Scarlet Pimple

That's right Scotty. And I feel this lad has some intelligence and a fit body becase of it so ...good luck Gary. This could be a very good move for ICT to stesdy the ship.

That's the fella. John Brown 's effort at Harpers Ferry where he siezed one of two of the Union's army arsenals , was defeated by Robert E Lee. leading a troop of Marines against him. This is very interesting because Robert E Lee subsequently became a rather brilliant tactician , outsmarting the Union army constantly when he dared to enter the Union Territory going North up the through Virginaias and thne other states on a March to Washington, which he never reached. At that point he had become the General and supreme commander of the REBS --the Southern rebels and his brilliant startegies prolonged the war by probably several years beore the better resourced Northen Union army inevitably triumphed at Gettysburg. This two- day, horrific battle was the defining moment in the whole war and after that Lee, and what remained of his army, were always more or less on the defensive and in retreat. The American civil war staretd at Bull Run (Appomatox ) and, strangely enough ended at the Appomatox farm where Lee finally signed his surrender document. The cost of this 5-year war? .... 500,000 casualties which was more than the total of all deaths that had occurred in all the wars that had taken place prior to this event at that time. The benefits?--well, you can see which country emerged as the most powerful one on the panet in modern times but the South suffered hugely, with their pride shattered, their slaves dissipated and often turning on their owners, the loss of the cotton trade that had made many a plantation owner wealthy, and a countryside which had been completely ravaged and almost no family in the land left unscathed by this momentous event. Sorry friends seem to have ot carried away --tha,s what happens when there is no footie to get all fessed up about...Och!

Gary the Great will be fabulous once he gets his feet under the table . Once he realises that footie is footie and he can cut it at the level we are in at the moment (not just Caley thistle but all teams in the SPL) he will have a rush of blood to the head , will start to brim with confidence, will not score many goals but will do a real good turn in the part in front of goal and will succcccceeeeddd masterfully. Then he will get complacent , will concede a few , will get a right good bo-likking frae Terry theTerror , will smarten up and will do a good turn......... and will be here for years, growing in reputation umntil his 16th year at the helm when Terry the Terror will............................go on--complete the sentence.

Time for ODDQUINE to come in to steady the ship with hner common sense approach to doing business. Preferably the no-nonsense, doughty, courageous HMS Sneck which, like John Brown's body, lies a moudering in the grave. Er.... does anyone on here know who this John brown was?

I think Tichy was referring to a Rarebit of business. Hoch ! Hoch ! Bleeding hope so--it's about time we got a break .

Je contient mon silence!

I'm scared to comment.

I was watching that on the TV when , finally, the game actually came alive and that lovely, lofted pass from Alain Rochat (Swiss or French, canna remember) was a thing of languid beauty and 6'2" 200 lb Eric baby showed us how to do it. Good thing too since he had produced little of merit prior to this. He is a big strong player who plays in fits and starts but somehow he manages to pop up at the most unexpected time and "bling", another cracker goes in. After outplaying Toronto in the first half and generally looking like world-beaters,with immaculate passing to delight the purists, Vancouver went in to a purposeless decline in the second, allowing Tarrana to gain in confidence by the minute and , of course they were ahead by the time Hassli scored to send the fans into raptures. After viewing that second half, and watching Toronto growing in confidence and energy, I had my doubts about the outcome in Toronto one week later as being favourable to the Whitecaps. Funny how they can be so dominant in the league and so (dare I say it) ineffective in the Canadian cup. Anyway the fans went wild. So, what did you think of the Canadian soccer, boys? Not bad, eh? Heh, it's all wev'e got so we are learning to love it. As for the Naysayesr on here decrying Canadian football, well, who cares a tuppeny ******,Scotty. We are in the land of the free and thereby hangs a tale....pf two coities. Vancouver and Toronto. Manfer, where did you get all that info from? You are amazing,man.A Guru of genuflection, maybe ? Hoch! Hoch! OOPS, that's the Queen calling . Just asking about Challlles' visit no doubt. Gotta go . Seems to have gone well anyways, and Camilla at least has a ratha nice voice. But really, who gives a tuppeny tos..............

Condiment each other, IHE.? You mean Jekyl and Hide or Salt and Pepper?

The management of Inverness Caledonian Thistle F C have character. Those at Rangers did not. Slippery, sleazy, money grubbing, shifty, conscienceless opportunitists. But wait, how many of them were there, anyway? One two --or more.? As for Terry--he didn't say too much that was not close to the truth. Their demise will have a large financial impact on the SPL but teams have survived in the past and will continue to do so. But maybe one thought that was flowing through his mind was that after his Caley Thistle career is ended, a job at Rangers might have been an option. Can't really blame him for that but a wiser man would have probably remained silent at this stage of developments.Playing devil's advocate with the majority verdict of the fans that morality in management trumps financial accumulation is a dangerous path to follow. It's not Rangers that keeps ICT in operation it is the fan base, at least as I see it. After Rangers languish in the lower divisions for a few seasons, all fans will realise that they are not needed unlike the presence of the fans at matches in support of their own club which is vital to the ongoing health of the club. Spending more money than they have in income leads to only one thing , red lights and disaster. When will staying in the SPL be the goal instead of just finding their own level and doing their best in that environment. After you have prudently buit up your financial resources, then maybe that's the rime to expand gradually. That's the difference.

Right on!

Does Butcher really rate Greg Tansey? In what way? Having moved on I can't see Ian Black doing a pack and coming back. If Tade is going to be a reguar in the team who is going to be given the task of supplying him with passes....eh? Terry, I do fear that you may be able to stave off relegation again with the current squad, but getting into the top six is a figleaf of your imagination,. injuries or no injuries. What you need is players of real experience and proven records. But maybe the budget will not be able to swing it?

Dougal you know I'm nice..but this time ..behave yourself. If they stay up it's great for Highland football and will encourage all the youngsters from Portree to Kirkwall to work hard and have something to aspire to. One day, and the Seer can see it coming , ICT and County will merge.....something like inverness County Thistle.

I think Neil Doncaster and a few others , perhaps, are more worried about losing their jobs than Rangers OR the other teams' interests. They're all running around like chickens with therir heads cut off. Off with their heads, egad. Think they will have it all sorted ourt by the beeginning of next season, then? Anyway, the Vancouver Whitecaps had a very good victory agaisnt the MLS top team , San Jose Earthquakes, in Vancouver last Saturday 2-1. Really good and really fast game and the fans , all 19,000 of them ,waving flags and cheering from start to finish, loved it.

If Rangers went out of business then everyone could make a fresh start with a League coming into balance. It would be very interesting to see what develops and how ICT could survive. If the only thing separating SPL football for Caley Thistle and Div 1 was the existence of Rangers and Celeic then, for sure, we are in a terrible pickle. These two teams, because of their huge and grossly disproportionate financial clout, have distorted the relationships of all the other teams to each other in the SPLfor as long as IHE has been young and virile. This is unhealthy, IMHO, for Inverness, for the Spl and for Scottish football in general. If they go, many good players would want to stay in Scotland and play decent entertaining football for many of the other clubs , such as Caley Thistle. Sorry, I have no sympathy for Rangers at all and it is now up to all the other clubs to support each other by turning up and trying to help all of them to survive and then---CUT THEIR CLOTH ACCORDINGLY. What the heck is this all about anyway? Is it money and glory or a decent game of football which many of us enjoyed in the Highland League and a good day out to boot at a more moderate expense probably. Sounds a smart way to go in today';s economic times . And, for goodness sake, IHE is growing older by the minute so let's cut him some slack and let him enjoy his golden years.......

At the beginning of the season he cut the team to ribbons , throwing caution and common sense to the four winds. Then he filled it up with a lot of young loan players whose hearts could never be expected to lie with the team or Inverness. Also they are very young and inexperienced so what DO you expect other than for them to do their best. And when things don't turn out well easily, to whom do they have toturn to for guidance and support --more youngsters? A disjointed team with little experience and fragile emotions and maybe they are trying their best . But miskicks, missed goals, lots of injuries and so on and so forth seems to be the order of the day. Terry Butcher will last another season but where he turns from here is anybody's guess. He must IMHO find some experienced players as a priority. But after that I run out of suggestions.

Wow--is he off then? That was short and not so sweet , it seems. If he did not measure up to T B's assessment how much work did TB put in to retrain his attitudes etc. If narcissism was the problem then did he meet him in the dressing room , lock the door and let him have it? Then follow up with the carrot--something like "you've got a big future here if you realise that you are just another TEAM player and are prepared to work very hard to PROVE yourself. Your future lies in your own hands --I'm from Missouri originally, so ....."SHOW ME". You know-- just stroking his ego and being nice and gentle. Unlike Tade, who is a worker, it doesn't seem as if Claude was, so ....bye, bye Claudia. Caley Thistle needs workers, not guys who think the word "entitlement" means me first and you have to say..."After you Claude"

Charles. "No can do." would have been sufficient. Your liberal, lengthy loqaciousness is making me feel inadequate. Again! Do you employ journalistic jockeying as a jousting manoeuvre or doth thou simply jest-eth? In juxtaposition, like? Hoi! The thread is turning into a real jolly jape,

Terrt B came in like a bull in a china shop, trying to make wholesale changes all round hoping that a miracle woudl happen I suppose. Instead getting rid of the backbone of the team has had the opposite effect and a "could have been forseen " result. Sorry but he should have made his changes gradually, replacing each player with a proven and experienced one and gradually moving the team forward inch by inch without giving away the farm or undermining either the harmony or the stability and placement (in the league standings) of the club. But he is here now for another year so let's see what happens.

Then it WAS a (Gas) bar trip....?

Smee As you have probably noticed, I try not to single any one out individually to complain about their attitudes--unless attacked, of course. But If you would show up next season and try to remain positive throughout that WOULD be a change. Adversity is normal throughout life but it can only be over come with a positive attitude. Anything else is depressing and counter productive. Please!

P R work is very important. In Canada many players on the ice hockey teams use their reputations to gain entry to kids' hospitals, schools for the disabled and other charity work. The kids get so excited and love them and their visits...if a disabled child has been lying in a bed for months then you can imagine what a huge uplift they get if one of these massive hockey players , all decked out in their playing gear, comes in to the ward and and sits down on your bed for a face to face chat. From all accounts, the players also get a real charge from it too. Frequent lotteries are run for these organisations with the participation of the players and so on. All of this gains approval in the community and stresses the fact that the local "hockey" team ....e.g. The Vancouver Canucks, is really interested in the welfare of the disadvantaged and in participating in the community face to face. ICT would benefit by asking players to go to see kids in hospitals in this way and give out free tickets to anyone who is there on the day. They must sew the seeds of goodwill around the city and that means that they have to go out into the community and be direct with the message that they are a good club, are interested in helping the disadvantaged and meeting people half-way. There may be doctors and nurses there who have never considered going to a game and one visit by the players may just be the trigger to "at least take-in one game".Especially if they have kids. Face -to face is what is needed because people like to see who you are and assess your character and worth. Simple as that. A genuine desire to help, and improve the day to day life of an injured or disadvantaged child, can be appreciated all round. The players should be encouraged to do this kind of community work because soon it will not be simply a chore but an emtionally rewarding experience. Over to you , folks.

Does ICT have a lottery, Alex? There must be other money coming in to their club from somewhere--a wealthy investor? On the park, this team looks well-trained, hard working and has ability. They also look like they have an upbeat spirit which usually emanates from harmony, and not stress-related problems, within the club. So players of ability will feel that they are playing for a good team, even if it is small, and will feel good coming to work every day. You can understand a foreign player who is past his best wanting to ease out of football by coming to what is regarded as a league that is inferior to English or Spanish top flight ones but still wants a decent wage and/or signing on fee.Yet ( the likes of )Sandaza does not look as if he is on the verge of collapse and appears to still be passionate about his game. So he must be really quite happy there. The whole set-up seems odd doesn't it? But there must be money somewhere because I feel that he is probably being well-rewarded. Come to think of it how does ICT survive and keep their players happy too?

In a sense, very smart. Provided he continues by concentrating on building up a stronger defense immediately. If the defence is rteally strong everybdy castart to relax more and confidence begins to build int he whole team. Then growing confidence leads to a more relaxed and productive output, more enjoyment for both players and fans and ....before you know it..."we're top of the League and you're no". :love02: This will give him breathing room to be more selective, as time goes on, to recruit new strikers or re-train and improve existing forwards or promote younger boys from within the club's own ranks. If that does not work, then he has to be even more selective in who he brings in from outside.