CaleyD

I still don't think there's room for both Black and Duncan in our midfield....it's far too negative. Would rather see Wilson start out wide with Cowie inside that and Black on the centre spot.

Just to let people know, as well as the Car Boot Sale the Club Shop will also be open for business along with it.

Black is the kind of player who you'd need to shoot to put him down, and would play on through an injury if he possibly could....such is his desire to play. Sometimes a manager/coach has to step in and say no, because if they don't then there's a risk of causing longer term injury. Nobody knows if that is the case or not, but Black has taken a couple of hard knocks in the last 3 or 4 games so it wouldn't surprise me if Brewster felt he could do without a midweek game to allow an extra couple of days for healing. Certain (justifiable) doubts as to what Brewster is or isn't doing right and why exist, but I think that this one might just be grasping at straws a bit too much and like it or not, we have to give Brewster the benefit of the doubt on occasion, especially when there's ample evidence to suggest Black was missing from the squad for genuine reasons...i.e. recovering from the knocks he's sustained recently. Black might disagree, we may disagree, but sometimes a manager has to make a tough call like this for the well being of the player and the long term benefit of the team. Missing Black against Falkirk wasn't ideal, but it would be worse for us to see him out for an extended period, especially when it could have been avoided. Can you imagine the uproar we'd have had if Black was carrying a knock and Brewster played him, only for it to be aggravated and Black to be out for weeks as a result? I'm no fan of the way Brewster is running the team, but sometimes chit happens and he is forced to make decisions we don't like, but for the right reasons. I think this could well be one of those times.

Details on Ticket Thread - Clicky Clicky Says there no ticket sales on match day.

We'll take him back as a Player/Manager at Xmas

We should throw Rangers a curve-ball and start the game with our left and right sided players switched.....oh no, wait a minute

Merged the topics as I didn't really see the need for yet another on the same subject.

I only recall ICT ever bringing in very small supplies of GK tops because their was never any real demand, whether they still do even that I am not sure. You might want to try contacting the club shop and asking if they would be willing/able to get you one the next time they place an order for stock. The people that work in there are pretty helpful and I'm sure they will sort you out if they can. It might cost you an extra couple quid, and you might have to wait for it....but you never know unless you ask.

Unless Marius has decided to wave the money he believes he is due by ICT then I would say that it is far from over. The unanswered questions and ongoing silence only serve suggest that things have gone beyond dick measuring contests in the press and into the hands of the courts/authorities. Had things been sorted/cleared up then the press would have been on to it and we'd have seen stories of either "ICT forced to honour contract", "Marius left short changed" or something along those lines. If they're going to pick up on the fact he was stopped for a minor speeding offence, you can be sure they aren't going to miss something like this. I have no "inside" info and I have not been "gagged", the above is just my view/feel for the current situation. Anyway, back to the topic in hand......... We have 6 games in November, and if we aren't showing any signs of positive change in that time then I fail to see how the club could merit giving Brewster any more time. It's all fair and well to make excuses on the basis that he has a plan and he needs time to execute it, but the plan has to be sound in the first place and we have to be seeing signs that it is starting to bare fruit and things are moving in the right direction. Right now, I've not seen anything to suggest we are any better off now, or are turning in better, more consistent performances than we did on day 1 of the season, and that's the main reason I think we need to be giving serious consideration to changing the man in charge.

It's ideally situated to be catching the Xmas Trade as every man and their dog in Inverness...not to mention all those who come here for shopping trips...make the Eastgate the first port of call. With any luck it'll be immediately obvious from the outside that ICT merchandise is on sale there and we're not relying on people wandering in to the shop to discover it. Whatever your thoughts on it's location, having a presence in town is better than none at all.

Sounds very similar to what we were saying for most of last season when Brewster couldn't seem to settle on a consistent front pairing. Just how long do we keep making excuses or calling for Brewster to be given time when it's apparently obvious it's the same mistakes he's making over and over again?

Fraser is an ok keeper and we could have worse. He's also young and still learning and will, IMO, be a great keeper some day. In saying that though, I don't think he's worth breaking the bank for and I'd far rather see us stretching the budget to secure contracts elsewhere in the squad.

I don't think for one minute that Brewster is ignorant of our previous cup exploits, but he might have chosen his "angle" a bit better in trying to make his point. I don't think it matters what division we were in under any previous manager when we witnessed some absolutely fantastic Cup games. Even some of the ones we've lost in previous years serve as memorable for good reasons as opposed to bad. For me, our past cup successes all came down to the fact that, as I've said before, we had a squad who all believed in themselves and each other. We had a squad that always tried to push forward and seldom did we see the mentality that we would pinch first goal and then defend en masse. Every player on the park believed he was capable of putting the ball in the back of the net....and that was quite often the case. The team wasn't set up to suite the needs of one or two, it was set up to make best use of the teams strengths as a whole. These are not attributes and qualities which should be set aside just because we're in the SPL....if anything we should be looking for them now more than ever. Most of what's missing now is not something you teach someone. It's a feeling, an atmosphere that is projected on to people. It's the ability of a manager to reach beyond what is taught on the training pitch and to bring heart and soul into the equation. It's all those things that the opposition can't feed into an equation or counter tactic when they are preparing for and playing against you. It's the belief that no matter which 11 men your lined up against, and no matter how much better you think they are, this could be your day and that all you need to do is give it your all for yourself and your team and the result will take care of itself. Some Managers have the ability to do project that on to a team, some don't.

An acceptable season for me is one where you come away at the end knowing that regardless of where you finished in the league you know that we gave it our best....and that goes for everyone from top to bottom at the club who all have an influence, to a greater or lesser extent, with what happens on the pitch.

If you're lucky....I normally manage to score a couple of free pies just after half time.

The "Clearances" which occurred in the main stand didn't do much to help the situation IMO. I too used to frequent the Main Stand not a kick in the butt off where Scotty sits/sat and although it never compared with the terracing, it was, not so long ago, THE place to be for the best atmosphere in the ground. Some ridiculous decisions on the possession of flags and what you could or could not do with them, a couple of people hassled because someone with very little knowledge of football fans/chants/shouts had misheard or misunderstood them and wallop...it was killed flat. Not to mention the fact that Main Stand ticket prices were hiked up way beyond those of the North Stand and created a "class divide" among fans, along with moving the family section to the North Stand and the natural order of things really went out the window. Getting in to the SPL didn't help either, as it then meant "proper segregation". We no longer had Away fans at the South end of the Main Stand who were only a couple of rows away where banter could be easily (and harmlessly) exchanged.

Anyone know where I can get a Ticket for the Home end at Ibrox? And do you think it would be safe to wear my Caley Thistle Scarf and cheer us on when we score?

A very young ICT team got beat 1-4. Short report on the official site - Clicky Clicky

And that's exactly the reason why I don't think it would be such a bad idea to re-appoint two of the men who were not only a part of that, but nurtured it and used it to make ICT bigger than the sum of its parts.

I know you have brought me to task in the past for selective editing BUT in this case to carry all the content down would be unnecessary when I just want to ask you to consider the area highlighted and ask if this could be something you could consider. I can put hand on heart and say that I have never acted through any personal agenda, grudge or grievance against any individual or group of individuals at, or connected to, ICT. I've had a go at a fair few people over the years, some on a number of occasions, but it has never been for any reason other than the fact I didn't believe they were acting in the clubs best interests.

I feel a graph coming on

Thats an interesting idea/combination. So instead of one former manager, we'd have two? I don't think that would be progressive at all, I would rather a new management team altogether. As I said, sometimes you need to go backwards in order to get off the path your own and back onto a more progressive/successful one. We could try appointing a whole new team, and if a suitable one could be found, then great. The reason I mention Robbo and CC is because I think our biggest problem with the team right now is a lack of motivation, and the fact we've moved away from the gritty determined team that always went forward and never gave up. A team that could walk off the pitch after any game, win, lose or draw, with it's head held high. We need to re-establish that pride in the team, and nobody knows more about being part of that then Charlie. If anyone can find what is needed to bring it back, then I think he can. Robbo, very highly thought of in footballing circles, lots of friends all over the place (look at the way he set up Liverpool for Barry's Testimonial). He has contacts to bring in young talent, he is respected enough to be able to attract more experienced players to the club. And most of all, he doesn't have the "this is our lot, let's make the best of it attitude". He will drive the team to be the best it can be, and as we saw with the whole promotion thing, he'll stand up to the guys upstairs when need be. Re-appointing these guys might be a backward move in terms of time, but it would be a forward move in terms of getting the team back to where it should be, back to an ethos that works for us as ICT and not trying to replicate what clubs do elsewhere. No I definitely meant tic...as in tic-toc.

It's not the number of youngsters that's the problem, it's the lack of an experienced player to lead them at the front. I don't think it's any coincidence that lads like Duff & Vigurs are excelling alongside more experienced players...whereas up front the younger lads seem to be toiling a little and not finding their feet so fast.

We'll need tin hats with this hail - Might still take a wander down though.....unless anyone's going from Dalneigh and wants to offer me a lift?

Brewster is such a great and highly thought of Manager that after he screwed everything up at Dundee Utd everyone was chasing after him to give him a job, but he decided to sit it out at Aberdeen as a player until the dream job of coming back to ICT became available!!!! The club made a big deal of holding on to Park when CC stepped down, and that in itself spoke volumes about just how much faith they had in Brewster. We could all see it, I believe that our BoD at that time could even see it, but the decision was, IMO, made over and above that in true "jobs for the boys" fashion. The job was going to be Brewsters, and those who had made that decision were going to make sure that he had people around him that made him look good. Everything seemed to be going fine until Donald Park (for whatever reason, it don't matter) moved on. At the Fans Forum before Brewster was officially appointed, I raised the concern as to why the club were so hell bent on maintaining the services of Park. It was as clear as the nose on your face that it was because he would be the "brains" of the partnership....and I don't think I would be too far off the mark in saying that had Park been willing to take the Managers job then Brewster would have become his assistant.....and on that basis I think we would have welcomed him more because of what he brings in regards to fitness coaching etc. Brewster comes across as a decent enough bloke, and it annoys me to hear people say that he shafted us to go to Dundee Utd. There's never been anything official, but I know for fact that Brewster made sure that ICT were well compensated for his departure, even though he had no contract....so much so that he would have refused to go had Thomson not stumped up the cash that HE (Brewster) had said ICT should be getting. So please, if we're going to criticise the guy, let's keep it to our opinions on the job he is doing/has done and not get caught up in slandering him for stuff that just isn't true. As a person, he seems decent. As a fitness coach, we're lucky to have him. As a manager, he frustrates the hell out of me and I don't rate him. Who do we replace him with? Off the top of my head....Robbo. He's a more than competent Manager, and a man who always wore his heart on his sleeve and I think he'd instil some passion back into the squad. I'd also like to see CC in there as his assistant, because there's nobody who knows more about what makes this club, team and fans tic than he does. We're trying to go down a road we can't afford and which, IMO won't work for us. We don't have the finances to be buying in "talent" and we need to get back to what got us where we are....grit, fight, determination and passion - those are attributes you can't buy, but we always had them in abundance. Some might argue that it's a step backwards.....but I'd rather we took a step backwards to get us on the right path again, than continue down the road we're on.