The Mantis

Better get a newer photo when that happens.

Saw them for the first time at Galashiels in December. Terrific night, Mrs Mantis even stayed till the end instead of asking for the car keys so she could go and read her book. I see they’re playing at the Bught on my birthday in July. They’ve got a 20th anniversary concert at the Usher Hall in May so I suppose they qualify as ‘Classic’ ?

Apparently Carl is 68. The two heroes of mine who used to stop his drum solos getting too long both kicked the bucket in 2016. Greg Lake from the Big C and Keith Emerson who blew his own head off. I think he was depressed at having arthritis in his fingers which stopped him reaching some of the keys. A younger Keith would probably have incorporated some sort of head blowing off into his stage act if he had thought of it back then.

What does his doppelgänger look like then? I wouldn’t know Angus Beith if I met him in my soup ?

How did you know it was him?

No even the gulls.

Is it not Grégory Tadé? According to p&b. Doumbouya was Dumbo. On his debut I said it was like he was pulling a caravan.

Right Gregor. I’ve spent all day hanging about the royal infirmary and I’m still here... plus I hate posting on a phone so I’ll be brief and then I’m out ? i said I don’t get to many home games these days. I get to the away games though. A lot of this essay of yours is nothing to do with me, you’re just venting and you’re tarring me with the same brush as all the posters put together. I never boo players, especially not Polworth. It’s not a massive deal to me if Robbo plays two strikers but we haven’t got the players for a 4-4-2 as Polworth + A.N. Other (e.g.Trafford )would get overrun in CM. Then there’s possibly 3 at the back in a 3-5-2 which is another story. Your stats for Jordan seem to be heavily skewed by the hat trick against City. Apologies if not so, but it kind of proves my point. One or two posters above have made my points for me so I won’t repeat them. Anyway, this thread is just a circular argument, you obviously feel passionately about it but, as I said, I’m out.

I’m not buying all this, you say you like debate and then you imply that people who disagree with you are sheep while giving the old Devil’s Advocate excuse ? I gave you plenty of facts and figures to debate with in these two posts but you’re not offering much to refute them except deflection. In all seriousness, how long have you been supporting ICT? You joined the forum in March which is not a crime in itself, but if you’re going to claim any credibility then you have to be able to refer back to happier days and better players which is why most people are peed off by where we are. I regret if big Jordan is daft enough to listen to gossip on here. I always encourage the players at games but on a forum they’re fair game.

His share? I think you need more of your stats to prove this ? At 6’4” he’s usually the biggest man on the pitch. Wyness was only 5’10” and won far more headers. Big Jordan can’t jump. You must be his mate.

Don’t get to many home games these days, but the text updates from caley100 are usually depressing enough and reflect the general mood on here. Didn’t realise amid all the doom and gloom that we’ve only won once at home this season yet 4 away, which really should have been 5 last week. So the away form is pretty much title challenger stuff. I couldn’t help comparing yesterday’s result with the win at Firhill. Walsh scored in practically the exact same minute, and after that the players were throwing their bodies in front of everything to get the 3 points, including a penalty save. Seems like the TCS, or the lack of atmosphere, or the moaning, just sucks the life out of the players.

I hear he's off to Edinburgh City.

Suffocated in Polly's pocket the other week so they had to terminate his contract.

Welcome to the forum. Nice topical username you have, but maybe we can work on the dyslexia ?

I was at this game and never even realised he was playing ?

David Proctor gets the first for East Kilbride in a 2-0 win at East Stirlingshire in the LL. EK now 10 points clear of Kelty Hearts. Look forward to an end of season playoff with Cove Rangers.

Here we go again.

Don’t think we’ve got started yet... Edit... spoke too soon. 0-1 Walsh ?

Sorry Mannie, it was ictfc.com I was meaning, as I couldn’t find a programme section. They seem to pop up if you search the news items though.

Is there a separate area of the site where you can access programmes? Hardly ever visit the official site and only buy programmes for Scottish Cup games. I have the Dundee one from last season as an actual issue (not digital) so wondering when the club started doing digital downloads, I'm sure it was before that.

I'll come back to the stats later. Excellent post though. Austin playing off a big man like White or Oakley has never really been tried. I fear that Robbo knows what most of us have worked out - Polworth is our best CM by a distance, but Polworth plus A.N. Other in CM ( e.g. Trafford or Chalmers) will get overrun. So he uses 3, which means we can often dominate the possession, but do sod all with it. Maybe if we got somebody like Draper on loan we could get away with it. Now, back to the stats. You're trying too hard in repeatedly saying that the strikers are "decent". They're not, not at the level we aspire to be anyway. Bizarrely you've quoted starts/goals rather than the other way around. You're implying that our 3 are somehow just behind Shankland etc. The fact is there is a huge gap between the best strikers and the rest. If you take White as 8/13 = 0.62, then Shankland is 18/16 = 1.13 (league only). That's double the strike rate. If you include Cup games it's 1.26. White is 26 and has had 10 clubs. His most significant spell by far was 2 years at Livi where he scored 21 in 69. At 3 of his other clubs he scored no goals at all. For a big man he can't jump, and his second touch is a tackle. Oakley and Austin have similar histories. George had 3 years at AFC Wimbledon where he failed to score at all. OK, only 9 appearances, but he's been loaned out to lesser clubs and failed to impress. Somebody recently, an AFCW fan, said he was surprised George had ended up at us, as he thought he wouldn't make it at English League 2 level. I don't know if you're old enough to remember Wyness, Ritchie, Wilson, Bingham, Hislop, Xausa, Christie. All players challenging at the top of the second tier and coveted by rival clubs. And later on, Hayes, Foran, Rooney. If any of the current 3 are transferred/loaned in the window it will be to Lg 1 clubs. I realise we are where we are though.

As long as they can afford the compo.

I had a ticket for the Kenny Dalglish Stand on Sunday. I thought he was doing a grand job ?

Nice photo ? Here's one of mine:

While I agree wholeheartedly with the rest of your post, I don’t agree with this part. The thread contains a number of ‘man in the street ‘ type responses which you are right to challenge. You may meet similar views in a pub but I would like to think you would challenge such views rather than leave your pint half finished and walk out. The gadgie post was rightly removed before anybody could react to it. Some will greet your words with ‘snowflake’ etc but as in so many aspects of life, the key to dealing with prejudice is always the same - education.