The Mantis

Not heard of the promotion. Nor the magazine, who gets that? The only thing I get through the post is the AGM details.

The thing is, even amateur & semi pro teams can subscribe to template-type websites such as Pitchero which include a fan app in the price which is about £20/month. You can see this system used in the English pyramid for teams who get bigger attendances than us. But a so-called pro team like ICT don't seem to have anybody in charge who has the slightest clue. Scotty & Don did all the spadework for years but apparently the club no longer needs their skills and experience...

Let me get on the train first ? still at Edinburgh Gateway

The 2018 update on club licenses is HERE. Whatever the ground issues are, upgrading them to Silver will update the overall club license to Silver, as the overall award is always taken from the worst ranked category (the categories being ground, first team, youth, and legal/admin/finance). If anybody wants to hazard a guess what the ground actually needs, the Licensing Manual is HERE, and for ground criteria you should start reading at P24 ? Am I imagining it, or was TCS previously rated Silver??? If so, looking at the list, pretty much the only thing that could have changed is the condition of the pitch? Strangely, County have at least Silver in all categories, yet have Bronze overall. I can only assume this is a misprint, or there's a hidden category for "number of supporters' eyes/fingers". Quite a few clubs, including ourselves and County, are reviewed next month. As an aside, in the HL, only Station Park, Nairn is rated at Bronze, the rest being Entry. No doubt that will change when Cove's Balmoral Stadium is assessed.

I see over on P&B they’ve tied up with a company making phone cases. Interesting or rampant consumerism depending on your POV? Anyway if you quote code PIEANDBOV there’s 10% off. See what you think of the ICT ones: https://nostalgiacases.co.uk/collections/inverness-caledonian-thistle-phone-cases Think I’ll stick with my Harris Tweed soft cover in the red & blue though. Less worry when I drop it ?

I don't really have much time for McLeish this time round although he did a good job before. Although Strachan had probably had long enough, in hindsight maybe he should have stayed on, but they were painted into a corner as O'Neill was the obvious target and there seemed to be no plan B. Having personally had a fleeting experience of the blazer culture at Hampden, the whole thing really needs a clear out from top to bottom. But I think Berti was atrocious tbh. I think his experience of Scottish football was playing against the likes of John Greig in the 1970s, a bit like himself, and he seemed to think it was a matter of harnessing the passion of the players and that was enough. Sadly it was a different players' mentality by that time. The time I was proudest of the team was on a frosty September night in 1977, when they demolished the European champions Czechoslovakia 3-1 at Hampden just before beating Wales at Anfield. That was mainly Ormond's team with pace, controlled aggression and skill, under Ally MacLeod. Hartford, Jardine, McGrain, McQueen, Dalglish, Jordan... in front of 85000. All water under the bridge though. I suppose us oldies have to be thankful we experienced these times.

Yes, as far as our group is concerned, we’re 40th in the FIFA rankings with Albania 58 and Israel 93. So not winning the group would be a disaster. But in league C as a whole, Romania are ahead of us at 28th in the world rankings, with Serbia at 36 and Montenegro 41. So in the semi finals we’d have to beat one of the other 3 group winners who will be pretty equal to ourselves. Personally I think this is a great idea from UEFA. Teams are getting to face teams of a similar standard which should lead to better entertainment instead of mismatches such as Scotland v Gibraltar, and v Belgium which I sadly witnessed the other night. It’s also a way of qualifying for Euro 2020 by the back door. For nations like us who are perennially snookered by the seeding system and usually have 2 much stronger teams in our group, it offers a bit of hope. You could be cynical and say that, as Euro 2020 will be staged at a multitude of venues including Hampden, they are only trying to make it easier for home nations to qualify, but as far as I know the Nations League is to be a regular tournament from now on.

Both of them are massive clubs, even though it’s for dubious reasons, but don’t have access to the tv money that the English clubs do. It’s absolute folly to compare them on the park at present as they would be successful given the same funds. Take the likes of Chelsea- not a big club, just a rich club. Never a big club in my lifetime till Abramovich came along. Once he departs they’ll sink like County without Uncle Roy, and most of those Chelsea scarves will disappear into the back of the drawer.

The erse cheeks playing somewhere else, e.g. England (never happening) or Atlantic League, would have the same effect on Scottish football as the effect on the Highland League when ICT, County, Elgin & Peterheid got into the national leagues. More competitive maybe, but definitely lower in standard. The only solution is if both of them went bust.

Comfortable win. Could have been more. Albania never offered anything. Only got to beat bottom ranked Israel now... oh ?

Can only talk from my experience in the LL. Whitehill now register players on Non-Contract for the first team, and Amateur for the U20s. If you register players as Professional, the 3rd option, you now have to pay them the minimum wage. Taking into account travelling twice a week to training plus matchday, this would approximate to £3.5k per player p.a. Not really an option for a small club. SO - would assume most women's teams would only pay expenses at best, or even pay-to-play. If Bannerman was here, no doubt he would waffle on about pampered footballers compared to other sports, but the reality is, the vast majority of footballers are not paid, never mind being good enough to make a living at it. Maybe your question was in jest anyway, as players' salaries are negotiated - you don't get players sueing their club over 'ability equality'.

Left Hampden last night during injury time and the women’s team were coming out with a bunch of flowers each. Invited them to replace the men on Monday night. Either them or the flowers, not too bothered.

I don’t think it’s as bad as ‘Half Man Half Duck’ ? i actually got to know Hissy a couple of years ago when he went into management with a certain Lowland League club but I think I got away with it.

Don’t like peeing on everybody’s chips, but would it not be better getting the City team back under ICT’s wing if it’s doable? There’s precious little talent in women’s football as it is, and if City and County have teams too it’ll just be like the men’s situation in the Highlands, only worse. The last time I saw them, they were beaten 7-0 by Hearts, and that was in the second tier. They only seemed to have one player who knew what she was doing, I think she was called Emma, no 8. Glasgow City beat them 14-0 in a cup tie a couple of years back. Just my two pennorth, as Laurence would maybe say. Or not.

Les Fridge saved 2 for us v Falkirk in 2000.

Ah but are their feet anywhere near the wire? Could be trouble if you start cutting that.

You missed your steak bridie yesterday.

^^^^^^^^ was in the pie queue when Vigurs scored

2 brilliant goals breaking away at pace, nice to see us doing what other teams usually do to us. And Polly’s one of our own ?

Agreed. Finally got round to listening and it brought back some great memories of better days. Already forgotten how good we were.

Presactly. Glad somebody got it. Stratford.

Just for comparison: season 2009-10, first 3 games. Dunfermline 0 ICT 1 ICT 0 Ayr 0 Dundee 2 ICT 2 5 points. This season, first 3 games. Falkirk 0 ICT 1 ICT 0 Ayr 0 ICT 2 Alloa 2. 5 points.

Apologies for my ignorance- I haven’t been paying attention as I’m more interested in old stadiums than new ones ? , also never been all that familiar with Aberdeen, but I had been assuming they were going to Loirston Loch all this time ? I did go to Cove’s new place the other week and it’s just such a godforsaken area (but the balmoral pies are good). Like us it was built next door to a travellers site, though good luck to anybody trying to get to the stadium from there, as you have to go north round Ikea, then round the Post Office depot and a dozen other businesses. Imagine Caley Stadium being right in the middle of the Longman and you’ve just about got it. Just on Falkirk, they do have an actual huge landfill just south of Grangemouth and it stinks for about half a mile if you’re coming north on the M9. Bad news for the ICT Lothian & Borders contingent.

Was he kicking the furniture? Scott Brown.

Definitely Steven McLean in the middle. Actually met him 2 weeks ago at a meeting but never got round to thanking him ?