Harry Chibber

I think a decent right back should be the first priority

McCann on a permanent deal?? or at least until the end of the season.

I'm hoping McCann gets sent back to Hibs. Apart from his wonder goal against United he's been pretty poor

Harsh mate, he has been injured as well mind.... superb performance at Ibrox as well

Whats the point? none of these players are better than we have imo, Gardyne better Jonny? Brittain better than Russell? Vigurs any better than Eric??? leave it out mate.

As far as I know (which is very little) in all of the comparisons you've mentioned the alternative player plays in a different position.

It was never meant as a direct player for player comparison, more as a skill/skill issue, and we have Nick Ross (now under21 choice) Morrison and Sanchez waiting for games so we really have midfield cover without taking gypo's on.

But thanks for your pedantic reply...

You're welcome

If you said is Gardyne better than Odi?? Vigurs better than Russell?? or Brittain better than Hayes?? your point would be made but instead you have made yourself look like a fool.

I think a decent right back should be the first priority

McCann on a permanent deal?? or at least until the end of the season.

Whats the point? none of these players are better than we have imo, Gardyne better Jonny? Brittain better than Russell? Vigurs any better than Eric??? leave it out mate.

As far as I know (which is very little) in all of the comparisons you've mentioned the alternative player plays in a different position.

P&J is like a gossip column, there are journalists arguing on the publication...

McGhee out!!!

Back McGhee

It's good that a paper is posting different points of view but I thought the idea was for news papers to write facts and keep their opinions out of it... no?

Can't help but thinking we can use the situation Dross County find themselves in to our advantage

With no manager there players will be at best restless and it's the ideal opportunity to send out our intent even if it's to unsettle them even more

I would like to see us approach Gardyne,Brittain and Vigurs(he shouldn't have been allowed to leave in the first place)

I feel if we don't get in there now we could lose these guys to Hibs

Thoughts?

Dougal

It'll be interesting to see if Butcher is given any money to spend in January but even if he is I can't see him getting enough to buy any of the above. All 3 mentioned would be good signings though

Some players flourish in the role of captain - Bobby Mann, Darren Dods, Stuart Golabek to name but three - but others seem to find it a bit of a millstone round their necks and I think Grant falls into this category.

As captain, his performances seemed to dip and we dont really know why. Was it pressures on the field of having to concentrate on everyone's role rather than just his own, or was it the combination of on-field and off-field responsibilities. Only Grant, the players, and the management team will really know.

However, without the captains armband he has been reborn. He can concentrate on his own task on the pitch and because of that he is now getting back to being the Granty we all know and enjoy. With or without the captains armband he is definitely an ICT legend ... and there are not many clubs who have multiple 'legends' in their team each week !!!!!

It's harsh to blame captaincy for any bad perfomances from Munro... after all he was excellent all last season when he was captain. Infact, that goal at QoS was what you would expect from a captain and almost sealed our promotion.

Munro has played poorly when he's had a bad defensive partner (Bulivtis, McGuire etc.) When you stick a tall, ball winning, centre half beside him (Dods, Pavels and now Tokely) then you see the best of him, as we are now. I think 1 thing that's been notable this season is how well he is passing the ball from defence, possibly something him and Tel have been working on.

Keep the chant suggestions coming pls

Agreed, real good header yesterday. fantastic performances in recent weeks. some particularly great tackles at kilmarnock and elsewhere.

also really good to hear the crowd singin his name, should probably get more, if only his name was as catchy as roscoe's

all this and a wee girl in the last few weeks.

legend

didn't make the game but was delighted to see him on the scoresheet.. always thought he deserves a chant but as you say his name isn't as catchy as the likes of Rosscoe.

This thread is now dedicated to find Grant a chant.

Said it before the guy doesn't get enough credit... he is the glue that ICT is stuck together with.

Although the guy is one of our longest serving players we don't have a chant to match his tenure. So any suggestions for the "find Grant a chant" appeal... please post them here.

..., a player like Russell Duncan perhaps?

He's a good example of why we can't play possession football. He is a terrific player for the system we use, him, Cox, Duff & Proctor all have the tenacity to win challenges and set up counter attacks but they aren't the type of players that are comfortable with the ball... we need another Ian Black... maybe Morrison might be worth a try???

Could the width of the pitch have anything to do with our results at home? Fifa laws stipulate the goal line can be a minimum of 45 m (50 yds) and a maximum of 90m (100 yds). These measurements are for international matches though - but I assume the SPL must have similar regulations?

How wide is the pitch at the moment? Is it not one of the biggest in the UK? When we were at ibrox last week the playing area seemed a lot smaller than the TCS one. (Perhaps because of the size of the stadium though.) The wide pitch at TCS suited our style of play under Pele - especially when we had Robson and Wilson playing.

It's not often I agree with your posts but you defintely have a point. Been saying this for a while I think if we had a tighter pitch it would definitely suit our style of play.

Big parks are conducive to possession football. At the moment we are set up to counter attack, breaking with pace as soon as we win possession, this is why we have such a successful away record. If we make the pitch more compact then it makes it a lot easier for us to win the ball back and set ourselves on the counter

I don't think this is the sole reason, Butcher should also be working with the team to have more patience on the ball but it takes a different sort of player...

absolutely spot on tm4tj. We are a good team and have done very well over the start of the season but most teams promoted from a lower division come up with momentum. If we can emulate St Johnstone's season last year it will be an over achievement. Remeber we were relegation favourites at the start of the season and the bookies are rairly wrong so just be thankful if they are.

No doubt Hayes, Rooney and Odhiambo are exceptional quality for a team that's just been promoted and could probably make there way into most teams outside the old firm but we need to compliment them with additional talent and so far the only new signings that have developed the team are McCann & Duff.... it's our youth players that have contributed more. Encouraging for the future... but lets not get ahead of ourselves eh

HT: 0-0

FT: 1-0

1st scorer ICT: Foran

Crowd: 4264

Just because he's Irish doesn't mean he'll end up at Celtic, although I do believe he supports them and said so before the first game of the season. Celtic have Forrest, McCourt, Samaras, Stokes and Maloney all capable and better candidates than Hayes for the wing so can't see it.

If Hayes was going anywhere it's likely to be a championship team and it all would depend on what we value him at. He is on a contract for 2 seasons so if we received an offer in the winter transfer window we could play hard ball and value what it would cost for a replacement of his calibre. I would ask for ?1mil for a young, fast, intelligent, SPL proven, goal scoring winger... the board would accept anything over ?250k because he was signed for nothing and the fear of losing him for nothing when his contract runs out.

This is why we find a gem of a player and he is of a young age then we have to be more confident in our contract negotiations. Trust the manager, 3 years is not a long time in a young players career. Hayes or Rooney for example, if signed on 3 year contracts are only going to be 24 when their contract ends and in that time they will be given regular first team appearances and the platform show their potential. If you say that a midfielder or forward is meant to peak at about 27 then they have plenty of time show their best at "bigger club" rather than settling for the first offer that comes their way. In the end of the day if their performances are as good as they have been then a club will want to pay a more reasonable fee for them.

Before anyone uses Barrowman or Niculae as an example to why we only offer short contracts, I'd point out that Brewster is a numpty, Barrowman held us ransom when he was top goal scorer in the 2nd division, which should never have happened. Niculae would have made us a shed load of money if it wasn't for the board not reading the fine print and making a complete erse out of the transfer.

I believe Butcher has got the formula right and hopefully has the faith of the board on his managerial decisions. We know now that both Hayes & Rooney have taken to the SPL like ducks to water and are only likely to improve in future so why not try to benefit financially from this. Offer Rooney a reasonably high paid 3 year contract with clauses to reduce wages if we were ever relegated and offer Hayes a contract extension to the same affect

ffs.... no need for this p!sh after 10 games. It's been a remarkable start to the season but we have to do it x3 to be in the same position in May!

See you in Brechins, train booked and looking forward to an ICT away day.

I'll be in Brechins pre match so if anyone is stuck for tickets, phone the ticket office tomorrow and I'll take the tickets to Brechins for collection. Delivery charge very reasonable and comes in the form of Morgans and Lemonade.

Can't wait - see you all Saturday.

LG... was it you I was speaking to when I ordered tickets?

They didn't arrive today (my fault, should have ordered them earlier). If they don't come tomorrow morning is there anything that can be done about replacements?

H/T 1-1

F/T 3-1

1st ICT Hayes

1st Opp Naismith

Crowd 44659

HT:0-1

FT;1-1

1st scorer ICT: Rooney

1st scorer OPP: Bryson

Crowd:4126

Although I had a laugh when I was reading the sun today I did think it was a bit poor taste for him to be selling his book on the back of Pele's gambling and drinking issues.

I never took to him as an ICT player or coach tbh

H/T 0-0

F/T 1-0

ICT Rooney

Crowd 3456

Losing doesn't bother me, there is no disgrace in losing 1-0 away anywhere in Europe but that has to be the most embarrassed I have ever been after a Scotland game.... even if we had drawn playing that way I would have been upset. Last night I felt as though we played the tactics of a lower tier country, a San Marino, Malta, Albania etc..

I don't think this is an over-reaction either, the manager gave up before we started last night and for such a proud nation we were made to look scared with a lack of faith.

getting angry the more I think about it

HT: 0 - 0

FT: 1 - 1

1st scorer ICT: Hayes

1st scorer Opp: Mackie

Crowd: 4568

I don't know why anyone would be using the Niculae fee as a deterrant for contract negotiations. If it wasn't for the board making a complete hash of the sale we would be laughing all the way to the bank. The only way we can expect to push on in the SPL is by picking up bargains (Hayes, Odi & Rooney) and then having the faith to offer contracts that will see a return. After 20+ goals last season and a continuation into this season, Rooney will already have the eyes of other SPL clubs and Division 1 teams in England (who can more than match our wage structure), if he continues scoring it wont be long before the Championship teams have a look and that's where the money is.... that's why it's imperative that we hook up a 3 or at the very least 2 year contract.

Cracking result and proved that the selection decisions made in midweek were the correct ones. Grant was excellent today, best game he's played in ages. Maybe not having the responsiblity of being captain will be a good thing for him. Nick Ross was also very good in centre midfield after Proc went off and Duff to full back.

St Mirren might not be the best team in the league but make no mistake that was an important victory against a team in a similar position to ourselves. Not to mention the boost to the confidence required after Cellic in midweek.

Think you are absolutely spot on about Grant, even his use of possesion seems to have improved. I think he did a great job as captain but you might be right that he can concentrate on his own job rather than the whole teams.

Tel is paid to make the important decisions and with Wednesday's selection and todays result he might just have made an essential one to keep us in the division.

Nick Ross played in the middle when he came on??

I know we won the game and all that, but surely Morrison or McBain would've been a more natural choice to play in the middle of the pitch; considering both have more experience playing there.

Honestly looked like he had played there all his life.. he is the future of ICT I have no doubt about it. Good players can play anywhere and he showed exactly what he was about today.... credit to the lad and credit to Butcher for showing faith in him.

Terrific performance today and although I'm sick of posting it after away games but I can't get over how good a travelling support we have, especially when you take into consideration the distance travelled by some of the guys. No one stopped singing from the 1st to 93rd/ish minute and the players showed the appreciation at the end..

As mentioned previously by jrict, Tokely & Munro were awesome. Odi gets better and better... with Foran back on the flank we looked a lot more like the team that finished so well last season

Gutting to not go away with a clean sheet but we couldn't have done anything to prevent their goal, great finish, otherwise it would have been the perfect away performnce.

when the players start returning from injury I have no doubt we are SPL quality it's just a patchwork job at the moment for Butcher & Mo but with the likes of Shinnie, Morrison & Ross coming to the fray it's very encouraging.