Stevie

Anyone remember this little ditty from a few years back?

He's white he's blue

He shat in Simons shoe

Ian McCall Ian McCall

Aye that's right John, I do recall.

That would be Simon Stainrod from their Dundee days I think, or was it Falkirk ?

Strange chap, that Iain MacCall.

I'm not a Butcher fan, but credit where credit is due , the team are now looking more solid than earlier.

Butcher got off to a flyer, although as we all know in football a change of manager nearly always sparks a stale team to life.

Like many others, I would rate the general player changes as poor. That we don't have Vigurs now is very disappointing, why the hell McBain doesn't feature is truly staggering.

Johnny Hayes & Sanchez are decent footballers, don't rate Stratford or Eagle, and Cox losses possesion too much.

I know folk get sick and tired of hearing it but I'd of rather we'd have Robbo at the helm.

I see MacCall was furious with the stand side linesman yesterday, he said his behaviour was appalling. Apparantly he was effing at his players.

Thing is, that although the Partick boss is actually right enough, how much abuse do these officials have to CONSTANTLY put up with.

Players attitude to refs and in particular linesman is there for us all to see with all the close ups on telly, absolutely shocking what they've got to put up with, I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would want to go out there and be subjected to it all.

So now one wee bloke has given a bit back and he's getting hammered for it. Tell you what if I was one of them I'd be swearing at the effin players too ! :tonguecheek:

That big guy at Brechin Rory MacAllister is fair knocking them in, that's him top scorer in the 2nd division.

Anyone seen him ?

Says on the S.F.A. site that there is an inspection today at 11 am

As I've mentioned before, I am both staggered and annoyed that McBain isn't in the team.

He is a proven player, a player who can easily hold his own in the PREMIER LEAGUE.

Okay, managers have plans and want to do their own thing. No offence intended but

I think Roy must be desperately disappointed that he's getting overlooked for the likes of

Stratford and Eagle.

I can remember being at the first game after the Celtic victory, A 1-0 win over Q.O.S.

with Ross Tokely getting the goal.

The team got a tremendous reception.

Incidently the link that Scotty left doesn't work for me, I assume it was a report on the Celtic gamewith the team line-up's, so just incase anyone wants to know the details :-

ICT:- Brown, McCaffrey, Mann, Munro, Tokely Hart, McBain, Robson, Golabek, Ritchie, Wyness.

subs:- Christie, (Robson) Keogh, (Ritchie) Fraser, Bagen, Stewart.

Celtic:- Broto, McNamara, Valgaeren, Varga, Laursen, Smith, Lennon, Fernandez, Guppy, Larsson, Maloney

subs:- Hartson, (Maloney) Douglas, Balde, Miller, Healy

I'm afraid it does not look at all good, just had a look at the Morton fans site.

One guy said he was at the park today and some official said it's still frozen and

looking unlikely.

I think I might have been suffering a newer version of the this for the last couple of months, though I am reliably informed that this newer more developed version is known as "Butcher Droop Syndrome". I have also have been reliably informed that this disease does pop up from time to time, most notably in the last few years in Brentford and Sydney.

I've got the same strain as you Renegade, an absolutely dreadful disease !

I've had it since April and I just can't shake the b u g g e r at all.

A lot of folk seem to be immune to it though.

........it's official

Why the hell is everyone wanting charlie back?

Probably because he did a fantastic job when he was manager.

The fact he's local too, doesn't go against him.

Can't understand why folk think Dan (thread starter) is too early with this question ;)

Surely that's what clubs forums are meant for.

To answer the question, I would say 10 days ago we had absolutely no chance ! Stayin up was my only concern. In fact I wrote on these boards that the season was a write off.

To my utter amazement Butcher changed things around, changed the formation and more importantly the personnel. It must of been hard for him to drop the bulk of his signings, but fair play to the guy, I certainly didn't see it coming.

What we've now got is a team who CAN win the league but Dundee SHOULD.

As we all know though in football, it's not always the club with the money that takes it all. Dundee aren't rampaging through this league YET like everyone thought.

It's going to be an exciting season now.

I would say we'll definately finish in the top two

I'm absolutely delighted for Rooney.

I've been harpin on about the poor lad no' getting a chance for over a year now.

I think he can bag 20 league goals in this division

Hope I'm proved wrong, but I think there is a lot of "absense makes the heart grow fonder" here.

A helluva lot of posters are giving it the just wait til Eric's back patter and to be honest, what's he really done so far ?

As I say hope I'm wrong but for me, he's got to prove himself. There is no way he should walk into last week's team.

and is Sanchez not still our top goalscorer?

He's only scored against small teams in the cup(except partick)

Where as Rooney has scored against Ayr and a penalty against Queen of the South

Sanchez ahead of Rooney everytime

To be fair, they've both scored 2 league goals.

Rooney has only started 2 games compared to Sanchez's 8.

Personally I think their is room for both in the team

We'll definately climb the table, of that there is no doubt but I think it's going to be extremely difficult to overcome Dundee !

I was in the Greenock area last Saturday and went to the Morton Dundee game. The Griffiths fellow that everyone is talking about is very very good. I think his goals will be enough to get them up :(

Hopefully, I'm wrong though

Further to those comments I've just seen on BBC Scotland sport website that Dundee are making a ?500 000 bid for Dundee Utd's midfield internationalist Scott Robertson in January !

They dont appear to be short of a bob !

We'll definately climb the table, of that there is no doubt but I think it's going to be extremely difficult to overcome Dundee !

I was in the Greenock area last Saturday and went to the Morton Dundee game. The Griffiths fellow that everyone is talking about is very very good. I think his goals will be enough to get them up :(

Hopefully, I'm wrong though

Rooney, for me, is the most natural finisher that we have.

I've been saying for a year now that this guy needs and deserves a decent run in the team.

He was our top scorer last season yet I don't think he ever started more than 3 games in a row !

If Butcher would give him a sustained run like he's done with guys like Cox, Eagle, DZ & Stratford, I think he'd really establish himself.

I was shocked when I saw the team lines yesterday. The look of the side filled me with more confidence than I've had for some considerable time.

I've been fiercely critical of Butcher, his team selections and player purchases have been very poor.

However if El Tel has finally seen the light, and going by yesterdays team, it would appear, he has, then he will get my full backing.

Yesterday's result shouldn't be a one off, we may well have turned the corner !

I would still like to see McBain back involved mind you.

Butcher has finally put out a decent side....and just look at them go !!!

Why Cox in the middle? He has been posted virtually missing since the 2-2 draw with Dundee. McBain will at least work his socks off, break down attacks and can pass a ball to a player with the same shirt he's wearing.

Correct !

The way I feel is that we've basically got to write of the season.

I don't think we'll go down I think Airdrie & Ayr will remain the teams in trouble.

I don't want to see Butcher in charge next season but as many have mentioned , there is no way we could afford to sack him, as I say we've just got to write off the season.

What worries me is the possibility of losing guys like McBain, Duncan, Esson etc. like we have with Garry Wood & Iain Vigurs etc.

Oh aye and heaven forbid we sign anybody in the January window, you know , some Vauxhall Conference rejects or something !! :D

Christie leaving

Some of our best ever players came from the Highland league. Iain Stewart, Brian Thompson, Charlie Christie, Ian McArthur, Richie Hart, Barry Wilson, Roy McBain, Ross Tokely, Stuart Golabeck etc etc etc. I would take all of them ahead of almost any equivalent member of our current squad. I would far prefer we gave talented young highlanders a chance rather than trawl the lower divisions in england.

Exactly ! couldn't agree more.

The basis of our team which was constructed by Paterson was built from "local" stock. Butcher, in trying to build his own team, is plucking guys from England who basically can't get a game down there.

I have to say I'm not looking forward to the inevitable rebuilding process that we will have to go through when (not if) we fail to win promotion. We can kiss goodbye to Esson, Foran, Hayes, Cox, Odhiambo and virtually all of the players that we have on short-term contracts.

Can't see Imrie hangin about too long either, and with the way things are with Roy McBain, he'll be off too