Hiro

Hopefully Lodivica and Sheridan are on the way out. 

The more I think about the Lodivica signing the more bizarre I find it.  I'd be suspicious that it's part of some kind of fraudulent scheme.  He was hopeless on trial and had just signed for a new club yet we persevered with it anyway. Truly odd.

That starting line-up feels like the manager was sending a message to the board.  Very much a subtext of 'look at what i have to work with, sort it out'.

Correct decision. Results excluding the Scottish Cup over the last 10 months just weren't good enough and there was an inevitably about this.  Its a shame to see anyone lose their jobs like this but it had to be done for the good of the club.

The problem is that do any of us trust those in charge to get the next manager decision correct?

The first goal was horrendous goalkeeping, really poor mistake from Cammy and i dont think he moved his feet well for the 3rd either.  I think he's in a tough position as perennial back up as he hasn't had a proper run in a first team in his entire career. He's barely played 50 competitive matches and he's about to turn 27.  He always seems rusty which makes the defence in front of him jittery. I'm not sure who the under 18 keeper is but I'd like to see Cammy get out on loan for 6 months.

1 hour ago, EvilWhiteStripe said:

Anyone on the 0730 ferry from Belfast?

I'm currently sitting waiting to go on the 08:15 Easyjet from the international.

Pretty routine win.  I wouldn't read too much into the performance, had we needed to we had extra gears to go through.  Overall, we played well within ourselves giving all 21 players significant playing time and more importantly no injuries.

We raced into an early 2 goal lead with Harper and Duffy the beneficiaries of 2 more excellent Jay Henderson deliveries. We seemed to take our foot off the gas after this with a few players taking an extra touch or just playing at half pace.  Multiple changes at half time seemed to impact our rhythm and Dungannon's most dangerous player Scott finishing nicely.  This spurred a response and we got the 3rd within a minute through Samuels after a neat move from Carson and Shaw.  Ben Woods then somehow contrived to miss an utter sitter, it was pretty much an open goal yet he almost cleared the stand- a remarkable effort.  The final 30mins then petered out after the benches were emptied. 

Some observations from very close up.

Cameron Harper was a standout.  The main stand was just a few feet from the pitch and he really is some athlete. Great touch too.

Austin Samuels is struggling for confidence.  Just couldn't get into the game despite his goal and was give grief from a couple of team mates for a lack of effort.

David Carson covers every blade of grass. I love his desire and how he empties the tank.

I think Steven Boyd will struggle to make the cup final squad if everyone is fit.

Nice to see around a dozen ICT supporters at the ground along with some player families. The players and manager were also great with my son, really happy to chat and get photos so that made our day. 

23 minutes ago, EvilWhiteStripe said:

Two of us, I’ll probably come across from Downpatrick to watch it

Excellent! The eldest Hiro Junior will be with me so that makes 3- that counts as a crowd.

4 hours ago, IBM said:

You will have to do a match report 

I might to use my imagination for the first 5 minutes as my eldest is at a birthday party and we might have to cut it fine (or more likely we'll make an early exit).

41 minutes ago, Yngwie said:

A friendly away to Dungannon Swifts has been arranged for Saturday 20th.

Happy days. Less than an hour down the road for me. At least there will be 1 ICT fan in attendance.

I'm buzzing for this one.  I had flights and hotel booked for myself and my eldest straight after the semi.  It's his first trip over to Hampden and who knows when we might get here again.  

Return of Ridgers and Devine making a big difference with their experience. Hopefully this is a corner turned.

Regardless of other injuries a spine of Ridgers, Devine, Welsh and Mckay is very strong for the Championship.  If they are fit there should be no excuses for seeing any more of the insipid performances we've seen recently. 

The worrying thing is that there isn't a soul on this forum who is surprised by both the performance and result. Thankfully Arbroath don't look like getting their act together so we should be safe from 9th place at least. 

We're just drifting as a club at the moment and the situation with Robbo is untenable.  As much as I appreciate everything he's done you can't have your supposed Sporting Director commentating on other games while we're being hammered.

Warning bells all over this one!

On 9/2/2022 at 4:09 PM, bdu98196 said:

If the staff were considered an external resource and as such invoiced by the club to cover costs then the club potentially will loose out as a creditor (depending on mark up of rates).

If the staff were working for free that's different. If that's outwith standard working time that's fine, if its during their working hours then if it wasn't sanctioned by the club then technically (depending on contract terms) that could be disciplinary offenses by club against individuals.

However, in the event the staff worked for free, sanctioned by the club to support the concert company then there are implications that both the club ICTFC & Concert Company are one and the same as they are using the same workforce while being paid by on entity to operate another.

Murky waters in there.

Time of club staff was being diverted to putting on the concerts. It was taking them away from club business.  Make no mistake, as much as a big deal was made of the separate companies the two were intertwined.

There's been a little bit of a misunderstanding earlier in the thread on the £730k.  This is not salaries due to directors but loans given to the club from them, this is how the losses in 2017-2019 were covered.  Its unlikely these will be paid in full but potentially converted to shares - £460k of a loan was converted like this in 2019 along with £100k written off.

Devine (and possibly Welsh) should have a new contract announced shortly.  Discussions are well underway- I think Danny alluded to that yesterday.  Of the other out of contract players I'd expect Hyde and Cammy Mckay to renew their deals.  No idea about the other youngsters but it will be interesting to see what happens with Doran. I'm not sure his performances justify a new deal however I'd be gutted to see him leave.

Anyway. Not too be.  The first goal changed everything and the 2nd was heading to the Broxburn roundabout before the flukey deflection - that killed the game. You could see the exertions of the last few weeks catch up with the team.  Even then we had 3 chances with an absolute sitter for Aaron. 

The last goals were irrelevant as the team were dead on their feet. We just ran out of fit players. 

I think pretty much all of the team we would want to keep are contracted for next season bar the loanees Chalmers and Mcalear. If we can add a little bit of quality at full back and the wing as well as beef out the squad from the departures of Broadfoot, Duffy etc. we'll be right there for the title. 

10 minutes ago, forresjags said:

Some players have a subtle celebration when they score against their former club. Not Rooney, absolute no class.

I've never understood this way of thinking.  It's surely more disrespectful not celebrating for the club that you play for and pays your wages.

Our run of 6 points from 11 games is the same as the run that got Peter Grant sacked at Dunfermline.  In terms of form we are the worst in the division by a considerable distance.  If we hadn't fluked a few 1-0 wins in the first few weeks of the season we'd be in bother.

I've not posted in quite a while but that was terrible again.  A very slight improvement in the 2nd half but that was solely down to having an extra player within 20 yards of their box when we were shelling it forward.

We are utterly rudderless. It's completely shambolic and summed up by Billy Dodds screaming at McAlear for having the audacity to play a 10 yard ball sideways to a teammates feet- he was bawling for him to leather it into the corner. Stoneage football from someone out of his depth.

4 hours ago, RiG said:

With apologies for the double post but that defending for the opening goal is awful.

For me it all starts with Harper being sat too far behind Deas and Broadfoot covering McIntosh coming off the right flank. Harper tries to pass him on to Broadfoot and moves out to half heartedly close down Fyvie (which he doesn't need to do as Doran and Allardice could get there quicker) whilst Deas is occupied by a run forward from Megginson, who initially dropped off the front line to receive a short pass pulling Deas out from the back, and then angles his run in behind Harper pulling Deas away from the middle and McIntosh positions himself in between the now massive gap between our two CBs neither of whom can recover in time to block the shot.

I was drawn to the role of Shane at the very start of the move for the 1st goal.  Looks like he was unsure as to whether he should drop in or stay high.  In the end he did nothing and it just looked like a half hearted attempt to move towards the Cove player in possession.

Not great to say the least.  More worrying than previous years too as we were taking it seriously this year rather than using it as pre season. Just doesn't look like a plan and system is coming together yet at all.

Ouch, pretty painful watch.  I hope Broadfoot is just short of fitness because if not his signing is a colossal waste of time. We'd be far better off signing players on other positions and just developing Fyffe.

8 minutes ago, RiG said:

I assume we are "the club" mentioned but it's not exactly clear.

 

Strangely vague statement.  Why don't they just that there's been a positive test rather than a Covid incident.

Dundee and Dunfermline playing out a scoreless makes the path to the playoffs that little bit easier.  Now puts it into our own hands - if we win our 3 remaining matches we're in (although I don't think we'll actually need to).