ICT_Away

I don?t think that anyone is not going to get behind him and he is worth his chance, as you say, he has certain attributes that we need (big, strong, fast) and with the right training he may become very good indeed.

What I think is that he is hardly the inspired signing which many fans were hoping for. He is not going to immediately fill the void that Dods left last season (which McGuire has failed to fill). He is not going to be the leader we require to command the back line. He has not got any experience at a decent level to draw upon. At the moment he will not really improve our starting team. He is, until proven otherwise, a squad player who has a debatable record.

I would still like to see an old head come in to shore up our defence ? I can?t think of one, but then again I don?t have to that?s what a scouting network is for!

Hardly the central defensive leader we require - squad player at best. If **** goes inside then Roy can cover left back leaving Zadi as injury cover. That said the lad may have improved dramatically from his time at the Tinks, but his cv doesn?t really back that up. Hope he does well and will be interesting to see how we line up for the pre season games.

needs to be someone decent who can actually command the back line. Agree at this point in time a defender is more important than a stiker, look at how many stupid goals we leaked last season compared to the season before! I'd take machine back, but I don't think it's him, based on absolutely no facts I think it will be Ivan Campo.

8th Paragraph put a smile on my Monday face  :001:

Shocking statistics on black managers though, didn't realise ICT had had such a profound negative impact on race relations :tic01:

As last season's winner I'd like to say congrats to Reef - a worthy champion.

Thanks again to CD and Bob and hope you both will be involved again next year - it's a great comp and probably where 99% of my posts come from.

As for my poor performance, I could blame missing a few games due to travelling, or perhaps the curse of Brew coming back (my picking skills were clouded when he took up the reigns again), but I think I'll blame the pressure of being champ and hopefully Reef will succumb to the same pressure next year and give us all a chance  :002:.

Thanks again and bet with you all in 3 months time - enjoy your summer.

No need - looks like they are goneski

gretna no more

If this is the case - we are not going to end our losing run this season!

I live in Sydney and thus saw what he did first hand. My take on what happened:

He took a team which were champions of the A league (in name only as the football quality is probably of C class) and turned them from playing attacking football to utter rubbish. He wasn't helped by the loss of Dwight Yorke (tells you how good the football is that he was the start player) and his inability to replace him. As a result Sydney were pretty poor all year and sneaked into the finals only to be knocked out in the semi's. Given the investment in Sydney compared to the other teams in the league, this failure was equivalent to Celtic or Rangers finishing 4th. In terms of people wanting him out - the fans never took to him based on the lack of attacking football, and due to the final league position the directors lost faith in him and he got the dunt.

As for Craig Foster and Les Murray, they are total tools as are most of the "Soccer" commentators here. Absolutely clueless, jizz over Italian football and only mention games which involve Aussies (Harry Kewell, Timmy Cahill, Scot McDonald - jizz jizz jizz)

he's not exactly filled himself with glory in the last year or so - he was woeful in Sydney (sacked) and not much better at Brentford (sacked). What makes anyone think he will be any good for Scotland?

feel we have done well to get ?110k (given the starting bid of ?3.50 from the Midden) but all in think we have been shafted a bit given some of the money paid for similar players playing at 'higher profile' clubs. Lets hope we have negotiated a cut of his sell on fee as Hibs seem to turn shoite into gold nowadays.

We probably have enough cover in midfield (Niculae & Wyness can both play in the current (not wide left) Rankin role and some are suggesting Marcus can too). So would like to see the cash spent on getting in a good striker with pace and some cover for the back.

- Edited so that we don't start the Niculae wide left debate again

thanks for that - we are an incredibly attacking side  :016:

Right then, in an IHE type prediction I have a feeling Marius will open the scoring today and we will sneak a win. Come on!

I'm now suitably drunk and will sleep until 3.55am and get up and watch the game. I've been nervous all day so thank feck I've been drinking otherwise it'd be a sleepless night. Come on Scotland!

Also - to add they have archive footage of home games + some great Scotland goals from the past incl. Davie Cooper v the Aussies - a particular fav of mine given where I am :blah01:

It's live on ESPN in Australia at 4am (Sydney), but for others try here: http://www.scotlandfootballtv.com/

Costs GB3.50 and I used it to watch the Lithuania game and the Ukraine game. Worked ok for me and is an official SFA site.

Don't think it works in the UK but should work elsewhere.

Good news - perhaps as a punishment he should be forced to play in central defence

Think yourselves lucky SP, it's 2am kick off here now. Before the clocks changed I hadn't missed a game, be it via radio or via live text update when radio isn't available... have to admit that I switched off and went to sleep after 5 mins (took ages to filter through) on Sat.

Having said that I would pay for ICT tv/radio, what I won't do is pay for Satanta which is just OF pap.

yeah - wish the club would sort this out as I'd be happy to pay for it, much better value than Satatna (which has just come to Australia)

Didn't hear it, but his comments on the official site smack of naivety? "It is very hard to take losing the game 4-1 when you consider how the game has went in the second half. I thought we were excellent in the second half". To quote we played well in the second half is immaterial when we shipped 3 goals in the first half rendering the game effectively over.

The players must know that they were poor. I think fans (well I can only speak for myself) would respect the manager more if he put out a slightly more realistic take on the match. That way at least we know he is aware and acknowledging our team's flaws. The first step towards a cure is admitting you have a problem.

How many penalties have we given away this year :008:

Midfielders and strikers must be so p!ssed off with our defense as we give away games.

we want 5  :015:

you dancer - game over :-)

wondered if anyone else is having issues watching the internet sportscene feed for us v hibs?

I watched the first 3 games and couldn't get the match v DUFC and now can't get the hibs game, says somehting about a connection error in the popup. Is this now banned for people outside of the uk? Would be greatful if someone has a clue.

We got humped at the weekend... with Mark Brown opening the scoring against his old club

Celtic hump Caley

Stupid Americans 

David Proctor ? no more than a squad player for cover at the back. Hardly played for us before, has done nothing since to prove that he can play for us again. Definitely no better than what we already have.

'Zibi' Malkowski ? has been poor in all the Hibs games I?ve listened to and culpable for quite a few goals. Dispute the statements that most of his howlers were against Hearts, think that his general ineptitude resulted in a loss of confidence in the Hibs back line and thus resulted in a number of goals being shipped. I remember listening on the radio to one particular game v us where the commentators said he was all over the place. In comparison to this time last season I think we have gone back on the goalkeeping front Brown & Ike v Ike & Zibi, definite step backwards there.

Phil McGuire ? has a bit of experience but not an out and out centre back which we desperately need. Again only good as a squad player. Hardly going to be the answer to our problems if he is not good enough to get into Dunfermline?s starting lineup. Would have preferred Wilson or Bamba if we had the chance to pick a player.

So to sum up, in these 3 I still don?t think we have the player who is going to command the back line and prove to be a leader in our defence. I hope Watt steps up to the plate, if not I think we are in serious trouble.

lucky escape - assuming this is an 'Ian Rankin' type BBC misstype he's made a spectacular start

oops