dead_ball_specialist

It'd be strange if Wilson were to win. From what I've seen this season (only home games) he hasn't been as influential as he used to be, certainly on the goal scoring front - but also as a playmaker. The fact that he's in contention for player of the season is a sad reflection on some of the younger players who haven't really stepped up to the plate and filled the old guards shoes. That said, I can't fault his work rate. For a 35 year old, to still be able to cover all the ground he does in 90 minutes is a collosal achievement.

No it wasn't me Sophia, but I can rest easy now that I know you're on the case.

Well that's your opinion dude, I happen to think in the greater scheme of things there are more important things to worry about in the world. Nobody (well perhaps Sophia) would demand that someone be arrested for making blonde jokes, ginger p*be jokes, fat jokes, midget jokes etc. I see nothing malicious at all in the accused's comments. He isn't (like the Quitongo case) denigrating black people any more than someone calling Robson 'ginger p*bes' on another thread is denigrating redheads. Joking that Latapy is harder to see in the dark is not qualitatively or quantitatively equivalent to comparing Africans to apes. How exactly was his joke 'hateful' or 'offensive'? This quote is a classic example of common sense going straight out the window when it comes to issues like racism. People are so afraid of being called a 'racist' that they over-compensate and effectively start to treat black people differently from everyone else. I hope you stay consistant and demand the arrest and ritual humiliation of all those who make jokes about Jimmy Calderwoods skin colour next season. You can call it humorous if you want, I call it racist. It's just plain wrong, wrong, wrong and I just cannot believe that anyone can even attempt to justify it. Ignorance is no excuse. There is no room for comments like this at our stadium or within our support and I look forward to seeing our club not bury its head in the sand over this issue.

Sophia, people like you are the most intollerant Fascists on the planet. This reminds me of a similar hoo hah a few weeks back about the police threatening to arrest and charge any fans who shouted anything 'homophobic'. It sounds from your account like the guy shouted a light hearted joke - hardly anything malicious. I expect you want to see old TV shows like In sickness and in Health, Rising Damp, and Only Fools and Horses banned for containing similar jokes? Your assertion that this bloke be arrested and subject to ritual denigration and humiliation reveals a nasty authoritarian streak that usually lies under the surface of political crusaders like youself. When I was at Uni I had to read 'discipline and punish' by Michel Foucault. The main theme of the book is his observation that a "carceral continuum" runs through modern society, from the maximum security prison, through secure accommodation, probation, social workers, police, and teachers, to our everyday working and domestic lives. All are connected by the (witting or unwitting) supervision (surveillance, application of norms of acceptable behaviour) of some humans by others. He couldn't have been more right! You demand that we 'self police'. Again this reminds me of the movie 'Fahrenheit 451' where the TV starts telling people to go outside and search for 'enemies of the state'. I'm sick and tired of political correctness. It's becoming increasingly pervasive and intrusive. People like you blur the line between the serious and the frivolous and in so doing create cynicism and resentment, undermining the very cause that you claim to champion.

Not the former Cowdenbeath player who Cherry gobbed on?

Why can't Richie Hart play like that every week? He always seems to do well when he comes back into the first team after a spell on the sidelines - only to fade away and slacken off once he's established himself. Hopefully he can maintain his level of performance for a bit longer this time around. Perhaps the imminent arrival of new competition in the form of Don Cowie will give him the push he needs. The McBain substitution was inexplicable. Charlie took pelters from the fans after his perverse decision to take on attacking subs against Celtic when we were 1-0 up. Today he got his logic upside down again. More ammunition to his die-hard critics. Zander Sutherland should have gotten a run out. He ran Falkirk ragged when he started against them before. If nothing else, he's the type of player the fans pay to see. On a side note, it was a bad decision to throw McAllister into the mix when we did. It can't have done his already lagging confidence any good being asked to hit the ground running is a high pressure situation like that. Last minute cameos where there are no margins for error are the last thing he needs right now.

I wonder how big a bung we gave the Saints keeper.

Every game from now until the end of the season is a cup final for County, while all of our games are virtually meaningless. I reckon we should have sent Sutherland and McAllister aswell - it'd be a more useful experience for them than end of season guff against the SPL basement boys.

Another good vid on youtube...

Campbells foolishly gone and put himself into a no-win situation. If Partick's fortunes improve everyone will give Butcher the credit. If they don't improve, everyone will say it's time for Campbell to step aside and give Butcher the reigns.

Is Pele back on the sauce?

Charity begins at home.

Robbie Burns is the most over-rated Scotsman ever.

Martin Johnstone would be a quality addition to the squad. If you're not familiar with him, check out these goals... http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ax6e2M0Un0I He's built like Graeme Bayne, but he's faster, stronger, more skillful and a better finisher. :024:

Donadoni was at the game, McLeish said on Sky Sports news he was seen smirking with 5 minutes to go and he was glad that we managed to wipe the smirk from his face. That's fighting talk! We shouldn't fear 'the azzuri'. Sure they're the World Champions - but they never looked like world beaters in Germany. Australia played them off the park with their high tempo, physical, 'get intae them' tactics. We should play exactly the same way as the Aussies.

I'd rather see Dunfermline go down. If the Buddies stay up, at least that's one team who we should easily be able to finish above next season. The Paraletics aren't pushovers now that they've got a decent manager, and they'll probably be stronger after he brings in some of his own players. So from a purely self-preservationist perspective, I reckon we should be rooting for the Midden. May the worst team win!

Sounds like you've been spending a little too much time in the self-help section of Borders IHE. :017:

More HL clubs should apply, we've all done really well (apart from Scum City). Probably Cove and Huntly will be the next in line - but even the likes of Nairn County and Forres Mechanics are more worthy than East Stirling and deserve some kind of chance.

I have confidence in Christie and Park because they have signed well. McSwegan was only ever meant to be a stop gap, and he hasn't done as terribly as some of the more hysterical posters on here make out. Rankin, Paatelinen, and Cowie are all excellent signings IMHO, and demonstrate that the managment are working with a longer term time horizon in mind. Hopefully more promising young players will follow in the summer. On the tactical front, I think Charlies still experimenting. Sometimes he gets it right, sometimes he gets it badly wrong. I'm not sure what kind of education he's had with his coaching badges - but he still has alot to learn. In his defence, it shouldn't be forgotten how awful our tactics were under Brewster. We were a very one dimensional side, relying on flair from individual players to win games. If Bazza and Brew had an off day we'd usually be awful. Robbo wasn't much better. You have to go all the way back to the Pele era for tactical genius. The papers have been saying that Charlie has been jarring Pele for advice, I'd personally love to see Pele back at the club in some capacity - heres hoping. On the fitness front, I think we may have gone backwards since Brew left (then again, it may be that the other teams have copied us and gone for a more fitness intensive approach, perhaps the rest have improved rather than us having declined). This is where a manager needs to rule with an iron fist. Perhaps Charlie is a soft touch compared to Brew and doesn't push the players as hard as the orange fitness fanatic? It's hard not to get the impression that CC is a soft touch. He needs to take some pages out of the Machiavellian playbook... "Is it better to be loved or feared? The answer is that one would like to be both the one and the other; but because it is difficult to combine them, it is far better to be feared than loved if you cannot be both. One can make this generalization about men: they are ungrateful, fickle, liars, and deceivers, they shun danger and are greedy for profit; while you treat them well they are yours. They would shed their blood for you as danger is remote; but when you are in danger they turn away... Men worry less about doing an injury to one who makes himself loved than to one who makes himself feared... Since some men love as they please but fear when the leader pleases, a wise leader should rely on what he controls, not on what he cannot control. He must only endeavour to escape being hated." And on dressing room troublemakers... "A leader must not worry if he incurs reporach for his cruelty so long as he keeps his subjects united and loyal. By making an example or two he will prove more compassionate than those who, being too compassionate, allow disorders which lead to murder and rapine. These nearly always harm the whole community, whereas executions ordered by a leader only affect individuals." (both quotes from 'The Prince' by Niccolo Machiavelli) Basically, Charlie needs to stop acting like Frank Lopez and start acting like Tony Montana.

He'd be mad to walk away now. I think Blackie and Cowie will be a brilliant midfield partnership next season. And with Dargo and Wyness fully fit (and perhaps Martin Johnstone?) - plus Paatelinenen and Rankin on the wings - we'll be a lean-mean-goal-scoring-machine.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=izXhjtvSG18 You hardly ever see players strike the ball with the outside of the foot anymore, especially from free kicks. I always find that I can generate far more swerve striking the ball this way than with the inside of my foot, plus it's easier to disguise from your run up. So why's it gone out of fashion?

A good example of the fact that there are talented players in the lower divisions. The club shouldn't be knocked for looking at the likes of Buchanan or Martin Johnstone. Remember - most of our best players came up through the divisions.

Good point about us having the potential to be a bigger club. As Theraclitus famously said 'You can never step into the same river twice'. Everything is in a state of flux, the world is constantly moving and changing. Sometimes the direction you're going in is more important than where you are at any precise moment. If we're being optimistic we should dismiss our 'small club' status as merely a transitional stage. Inverness is growing all the time both demographically and economically - the Highland Region is about the same size as Belgium, we have our own football league to breed talent etc. As for the 'middle of nowhere' jibes. If its so bad how come the towns full of central belters? Thousands of them are moving up here because they actually prefer to live in the Highlands to Weegieland. Why should footballers be any different? I'd like Charlie to stop lamenting our current limitations and start showing some vision for the future. Inverness has alot going for it. The underdevelopment of the clubs current fanbase, for example, should be seen as an opportunity / growth sector rather than an excuse to moan! IMHO All of the resources and primary pre-cursors are in place for ICT to grow into a big club. It's a case of putting it all together. Ten years from now we could easily be pulling crowds of 10,000.

We had Brewster training with us a few months back, but Charlie refused to give him a contract.