Harry Chibber

I'm glad you aren't handing out the contracts then. Not seen much of Horner but Polworth is only 20 FFS .. he's represented Scotland at youth level on several occasions, and has been in and around the first team for 2 seasons. He might not be a first team regular just yet but give the guy a chance.. People were on here moaning about Armstrong being let go and you're suggesting we cut ties with one of our brightest prospects. Delighted to see all the contracts being handed out buy Ross & Watkins should definitely be priority

Depends on whether the referee or linesman have reported seeing it. Cifti may have been carded for his actions after Warren reacted with the original incident not being seen. There is no way that Warren's card will be rescinded but the club should definitely be asking for this to be reviewed so that Cifi gets a ban if it hasn't already been reported by Murray. Might be a bit petty but it will only help us keep 3rd if Utd are without their best striker

Going by that video he should be playing for Real Madrid.. 2nd goal is superb The guy definitely looks like a finisher but I'm sure with good editing someone could produce just as impressive a vid for Graham Bayne .. I think the one obvious trait our team has over others is that we have an unbelievable work ethic so hopefully he fits into that philosophy

Looks like he has made the biggest mistake of his career (although will be financially reimbursed) - He came on after 88 mins yesterday against Forest when the team were already 3-0 down. I can't believe that Mckay had this in mind when he signed up for them. No matter how much he is getting paid, no footballer can be happy sitting on a bench watching their team getting relegated.

Scott Burns of Daily Express posted on twitter that Meekings is set to sign a 2 year contract - [courtesy of a mate] Yay!! Now just need Ross, Watkins ... and Raven in that order :)

I'm not aware of all the legalities of setting up a footballer's contract but should the club not just write in a release clause into his contract for bids from English teams over a certain amount? Meekings gets the opportunity of a move as long as he performs and ICT still bank a reasonable fee. It should be the same for all the players and it would show them how valued they are to the club... might be the case that a couple of player might be undervalued on the occasion but considering we normally make next to nothing when selling players on I can't see us taking that much of a hit.

Old feckers

I don't get to many games now-a-days with staying in Glasgow and playing Saturday morning footie as well as the 101 other things going on at the minute but managed to make Hamilton and last Saturday's game so delighted to see 2 important wins back to back. I thought we were superb the first half ... mainly due to the running with and without the ball by Watkins. At the end of the game one of the boys I was with said he reminded him of when we had Rooney and I can definitely see where he was coming from. He stood up to everything from 2 physical centre halves and won the ball in the air on more than one occasion .. when the ball went long he outpaced both defenders when running the channels. He might not ever be as good a finisher as McKay is and it will take a while for him to learn when to hold on to the ball and give the team a breather, but he is definitely a threat and I can't see any defenders enjoying having to mark him. As IHE said, Draper was superb throughout and bossed the midfield. Ross is pure class and I'd love to see how he'd do with those Sky statistic things for his pass completion because he must be up there with the best of them, always wants the ball no matter how tight he is marked and hardly ever gives it away. I don't think replays give Tansey's goal the justice it deserves, especially the shitey Sportscene coverage. What a goal! Good enough to win any match .. Considering that was Esson's first game in sticks for feck knows how long he didn't put a foot/glove wrong and would edge my MOTM just because he couldn't have done any better than what he did - perfect performance. I don't think it was a foul for their goal.. Meekings just misjudged the flight of the ball and should have been stronger but apart from that a very professional performance in a game I had absolutely no confidence we would win beforehand. Only moan... fans chanting "we want Fergie on!" or "we want Christie on!" .. just let Yogi do his job, he's done not bad so far, and if Ferguson's as good as everyone seems to think he is then he'll get his chance but he has done absolutely hee haw to merit the hype he is getting... it's just going to add unnecessary pressure for him when he does get a game.

All is not lost!!! I thought Watkins was absolutely superb in the first half against Partick. He missed a cpl of sitters but it is all about getting in the right positions as a striker and he could have easily bagged a hattrick on a better day. First time I've seen him play up top and he had much more physical presence than McKay and won a few headers, which McKay wouldn't have.... even when the ball was played long to him you could see their defenders didn't know whether to get tight or stand off him. He was buckled in the second half but his fitness will get better the more he plays and when he learns not to chase lost causes. Don't get me wrong, we still need a striker [we needed one in before Billy left] but Watkins never looked like a winger playing in a foreign position, he looked comfortable and will only get better the more he plays there.

Genuinely don't think we could have asked for a better draw.. as long as we play like we did in the first half against Partick then we should be well on our way to a semi-final.

I would just like to see ICT get into Europe within my lifetime and without doubt this season is the best chance we will ever have with our league position and Hearts, Hibs and Rangers out the league. If the board were also really pushing for this dream they would never have let Billy go without having a replacement lined up - they're inactivity is as good as saying that it is too much of a financial risk .. Butcher as good as said it for them last time we missed out: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22589505 I definitely didn't say we were doomed but would prefer to aim for something other than mid table obscurity even if it meant we streched the balance books for one season. The way I see it the club don't want to take that risk or they would have got someone in... the only reason they would need to sign a below average striker is if the scouts weren't doing their jobs and they can't say it was a surprise that McKay would leave.. it's been on the cars for the last 2 season ffs! If Yogi doesn't manage to get someone in on a free then we will be relying on Ross, Watkins and Foran for the rest of the season - all of them can do a job but even the happy clappers have to admit that this was a shitey January for the club.

The hype over this Ferguson lad is unbelievable ... how many appearances and goals has he scored in the SPFL?? ... and he should be thrown in and expected to replace a 20 goal a season striker.. no pressure then!?! When he doesn't meet these expectations I'm sure no one will get on his back like they did with Rory McAllister We have received a transfer fee for one of our players for once (although undervalued) so the board should have invested this. Yogi had gone on the record to say he expected to lose McKay and Shinnie so no doubt has handed a list of possible replacements to the board and instead they have used the Mike Ashley approach - pretend to look for replacements to appease the fans and actually do feck all and wait for the clock to run down til it's too late. Butcher as good as said it last time we missed out on Europe the board believe it will be too expensive so are actively looking to avoid it. I'm sure they think this as having the best interests of the club at heart but it is completely short-sighted

This was almost an excellent post until you said Roy McBain was one of our best ever holding midfielders!!!

£150k is a joke if that is the actual sum agreed. His goal scoring record is second to none over the last 4 years and he is an international player at age 25, who has played at a club consistently top 6 and cup finalists. I understand the club not wanting to stand in his way but his contribution to get us higher up the league and a potential euro place would easiliy equal more than the above fee... if not in monetary terms but in historical terms for puting our club amongst European elite, potential increase to fan base etc. etc. Some of you need a reality check if they don't class McKay as a quality player.. he may have bad spells but the test of a quality striker is whether they come back from those spells and continue to score goals, which McKay has always done. He will be a massive miss to the team and although Watkins is a good replacement there is a difference from filling in a few games and taking on the responsibility of club top goal scorer so just hope he's up to it... or we will need another striker in cos at Foran's age I don't see him becoming a prolific striker. I have complete admiration for the club for their general running of the place and always keeping our heads above water but, if £150k is the agreed figure, they have demonstrated again how poor they are at negotiating in the transfer market in terms of selling players. Apart from Niculae-gate ... the highest transfer fee we have ever received is £65k for John Rankin... £65k FFS!!!

Both give something different. Rooney is an athlete with good physical presence but McKay stretches defences by running the channels and is a better finisher. It'd be a good partnership to be fair but McKay edges it for me.

That is a strong u21s squad.. nice to see that the selection is not relying on Celtic and Rangers youth squads We might be starting to see the benefits of lack of funding within Scotland and teams relying on home grown players. Christie looks a cut above the normal "young prospect" though... just hope to his form continues

Yogi only naming 6 subs on the bench is probably a message to the board so hopefully see one more signing.

winner

Enjoyed that. Great start to the season. As already mentioned, Christie stood out as a class act and clear MoM for me. Was late in so I missed the first goal but from what I saw, Yogi has encouraged the team to play total football even if that means consistently using Brill as an outlet. I think if we play better pressing teams we'll play our way into trouble but you can't argue with Hughes principles. I don't like that we seemed to settle for 2-0 but the end result shows a professional performance. Job done. Top of the league and yer naw. Hamilton were a good first game but only because we took the sting out of them with the early goal and some good possession play. Not a bad performance on the park from any of our boys and to bring Doran and Watkins off the bench showed we have depth in different positions. There is definitely a good balance to the squad so I can understand why Yogi is happy with it but I would still want another striker and a young right back to keep Raven honest. I'd say our season will depend on whether we can keep McKay at the club and injury free.

Pretty uninspiring stuff to not pick up at least one attacking player, for another option if nothing else. Even if it was a loan to give Billy some competition

looks well nice... decent collar on it as well. We've still never had the old thistle colours for our away top, which I think would be class but not a bad effort.

yes we were wrong... with Butcher's belief in youth players I'm sure he would have got a real chance....we would have at the very least made some money out of him.

Our future striker is on Sky at the moment and making a decent fist of it so far...... I love the biterness on here of people who weren't willing to give the lad a chance and don't want to admit that he could actually turn out to be a terrific player. and aye he had some pish games when he was a 19 yr old so that obviously justifies the hate campaign

Esson Duff Tokely Munro Shinnie* Cox Duncan Hayes Ross Foran Rooney * Not seen too much of Gillet but he could be better given a run of games

aye mun I'll be there