Sneckboy

Never great to hear a manager taking a thinly-veiled swipe at his chairman in public. Clearly there are tensions there with Hughes acknowledging the need for further additions to his football squad versus the Chairman's desire to retain a prudent tight ship.

Lowest wages in the SPL? County? You must be joking. I'd guess that Hamilton have probably got the lowest wage bill. I say 'guess' and 'probably' as I've nothing to back it up!

That's 12 months old!

Hamilton 4-0 Inverness CT

One of our young guys, Struan McArthur, spent much of last season on loan at Rothes - a tough school! - but did well, winning their Young Player of the Season award.

Dean McDonald has been released from his latest club, Dulwich Hamlet. But I'm sure there will be plenty of clubs looking for a striker! Just looked up 'images' to remind myself what he looked like - and saw this. It's funny what time does to the memory - I could have sworn McDonald had been a Brewster signing!

There have been a few posts on various threads regarding 'if Dundee this, Dundee that..', but the reality is, they had double our average attendance last season. 3,733 v 6,966 rounded to 3700 v 7000 Our gate on Sat of 3.3k is equivalent to how many more fans go to Dens every (second) week. It's hugely significant over a season - effectively, with 19 home matches, it's around 62,500 more 'bums-on-seats' than we currently get. Even at (say a conservative average) of £20 match day spend = 20 x 62,500 = £1,250,000. Over a million quid - a lot of money, and far outstrips our cup win profits. Aside from the outrageous TV revenue the clubs in England receive, at our level, gate receipts are a pretty good indicator of where clubs will be in the pecking-order. Regardless of managerial prowess, it's 'all about the money' and clubs will eventually 'default' to their natural level. Rich benefactors can sometimes temporarily distort a club's standing but occasionally, when everything comes together, clubs can punch-above-their-weight, and achieve great things. I find it outrageous that some folk think we can 'go to the next level'. Last season was the ultimate. It simply won't ever get any better than that! We are fortunate to have witnessed it!

This actually starts today, but we don't play until Wednesday. Hamilton Accies away at New Douglas Park (3pm). Given our injury situation, and Hamilton's artificial surface, It's likely our team will consist of entirely the young guys!

Polworth twice though. Possibly, replace the 'bench' one with Stephen Rennie? Although unusual to have two 'keepers on the bench (Ryan Esson and Cammy Mackay), with our current misfortune, it's probably a wise choice!

Malonga's still under contract at Hibs for this season. And Zeefuik has just recently signed a two-year deal for a club in Turkey!

The league season starts tomorrow and the clubs' officially registered SPFL squad numbers have been released. http://spfl.co.uk/statistics/ Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1 Ryan Esson 2 David Raven 3 Carl Tremarco 4 James Vincent 5 Gary Warren 6 Josh Meekings 7 Dani Lopez 8 Ross Draper 9 Richie Foran 10 Aaron Doran 11 Jordan Roberts 12 Dean Brill 14 Danny Devine 15 Nat Wedderburn 16 Greg Tansey 17 Lewis Horner 19 Danny Williams 20 Liam Polworth 22 Ryan Christie 24 Calum Ferguson 25 Owain Fon Williams 28 Andrea Mbuyi-Mutombo 31 Cameron Mackay 32 Chris Brown 33 Kane Hull 34 Jason Brown 35 Calum Howarth 36 Struan McArthur 37 Alisdair Sutherland 38 Blair MacLennan 40 Jaime Wilson 41 Stephen Rennie 42 Daniel Hoban 43 Andrew Macrae 44 Alasdair Stark 46 Chris Blackett

Signed until the end of next season (2016-17): • Gary Warren • Richie Foran • Greg Tansey • Josh Meekings Signed until the end of this season (2015-16): • John Hughes - Manager • Brian Rice - Assistant Manager • Dean Brill • Aaron Doran • Danny Williams • Ryan Esson • Ryan Christie • Carl Tremarco • Ross Draper • James Vincent • David Raven • Daniel Devine • Ali Sutherland • Liam Polworth • Lewis Horner • Calum Ferguson • Cammy Mackay • Nat Wedderburn • Jason Roberts • Dani Lopez • Owain Fon Williams • Andrea Mbuyi-Mutombo ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Development Squad players available for this season (2015-16): • Calum Howarth • Jason Brown • Jaime Wilson • Kane Hull • Struan McArthur • Blair MacLennan • Chris Brown • Stephen Rennie • Chris Blackett • Daniel Hoban (goalkeeper) • Alasdair Stark • Andrew Macrae

We did well not conceding a goal to them in 'open play' over two games. They're a very decent side. After reading a West Ham forum, to me it appeared they assumed just turning up would see them through - and 34,000 did - but Astra are street-wise and capable.

I too, agree that we're nearly there with our squad. A left-sided defender, as most agree, would be good and another attacking player, preferably an out-and-out centre-forward. Andrea Mbuyi-Mutombo doesn't appear to be a striker per-se, but more of an attacking-midfielder or even a winger. Often, that's labelled as a 'forward' - but it's difficult to give a player a specific role in modern football. Some players are versatile and can compete in a number of positions. But his career stats on Wikipedia are correct, as I've checked on other databases, so he's certainly not going to be getting us too many goals. He's 25 and has a career total of just 7. The transfer window runs until 1st September, so no panic - and as Renegade pointed-out, it doesn't really affect us anyway, as we don't go looking to buy players. Good luck to Andrea!

I think he's past Premiership standard, but I'm sure he'd do a decent job at Championship level. Nowadays, I'd say he's more suited to a club like Raith Rovers, Livingston or Dumbarton. Not a dud by any means, but I'd hope we can get better!

I see he's an internationalist for DR Congo - which excited me, as I thought he'd add to the nationalities played at the TCS! But, on checking, Calvin Zola (Aberdeen) has already done that! No point signing him then.

Yeah, it was noted by Dawson on Saturday night in the 'Ex-ICT Players' news' thread - it is indeed him!

He's 25.

The Highland League will be better than the SPL soon at this rate. There were also rumours that before Chris Maguire signed for Rotherham a few days ago, he was joining-in the pre-season training at Formartine United - and he'd said he'd sign a short deal if he couldn't find a club down-south! Possibly true, as he's an Aberdeen lad, and was probably just back home - but going from the English Championship (on a very decent wage) to the Highland League - I didn't think so! But there are players now happy to 'drop down' a level - yes, it'll predominantly be for money (Garry Wood - Montrose to Formartine....), but also because now there's an opportunity to still play SPFL football via the play-offs. Highland League is now effectively SPFL League 3 (North).

The highland League website has it as the 12th August...still at home!

Andy Barrowman has joined Albion Rovers. Yet another club!!

....Sunday's game?

Gregory Tade scored for Steaua Bucharest tonight to help them into the Q3 stage of the Champions League.

Atajic left Celtic last year.

Yogi confirming in today's P&J that James Vincent and Carl Tremarco will definitely miss the Astra game. Probably no surprise, but at least we now know for certain.