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As far as home grown talent is concerned, Liam's progress has been largely overshadowed by that of Ryan Christie and there is no doubt that young Ryan's progress from youth to first team has been more rapid and that he matured and developed more quickly than Liam However, after a couple of false starts, Liam is now coming into his own and beginning to show his true potential. Personally, I believe he may go on to be at least as talented and possibly even more influential than Ryan. For that reason I believe that one of the best pieces of business we do in January is to secure him on a three and a half year contract. Such is his potential talent I fear that he is bound to move onto 'better' and much higher paid things sooner or later but that way we will at least get full value for him when he goes rather than being somewhat short changed as we were with Ryan.

Aye I saw it too. Almost as much time as we get on Sportscene.

Not the boy's fault but it was abundantly clear from the second minute that Lewis Horner was out of his depth and having a torrid time leaving United free to rampage down the left for the whole of the game. For the manager to do nothing about it was unacceptable and given that we had an apparently fit David Raven on the bench it was more than unacceptable it was utterly bizarre. If rumours are correct that Raven is being sidelined due to a falling out with Yogi then that is pathetically petty and immature. We are a long way from being clear of relegation trouble and we need to have our best players playing. I am convinced that if we had had our best fit XI on the park on Saturday we would not have dropped two points to the most underperforming team in the league and there would now be more comfortable clear daylight between us and bottom place.

1-0 up on Dundee at half time, Roberts the scorer 14 mins. Game at Montrose. 1-1 after 71 mins. (Skelly) Full Time 1-1 Dundee - Gourlay, Kerr, Warwick, Waddell, Priest, Clark, Colquhoun, Curran, Gemmell, Carreiro, Skelly. Subs - Beattie, Berry, Gibb, Gallacher, Henvey

Nice to see ICT get a checky wee mention on BBC Sports Personality Of Year last night ... can be seen at just over 42 minutes in if anyone missed and wants to see on iPlayer.

LP has proved to one of the very few bright sparks over the last few weeks. I agree that we need to learn from previous mistakes and make sure that we either retain him for his best footballing years or we get value for him in the market.

It unfortunately also has to be recognised that these simplistic and superficial representations will also tend to appeal disproportionately to those among us who are less able to grasp the concepts behind what is being discussed. So I would suggest that a large part of SNP support comes from the one third of the electorate or even more who simply don't have a scooby about what's happening and never will. However what does appeal to them is the superficiality and the sound bites DD refers to and many of them will be the same people who, for a long time before that, obediently placed their X in the Labour box - also without the remotest clue about what the issues were.

ACT ONE – BIRMINGHAM AND BEYOND Where is the treasure map ? Well don’t worry it is safe and secure and located in Donviews’ wallet. Anyway “back to the fairy tale” as many said about “Against All the Odds” !! News of the quest spread as quickly as a floodlight failure in Dungwall and HMS Sneck had to dock at Aberdire and Leith on the voyage South. More worthies clamboured on board, including RIG, PerfICT, Caley Braveheart, Nod, ICT Chris and the suggested influences behind Pink Floyds “Another Brick in the Wall”, Top Six and Mary Hill. Red Card Riley continued to organise the days and even had regular updates from on board relayed to Sky Sports News. Govan Jaggie had the security under control and King Beastie (AKA Animal) had been enlisted to organise the Entertainment. He had gathered together the House Band. Beastie on Drums, Kenny Adie on Lead Guitar, TM4TJ on base guitar and Sandy Sutherland on vocals. His dad DJS was the driving force behind the steering movement. They were, of course, the back up band to the main singing header, IHE. Comedians had also been drafted in. Shaun AKA Mahonio was the top turn abetted by Dougal and the long awaited return of Ewan Murray. Yngwie took on the compere role as he was famed for his one-liners (also apt for a cruise!!). It was enough to have Maimie and OldCaleyGirl thinking that they were actually on a cruise. The Ladies Section was also filling up with HighlandExile and a gathering of Facebook posting Sneckites. Lg was due to join at a later date when she had got her Redundancy money. Caley 100 was put in charge of Ship Maintenance and a stand in if the main mast collapsed. IBM and Bughtmaster were his understudies as both were old enuff to know everything about sail ships. But as the numbers increased Yogi and Latapy grew more and more concerned that their cover would be blown so Long Kenny Cameron shipped in CaleyD and davie to support, on a voluntary basis of course. Their secret code word was “Butcher”. But soon Solihull was reached and a day of revelry ensued. The Gringos came on board with an aviary of others – a Palace Eagle, a canary from Norwich and a demented Dodo bird from Berkshire. And the first X on the treasure map was found outside St Andrews. The Seer quickly noted that HMS Sneck required to set sail for Paisley, Partick and the Kingdom of Fife to appease the next three X’s. And so the Mottley crew set sail for the next X on the map – a midden in Paisley and the Fly pies of the Alamo. Sneckboy promptly updated the list, Renegade promptly pointed out the issues with the line up and the selection, whilst Scarlet Pimple waxed lyrically quoting Jasper Carrot and JRR Tolkien. He was beginning to make a hobbit of this. TO BE CONTINUED

Oh well, off to see the Weekers again, sad way to spend a tuesday night but never mind

I agree that Liam has recently shown massive improvement but he is a different type of player to Ryan. Yes get him signed for the future but I'm sure the manager knows exactly what length of contract he should offer so that he fits within his overall (reduced) budget. I hope I'm wrong but I don't see him having the same potential as Ryan.

ACT ONE – TO THE FERRY AND BEYOND Many years ago in the fabled land of Sneck two well travelled pirates wander around the streets of the Kessock Ferry. Yogi and Latapy have plundered across the globe, from Boavista to Falkirk and from the Port of Spain to Hartlepool. And now they are seated in the Thornbush Inn feasting on a Tattie pie and a bottle of Four Crown. And they cant believe their luck when in walks the naieve Donview clutching on to a treasure map that he found in a bin on West Drive. He tells Yogi and Latapy that he has hired a frigate, called the HMS Sneck from its owner, IHE, and he plans to get a trusty crew together and go and find the treasure. Little does Donview know that Yogi and Latapy work for Long Kenny Cameron, a hustler who has been seeking the treasure for many years. Yogi and Latapy show Donview and his solicitor (Kingsmills) their dodgy CV and are enlisted immediately. And in walks OldCaleyGirl and Maimie, resplendent in their best dresses with 12 suitcases waiting outside. Donview has told them that he is taking them on a Carribean Cruise !! He plans to get them drunk before boarding, which of course is a pretty easy task. Meanwhile in a dirty old Tavern by the harbour, called the Citadel, a meeting of the Pre-Merger Team is taking place. The PMT meets monthly and is often a painful, emotional and bloody affair. Many old seadogs are in attendance, much like a Rose Street Rehearsal. There is amongst others Mantis, BughtMaster, TitchyBlacksBack and Alex McLeod. Yogi and Latapy stroll in, tell them of the treasure map, and they are out the door to the harbour before you could say “There will never be a merger”. At the rear of the rush is the minute taker, Badass Bannerman, a scribe renowned for telling tall tales. He decides to keep a diaty of events and will probably make money out of publishing it at a later date. He is closely followed by Dougal and Dougie Danger. The captain of the HMS Sneck (Red Card Riley) welcomes all aboard, in one of the pairs of fluorescent trainers that he is renowned for. He is a bit gormless really and depends greatly on the support of his First Mate, Govan Jaggie. They lower the plank and it is a case of ladies first, with OldCaley Girl and Maimie being stretchered up the Gangway. As the other mercenaries plod on Sneckboy records a list, in alphabetical order, height and a previous experience synopsis. Renegade corrects him several times whilst IBM names all the makes of the other vessels in the Harbour. Scarlet Pimple waxes lyrically and quotes from passages written by Robert Louis Stevenson. And so the Mottley crew set sail for the first X on the map – Solihull Moors – where they plan to meet up with the Gringos and the rest of the Englandshire mercenaries. Everyone looks forward to a day of trainspotting, curry eating, real ale quenching and listening to old jokes. TO BE CONTINUED

Train operator Scotrail has announced a £475m programme, pledging new trains, thousands of extra seats, more at-seat power points and better wifi. Including improved trains for the north. ScotRail's new High Speed Train fleet will be introduced from autumn 2017 and throughout 2018 and used on the Glasgow-Aberdeen, Edinburgh-Aberdeen, Glasgow-Inverness, Edinburgh-Inverness and Aberdeen-Inverness routes. As this fleet is made up of four and five-carriage trains, rather than current three-carriage trains, the seating capacity will increase on these services by, on average, 36%. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-35153722

Herald is unionist Elmer.