Scotty

The problem with that is that only 1 team in the SPL now view us like that ...... and that is ourselves !!!

GK: Out: Zibi Malkowski In: Ryan Esson, Andy McNulty Comment: A good move I think. Esson will push Fraser and most fans would be happy with either between the sticks. For the first time (i think) we also have a #3 keeper officially in the first team squad. Defence: Out: Stuart McCaffrey, Steven Watt In: Lionel Djebi-Zadi, + promoted youngsters (Duff / Kerr). Comment: No difference to last season really and still no signing to replace the huge hole that Dods left two seasons ago. McGuire and Proctor who came in during last season are not replacements for him. This has got to be a huge area of concern. Will be interesting to see if either of the youngsters can establish themselves if things go pear shaped. Midfield: Out: Richie Hart In: Zander Sutherland (back from loan) + promoted youngsters (Vigurs / Gillespie) Comment: Midfield is one area I think was fine last season (in quality at least, if not always in performance). I would have liked Hart to stay but perhaps a clean break was best for all concerned. One positive is the reviews that Vigurs is getting and the buzz that has always surrounded Sutherland. Will either be able to live up to it though ... or even get a chance in what is the area of the team where we have the most competition for places. Forwards: Out: Dennis Wyness, Graeme Bayne, Dean McDonald, Marius Niculae (probable) In: Andrew Barrowman, Garry Wood (back from loan) Comment: Some have said we will see a "Pele-esque" return to the score more goals than the opponents outlook we used to have but my concern is where these goals will come from. Barrowman can do it in Div2 but can he do it in SPL, the same can be said for Wood and if we lose Niculae then that leaves the aforementioned two plus Rory and Dougie Imrie who may be better as a wide man than a striker ! If we lose Niculae, we will have lost 3 players who scored 20 goals between them last season and be left with 2 who scored a total of 3 !!! Guess we will be looking to Cowie and Wilson to get on the scoresheet this season !!!

One of the best reasons for offering trials .... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Dia

The answer to your question is NO. However, we didnt make the decision and the man is in the position so lets hope he can prove us wrong. The alternatives dont bear thinking about !!!

Steve Paterson was a fairly successful manager at Huntly. John Robertson was working his way up to management and was an experienced coach when we got him.

Regardless of who the manager is, or what division we are in, Caley Thistle have always been a better team when the ball is played on the deck. I hope the route 1 stuff is few and far between this season ... perhaps restricted to the last few minutes of a game like a cup tie where we need a goal and are in all out attack mode as Mahonio suggests. This is especially valid if we have wide players or a midfield that is able to make use of the ball on the deck which I think we do. The pitch at TCS was designed with this in mind as the camber not only helps with drainage but suits wing play. As for subs, I hear you Alex .... most players should be able to play for 90 minutes and we theoretically dont need subs other than to cover injuries. However, there are two flaws to that argument. First is a player like Barry Wilson, getting on in age but still capable of making a contribution. whether he plays the first 60 minutes at full pelt and then gets subbed or comes on for the last 30 to do the same, there is merit in scheduling this substitution. Also, the manager must be confident enough to use his subs if something isnt working rather than hoping things turn our way. A good manager knows that there are 16 people in a matchday team even though only 11 of them start. Putting on a sub at 80+ minutes is not really a tactical switch, its either a desperation move or it is to waste time when you are ahead. If it is to waste time then I agree with it, if its a tactical switch then I think most times it will prove to be too little too late.

Thats two threads now where abuse is being dished out by you. Please refrain from it.

As I understand it, he offered to extend his contract but the offer was declined. Agreed. But as I said above ...... "I have a feeling he might have been better this season as he would be more settled - just married, back in the international fold, knows his colleagues a bit better etc etc etc. but we will never know now !" A boost that the club did not capitalise on [see above]. The truth will come out soon. People seem to think so, I have never seen or heard of the player so will defer to others superior knowledge.

WL, although I disagree with IHE in terms of Niculae, I think it is possible to do this without resorting to abuse. There are a wide range of opinions relating to Niculae, possibly the broadest range of opinions on any subject (with the exception of the merger) in ICT history. There are those who like him, those who dont, those who think he brought something to the side and those who think he was a waste of time and money. At the end of the day, no-one is totally right or wrong because all opinions are valid and we are each entitled to them. He chose to come to ICT in no small part because of the Orion and Steve Cairns connection and although I cannot say whether other offers were more lucrative or not, I believe they may have been given ICT's reputation as one of the lowest payers in one of the lowest paid leagues in Europe (excluding OF). In my opinion, he did bring something to the team, and his signing showed people that those in charge of the club were looking to break the mould a little and try to progress to the next level. I have long been a fan of not breaking the wage structure, and still am for the most part, but sometimes you have to take a chance, and I feel the club did this then failed to capitalise on the opportunities this brought. Here we are, little ICT, "a club of our size" to quote club officials, with a former international from one of the top 10 nations in Europe (Romania have been at 13 or higher in world rankings since 07 and 10 or better in Europe). The international player then succeeds in getting back to the full squad for Euro 2008, gets ICT mentioned rather a lot during the tournament, makes good noises about the club while he is there and generally raises the profile of the club to a level not seen before. I accept we have Richard Hastings and have had Davide Xausa in the past but with all due respect, Canada went from 103 to 51 in the rankings and now back down to 77 in the same period that Romania have hovered at 12 or 13. (For reference - Scotland went from 19 to 23 to 14 and now back to 16 in the same period) The club should have used Niculae's involvement in Euro 2008 to raise awareness of the side, to make the point to potential signings that it is possible to get into international squads without being at one of the OF, to use Niculae's positive comments about the club and area to show that Inverness is a great place to play your football. What did they do ? They did nothing. They did mention in a brief article that he was selected for the Euros but that was the sum total until this website changed its entire global board header to support the player and Romania at the tournament and setup a way for the player to personally respond to emails that were being sent to him. It took us less than an hour to setup an email address for him and to change the headers and because of this we also got coverage in various places in the UK and abroad ... I had people at TFC games mention it to me telling me it was great how we were doing this and how they didnt realise that ICT actually had any international players, I had international publications asking for quotes, I had a FIFA endorsed website asking why we were doing it. The club could and should have been doing this instead and reaping the positive PR and raised profile it would have brought them but unfortunately, it would seem like the decision to offload the player had already been made and no-one could even see the other side of the coin in that supporting the player in such a way that they might actually increase interest in him if they did want to sell him. Marius is/was not a world beater and I agree with those who say he shouldnt have been anywhere near the first team for at least the first couple of months of his ICT career as he was not fit. However, although he must shoulder some of it, he cannot be blamed solely for his ineffectiveness in certain matches as a lot of that is down to tactics or the lack thereof. I only saw him play live on one occasion and that was at home in the 3-0 victory over Kilmarnock. He was very effective that day but I accept the comments of those who watched him away from home regularly. I have a feeling he might have been better this season as he would be more settled - just married, back in the international fold, knows his colleagues a bit better etc etc etc. but we will never know now ! Regardless of whether you agree with the ramblings above or not - and to be honest, I really dont care as this is my opinion and I am as entitled to it as you are to your differing ones - the one area where I feel we should all be united is in our outrage at how he has been treated since the end of the season. I am sure the full story will come out eventually from one source or another but from what I have heard so far there should be several heads hanging in shame.

Dean McDonald was in a similar position last year !

Decisions have certainly been made and the worst part is that these decisions were not necessarily for football reasons. I am not so certain we will be relegated but I fear that we will be down around there for much of the season.

Blackieforce ... read between the lines .... It is my firm belief that he will not play for ICT again and that is a crying shame. Of course, I could be wrong, but thats how I interpret it ... If you want to keep a player you say "he is an integral part of the managers plans" or that "he has an important role to play", not that "he will remain here until the Board agrees a fee with another club" which is a somewhat more polite way of saying **** Off. Incidentally, that comment will probably also have lopped a substantial amount off any transfer fee we hope to get as clubs now know we are desperate to get rid of him and that the buyer will be in the driver's seat in negotiations. All in all, very sordid and shoddy.

Think this line says it all "Marius is still a Caley Thistle player for another year and he will remain here until the Board agrees a fee with another club." no mention that he will play, or will be allowed to play, just that he will be here until we can offload him. very sad.

simple solution - make a counter proposal to the SPL that clubs just dont sell any tickets to them. The clubs cant do it arbitrarily as it is written in the rules that away clubs must receive a minimum of 5% of the capacity of the ground as their allocation but surely this cash grab by the OF breaks the spirit of these rules if not the rules themselves.

Interesting to note that several threads from here were printed off from a set of German IP addresses just before the news broke :024:

Far from being wrong, I think you hit the nail squarely on the head there .... I thought as much after reading the comments of some of the lads who mentioned how he stood and clapped all the way through their song for him instead of just acknowledging it briefly. When he does go, I hope the real story comes out and I also hope that he can see and apprecite the difference between the fans view of him and the view of certain officials.

Is it still big George ?

I get the feeling there may well be a few more twists and turns to this story yet. Unfortunately, a U-turn doesnt appear to be one of the possibilities.

already being discussed here: http://www.caleythistleonline.com/communit...opic=7246.0;all

Do you mean Zander or David ? Some people accuse me of being a conspiracy theorist but not even I would make that leap. The simple truth seems to be that despite the player's best efforts to impress, and he did have some nice touches according to some people, he simply did not seem to have enough of the right stuff right now for him to be offered a contract. He may well develop into a good or great player given time but he would essentially have been no more than a developing youngster, playing in the reserves but (presumably) drawing a first team wage so the decision, however hard, seems to be the right one.

I recently said I would issue praise where and when it was due so I am happy to print the message of thanks to ICT fans that I received from Lynne Cordiner from the Highland Hospice this morning. My name is Lynne Cordiner and I am the Corporate Fundraiser at Highland Hospice. At the ICT v County game on Tuesday 15th July the Hospice held a collection in memory of Tony Fraser who passed away in the Hospice in 2006. We were at the turnstiles and Boardroom prior to the match and waited at the main servery at half time and were delighted with the generosity of both groups of fans. The total raised was ?316.78 which was a great boost. I was wondering if I could put a Thank You on the website to the ICT fans? My email address is [email protected] Also put a small piece on the front page: http://www.caleythistleonline.com/

No Alex Bone ? seeing him and CC match up again might have been fun :015: :015:

Credit where credit is due. I believe this may well be a good signing. Esson is/was a decent keeper and was an U21 international. Not sure why he didnt get more playing time at either Shrewsbury or Hereford (apart from the 10 weeks he was out with a broken cheekbone) but he is still only 28 so in keeper terms just a young 'un He could well be another whose career gets resurrected in the clean Highland air. :021: to Brewster for this one I think

While you guys enjoy ICT V County ...... I will be toddling off to BMO Field to watch TFC take on Argentinian side Independiente .... think I would rather be at the TCS though.

Think this is one subject where there can be little or no argument about the fitting nature of what both ICT and RCFC have done in remembering a vital cog in both team's wheels and where we can all be positive about things.