caleyboy

What a terrible subject! All these guys must feel really good reading how they were thought of at this so called "family club". I bet not one of you could lace any of these guys boots!

Heard he is joining Clach as Polly has found him job. Don't think Tokes has signed for Brora - last I heard was he was looking for SFL club til end of season.

If he wants to go - let him. One man doesn't make a team.

Pray tell me Alex how do you know how good our youth coaches are? Oddquine is making some really sensible points and you reply with your usual drivel! My count of first team squad players who have come all the way thru our YDP is Laing, Polworth, Ross & Morrison. From my reckoning Shinnie and Sutherland arrived either at U17 or U19 but I stand to be corrected. Where you and I differ caleyboy is that when I see players being signed as sixteen year olds on the modern equivalent to the schoolboy form and then they sign as first team professionals that is a credit to the coaching they've been given. I don't know what your problem is but this is not the first time you've jumped on me for defending our coaching. If you have issues with the current youth coaches please take it up with them and not me. It's not my fault the highlands are not producing talented footballers. I don't even see them coming through at County and they have the academy on their doorstep. But in answer to your first question I base my judgement in the fact that our teams at U-16 and below regularly get invited to competitions around europe and regularly do quite well. Not too many Scottish teams get that opportunity. You either don't want to or can't answer my questions Alex so I take it that your 30% of first team squad is somewhat high. With regard to invitations to tournaments, I would suggest you don't listen and believe everything you hear. The tournaments our kids play in are not top drawer and very rarely, if ever, include clubs of our status. Celtic, Rangers, Hearts, Aberdeen etc are the clubs invited to tournaments with top English and European teams but this has been the case for many years. For the number of local prospects in our area it just isn't worth employing top quality coaches even if they were available! I expect we will always produce one or two PROSPECTS each year but most won't get passed the U20 grade.

I think it's Alex that's had too many pints

Pray tell me Alex how do you know how good our youth coaches are? Oddquine is making some really sensible points and you reply with your usual drivel! My count of first team squad players who have come all the way thru our YDP is Laing, Polworth, Ross & Morrison. From my reckoning Shinnie and Sutherland arrived either at U17 or U19 but I stand to be corrected. Any others I have forgotten?

So the under 20 team consisted of 4 (as far as I can see) over 20 first team signed players, plus Laing who, as far as I can ascertain, is signed to the first team, (going by the Courier blurb when he signed) earning appropriate wages and Cooper who has been benched and has played for the first team, even if ICT may not yet have upped his wages. Devine and Roberts are imports from England,..so of the players in the under 20 team....only Skinner, Watson and Ferguson are homegrown ICT youth players...and the only ones, (apart from Devine who has been here ten minutes) with no first team experience. Heck that bloke with the funny name we don't appear to have signed got more games for the under-20s than most of our own youth players. So excuse me if I am being logical here....but was the whole idea of the under 20 set up not to give a cross between allowing up to four over 20 (first team ) players (not an obligatory four over 20s) to get match practice after injury etc and the eligible players in the youth system to get accustomed to playing against older, more experienced players, given the lack of a proper reserve league and nothing but the under-20s at a level above the under-17s? If what ICT is producing is a reserve team-lite...what do the other seven of the signed under 20s do..twiddle their thumbs every week, because there is nowhere for them to get a competitive game? If we are so hard up for cash....why bother with an expensive youth system at all, when we can do as we have been doing over the last couple or so seasons, taking kids from other clubs, not playing those we have been raising from the age of nine or ten and just punting them at the end of the season? Why are we paying out for what appears to be crap coaches raising players the ICT management appears to think are crap? A lot of what you say is spot on Oddquine. The abolition of the Reserve League certainly has NOT helped any genuine U20's with much needed game time and I just cannot see how our youth development programme can be justified under such circumstances. I don't know how many young pros we have signed this year but if they don't play regularly why bother!

IMO how well the U20 team is doing is not important. Player development is the priority and if this means players going out on loan to get first team game time then that is what should be done. This also creates places for others to develop in the U20's.

And look at the tash on old Charlie Crawford!

No milk in Earl Grey please! It's just not the done thing my dear.

IMO the score is not important nor is the league table. What is important is how did the likes of Skinner, Watson, Cooper, Murphy, Laing, Morrison and Polworth play? Have they got it in them to step up to the next level when the time comes? OBTW where was wee Christie?

Great idea - knowing Rossco, that would put him into a spin and hopefully will lead him to having a mare. Has to be during the warm up tho and at the start of each half. Brill....

Long may his form continue. Works well in the system TB is using.

FANTASTIC result.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. A top 6 finish will be a REAL achievement considering our boards failure to attract REAL financial input. On the football side of things, we are so fortunate that we have people who really know what they are doing.

it may be you haven't a clue Alex Correct...............just making possible suggestions. But, of course, if you know then share. Chill man - just having a laf

it may be you haven't a clue Alex

Talk about shooting ouselves in the foot! Why the fluke did we have to tell the world. I bet the dwellers will be having a good laugh at our expense!

Asuming this is part Ken Thomson's remit he has a lot of work to do if the "Match Day Experience" is to improve and it won't be helped by inept displays like this one.

Brave brave man - probably did what a lot of folk would like to do - say they were from Ulster and not Ireland

Me thinks there are too many Men from the Moon on here.

I hope you are right. I wonder if Mr Savage is still willing if his conditions are met?

Better not to make any comment until it's all sorted out. Very, very surprised!

Does anyone know who bought the shares? I take it that £250k is Muirfield Mills consortium but that still leaves £250k.

Well maybe you should take a look at them - before you start commenting on the manner in which they are being reported. Because if you had bothered to take a look at the Chairman's Annual Report you would have seen that it is the Chairman himself who raises and highlights the issue that if measures had not been taken to boost the squad beyond what was originally budgeted last season, then the financial situation might have been a whole lot worse in that the club could have been relegated. The quotes on BBC online are directly from the Chairman's annual report - and these are also the quotes used on the back page of the PandJ (30.10.12.) which takes exactly the same line. So if you have an objection to the manner in which the Chairman is presenting the club's losses in the public domain, maybe you should raise that directly with him.... once you get back from Damascus, like I have no issue with the Chairmans Report on the accounts (which I have read) as it clearly states that there's an improvement on the balance sheet....a small but vital detail that is totally overlooked in the BBC Article. Whether that was through ignorance or intent I have no idea....but equally irresponsible either way. The only reason we have an improved Balance Sheet is because there was a further £500k shares issued. Can we expect this again this year?