Huisdean

Sad, so very sad to see what has become of ICT this season. Even sadder when I think about Friday's game as County were no world beaters and were beatable but when you gift them 3 goals, and we have gifted goals all season, then we have no chance. I actually bumped into RF on Friday morning and he appeared relaxed and upbeat, confident even so what happened between then and Friday night is anyone's guess but the loss of the first goal, and the manner of it killed us. As for blame, while RF is culpable as the manager, the board are much more culpable for putting him in this position. What is even more worrying for me, as some others have pointed out, is that we seem to have no long term plan/strategy for the club. We seem to have minimal development of young players, a scouting system that doesn't work and absolutely no fan engagement with the board. We should be encouraging greater links with Highland League clubs to develop/scout players and, IMO, should consider leaving the U20 league and loan players out to the Highland League to aid their development. It seems that the fans can easily come up with ways to take the club forward but the board cannot. Business men, don't make me laugh!. Community buy out anyone?

Totally agree Caley Boy

Certainly a confusing appointment although the confusion is of the Board's making. However, the appointment has been made and it is pointless to speculate or criticise on the appointment until we see if it succeeds or not. If it does, then the appointment will have been worth it so it would be prudent for some of the more excitable posters to calm down. If it doesn't work, then by all means then let rip.

I am astonished that anyone is contemplating having John Hughes back as a manager. His signings were even poorer than Foran's and our style of play had become so predictable that teams soon sussed out how to play against us and we had no plan B. Would we have changed our style this season under John Hughes and been more exciting to watch, would he have signed better players than previously, the evidence suggests otherwise. There are in fact many similarities between JH and RF's style of management in that they are both stubborn and will not change their approach even when everyone can see that change is needed. Is that the one bit of experience RF picked up from JH?

For what it's worth, This is the split in the board that I referred to in another post. My understanding is that the Muirfield Mills were not happy with the ways things were going but did not have a majority on the board to change things. I think this is bad news for us unless this puts pressure on existing board members to up their game or resign.

While relegation can happen to most teams if they have a bad season ( and some fans need to realise that bigger teams than us have been relegated or escaped relegation on technicalities), the bigger issue for me has been the performance of the board and not just this season. I have posted several times on this but we do not seem to have any long term strategy for the club or if we do, then I for one am certainly not aware. I have heard, but have no proof, that there are splits in the board but there seems to be a general lack of drive and ambition from them. Not knowing them personally, I could be wrong and it may be just my perception but perception is a powerful tool. It the, as it now appears, the inevitable happens, and we do get relegated, then fans do need to get behind the team and support in similar numbers as they do currently. That would help the team, and finances greatly but this is where the actions of the board are crucial. They do need to show they have a viable plan to take the club forward if relegation happens but I am not holding my breath on this and say that with great sadness. While RF and the players have had to face the media, take flack from supporters etc, the board have been hugely anonymous (I appreciate they have to be careful in what they say and how people interpret what they say) but the silence has been very disappointing to me and is indicative of the fact that there are no real leaders in the boardroom. Fully appreciate this may not be on topic so feel free to move if required but Saturdays result really was a bitter blow.

Agree totally and think a lot of this is down to his association with John Hughes. He is certainly a more experienced coach than RF. Unless you have evidence that this is the case, then this is just pure speculation and doesn't help matters.

Seriously with pace out wide that Aberdeen have. May work on Football Manager but not in real life.

Boyd was making these sort of challenges on Billy McKay all game long and was not penalised by the referee. At least he was consistent(ly) poor.

Just don't buy that his form has improved since he knew deal was done. Think the more likely cause for the deal being done is that Aberdeen are losing McGinn and possibly Jack so they needed to move quickly. If nobody else was interested in signing him, then where else was he going to go if offered more money by Aberdeen. Personally, Hearts or Rangers could equally have signed Tansey and he would have been an asset to them as he was to us but they didn't show interest as did nobody of any interest in England.

Have to disagree on this. That was not the only tactic we used but as time went on, we needed to try and win somehow so every tactic had to be followed. The key today was getting the second goal, same as the County game but we couldn't get it. We were the better team today and nobody will convince me otherwise. Sure at the end, we were hanging on a bit but we were chasing the game for a winner so had to take some risks which I don't think is being appreciated. The pressure Kilmarnock had was what we had for large parts of the game, no more no less. I agree we need some luck, which we simply are not getting at the moment but we are certainly not relegated yet.

Not at all IHE and idiotic to suggest. Today proved that we don't have the personnel to play a 5 at the back and even Foran saw it wasn't working and changed it to a back 4 putting Laing into midfield which was baffling and moving Draper up front. I think Brad Mackay was injured which is why McNaughton came on and he had a pretty good game. Draper probably had one of his worst games in recent times and struggled to pass to his own team. Had we got the second goal our play did deserve, and that was due to their keeper, then we would not have needed Fon Williams to make the saves he did. We really should have put the game to bed before Kilmarnock's late rally bit it really wasn't for want of trying. Not our best performance but certainly not our worst. Finally a word on the officials today who were truly dreadful. Bobby Madden penalised any sort of contact by our players, some even with no contact, yet let Mckay be fouled all afternoon by Boyd. Penalty looked soft but difficult to see where I sit but Madden gave it instantly. If he gives that, then he must give some of the fouls on Billy but he didn't. The simulation by Jones was so blatant yet only a warning while he told Mulreaney he dived when blatantly fouled. Had he given the foul, he would have to send Dicker off but Madden bottled it completely. How Kris Boyd gets away with his tactics of simply not challenging for the ball then waiting to get the foul he plays for is beyond me. The referees poor performance could have cost us dear as several free kicks given to Kilmarnock in good areas that were patently not free kicks. The treatment of Mulreaney by Kilmarnock was poor, and also aided by the ref as several poor tackles made on him that largely went unpunished. Would not be surprised to see Mulreaney out injured again as a result. Poor result for us with the way the other results went but genuinely didn't think we deserved this result and more than merited a win but luck is definitely not going our way.

Polworth has a fair bit of work to do if he is to become a nailed on first team pick. Nobody "deserves" to be a first team pick, they have to earn it and Polworth has not done that for me yet. As for Greg Tansey, I am astonished that some posters are effectively saying good riddance to him and he was not that great a player/will be a big loss. He has been the midfielder most able to influence games for us and we are undoubtedly a poorer team without him. I don't think he has been as bad this season as some make out but not playing him in his best position in games has diminished his influence in my opinion. All the best Greg for the future.

As is your nonsensical reply. Perhaps if we all had more respect for each other............

I don't know if these are the same young fans that I have witnessed behaving as louts on three occasions after games this season, sincerely hope not given their support as detailed above but............ after the first County home game, some young neds starting shouting and challenging any County fans heading their way after the game. I told them to shut up and behave themselves and, despite wearing an ICT jacket, scarf and baseball cap, they started abusing me before running after County fans. The same group did the same thing after the Kilmarnock game. The worst thing however was after the Aberdeen game when walking back up Longman Road. Two young Aberdeen fans in front were walking towards the city centre when a group of young ICT fans (4/5) starting abusing the young fans (no more than 14/15 years old) who sensibly kept on walking. Then one young ICT "fan" started punching/hitting the Aberdeen fans trying to get a reaction which they didn't get. Again I challenged these "fans" but they then started shouting abuse at my son in law and myself. Fortunately this distraction let the two young fans get mixed up with a crowd of people further ahead and no further trouble ensued. First time in my life, I had ever witnessed something like this. As I have said, don't know if these were the same fans fighting in the pie queue but these actions do not make them real football fans in my book.

Culpability of giving him a new contract and the financial implications of that. If no contract extension, then financial liability reduced. I have no inside knowledge on this matter but find it hard to believe the fall out happened so quickly between Hughes and the board with no inkling on the boards behalf. Fully appreciate the board have a difficult job to do but still of the opinion they need to be more proactive than reactive.

Seriously Dougal??. There have been poor ICT sides and also badly managed ones previously as well. We have no right to be in the top division and have to earn that. Possibly no surprise that the two teams with the smallest budgets are the bottom two clubs. If we can stay up, and I believe we can, then it will be equally as hard next season with Hibs coming up into the SPFL. Undoubtedly, mistakes have been made by our manager this season but he has had to learn on the job and quickly. That is not totally RFs fault and the board have to accept a degree of culpability here for that and their handling of John Hughes departure and the financial impact it has had on the club. Jury is out as to whether he is learning well but he will be there until the end of the season so needs support. If the unthinkable happens and it is obvious that we will be relegated, the board has to seriously reappraise the situation to be prepared for next season very quickly. As for yesterdays game, definitely think we deserved to win, after a poor first half but we needed a wide player brought on sooner to help us with an out ball from defence. While not setting the heather on fire, thought Anier did okay yesterday and kept the County defenders on their toes. The battling qualities are back at last but we need to get some wins starting with Kilmarnock. The game against Motherwell before the split is now also hugely significant. From reading previous posts, there are definite splits between some posters on whether we played well or otherwise. This is sadly depressing and I wish everyone put the same effort into supporting the team. Good debate is healthy, petty point scoring isn,t.

Maybe if Nat or Old on the bench as well, we could have made a better song and dance of it

How true

Spot on for me with the exception of Mulreaney in for Cole, if fit, as I think County's defence is vulnerable to pace. Warren did drop Warren and Vigurs for the Rangers game so hopefully he will have seen the benefits but it would not surprise me if he played Warren on Saturday.

I find it incredible that posters are writing off Aaron already. This is a separate injury from the one sustained previously and he has just had his operation so now his recovery starts in earnest. While no medical expert, I don't think this injury is as bad as his previous one and I for one, look forward to seeing him play for ICT again.

Again have to disagree. To say we haven't missed as he has hardly played for the past two years is not the case in my opinion. We are a better team with him playing than not playing.

Have to disagree. He is a big miss and would/should be one of the first names on our team sheet and he was part of our recognised starting 11 before his injury.

Totally agree with the full backs as, to me MacKay is simply not a full back. For me, an interesting centre back paring would be McCart and Meekings. Warren only needs to be played if no alternative as he is off form.

The simple fact is he did track back and as the ball hit him rather than him deliberately using his arm/elbow, what has that got to do with anything. Vigurs is not the only player who has not always performed for us this season but seems to be getting all of the criticism from certain quarters which is wholly unjustified. I will say it again, the booing of any player by the home fans is simply not justified in the circumstances it was done on Wednesday and should not be condoned by any ICT supporter.