CaleyD

Definitely maybe

Ian Black collects his winnings as he tells the rest of the squad...... "I told you I could make Lionel believe that a knee in the knackers was how we said hello up here!!!"

You could have saved yourself time by just saying you agreed with me

Another keeper is the last thing we need worry about just now, and whilst I wouldn't want the club taking their eye of our long term future, what happens over the next few weeks could very well dictate not only who we could afford, but who we could attract.

I don't know what's worse....those who might scowl at people for making a bit of noise, or those who claim to be making a noise but obviously spend more time looking around to see who's watching them. If your eyes are on the pitch and you're enjoying the game and the banter, then you would be oblivious to the fact that others might be looking at you. You get the feeling that you're just looking for something to complain about, or that your actions are intended to get a reaction from these people.....best to ignore them and just get on with doing what you want to do in cheering on the team.

When you consider that only Woodhouse and Finnis would not be considered first team starters/squad players at this point in time and that none of those who started on Sunday started in this game then it's encouraging to see that we perhaps have more strength in depth than some might have realised. With regards the result....it all depends on Butchers attitude to reserve games. Some Managers set out with "winning" as the main priority whilst others view it as nothing more than a training exercise with the result being of secondary concern. It's also good to hear that Butcher was in the dug-out as this was seldom the case with Brewster who seemed to spend most of his time wandering around the stadium at TCS and not taking in the whole game and giving very little direct instruction. Whether this is a product of Butcher's need to get to know players or whether it's his way of doing things I don't know, but I hope it stays like that as there's no better opportunity week to week for getting to try things and for the manager to get feedback from that.

We're only just starting to see the full benefits of the Youth Development setup that Robertson started just over 5 years ago when he brought Danny McDonald back over the bridge. So long as we maintain that then I have little fear for the future of local lads coming through the ranks and the current economic climate and our financial position will only help to strengthen the need for these lads as "buying in" players won't always be an option....in fact, I don't really think it's an option now and all the recent signings are simply a product of the position we currently find ourselves in, a mistake I hope we never see repeated.

The whole "not disclosed" thing always makes me laugh. The only thing it tells people is that the buying team felt they paid too much or the selling team think they sold for too little and one of them has asked for a non-disclosure clause so as not to upset their fans.

It was suggested to me the other week (by someone far more knowledgeable in these matters than I) that Baltacha was just the wrong manager at the wrong time for ICT (CT as we were at that time). The point I think the person was making was that his style of management and the way he tried to set the team out was beyond our capabilities and that he'd perhaps be more than capable of doing a decent job at a higher level with more technically gifted players. You could make the point that any manager could do a better job if he had better players to work with, but it's one of those "we'll never know" arguments.

I didn't really expect much more from Butcher considering the fact he had less than a week to try and bring in some players. He didn't exactly have time to go scouting players he knew little or nothing about. What he achieves in the summer transfer window when we could potentially lose 7+ players will be the time to judge him on his signing ability.

IHE, I think you know as well as I do that what the club have not said and/or done says more about the outcome of recent events than anything else. I don't believe for one second that they are so naive as to think that Butcher has, or will, in any way saved their necks. I have little doubt that, relegated or not, the Board will be faced with even more questions come the end of the season....and come that time they won't have anyone to offer up as a sacrifice. Right now though, most people are concentrating on doing what they can to try and rescue ICT from relegation and I think that's the most appropriate course for us to be charting. The Board can wait.

Fair question. The reason I have opted for him at left-back for the Kilmarnock game is because he is more of a "ball player" as opposed to a hoof and hope and although Lionel had a good game against Celtic, and was probably the right choice for a more "physical" game, I think we'll benefit more from having a LB against Killie who can start attacks down that side of the park and Lionel is not the man to do that kind of job. There's also the fact that we don't have the luxury of trying to tinker with the team too much in the league and if Butcher does want to to try something else then it has to be in the cup, which in the grand scheme of things is the least of our worries.....although a wee cup run would do wonders for morale.

I saw one Tic fan being escorted away by the police in town before the game. His mates were calling after him berating him for getting himself arrested, but the lad being led away was insistent that he was just getting a lift down to the game

I never timed it, but I'm fairly certain it was longer than Brewster ever spent doing a team selection.

11th place points for previous seasons. 07/08 - 40 06/07 - 36 05/06 - 33 04/05 - 34 03/04 - 34 02/03 - 32 01/02 - 40 00/01 - 35

Butcher has to keep as many players as possible "hungry" and I'm hoping he'll do that by playing the most suitable team as opposed to any pre-defined 11. Celtic game was always going to be a physical encounter and I think that's probably what shaded it for one or two players who were in the starting line-up yesterday....and rightfully so. I also think Woods, Vigurs, Ronney (the younger guys) were probably on the bench because we needed as many cool heads in there as possible to stop adrenaline overcoming the team and doing more harm than good. Kilmarnock will be a whole different ball game IMO, and I think we'll see one or two changes with Duncan and Lionel perhaps being sacrificed in order to bring in better "ball players". Esson Mihadjuks - Munro - McBain Tokely - - - - Black - - - - Vigurs Morais - - - - Imrie Rooney - Foran Essentially a 3-5-2 but with sufficient personnel so as to allow the shape to become whatever the game dictates. 4-4-2 Esson Tokely - Mihadjuks - Munro - McBain Morais - - Black - - Vigurs - - Imrie Rooney - Foran 4-5-1 Esson Tokely - Mihadjuks - Munro - McBain Morais - Vigurs - Black - Imrie - Foran Rooney 4-3-3(2-1) Esson Tokely - Mihadjuks - Munro - McBain Morais - - - - Black - - - - Vigurs Imrie - - - - Foran Rooney Hopefully we're looking to add a right sided midfielder before 5.00pm because with the loss of Barry and Cowie looking like he's away then we're more than a little lacking on that side. Whilst I think there's a couple of the left sided players capable of playing on the right, it's not ideal.

Fan-Djebi-Dozi

Congratulations to Stomach and his missus on the birth of their son (named Jack) on Saturday.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/s...rem/7863577.stm

Under normal circumstances I would agree entirely Steve.

Second Division football....but not to worry, our Board are working on that and we might just manage to grant him a season back there before his contract expires.

Black would technically become a Creditor the moment the PCA kicks in to effect.

Barrowmans signing was the beginning of the mess we now find ourselves in. Not blaming the lad, but we paid over the odds for him and sacrificed experience to bring him in. To repeat that error would be unforgivable at this moment in time.

I don't think the board are being over cautious. Let's face it, as much as we might all believe we have got what it takes to save the season, we don't have to worry about the day to day finances of running a club and losing our SPL status could half our turnover over night. Granted it's the Board who have put us in this position....and for that they deserve all the criticism they get. But we can't turn clocks back and finding ourselves where we are the best course of action is to proceed with caution and calculated risk....handing out long term deals on wages we can't sustain is not the answer.

Kerr has been training with the team, so think it would be fair to assume he's definitely one on the radar. Other than that anyone else who might be brought in would be coming on the basis of recommendation and TB's perceptions of how they will fit into the team because he won't have seen them train with the squad. With that in mind then it'll almost certainly have to be someone on the fringes of a bigger team we're looking at as opposed to someone looking to make a step up from a smaller club. Will be interesting to see what tomorrow brings.