Scarlet Pimple

Thanks Rig--I'd never have been able to see it was it not for you posting this. Highlights no longer appear on our sites and don't play in Canada due to the BBC's strict restrictive policies.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/scotland/35435131 Centre Backs going to hospital like falling ninepins.

And I offer my apostrophes for the clanger..........

Big Pete--hope you are still reading this thread. Great, positive, post and the 16 or 17 likes you have received is astonishing and must be a record for any individual post in any thread recently. Welcome to Inverness in your thoughts, if not in form. Aye!!

Is it just me, but I am of the impression that the players who have signed up are more mature. If so they must be seeking stability. And a longer term with ICT may well be, in their opinion, good for them because they are established and are relied upon to offer guidance and encouragement by example to all the younger players...especially as the latter may not have a family. Therefore, they could be thinking that they wioll be considered to be of more use to the club as their strength and fitness start to diminish. Also they may feel that some kind of management post at the club would be very suitable to them in due course. The life of a player at any club can be short, to say the least andf that could be a fair strategy to follow/consider in their view. For all we know, top management at the club may have also considered these future routes for players and it has all been discussed already. Personally speaking, I hope so....!

Greg must have been in two minds when all was revealed to him. That's simply human nature, not disloyalty. Once he had digested the situation he needed a more mature, and perhaps less flustered, person to explain what benefits versus negative aspects could flow from this. This all takes a bit of time to sink in and for him to reflect upon. Remember : actions, like words spoken in haste, may be regretted. Greg seems to be a really good lad and the assistance and support offered to him (it seems ) by John Hughes would not have been beyond his understanding so we can be assured that once this storm has blown over all will be well and he will be able to settle and commit to playing as well as ever.

Diddums.

Doofers' Dad--you never know, you just never know do you? Anyway it's good for the Highlands and I say "All the best County". All it does for us is to increase the importance of games against county and , hopefully, the gate receipts too.

"Hear all, see all and say nowt, uncle Jim?" "Aye, laddie, that's the best policy the noo. We'll hiv tae wait until the smoke clears so, meanwhile, jist haud yer wheesht. Aye! But thon Aiberdeen disnae seem tae be oor freends ony more, wee wullie. What with continually targeting oor players it's like thon dangerous wee fox whose always raiding oor henrun, so it is. You dinnae shoot him out of concern for his welfare in a tight forest but he still disnae understaun the merit of helping ane anither-- jist raid and wreck more like. Aye! Not what you expect from a friendly neighboor, more like a lurking pirate named Long Johhnie Silver 'cos he's got t he siller and we dinnae. Aye! Sic a scunner, no less. But wait, wee Willie, ane day, laddie, ane day we'll see them aff, so we will. That is, if oor herts are nae broken before then. With freens like thaaat who needs enemies, like? Aye!"

Well, this thread has perked up the site. Robson may be past his very best but it wasn't that long ago when I watched him skin a defense when he played for Vancouver with brilliant footie and then beat the goalie with a great shot. Superb run and shot,. Showed the younger element, who were mostly about all " puff and pass", a thing or two. Unless he was given a reasonably commanding role in midfield then he might not be the answer but he certainly has shown over the years how much of a football brain he does have so....?

Well, these high-heid-yins apparently think summer football is not the answer to this atrocious weather and playing conditions (yet to peak according to the pundits) but may be paying lip service to the EVENTUAL modern marvel of twenty-first century electronics...video cameras monitoring the goal lines. Wheeeee! When you consider the lost revenue, the dangers of injuries to players, the effect on performance of players due to freezing limbs, the reduced revenue from punters who would rather sit by the fire with the Beano or the Dandy, a cigar and a gillac, the risk of mistakes being greatly enhanced leading to unforeseen results on the park, the bookies who lose too much money as a result of "sure things" betting going awry and so on--how CAN you blame the bosses of Scottish Football for NOT seeing the light? I mean, has anyone in power in Scottish football ever thought of 'phoning the English-trained manager of the Vancouver Whitecaps to ask him what he thinks of summer football in North America? Sorry, friends, all I can think of is ....OMG! Cheers, back to the pipe and slippers then. Sigh.

O.K--but let's compromise............... Not in front of the chill-dren then?

Having just read Mr Meekings' Article today I see nothing rude, abusive, derogatory or sarcastic in it, either towards Mr. J Hughes or anybody else, including the club. Josh leaves the indelible impression that he is tired of his injury(ies) and would love to get back to full fitness and regain his place in the team as soon as is feasible and allowed by the specialists that are attending to him. In fact his summations are factual, honest and it's extremely doubtful to me that J Hughes has harboured any rancour or resentment towards him personally. Especially when he sums up what he feels could be J.H's feelings about it all that have led to J.H's somewhat public statements. Josh demonstrates , IMHO, that he is a very honest man and something of a diplomat to boot. And, from what I have read, I can't imagine anyone taking offense at his remarks; so what's all the babble about anyway? Let's face it though--if the players' absence from the team en-masse affected the placing and success of the team at the end of the season in a very detrimental way, such that his job was then very much at stake and attendances were down, etc., leading to a possible financial crises for the club, then whose jobs and careers' would be the ones at risk? The players or his? Obviously not the players who could always claim injury prevented them from playing. Furthermore, as the man responsible for putting the best team on the pitch and also being responsible for the ultimate success of the club, his professional pride and future job placement(s) could be deeply affected as well. So, I see no fault at his expressing his passionately-held viewpoint publicly. Why? Well, consider this: If these same players, about whom J H might suggest were unwilling to play for the club because of niggling injuries, were self-employed, would they have the luxury of staying away from work until they felt that their serious injuries were sufficiently healed to allow them to resume work without fear of any complications? .The answer is NO... unless they were wealthy and were able to employ other people to do their share of the work in the self-employed business that he/she operated. Assuming they could not afford employees and in the building of their fledgling business their presence was vital to success, what choice would this businessperson have since his/her absence would result in the loss of the business, the capital investment, his/her health (through stress) and possibly his/her marriage? The answer is, therefore, NONE. i.e. Regardless of any injury the modus operandi is ...."Play on MacDuff, or starve." Therefore, the other side of the coin is that players nowadays are very well off. In fact some don't know how lucky, even mollycoddled, they actually are. What with specialists and doctors and trainers aplenty to attend to their every need, together with good food probably supplied by the club, an interesting profession, together with the many other perks that one can assume are attendant on this trade. e.g...trips abroad etc. So, if players can play through minor injuries FOR the benefit of the club, can you see anything wrong with that expectation? I can't. In the case of very serious injuries, of course, a different scenario exists but I feel certain that these latter categories are NOT what the Manager is referring to.....? Maybe the real issue here is actually not about hurt feelings (to which I answer..."Diddums.") but whether or not J. Hughes is speaking the truth?

DD is right, in the main. I too have winced at the blatant grabbing and pulling of jerseys in the penalty box. These salaries are huge though and there seems to me to be no excuse for refs to ignore this kind of blatant infringement of rules viz a viz the box. It's sometimes so bad that the offending player seems to be in the penalty area just for that reason alone.....prevention and stifling. Shoulder charges are O.K but waist hugging, neck hugging and throttling, attempts at ripping off jerseys and so on is rabid rabble rousing and should be penalised and punished. But then, again, refs don't have eyes in the back of their heads as far as the many incidents that occur in this area are concerned and the complete absence of video recording is also a major contributor since instant replays can't be accessed to confirm fouls --- or to confirm their decisions on whether or not the ball has actually gone over the goal line etc. So most of the time it's just uncontrollable mayhem and malarkey. And, er, wasn't it an alleged hand ball in the box that escaped the attention of four officials at Hampden that allowed our team to progress last season in the Scottish Cup ...? I mean they all claimed that they suffered an attack of poor vision due to their being unsighted so was that a conspiracy in favour of the minnows to ensure the incidence of dwindling attendances in the league is arrested? Maybe it was. In other words, is it the case that things tend to even themselves out and what you gain on the swings you lose on the roundabouts?

The core four represent the fulcrum of the main corps, then? Good, since that indicates stability. And a definite signal to the other up-and-coming younger players that ICT offers both an opportunity for first team football together with the possibility of a bright and progressive career future as well after their playing days have declined.

Well, Brora seems to be having a magic season. Who would have thunk it? Why them, pray? --is it a question of Directors with lots of money available and high ambitions perhaps? Loaning Caley players (sorry--Caley thistle players I mean.) to them could be of great benefit to our team.?

PerfICT--First part --absolutely.

Not a problem CaleyBoy For you I will resort to my fuddy -duddy, boring self and then you concentrate on IHE for your fun. e.g There's a moose loose aboot the hoose and a there I see a Canada Goose.......... O.K, O.K I'll quit whilst I'm ahead.

Perhaps the best outcome since there is doubt as to his ethics and connections, not to mention the mere fact that he was not even courteous enough to return our Manager's telephone calls. Courtesy costs nothing and I'm sure John Hughes was not impressed, especially in view of the attention our Manager paid to the assisting of his career in former years from which it is clear that he benefitted greatly. Not cool or, as we used to say in our younger years, not infra-dig old chap.....meaning a low blow or dig. I had to look it up in the old Oxford English dictionary though. Or, as an old girlfriend used to say to me when I asked her if we could go into her house .... " infra penny , infra a pound.." To which I replied with a puzzled look..."Eh what?" And she and responded with a wink .." Of course, a penny to get inra door and anything else is by negotiation when you pound onra door.

Yngwie--Take heart since it's never over until the fat lady sings. But Partick would be a hard match--in the past they have been our nemesis and no mistake. This year they have another good squad and a manager who also seems to be attack minded and dedicated to playing neat and aggressive soccer.(Oops , sorry--I meant football). They have a newly-arrived foreign player in the squad don't they who says he had options but PThistle because he liked the attitude of the manager .? Hibs Versus Hearts should be a bit of a corker. Imagine getting Hearts in the fInal--would be nice to ring the changes away from the old firm wouldn't it?

You will be telling us next that he hails from Stoke-on-Trent? And wrote a novel under the pseudonym of Bran Stoker?

Yes. this thread does appear to getting longer--a case of some folks stoking the fire I suppose?

Yogi must be frustrated. He's been havering on a bit on the latest clip about bringing Stokes to us from Parhhead. Maybe we DO need a bit of sting up front after all and competition for our ---er----strikers would surely be a good thing? How about Vigurs Stokes and Storey all in a row/ What a line-up.. Stokey sure sounds p....d off with his situation, which essentially seems to me to be a significant waste of talent. If he still has his playing ability under control perhaps he would be on fire if he came just to prove to Mr. R Deila that he was wrong. After all, won't Celtic be paying the wages freight for him? Sounds good to me since Deila seems deffo quite scunnered with his behaviour. Wouldn't you think that he should play the guy and serve him a challenge to perform. If he can get us up the table in spectacular fashion then bring him to Tulloch.