The Mantis

Somebody's getting paid too much Ok the team with the worst defence usually goes down. But I did a wee bit more digging and found: Last season the Dons finished 9th with the same goals against as Hackies, while Well conceded 1 more and were top 6. 2006/7 Killie were 5th conceding only 1 less than the bottom club Pars. Well managed 10th despite conceding 6 more. DUFC 9th with 4 more. 2009/10 St Johnstone let in 4 more but managed 8th. I should have looked at goal difference but couldn't be ersed. Yngwie, that's your job for Monday. Don't do it in the morning though, or you'll have nothing to do in the afternoon

All I can see is somebody's put the 'O' and the 'Y' in.

To be fair, living down here I get more people interested in ICT and our setup than moaning about the travelling, just remember recently when all the Jambos were saying how it was their favourite away trip. OK nobody relishes a midweek trip up the A9 any more than we enjoy going down but it doesn't help to get too paranoid unless you're trying to get a Fergie thing going, that everybody's against us. Lets not confuse what the fans think with the business of running a club. My take on it is: back in the 70s and 80s before ICT got in, the wee clubs voted out of self interest. Any club chairman, say East Stirling, is going to vote for Ferranti Thistle rather than Inverness Thistle when he looks at the cost of running a coach. The fans would enjoy the trip but when did the opinion of the fans ever count? In 1994, the Premier clubs got 4 votes, the Div 1 clubs got 2 and the Div 2 clubs got 1. That's how we got in. The big clubs didn't care about things like hiring a coach, and they probably never thought they'd have to play us anyway.

Paisley's a dump though, could live without going back there

Once we get our act together we're staying up. I already predicted C(o)unty's annual April collapse but I have to admit with the experienced squad they have they're starting to look the real deal, especially since none of the others look anything special this year.

Surely shome mishtake? I thought Dougal was a newcomer to the Shneck?

Have to agree with most of what IHE says. My concern would be that Tel becomes like so many 'goodlifers' who relocate to the Highlands and think they're in heaven. Don't lose the hunger.

The marking at the first goal was atrocious - bad enough that it reached Sandaza in the box but the ball should never have been allowed to reach Sheridan on the left in the first place. That reminds me - away to see the highlowlights

Does that mean the energy bill conversations will be history

Naelifts.

We had the very same discussion two years ago when we were about 6th in div 1 and beaten twice by the cabbagemen. I even said myself I expected (and hoped) that Butcher would see out the season and be on his way, but remember what happened. I know one long serving player's dad who says Butcher rules by fear and is a bully to the players, hence Roy, Russell and Grant leaving. However there is no way this compares to Brew. I'm keeping the shoes tied up for now. We got over Stratford and Eagles, let's hope we can get over this when the injured players start returning.

A lot of Scotty's are from the same era as mine. I'd probably go for the singing in the rain game v Hearts in 2002 as my no 1 ever, but having watched ICT since the start, I'd need about 200 games, and that's just from the Pele era

Not sure what you mean there marks? For those who are new to ICT we should of course point out the annual tradition known as the 'Ross C(o)unty April Collapse' :laugh: :laugh: Sorry, should have put it more clearly. If we were to be relegated and County promoted then County could ground share with us so long as County's SPL fixture list was given priority over our SFL fixture list. As you correctly point out though there is a lot of football to be played yet. County have got one advantage though, they have a Munro, whereas we have a mountain to climb. No, you're OK, it was clear enough if I read it as a straight post. I just thought you were making a joke and got your SPLs and SFLs mixed up

Not sure what you mean there marks? For those who are new to ICT we should of course point out the annual tradition known as the 'Ross C(o)unty April Collapse' :laugh: :laugh:

What Hislop said, both times. Looked like a 4-4-2 to me. My first game since EEP in August and what a waste of 21 quid. Saints were happy to let us tap it around midfield in pretty patterns without taking any risks getting into the box. Could have still been playing yet, Saints away home for their tea, floodlights off, and we'd still never score. Davies didn't impress me at all on first viewing. Chippendale, maybe. Tansey, thought he had potential before but a bit of a headless chicken today. Shinnie, a luxury. Other Shinnie, shaky. Proctor, if he's a player at all it's in midfield. Tade, well..... I actually thought Rosscoe was no bad but that's maybe because the rest were so poor. I've said it before but Russeldinho used to fight for the jersey and got stick every week. Most of these players don't know what it means to play for ICT. Roll on the return of Hayes. Never really thought Hogg, Doran, Cox were all that great but their return is urgent. Spoke to one Saints fan on the way out. He reckons we were better in midfield than them and we'll be ok, thinks Dunfermline are the poorest side. Had a Saints supporting mate in the Ormond stand with his son. Texted me after 70 mins saying 'what a dull game. At least they're giving away free copies of The Beano in our end".

Bingham is coach of Tynecastle FC but they got hammered 9-0 yesterday by Spartans in a league game so there's rumours he's offski.

:laugh: I'm sure Jnr will be gutted at being in 4th place. have a greenie anyway.

Bollocks.

I got a message from Stu the Jag asking: " I?m looking for any details of the Jimmy Davidson testimonial match between Caley and Partick Thistle played at Telford Street on 29th April 1964." Any offers?

Well I'll be standing today. I'm not paying 25 quid or whatever it is for a restricted view seat just to encourage the money-making exercise that is Celtic FC, while being glared at by stewards and probably kept in at full time, all the while worrying if my car Naelifts car is safe. Clever use of marketing I must admit, to sign players from the far East, sell thousands of jerseys, and encourage all these mugs to feel that they are part of one huge worldwide 'family'. For those of you who remember such things, the Scottish Cup starts today so I'm off to see my local team Whitehill playing Edinburgh University. Good luck to ICT in the lions den this afternoon. I'll be there in spirit if not in person.

Andrew Cook of EFFC works beside me - can confirm that he made it into work yesterday . However he only got away at 3.30 on Wed and made it to Pittodrie at 6.45 in time to get a place on the bench.

IIRC I was sitting near you that day. However we were too busy trying to get down the road after the game so we missed Lennon challenging some of our fellow fans to 'come ahead' . Why didn't somebody like Big Stu take him upon it

Or maybe it just shows my impartiality

Dougie, I refer you to my previous answer regarding Souness. Souness and his band of brothers were universally despised in the same way as Lennon was last season. Those you refer to as 'the people' are widely despised, mainly because of their triumphalism and arrogance, but they would not have ascribed sectarian motives to this, neither now, nor back in the days of Souness. The other lot (or 'not the people' as they could perhaps be called in a reference to a once famous fanzine ) seem to have a problem separating sectarian motives from other motives. And no, I'm not excusing the actions of a handful of lunatics who see fit to send bullets or attack Lennon in the street. Thankfully, to most of us it is just a game.

I don't really see any difference between Lennon and Souness. If somebody had managed to get on the pitch and give Souness a well-deserved swipe across the pus, nobody would have been claiming sectarian motives for it. BTW as Lennon claimed that he felt 'something brush his ear' then technically he was assaulted, but in practice the guy only intended to assault him, but never quite made it. In the same way that if you get caught with a carload of white powder which you thought was cocaine but turns out to be Vim, you get off