Leaderboard

Slightly of topic but who was responsible for the dire music yesterday. If ever there was a day to get some enthusiasm and noise generated with some up tempo appropriate music it was yesterday. This did not happen. I'm sure the person who does it is a decent bloke and probably an unsung hero of the behind the scenes staff, but surely this is an area that should be easy to improve.

Well I was wanting Auchlenleck Tablot before the draw - now I'm glad we didn't get them cause they would've won yesterday. But seriously, that was bad, really bad. Plan A seemed to consist of long hoofs towards 5"7 Billy McKay who was up against two centre backs, both well over 6 foot! Absolute nonsense, no wonder he did nothing. Plan B by the way, didn't exist! As soon as Gillet was sent off the team seemed to have no idea what they were doing - Hayes, McKay and Tade seemed unsure what their actual position was. Foran is a far better player in the middle of the park than up-front and it showed yesterday. Golobart was solid enough, but three times he tried to shoot from miles out which was just pointless. The substitutions seemed awfully odd too - Cox was poor throughout and should've been hooked for Meekings by half time at least, but no, that change doesn't happen till the game's nearly over. Why was wasn't Sutherland put on when chasing the game? In fact, why wasn't he on from the start? Doesn't seem to get a game half as much anymore and he was the type of player that was needed yesterday. Also, I think the calls for Tuffey to replace Esson will die down now - his distribution, particularly from his feet was very poor and he looked quite prone to errors. Things can only get better I suppose.

I recommend penicillin.

A comedy of errors. how many games have there been where both keepers made nearly identical schoolboy howlers which resulted in goals? Fresh air kicks by both of them balanced the game out, although as has been mentioned it seems Gillet was unlucky in as much as it was a tussle for the ball after Tuffey hashed it, and both of them hacking at it, with Gillet being punished on the last man rule. We def played the better football, Dunf's aim was merely to get behind the ball and see the game out. Foran had some effective runs at their defence, Tade threw himself around with great application, but no-one could engineer a clear effort on goal. The final irony of this slightly farcical affair was that Dunf got done because they had wasted so much time - had they not, they would have been in the dressing room before their keeper's howler. So justice was done, after some spectacularly inept efforts at timewasting - sudden need to examine socks and boots for a long time before taking goalkicks and fouls, with the best one a corner to them, where nobody went to take it, the ref telling them 'well, somebody has to take it', as they all look the other way. Definitely only a £15 game, in fact I would say a £10 game, so CaleyThistle you owe me £5.

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.

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 !!!

Correct title now up

Totally agree.... A start has been made by changing the crass UK Settlement Laws which legally allowed members of the royal family to marry or adopt any religion but Catholicism......and if I were in the Scottish Government, my immediate reaction to that change would have been to ban all Orange and Hibernian Parades as constituting incitement to hatred....and waited to see the effect of that before making life difficult for the ordinary football fan, with the usual political wooliness when it comes to crafting bills. Never quite understood, not just the Scottish penchant, but the UK penchant for allowing marches which will by their very nature, produce a reaction from those who disagree with them....usually violent. ..and many of which are intended to do just that. When does freedom of speech, assembly and the right to be a complete dick get subsumed by the majority, who can cope with life without hating anyone, right to go about their daily business without having to avoid flailing fists and being kettled for being in the wrong place at the wrong time? Why call it a Bigotry bill anyway..isn't bigotry covered to the last dotted i and crossed t in lots of other laws. Why not call a shovel a shovel and call it a Bill "to outlaw Protestant/Catholic sectarianism which has no business existing in Scotland anyway.and a lot less business existing in the beautiful game"........but that wouldn't be PC, would it..even when we all know what triggered it? The racist, homophobic, and (whisper it) anti-gypsy etc remarks/chants have already been addressed umpteen times elsewhere....both via the EU and UK wide laws ...and can, could have been, and probably were, prosecuted when complaints were made. Imo.no complaint....no hurt feelings and the recognition that it is good natured banter fan to fan....but that would be too commonsensical.....to look at time, place, context and level of offence caused. That is, imo, the one drawback of the internet..it does allow the completely irrational PC individual to spend their lives trawling the internet to find something which offends them...and when you add PC lip readers and Youtube to the mix......the complaints by people who were not actually there grow exponentially. Shades of Mary Whitehouse and her compaining to the Beeb about stuff she had never heard/seen .and the Beeb actually taking notice of her. Fan to individual player bigotry is a different matter altogether..but again the sectarian issue only applies to the numpties who support the Big 2..most of whom outside Glasgow don't do it because they know anything about the background, or even what they are celebrating/denigrating..but because it is part of the whole Rangers/Celtic rivalry and a learned behaviour. I guarantee that vast swathes of Celtic fans in the North are not Catholic....and while vast swathes of Rangers Fans may be theoretically Protestant....I'd guess most of both sets might put Church of Scotland on census forms, but never have entered any kind of church outside School end of term church services. I have always had Celtic as my second team after my home Highland League one, until ICT got into the Premier...and Celtic have now been relegated to third in my Saturday checking of scores, and ICT elevated to first...and my sister is a rabid Rangers supporter..and as far as I am aware supports no other team. Neither of us are religious, though technically brought up C of S..but we did, in our younger days do rivalry to the nth degree...she liked the Beatles, I liked the Stones, for example....and our choices of teams to support had less to do with the backgrounds of the teams and a lot more to do with hacking the other off..and going along with our friends. I do think that many clubs have the facility to police their own fans......I should think that ICT would be aware of those fans who buy tickets as ICT supporters and go to games against the Old Firm wearing Celtic/Rangers scarves, and I know there are some who do.......even if they support ICT all the rest of the time. Not easy to change attitudes......even when those who have the attitudes haven't a clue where they came from....but I think you should start locally to change attitudes...and if enough clubs do that then maybe, eventually , attitudes will start to change. Little point in Rangers and Celtic trying to remove the bile of sectarianism, when other clubs do not do the same.

Motherwell have a fantastic social club by their ground where away fans are welcome. Always a great pre match venue and kids are welcome. Hope to see a few of you there

this probably isn't a popular point of view, but is Sutherland not getting a game because he's just not good enough? Billy McKay nearly scored an absolute peach in the first half, and was supported until the sending off. Apart from that, he ran himself to a standstill - not really too much respect, more of a realisation of the reality of the situation. After the sending off, the priority becomes not losing. Just ask Man City.

Wrong tactics from Butcher. One up front five in midfield against the worst team in the league WTF. To be fair to Billy Mackay there was times when he had the ball and there was not a blue shirt near him, isolated was an understatement. If ever there was a time for Sutherland to get a run that was it. Why show so much respect o a really poor Dunfermline team, was really expecing a performance yesterday but that was woeful.

What a shame for him - he's the best manager we never had.

If I knew what a feckin wum was I may agree At least Dougal usually provides a rationale for his argument and doesnt half stimulate debate - perhaps that us what a wum does. Or is a wum like PullmyFinger and myself on this thread who answer with dross and a personal attack. At least Dougal and others would understand that mine was of ironic banter and not simply churlish in an infantile manner.

Damned if they do and damned if they dont. Its not so long ago that Golobart was being slated for being too fancy and trying to play his way out of situations. Now he's slated for clearing the ball as quick as possible. Same with Gillet. Not so long ago since Butcher was being slated for trying to stick with the same players. Now he's slated for trying to slot a very minimul squad together. As for comments about 'loanee mania'. Thats no fault of Butchers. Thats entirely down to budgets. I'm quite sure Terry would love to have the sort of budget where he can bring in the right players on decent deals. Alas! thats not likely to happen at TCS in the near future. Especially with such a dismall crowd for a saturday afternoon home game against a fellow SPL team.

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.

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.

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

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.

Marc hasn't been too well himself of late, had one stint in hospital over the festive period and is back at the hospital again today. I'm sure you'll all join me in wishing him a speedy recovery, as well as congratulating him on his fundraising efforts.

The entire bill is an absurdity which shows that the Scottish Executive either simply don't understand the real problem or don't want to acknowledge what it is. Football is merely a symptom of this problem and not the problem itself. It strikes me as nonsensical that football is being made almost the sole target here while the Orange Lodge - a body which exists for the purpose of religious intolerance - remain free to peddle their bile on the streets of Scotland. Fortunately all we really see in Inverness is the bunch of comedians who turn up for the annual stroll to the Portland Club but elsewhere it's a case of bigotry on the hoof for days on end.