Renegade

I thought the same (it was probably U21s or something), but from what I can gather it's the first team.

I see Pepper's been called up to the Ireland squad and will join them at their training camp in Malaga!

As stated already, players can only move if the club accept payment for the remainder of their contract. However, I don't think that's the point here...the point is we now have some of our most influential players stating that they WANT to be here by signing extensions. Just as important is the fact that there's others who are stating that they WANT new contracts. You then have the cherry on the top with a manager who refused (substantially) more money to go manage elsewhere and who is positively talking about what he is going to do with his guys next season. How/Why anyone would see that as a negative and choose to try and put a dampener on it is beyond me. I'm not naive and I appreciate that there's the potential for offers to come in for players...but I'd far rather we were in the position we are where offers would HAVE to be made, than in a position where players were looking for pre-contracts for next season and/or walking away for nothing!!! I think if you read between the lines of what Butcher was saying in his interview, other clubs were interested in McKay (some of whom I would presume would be more prominent names), yet McKay himself decided he wanted to stick around for even longer.

I wonder who'll be next then? Nothing much from Reguero since he said he wanted to stay in December and I haven't really heard anything about the likes of OTJ, Hogg or King. I wonder actually if Butcher will look to keep King due to the fact he's a left sided centre back (like him!) and there's not many of them around. I also have read that Andrew Shinnie will decide at the end of the season. I reckon Doran will probably be the next one signed up after he was saying in the media that he was wanting to stick around.

So as things stand: Signed up till the end of season 2013-14: Ryan Esson Richie Foran Ross Draper Conor Pepper (Butcher and Malpas are also in this category) Signed up till the end of season 2014-15: Josh Meekings Nick Ross Gary Warren Graeme Shinnie Billy McKay Joining next season: Ben Greenhalgh _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The following players are out of contract at the end of this season: Andrew Shinnie David Raven Owain Tudur Jones Antonio Reguero Simon King Daniel Devine Aaron Doran Shane Sutherland Gavin Morrison Chris Hogg Loan deals expire at the end of this season: Charlie Taylor Philip Roberts Jordan Gibbons Deals unknown: Scott Mathieson Martin Laing Liam Polworth Matthew Cooper *Butcher confirms in his interview about Draper and McKay signing new deals that Pepper is also signed up for next season.

Ross Draper and Billy McKay have signed new deals!

It's funny isn't it? When Raven first started, almost everyone (myself included) thought he was trash! Now he's one of our most consistent players!

Apparently, he told Lithuanian TV last week that he's lost all his money and might have to start driving a taxi!

It's heading to that time again for the contracts to be signed up and the anticipation and trepidation starts as to who will be sign up and who might be offski. As far I'm aware, the following players are signed up for next season: Signed up till the end of season 2013-14: Ryan Esson Billy McKay Richie Foran (Butcher and Malpas are also in this category) Signed up till the end of season 2014-15: Josh Meekings Nick Ross Gary Warren Graeme Shinnie Joining next season: Ben Greenhalgh _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The following players are out of contract at the end of this season: Andrew Shinnie David Raven Owain Tudur Jones Ross Draper Antonio Reguero Simon King Daniel Devine Aaron Doran Shane Sutherland Gavin Morrison Chris Hogg Loan deals expire at the end of this season: Charlie Taylor Philip Roberts Jordan Gibbons Deals unknown: Scott Mathieson Martin Laing Liam Polworth Conor Pepper Matthew Cooper Not really that many players signed up so far. Hopefully some people will be able to shed more light to those that are unknown and I'll update the list accordingly, and also when new deals and decisions are announced. Besides that though, who would you keep and who would you punt?

I thought it was a penalty at the time, but wasn't 100% sure. I am now.

I didn't really hear any gypsy songs yesterday. No doubt hundreds of lives were saved as a result.

Scrappy game, not helped by a horrendous pitch. The ref also had a shocker. Thought the ICT defence and Esson did pretty well, but the game did seem to get longer and longer as it went on. Not really many chances for either team, but County probably shaded it in that field, so overall a draw was a fair and decent result. Of the rest, McKay was barely in the game and Andrew Shinnie hasn't looked the same since coming off injured at Killie. Maybe a tactical surprise could be an idea for Dundee next week? Overall, a good point and they're still in the shadows!

You've got to love some of the nonsense from Over The Bridge -

Signing up! http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/caley-swoop-player-who-works-1738676 And he says - Ben Greenhalgh ‏@BenGreenhalgh Gutted that I'm not involved yet, will be keeping my eye out from down south, and hoping we get in place for Europe next year #ictfc

Apparently McNamara reckons that the shot the Esson just saved and no more in the second half crossed the line. I had a good view of it and it didn't - very close though and a very good save.

I thought we played alright, living a bit dangerously at the though! As others have said, Danny Devine was very good, as was Meekings and Jones. Ross was good in the first half, but didn't seem as in it as much in the second. Doran doesn't have much in the way of a final ball and is often guilty of taking a couple of touches too many, particularly when the ball came to him in the box in the second half - he took an extra touch to stop, when he should have just rifled it home. The one thing I thought we were a bit guilty of was not pressing the United defence enough. I'd rather see us get more up and at him as it was on Saturday at Hearts. It'll be interesting to see what Butcher does with the defence for Saturday. I presume Foran will replace Ross up top, and almost certainly Warren will come back in. Who will drop out though? Can't see him dropping Raven and moving Meekings to the right, so I wonder if he'll go with Devine, who's had two great games in a row, and drop Meekings to the bench, as opposed to going with the regular partnership. We'll have to wait and see.

Wonder how the defence will be then if he's still out then? Devine and Cooper maybe?

It'll be interesting to see the defence with Warren out. I presume Meekings was suspended for the Hearts game and will thus slot in next to Devine?

I was just going to mention him actually. Is he still actually here? He got an injury in the warm-up prior to the 4-1 Motherwell defeat at Fir Park months ago and it was reported he'd be out for a couple of weeks (there was even one report prior to the game the following week saying how he wouldn't be quite ready for that game). That was months ago! Is he still injured then, or has he left the building?

you got anything to back that up? Before he came to Inverness he had never played at RB... and was Ipswich Under 18's captain at CB? Correct. Meekings was billed as a centre-back when he signed. He also stated this in an interview with him on Alba last season.

I thought Ngoo was pretty rubbish.

I know he was never an official player, but does anyone else remember that afternoon in Dingwall a few years ago when French trialist Giany Joinville turned out in an ICT shirt? Goodness me he was bad! One of, if not the worst players I have ever seen!