Leaderboard

I think it's fair to say it is now official - 'Useless' Euan Norris is the worst official in Scottish football. Not content with screwing us over against Rangers, he appeared determined from the outset to allow our opponents to take liberties all over the pitch. The sending off of Gillet looked a bit fishy to me - Kenny appeared convinced he'd won the ball - and certainly there was plenty of protest that Barrowman was offside as he put Dunfermline in front. Two incidents summed Norris up - in the first half he pulled up Barrowman for his umpteenth foul and clearly gave him a 'final warning' chat; a minute later Barrowman hacks someone else...and Norris stops him for a long chat again. Then, right on half-time Dunfermline's defensive wall refused to retreat for a free kick even when the ref stood where he wanted them to be. Instead of booking one of them, he gave up when he got them 8 yards...and then ignored the fact that one of them raced out so they were about 5 yards from the ball when the free kick was taken. About the only thing that cretin of a referee got right was adding on six minutes for the obscene amount of time wasting the Pars did in the second half - though I don't know why he can't book the time wasters as well as adding on the time. If I was a Dunfermline fan, I would be horrified and ashamed by their second half performance. They never had any control over the game, even against ten men, and seemed content simply to camp out on the 18 yard box and see the game out. Entire civilizations have risen and fallen in the time it took them to make one substitution. They managed all of two speculative efforts on goal in the second period, as far as I can recall. As for us, we were pretty hopeless with eleven men, but I thought we did about as well as you can expect in the second half. Tuffers is the main villain of the piece - it was his horrendous air-shot on a backpass which led to the Gillet dismissal, and then he only managed to palm the resultant freekick straight to Barrowman. Frankly, he had bugger all else to do for most of the game. Our back four did a pretty good job today. Piermayr did well when tucked in at centre-half, though Coxy looked a bit uncertain when he was shunted to right-back. Once again, Golobart was superb. Barrowman took one look at him and clearly decided "I'm not up for taking him on" - so nothing has changed from when he played for us. Most impressive for me was Foran, who I felt gave a real captain's performance today - he led by example with fantastic effort and seemed to be still urging everyone on even when all was lost. He's had plenty of criticism this season (much of it warranted) but since moved into midfield he has looked like a different man. The big message to take away from this game is this: If Dunfermline are like this every week, then there is absolutely no chance we are going down.

I think it was a mistake to play Davis today. He was poor - didn't want the ball and was looking to get rid of it as soon as he could when he got it. He certainly wasn't the player folk have been raving about - Looked as though he was on instructions from Mick McCarthy not to pick up an injury. Contributed nothing and IMHO should have got hooked sooner.

Old news rehashed. You have seen the blueprints I assume ? All I have really seen or heard about is converting existing terracing into ICT style 'temporary' stands to bring it up to 6000 seats ... a full 1773 seats less than TCS. The only advantage they may have is that there could be stands on all 4 sides, but more of that below. Also, the project length is about the same as it took to build our stands, and the cost is lower (presumably because the stands themselves are smaller), so not sure how that automatically equates to a better facility ? What would be even more concerning to me if I was a County fan would be what seems to be a pretty wide scope of cost ... If they are ready to build, and know how long it will take, then how do they not have the cost nailed down a bit more accurately? with a variance of 33% in terms of the low and high ends of their projected figures it seems they may well be looking to see where corners can be cut economies can be made. Depends how you define 'temporary' in terms of the structure. Temporary in this sense means it has a certain lifespan as opposed to say a brick built structure that might last for a century or more. In this context temporary does not equate to short term or "cheap" that you seem to think it does and these stands will be around for a good few years. Whilst construction was quick and efficient, due in no small part to the design of the structures themselves, and a Caley Thistle season-ticket holding project manager who was "motivated" to make sure the project finished as quickly as possible, they were not "thrown up" ... and they will not be bulldozed quickly either given that they cost in excess of 7 figures to construct. Unless you have been living under a rock, or at sea for a while, you may have noticed we're not exactly flush with cash at the moment but if you want to donate a couple of million to the fund to get it up and running feel free to do so. As for bashing the board ... predictable and snoozeworthy as usual. incidentally, to add to the "temporary" stands debate .... the entire structure of BMO Stadium in Toronto with the exception of the main stand is of a similar "temporary" nature and quite happily holds 20,000+ for every home game. It cost in excess of $62m to build these "temporary" structures .... and like ICT, TFC will not be tearing them down anytime soon .... unless it is to increase the size of the stadium. Could have something to do with the high pressure gas transmission line that runs alongside the A9 between the stadium and the road .... in fact, I know it has because this was given as the reason when this subject was debated in depth on here and also on P&B. Utter bollocks !!!

I recommend penicillin.

If you say you don't look like Martin Clunes, can I just say how much I like that dress you are wearing, Laurence.

Could we not connect the gas up & form a deflatable bouncy castle type stand !

Some are glad he's gone. Some think he's a big head. Some still favour him and wish him well. Who will think what if he's the one who scores the goal that will keep us in the Scottish cup. Davis has been good for our club and we've been good for his career. Neither owes the other anything. He is being noticed by, and is rated by, Mick McCarthy so has made the decision to put himself somewhere he'll get more exposure. Lets face it the lower leagues doxn south get more tv and newspaper exposure time in a month than the SPL gets in a season. The guys not bigheaded. He's ambitious and sees opportunity for success. I hope he scores for us at the weekend and goes out in a blaze of glory.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/scotland/16455632.stm A caley player actually wins it, and so he should !!

And one they can barely fill! 1,600 turned up today. Let's crack on with a fourth stand asap lads!

OK, so Dougal is trying to wind people up (and succeding very well, it would appear!) but to be fair, the point that our stadium is probably the worst in the league is one that I would certainly agree with. Putting aside all the reasons for why it is where it is and the way it is, it is undeniably a windswept ground with no atmosphere. And I accept that there is no money around to do anything about it and we are stuck with it. But the Board must realise that the lack of atmosphere is a major factor in keeping crowds down and, probably more important, will be a factor in players not wanting to play here. When playing at home players want a good atmoshere to lift them and it simply doesn't exist at TCS. I've heard more singing at a wee free funeral than I heard at the ground today. Continued long term success requires a better stadium than we currently have and that must be a long term objective for the Board. It is surely not controversial to suggest that if County get promoted and make improvements to their ground, they will have a better ground than us. After all, let's face it, they already have a better ground than us.

I wonder if people stop Martin Clunes in the street and ask him if he's Lawrence?

i reckon the red card was unjust, i felt at the time Gillet got the ball. anyway i think these pictures cover the main talking points for the match

TV coverage 10:20 - 11:40 tonight. The County game is definitely worth a look as well. The Vigurs free kick was a work of art!

A fairer result would have been both those teams losing today in what was a desperately poor game of football. I can't be bothered typing much about that game because it was so bad so I'll keep this brief. Not sure what happened with the Gillet sending off but it looked like a fluffed clearence by Tuffey and Gillet pulled down the Dunfermline player as he was heading goalwards. Maybe the highlights will clear it up. The resultant free kick was smashed goalwards but Tuffey blocked it however Barrowman dispatched the ball on the rebound but there were huge claims for offside from our guys. After this I expected Dunfermline to pick us off on the counter attack but they seemed more interested in timewasting and feigning injury. It was like watching Hamilton all over again! A monumental balls up by Chris Smith (fresh air kick at a pass back) let Hayes in to grab an equaliser for us right at the end of the six minutes of injury time which, I assume, were added because of Dunfermlines aforementioned timewasting. Goals aside I genuinely cannot think of much else that happened in the game but it was atrocious for large parts. Crowd was 1,600 odd and I do not blame those who stayed away today. They missed absolutely nothing and saved themselves about £15 (at least) by not going.

Johnny Hayes in 5th min of injury time! I'll take that. Its usually us who concede late goals. Having played over an hour with 10 men, that can't be a bad result. Well done lads.

really need a pushy reporter if trying to listen to match on OAM ..... Chris Hogg is too polite, waiting until he is asked to comment instead of butting in !!!!

6 mins injury time........

Dougal should maybe stop and think before he spouts. The first thing to say is that our end stands are not temporary, contrary to the opinion of some. They are permanent stands of a design, used in many stadia, that could, if so desired, be dismantled and rebuilt elsewhere. There is nothing temporary about the tens of thousands of tonnes of concrete thay sit on. The misconception that the structures were temporary came about when we applied for permission to erect temporary scaffolding type stands to allow us to start playing at TCS from the beginning of the promotion season. Secondly, we dont need a fourth stand. Even St Johnstone are going to a three stand stadium. All that County are doing is building the same type of stand as we have, at one ends and extending the other stands to accomodate a few more seats. Superiority is what is displayed on the field of play. Not what the stadia looks like. Perhaps, dougal, if you feel they will be the more superior club with the more superior stadium then you should feck off over the bridge and stop spouting your crap on these forums. They rest of us will take pride in what we have achieved, what we will achieve, where we are and what we have.

until this season falkirk was the worst must be parkheed and ibrox now

Completely unsubstantiated anecdotal evidence can really be so tedious! care to name a worse stadium in the SPL than TCS Charles ?

Just trolling...

It's astounding how much inference you can drag out of an article that is primarily about how difficult it's going to be to put USH in Victoria Park. Go be a phisherman in some other pond.

You are a complete shambles of a wind up merchant. Be gone. *Back on ignore*

And who's going to pay for all this, dougal? It's not pretty, but to be frank, not enough people turn up to justify anything better.

we are in the spl and will stay who cares what county do not me

Don't be too hard on him CD. He's just not that bright.

Can't understand the clamour to support the fans of 'the twins of evil' on here. I see the bill as a clear attempt to deal with vile sectarian chanting and abuse. Surely this has to be welcomed? I am perfectly capable of enjoying myself at a match without the need to resort to such abuse and get surprised at how many seem unable to do so. The day when you get evicted or arrested for singing good natured banter is not upon us. This is being promoted by fans of the OF to try to garner support and legitimise their own unacceptable behaviour. I find it quite ironic that they are now in a joint crusade (probably an offensive word to some but doubt I'll get arrested for using it!) to normalise such crass bile and appear to be winning friends from other supports who supposedly hate everything the stand for. Confusing? 100% behind the bill and anyone that is bold enough to try to address this hideous cancer.

On a non - Labour note, did Danny Alexander re-new his ICT season ticket this year? Or does that only happen a year before a general election? I've sent 2 emails to him whilst he's been MP. The last one was regarding the cancellation of buses in the evening in certain areas of Inverness. Since I have family members this will affect i thought it important to plea to the 'local MP'. 33 days later... yes, 33 days later I received a reply from his PA telling me that Danny was very busy and if I wanted to discuss it further I should come to a surgery. He refused to answer. He refused to do his £65,000 a year job. Now I was until about half a year ago a member of the Liberal Democrats. I canvassed for them down in Edinburgh and then Glasgow and I am disgusted by what has happened in the last year. Now I effectivally oppose the Lib Dems. There are great people within the Liberal party but unfortunately the Lib Dems have been hijacked by complete frauds such as the ginger rodent and Clegg (Clegg himself was a member of his Universities 'Conservative Club'). Back to Labour.... erm, Ed Millibean. Leader? I think not!

Our younger site members may not get the reference, but our older ones surely will ..... me, I sit somewhere in the middle and cannot really remember Sally Field's oscar winning speech where she made that cringeworthy comment, but have heard about it often enough, and know enough of who she is to chuckle .... However, its a perfect segue into a blog about the biggest change on the site that some users will notice ... the replacement of the Red/Green dot system for a "like" system. The Red/Green dots certainly caused comments when we introduced them, and I am not telling tales out of school when I said that most of the moderators had grave concerns over introducing them in the first place. However, we implemented it because some (myself included) thought it would be good, users could vote up the good posts and express concerns over the dodgy or negative ones ... and those same users would be adult enough to use it properly .... but not so. In the end, some users used it the way it was intended, and we thank you for that. However, some abused it to take the piss, and yet more abused it to partake in cyber-bullying by saving up all their red dots for one or two users ... so much so that we had to create a new user category specifically so we could prevent the serial abusers from applying any dots at all. Thats not the spirit of what we intended, and its one of those areas where poison can creep into the site so we decided - with the new version of the software - to swich to the new "Like" system which only has positive vibes ...... Users can "like" pretty much as many posts as they want (think I set it to 100 per day, but that can be increased if we want), and everyone will be able to see who liked a post, but it is not possible to "dislike" a post (and I doubt we would implement that if it ever became an option). This is more in the style of what was intended .... vote up the good stuff and show appreciation for those users making a positive contribution to the site rather than picking on users because they are younger, smaller or - in your humble opinion - less intelligent - than you. As we are retiring the red/green dot system, it seems only fair to retire two legacy parts of that system that still exist. 1. We have already removed the permissions group for the "serial abusers" which prevented them from issuing any dots and they can now issue "likes" to their heart's content like anyone else ..... 2. Negative reputation points ... Many users acquired a fair total of negative reputation points over the last two years of the dot system. I am investigating ways to reset these back to zero. I hope to reset all negative reputation back to zero and leave positive reputation untouched, but if thatproves too difficult, the we will just reset everything back to zero and start everyone from scratch.

Qormi ?? Is that a football team for vegetarians??

Please don't mistake my comments as being in any way supportive of Unions. I agree with the principle of them, just unfortunate that they are lead (from Shop Steward level upwards) by self serving egotistical bastards with more interest in shit stirring and making a name for themselves than they are with looking after it's individual members. When you have an personal issue they can't be found anywhere, when they see the opportunity to do some hell-raising then they're all over you like a bad rash and you can't get rid of them.

People can strike if they wish, but it will achieve absolutely nothing positive. Not because their actions won't be listened to or gain any attention, but because there's little (if anything) that can be done to improve the situation in the current economic climate...certainly not without making cuts elsewhere. It doesn't make it right and it doesn't mean people are not justified in being angry and upset, but you can hold a gun to someone's head and demand all you want, if they don't have it, they can't give it to you.