Kirishima

The SPL, well, they are in essence a profit making cartel, so not too surprising

What is surprising is Stewart Regan, Chief Exec. of the SFA, the national governing body, weighing in on one side, and how he is weighing in! Social unrest, vines withering, clubs to the wall....

Im sure they are saying "the fans don't know what the implications are, blah blah" but we do, if a club goes out of business because another team is not in that league, then so be it. If that's the case, it will happen sooner than later. Clubs banking on one club's away fans for their survival have overstretched themselves. Turkeys voting for Christmas? It's already Boxing Day.

Craig Burley in Daily Record has really lost the plot. Slagging players off, saying Lafferty will be "found out" in Switzerland, saying Whittaker is only an engine, no more, and saying it's time the "muppets" stopped listening to the players...not clear who he means when he tals about muppets. Long and short he thinks the SFL Div 1 is the only choice and good for everyone.

Is this guy for real?? I know it's the Daily Ranger but even still!!!

As said above by Wanderer, wouldn't it be something if Rangers were parachuted into Div 1 and then failed to win promotion as said above...what then? Looks like it's a done deal.

Rotten to the core.

It's getting to the point that I think the fans should look at demanding resignations. The attitude of the staff in the SPL, SFL, SFA is so far off the mark of its shareholders (the fans) and the game itself that it is time they, not the clubs, began to feel the heat that the SPL chairmen were under.

The SPL bribing SFL clubs to ignore their rules? Couldn't make it up...

The open letter was very interesting reading. I liked how he said Ranger's fans are saying "so why wait for that to come to passm". And he did make a good point about the fact that at the moment it is just merely ‘straw’ pools.

A very poor letter, no amount of big words can cover up the blinkered attitude and bias in what should be a balanced letter. Pretty cringeworthy stuff.

With Frings, Frei, Koevermans plus probably quite a few other good but less well-known players, is Toronto that much different from Motherwell or even Rangers now?

With the MLS, where LA Galaxy are bottom despite having Beckham, Robbie Keane, Landon Donovan, the standard must be decent.

I remember saying after USA 94 that the USA would win the World Cup within 10 years...that many kids, that mad a sporting nation, surely one day??

If you remember, this was the Plymouth Argyle Goalkeeper, an uninsured, over the limit driver, who killed two kids by hitting the car they were in. He was twice the limit at 6 in the morning. After 3 years he is out and Swindon are allowing him to train at their ground.

Personally, every ex-offender needs to be able to earn and get on in life afterwards. However, football is not the place imho. Footballers are role models, continually in the public eye, and celebrities. He wouldn't get a TV presenter role had he been a TV presenter, and I strongly feel football should be the price he pays for being a murderer, in my eyes at least.

It seems as though Swindon won't sign him up, but will another club? Hypothetically, with Tuffey gone, were he rumoured to be on ICTs radar, how would you feel?

I haven't seen the documentary yet. The SPL and SFL could, given the recent talks and round the clock work, be able to put Rangers in SFL Div 3 by linking the two organisations. The SPL just don't want to. We all know there will be a NewCo, with no sanctions, and that's because the SPL and member teams are reliant on two teams to sell their product to the TV men. Had it been ICT, the NewCo would have been rejected by the SPL. And, the new laws will enshrine such a thing, with enough wiggle room for Celtic one day. Not fair, not credible, and so, a lot of people will just be passive supporters. 16-team league, with one organisation, Rahgers in SFL Div 3 and strict rules on finance would solve it.

I saw a post earlier talking about the identity being "ripped out" and went on to list the players of a couple of years ago. Everybody accepted that those players would not be able to perform in the long term, and surgery was needed.

Now the squad is maybe too young! Point is, ICT are in a development stage, going from the Highland leaguers to young imports. Impossible to have that ever again, those days are gone. Unless you want to try again from Div. 3?

Every year ICT will face going down, like every other non-OF team just about. That's reality.

Calling for the manager's head is just out and out negativity and way OTT.

Moss growing on corrugated iron stands, half-empty stadia, pigsty-esque pitches, debt ridden clubs at (almost) every turn, Champions a 50/50 decision guaranteed, haven't produced a world-class footballer since Dalglish, transfer fees a virtual pipe dream for 10 out of 12 clubs, no interest from any other country whatsoever, and clubs that have just said they are babes in the arms of the O.F.

Is Rupert Murdoch a philanthropist after all? Can't believe he'd sign off on the SPL.

Average age of squad: 24

Points from bottom: 14

Games lost: 1/2

Games drawn 1/4

Games won 1/4

These are round ups, but add decimal points if you wish. Thing is, a very young squad (promising and potential long-term stability), easily safe in the end (albeit to a woeful Dunfermline) and maybe it's not the silky skills of Spain but it's still good enough for SPL.

The likes of Partick, Dundee, Falkirk probably, most definitely, look at ICT and now Ross County and ask "tiny catchment area, newest teams in the league, miles from anywhere, no cash, what the &*?! is going on?"

Every single fan would like to see a team of U21 Invernessians getting the team into the top 6 but with an average age squad of 24, and the team yet to fully gel, I think it was not as bad as some say.

Next year will be the real test, however.

TB is an ICT legend.

"Mustn't...get it... on...shirt - too much red on it...as...it..is..." (collapses)

Stovies, pies, bovril, quiz, tour - 10 quid?? Amazing price! Wish I could go :( Hope it becomes a regular thing. (i.e. in August, when i'm there...)

Celtic will be next.

Ha ha ha, I do like the "Happiness" suggestion...fits very nicely, easy to learn, quite ridiculous, and i doubt any other club has it...hope you've thrown it in the mix on Sportsound!!!

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.