Tichy_Blacks_Back

From a thread on another site just before christmas: Win% Alex Ferguson - 57.99% Arsene Wenger - 57.35% Outside the 'big four' the best others reported were: Two fifth placed spots for Spurs' Martin Jol? - 45.27%. Juande Ramos, the 'super-manager' brought in to do what Jol couldn't? - 39.29% Last years fifth for Everton's David Moyes? - 40.88% Current super-favourites, Villa's Martin O'Neil? - 39.60% 41.15% looks pretty good IMO....

I know not fully relevant to the current thread but good article from The Irish News on current predicament.... Brewster is shown high road at Caley By Neil Strain AND so it ends, caught up in the angry clamour of supporters and rumours of dissent in the first team squad. When he returned to Inverness Caledonian Thistle in 2007, Craig Brewster was well aware that his appointment as manager was not a universally popular one, but even he will have been surprised by the speed of his sudden dismissal. The final straw was ultimately drawn last week, during the club?s seventh consecutive league defeat, a 1-0 loss to Hamilton Academical, the Premier League new boys who many believed would be propping up the table this season. Instead, it is the Highlanders who find themselves floundering at the midway point, struggling to pinpoint the path to safety. These are worrying times in Inverness and, having worked so hard to establish themselves as a top flight outfit, they now find themselves facing the most crucial decision in their history. For, if the right managerial candidate is not identified, they could be on a steady slope down the divisions, struck by a possibly mortal blow just as clubs are clamouring for fresh funds and security. Since joining the senior ranks Caley have shown an awareness and business acumen that has allowed them to establish themselves as the principle force in the Highlands, stealing the march on fellow new arrivals, Ross County. While County initially burned brightly, before being gripped by financial concerns and managerial upheaval, their neighbours in Inverness showed an eye for the long-term and flourished through good practice. This season there have been a few worrying idiosyncrasies, the most obvious being the decision to sanction the signing of three new players by Brewster just weeks before his dismissal. This appears to indicate that the board have, on this occasion, reacted to pressure from the fans and strayed from their vision for the season as a whole. For, surely, if they had any doubts about Brewster, they would have acted sooner and given the new man time to bring in his own players and move others out during the January window. If Caley are to survive they will instead have to be single-minded and emotionless in their decision-making, particularly when it comes to the appointment of a new manager. Then again, there is a picture emerging from behind the scenes of Brewster, an apparently unpopular, somewhat arrogant character. By all descriptions, the main contender for the job is another former Caley boss and Brewster?s polar opposite. John Robertson also lives in the Inverness area and has apparently been dreaming of such an opportunity, but having been dismissed from his two previous roles at Livingston and Derry, he will have to prove that he still has the appetite and ability for the job. So must the other candidates and Thistle cannot afford to be swayed by nostalgia or even the lure of a ?big-name? with a dubious track record. These are dangerous times in Inverness, ones that afford little margin for error or for flights of fancy.

New sign installed at the rear of the main stand....

Some good photos - especially like this one - is this a plug for 'The NEW 3 Sopranos' - even got a telephone number in the shot to book them....

Well if it is to be those three candidates then my preference would be: 1 Robertson 2 Knox 3 Butcher

The Scotsman still have Knox and Butcher as the front-runners this morning....I am sure things may have changed by mid-day.... Scotsman

she's so definitely a Caley Thistle fan....

From the Guardian Rumour Mill....mildly amusing.... :thumb04: Football transfer rumours: Charles Kennedy to become Caley Thistle fan? The Rumour Mill doesn't hobnob with the stars too often, so please forgive us for the following indulgent anecdote. Last night, your favourite tardy gossip column was one of the lucky folk attending a press screening of hot new flick Frost/Nixon. And once the Mill had sold all the Kia-Oras, King Cones and bumper packets of Butterkist in its tray, it was allowed to stay and sit on the steps at the back to watch the film! (Providing the phrase "Coo! Moving pictures!" was not uttered too often or too loudly.) This being a media shindig, the film was followed by a roundtable discussion involving, among others not relevant to this morning's bumper crop of balls, Charles Kennedy. After the cinematic chat, the Mill escaped out front for a fag. And who should be there standing alone, sucking happily on his lovely cigarette, but the aforementioned former Liberal Democrats leader. A long-time fan of Kennedy's cheroot-chuffing antics, the Mill decided contact simply had to be made. But how? Embrace the politico in order to commend him for his in-depth silver-screen analysis? Or drone on in a tedious manner, in the style of a prize eejit, about football? Decisions, decisions. [RUMOUR MILL slaps CHARLES KENNEDY on back in frankly over-familiar fashion] RUMOUR MILL: Hello, Mr Kennedy, pleased to meet you. Thank you for your talk about the film. CHARLES KENNEDY: Oh, thank you very much. RUMOUR MILL [desperately attempting to draw the electorial boundaries for Ross, Cromarty & Skye in its head, then conjuring up fictional localised news stories on the hoof]: Anyway, have you heard that Ossie Ardiles has been named as the new manager of Inverness Caledonian Thistle? What do you think about that? You must be a fan, yes? CHARLES KENNEDY [genuinely interested]: Really? I hadn't heard. That's exciting news. But ... er ... no. I'm not. I want them to do well. But they're not in my constituency any more. My ward is now Ross, Skye and Lochabar. Ross County are the big team I represent, though I do still look across the Kessock Bridge to see how Caley Thistle are doing. But Ardiles? That's amazing. I must tell my ... RUMOUR MILL [pathetically attempting, Nixon style, to cover up a tangled web of lies]: Er ... don't bank on that being necessarily true. It was in ... an ... article ... on ... the internet. CHARLES KENNEDY [highly amused]: Well, everything on the internet is true, isn't it?! RUMOUR MILL: Er ... CHARLES KENNEDY [genuinely, and without knowing how the Mill puts the bread on the table]: Though funnily enough, the quality of sports journalism on the web is usually really high. So Ardiles, you say? Thanks for telling me ... [RUMOUR MILL makes its excuses and runs off in floods of hot, snivelly, guilty tears] By no stretch of the Mill's limited imagination is it proud of this shameful horror. Ardiles is only one of four men to have expressed an interest in the vacant Caley Jags job ? Terry Butcher, Archie Knox and John Robertson are the others ? so the Rumour Mill knowingly fed Mr Kennedy worthless information. Now this doesn't set him apart from any one of the many thousands of readers to have suffered at the hands of the Rumours over the years, granted, but still. And as Kennedy was one of the most unassuming and genuinely polite men the Mill has ever met, some kind of karmic payback is due to him someday. We'll keep that in mind. Rumours who would believe them.... so here we go Robbo IS the new manager.... just nobody has told him yet....

Sorry no - apart from how to use them.... Caley D is your man for anything electrical and gadgety....

Has potential though and under the right manager....who knows what he can achieve....

Should be one of the attachments to the manager's application form.... :thumb04: I have to admit a strange analysis with strange criteria but no doubting it is a nice city where a lot of the hangs ups and issues of the other cities don't exist. I just checked and thought there were more but it seems Scotland only has six cities....Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Stirling, Aberdeen and Inverness. Strangely I always thought Elgin was a city but it is actually a former cathedral city....

In the words of the Proclaimers.... Bathgate no more Linwood no more Methil no more Irvine no more Third Lanark no more Airdrieonians no more Gretna no more ????? no more who's next....?

I seem to recall something about that - great city - enjoy....

sorry - I have rightly red-carded myself

yeh I agree also - from watching the highlights it does look a little tame - we will never know what he did or didn't say but does look like a poor decision especially when you compare it to what Shrek gets away with week in week out at the home of the Dark Lord....

Looks like the squirrel has been sucked in as well....journalism at its best.... Sunday Mail

Yeh he can't see straight....

Thought you might have known that one - try this one.... Five Years' Time by Noah and the Whale - I think this may be what you are after now that you mention zoos and elephants.... Dis may be the one - vid

Unfortunately Inverness is seen as a back water by many (and as CB stated it has been like that for centuries) and they think the house offered by Tulloch's that comes with the job looks like this...

Glad to hear it Bob but even against 4th div opposition you never know with PSG especially as they scraped through the last round but at least you have some more supping cash for the rest of your trip.... Huidies Bar looks like the inside of many an Irish Pub - strange this is when you go into one overseas they are never quite like that - the one's that double as the corner shop and pub are the quirkiest.... Huidies reminds me of my own favourite Irish pub "Biddy's" in Glencolmcille (first thing you come across when you come down the hill into the village) - although like you say wouldn't like to go there every night - but when you do it is a great place especially when the wind is blowing outside, the fire is blazing inside and the craic and music are in full swing and the porter flowing.... yah just can't beat it.... The pound is so poor against the euro at the moment so it will mean for once it is cheaper for those from the south to nip across the border and get their fuel instead of the other way around as is usually the norm.... Some pub/session tips for Donegal and Antrim - a little bit dated but may help you on your travels.... Antrim While the Antrim Glens offer breathtaking landscapes, this was also the last Irish-speaking area of Northern Ireland and the region is still noted for its traditional musicians. McCollam's Bar, Mill Street, Cushendall (evenings only; sessions Tuesdays and Fridays), is known to all as Johnny Joe's, and is more like a family home than a bar, with customers and musicians squeezed into its tiny rooms. The best seats by the old cast-iron range are snapped up early (especially in winter) and sometimes even the musicians end up standing. The welcoming Skerry Inn, Newtowncrumlin, is in an isolated village a dozen miles inland from Cushendall, just off the A43 Ballymena road. Attractive in its own right thanks to its stone walls and floors, and roaring fires in winter, the Skerry draws some of Northern Ireland's finest traditional musicians to its Wednesday night sessions. If you're staying near the Giant's Causeway, then Ballycastle is the place to head for, a traditional music bastion that also hosts a major festival in June and the Ould Lammas Fair (the oldest fair in Ireland) on the last Monday and Tuesday in August. Most of the town's pubs hold regular sessions and special favourites on Ann Street include The Central Bar on Wednesdays and, across the road, McCarroll's, where The Henhouse Sessions take place in a wooden outhouse at the pub's rear on Thursdays. Donegal Donegal's music can seem as rugged as some of the county's wild landscape. The fiddle is the predominant instrument and the music is heavily influenced by a long affinity with Scotland, so the keen listener will be able to detect less-familiar forms of dance music such as the Highland or Strathspey. Slieve League's superb cliffs attract many visitors to the county's south-west region: in summer, it's also a musical hotbed, not least from August 2-6, when the Donegal fiddlers' summer school takes place in Glencolmcille and pubs such as Roarty's and Biddy's ring with music. You can also find sessions in Carrick, Teelin (in the garishly coloured Rusty Mackerel) and Kilcar. Elsewhere, the Donegal Highlands and Gweedore are popular destinations, while Inishowen, in the far north, has equally long-standing musical traditions. Each of these areas has its own session highlights. The Highlands Hotel, Main Street, in Glenties, is an essential venue, if only for its splendid lunches. Paintings by the landlord adorn the walls and there's a famous session here every Sunday night, drawing musicians from the nearby glens of the Blue Stack mountains and farther afield. Hudai Beag's, Bunbeg, in Gweedore, has a year-round Monday night sesson that is unquestionably one of Ireland's finest. It takes place in the lounge, a fortunately spacious setting as it's common for more than a dozen musicians to participate, sometimes including a player of the war pipes (a larger and, consequently, louder precursor of the Highland bagpipes). The Inishowen peninsula is a less well-known area of Donegal, but possesses one of the country's finest music bars. McGrory's in Culdaff hosts excellent Tuesday night sessions and its walls bear photographic evidence of the many major names to have graced its Back Room stage.

If it is Ellery Hanley you mean then it may be this - Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen.... Ellery Hanley

Both 2nd and 3rd goals conceded with runs down the right channel where we look exposed after the sending off - the third was pretty soft as no pressure on two hearts players at any time at all....will have to work on that or that level of defending (mid and defence) will cost us even more points....game looked excellent though and some good opportunities....as they say on another day we might have had a different result....

Just watched highlights on BBC now....

Didn't realise that ICAT had been transferred to Killie in the January transfer window....

Interview with Esson after yesterday's game where he gives his view on the penalty and sending off... Caley keeper gutted by defeat Esson said: "I don't want to get into blaming the referee, but when some calls are given and others similar aren't, you have to question consistency. On another week, the penalty would have been a free kick the other way." He has definitely been a decent acquisition for the team....not many times in the recent years that we have penalties saved by an ICT keeper....