CaleyD

I think many are in agreement that Brewster will not have ICT finishing where they should in the league this year, so all the club have to gamble on is that a new manager might bump us one place further up the league and the cost of paying off Brewster is covered. Aside from that we're not exactly broke and we do have cash in the bank, if the club aren't willing to invest that in the clubs future, then what are they willing to invest it in?

As to the rest of the replies from people about Cowie having been offered a contract a couple of months back. It makes no difference offering him a contract once the summer window has shut because the club have already removed the option to sell if a player doesn't extend by delaying it till that point. Contracts should be negotiated at the end of the previous season for those with a year left, and if players aren't willing to extend, the club then have the chance to cash in on them....or at the very least be able to make a clear decision that they are willing to keep the player in full knowledge and acceptance that there's every chance they could lose them for nothing. In the SFL we might have been considered one of the bigger fish, we were certainly a club that was going places, and we could perhaps afford to be a little more arrogant when it came to contract negotiations as we had more to offer compared to a lot of teams around us. However, that's changed a great deal and we are now very much a small fish in the SPL and we're not exactly "going places" at the moment which means just about every other team around us has more to offer....and not just when it comes to money. We can no longer afford to get cocky and try and play hardball with players and it's about time we started turning things a little more in our favour and becoming more streetwise. I wouldn't be surprised if players weren't happy with what they were being offered. If I'd been plugging away at ICT for a couple of years and really adding value to the team then I doubt I'd be too happy at being paid less than someone who had failed to prove themselves at this level in the past, had come from a lower division and was (by all accounts) the highest paid player at the club!!! I'd be even more peeved if I was one of the younger lads who'd been grafting for us this season and actually contributing to the team and I was getting ?1000 a week less than they were and might have been sidelined because my next start meant I was due a pay increase which the club didn't want to honour and might be trying to negotiate downwards. Hypothetical....but certainly not beyond the realms of possibility when you actually look at what's going on.

My apologies, I read your post slightly differently.

What makes you think we are a selling club? We should be a selling club, but in reality all we do is gift our best players to the competition for nothing or next to nothing every season. Rankin, Wyness, Niculae, Bayne, Hart, Dods, Dargo, Brown....all players who immediately spring to mind as having left for a fraction of what they were worth...or worse, nothing at all. In fact, I can't think of a single instance when we sold a player and, at the time, thought it was a good bit of business.

Chit happens and even the best players in the world make the odd mistake. Duff has proved with us that he's able to take the errors on the chin, learn from them and move on to be the better for it. I hope he gets the chance to do that with the Scottish U21's...at least he won't be sidelined there for "financial" reasons.

You can't force them to extend, but at least by dealing with things sooner it leaves the club the option to sell them when they still have time left on the contract and therefore can command a bit of money, than to let them go 6 or 12 months down the line for nothing.

IMO, we shouldn't be waiting till the 11th hour to be having contract talks with Players like Black & Cowie. These are guys who have value and they should never have anything less than 12 months remaining on their contracts. By allowing this to happen the club weaken their own position at the contract talks. Scenario 1 - Player has 12+ months left on contract and the club sit down to talk to them. Player isn't keen to sign or wants more more than we can afford to give them. Club can then put them on the transfer list at the next window and sell them for a decent amount due to them having a year on their contract. Scenario 2 - Player has less than 12 months left on contract and club sit down to talk to them. Player isn't being offered what he hoped for so holds out till he's only got 6 months left and can talk to other clubs, perhaps get other offers and then leave for free in the summer. The club could sell early, but aren't likely to get anything close to what player is worth. By doing things the way they are done just now the club severely weaken their position at the negotiating table. Not only that, but if a player isn't having to wait till the last minutes to get a new deal then they're going to feel that they are valued more and may not feel the need to be looking elsewhere during the final 6 to 12 months of their current contract. It's a win-win scenario most of the time as the club don't have the constant fear of losing their better players and the players have a little more job security and that can count for a lot in football, especially at this level where the wages aren't astronomical and looking for that step up can be a bit of a gamble.

If/When the managerial position was to become vacant I don't think Robbo should simply be dismissed on the grounds that he's been here before....nor do I think that he should be an automatic shoe-in just because he has. What I would hope for however, is that the club properly explored all options and made a decision based on the best man for the job, and not on the basis of who they happen to be good mates with...or not.

I liked Hart, mostly because he was the kind of player who got the ball, stuck his head down and just made for goal. Granted he didn't always make it that far, and wasn't renowned for hitting the target, but I appreciated his style and when chasing a game that's the kind of player you want in place of those who generally look for the easier pass so they didn't end up as the one with egg on their face.

An idea/quick example of how you could easily keep the same design for the home top and make it different by simply flipping the red and blue.

We didn't always expect points from games, but it wasn't all that long ago that we used to go into every game with the belief that we could get something from it....the fact that we no longer have that belief when playing even those teams around us in the league shows just how far things have fallen.

I've been shouting all season that Cowie isn't best utilised out wide.

Blacks been our best player this season, can't believe you don't want to see him in an ICT shirt!!! :o

Well done to Jamie...hope it all goes ok and you get the chance to show what you're capable of.

Where in any post did i say he's a great manager? Thats not what i was on about, what I was meaning was he is most definately passionate about ICT and for anyone to suggest otherwise well quite frankly they don't know JACK. ICTodd, JR/CC/BW sorry but i think you've been reading too much Mills & Boon this weekend I know a couple of Jacks....you got a surname so I can narrow it down to see if I know the one you refer to?

Info in Tech Support Forum - Clicky Clicky

The long throw is boring and it doesn't work....what more is their to say on it?

Go on, tell us again why you think Brewster is such a great manager, I could do with cheering up.

Might have proved Barry does struggle to last the pace, but doesn't prove he said it himself

Zander, I think this might be the only way/place to play the lad, just can't see him being given the opportunity any time soon unfortunately. Vigurs, whilst I think he could do a job out wide I think he'll prove more effective playing inside a wide player and pushed a bit further forward. Some of his runs from these positions are class, and his ability to play a defence splitting pass through the middle is evident....if only he could get more opportunity to make use of it!! There's perhaps even an argument for giving Vigurs a shot in front of a middle 4 in direct support for a front man as he's got that kind of vision for a game I think.

An observation I also made at the game on Wednesday evening.

I never suggested for a second that his actions were justified or that he should go unpunished.

Lack of a runner.....are you suggesting that we miss having Bayne? I think Wood could very well be of a similar mould to Bayne, but with a better touch!! Put him in to work alongside Rooney and do the grunt work and I think they will click better/quicker than Barrowman and Rooney.

So other than the fact he left ICT to go elsewhere, can you come up with any reason you wouldn't want him back? Some might say that to ignore him would be tantamount to cutting off your nose to spite your face and I really don't think we can afford to do that.