Scarlet Pimple

Or a vaudeville act.

But, assuming it was not deliberate and he received no advantage......?

Scotty I am thankful that at least a prominent fan like yourself noted for common sense agrees with my conception of this referee. Incredible finish.

The reds--if this referee was SO concerned, then he could easily have, and should have played the advantage rule in the case of the first one but chose to be an officious prat , no less. I don't want to see this ref on the ICT park again. This was a cup-tie, Beaton, not a children's tea party in toy-town.

One of these reds was innocuous enough. A wee tug , better described as a hold for a wee 15 seconds, which did not impede the forward motion of the Hearts player as I recall. In games like this, where stakes and emotions are running high I feel that the referee should exercise caution when awarding yellow and red cards. Today he spoiled this game and introduced an element of unfairness in a hard game which I deplore. That ref did not really have control today and seemed a bit too testy for my taste.

Well, Scotty, I see you were there .Saw you in the crowd. Was it worth it then ? For me I was up at 4 in the morning. Bleary eyed but happy as a sandboy! Have a great trip back home....eh?

WELL YOU WON'T BELEIVE THIS BUT AFTER a LONG SEARCH ONLINE I FOUND A VIDEO STREAM AND SAW THE WHOLE MATCH. Then with one minute to go in extra time they cut off the video stream. I was pop-eyed! Seems we won so I assume it was penalties then was it? Fantastic game and what a battle by Caley Thistle. How could they cope. Monstrous win. Cheers. Crowd was terrific. Referee was the pits.

For the proletariat, that's Vladimir Putin..Another Vlad the Lad and self-appointed (and anointed ) President of Russia. Probably about to have his dreams of being Pressie for ever, about to be blown apart by some explosion in Sochi.

Poor old "D'- always the target . Some people just can't leave the chap alone ...

Crusher are you the new wordy worthy on here. Hope so. The site needs a bit of a freshen up-at times a bit too negative and doleful. Ha Ha! Enid Blyton et al. Oh well, so long as the larger boys did not whiz on you, instead of quizzing you, alles ist gut. Ha ! Ha!

IHE You have an amazing range of talents. I think if you opened up a health centre in Canada you would do very well. Why I see a Moose moseying in right now from the S. American pampas with that glint in his eye and thinking.-- "IHE, IHE and a back massage,...shoot! if he isn't there when I arrive I will just have to scratch my back on yonder Douglas Fir. It looks big enough for a itchy Moose like me". OOPS! There's a Beaver but he's a tad wet right now and he will have to wait in the midday sun until he dries out a bit. A couple of cockroaches from that skid row hotel approaching--that's a double payment for IHE --they are accompanied by their lice. I can go on, but maybe I should quit whilst I am ahead... I'm Itchy by name and itching to give a massage to all them thar critters, Festus...eh? O.K I'm off to put out me shingle....

and get

Over 400 fans there . !

You are awful. But I like you.

in his Easter road denny.

The Pimple is concerned. Captain IHE of the sloop HMS Sneck appears to be missing in action. Has he entered his hibernation period or his dotage even? Or is he just tuning up for the semi-final? Or what---as William Shatner would say on his show 'Weird or What".? Hope he can emerge from either state in time to see ICT score the winning goal.

Oh shoot! It's all Greek to me --I think.

It had better be all out from the off...!

The Board wanted someone with experience and got a manager who has experience. He is also older and wiser than the youngsters that are now being allowed to get a chance in the first team. What's the average age of the team? Are they all seasoned professionals who might be by now in their careers also rigid and inflexible in their thinking about how the team should play? No! Our boys need encouragement, to be worked very hard to separate the wheat from the chaffe and to have someone to look up to as a role model who is clean-cut and dresses well, as any Manager of Caley Thistle should do, speaks enthusiastically in a very positive vein about them, the team's future etc. In short, POSITIVITY on all fronts. and I would follow a guy like that. He also represents the club up front to the public and visitors alike and creates a good image in this respect, I am sure, in his role as the club's prime representative. Is the alternative, a person who looks like an scruff, going to impress? This is a very important quality, chums, because the Manager is the senior extension of the Board of Directors and should reflect their values to the outside world. Stability, experience and wisdom are offered by J Hughes who actually is often quite eloquent in his speeches and apparently is a good motivator.So....? God was not available at this time for the job so he sent us a candidate with POTENTIAL who generally met the varied criteria which probably reflected the unanimous views and requirements of the Board Members. So IMHO any reasonable fan would be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt --unless you are a member of Naysayers United when apparently your agenda may be more suited to negative back- biting and destructive comments aimed at undermining the new manager's ability to get the best out of the team and with his demise would come a convenient reason to justify your negativity. David Moyes has experience and by Alex Ferguson's reckoning he was the top choice for the position of Manager of Manchester United in a situation where there were many other excellent managers available to choose from. Yet he has struggled mightily in his new position and, like John Hughes, will need time in order to be successful. Even Ferguson himself needed 5 years to establish himself and is recently on record as condemning the knee-jerk reaction of the current Owners of the teams in the Premier league who fire new Managers at the drop of a hat when immediate glory eludes their grasp. As for Richie-who says he is to be the next Manager? A lot of water will probably have to run under the bridge before he retires and nothing in life is certain. As Rabbie Burns said..."the best laid schemes of mice and men gang aft agley..". Dead right on that one Rabbie, as I know from my own personal experience. But from bad mistakes big lessons can be learned and that's how we grow in strength and, hopefully, wisdom. Richie, as far as we know, does not at his time have any significant Management experience. So why would he be considered to be the next managerial Messiah, at this stage of his carerer, for our team. He may turn out to be fantastic as a Manager but right now he is just another very good player. So, IMHO, the best bet for ICT at this time is to back John Hughes to the hilt...totally.

I whizzed through the last few posts lest I get depressed. Naysayers United up and running again? Nothing wrong with expressing your opinion but so many forces come into play in any club between Chairman, players and Manager that how on earth can anyone who is not "in the know" actually know anything about why this manager was hited or not etc.Do you imagine that Mr Cameron and the Board had an easy task deciding on this appointment? C,mon.....! The club needed a manager with experience and J Hughes needed a job so I suspect that both came to common ground and both were reasonably happy with the deal. And, for sure, IMHO, there will be more money on the table for this new manager if we do very well by the end of this season. Give him time. After all. it's the players who win or lose matches, not just the manager.

Mahonio--gotta relax old chap. Turn the tables and crack wise against him. But don't allow him to get it that he is rattling your cage.....eh? It's only a footie website after all. And we only live once in this lifetime. Here's one that brought a twinkle into my periwinkle: Did you hear the one about the wee boy who was drawing on a piece of paper. His dad went up to him and said.." what are you drawing son?" The lad looks up and says. " I'm drawing God. "But how do you know what he looks like son, Nobody knows that?" says Dad "They will when I am finished !" replies the little guy.

I've got a good friend in Bath. He's a nice guy and will be coming back to Canada at the end of this month fort an extended stay. I must ask him why? Oh Charles, the news over here is that there is a wayward, seemingly abandoned ship full of infected rats out in the Atlantic and is supposed to hit the Eastern seaboard of Canada shortly. It's like the ghost ship we all have heard about looming suddenly out of the mist. Like the wreck of the Hesperus, maybe. If you like I can turn it round and head it back to Rockall. so that you won't be lonely, like.