dead_ball_specialist

"The transition from blades to jags would've been a smoothe one for me, I've got quite a prickley personality. The referees who picked the other bloke are a ******* disgrace to football!! All the decisions went against me today, as ******* usual!!!!!"

YOUTH caps. Most Scotland youth caps end up playing for clubs like Largs Thistle, Athletico Partick and Borussia Bishop Briggs.

Brewster had us on an upward path during his previous tenure, and I don't think anyone would deny that we've been on a downward spiral since he left. Blackie is a good example - under Brewster he was a Scotland future internationalist who looked destined to make it to the top - post Brewster his careers gone off the rails, for the most part he's been a shadow of the player he was. You could say the same about Dargo, Wilson, Tokely, Hastings, Duncan etc etc. At the very least he seemed to be good at getting players fit, aggressive and motivated, although that alone isn't always enough - as his DUFC debacle demonstrated. He needs to be complimented by an assistant manager with tactical nuance and and skills in the transfer market. Does Donald Park fit the bill? I don't know. I still say Pele Paterson is the missing piece of the jigsaw. In years to come we'll probably rue the fact that we overlooked him when he was still available to us.

Conspiracy theory perhaps, but what are the bets that the club banded about names like Maurice Malpas, Billy Stark and Ian McAll so that when they actually named Brewster we'd all be like, "phew I'm happy with that" Brewster isn't the best and he isn't the worst. He did an excellent job in the months he was here, but his record at Utd was the worst since Terry Wogans 'floral dance'. So which is the true reflection of his managerial skills? We will have to wait and see! Steve Paterson would have been my first choice, hopefully we'll see him back at the club in some capacity (director of football perhaps?) in the future. I was disapointed that his name wasn't even mentioned in the Courier or the Snooze - McAll, Malpas and Stark were - but not the most successful manager in the clubs history. Shocking. I'll reserve judgment for the time being, the onus is now on Brewster to prove that he is the man for the job and that the success he achieved here before wasn't just a flash in the pan.

Pele will be back in the SPL with or without us. Give him a couple of years and he'll have Peterhead in the first division - possibly playing against ICT, then other clubs will start looking at him, although I honestly think he has what it takes to get there even with a club like Peterhead. Has everyone forgotten the fact that the man was nothing short of a football genius??!! A flawed genius perhaps, but a genius none the less. :clapping03:

Don't forget all of his overseas holidays at the clubs (the paying fans) expense!! Didn't he jet out to Italy to 'sort out' the clubs pre season training? I bet he went along with the players for the ride too. And he also jetted around Eastern Europe recently supposedly to hold talks with Hagi and Popescu. Ever heard of telecommunications? How many other overseas jollies has he had??? I'd love to see a full list of his expenses!!! :023: The club needs a clear out. Grassa, Danny MacDonald and all the other 'jobs for the boys' crew aren't up to it if we want to get to the next level. Charlie would be the only one I'd keep.

Paterson was a God in the transfer market, he had an amazing aptitude for plucking players from obscurity (Wyness, Sheerin, Hart, McBain, Ritchie, Robson, Tokely etc etc etc) there were no dressing room splits, he only signed team players - he wasn't afraid to ruffle feathers (Sandy Robertson one of our best players released on a free) and commanded the respect of the dressing room. He was a superb tactician, and had us playing fantasy football (apparently in the 3-1 win at Celtic park the radio commentater said 'and now, Inverness are showboating' lol) Most of all, he knew how to cultivate team spirit, work ethic and confidence. He always managed to get the best out of his players. A few of our boys look a bit lost at the moment, Pele is the man to get us back on track. I honestly believe he would not only save us from relegation, but in time take us to the next level.

So what if Alexander is a confrontational lunatic??? Can you think of a top class manager who ISN'T a confrontational lunatic?? A long shot perhaps, but whatever happened to Wim Jansen??? :024:

Nobody has thought of Rowan Alexander. He did the business at Gretna and was tipped for the top - then for some unknown reason the chairman decided to do the dirty on him. He's as good as any mentioned so far, although Pele and Brew would still be the safest bet to steer us out of trouble IMHO.

mibbe's Niculae mibbe's Niculnaw.

Brewster did a superb job when he was here, he got us within 90 minutes of the top 6 in our first season in charge, amazing considering we were relegation favourites when he took over! I'd much rather see Pele back where he belongs, but if that isn't to be then Brew is my number 2. A Pele (signings, tactics) / Brewster (fanatical fitness, aggression) combo would be a dream ticket!

Steve Paterson got us to where we are today. We're STILL living off his legacy, the backbone of our team is still made up of guys he signed on frees down in the lower divisions! There's nobody better in the transfer market and I'd love to see a return to the gutsy attacking football he had us playing when he left.

Kevin Keegan Quotes: :029: "If I've got a blank piece of paper, there's 2 names on it." "You can't play with a one armed goalkeeper...not at this level" "England have the best fans in the world and Scotland's fans are second to none" "I don't think there's anyone bigger or smaller than Maradona" "The tide is very much in our court now" "They compare Steve McManaman to Steve Highway and he's nothing like him, but I can see why - it's because he's a bit different" "What I said to them at half time would be unprintable on the radio." "If we played like this every week, we wouldn't be so inconsistant." "He was Liverpool through and through, he had red blood running through his veins." John Motson Quotes : :024: "That's football Mike, Northern Ireland have had several chances and haven't scored but England have had no chances and scored twice." "For those of you watching in black and white, Spurs are in the all yellow strip." "Mirandinha will have had more shots this afternoon than both sides put together." "I would also think that the action replay showed it to be worse than it actually was." "They have got their feet on the ground, and if they stay that way they will go places." "He's one of those footballers whose brains are in his head." "The crowd think that Todd handled the ball... they must have seen something that nobody else did." "There's no way Ryan Giggs is another George Best, he's another Ryan Giggs." "Ronaldo is always very close to being either onside or offside." "Julian ***** is everywhere, it's like they've got eleven ***** on the field." "What will you do when you leave football Jack... will you stay in football?" "You don't score 64 goals in 86 games at the highest level without being able to score goals." "You couldn't have counted the number of moves Alan Ball made... I counted 4 and possibly 5!" :33:

Isn't this supposed to be a free country??? :023:

On his day he was one of our best players. His goal against Clyde was one of the best moments in ICT history. If he's looking for a full time contract - surely County should be snapping his hand off???

"He's big, he's blue, he hasn't got a clue, Alan Smart, Alan Smart."

He has done well coming off the bench in the past, one thing that no-one has thought of - perhaps his problems have something to do with fitness? It might be a lack of stamina rather than a lack of quality. He certainly looked nackered for most of the Rangers game. This can have all kinds of knock on effects on a players performance.

After all that fuss, lets hope he actually lives up to the hype. If he's the real deal, perhaps we could also sign his taller brother Luigi as a striking partner? :024:

Bobby Mann

Wilson without pace is like Jorg Albertz without shot power. Whether it's his age or his diet - he just didn't look fit at all yesterday, he offered us almost nothing in attack and shouldn't start next week. Zander is more than ready for first team action, he was ready 2 seasons ago! Remember his performance against Falkirk?

I don't think the result yesterday was about tactics, it had more to do with so many players having poor individual performances. We've had a tendency to play long balls over the top since the Brewster era. Sometimes it actually works but Rangers defenders were too good. They rarely lost a challenge or knoked the ball out for a long Munro throw in, so it just ended up coming straight back at us almost every time. I'd be suprised if punting the ball is actually part of CC's gameplan - it's just what players do when they're afraid of making a crucial mistake. The only team we never end up hoofing against are Hibs, could this perhaps be because the players aren't afraid of them - based on previous results? The only tactical error I would point to was our high defensive line, how many times did Rangers attackers get in behind us? Lets get back to defending deep like we did when we had the second best defensive record in the league.

Fraser Tokely Caff Munro Hastings Duncan Cowie Sutherland Black Hart Wyness Hart's always played well when he's been asked to fill in as a striker, he's probably the most penetrating player we've got at the moment, why not put him in the forward line? He's officially got the most powerful shot in Scottish football - know what I mean? At the very least he'd get stuck in and show some guile - something our forward line SERIOUSLY lacked today.

Remember that ICT were written off after our first SPL game when we went down 3-0 to Livi. That said, Gretna didn't impress me at all when they came up to Victoria Park last season, and what's the craic with the way they're treating the manager who took them up all the leagues? Shocking.

He has a decent footballing brain, but needs to work on his upper body strength. I wouldn't give up on him just yet. He isn't producing the goods at the moment so a loan spell might be a good idea. It worked for Barry Robson.

Rory seems to have become a lightning rod for some fans frustrations. 1 out of 10 is ridiculous. It's a team game - even if Dargo had been playing instead of Rory I doubt it'd have made much difference. When you're being man marked by quality defenders built like brick sh*thouses, and not getting any support or even decent service - what do you expect??? All Rory could do today was chase aimless punts over the top and try to hussle the defenders into conceding throw ins.