Sneckboy

AlexJones is absolutely spot-on! It should be a curved line! I'd never thought of that before!! I suppose football will never be an exact science! I've just watched the goals from the Hamilton game yesterday - including the ones that should have counted! Rooney's goal particularly was such bad refereeing. Can't blame Collum as he was relying on his linesman to call that one. I know this is WAY off-topic, but I noticed in the Cricket World Cup, yesterday, that the governing body acknowledged a mistake by their officials in a game by releasing a statement to confirm an error had occurred.

Craig Brewster! (first spell).

51 points In mid-February!! The club records of 57 (top-six record) and 58 (all-time top-flight record) are going to fall! Fewest goals against is also currently on-course. Time for a speculative update: With an average of 2.04 points-per-game, we are miles ahead of our record 1.53!

Marley's done a great job so far in his 'makeshift' role up top for us. He seems to have a knack of getting himself into goal-scoring positions - so, as much as I'd like us to eventually have a more natural striker, I'm happy with how Hughes has managed to adapt the team after Billy. I see that Watkins is now just one booking away from a suspension! It'll almost certainly occur at some stage soon. Will be interesting to see what formation we play if/when it happens!

It's a strange one from FIFA. As much as I welcome the use of the spray to enforce the distance, it's almost like the foam idea should have come after a way of accurately measuring the 10 yards. The distance is still subject to a refs judgement. I'm not suggesting a measuring tape, but in this day-and-age, there must be a way of quickly measuring the correct distance - then the foam line would have more credence. Perhaps the ref could stand at the spot where the free-kick's to be taken and point a laser-pen at the pitch ahead. (apologies to the Laws of Physics - and any scientists cringing at this suggestion!) Can a laser-pen (or similar) be pre-programmed to emit to a defined distance (say, 10 yards)? The players would then have to get behind the line and the ref would then spray the foam to ensure there's no encroaching!

I remember when Caledonian were drawn away to St Mirren in the Scottish Cup (lost 3-0) and considered it such a big game. I couldn't 'get my head round' the likes of Wilson Robertson sharing a pitch with Campbell Money! That concept must seem alien to younger fans! But, It's what makes the whole ICT journey so rewarding! Oh god, I used the cliché, 'journey'!

I couldn't be bothered replying to the 'playground' analogy of ICT being the 'best team in the UK'! Middlesboro have also won 7 and drawn 1, including an away win at Manchester City and after that I gave up looking. I suppose one could argue that Edinburgh City are the 'most difficult to beat' team in the UK as they haven't tasted defeat all season? Apples and oranges... Now, Kingsmills' questions! Our longest unbeaten SPL/Premiership run is actually 11 games from back in 2005/06! This current unbeaten run from the turn of 2015 is arguably our best 'new-calendar-year' unbeaten run! In Division 1 in 2009/10 we remained unbeaten in the league - after the new 2010 calendars went up - until August, when we lost the opening game on our return to the SPL! However, we did lose to Killie on 6th Feb '10 in the cup, during that run (in our 4th game of the year). So, if we include all competitive games, our present sequence is a 'new-calendar-year' record in terms of number of games unbeaten! But, 2001 would chronologically be our longest unbeaten 'new-calendar-year' run (6th March), but that was only our 7th game!

I didn't have to look back too far! We won a game against Hibs in early December 2012, just a few days after we had a clean sweep of the November awards (Butcher, Billy and Aaron Doran). The 'myth' persists and is often mentioned, but I did highlight on another thread some examples of how sometimes the award can precede a run of poor results. But those were 'cherry picked' as an example. I suppose it's a bit like the 'commentators curse'! If you say that a player always delivers a great ball as he's standing over a free-kick - you know what's likely to happen! Or the perceived myth that some clubs always lose when they're live on TV. It's more often the case that a team's games are televised when they're playing a 'big' club in the FA Cup for example. The manger award is given as a result of a team performing particularly well over the preceding month. Often that team will have been 'punching above their weight' or performing 'better than usual' to have achieved those results. Rather than there being a 'curse', it's likely that those teams will simply be reverting-to-type in the following games. A case in point is Elgin City whose manager picked up the League Two award after a great recent run. Yet, Elgin lost to East Stirlingshire yesterday in their first game since the award - which, in itself is no great shock. However, Jim Weir and the Elgin fans will point to this as evidence of the 'curse'!

Apparently he's now training with St. Mirren.

Impressive stuff, IHE. Fair play to you. That's outstanding support. Unfortunately, you've shown your 'passive aggressive' side in your closing line. Why should you care who Renegade or Sneckboy are? You don't have the divine right to know the identity of posters! Have you control issues? Narcissism? Well, you'd know about that. You simply want to be the 'big man'! Not personally 'knowing folk' clearly threatens your assumed, self-appointed, control as the great ICT fan? Just enjoy the football and stop trying to be the self-appointed fans' spokesman. it's boring now.

I can't think of anyone - certainly recently - obviously plenty in pre-season games. Most recently being Ayina against Clach. I've got a question, though.! In the early days of ICT in the '3rd division', I worked in Aberdeen and rarely made it home for games. The few I did, I would join Iain Stewart, Steve Paterson and Ross Tokely etc. waiting at the '6N' platform! (by 'join' I mean, they were there and so was I!) But when I could, I'd go to Forfar, Montrose etc and ended up having been to more away games than home matches until about 1999. Has anybody, after 20 years, been to more away ICT games than home? I know for our Coventry contingent, every game's away! But you know what I mean! A fan who went to Uni in Glasgow/Edinburgh but who rarely comes 'home' perhaps? It's a long shot!

Great you bumped this thread as there may be a few new entries to come! Not sure, obviously about the above one, but Serbia (Celtic) and Congo (Hibs) have active players. Funnily enough, I mentioned Marc-Antoine Fortune earlier today on the 'Contract Situation' thread - he has been in squads for French Guiana but hasn't yet featured!

I'd be worried about you if you could - and inviting you round for coffee...

He speaks both English and French - a cunning linguist.

To be fair, he's featured in all 3 games so far, although as noted, as a sub. I'm sure he'll get a start soon if Wigan continue to misfire. He was close to scoring in his second game but was denied by Artur Boric. Another ex-celtic player, Marc-Antoine Fortune (5 goals from 54 Wigan league games) is currently ahead of Billy in the pecking order - but I can't see that lasting. But he will need to find the net when he gets his chance or it may well transpire that he'll be a squad player at Wigan in the 3rd tier of English football. However, even playing at that level won't hinder his chances with Northern Ireland. For me, he certainly moved for money, and although it irks some folk on the forum, Shinnie opted for Aberdeen to improve his career - a move to England and the ludicrous 'big bucks' available could follow in a few years. Incidentally, congratulations to Graeme on becoming a Dad earlier this week!

With a traditional kick off time, I hope Raith bring up a good number of supporters. I've got absolutely no idea what sort of crowd we can expect for this game - it's a really difficult one to 'predict'! But, I'll have a bash. 4000.

Losing Meekings would have been a blow. Job done though. Awful late.

Thanks to the search facility, I located that post I'd made about the perceived 'curse'! Posted 26 January 2015 - 05:55 AM We lost 3 of the 4 games we played in September including going out of the League Cup! That was after a run of 4-1-0 in the previous 5 games that effectively won the award. Bizarrely, the exact same fate happened last season when we started 4-1-0 which saw Butcher get the August award. We then lost 3 of the next 4! And the August before that, County started their first 'SPL' campaign and got through the month unbeaten to extend their run to over a year and 38 matches without defeat. Derek Adams award preceded the inevitable start of a losing run in the very next game! To be fair, there are probably countless examples of teams continuing their good form after getting the award - but that doesn't make for a good story!

Signed up until the end of season 2016-17: • Gary Warren • Richie Foran • Greg Tansey • Josh Meekings Signed up until the end of next season (2015-16): • John Hughes - Manager • Russell Latapy - Assistant Manager • Dean Brill • Aaron Doran • Danny Williams • Ryan Esson • Ryan Christie • Carl Tremarco • Ross Draper • James Vincent Signed up until the end of this season (2014-15): • Daniel Devine • Graeme Shinnie (going to Aberdeen) • Nick Ross • Marley Watkins • David Raven • Liam Polworth • Lewis Horner • Jaime Wilson (Development Squad) • Kane Hull (Development Squad) • Jason Brown (Development Squad) • Struan McArthur (Development Squad) • Blair MacLennan (Development Squad) • Calum Howarth (Development Squad) • Chris Brown (Development Squad) • Ali Sutherland (Development Squad) • Stephen Rennie (Development Squad) • Cammy Mackay (goalkeeper) (Development Squad) • Chris Blackett (Development Squad) • Daniel Hoban (goalkeeper) (Development Squad) • Calum Ferguson (Development Squad) • Ryan Baptie (Development Squad)

I really hope they can do it, and somehow stay up! Would miss the derby games. However, Heats coming up would ensure we don't lose too much money from County's demise. But, if it came to a Sevco v County match for the Premiership, I'd be in Dingwall supporting the Staggies with everything I've got , such is my utter contempt for the Glasgow 'club'! Would be gutted to think that any fellow Highlanders would hope that The Rangers and all that baggage, depressing, self-righteousness and sense of entitlement, 'we-arra-people' etc. that comes with them, would achieve their destiny - 'and we'll enjoy the journey!' at the expense of our neighbours. Anybody who still wants County down and Rangers up need only have 5 minutes on 'Bears Den' Forum! Be careful what you wish for!

FT Hibs 3 -2 Inverness Ferguson as always! He's got to be worth a 'look at' by Hughes! Give him a few minutes at the end of a game to break him in. Perhaps then see what he can do as a proper sub. I doubt he's good enough to start a game yet! Same with Ali Sutherland. Our Development Team is utterly awful. But it changes annually, as players progress thru the ranks and others move on. But I doubt many of the current lot will be kept on.

Never mind '18 Hours From Rotterdam', you are a mere 'Three-hundred-and-twenty-thousand metres from Paisley'! (sorry your thread got 'hijacked'!)

This is the best thread on the forum! I have no idea how Fraz hasn't embraced it!

That's a very good point. This would be our first Scottish Cup semi as a 'top flight' side. I remember the chants to the Dunfermline fans of "SPL, you're having a laugh!!"

I found an interesting article pertinent to the odds discussion. Apparently, in 2008, a punter posted a message on a comments forum prior to the Champions League quarter-final draw - correctly predicting the outcome!!!! A post left on a newspaper's internet forum at 10.28am this morning, 90 minutes before the draw took place in Nyon, Switzerland, correctly predicted the entire quarter-final draw. The poster claimed bookmakers were no longer willing to accept bets on the draw. When all four ties predicted in the post came to fruition it caused fevered internet speculation that some sort of manipulation might have taken place. But a Uefa spokesman said: "It is just a lucky guess." This of course caused media outlets to speculate on what the odds were of 'guessing' the outcome. And as there were clearly no resident statisticians to-hand, various newspapers and websites were publishing all manner of guesses as to what the correct odds would be!!! As it happens, the odds for this punter's prediction were deemed to be 1 in 105. (He had the 4 ties correct, but not in the order they were drawn or with the 'correct' first home team) 1 in 105 explanation the first team drawn can be paired with 7 other teams and for each of these 7 choices the third team drawn can be paired with 5 other teams and for each of these choices the 5th team drawn can be paired with 3 other teams (at this point the last two teams must be paired together). So that makes 7 times 5 times 3 combinations which is 105. So the probability of correctly guessing all four ties is 1 in 105 This is where much of the confusion arises. There are 3 different odds for predicting a quarter-final, it would appear. Predicting the draw exactly as it comes out, ball by ball = 1 in 43,320 Predicting the 4 ties (in any order) but with the correct home/away combination = 1 in 1,680 Predicting the correct 4 pairings (without regard to home/away) = 1 in 105 e.g. (1 in 105) Celtic will play Dundee United Raith will play Inverness Berwick/Spartans will play Hibs Falkirk will play QOS The odds of getting the Celtic-Dundee Utd pairing the 'right way round' would require a multiplication of 2. (1 in 210) Dundee United v Celtic Raith will play Inverness Berwick/Spartans will play Hibs Falkirk will play QOS The odds of getting the Raith-Inverness pairing the 'right way round' would require a further multiplication of 2. (1 in 420) Dundee United v Celtic Inverness v Raith Berwick/Spartans will play Hibs Falkirk will play QOS The odds of getting the Berwick/Spartans-Hibs pairing the 'right way round' would require a further multiplication of 2. (1 in 840) Dundee United v Celtic Inverness v Raith Hibs v. Berwick/Spartans Falkirk will play QOS The odds of getting the Falkirk-QOS pairing the 'right way round' would require a further multiplication of 2. (1 in 1,680) Dundee United v Celtic Inverness v Raith Hibs v Berwick/Spartans QOS v Falkirk Which brings us back to the 1,680 figure!!