starchief

Pure snobbery. Much as I like Neil Young, Leonard Cohen, Lou Reed and other 'Legends', my favourite song is by the little known Razorcuts. It's a bit like saying 'who's your favourite football team' but only meaning those where crowds are more than 50,000 as the rest aren't 'real' teams.

You need a blend of youth and experience. I also feel we're deeply lacking in some positions. An out-and-out goalscorer and a commanding central defender being the main two. I'll reserve judgment on Imrie, though a seasoned creative player (Barry Wilson?) wouldn't go amiss. A better version of Duncan too might shoot us to top 6 next year.

It's sunny and about 26 degrees here in Cairo :021: Sorry to hear you're suffering there :blah01: Chris

Why not give it a go? There's a few of these large books...jungle warfare...Australians...tanks etc Commando has moved on quite a lot though. Quite a few romano-celtic stories, Vikings, wild west, medieval times, sci-fi (to answer a future question, it was called Starblazer). I never really understood why comics in the UK are "kid's stuff" and an art medium that should be outgrown. Most today (including 2000AD, Marvel, DC etc as well as the more political stuff like Cairo, Palestine and the rest) are written for adults. But even many of the 1970s Brit comics, like Charley's War, Hook Jaw, Angry Planet are still worth reading. Watch V for Vendetta, Spider-Man or 30 Days of Night, then read the comic. Far better. It's just a movie storyboard with better special FX and more time to tell the story. Anyway, here's a copy of Warlord no.1 for you to bring back the memories: http://rapidshare.com/files/98496600/Warlo...eercs_.cbr.html You'll need a great little program called Comic Book Reader to enjoy it http://cdisplay.techknight.com/setup.zip (or else just change the extension from .cbr to .rar and un-rar the jpegs and read individually). Also, see the StarscapeComic.co.uk website for more strips or places to download the program. Chris

Got a bit of history with comics... It wasn't Commando (4000 issues and still going strong) but originally in the Wizard, then moving on to the Hotspur. They collected the story of the Deathless Men in Red Dagger 27: V for Vengeance Chris

Little known over here but Concrete Blonde were awesome. No real stage show, just one crazy woman pounding on a bass singing her broken heart out. Violent Femmes were also sensational. Drummer being completely hatstand. The glory days of James (actually before their glory days come to think of it) saw Tim Booth and his whirling dervish dancing - flowery shirts and all. Chris

And allowed to transfer players too. Seeing as we missed out on Deuchar (though I'd have gone to Salt Lake for 30 K a week too), how about Yantorno? I know he's injured but he looked excellent prior to that. Anyone else? Chris

Durutti Column. Amazing piece of art.

Who pays less? I could only guess Falkirk...and even then... (Gretna certainly were thought to be big payers)

And as he was getting sent off, del Piero pulled Cleland's hair and ran away! :blah01: (not joking either, it was truly hilarious - to be fair, afterwards, even Cleland thought it was funny) Chris

A player who you would leave the game feeling that he had made it worth it - a player who could produce a little bit of magic - a player who would make the opposition look like wallies - a player who could score goals out of the blue and spectacularly - a player that you would pay money to travel for cos you just knew that he could turn a game in an instant. Bingham and Juanjo were the main two - Niculae couldnt lace their boots when it came to my criteria. How strange. I think he's achieved all the things you mentioned (after a slow start). I don't think we've had a player as talented as Niculae since the likes of Charlie Christie.

You mean you've heard a rumour we're bringing back Barry Robson :crazy07:

Just wish we were hearing more about replacements as well. Hart's a decent player but probably more a regular 1st Division quality. Think he would always be in and out of the SPL.

Seriously though...swap Proctor and Tokely's positions. Ross is so much a centre-back (where he began), it seems too obvious to miss.

We're real big spenders aren't we! :banana2:

Yeah, those 'everyone's anti-us' members of the Old Firm are hilarious. Yeah, sure they really get a rough ride by referees and the media! Wonder how many pages of the 'national' media they'll get today versus the combined page count of ICT, Dundee Utd, Falkirk, Aberdeen, St Mirren, Motherwell and the entire SFL! Tommy Burns was never may favourite (Jefferies or Calderwood seemed right stage of their careers) but thought he'd be ok. Sorry Tommy but now you can stay with your Celtic kids. I'm afraid your record doesn't speak for itself. :moon2:

Think I must be Gretna's coz everytime I've seen Yantorno, he's looked a class apart. Now if we could get him as a replacement for Rankin...(I know he's been playing full-back but seems to me he's wasted there)

...just scored against Rangers to become top joint Gretna scorer despite only playing for them since December. He's a goal machine. Exactly what we need. We've got enough creatives.

:017: :017: :017: But on our presumed budget, could you do better? I'd be more confident in Wilson and Deuchar than Dods and Dargo before they signed. Mensing's better than Duncan. Snodgrass is a decent player that will only get better but nowhere near the current quality required (maybe in 3 years time!). But, I ask, can you do better on our budget?

Been having this debate over on the Scotsman's site where a Hibs fan asked me to describe Rankin: "Technically gifted left-sided midfield attacking player with a rocket for a shot. Expert at set plays. Sometimes gets criticised for not putting in enough effort but that's b@**@cks. What they mean is he doesn't tackle back much but so what? Russell Duncan does that all the time but never gets forward. Different type of player. Was signed by Manchester United as a youth. He's maybe similar to someone like Buffel at Rangers, though not as good (but, then again, I rate Buffel a lot higher than Walter Smith does!). Bit like your Boozy or Zammamma but more 'Scottish/British' if you know what I mean (not so much flair, bit more controlled aggression)." Assuming Duncan and Rankin leave (and our purchases are to be cheap cheap cheap), my team would be: Fraser, Tokely Munro (Scott Wilson from Dunfermline) Hastings, (Mensing from Motherwell) Cowie Black (Owen Morrison from Dunfermline or Robert Snodgrass from Livingston), Niculae (Deuchar from Gretna) Subs: ?, Proctor, McGuire, Hart, Barry Wilson, Paateleinen, Bayne, Wyness I think Paateleinen is more cover for Niculae rather than Rankin myself. (and I'm not overly pleased with those midfield purchases either but lets face it, that's the level we will go for)

Chants of the week "We couldn't sell you on ebay!" Grimsby Town fans to ex-keeper Anthony Williams. Pretty sure the Man Utd fans tried to sell Darren Fletcher on ebay at one point :024: Yep, for one pence! A chant about that was also pretty popular. BTW, I don't think you can blame John Rankin for preparing to leave by selling his house after his boss basically said "Prepare to leave, I don't want you anymore - get yourself a new club." I wouldn't be hanging around in that position either. Especially when, no doubt, my new employer would probably offer me more money and better prospects. And in my book "we would be willing to listen to offers for Rankin come the transfer window" is the same as "we want to sell him". Has Brewster anyone in mind to replace him? Markus has still to prove himself at this level so I hope we're not relying on him (though he looks a decent player).

Deuchar only returned to Gretna last month after scoring a hatful for St Johnstone. His one goal makes him Gretna's joint second top scorer! Besides that, he's regularly scored in all the divisions, plus for my old haunt of Northampton. So, as I said, he has scored at every level and I think would be Gretna's top scorer had they not fallen out with him. :016:

I'd like us to sign a pre-agreement with Kenny Deuchar. Proven goalscorer at every level (when Gretna have stopped falling out with him).

I think we are a bottom six club until we get to the top six. I know it sounds obvious but really we are just hoping to go a bit higher rather than expecting it. And I must say, I like that we don't have unnecessarily high expectations and appreciate what we have. I'm proud of what ICT has achieved on a modest budget with small crowds. Compare that with Peterhead, Brentford, Livi or even Newcastle. Chris

Bit unfair surely. As far as I can see, he was told he was going, rather than requested to leave. For my money, he's our most dangerous midfielder and we'll really miss him. Let's hope the likes of Arbroath or East Stirlingshire have got someone tucked away, as I can't see us going for anyone even in the First Division, never mind the SPL (though knowing us, we'll still have to wait 'til they are on a Bosman)! Chris