Hiro

Anyone able to make any transfers today? Every time I try it tells me an error has occured and to retry in 60 seconds. It also keeps coming up with players I don't even have or am even trying to transfer in on the confirm transfer page. Really annoying.

Marius does in his rival! Good work from Marius. Take out one of your rivals to start on Friday. Watch out for Daniel Niculae "falling down the stairs" sometime this week.

Happy days. Villa with a Hat-trick and I also put Ibrahimovic in this morning.

Nice one. Got it now. Not doing too shabbily at all.

Can anyone else not see the mini league table when they click on it when they are logged in or is that just me? All I get is blank screen and some kind of coding guff so I have no idea how woeful/brilliant my team is.

Cheers. Donation made.

Ive applied to join the league. Hope no one minds. I'll send a fiver once I've been accepted. Drakies FC is my team name.

Me too :001: Wrote a couple of words in Romanian, maybe thats what got the personal response. What a gentleman and legend. Thats really made my day.

Group C: 13th June Italy 2-2 Romania Netherlands 0 - 1 France Group D: 14th June Sweden 1 - 2 Spain Greece 1 - 0 Russia BONUS: France to be top of Group C

Group A: 11th June Czech Republic 0 - 1 Portugal Switzerland 2-2 Turkey Group B: 12th June Croatia 1 - 1 Germany Austria 2 -3 Poland BONUS: Austria v Poland to produce most goals

I'm sure we can translate that nae bother. Nice catchy start to the chorus 'Marius, Marius, Marius Nicluaeaeaeaeae'

I should have made myself clearer when talking about their scoring records. I was actually meaning in comparison to each other. Killen wasn't exactly a 25 goal a season guy whereas Porter clearly is. Killen had a lucky streak at Hibs, no more no less. Personally I feel Porter could play at Championship level without a problem. I'll ask you this though, if Porter or Killen had gone to a bottom 6 SPL team (Yes I know Motherwell were before Mcghee took over) would they have scored as many goals? The bottom 8 in the SPL are of a similar standard to the bottom of the championship. If that makes them top of league 2 standard then fair enough. I feel the debate is not about whether any players can make the step up but the type of player that can make the step up.

So, you went to Elland Road a couple of times and judged the footie to be bog-standard. It may well have been - you see crappy, scrappy, spoiling football from sides in all leagues and divisions from time to time, especially from those going for a title (all aboard for Ibrox or Stamford Bridge!). But let me throw just two names at you - from another team I follow and who I therefore know about, because I'm not going to spend my Friday night trawling through stats :016:. They're both from a fairly pedestrian League One club which has only been in the top flight for two seasons in the last 100 years. May I introduce: Chris Killen - age 27 2004/5 (Oldham, League 1) 15 goals 2005/6 (Oldham, League 1) 6 goals (but only played half a season) 2006/7 (Hibs, SPL) 15 goals 2007/8 (Celtic, SPL) 2 goals (bought so they didn't have to play against him and left on the bench if lucky Heresy! Heresy!) Did feck all with Wrexham, Port Vale and Oldham until he eventually came good in 2004, then publicly slated the manager and was released on a free. Now picking up splinters for a living in one of the two sides that could give a Championship/lower Premiership side a run for their money. Chris Porter - age 24 2005/6 (Bury, League 2) 10 goals 2006/7 (Oldham, League 1) 22 goals (second top goal scorer) 2007/8 (Motherwell, SPL) 18 goals (third top goal scorer) Brought on to the peak of his game under Sheridan, reputedly got a nice signing-on fee at Fir Park after FIFA rules meant that, despite his age, he was moving cross-border and therefore Latics were due no compensation. If the SPL is such a step up from English League One, why didn't these players' goal tallies collapse the minute they set foot on Scottish turf in this superior league? If the answer isn't already smacking you about the head, it's unlikely ever to gain entry... Although I have only seen a couple of teams from League 1 this season the fact is Leeds would have been comfortably promoted if they had not had the 15 point deduction. This to me suggests that they are one the best teams in the division and as such provide a decent benchmark for the overall quality. Although it may be the particular games I went to see, Swindon in particular was bruutal. The two players that you have highlighted to me actually prove my point about age being an important factor. Porter was 23 when he moved up to the SPL and Killen was 24. If a player was any older than 24/25 then you would have to wonder why they haven't stepped up a couple of levels. I wouldn't read too much into their respective scoring records, it can depend on the system etc. being played and sometimes players just socre no matter where they are. In Killen's case I think he just had a lucky streak, I think he is a woeful footballer but Porter I like a lot. Undoubtly there is quality in the lower leagues of England (and Scotland) and they would flourish in the SPL but it tends to be younger players who will make the step up. If you reach 25 or 26 without making your big move (i.e. up 2 divisions +) then the chances are you are not good enough.

I agree with you Scotty and I don't really care where we sign our players from. The point I was trying to raise is that this player is slightly older, if he could really play at a higher level he would have been snapped up at a younger age surely. I don't agree with others on this thread saying that League 1 is of a similar level to the SPL because I'm afraid it's not. I've seen a couple of games live this season (Leeds as I was there on work) and the quality is pretty low. Much less emphasis on football ability than you would think and more on physicality.

Good to see we are active in the transfer market and even better that we're doing it behind closed doors for a change. However, I'm worried about the quality of the target mentioned. A 27 year old Morecambe midfielder is not really what we should be looking at. If we're looking at a level as low as that I'd prefer it to be a 20 year old with potential because if at the age of 27 this guy had not been picked up by a higher level it suggests he probably won't improve our squad (Dean Macdonald anyone?)

Group C: 9th June Romania 1 - 1 France Netherlands 1 - 0 Italy Group D: 10th June Spain 4 - 1 Russia Greece 0 - 0 Sweden YES

Group A: 7th June Switzerland 1 - 1 Czech Republic Portugal 3 - 0 Turkey Group B: 8th June Austria 0 v 2 Croatia Germany 2 - 1 Poland Switzerland to score first goal

Marius isn't going anywhere. I wont allow it. I'm going to chain him to the North Stand railings. I'm only going to release him for training and matches. I will also feed him twice a day.

Eart Times Linkwww.earthtimes.org/articles/show/206817,back-to-basics-for-romania--feature.html "A wild card in attack could be Marius Niculae, who was recalled to the side after a two year absence and scored in his first game back against Russia" A quote from the above article. I've seen quite a few articles saying the same thing. Basically Marius is being tipped as a surprise starter which is brilliant. Really hoping he gets the nod.

ICT are the only SPL club not to file full accounts though. They only file the abbreviated version so we can't actually see most of the detail.

Marius has never been the dynamic, pacy player some people seem to think he was pre-injury. He's always had a slower style and its because of the style of football in Eastern Europe. Lots of slow patient build up where there is no need for pace or physicality. It's only here in the Uk and other Northern European countires that such emphasis is placed on pace and power. He has never been a prolific goalscorer other than his last 2 seasons at Dinamo and it must be remembered that the Dinamo team at the time won 2 doubles and had players such as Mutu etc. I also don't think he's lost anything in particular other than a general match fitness. As I've said previously the guy hasn't had a pre-season since 2005 and thats the big problem. He hasn't had a sustained period of working at his fitness without the interruption of matches. If he stays this summer and gets a Brew pre season under his belt he'll be a completely different player. Considering the age he sustained his injury it shouldn't have a huge lasting effect on the rest of his career and alter his style of play too much. How do I know this? I sustained the same injury and other than the psychological issues (i.e. trepidation about playing at 100%) when you start playing again the only probelm was getting up to match speed again. I think IHE is 100% right when he says the problem is when Marius comes deep. He is far more effective right up the park where he can take a ball in and turn his man or bring others into play. His display against Celtic when we won 3-2 was a perfect solo striker perfromance because he wasn't tracking back. he was up the pitch and this allows the rest of the team to get up and support him. Personally I think we should attach a device to him that gives him some kind of electric shock if he comes more than 5 yards into his own half.....

I would love to see they guy in an ICT shirt next season but unfortunately there's very little chance of that happening. I think he'll be playing at a higher level than us, regardless of what is being said on this forum you don't get a look in at going to Euro 2008 if you don't have class. Not only that but I know if my employer was discussing whther or not they could afford to keep me etc. I'd be slightly nervous and would make moves to ensure that I had a plan B if I found my services no longer required and I was being touted to all and sundry. The problem will be when we can't adequately replace him next season. It makes my chuckle when posters suggest that we can get 4 decent players for the wages he's on because thats complete nonsense. Even if he was on ?4k a week (which he is not) that money would only allow us to bring in 3 SPL journeymen. Our players are not as poorly paid as we may think and none of our first team will be earning less than four figures a week. The simple fact is we can't get anyone of Marius' quality for the same amount we are currently spending on him. The squad is big enough as it is, the problem is that it lacks the sufficient class to carry us to the next level and can only be improved by bringing a couple of higher quality players who will inevitably earn higher wages. What's really p!ssing me off is that all us fans are allowing ourselves to be duped by the board. Recent comments from DS suggest the club is going to make a loss this year and I have a feeling the accounts will make extremely interesting reading. Marius earns nowhere near what is being reported yet the board are allowing us to believe the press as it gives them something to blame a poor financial performance on. They can simply blame Marius, using him as scapegoat to hide behind and deflect attention from the fact that there are other costs that have increased. The board are taking the fans for mugs at the minute and are using one player to deflect attention from their own inadequecies. Its really about time they came clean about all of their agendas and admit their mistakes as only then will we - the fans learn to trust them again. At this stage of a season the board are club are killing themselves. Its season ticket renewal time but how many are now going to renew with all thats going on? Probably fewer than at this stage last season. Its really time for the board to start serving us as they should. This means a decent ticket ordering system - i.e. getting an online ordering sytem up and running, more choice with regard to payment plans and a much improved merchandising operation. I noticed that Falkirk have announced new strips which will be out at the start of the summer -Where is the announcement of our new strip??? There are so many other things I could go about but I don't think this is the place. The club is amateur off the pitch and the board is allowing us to be distracted by the Marius saga. It's about time they actually performed their duties!!

I agree. At least Orion have made some kind of official statement to the people that matter at this club - THE FANS! This seems to be lost on much our hierarchy. I await a response with baited breath :rolleyes02:

yip it only applys to spl teams Thats not strictly true. When I was at school (Left 2002) ICT and County put a lot pressure on boys not to play for the school. It only started around the time we got promoted to the 1st but basically it was along the lines of 'if you play for the school you can't play for us'. It was never a problem for Clach, even when I was in 5th/6th year.

I'll take anyone who can turn us into an SPL team off the park. More professionalism and less of the 'old boys' charade. I want someone with ambition who can take advantage of our location. By that I mean spend the required money on dedicated professional training facilities and a youth system we can be proud of. We should have the pick of youngsters in the area but its our friends from over the bridge who find them. It has to be us that churns out the talented youngsters and sells them on.