Harry Chibber

Just to get back on topic here... Do all the posters defending the club on this thread accept that if no more reimbursements, they have made the decision to spend less on contracts this year? If so, why now after the most profitable season in our history? Unless there is some sort of large investment planned, the board have effectively left the manager and players out to dry ... Raven has pretty much said it himself If you're not moving forward you're moving backwards... we've always been a progressive club.

I honestly can't believe that some fans are actually defending the club if there are no further signings! We have gone without paying a transfer fee since 2008? It is amazing that Butcher & now Yogi have managed to achieve any sort of success with no financial support Last year was without doubt our most successful season and we also received our highest ever financial fee for a player (even if it was a pitiful £150,000) We are no longer paying the contracts for our club captain and 4 other first team players (inc. Mckay) Our attendances have always been what they are ... we have the unfortunate situation that Inverness doesn't keep a high number of young adults between 17 - 30 and I suspect this is the normal demographic for regular attendees for other clubs round the SPFL. The players signed this season haven't been playing at a high enough standard to demand wages that would even hit the sides of the players wages that left. IHE's spot on ... the club needs to explain to the fans why they are not backing Yogi if no more players come in to help him out While I agree with much of what you say, the club does need to be financially prudent and remember that without windfalls such as cup finals and transfer fees we tend to have an annual trading loss in the region of £300,000 which is not sustainable year after year. The first responsibility of the board is to ensure that we have a viable business going forward. That said, we have had two extraordinary years in succession from a financial point of view with a cup final in each year, compensation for our management team last year and a substantial transfer fee this even if it wasn't, as you wrongly say a record for the club, that was the fee of over twice as much we received for Marius Niculae. We also pocketed more in the way of place money than budgeted for and shown a profit on our European adventure albeit a very modest one. Taking all that into account, I am sure the board can loosen the purse strings just a bit and, in my view they should. **** aye! Forgot about Niculae but that was tainted by the time taken to get the cash and legal fees I am not expecting a million pound player just a competitive goalscorer either a free transfer or a minimal fee

I honestly can't believe that some fans are actually defending the club if there are no further signings! We have gone without paying a transfer fee since 2008? It is amazing that Butcher & now Yogi have managed to achieve any sort of success with no financial support Last year was without doubt our most successful season and we also received our highest ever financial fee for a player (even if it was a pitiful £150,000) We are no longer paying the contracts for our club captain and 4 other first team players (inc. Mckay) Our attendances have always been what they are ... we have the unfortunate situation that Inverness doesn't keep a high number of young adults between 17 - 30 and I suspect this is the normal demographic for regular attendees for other clubs round the SPFL. The players signed this season haven't been playing at a high enough standard to demand wages that would even hit the sides of the players wages that left. IHE's spot on ... the club needs to explain to the fans why they are not backing Yogi if no more players come in to help him out

Stand corrected .. £50k! Still not a huge amount of money compared to what others in the SPFL have spent this season and we must be in a better financial position now that we have ever been... I could understand not spending money on buying players if we were spending this on wages but the players we have signed are not going to demand a high wage. I would be very surprised if the money we have saved with the loss of Shinnie, Watkins, Ofere, Ross doesn't cover the new contracts offered for Wedderburn, Roberts, Lopez & Mutombo on their own. Which leaves the £150k for Mckay, revenue from Cup final and 3rd in the league... where has that gone? (there is no way 1 away trip to Romania has emptied the bank balance) Even when taking that money out the equation the club will have made absolutely feck all investment for the season If they are building new training facilities or replacing the temporary stands then fair enough .. let the fans know there is an end goal!

Sounds like a guy we were sitting near at the Astra game in Romania and just repeatedly shouted the same thing during the second half when we only needed 1 goal to put us to extra time. If it is the same person then he didn't look like he's kicked a football before in his life!! He also came out with some other classic encouraging quotes, such as "do something with the ball" and "Lopez you're a waste of a shirt" "Do something with the ball" If you don't know what should be done with the ball and you have a better view of the whole pitch, then how the **** do you expect "something" to be done with the ball by the player that is being pressurised by the opposition and has limited time to make their decision? Not every pass can be a world cup pass ... if football was that easy it would be a basketball score every game! "Lopez you're a waste of a shirt" I've only seen the guy in video clips and the game out in Romania but it is embarrassing that a new signing is getting absolutely no help from his fans. He was pretty dismal in the first half in Romania but in the second half he looked as though he could have something to offer the club when he was dropping deeper. Even if he does turn out to be a donkey do you actually think that telling a player he is having a shocker is going to help him?? Or worse, telling him that he isn't good enough for this level when he might be having the same doubts himself is going to help in anyway?? I'm not a happy clapper by any means and could write a very long list of the things I think the club could be doing better on all fronts ... but honestly what do some fans expect?? Everyone gets frustrated.. especially when it's not going our way but surely Yogi has bought himself half a season at the very least before fans start turning on him. He won us a Scottish Cup FFS!! His methods have been proven successful so any argument about style of play is way off the mark... but he is now having to deal with losing 5 first team players and a barrel load of injuries so I definitely think the board need to give him a hand and get a couple of landmark signings. To this day the largest transfer fee we have ever paid for a player is £25k for Barrowman (I think) .. we now NEED some investment. End of the day if a fan pays money for a ticket it's their right to express their opinion but I would prefer to think that we have enough educated fans to weed out the others.

Didn't make it today but surprised to hear the posts about Wedderburn.. I thought he was one of our better players out in Romania. Gutted with the result ... but it's idiotic to be writing off new signings when they are settling into an unbalanced side with the players we have lost and the injuries Yogi has to deal with at the moment. We obviously need a goalscorer (maybe 2) .. Lopez could be a decent player but he doesn't seem to be the sort of player that can lead the line himself. Hopefully this result is the kick up the arse needed for the board to go out and spend some money.... As Lightlamp posted earlier we need some investment and Yogi deserves it after all the revenue he brought to the club last year. We should not have to live off free transfers from regional divisions in Spain and France...it's fine for these players to come in and help the squad but we should not be relying on them as first team players. It's not fair on them to be thrown straight in and be judged like that when they are stepping into a higher standard of league. If we don't buy someone soon I think it is fair that questions are asked of the board. Still remaining positive though ... there was no way that we could expect to be as good as last year so everyone needs to take a breath and be patient.

He was training at Partick but not sure of the other team.

The West Ham result doesn't say anything to me about Astra. I thought they were utter gang against us over two legs and only poor finishing from ICT stopped us going through. As Alex Jones says it's more down to the amount of garbage in the most over hyped league in the world. Outwith the top 6 - 8 teams in the Premiership pretty much all of the other sides are much of a muchness. Harsh in the extreme.. very difficult to argue Astra's pedigree given their recent history in Europa League. To label them as an "utter gang" given the fact they beat us with only a handful of half chances going our way shows disrespect and gives us no credit which we do deserve for managing a respectable draw in their backyard. Like or not the EPL is as strong and competitive league you will find in Europe.

West Ham currently beating Astra 2-1 but down to 10 men... Astra were no mugs 2-2

Too early to tell without knowing what other players will come into the squad but at the moment from what I saw in Romania I'd say top 6 is realistic. If we can get a goalscorer there is no reason we can't get into Europe. If we don't, I predict a lot of draws

Fair play on organising everything DBJ..... that was a whole lot of stress for very little reward! All the boys from our group were grateful

I've heard that. Seemingly he's agreed a deal and spent the weekend sorting things out at home and will be unveiled this week. No idea how true that is but that's the story I heard. Called it! called what? You answered a question with pure speculation you fandan!

I'm looking for the older football strips to add to my collection.. got all of them from 2002 onwards but severely lacking before then... In particular, I'm after the first home top (diamond one), the blue and yellow away top and any of the le coq sportif tops. I will obviously pay a reasonable price Preferably size medium but will consider other sizes. Thanks

Shamelessly stolen from a mate but..

Any truth that we've signed Andrea Mbyui-Mutombo?

Astra looked average because we made them look that way by building possession and letting them do the chasing. If we had gone more direct we would have been opened up with the pace they had upfront and looked like every other naive Scottish team that has bowed out in Europe. This team were beatable but not mugs - they put out Lyon last year over 2 legs and drew with Celtic. If Christie's shot isn't tipped over the bar or Doran takes a few more seconds before snatching at his effort then that was the perfect European away performance. I saw more positives for this season in that game considering we have lost 4/5 first team regulars and bought completely untested replacements. Not to mention the injuries of Vincent, Roberts & Tremarco who would have all made an impact. Saying that, it was frustrating to watch the lack of pace up top. If we had someone running in behind their defence it would have opened up more space for the likes of Doran, Christie and Williams. Some of the abuse for Lopez is unwarranted given that is only his second competitive game for the club and he is clearly lacking fitness but we definitely need someone that can stretch a defence and when Foran came on Lopez looked much more comfortable dropping in to deeper positions. Foran could hardly move when he came on and probably why Hughes waited until 80 mins for the sub but it was clear the lack of options up top. The club need to look to get someone else in sharpish but if we can pick up a decent finisher then we are definitely on the right track for next year. Wedderburn looks to be pick of the bunch from the new signings and on that performance Draper is going to have to compete to get his position back. Special mention for Gary Warren who was outstanding and easily our MotM Gutted to not get the next round but that was an unbelievable trip and would have taken some beating anyway. Bucharest was bouncing on the Wednesday and Thursday before the game! No reason we can't get back in the competition next year with a couple of decent recruits, as a couple of boys said to me out there, European football suits us. Still unbeaten away in European competition ... onwards and upwards

Definitely a massive incentive to get through for both teams! What date is the away leg??

congrats to anyone that predicted that line up C'mon ICT!!!

Could be a case for playing without a striker

Hi all, I'm a fan of Romanian football. Yep, it's very probable they'll start with Budescu upfront. Not his best position, but he's always a threat. I don't know if Willian de Amorim will play on the left (he's linked to Steaua). In the case he doesn't play they can start with Filipe Teixeira, a new signing very well rated in Romania. Attention to the [very] quick Enache on the right. Alibec absence is very important IMO (he's not only linked to Steaua but injured as well). I rate him as a devastating striker when he's in form and he made a letal society with Budescu. Daniel Florea is a fine dribbler but not a goalscorer as his numbers show. Not very convinced about their defence (same thing than past season), they lack a natural right back and they lost some players in midfield, added to the good striker Fatai (left to Sparta Prague). I doubt this team (currently!) is better than one year ago, but they still have some good assets. Astra is more dangerous when a superior rival don't take them seriously, like Lyon did past year. I think I never saw a Romanian team creating so many chances against a rival of that level Good to hear that William might not be playing ... from the clips I've watched he looks like an excellent player!

I would assume they'll arrive on Thursday with Astra and on sale from the Friday Not ideal for people that don't stay in Inverness but normally the club are good with posting tickets out once ordered so hopefully wont be a problem

Steaua just bought Gregory Tade from Cluj as well! Going by the translation of this article, ( Link ) it is likely that they will start Daniel Florea up front on his own. He has yet to play for Astra and only scored 4 in 40 matches for his previous club, Concordia. It's more likely Budescu will start up top and they will play Boldrin in behind - that's what they went for in their first game against Concordia Seems they have bought more attacking mids than they have forwards. Can only go on Youtube vids I watched from last season and putting the dots together based on the players they've lost and their new signings though. Plus the fact they have a new manager so very difficult to predict how they will set up. A lot of changes for them since last year though which gives me a bit of optimism despite what shape we are in. ... Just read that article - don't know if it's just the translation but "Romanian-Scottish first meeting took place in the 1969-1970 season between Steaua and Glasgow Rangers. "Protestants""

For those interested - Astra lost another striker to Steaua Bucharest - Denis Alibec scored 10 goals (6 in their last 8 games) That only really leaves Budescu as a front man... still better than what we have up top but I count that as 5 first team players gone since last year.... sound familiar???

I would say they are in a stronger position but only because they ended last season with a stronger squad than what we had. Shinnie is without doubt our biggest loss which is comparable with Youssef of Astra Yahaya, Laban & Florescu are all away for them and seem to have been replaced with more offensive signings - Florin Lovin being the only new defensive midfield option. All their signings have come from lower league teams and free transfers. It seems as though the owner (aptly named Niculae) has suddenly go bored of ploughing money into them (they had their peak 2013/14 season) and they are trying to balance their books. This could obviously change in the next few days. On the face of it we have a more settled defence and midfield but they will without doubt have a stronger attack (Budescu, Enache & William). Add the fact that they have a new manager taking over the reigns then I don't think we could have got them at a better time it's just whether we still have enough in our team to find the weak points. I think we are more than capable of a stalemate in Inverness but I'm not sure where our goals will come from, set piece maybe. Plenty of reasons to be optimistic and if all else fails we get a p!ss up in Romania

Finally... a striker!! Keep them coming