passionate expressive match will go a long way to calm things down. But we don't want to settle for that, we go again the following week and every week from now on. Just get stuck in.

Richie's love of the club or our love for him has nothing to do with it, can he do the job or not, all evidence to date says he can't. Further, blaming the backroom staff is nonsensical, the Manager is in charge of football matters, he can overrule coaches if he thinks it necessary. Coaching is about fitness, pre set routines you are likely to encounter in matches, drills to cement good practices and improve touch, set plays offensive and defensive. The Manager sets out the team and tactics.Frankly, failure to track opposition runs would see you dropped from teams at almost any level especially if repeated and I have seen it time and time again this season.This sloppy, lazy defensive work should have been nipped in the bud but has been allowed to continue throughout the season, who carries the can for that?

Never posted on here but just a reminder we waited to long before getting Rid of Brewster (A poor performance at Hamilton was his undoing in January also!). Would like to see Foran step aside, become a coach for a While and learn his trade if we leave it to late we could be cut adrift and the championship does not look easy to get out off.

Nonsense. There us a quite clear timeline between our downturn in form and Brian Rice tenure at the club. Whether Richie stays or goes i am of a definate view that Rice needs to go and go soon

There are at least 10 reasons why it’s a bad idea for a manager and employee to call themselves friends, including: 1. It will create a perception of favoritism. Even if you think you’re being 100% fair and un-biased, you’ll always be subject to being second guessed. 2. You may not even realize it, but other employees are probably letting your “friends” get away with more, thinking that you’re going to protect them or side with them. 3. If you allow yourself to get emotionally attached to one employee – for whatever reason – but not another, those emotions will consciously or unconsciously influence decisions around raises, layoffs, assignments, promotions, etc…. 4. If you see an employee as a “friend”, you’ll have expectations of that employee that are unrealistic or inappropriate for an employee. “Well gee, a friend would never do that, or should do that, or should tell me everything, etc…” 5. On the other hand, your friend employee may have expectations of you that are unrealistic or unprofessional, such as sharing confidential information, or always giving them advance notice, or doing special little “friendly” favors for them. 6. As a manager, part of your job is to judge your employees, to give constructive feedback, and sometimes to discipline them, even fire them. Does this sound like something a friend would do to another friend? 7. Although this threat never seems to scare managers, yes, it’s true – you and company could get sued. You are exposing yourself and your company to the risk of discrimination lawsuits. Don’t think it never happens… it does. That’s why HR people are so crazy about the issue – they are trying to protect your backside. 8. ALL employees need to complain about their bosses now and then, even the best managers. You’re kidding yourself if you think you’re immune from this. However, if you see your employees as friends, you’re more likely to take it personally. 9. Friends let their hair down outside of work and sometimes do silly things with each other. Managers are supposed to set examples and be role models. So, as a “manager-friend”, you’re either going to be a boring uptight, friend, or an unprofessional, immature manager. You pick. And oh by the way, your own manager may not appreciate those pictures of you and the gang all over employee Facebook pages. Can you socialize with your employees? Or go out for a drink? Sure, but just make it a habit to stick to one drink and be the first to leave (to give them time to complain about you), or at least not the last to leave. 10. Some employees may find your attempts to be friends as personally intrusive, or inappropriate. They might even find your “advances” to be creating a hostile work environment, and again, exposing yourself and your company to that old lawsuit thing.

The current situation that we find ourselves in reminds me of the time when we could have got Paul Hartley in as manager. I recall being told that Kenny Cameron was reluctant to go ahead appointing Hartley due to his inexperience of handling a team in a relegation battle having only seen his Alloa team promoted twice in his tenure there. It will be interesting to know what Kenny Cameron's thoughts are towards the current run of form but I can't help but think Richie's managerial inexperience will be our own downfall. If we are keen to stick with Richie, he needs experienced help in the form of a director of football and Terry Butcher is that man.

Rather than being stabbed in the back, Richie seems to be doing his best to stab himself in the front. Our resident psychologist might have a view on whether he is consciously or subconsciously looking for a way out via the sack. His head sounds like a mess, these post match interviews are absolutely toe-curling to listen to, and have been since his spaced out performance after the county game. So I can only guess at the torture he is going through, and whether he would be glad to be released from it. But trying to shuffle the blame on to the players is the last resort when you are the manager, and you can surmise how they will react to that when they hear it. He is making the board's decision for them. It is very hard to see how he can stay like this, especially if the players have given up on him. Whatever your view of Butcher and Hughes style and tactics, you at least knew what they were, the players certainly did, and they stamped their authority on the team. It is very difficult to see how Richie can do anything like that, just when we need someone to organise the scattergun signings into a unit and motivate the squad.

Not going to vote in the poll as I really dont know. Heart and head have different answers ! FWIW : For Richie to survive - and I think most of us really want him to survive as our manager - he really needs to grow a pair, ditch the silly vagrant beard, and start being just as much of an irritating and persistent b***** as he was to all teams when he was an opposition player. He is great to have in your side but a real handful to play against. I was hoping his managerial style would be similar - along the lines of an Owen Coyle or Ian McCall (but with a lower dickhead quotient) As a manager he simply cannot be pals with the players or at least not on the same level. They have to know who is boss and whilst he can have a laugh and a joke with them he has to be respected as a leader and if bollockings have to be handed out then he cant shy away from it. If he cannot earn respect as a manager in the same way he did as a player then he has to walk. Last time we went down it cost us more than £1,000,000 and a bunch of people lost their jobs. This time round I really cant see us coming straight back up if that were to happen and that could be catastrophic.

If John Hughes is still on the pay roll what chance have the club got of getting rid off anybody.

ARGUMENTS FOR KEEPING HIM He's a Caley Thistle man through and through Paying off his contract could cost us a fortune He's only been in charge 8 months and he's still learning the ropes He hasn't had a chance to gel Billy Mckay into the team Sacking a man with a young family is a pretty grim thing to do ARGUMENTS FOR BINNING HIM 12 league games without a win - the worst run in our entire history (before this the record was 9!) Beaten by every other Premiership team this season except Kilmarnock (who should have beaten us twice) Knocked out of the League Cup by League One opposition Seems to be tactically outwitted most weeks - teams have known for months that pressing high stops us keeping possession and pinning our full-backs deep denies us width, but nothing is ever done to counteract this Lack of defensive organization/shape - back four frequently sit far too deep, players get dragged out of position, midfield offers little/zero protection. What do they actually do in training? Vulnerability at set pieces - a problem all season, and no sign of improvement. Again, what do they actually do in training? Team selection often makes little sense and is rarely done with the opponent in mind. Several senior players walk into the team every week regardless of form. Tremarco excepted, they all seem to be playing well below their best, with Foran seemingly unable to get a good performance level out of them Frequently playing players out of position - Polworth/Cole on the wings, Vigurs in front of the back four being examples No sign whatsoever that things are going to improve in time to save us from the drop The next few fixtures - if you write off the Celtic cup tie, there is effectively a two week window after Saturday in which to get a new boss in. If we wait till after that Foran is on a hiding to nothing as the next 3 games are Hearts (A), Rangers (H) and Celtic (H). Can we afford to wait until winnable fixtures in mid-March before taking the plunge? Anything else I've missed?

2 options, bring in an experienced coach who knows about defending to work with him or get rid although removing RF may not solve the issue if BR is still there - its clear that when JH left Rice didn't want to walk away. If we do remove RF then rather than spend weeks trying to find a manager going through out of work candidates as we cant afford anyone through compensation we need to have an option in place - at this time Charlie Christie would be the only alternative?

It appears to me that Richie is trying too hard to win! The games against Dundee away and Rangers away were great performances, but without the 'composure' or 'luck' in front of goal. In his desperation to pick up a win, he has abondonned what was working! All that was required was a shoring-up of defence plus a bit of a cool head at the other end. it now appears that tactics, morale, composure and effort have all been thrown out the window-hoof it up the park for whoevers up there. Essentially the team that held on to the ball too long, now won't keep the ball at feet at all. Depressing stuff. Glad I didn't do myself out of wages for that! and if the players have lost heart and confidence in their manager, they need to remember who they play for! They need to play for the shirt! For the club! For the fans! For the little kids that cry when we lose! They need to remember who 'pays their wages'

I'm bereft of thought now because I have not been able to attend the past games so will be wise to keep mostly quiet since I'm not in a position to judge. But, instead, here's the viewpoint of some BBC wallah: http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/38727201 Rather than tanking the players Richie might be better to try to shame them by SHOWING them : i.e play himself in the next game and boss them in public. That may have some shaming effect or even an upifting effect i.e IF he is fit enough now to put out the energy. And If the players respond he should scream praise at them for every decent move they make. If it's a bad move then suck it up and say little on the park. The time for moaning and groaning and blame has passed IMHO and the only way it appears that he will be able to collect the sheep back into the fold is to show them he is with them all the way but expects them to support HIM also by way of effort .If they sulk and refuse to do this then they really are a sad bunch. I think that he would gain a lot of support for his unique position by doing this .........?

My point is not that players left when he was in charge - players will always move on - it was his complete inability to bring in comparable players that was the problem.

DD Shinnie, McKay, Watkins and Christie would have gone irrespective of who the manager was, JH had no say in these, Vincent and Devine were bit part players whom the Directors were presumably happy to let go.These players had cost us nothing so the "Budget" was nowhere near sufficient to go and buy replacements which was JH's main beef with the board. Had replacements been available don't you think the club would have signed them in the summer break before RF took over? Despite the loss of those players JH still managed 7th in the league whatever you may have thought about the style of play.I have said in other posts the current squad should have been good enough for a mid table finish with an experienced manager which we don't have.

Remember that Hughes took over when we were flying in 2nd place. He left us 5 places lower. During his tenure Ross, G Shinnie, Watkins, Vincent, Mckay, Devine, Williams and Christie left. Can you name any outfield players he signed who have remained for Foran to work with and who could be regarded as replacements of equal or better quality? (Keeper excepted OFW in, Brill out - much of a muchness). This despite the significantly higher player budget than Butcher had. Don't get me started about the style of play. Last season was the most boring football I have seen anywhere, any time.

Posting rumour again Kingsmills, tut! tut! no truth in that at all, Yer just jealous laddie, Barry couldn't play he had to rehearse his next load of um comments for his next stint on the wireless but sharpen up a bit son and ya can get to clean my boots and learn the rudiments of the game from the craic in the dressing room.

ICTChris should be on the right wing.

Ewen Mackenzie http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-36387520

Put me down as 'not yet'. I want Richie to succeed but I fear that likely won't happen. Saturday could well be last chance saloon.

What exercises do you do to keep your wrists so strong

Sorry, started this thread in a bit of a rush before I left this morning and neglected to add a poll to my poll so thank you for doing so. . I have not voted as I'm genuinely not sure but what I am sure of is that if we retain Richie we need to bring in someone with experience to assist him, whether that is in the form of a Director of Football or an experienced assistant and to do so without delay. Richie may be inexperienced and struggling but Brian Rice is being no help at all.

Foran should never have been given the job in the first place , an absolutely ludicrous appointment that was destined to failure .

It would be interesting to know how many points we have taken this season when wearing that vanilla away top. I can't recall us winning a league game when wearing it and perhaps only gaining two draws. I know there are other more serious problems, many of which have festered since the time Hughes was in charge, but I think that top has been a bit of a jinx. No wonder there were plenty of them in the JD store before Christmas when the home top was sold out.

The central core of the team have not been performing for months OFW, Warren, Tansey, Vigurs, Draper and to a lesser extent big Lons. These guys have been under no pressure for there places regardless on how they perform week in week out. I honestly thought the break and transfer window would have been good for us, bring in another midfield player to break up the play maybe another defender to put some pressure on Warren and co but no we bring in 3 centre forwards adding to the 2 we already have wtf is that about. Also going through the season with only 1 fit keeper who is not very good anyway is unforgiveable. If Esson is not fit to play then we should have looked to bring in a replacement at the expense of another centre forward.

Personally I think the board gave the job to RF to save their own skins. Whatever the ins and outs with JH they should have had a contingency plan in place when they realised things were going sour. For some reason this didnt happen, in fact was the job advertised and any other applicants interviewed ? What was on RF managerial CV that impressed the board so much that they awarded him such a generous contract ? Being a 'Club Legend' is not grounds to taking on a managerial position. If that was the case Grant Munro had more of a shout to being appointed, he at least had a managerial CV.

hislopsoffsideagain RiG - Caley D - IHE - Celtic1Caley3 ICTChris - topsixnextyear TheMantis - Yngwie - RedCard Renegade

What depressing reading all this makes. There is barely a positive word, but then there is not a lot to be positive about. What there is to be positive about is that we do have a good squad of players (and great to get Billy Mckay back) but the big negatives are that they are almost all under-performing and our tactics are wrong. The question is - why? Lets look at a few issues regarding management and players. Whilst there have been issues up front, our problem this year has been shipping goals at the back. We have had options up front but precious few at the back. Yet in the transfer window we bring in 3 strikers but just one teenage defender. We remain very short of cover at the back. Strange. We have been increasingly reliant on the long punt despite the lack of a decent target man or having someone to play off him. Time after time the long punt up the park is easily mopped up by the opposition defence and our response is to do it more and more. Is this the manager's tactics (and if so, why?) or are players doing it as the easy option because nobody else is making themselves available? Meanwhile in Cole, Doran, King and Mulraney we have creative, pacey players who are capable of causing chaos in defences and the more we need their kind of influence on the park, the less they are played. Only recently Foran had been talking of Cole's qualities and the club seemed really anxious to extend his loan. He has been one of our best players in recent games and yet yesterday he was dropped to the bench! Why, when Foran pledged himself to "attack, attack,attack" is he not using his most creative players more? It is a basic truth that you should play to your strengths but it must be pretty obvious to everyone that we are patently failing to do that. That failing has to be down to management. But the players are not exempt from criticism. Richie said after last night's game that too many players seemed not to want the ball. That echoes what I said after the Partick game in that players just don't seem to be making the movement to either get into space to receive the ball or to make runs to disrupt the defence and make space for others. Performances have lacked urgency for a while and whilst you could say it is the manager's job to motivate players, I would say that players should not need anybody else to motivate them to give 100% every time they step onto the pitch. There are exceptions from this criticism, of course, and Carl Tremarco is the stand out here - player of the season by a country mile so far. When Graeme Shinnie left and Hughes was asked about how this would affect the captaincy and leadership on the park, he replied that he wasn't worried about that because he had leaders all over the park. One thought of players like Draper, Tansey and, of course, Gary Warren who actually took over the captaincy, It is the performance of these players which causes most concern. We need real leadership from Warren in particular both on and off the park, Has he got the confidence of his team mates? What is his relationship with Foran? What role do the players themselves have in influencing game plans? There are clearly some issues behind the scenes and the Chairman really needs to knock a few heads together, get to the bottom of where the problem lies and sort it out. After Richie picked up a Manager of the Month award things have gone steadily downhill and I think we are now probably at a tipping point. Get the tactics right, play to our strengths and enthuse the players with the approach and we can turn this round. Carry on as we are and this time next year we will be involved in another relegation battle - in the Championship. Over to you, Kenny.

I've added a poll to this poll.

We are in a no win situation - literally!

I'm still of the view that appointing an inexperienced manager to a top flight club was a wrong move. I always hoped that I was wrong in this assumption but twelve games without a win kind of strengthens my views.

Lonsano Doumbouya has signed for an Austrian Bundesliga team, SKN St. Polten

No. just NO. I still have faith in him and the players even after last night which was a shambles but an improvement on Saturday.

I would have no problem keeping Richie in the current position we find ourselves in if we were dominating games, Getting hit on the counter etc but we are playing the worst football i think i have ever seen us play. I from memory actually believe we are a good bit worse now than when Brewster was sacked. There is just nothing absolutely nothing that i can see positive in the way were are playing now. Sorry Richie great loyal servant to the club but this morning you should without a doubt walk from your position as manager. Give the club a chance to survive in the SPL where it belongs

I feel Richie puts his heart and soul into the job, loves the area and wants to see his kids grow up here. I well imagine a central belt Manager on a temporary assignment "up north" until something better comes along will be a lot more dead pan when it comes to interviews and more detached. Heres hoping we turn a corner very soon, the players get over this bug that's doing the rounds and other players get more game time under their belts. The football has been great to watch but it's points on the board that are required. Let's see what the Dundee game brings.

Saturday was the most frustrated I have been at a game in years possibly ever . Apart from tremarco who has shown total commitment all season the rest of the team need to take a long hard look at themselves. Our tactics were poor again however that in no way excuses the complete lack of effort of tansey, Polworth, draper etc. They didn't commit to tackles track back or look remotely interested. Mistakes are forgivable lack of commitment is not and I don't buy the virus stuff and if it was true why on earth play then. Makes no sense. Tansey has a very short memory . It sounds like more of the same tonight and doing nothing is not an option. Feel really sorry for Richie but we won't get out of this with hit and hope football and someone needs to support/advice on tactics. Why on earth play four four two with the same hopeless midfield as Saturday when he had to change it after 25 mins on Saturday? That said if he has lost the dressing room the players and ringleaders need properly dealt with as trying to get your manager sacked by not performing is unforgivable!

****** it now. Even if you ignore the rumors coming from Inverness that Foran has lost the dressing room to the extent that players do not want to turn up to training, there was no greater proof of it than tonight. How can he continue to play Vigurs and Polworth out wide? He may think the players have bottled it, in my opinion he is the one that has bottled it. Hard to have any respect for him when he claims before Partick that it is a must win....until of course we scrape a lucky (was not at game, going by what fans have said) draw and it suddenly becomes a great point. Our relegation is as inevitable as Butcher's Hibs - we are a sinking ship. Cannot take one positive out of tonight.

Just putting it out there. Would it work if TB came back as a DoF role to mentor Richie? Both guys have a great relationship or they did anyway

We have to act NOW. Foran has to go TOMORROW and Rice with him. I really doubted his managerial potential but wanted him to succeed as he is a legend on the pitch. I cant stop myself from recalling how I felt after the 5-1 drubbing at Tynecastle. We are NOT the far adrift. We do have (on paper) a squad capable of survival. But it is crystal clear that Richie has lost the dressing room and the club base. Can only see Charlie Christie being capable and available at such short notice.

Ritchie needs to grow some balls and drop some of the guys that haven't performed all season. Tansey, Vigurs and Fon Williams should all be out for Saturday. None of them have been good enough. Saturday is a massive game, if we don't get a win then I think that is the time for change. Let's hope this result is the kick up the backside we need.

I think we've been on the slide since Rice came in to replace Latapy. Richie was an inexperienced choice for manager and should have been either a coach or assistant to learn his trade. I've been told that he lost the dressing room weeks ago and some of the players want to leave. Apparently Fisher is one in that category. Fail to win on Saturday and I fear we will say bye bye to the Premier League for many seasons to come.

The board need to act, time to be ruthless and not have another Brewster scenario. Saturday was the worst I've ever witnessed from the team and it sounds like same again tonight. Nothing learned, clueless assistant and dare I speculate that the dressing room is lost.

Game's a bogey. Richie not learning from his mistakes and still making poor selections with no balance. No advantage in getting new strikers in if the midfield has no width and no pace. There's a reason his predecessors played 2 holding midfielders: we have players who suit that role. We also have decent wide players, but they are on the bench. It might be too late already..

Charlie or Ryan ?

Not an easy thing 2 sack the board no money men wanting 2 buy us tho they made a major fcuk up binning yogi who despite horrendous injuries had us totally punching forans loyal but a dodgy appointment if theres $$$$ 2 spend will he do it wisely? Couple of decent signings could be the difference tight at the bottom whats billy mackay up 2 or storey loan options ciftci even