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Square pegs and round holes. Duncan refuses to learn.

We were absolutely honking for the first hour or so. We were fortunate to only be 2 - 0 down at half time with Hamilton being denied what looked like a stonewall penalty for handball. Ridgers was perhaps unlucky for the first but was really poor for the second. Another goal conceded after we fail to defend a set piece. Standard. You have to say fair play to Ferguson for sticking with the setup that has seen us end up in the playoffs and somehow expect it to this absolute gang of a squad into a cohesive unit. Still though, it was a nice finish from Pepple from a Harper cross, one of the few times the latter didn't hit the first man with his delivery, and we looked better for the final half hour but didn't have any real quality up front to grab an equaliser as Hamilton seemed content to sit back and defend their lead. Pepple put in a great shift after coming on but I felt the game started to turn when Lawal was subbed on. Gilmour, Anderson and Longstaff must be our worst midfield in a long time. All they can do is pass the ball five yards to a team mate. None of them seem capable of carrying the ball forward. Lawal was an immediate upgrade on the, I assume, not fully fit Gilmour. He simply has to start on Saturday. If he doesn't Ferguson should be fired immediately. We've given ourself a chance but if Accies score first that'll be the game over. Despite a healthy amount of possession we don't do much with the ball and certainly don't have the guile to create enough chances to score 2 or 3 goals.

Make no mistake, Hamilton are there for the taking but only if Ferguson picks the correct team. As people have already said, People and Lawal have to start and Longstaff needs to be dropped as he is offering nothing. Not convinced that Macgregor is the saviour some posters think (they're going on past reputation imo) but if things not going to plan, he needs to ge brought on earlier than he has been. If Austin Samuel's is fit, I would be tempted to throw him on later in the game as he has real pace which we lack. We also need to go at Hamilton from the off and put them under pressure as I think they will struggle. Their pitch certainly helped them last night as it was awful.

I really dislike this thread aiming against my beloved ICT. Ok, it seems badly run, badly managed etc etc but whatever the future brings the diehard fans will remain. I only wish I had the cash to help but, in the meantime, I’ll remain positive. So - call me a happy clapper all you want, I’m not happy but I will always be a supporter, whatever division. After all I’ve enjoyed the banter at all the Highland League grounds so, bring it on. However, evening games at Dumfries not attractive at my age now!

The day after and reflecting, I thought we relied too much on Billy and Alex Samuel this season,both workhorses who give everything, but the end result is not there. I have no idea why Lawal was not on from the start, unless Dunc was keeping some players back for Saturday, thinking we would have walked it last night. Longstaff and Gilmour didn't have a good game, nor did Anderson.On Saturday there is no room for passengers and I would go 3-5-2, start with Kepple,Lawal,Roddy and drop Billy to the bench to come on in last 1/4 if need be. We have no choice but to be hopeful and positive and in my humble opinion we have to go all out and attack and not relyon defending the whole game and trying to sneak a goal. We need as many goals as we can get to be sure,which means high tempo,swift passing and accuracy.

It's not, certainly not from me anyway. The point of calling for him to be introduced is that he's a different type of player to our other midfielders. Anderson and Gilmour are basically the same player with the same skills etc. We don't need both. Roddy may not be at the level he was previously before injuries but we won't know until he plays. We're crying out for someone that can get close to the forwards or run beyond and that's part of Roddy's skillset. He's the only currently available option that can do that hence why posters are calling for him. We're perfectly well aware he's not the messiah.

If Gilmour had to be subbed at half time, you have to wonder why he started. Cannot understand why Longstaff was preferred to Lawal. Longstaff certainly gives his all, but unfortunately there is never any end product. Lawal was the player who was making things happen today. Pepple also looked good when he finally came on. His goal was very well taken but he was causing the defence a lot of problems apart from that. I've no idea why Billy is played so deep. He is tidy enough in keeping possession but he's a goal scorer who isn't going to score from the halfway line. He'll score goals if played alongside Pepple though. We can't afford the 2nd leg to go to pens and therefore we need to score 2 goals more than Hamilton on Saturday. So let's start with the players who are most likely to create and score the goals.

Samuel is a Graham Bayne type forward insomuch as he makes defenders work hard and forces errors but he'll not be a prolific scorer. What he needs is someone alongside to mop up and stick the ball in the net which is why it's crazy that Billy has been played so deep.

We were much better in the second half. Basically we started the match with the wrong line up, and the wrong manager. Lawal has been our best player in recent weeks yet we start Gilmour who’s been out for months. Samuel has done nothing for months except try hard and run a lot, whereas Pepple has a physical presence and is a handful for defences. Both need to start on Saturday.

Yet again we're hamstrung by our manager and his bizarre team selections and mentality. He just about got it right by the end. The one saving grace is that Hamilton look really poor. They're considerably worse than every team we've played in the Championship and they are there for the taking. We need to be proactive on Saturday. Starts needed for Lawal, Pepple, Carragher and either Macgregor/Macallister depending on fitness.

Absolutely spot on. Unless the injury situation is even more dire than we know, it's bizarre how the manager can't see what most of us have been seeing all season. No way is Gilmour the new Allardice. He's a wee battler who gets booked every week. He gave the ball away for the first goal too when we were playing rondo in midfield instead of getting the heads up and switching the play. This tie is looking far more promising after the first half where it looked like we were doomed. Who knows how the game might have played out before that fluke goal which settled Accies and allowed them to sit in. Same old pedestrian possession based, safety first, pass it to death nonsense. Raise the tempo, take the occasional risk. I'd be tempted to start Pepple, who caused a fair bit of panic, and keep Billy on the bench till the last half hour. As a striker... If Lawal doesn't start then what's the point. We'll have to wait and see how Devine is (where's Ujdur?) but possibly 4 at the back with Carra starting and Kerr in midfield. And if Roddy makes an appearance, try making it more than 10 minutes ffs. We've got a sizeable enough squad it appears but what do I know... We have enough quality to blow Accies away, on last night's showing, but we've seen that movie many times.

I'll need to make the headings clearer...

Well here we go - this is IHE in the away stand and my perspective and not as a Dunc fan !! Most people were pleading for Gilmour to start and perhaps that was with the view to play for an hour - as most people were looking for ? Longstaff had a poor game but Roddy looked lost when he came on. The first goal was an absolute fluke and Ridgers had no chance. Have a look at the second and decide for yourselves who was at fault ? We played OK in the first half but had nothing up front. We never looked like scoring. As for peeps having a go at Samuel - well he has been heralded as a saviour BUT he goes back to shield balls and he is NOT a centre forward. Pepple looked the part tonight but he has been getting pelters all season and I think that "donkey" was one of the comments !! All of a sudden he is the answer !! As for Billy I thought that he played as a true number 10 tonight and he ran his socks off. He was playing as well forward as some time. And there were derisive chants when we played the ball back or across the park - feck me that's football and it was limited to when needed. We TOTALLY dominated the second half. Hamilton looked all in at the end. Pepple scared the s*** out of them as did Lawal's movement. As advocated both have to start next week. Cammy Kerr was MOM and I would love to see Lawal in front of him as Hamilton look really suspect down that right wing,

Ffs play Billy in the position he should be in or don’t play him . Surely Ferguson should know by now his best position and deep it is NOT

Lawal and Pepple on from the start on Saturday. Equalise - at least - by half-time. Then there is everything to play for.

Much better second half and players that finished the game should be our starting 11 on Saturday,ie without Duffy Longstaff and Co.Billy needs to play in a normal number 9 position. Well done for fightback.What a difference Lawal and Pebble made. We need to know what we have to do on Saturday and that is play better than first half and more like second half.

We need to approach Saturday the way we’ve played the second half. Hamilton are nothing special and are there for the taking. We can’t show them any respect.

That I'm afraid, is the reality. 2 goals down at half-time, and with our scoring record a reversal would be nothing short of miraculous. But I don't think it's that bad. Perhaps a chance to regroup, purge and hopefully bring our own youth players into the squad and let them grow and thrive. I'd rather see a team primarily of Highlanders representing my town and pushing for promotion, no matter how long it takes!

Would not argue with the first bit. Definitely needed in the Premiership but once elsewhere in the league structure then it's debatable IMHO. For me it's all about added value. I have no idea what the current wage is, but if we have a CEO who for sake of argument is costing £100K in wages and generating additional extra costs in hotel bills or car hire or anything else because he/she is not locally based, then a cost/benefit analysis is warranted. If that person brings in more than their cost and can help others to work more efficiently, and therefore more cost effectively, promote the club in a positive light and engage with fans, then that to me justifies the position regardless of what we might think of the person. If, however, the plans to generate sustainable revenue never materialise, or they alienate others in the organisation due to autocratic methods, cause lower efficiency because of this, ignore local and fan relationships that took nigh on 30 years to develop and establish, and make no overt contribution to the bottom line then its a no-brainer! We don't need the latter. I have my own opinion on this regarding our current CEO, but I can't back that up with hard data showing which camp he falls in. I want him to be in the first one because that would be a revenue generating situation and god knows we need that right now, but with high profile failures like the concert and the ongoing saga of the battery farm, and numerous examples of lack of engagement with individual fans or groups, my fear is that is not the case. We have had only 3 official CEOs I believe. MS, YC, and SG. That speaks volumes if we look at their records and fan opinion on each of their tenures. Prior to that we had a team manager and a stadium manager reporting to the board. John Sutherland may not have had the title but was a defacto CEO in my opinion, and was the epitome of what was needed at the time. I have no idea about his leadership style, but he ran the stadium, managed the staff, also did security and other matchday duties so wore many hats over the course of a typical week. Hospitality was left to those who could sell it, similarly with marketing, and other areas. There are also plenty of other people around the club who do, or have, worn many hats over the years - mostly successfully, with only the odd exception. Even though some of the faces change from time to time, we have always had a core of good people. We have been lucky in the past with directors or chairmen being local and putting in - in some cases - more hours at ICT than they did in their own companies. If we have competent businesspeople on our board, then should the unthinkable happen and we drop to the 3rd tier, I personally would be hoping some of them would step up to get us back on track organisationally, thus reducing the need for some senior personnel who may be drawing a wage we simply can't afford now and definitely not in the lower tier. We will still need the day-to-day staff that make the place tick over and do so much of the heavy lifting, but we may not need a CEO or any other 'executive' roles. If the existing staff don't have capacity to take on additional duties if we were to drop down, then supplement (not replace - that would be foolish) the existing day-to-day staff with volunteers as we did in past. However, for that, you do have to communicate, engage, build trust, and not look down your nose at them as if you stepped in horse***t or are suspicious as to why they volunteered.

OK I'm happy to start replies with a question. Does a club of our size need a full time CEO ? Personally would like someone who has better communication skills and local contacts and someone who recognises the value of fans

Huge few days for our club but think as we are a championship club then ticket pricing is not up to us ?. Being on Tv will have a massive effect on the gate but not the same as being there ( especially Saturday) Big changes are needed and Gardiner should only have 2 games left as he is doing nothing for the wage he is taking out out of the club . Anything more than those 2 games and he is still in employment then serious questions need to be answered . This should be the very first cost cutting measure implemented way before any youth cutting measure .

Hamilton giving their season ticket holders half price entry tomorrow night. Really disappointed our club not offering something similar on Saturday. Win or lose this playoff tie, huge changes are required on and off the park in my opinion to prevent more fans becoming increasingly disillusioned to the point they stop going altogether. I understand the focus right now has to be on Championship survival but here’s hoping there are major changes coming in the summer regardless of what league we are in next year.

So we are 2-1 down after the first leg of the play off. We have only won a handful of games by more than two goals this season. There is a good chance we are going to be relegated into League One. What will the consequences be of this happening? I've heard people say that we will go into administration if we get relegated, I've heard people say that we will go part-time. People even speculate that we might go out of business entirely if this happens. I think at one of the fan Q&A events the chairman said they hadn't been planning for relegation but I'm sure they've also said in other communications that they are planning for this. While we all know the people running the club are generally incompetent I cannot believe that they haven't considered what to do if this happens - we would likely close down our Youth Academy operations, make staff redundant and possibly go part-time, to a degree. Perhaps we could keep a core of full-time players and supplement the rest with part-timers and youth products. As I understand it, companies go into administration if they are insolvent. Given our regular massive losses we probably fit that category but I don't know if it would be in the interest of the people who are writing the cheques to put us into adminstration. Maybe it could be done to reduce costs (ie make everyone redundant) and then start from a new base. I'm not sure our position with regards to creditors - do we owe money to the bank or the taxman? If so, they might put us in admin and sell our assets for payment. Assuming the club continues, how do thing develop on the field? I can't see Duncan Ferguson continuing if we go down - he has said many times he was here to keep us up, he failed and does he really want to compete in the third tier of Scottish football? I don't think so. I can only see us appointing someone from within - Scott Kellacher? Ryan Esson? Charlie Christie? In terms of players, we have, I think, five players under contract. I can see us offering some of the young players coming to the end of their deals one year contracts and trying to build that way. The banter outcome is that we get relegated, win our Scottish Government appeal and get a £3m cash injection mid season.

Even if we stay up, those things are possibilities, but through cost cutting I think we’ d be able to survive and stay full-time in some form, but perhaps with a lower headcount on and off the pitch, and without a youth set up. The relegation scenario is considerably worse and I can’t bring myself to think about it.

I hope you are right IHE

Having also reflected I'm now a little less pessimistic than I was when Hamilton scored their second goal. I agree with those who would have Pepple and Lawal on from the start. Pepple always looks dangerous on the attack - dunno why he's only ever a last 15 minutes sub.

The team have an opportunity to turn this around now and I am sure we all hope they take it. Because let’s face it the tie was almost already gone; who amongst us wasn’t watching that and at some point thinking it was done. Anyway it is not done and it most certainly is game on. I would agree with starting lawal and pepple as regardless of anything else they will unsettle the Hamilton back line; who coped fairly easily with the starting line up last night. They also want to be testing the Hamilton goalkeeper whom wasn’t really tested. Ridgers was caught out unfortunately but I am sure he knows it himself; he is still an excellent goalkeeper and will be keen to show it again. Fortune favours the brave and so we would do well to be brave in team selection and with application on the pitch. There is now an opportunity to for everyone to redeem this tie and to produce a winning formula. Seize the opportunity and squeeze the Hamilton team until they they accept their renewed membership of league 1

You’re right, I never went back far enough, got bored with all the bus pics

Game of two halves but we really needed to capitalise on our good play with an equaliser. The first half was just appalling from us, Accies absolutely tan rings round us. Considering we’ve been playing the same formation since Ferguson took over it’s amazing that we all seem so uncomfortable in it. Defensive slips and mix ups, disorganised and wasteful midfield and attackers who essentially aren’t there. Dire. Second half improved, particularly Lawal and Pepple. Lawal is a great link player and Pepple finished his goal well and didn’t put a foot wrong the whole time he was in the pitch. If they don’t both start then I don’t even know what to say. If we *have* to play the 3-5-2 then we should line up as follows for the game at the weekend -----------------Ridgers--------------- ----Carragher------Devine------Boyes------- Kerr-------------------------------Harper-- -------MacGregor--Anderson--Lawal------- ----------Mckay------Pepple------------- Carragher was an improvement when he came on. Devine seemed to get an injury late in teh game so maybe sub him out for Ujdur or Savage. Anderson wasn't great, his distribution and use of the ball were poor but Gilmour is not fit and Longstaff was just lost. Anderson at least pushed forward from midfield a bit, maybe encourage him to do that. I feel a bit sorry for Longstaff, he's not a central midfielder but he's been picked there and doesn't have the positional awareness to play there. Lawal was the only player who linked the midfield and the attack and looked capable of doing anything to make a difference. Samuel worked hard and is an honest player but Pepple came on and every time the ball came to him he used it well. He even fell over the ball and retained possession at one point. His finish was good as well, adding the one he scored against Dunfermline and he knows where the net is. Even with these changes I have zero confidence in this team to get a win, let alone by two goals. I think the game will go as follows - we push forward early but Accies score on the break. We then pass from side to side and do nothing until equalising in the last twenty minutes but can't break down Accies, the game finishes 1-1 and we go down.

Apologies for the triple post but... "We've got 90 minutes to get one goal". What is this guy on about? We've got 90 minutes where we could get two goals and stay in the Championship without the fear of extra time and / or penalties. Why is he not thinking about getting anything more than one goal?! Bizarre comments.

We are by far the better team and Hamilton will not be looking forward with any confidence of coming up here on Sat. long live ICT!

I think you did post the BMW before but good to see it again and another two cracking classics.

Not many folk speaking about the game, ok we lost but the second half play gives me hope for Saturday. Get behind them then.

Not ideal being a goal down, reckon a draw would have been fair. Longstaff tries too hard to get the ball to his right side and everytime got crowded off the ball, Lawson should start ahead of him on Saturday. I'd also start Pepple with Samuel up front and drop Billy to the bench

That looks bad for Devine.

I'd expect concerts to make money and not rip off local businesses. I'd expect not to give contract extensions to crap managers then replace them 6 games later with another incompetent manager with an name just to boost his ego. I'd expect not treating fan groups with utter contempt. I'd expect not launching BS roof building schemes then taking money and quietly cancelling it. I'd expect not bringing us to the brink of part time football, relegation or worse. I wouldn't be surprised if he has no KPIs at all. I think Morrison just employed him and let him do whatever he wants.

He’s pretty much been a midfielder recently but presumably he is doing what he is instructed to do by the manager.

We need to go 442, Get Longstaff away to feck, get Mcgregor or Lawal on to give some direct play. There's just no passion, Half of theses guys will be away Saturday night.

Even worse than feared. Everything is so slow, our midfield look like they're running in treacle. Nothing against Gilmour but he's barely half fit, I just can't fathom the decision to parachute him straight in after 3 months out. We need to see Lawal & Macgregor as Anderson is blowing too. This one is on the manager. It's been coming.

Absolute **** show, no idea from back to front.

Embarrassing. What an absolute shambles.

He really doesn’t rate MacGregor does he. Gilmore back for 3 seconds and in ahead of him. I wonder what he’s done wrong.

Feels like this tie is a Sliding Doors moment for the club. Win it and there is hope that, with a decent summer's recruitment and resolution of the club's financial crisis, we might start heading in the right direction again. The potential consequences of losing don't bear thinking about. I don't see us bouncing back quickly like Dunfermline or Partick did after recent relegations, and I can't see us surviving several years in League One like Falkirk have.

Excellent post. Couldn’t agree more. We need a club that truly understands who we are, where we are and where we want to be - maybe that doesn’t mean playing in the Top Tier. It might mean developing a set up that harnesses the youth in the area and gives them a platform. Suppose it depends on what you believe the clubs identity is.

A CEO that could actually do the job would help . Too much self interest in the present one . And he wonders why he is so unpopular

Well firstly it’s usually to generate more money than you’re taking out of the club on wages . It’s clearly been disaster after disaster and looking like much more on the horizon .

If they were in the Premiership - yes. If they had ambitions to reach the Premiership - quite possibly. In our current situation - that's a difficult question! I might still say yes, with an appropriate salary, a review of other staff positions, and provided they and the others were happy to do things like pick up a paintbrush when necessary.

Hamilton are an awful club who really bring nothing to the landscape of Scottish football - its bad enough irrelevances like Airdrie & Morton are in the Championship.

While I get peoples dislike for SG being at the club (and I am no fanboy either), statements like this keep being made. However, nobody ever substantiates it with the costs involved or define the club performance metrics set out by the board and whether he has delivered or otherwise (and if this is considered to represent value). It would also be interesting for fans to state what their expectations for SG performance would be?

If even a fraction of the chat about the state of our finances is true then we'll be needing every penny to pay wages at the end of the month.