Libero

Article in todays Press and Journal regarding transfer activity. It suggests we are looking to add a couple of players. Quote from Butcher: Really hope this will be supplemented by a couple of loan signings to cover defence The article identifies that we have signed 5 in Reguero, Raven, Warren, Oswell and Draper (waiting on paperwork from the football authorities). 3 players are joining the first team from the U19s in Liam Polworth, Martin Laing and Connor Pepper. As it stands we have: Goalkeepers 1. Ryan Esson 2. Antonio Reguero 3. Ed Baldy/Scott Mathieson Defence 4. Josh Meekings 5. Gary Warren 6. Chris Hogg 7. Graeme Shinnie 8. David Raven Midfield 9. Nick Ross 10. Andrew Shinnie 11. Martin Laing 12. Aaron Doran 13. Owain-Tudur Jones 14. Gavin Morrison 15. Ritchie Foran 16. Ross Draper 17. Liam Polworth Strikers 18. Shane Sutherland 19. Billy McKay 20. Jason Oswell 21. Connor Pepper Hopefully we can replace Hayes and Tade but we really need defensive reinforcements, absolutely no way can we go into the season with 4 fully fit defenders and Chris Hogg recovering from a very serious injury. Butcher says he will be running with a smaller squad this season, understandable given the financial state of Scottish football at present

The social unrest comment was unbelievable. Each new statement I see from Doncaster and Regan brings with it a real sense of bewilderment I competely agree about the latter part you wrote, this whole situation has shown Regan and Doncaster up to be completely corrupt and devoid of morals. How can we seriously plan for a fairer more competitive playing field for Scottish football when they have so clearly displayed that morals, rules, competition and indeed laws should all come second to ensuring that the Old Firm remain in the SPL in order to keep money coming in from TV contracts.

Anyone know how our season ticket sales compare to this time last year?

Todays Highland News suggesting that a deal for Draper should be completed before the weekend

No need to guess who that was. The corrupt actions of the bigwigs at the SPL have been nothing short of scandalous

this is a direct quote of Doncasters' yesterday He somehow thinks that the third option should be ruled out because it would massivley damage Scottish football as a whole. Does he not realise that it is his fault that every scottish club will now suffer not because of Rangers being liquidated, but because of the duopoly of money/power that he has created and maintained for the Old Firm. If this guy remains involved with Scottish Football any longer then there really is no hope for anyone

Alex Thomson has tweeted a very valid point and one which has been totally ignored. He has quite rightly identified that it is the Scottish Football Authorites that have created this entire fiasco, if they followed the rules that they set, then the newco would have been sent to SFL 3 to start again. Whilst Rangers have been the catalyst that has identified the SPL/SFAs shortcomings this isnt Rangers fault. In no way am i defending Rangers, they should be put to SFL3, end of story. This is a problem entirely of Doncaster and Regans making

My guess it will be on sale at best a couple of weeks before the seasons opening game. No doubt the last of the SPL clubs to start selling new strips once again

confirmed, just saw this: http://sport.stv.tv/football/scottish-premier/109273-ian-black-agrees-to-rangers-move-depending-on-their-league-status/

hearing whispers that he has agreed a deal in principle to join 'The Rangers' dependant on them staying in the SPL what a clown

There is nothing official yet but the Press and Journal yesterday was reporting that Draper had been North and had trained with the squad. The article also said that they had agreed a deal so hopefully we dont get gazumped. What ive read about this player sounds pretty good, think he would be a decent addition to the squad

This guy is unbelievable and the sooner he is out of Scottish Football the better Effectively what he has done is given the Old Firm a safety net so that if either club gets into trouble (as it has in the case of Rangers being brought to task over avoiding tax and using dual contracts) then he can roll out the news that all our TV deals are tied to the Old Firm and prevent them from being relegated or removed from the league due to the financial armageddon that would ensue. I always used to joke about the SPL being called the Self Preservation League but this really takes the biscuit

Inverness Courier is reporting today that Butcher is wanting to make 2 additions to the squad this week. Ross Draper is widely reported to be one of them so one more arriving this week. Good to see our attacking options are being considered: Still a bit of work to be done. We still need another 2 centre halves, another left back, a wide man to replace Jonny Hayes and another striker. Wonder how many loan signings Butcher is planning this season Full article here: http://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/Sport/Football/More-additions-for-Caley-Thistle-this-week-03072012.htm

nice goal i would have put in in the rumours but deemed sky sports news to be a credible source

the wiki page about him has him at 6 ft 5 but his profile at the Macclesfield site has him at 6 ft 1. If he was 6"5, then OTJ and him would make a pretty lofty central midfield

profile from Macclesfield Town website: http://www.mtfc.co.uk/page/ProfilesDetail/0,,10393~41680,00.html sounds like he could add a bit of steel to the midfield along with a goal scoring touch

Heard that we are close to signing midfielder Ross Draper from Macclesfield Town story on Sky Sports here: http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11781/7859149/Caley-to-capture-Draper will post more info once i can find it

I agree that the striking department looks pretty light at the moment, especially if Butcher continues to use Shane out wide rather than up front. I would like to see Shane get a chance playing up front rather than out wide as i feel he could do be pretty useful, think he will be used more this year than he was last year. That said we could still do with another option up front. Hopefully with Hayes and Gillet leaving then that frees up space for another 2 players on top of the 7 originally targetted

Imagine we still had Robert Eagles! It would be a menagerie we'd have at TCS!

Corrected, you could be right with the freudian slip part

Was interested to see how many ‘local’ players we had when we were first promoted to the SPL. There is certainly not as many Scottish players in the squad now but the amount of ‘local’ players isn’t too dissimilar. I have classed Aberdeen and North as local 1. Bayne, Graham NOT LOCAL OR NORTH OF SCOTLAND 2. Black, Ian NOT LOCAL OR NORTH OF SCOTLAND 3. Brewster, Craig NOT LOCAL OR NORTH OF SCOTLAND 4. Brown, Mark NOT LOCAL OR NORTH OF SCOTLAND 5. Carricondo, Juanjo NOT LOCAL OR NORTH OF SCOTLAND 6. Dods, Darren NOT LOCAL OR NORTH OF SCOTLAND 7. Duncan, Russell LOCAL 8. Fetai, Bajram NOT LOCAL OR NORTH OF SCOTLAND 9. Fox, Liam NOT LOCAL OR NORTH OF SCOTLAND 10. Fraser, Michael LOCAL 11. Golabek, Stuart LOCAL 12. Hart, Richie LOCAL 13. Hastings, Richard LOCAL 14. Hislop, Steven NOT LOCAL OR NORTH OF SCOTLAND 15. Keogh, Liam NOT LOCAL OR NORTH OF SCOTLAND 16. McAllister, Rory LOCAL 17. McBain, Roy LOCAL 18. McCaffrey, Stuart NOT LOCAL OR NORTH OF SCOTLAND 19. Munro, Grant LOCAL 20. Proctor, David NOT LOCAL OR NORTH OF SCOTLAND 21. Prunty, Bryan NOT LOCAL OR NORTH OF SCOTLAND 22. Smith, Jonathon UNKNOWN 23. Thomson, Darran NOT LOCAL OR NORTH OF SCOTLAND 24. Tokely, Ross LOCAL 25. Wilson, Barry NOT LOCAL CURRENT LOCAL PLAYERS: RYAN ESSON, GRAEME SHINNIE, ANDREW SHINNIE, SHANE SUTHERLAND, MARTIN LAING, NICK ROSS SCOTT MATHIESON (U19 KEEPER, IIRC HE IS LOCAL) So between the team we were first promoted to the SPL with compared to our current (incomplete) squad there is a 9 v 7. I think the issue here is players are no longer committing to clubs for more than a couple of years hence we dont grow attached to them and feel like they are local. The likes of Barry Wilson, players from Aberdeenshire way like Duncan, McBain, Tokely etc all felt like local players because they were with the club for so long. This is just a result of the fact that money is so much of a pull factor. Gone are the days where football was about football or loyalty. Its all about the £ these days

Goalkeepers 1. Ryan Esson 2. Antonio Reguero 3. Ed Baldy/Scott Mathieson Gone - Johnny Tuffey Defence 4. Josh Meekings 5. Gary Warren 6. Chris Hogg 7. Graeme Shinnie 8. David Raven Gone - Ross Tokely Kenny Gillet Thomas Piermayr David Proctor Steve Williams (end of loan) Roman Golobart (end of loan) Tom Aldred (end of loan) Midfield 9. Nick Ross 10. Andrew Shinnie 11. Martin Laing 12. Aaron Doran 13. Owain-Tudur Jones 15. Gavin Morrison 16. Ritchie Foran Gone - Jonny Hayes Greg Tansey Lee Cox David Davis (end of loan) Claude Gnapka Aiden Chippendale (end of loan) Strikers 17. Shane Sutherland 18. Billy McKay 19. Jason Oswell Gone - Gregory Tade Sam Winnall (end of loan) So by my reckoning we have a squad of 19. Still light on the defence and midfield IMO. Would imagine that Terry would want to start the season with a squad of about 22-24 so hopefully there is still another 3-5 players to come in. Top of my shopping list would be: A left back to replace Kenny Gillet, A centre half to replace Williams/Golobart, An attacking midfielder to replace Tansey, A winger/wide midfielder to replace Hayes, A utility defender/midfielder to replace Proctor Highly possible some of these may be loans but it still looks like a fair bit of work to be done by my reckoning

Antonio Reguero, seems like an ex-real madrid Gk, not having much luck finding out too much about him yet: Jason Oswell, young striker from Crewe Alexandra by the sounds of it, again not too much info readily available:

Tyrone Smith is reporting on twitter that we have signed Spanish goalkeeper Antonio Reguero and English striker Jason Oswell Dont know any further at this stage

Seems to have decent pedigree and from his bio at Tranmere it appears he is versatile in that he can play anywhere at the back. He does indeed sound like a Tokely replacement Heres hoping his injury problems are behind him and he can do a job for the team Welcome aboard David