Scotty

If that?s the case then you must know something about the financial situation at the club that the rest of us don?t. I thought we were debt free with one of the lowest wage bills in the SPL. I have to agree with CaleyD again ...... If "well off" is a few million in the bank, making a profit every year, and chugging along quite nicely, with the option to enhance the stadium infrastructure or player squads without too much hassle and "Bust" is making a loss every year, deeply in debt, and struggling both on and off the park then we ARE closer to that line than we are to the well off line ! YES, we have one of the lowest wage bills in the SPL, YES we endeavour to get as close to breaking even as we can every year, and YES we are debt free. That is a HUGE plus in this day and age and a lot of credit has to go to certain people for that. however, the simple fact is that we NEED to bank on several imponderables each year to do that - cup runs, player sales, advertising, hospitality, crowd levels etc. We all want to see ICT progress but the biggest imponderable of them all is how to do that without getting into the same sorts of difficulties as Gretna, Livi etc ........ Things are not wonderful at our club, and there are lots of different things each of us individually could cite that we would like to see done better, differently or enhanced in some way - some of us may even agree on some of these things - but unlike some clubs who are more wealthy, we dont have the same room to manoeuvre in getting these done as they do so its a case of slow progression ..... and that brings a lot of frustration. Add some boardroom squabbles, some personal issues with club staff or officials, non-existent PR, and fan reaction to poor results (especially at home) and its a tough old time ..... but you know what .... I would rather see us struggle through the tough times and come out the other side than be in Livi's position right now and thats one reason I will not laugh at their plight. Gawd we need a home win this weekend, and then an away win in Paisley .... once that happens we will all be happy, add some Xmas spirit and we might even smile at each other .......

Dont think anyone in Scottish Football can afford to laugh at Livi, not even the big boys !!! Football is a strange business. In almost any other sector of the business community, most companies (clubs) involved in an unsustainable business like this would have gone to the wall long ago !!! On top of that, any time a football club "dies", its fans are badly affected and we all have to say "there but for the grace...." [ left out the god reference for any athiests or agnostics out there ]

love your optimism tm4tj .... if we can get past them on the 10th then great ... if it goes to a replay, I fear for us given the "history" of cup ties between us.

front page article now up with more of the history between the sides and links to a couple of match reports.

Dont think CaleyD is saying we are in any way as bad as Livi, but the direct comparisons to very similar points in Caley Stan's post are valid IMHO.

yup 10th January 2009 - already added it to the fixture list

Scottish Cup history V Partick - We have been drawn against them twice, each tie was drawn and went to a replay. We lost each replay - one in normal time, one on penalties  23/02/02: (A) 2-2 DRAW (Quarter Final)  05/03/02: (H) 0-1 LOSS (Quarter Final Replay)  04/02/06: (H) 2-2 DRAW (Round 4)  15/02/06: (A) 1-1 DRAW (Round 4 replay ? lost 4-2 on penalties)

Peterhead v Queens Park St.Johnstone v Rangers Raith/Alloa v Aberdeen Falkirk v QOS Airdrie Utd v Elgin City/Spartans Inverurie/Vale of Leithen v Motherwell Ross County/Dumbarton v Hamilton Forfar/Stranrarer v Forres/Dalbeattie Star ICT v Partick Celtic v Dundee East Stirling v Dundee Utd Stenhousemuir v East Fife Hibs v Hearts Lochee Utd/Ayr v Kilmarnock Dunfermline v Clyde Edinburgh City/Brechin v St.Mirren The red ones look like good match ups ... the tie of the round is a no brainer ! Hibs V Hearts !!!

thats a tough tie ... at least its at home.

Over the last few weeks, it sounds like our defence have tightened up and are playing better, our midfield is continuing on as it always has, but we are still as blunt as a fairground dart up front. The defence seems to be better these last few weeks. There are still a few lapses which is unfortunate, but they have certainly improved. I have always been a firm believer that the defence and goalie give each other confidence, and since Esson came in, the defence seem to be able to concentrate on defending better. Is this because Esson talks more to them? has a better presence in his box? or what? I like Fraser, think he is a good keeper, but the improvement seems to have co-incided with Esson coming in. what would those at games say it was down to? Midfield has never been much of a worry to me ... we have a lot of good players there. My only real grumble (as a mere punter with no coaching badges) is that I tend to agree with IHE that left sided players should be playing on the left and not the right, and that Barry should be getting more of a run out late in games to try and snatch something when we need it but other than that, I am pretty content. Up front is where I think we all agree something isnt working. Personally, I think that Barrowman, Rooney and Wood are all hot prospects who will come good in time. Unfortunately, time is not a luxury we have and they need help if they are not to burn out with all the expectation placed on them. If we can source an experienced striker during the transfer window who can bring the best out of them or help them along then that would be good. There must be a few out there who are available to sign or to loan ..... think out of the box Craig .... even as far afield as MLS !!! There are (decent) players in MLS who are currently shopping themselves around Europe for loan spells because the season is finished until April !!! There may be the odd nugget available even on a 3 or 4 month loan ? Although some of the top players in MLS can get quite high salaries, there are just as many on affordable wages ... and those wages are published online !!!

The bottom line is that there does not appear to be a reliable, accurate and up to date list online anywhere ... not on the UEFA site, not on the SFA site and not on the SPL site. The only references I have been able to find via google is to a woefully out of date document on Wikipedia, and some random links to other sites. We all know that Wikipedia can be wrong as often as it is right and although its list is probably correct in the names that it mentions, its the names that it doesnt mention that make it inaccurate. The other sites I found were via keywords on websites - thats how I found mention of John Collins and Miodrag Krivokapić for example. Maybe its a question for Boardroom Banter ? Q: There has been some discussion on the boards about CB achieving his UEFA Pro licensing badge. Can the club confirm that he has (and congratulate him on our behalf) but can they also clear up a discussion about which other coaches (past or present) attained or held this qualification while working for ICT .... according to some, Danny Macdonald, John Robertson, Donald Park, and Charlie Christie all held (hold) this qualification which at the time meant we had one of the most qualified backroom teams in Scotland.

Did my part :thumb04:

It would not have been shown live at 3PM in the UK on any channel as that would break the UEFA blackout restrictions. Thats why you get games either before or after the 3-5pm saturday blackout period.

First time we have conceded less than two goals at Parkhead in a league game !!!!

had to rely on open-all-mics today and the coverage was disappointing to say the least ... but it sounded like we gave it a good go today but just couldn't score ...... so for a good attempt.

CELTIC -V- ICT Celtic Park, Glasgow, 3:00pm Discuss it during the game in the CHATROOM Audio Coverage Match Feed (UK only) Sportsound/Open All Mics Feed (Worldwide) Livescores SKY SPORTS BBC - ICT Live Text P&J - ICT Live Text SportBox Sporting Life Lineups (click for full size image)

Would that be the Wikipedia list ? The one that is showing managers in England and has no Scottish names unless they are working in England (or were at the time of qualification). I know for example that Miodrag Krivokapić got his pro license in Scotland as his profile on the Montenegro FA site comes up if you search google for "UEFA Pro license Scotland" as does John Collins ..... I did actually search the UEFA website earlier (for the rules about the pro license) but could find absolutely no mention of it. The SFA site has a description of it for upcoming courses next month but neither the SFA or SPL websites seem to have any indication of who currently holds this type of license.

Have to agree with BingoBingo on each and every point made. In my opinion, we should extend Barry's deal to end of season and if at all possible, and if he actually wants it, find a place for him as a player/coach for next season. The season after that he might want to hang up his boots and concentrate solely on coaching (at ICT !!!). I would hope the club dont make the same mistake they did when letting another club legend (Mike Teasdale) wander off into the sunset when he was deemed surplus to first team requirements. Mike would have been a natural in the PR department if given the opportunity. From knowing him and his personality, I would say he would have been good in a role where he was doing PR and a bit of the commercial side of things. The face of the club as it were ... lets not make a similar mistake with Barry.

someone from Richard's testimonial committee has been in touch with us and we have agreed to publicise any events (that they make us aware of) in the same way as we did with Barry's and will do with any other player's testimonial events in the future.

We are quick to slag Brew off for tactics, PR, selections and any manner of other things, so its only fair that we give him credit for achieving this coaching standard. Well done Brewster (there's a phrase not many use on here !!!) Surprised (and delighted) to hear that Danny already has it and that Charlie and Robbo were working towards it ... thought that they would be doing 'A' or 'B' badges, didnt realise they had got to the UEFA Pro level in terms of coaching qualifications

As I understand it, all managers in the top divisions of their respective leagues must have this qualification by 2010 to be allowed to actually manage a team for more than 12 weeks. They also need it for Champions League and UEFA cup participation. There is a good explanation of it on the BBC website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/6189330.stm

its a requirement for any manager wishing to manage a club in European competition. Its also now mandatory to be able to manage a club in the EPL so may become so in the SPL soon too ! I have seen the list of things required to be awarded this qualification and it is fairly lengthy so fair play to him if he has qualified, it would have been a fair bit of work.

doesnt seem to be anything to do with Killie ...... other than it took place at Rugby Park and he was up in Kilmarnock Sheriff Court .... if anything, much as it is hard to say, it should be Rangers getting the praise "Walls was seen singing the chorus of the song and other offensive remarks during the game by stewards employed by Rangers FC." "Miss Tait ? a club steward for the last three years ? said that her instructions were to take the seat numbers of those guilty of sectarian behaviour and report them to Rangers for further action."

Interesting to note that Andy Barrowman has said he is frustrated at not getting a regular start !!! Source: http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/959838?UserKey=

ohhhhhh, hokey hokey tokely .... knees bent arms out, ra-ra-ra