ictchris

Joey Barton in talks for a year long loan deal, he and Butcher have been spotted in the Phoenix, fighting over whether to put the Smiths or ACDC on the jukebox.

Derek Riordan just seen getting thrown out of the Heathmount. Staff in the Corriegarth welcome him in.

Just spotted Grassa buying a 12 incher (steady) from Bici's pizza. Surely he can't be eating all that on his own, obviously we're bringing in a few more players.

I posted about this on another forum: Armstrong was allowed to get away with what was going on because he was such a huge star, he was the biggest cyclist on the planet, probably the biggest star in the history of the sport. He was tight with the UCI (failed tests 'vanished', frozen positive tests dismissed, straight positive tests discarded after personal donations from LA) and they made a fortune from him. The thought process is pretty easy to understand - he isn't doing anything that other people aren't doing, there's no harm in covering up the test, it's for the greater good. What that mentality does though is normalise doping in the sport. The quote from Floyd Landis in the Paul Kimmage Observer article sums it up - If I wait long enough I'll have the chance to win without doing this [doping]', but there was no scenario in my mind where in my lifetime I was going to get a chance to race the Tour and win clean.. That's the logical result of giving Armstrong the benefit of the doubt. From reading about the case it seems obvious what's happened - Armstrong doesn't want his day in court because rider after rider will declare, on oath, that they saw Armstrong doping, the test results will be brought up and analysed and the whole world, rather than just some cycling geeks, will hear testimony like that in the link that TSAR posted earlier in thsi thread. Doing this, that evidence won't be heard (unless it's leaked, get Assange onto it) and he can claim that it's bitter cheats and tampered samples. It is interesting what Kimmage says about Contador, Wiggins etc not making comment. I'd guess that they just don't want to talk about doping because it reinforces the image in the general sporting publics mind that cycling is a sport for dopers and that they are just lucky for not getting caught (well in Wiggins case as Contador has already been caught but you know).

Armstrong had taken the USADA to court in the US and lost. The US anti-doping agency is responsible for handing out doping bans to US athletes. The UCI (who are thick as thieves with Armstrong) have to abide by the anti-doping agencies, they are signed up to WADA, who are the overall body for drug testing in all Olympic and paralympic sports, including cycling. If the UCI don't strip him then they will be failing to implement the WADA code, that would be a huge infraction. I don't doubt that the UCI will try anything to stop him being stripped but they are in a corner with this.

He's joined the gigantic list of players who I said were rubbish but turned out to be brilliant.

Hmm yes quite George Brislen-Hall here, just signed for these Scottish chaps. If it doesn't work out at least I'll be closer to the grouse moors on the 12th. Quite.

He's joining the massive list of Caley players I said would be rubbish but turn out to be brilliant.

Give us a shout about getting the train though.

It's the start of the season, no need to rest people. Just watch as we get put out now

Could be a Winnal, could be a Davis. Hopefully the latter.

Rory was rubbish for us, absolute garbage. I remember having an angry rant to TheMantis about his showing against Morton in the League Cup at half-time - one of the poorest performances I've ever seen from a Caley Thistle player.

County clearly didn't care about this cup. They made nine changes and then didn't make a single substitution during the match. Adams obviously went 2-0 down and thought, f*ck it.

It wsa a fair challenge, one of those things. Hard lines Nick.

I just replied to you. On P&B.

Good post MarkD. Off the top of my head, Marco Pantani, David Millar, Jan Ullrich never failed drug tests but were all doping. As for the testimony if it was one person, say Floyd Landis, then it could be written off as sour grapes or a poor loser. However, it's ten people, who were testifying under oath, presumably without knowledge of what the others were saying. There was also due to be analysis of blood samples that Armstrong gave on the 2009 and 2010 Tours, which didn't have drugs in them but displayed signs of doping, which has been used to ban people in the past - I believe this is what lead to Contadors ban. The reason that Armstrong has given up on this is he knows that if he goes to a hearing the testimony, the blood tests will be aired in public and his image (which has made him millions of dollars) will take a battering. As it is he can fall back on the 'wtich-hunt' line and retain support and prestige.

The US authorities have again investigated Armstrong for the last 2 years and have no intention of prosecuting him. He is now being hounded by the US sports authorities based on the testimony of a number of confirmed liars and former drugs cheats that the American legal system decided were in all probability based on jealousy. He has been tested in excess of 500 times during his career and has never been positive. He was always a phenomenal engine from when he first started racing and incredibly motivated. If he is ever proven to have been a cheat then he must have had the very best chemists in the world in his employ, because the testing systems declare a positive in the event that any masking agent is found All that will be revealed about him during this Tour de France I suspect will be further innuendo. Oh well. Armstrong hasn't contested the charges and will likely have all his titles since 1998 stripped.

It's a valid tactic to have a big man out wide - Foran was tremendous in this role. The first section of this article is good on the rationale behind having a strong 'targetman' in a wide area - http://soccerlens.com/the-evolution-of-the-target-man/66361/ . Aside from specific tactics, we generally have a front four of McKay, Doran, Shinnie and Shane - the three players aside from Shane are smaller players. Nothing wrong with that but if we were to put Nick Ross (pre-injury) or Conor Pepper in Shane's position we'd have a front four of small, lightweight players. The problem has been how we are playing. Shane has often had the ball feed to him deep, meaning that he hasn't had a chance to make an impact further up the pitch. Even so, he's actually had a few good runs and shots. What we need to do is get the ball to Shane further up the pitch, allow him to attack the full back and put pressure on them. If we were playing further up the pitch then we could provide better crosses and diagonal balls for Shane to attack. Watching on TV on Saturday I thought we sat very, very deep and that isn't the way to beat Celtic, especially if you defend like we did. It also means that the likes of Doran and Sutherland find it difficult to have an impact as they get the ball in dangerous areas - Doran, Shinnie and Shane often had to drop back into our own half to try and get the ball. The best I've seen Shane play (again this was from my armchair, downside of being an exile) was the games against Celtic that we won 3-2 and the defeat last season to Dundee Utd. In the Celtic game, we pressed high up the pitch and Shane absolute beasted Izaguirre, who won player of the year that season. Against United, we were poor but Shane was responsible for most of our good positions and had some success against the United full back. Ultimately, we failed to create enough and were punished by a good United side that night. Sitting too deep and playing too slowly and without dynamism is something we were guilty of on Saturday and it particularly affects Shane. We need whoever is in midfield and central defence next week to push up and our experienced players to help build confidence and attack the opposition, rather than sit off. I do have my doubts about Shane's actual ability but we aren't giving him a platform to perform.

Polwarth and Christie up from against St jOhnstone, we are back in 1992.

Posted by Radford, St Johnstone chap on P&B Saints lost 1-0 to Inverness in Perth this afternoon. A tight match with neither goalkeeper busy but both sides tried to keep the ball on the deck as much as possible. Liam Polwarth scored the winner for Inverness in the last minute with a volley from the edge of the box after Saints failed to clear their lines. Think a draw probably would have been a fair result, as not a lot in the match. Both sides field a couple of overage outfield players, Moon and Robertson for Saints and Morrison and Foran for Inverness, who also included Saturday's goalscorer Conor Pepper. Saints: Tuffey, Tobin, Steeves, Moon (Thomson), Moffat, Rodger, McConnell, Robertson (Mitchell), Kane, McIntosh, Gray. Subs not used: Gilchrist, Reid (GK), Still, Norrie, McArthur. ICT: Mathieson, Skinner, Watson, Foran, Mackenzie, Laing, Pepper, Morrison, Whyte, Polwarth, Christie. Subs: Cheyne, Ferguson.

Steve Lomas? Non-footballing reasons? Threats of lawsuits flying?

----------------------Esson----------------------- --Meekings---King----Warren---ShinnieG--- --------------Draper----Morrison------------------- -----Ross---------ShinnieA------Sutherland---- --------------------McKay------------------------- I think Meekings is a better option at right back and while Nick Ross has played in central midfield he's a more attacking option so I'd slot Gavin Morrison in there. Hopefully his time eating sheep's head suppers in Iceland has done him well. Nick Ross has used the ball a bit better than Aaron Doran when I've seen him, I think he deserves a start. Sutherland hasn't hit his stride yet but he is strong and we need that in our front four, who are all pretty slight.

I like Richie Foran, I think he's a great player and is unfairly maligned by a lot of people on here and in our wider fanbase. BUT I cannot stand players that do things like he did today. He was raging at the stupid penalty (rightly) and just flew into a stupid tackle in a stupid area of the pitch. Fouls are part of the game, if you are in defensive midfield you need to make tackles and you're going to pick up bookings and perhaps red cards but sometimes they are required. Today was just a nonsense, a tantrum from our captain. Twice in two weeks we've had an experienced player do something reckless and not onlly put the three points at risk but further weaken out squad for upcoming matches. Very poor from Richie.

I thought we played very well and were well deserving of a point. We were caught out with our defenders getting sucked in for their first goal and Novikovas had an easy task to finish it off. The game was relatively even, Hearts probably had a better time in midfield and had more of the ball and more pressure but we looked relatively OK. Utterly bizarre penalty decision, it's rare that you see a spot-kick given that no-one in the stadium appealede for. From what I saw of it, Richie Foran's red card was a stupid swipe, very unprofessional from him. He's our captain and while you can understand being frustrated at the penalty he needs to lead the team and didn't do it. The second half was a great effort though. Draper really impressed me in the middle, he got about, won the ball and used it intelligently. It was a big performance from him in the second half considering his main partner wasn't there. Andy Shinnie is by far our best player on the ball, he uses it so well and plays clever passes all the time. Very impressive start to the season from him. His brother was also impressive, especially when breaking forward, he was a real threat attacking down the left and helped us with both goals. I was more impressed with Meekings than Raven, I'd prefer Meekings to be first choice at right back. King and Warren were also relatively solid, Warren in particular won every header he went for with King being a bit more mobile. The main thing that impressed me about the performance was the guts and determination. Tynecastle is a difficult palce to go and with ten men we clearly decided to fight it out. The number of blocked shots from our defenders and midfielders was remarkable and the pressure we put on Hearts when they were in possession was admirable. The work-rate from every player was commendable as well. We've heard a lot said about how we've lost the 'heart' of the club by releasing long serving players, I don't think you could've asked for any more heart or determination than we got today. The togetherness at the end when we scored and at the final whistle was tangible. Very encouraging. We have a tough run of games coming up and we need to capture that feeling if we are going to continue in this vein.

Will there be a supporters bus running from Inverness for this game? Asking for a friend.