ictchris

INVERNESS SIGN SPROULE http://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/Sport/Shinty/Coup-for-Inverness-as-they-secure-Sproule-31012013.htm#.UQuiLHHDq6k.twitter

Kris Boyd's salary for 2012 with Portland was $1,515,000, $28,000+ per week. I don't think County will be matching that somehow.

Butcher on Gibbons and Jordan.

Roberts took a good penalty against Stenny in a previous round. He also set up Shane for the McKay sitter in extra-time, although overall he didn't have a good game.

I think that penalty is the worst I've ever seen by an ICT player. The spot-kick Wilson missed at Parkhead was pretty bad - Hedman guessed the right way when Barry tried to roll it in and just picked it up - but at least Wilson hit the target and you could see what he was trying to do.

We seemed to have saved our worst performance of the season for one of the biggest games. From the off we didn't look in control in midfield, it was akin to the early days of the season where our midfielders were isolated and Hearts played between our lines, so to speak. Draper and Jones didn't push on and dominate the play, allow Hearts to funnel the balls out wide where they had some success. We created some excellent chances, in the first half Shinnie picked up a clearance and sent a hooked pass over to top for McKay to run onto. Away from the defence and one-on-one with McDonald, he came up short, hitting an easily saved shot close to the Hearts keeper. Hearts came back and forced Reguero into a low save and then the new striker Ngoo hit the post with a header. We forced a couple of openings and Foran headed wide from a right hand cross. Overall, Hearts pressed us much more in the first and I was glad to get in goaless. Shinnie scored just at the start of the second half, a great goal. We had the ball forward and McKay's battling knocked it into the path of Shinnie, who took it a couple of yards and then cracked a low shot into the corner of Hearts net. It was a great strike, typical of SHinnie, who is really blossoming into a great player. Sadly, again in a throwback to how we played early in the season, we sat deep following our goal and allowed Hearts into the match. They put pressure on and had some big penalty shouts, which looked pretty hopeful from our end of the ground. Then Ngoo, who was involved in most of Hearts promising play, volleyed in following a knock back across goal, a great finish. In the last 15 minutes Scott Robinson was sent off for a challange on Owain Tudor Jones. It happened pretty quickly and Jones didn't go down but Robinson looked to jump in, which we've seen red cards given for. The Hearts fans didn't see it like this and were furious at the ref for the decision. From our perspective, we couldn't make the extra man advantage count in normal time, which was disappointing. In the first period of extra time, we almost gifted Hears a goal when Novikovas slipped in past Raven, but the ball was knocked wide. Then Sutherland was played in and forced McDonald into a good save, with McKay seemingly caught out he couldn't knock the ball into an empty net. Sutherland followed up the save with an attempt at an overhead kick that sailed over. Andy Shinnie then had a chance in the second half but his effort went over the bar from close range, just getting caught under the ball. All the penalties were excellent, keepers didn't get near to any of them until Roberts followed up another disappointing cameo with a shockingly bad penalty, ballooned way over the bar. Really disappointing end to the match - on performance we didn't really deserve to win but given the chances we had and the fact it was 10v11 for most of the game we really should've done better. I thought the atmosphere was excellent from both sets of fans, the stadium was buzzing. Good luck to Hearts in the final.

Good to have cover at left-back.

Shocking dive from the ballboy. As RiG pointed out on Twitter, it's refreshing to see English fans and media talking up a Swansea Bradford final, wait until you hear the cries of 'Armageddon' if it's a Caley St Mirren league cup final up here.

Someone had the highlights of that 3-1 cup win over Hearts on youtube, anyone know what happened to them?

I'm pretty sure that Livingston took less than 1000 fans to Easter Road for the semi-final the season they won the league cup.

There's no point in moaning about our support, it's been like this for years. Lots of people of my generation in inverness (I'm 32) are just happy to sit around supporting Rangers and Celtic, the idea that Caley are an alternative doesn't even occur to most people, we are seen as 'just' Caley and not to be botherd with. HOpefully things are improving among younger lads, who have grown up with us being an SPL side. As for parking on Easter Road, quite a few of the streets off Easter Road have free parking but you'll be very lucky to get parked on them. I know you can park for free on Rossie Place but finding a space is difficult. If you fancy a walk throug Leith you could park for free at Ocean Terminal and walk up to the stadium, probably take 20 minutes or so.

The Hearts game kicks off at 1:30pm at their Riccarton training ground.

Lagerback was linked but he is manager of Iceland at the moment. Strachan's managerial record is pretty decent: - Coventry: Kept them in the Premiership for three seasons, sacked when they got relegated, subsequent evidence suggests that they aren't a Premiership level club. - Southampton: Finished 11th and 8th and got them to the FA Cup final. - Celtic: The first Celtic manager since Jock Stein to win three successive titles. Took Celtic to the knock out stages of the Champions League for the first time and then did the same the next season. He did this against a Rangers side who spent a lot of money and invested heavily during that time. - Middlesborough: Terrible record, just didn't get it right. He was a success at Southampton and Celtic, half-and-half at Coventy and a failure at Middlesborough. He's managed and played at a high level and has a superior record to Levein, who was overpromoted after a semi-decent spell with Hearts, abject failure in England and a good spell at Dundee Utd. One thing that's important is that he'll have a good level of self-confidence and a more natural feel for this level of management than Levein did. Things like 4-6-0 smack to me of 'over-thinking' and a lack of self belief. Strachan knows he's succeeded in England and managed in the Champions League. he's a good motivator and that's important for an international coach. As for him not being a nice person, I think that's often overstated but in any case if he can get the team winning then I doubt people will care whether or not he eats live puppies and votes UKIP. Scotland actually have a decent side at the moment, if we were set up right. We have players competing regularly in the Premiership in a number of positions and a manager who can set the team up well could have success.

Cheers. Their last three home games have been played at Tynecastle, I might just phone up and ask where it's being played. Hopefully during the day, not in work next week.

I think one reason why people continued to stick up for him is a lack of understanding of doping and the way doping is used in cycling. Drug tests are pretty meaningless when you are using substances that occur naturally in the body and thus are very difficult to test for and the complicity of the UCI in setting limits that could only be achieved by doping. Apparently there are up to 100 versions of EPO that don't have drug tests out there and other substances that don't have tests are always being developed, obviously because these are drugs that are developed to treat blood diseases and kidney failure. The system of biological passport (where a rider has his blood values measured throughout the season and cyclists can be penalised for having unexplained variations. Also, the cyclists who display suspicious values can be targeted for testing. A couple of years ago the suspicion list from the 2010 Tour De France was leaked - http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/05/news/lequipe-publishes-list-of-ucis-doping-suspicions-from-2010-tour-de-france_172784 The riders marked at a risk of 9 or 10 were convicted or effectively caught doping.

Apparently he's going to try and take down people in the UCI who knew about his doping. A few twitchy bottoms tonight!

[ Anyone know where the Under 20s game game with Hearts is going to be played next week and if I can get in to watch?

[ Good to see him back. Our best back four is Raven, Meekings, Warren and Shinnie but he's excellent cover.

If you've got a bit of spare time, here's a link to an article in which Michael Ashenden, a doping expert, discusses the 1999 Tour samples and why they indicate EPO use http://nyvelocity.com/content/interviews/2009/michael-ashenden

No idea about the Canadian and Greek players but Sproule has been on the wane for a few years. He's far from the player who scored hat-tricks at Ibrox and all that. He could be a decent signing though, he offers them something a bit different in midfield.

The testimony was given under oath to a Federal Grand Jury, if they are lying then they will go to prison. They don't mess around when it comes to lying to a Grand Jury in the US - Marion Jones was given a prison sentence for lying about doping to one in a similar case. As far as I know, the only person who gave testimony against Armstrong who has written a book was Tyler Hamilton, and he wrote the book after giving his testimony. Not all of thosre who gave testimony were 'proven liats and cheats' - his former masseuse gave testimony, she told the truth about Armstrong and he insinuated she had mental problems and was a 'whore'. Also, if you are prosecuting dopers, you are going to take testimony from dopers. If the testimony was suspect or they were making it up, then Armstrong had the opportunity to challenge them in arbitration and he chose not to do that. Regarding the tests, I don't think Michele Ferrari is in line for a Nobel prize. Up until 2000/01 there wasn't a reliable test for EPO so it was essentially free reign - Armstrong's frozen samples from this time tested positive for EPO in 2005 but he managed to slap down this in court, by disputing the state they were held in. Upon the introduction of the test, Tyler Hamilton told how Dr Ferrari beat the test - previously EPO was taken subcutanously to be released into the body over a period of time, following the test it was used in 'micro' doses intravenously, thus clearing the body faster. Also, there were few tests that could pick up blood transfusions, if done professionally. Armstrong also used his influence over the sport and the UCI to get positive tests torn up (he failed tests for cortisone as well, and produced a back-dated doctors note).

He looks a bit like a mafia hitman.

It's being streamed on her website, I assume it's Oprah.com or something like that. It's a cowardly move. He'll get a soft focus, teary eyed chat about how he had cancer and he's sorry and he loves his kids and he had to do it. He could've held a presser where cycling or at least sports journalists could question him. I doubt Oprah will call him out. When Marion Jones appeared to confess being a juicer, she effectively said she accidentally took steroids and then lied under oath about it, all OW did was wipe her tears.

Yep. He could be due David Walsh/Sunday Times £1m.