Scotty

As far as I know, they still print them in the paper on a Friday ? We have had good relations with the Courier over the years and have no problem with them continuing to do this even though we are now an unofficial fan-site. We also have no problem if they want to include them as 'fan-mail' on the online edition - in fact, I enjoyed seeing what comments they picked each week when they did put them online. If anyone from the Courier wants to contact myself and/or Don to discuss this or clarify anything, please feel free to do so.

:015: :015: :clapping04: :clapping04: At the end of the day, ICT may be hugely important to us - and rightly so - but Grampian TV, Scotsport, Setanta, and most of the media will never give us the column inches or broadcast minutes we feel we deserve as they are geared up to get the most viewers or sell the most papers and ICT just doesnt do it for them (any more). Grampian TV is a local station based in Aberdeen that covers 3 cities (maybe 4 or even 5 if you include Perth and Elgin :017:). Of the 3 cities with SPL teams, Inverness is by far the smallest and therefore of least interest to the TV execs. It gets even worse when you apply this to the Glasgow or Edinburgh based media, and worse still when you apply it to the national or indeed international media. I might be taking it to extremes, but even the Sunday edition of the Toronto Star which normally has a paragraph about how Celtic and Rangers got on the day before (and about 6 paragraphs in total about the English premiership - 'soccer' gets about 1/4 of a page if we are lucky) failed to mention either team this weekend. We do get huge media coverage when we pull off a big shock - witness all the coverage in Feb 2000 - but as a decent mid table side in the SPL, the beating of a struggling Rangers team doesnt have the same 'shock factor' or hold the same interest no matter how important that WE know the result is. It is - in a way - a back-handed compliment to the progress and reputation of ICT as an SPL side. I would exclude a few people/publications from the media bashing .... The Courier has (almost) always given us great coverage, and the P&J has improved a lot in recent seasons. Even the HN which once behaved very badly towards ICT is half decent now (albeit with a bad article that was more about Rangers than ICT last week). There are also decent articles most weeks from at least one of the broadsheets. I also cannot fault either Charles Bannerman, or Richard Gordon. With Charles it is understandable - being local and all - but RG, as we have said on here before seems to treat us with a fair bit of respect and journalistic integrity which is refreshing given that he's a Dons fan.

he was only on 5 bookings before the Rangers game and got booked in that one to earn his suspension .... I thought he was suspended for this weekend, but based on the previous posts I guess he is eligible for this game but not the St Mirren one ??

I posted this on P&B earlier today ------------------------------------------- United have some good INDIVIDUAL players, but no matter who is in charge there seems to be something in the air/water at Tannadice that ensures they cannot play as a TEAM. Given time, Brewster may reshape the side, reduce the wage bill and even find some players who have some heart and will work hard for the club and each other, but the Chairman has a reputation as an impatient man whose past record of intolerance goes before him. I can see Brewster back at East End Park before the year is out with big Jim moving upstairs again or taking on a mentoring role. --------------------------------------------

I would guess at 2 .... David Bagan and Jose Quitongo (although he has now been released).

I meant 750k in total to get rid of CB and get a new man in place and give him a few pennies to work with ...... and if you include the 200k it cost to get him from ICT (which maybe you shouldn't as it was last season) you would not be a kick in the erse of 1 million. How much HAS ET thrown away in buying and sacking managers over the last few years I wonder

How many Dumbarton players do you think Darren Dods could name ?

If we assume that Brewster is a reasonably intelligent man, surely even he could look at the recent history of the club and realise that the job was a 'poisoned chalice'. I can understand why he took it - United legend and all that - but the club have been seriously underperforming (and over-expecting) for a long time, not just under McCall. Even though Brewster may one day be a great manager, asking him to turn round the fortunes of a declining team like DUFC is way above his level at the moment. Agree with that, the question has to be how long you are prepared to let it go. ET is not renowned for his patience. They were sort of discussing this on the radio at the weekend and the question that seemed to be raised was whether ET could actually afford to sack him. If you figure it cost ET 200k to get him from ICT and he has a decent contract that would cost a fair bit of money to buy out, then it will cost even more money to get a new guy in and give him some form of budget to work with ..... you could be talking upwards of 750k or even a million. If the grocer does 'do it again', I would NOT be surprised to see CB back at East End Park before the year is out but I just hope that Mixu has the sense to take the Hibs job if offered and not the other job that might appeal to him ......

Peter Paul's Pics

Guess its the public persona VS private persona Gazza is another one who actually did a fair bit of work for charity and such like but all we ever think of are the antics that got him in the papers which always enjoyed showing him as a wife beating, flute playing drunkard .... Ferguson is always portrayed as an idiotic wee ned on things like Only an excuse or Off the Ball and I guess thats what shapes most people's opinions. If he is putting something back into the community by way of coaching and/or charity work then fair play to him. I dont think that will suddenly make me think that he is a great player or a wonderful person, but it maybe drops the ned factor a wee bit.

Click on either the fan report or the official report on the frontpage and you will get the link to the audio interviews after the game - I cant access it here at work as the filetype is not allowed.

There is the possibility that Saturday's result might make a few extra bodies go to the game, but the abysmal home record is just as likely to see just as many stay away. We need a few decent home results, and some good performances to change the casual visitors perception that they might actually see a decent game (and a good ICT result) at the TCS. I remember back to Div2 & Div1 days where we nicknamed the TCS the 'fortress' as we seldom lost there (but we were correspondingly bad away from home) ... Our SPL record seems to have turned that stat on its head and even the radio commentators seem to mention the disparity every week ...

People can throw a 'huffy' if they want, its up to them ... what IHE posted was a rumour (or perhaps more accurately a wind-up) and someone moved it to the rumours board. If it turns out to be true, we will move it back - like we did with other rumours :004: At the end of the day, its only a forum and not that important in most people's lives. I certainly have better things to do than chase around after individual posters apologising for the actions of others, especially when those actions are correct. It isnt going to bother me in the slightest if a few posters decide that their future lies elsewhere as you cant please everyone all of the time ... and there are some who you cant please any of the time !! Both before we were made official in 2000 and since then, I used to think we could please everyone and I tried to do just that, only to get shot at from both sides on most occasions. Returning the site to unofficial status has meant that we have been able to relax a lot of the rules - or expectations is perhaps more accurate wording - we had imposed upon us. All we ask is that postings go in the right place and that they are not 'offensive' or contain things like links to illegal downloads of SPL copyrighted material. I dont think its too much to ask.

Charlie also said we 'sold out our allocation' - dont forget, away teams get virtually no seats at ibrox.

What has 'independence' got to do with one of the mods/admins moving a rumour from the main board to the rumours board ? Its not like it got deleted.

click on THIS LINK - the written report is to follow, but we have 3 audio clips from Radio Scotland up there - match report, interview with CC, and interview with PLG

how do we know thats actually what he's gonna do ? it could be truth, bluff, or double-bluff .... Would you reveal your full tactics truthfully to an opponent the day before a game or just give the journos a soundbite and then tell those that matter - ie your team - how its gonna be ? I can see it now .... Pepe Le Pew in the Rangers dressing room before the game ... "bonjour mes amis, Aujourd'hui we play Caley Thistle ... Charlie has given us his 'Tactique de jeu' and this is what we will do ......" at half-time "Oh merde .... " at full-time "Charlie est un bâtard adroit" of course, Barry understands every word :015:

Was it not the Douglas Hotel before dillies ? C'mon Charles - bet you were in there at least once - for journalistic reasons of course - !!!

So Mixu to Hibs, Levein to the Arabs, and Brewster to the dogs ... :015: :015:

every time I ventured into that part of Dillies, it always seemd to be Dire Straits that was playing !!!

remember when MTV was a novelty and they had it on screens in the other bar ....

I am sure that Craig will make the best decision for Craig and the comments to me sound neither positive or negative ... he is simply saying "I would be happy to stay at ICT, if the right offer is made .. so make me an offer and we can go from there..." I dont get the impression that CD is all that motivated by money - although it would be foolish to suggest it was not a factor. In his case, he had quite a few seasons blighted by injury which he clearly did not enjoy and - by his own admission - had one of his most enjoyable seasons last year. Hopefully 'job satisfaction' will be a major factor in his consideration of a new deal.

non-starter !! If I were to pick one from the 3 names I mentioned, I would pick Mixu - he has quietly been learning his trade and may feel ready for a step up. Being a former fan favourite at the club wont hurt him either.... wonder if McLeish's name will be mentioned as a possibility ? Sorry to see Mowbray go as thats another 'decent' man who has left the SPL. Regardless of the teams they previously played for, I always regarded both Mowbray and Butcher as pretty honest gentlemen in comments they made after games or in the press.

The early 'names in the frame' so far are Mixu Paatelainen John ' Yogi' Hughes John Collins

Me too ..... same lack of recollections too - something to do with Jimmy Terris' "Jelly Beans" :drinking07: ... :drunk01: ...