Kirishima

A blog on ICT is not lazy journalism - Old Firm reporting is, enough complain about OF bias so when something does come up from the national news for ICT, I'll support it. Terry Butcher has lent his name to it, the BBC say e-mail Sportsound and the club - done and done. Get behind it!!

I joined in, submitted Family Ness. Ha ha, that songsheet!!, I entered for fun, didn't realise it would be in the Courier, and got pelters for it from my family.

Having read the post above, it struck me that we are now like any other team, chopping and changing, then patching, whereas before we had players for 10 years. That consistency has gone, and patching in January sounds like a dangerous and desperate act imho. Things will have to look rosier before then.

Doran out for three months and Foran out with a twisted ankle. It pours.

It's a consequence. Life is full of them. He damaged kids and thus he loses his job. He is a footballer, his job is to attract and entertain fans, sell shirts, attract sponsors...if he was a web designer or administrator he would not have lost his job, in all likelihood. I fail to see why there is such a vehement defence here, however balanced it may be.

Basically, if a young squad can do reasonably well this year, and prove themselves, then maybe the 2/3 year contracts will come out, the team will be kept the same, it will improve, top six, and one of the young players might be snaffled by a Prem team for sizeable cash. Terry has probably had this in mind for a couple of years now, and he did it at Motherwell with kids.

I remember posting that Hartson had said weeks before the game that ICT was the one team that could upset the apple cart. I wonder if that was because of our set-up last year, and will we still have that big-game strength with all the changes?

2 x 45mins for an 18 year old pre-season means very little. He probably has potential and I imagine Terry's young signings will all be back-ups and expected to be starters next year. I think this strategy may work, unless we get injuries, but thats all ifs and buts.

Well, good move for Adam. However, as DoofersDad has said, shame he will be pairing up with the horrid Marlon King. I have no respect for the club, and McLeish, for that.

Has there ever been a fan survey from the club?

Rory McAllister goes from top scorer in 2nd Div to the 3rd division, turning down full-time football in the SPL for part-time with Peterhead... I think some members of the board at Peterhead must be paying him good full-time money, thus allowing him to finish his studies...29 goals in the 2nd div...how many will he be expected to score in the 3rd?

I think the Lithuanians underestimated the severity of his crime int his country. Either way, I think Wonga probably threatened them - his face with Wonga on his chest under the sex offender headline, is hardly what they paid hundreds of thousands for... Right decision. He was less than contrite, and probably expected to be carrying on as usual. You cant be a professional footballer, a job which which entails being in the public eye, being a role model and ambassador, a representative of a city, or part of a city, and to attract fans, and then be doing what he did. It doesnt matter what job of course, the act is no better or worse, however him stating that it was "a learning curve" was so off the mark, one questioned how much he took the crime seriously.

And he still has a full head of hair, unlike his three younger brothers. Shocking.

Good video of the winners on the BBC Website and well done to them, it would be no mean feat to win those games. Hats off!

And mine, however Mr. Pannu the Chairman, said the club had signed 4 players identified by McLeish and that it was annoying he'd done that then left so... Add the fact that McLeish hasn't said anything, as he is *probably* wangling his way to Villa for free. Anyway, a sorry affair, and I wish none of them any success. Norwich have replaced Birmingham as my English team, just so you know!

Just one of many at the helm of Scottish football who have neither the experience, know-how, respect or ability to fulfill their brief.

Which begs the question, why would Birmingham, specifically Alex McLeish, be comfortable signing such a player? Coventry, being more desperate (no offence intented to any sky blues), I can see (but not ok) why, but Birmingham, with the massive parachute payment and Hong Kong businessman backer, signing a serial offender, a violent thug, a sex offender, is it really the calibre they're after, the role model for their young fans, the name they want to sell shirts? Madness. Athletes get banned for taking Vicks vaposyrup - but in footie, a violent sex offender gets to pick and choose his contracts. Anyway, Alex McLeish, and Brum, are confined to the "septic" section of my likes/dislikes.

What utter tosh he speaks! Being fast is but one asset out of many that make a footballer, and even then it isn't everything. Awareness, vision, passing, teamwork, tackling, shooting, heading....etc etc. He must have said it in jest, else he's a muppet.

Marlon King, who has 14 convictions, (the last being an 18-month sentence for the sexually assault and ABH of a 20 year-old woman (broken nose)) has stunned Coventry by plumping for Birmingham and reneging on a verbal contract. Coventry said "To hear that he has now changed his mind and gone back on what had been agreed is very hard to take." Well, i'm all for giving people a second-chance, but this "man" is a serial offender, repeatedly assaulting women. He is a low-life, and if you fight with a pig you both get dirty...Coventry should never have signed him, and Birmingham are now my ex-English team. If ICT had made a move for Marlon King or say, if Luke McCormick, the former Plymouth goalie who, while drink-driving, killed two boys, was available, would people here be ok with their signing or completely opposed?

That's the folly of it. The SPL are gambling it will be picked up by SKY for a shed load of cash. Fat chance, when the customers (88%) have said that's not what they want to "buy") At the end of the day, it should be the SFA in charge of changes, not the chairmen, it is idiotic to have 12 men whose only pre-requisite to be the movers and shakers was to own, or be appointed by owners, of a single club. Unelected, unaccountable, and unrepresentative. It's clear that Scottish football is a business, a product, merchandise, and I for one, am starting to dislike it.

From BBC today: Stewart Milne: "Some people believe the plan on the table is the right one, others, whether they are trying to avoid making a decision, are going behind a 14-team league." Neil Doncaster: "We clearly need to engage further with the clubs that favour another plan. It's important that we all work together." Barstewards! Condescending, belligerent, egotistical, ignorant, aloof, barstewards! "we're right, you're wrong, we'll do it anyway" is not a valid opinion. They, Rangers, Celtic, Aberdeen, Motherwell, Hibs and St Mirren, are half of the clubs going along with the SPLs mad plan. I could understand this point of view if it was 10-2 but as it stands its 6-6. They say best v best, finacially viable, and all the rest...nothing about what is best for football. All we hear is money, money, money. Cut your cloth!! Oh, sorry...you can't...you have large debts, dont you...

The arguments seem to be becoming quite complex. It is very simple. If we, the fans, dont buy the tickets, or subscribe to SKY, then the whole thing crumbles. The money, whether it be from sponsors, TV, gate money, merchandise, wherever all depends on the popularity of the game. That is the bottom line, the end of the day, the be all and end all. Make it popular - see it flourish.

Aberdeen were one of the main pushers for this debacle. The "figures" they have been and are bangiing on about have never been revealed let alone scrutinised. Any increase in revenue will come from the fans, whether that be bums on seats at the stadium or at home watching on TV. How they thought they'd get more money by giving their customers the opposite of what they wanted I'll never know - typically, they assume the fans money is unconditional - that's the level of their business acumen. Doncaster and Topping should resign, they have alienated the fans from the SPL and given no tangible evidence for their vastly unpopular stance that they tried to railroad through without any hesitation or consultation.

Done. Hope fully the postie will hit Topping and Doncaster with the mailbag.

Is it a relay/tag-team for this one or is one person doing 127 miles in 2 and a half days?