Bridge_Ender

Never played for ICT though did he? Played three times for Caledonian Thistle, accoridng to Wiki. Definitely remember him playing in one of the early league games. So technically not ICT but definitely part of the merged club ;)

I would be delighted if Mackay Steven ended up with us. He did really well at Liverpool and broke into the reserve side in only his second season there. From watching a few of the reserve and u-19 games on LFC TV a couple years back he looked a great prospect. Fast, direct, tricky winger who could play in the middle too if required although he probably doesn't have the physical presence for that in the SPL. Not sure about his injury history but he has got to be worth a years contract anyway from what I have seen of him in the past.

The 'moan inn

How can they convert the concourse into a bar and leave the servery where it is...? There isn't much space as it is. Are they going to cut the concourse in half? Or build an extension? Surely the bar isn't going to be a table opposite the servery with some optics hanging behind it!

At risk of going over old ground... TB isn't on these programs because he is the ICT Manager, he's on them because he's the ex-England and Rangers captain. He won't have the opportunity to start waxing lyrical about ICT and I'd imagine if he did he'd find the TV work would dry up as apart from a few thousand ICT fans, no one else is interested. The TV captions will always refer to the link he has with the event he is covering, i.e. Rangers (occasionally!) play Champions League football, he's the ex-Rangers captain, there is the relevance. Same with 'James Cordens WC Live' (what absolute brain damage that is, watched 10 minutes and had to give up) and his previous life as England captain. I'd imagine most people who watch and are interested will ask 'what's he doing these days anyway?' and go google him or whatever and find out that way. It can only be positive that TB is on the telly so much, even if he isn't banging the drum loudly it is still exposure for the club.

Was Juanjo really that great a player? Personally I don't think he was, fairly talented but nothing special. Given the choice between the Juanjo of 6 years ago or the Jonny Hayes of last season it would be Hayes every time for me. As for reasons to beat Celtic, the patronising programme notes from the Feb 8th '00 game wishing us a good visit to Glasgow, apart from a 'painful and humilliating' 90 minutes should be pinned to the dressing room wall before every game against the Plastic Paddies!

or how the exchange rates work and that the euro and sterling are two different currencies.... allegedly...

Nice one! Cheers for the heads up!

Reads like a bit of a non story during a slow time for football reporters to be honest. I'd imagine he was asked something along the lines of 'what effect will the failure of Dundee to achieve promotion have on budgets for next season' to which the obvious answer is a fair bit for the same reasons we'd prefer County in the SPL and by illustrating the point with a couple of extreme examples the reporter has been able to create a piece his editor wants... SPL prices are extremely painful though, the one thing about next season I'm really not looking forward to.

Queen Park at home according to the SFL website

And on one of the best weekends of the year weather wise?

Location wise I think the current site is as good as anywhere and better than most. What it does lack is surrounding facilities and having not seen any plans for the area I don't know if that will be improved or not. One thing to consider perhaps would be to move the gypsy camp to another location (preferably across the Kessock Bridge...) which would free up more land, perhaps for an all weather facility and other leisure facilities. Within the present TCS I think it would benefit from a partial redevelopment of the main stand, i.e. perhaps putting office/hospitality space above the wings with access into the main stand and the knock on benefit of a roof for those areas meaning the seats could be used more frequently or even as solely hospitality spaces. On the West side of the gound a structure of some sort would be welcome, although not knowing the proximity of the gas line to the back of the present perimeter wall and the subsequent impact on development space it is difficult to suggest anything more than a small stand encompassing TV facilities as well as a bar/restaurant for fans to mingle together pre-match. Capacity wise we don't need much more, if any more, than the present level.

I suggested something similar a few months back and it really is an excellent idea. Pretty cheap to put together, relatively low uptake required to make it a success and a few quid to the trust or youth development in the process. Really can't see a downside to it at all!

I think you're right, IIRC correctly he did a Geology degree in Aberdeen and continued to train and play P/T for us through his studies but when he graduated and was offered a job left to join Peterhead. I think Bavidge and Calder were the only 2 part time players on Feb 8th. Quite liked him as a player but he obviously knew himself he wasn't anything special. Still a good body to have around and effective at that level.

With clubs cutting back and the economic situation continuing to impact on all but the very top reaches of the game it could be something of a buyers, or hirer's, market this summer. Having said that I'd be surprised if any substantial names arrive, the careers of both the players cited above hadn't hit the heights they promised early on and were entering something of a last chance saloon before St. J and United came calling.

I reckon if you asked any County fan whether they would rather have won the league or got to the Cup Final almost unanimously they would have said the league. That's the biggest point, today it's over for them, it's a memory now, but we are still enjoying our achievement and looking forward to the SPL again. Whoever it was that said they don't see them as rivals anymore is probably right. I was totally underwhelmed by the derby games this season as I saw Dundee as our main challengers. We've simply moved a few stages ahead of County, the games against them in the early years were passionate and exciting because both teams were fighting for who would reach the top levels first. We won that race and only proved it again by winning the league again. Whilst I wasn't at Hampden supporting them, I wouldn't have grudged them the victory yesterday. As it is I'm a wee bit relieved they didn't win but the main point is I'm not that bothered either way what County do.

Good news and just need to see what the new strip design is as well as the identities of some of the players who will be wearing it will be.

I'll say it again, simples! World Cup/Euro years are great, we can just sit back and watch the English gets themselves all frothed up (maybe it's just the media?!) about their imminent success and then enjoy it as they inevitably collapse and go through the bi-annual post mortem and hand wringing that accompanies it. Anything us Scots can do to wind it up a little more just adds to the enjoyment and almost without fail our Southern Cousins take the bait! It's not as if we're busying ourselves with anything daft like tactics, players or even making travel plans in the run-up to a tournament after all... It's just brilliant TV, I'm all for more sport on TV if it could be that good! In purely footballing terms England are realistically no more our rivals on the field than Clach are to us, that's just the sad truth these days...

True, I suppose that's the difference between the best player for the club over the decade and the best individual player of the decade. For me, Tokely for best player for the club and Niculae as best individual player, certainly the most talented.

I think that's pretty relevant when talking about the best players over a period of time. The best footballer we have had in the last decade is possibly Niculae although I agree Black was a great player also.

Probably have to agree with Tokely as player of the decade but both Duncan and McBain come close I reckon.

Esson seems to me to be a bit of a noise up merchant, always looking for a wind up. I'd take what he says with to you in a pub with a few drinks with a good pinch of salt! Mike Fraser returning though? No thanks. Don't rate him as a keeper, only real strength is shot stopping and that is only to be expected for an SPL keeper. The rest of his game is sorely lacking and I think he'll be very lucky to get himself a full time contract anywhere now.

7-0 at Ayr, probably the best ICT day out ever. 4-3 v Raith, simply for the 94th minute overhead kick winner that convinced me we could win this league. 3-0 v County - because it was them! 1-0 v Dundee, not much of a game today but it was great knowing what was going to happen after! 0-0 at County, odd choice perhaps but looking back it was a huge result at a time when it was so important to keep the momentum going.

Oh dear... Sorry SanMiguel - beat you to that design a while back! Good to see we are all on the same page though, ha ha!

Simples!