Renegade

I never said he shouldn't play again, but I'd shed no tears if he didn't (I didn't even think he was that good up to that point anyway)! It was a foul on him, there's no doubt about that, but it wasn't like he got up and shouted at the guy like you often see - he sprung up from his feet, ran as fast he could at the bloke (who wasn't far away), grabbed his shirt and threw his head in. Could quite easily have cost ICT game and as others have said, had he done it on the High Street, he'd have been arrested. What a wally!

Tokely did some stupid things in his time there's no doubt about that, but to go at the guy in the way Jones did today was moronic. You can't defend the indefensible, but Tokely I don't think would've have done something like that, particularly when you consider that Jones is an international, supposedly the highest paid player at the club and arguably the most experienced.

My two cents - Plus Points Nice Weather The Return of ICat! Esson looked fairly solid as usual (bar one or two moments) and did brilliantly to save the penalty rebound. Warren looks like he may come good. Started fairly well. Negative Points Sutherland had a performance akin to a drunken mule. Poor attendance The Shinnie's, Doran and Raven all had rather mediocre games. Butcher still thinks playing McKay up top on his own and hoofing the long ball at him is a winning tactic. Butcher still thinks Sutherland on the wing is a good idea. Butcher's substitution were too late and all wrong. Too cautious at home - do we need two holding midfielders when McKay looks totally isolated up top? Owain Tudur Jones On that last point, I will happily never see Jones play for ICT again. It was an utterly stupid thing to do. It was already a free kick and to go and try to head butt the guy was indefensible. All in all, a poor performance I have to say. No doubt Butcher will be on the radio and his merry following of happy clappers will be telling us that it's "early days", "we played well", "Sutherland was really good", "Jones didn't mean it" and other such nuggets of nonsense. That was pretty poor and if things don't improve soon, we'll have a long season ahead of us. Things can improve though.....can't they?

Here's Butcher's reaction - To be fair, that was similar to my reaction when I saw what he was wearing!

Graham Bayne left and so there was no more "Bayne's Banter" in the programme. Now they'll be no more "Proc's Patter"! What will we do this season? Esson's Essays? Raven's Ramblings? Shinnie's Shames?

I remember a time when there was talk, even while he was here, of Dargo being called up to the Scotland team and also at one point talk of he and Ross Tokely signing for Nottingham Forest, but alas it was never to be. Dargo had a career blighted by injuries and would have undoubtedly have gone further had it not been for this. Dargo at the time of leaving ICT, was offered the biggest deal ever offered to a player at this club, but his choice was to move closer to home with team offering him football at the same level but for a lot more money, He had stayed put, it's possible that the injuries would have returned, particularly with him getting older and with him (by ICT's standards) on a massive wage, then would have been no good for us at all. By leaving ICT, Dargo was able to play at this level even after his former club was relegated. In that sense he may even have prolonged his career at this level and to suggest anything otherwise or particularly that it "killed is career" is just plain laughable.

The planes all seem to turn out Loch Ness way and then come in over the town. Every time I've flown to Inverness it's done that and I see them going by the house every day. Here's another idea though - have the club looked at ways of selling shirts in more mainstream sports shops? I was in that JD shop up the Retail Park earlier and they have, as soon as you go in the door, the new home and away County shirts. Surely ICT could do this, or is it more to do with County having Diadora made shirts, while ICT have the very mediocre Errea brand? I've always wondered as well how many tourists have bought Celtic shirts as they have a shop in the town and they want something from a Scottish team.

You'd think the Americans would be quite good at that. :shooting:

Here's the Elgin highlights if you need them -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sssJsllTlU4&feature=player_embedded I posted this in the matchday thread, but I think it deserves a thread in itself. Some of the P&B St Mirren fans are livid about it and could there conceivably be repercussions from the Draper incident that might come later? But more importantly, did he dive?

From what I've seen, Oswell is more someone who could hold the ball up top and keep it there - it's a bit like with Tade last season, I always thought the team looked more defensively solid with him on the field and when he was taken off, the amount of counter-attacks by the opposition seemed to escalate. While putting on another midfielder is a fair idea in itself, there already was five on the field at that time and from what I've seen, Polwarth is more of an attacking midfielder than holder (more of an Andrew Shinnie than an Owain Tudur Jones if you will). Morrison in that case could well have been a better option, or perhaps even Martin Laing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sssJsllTlU4&feature=player_embedded#! Here's the Draper red card incident.

Because tactically that was the wrong decision. When seeing a game out you'd think putting someone on who could hold up the ball (Oswell) would've been the better option as it would've reduced the chances of Saints running down the other end and equalising......which of course is exactly what happened and then almost doing the same again and scoring a winner. Of course, there's a time for blooding the youth, but that was the wrong time to do it.

Just seen the highlights there, how big a defender is Warren? I've tried to find out myself, but there doesn't seem to be much information about him around. Also, Butcher looked livid at the end there, but what was he wearing?! If there's one thing I don't like, it's managers in shorts!

Esson Meekings Warren King G.Shinnie Draper Doran---------------------------Foran A.Shinnie Sutherland McKay Subs - Reguero, Jones, Oswell, Ross, Morrison, Raven, Pepper I've noticed whenever Ross makes an impact, it seems to be from the bench. I'll keep him as an impact substitute!

I like the layout, it looks jazzy! Is it just ICT's own highlights that are being put up though, cause the ones for the Elgin friendly a few weeks back were kicking around somewhere as well?

Whatever happened to Ed Baldy? Is he still here?

How many late goals do ICT concede?!

Going by the team photo video, Hogg is number 6 now, with presumably Warren being number 5.

Apparently, going by the current page, ICT have signed some mystery Bosnian striker I've never heard of and I'm not sure actually exists!

Not at all. We all know the financial constraints happening within the Scottish game at this time, so much so that Hearts, fresh from winning a Scottish Cup, were unable to retain their manager and star player. I never bumped this thread in attempt to undermine the manager's position, rather providing an opinion/scenario on what is after all, what the thread is all about, and a scenario I don't believe is impossible come the end of the season. My real fear though, is that come May 2013 (should Butcher still be here), the board are unable to agree terms, Butcher goes with Malpas promoted to manager. And that's a scarey thought!

He came off at half time against Clach (whether he was injured or not I don't know), but he did get injured in the warm up a few days later against Forres IIRC. There was talk of him still coming in around December 2010 as well I think but we never heard about it again and he signed for Airdrie not long after.

Here's a thought to ponder - as things stand, this is the final season Butcher and Malpas are contracted for. I don't know what Butcher is on, but I have heard figures of about £100,000 a year floating around*. One would presume that Butcher is the highest paid manager this club has ever had and the aforementioned wage is probably somewhere in that region (and I would've thought Malpas would be on a decent wage as well). With the financial constraints that now exist around the club, could it be possible that this season is Butcher's last due to the fact that the club cannot afford to keep him? * - According to Paterson's book, he was on £72,000 ten years ago, while the club was in Division One. Shearer was on about a grand a week as well supposedly, which would make me guess that the figure for Butcher is probably about right or close enough.

I never saw the game, but apparently he was incredible against Dynamo Moscow. I made a statement after the Clach game and I stand by it today - he's the best up and coming Scottish player I've ever seen. So what's the real story here? Did ICT really offer him a pay-as-you-play deal deal? Or did ICT really decide not to offer him a deal?

Holy moly! One of our country brothers to the north shows that there is folk round that way that have a sense of humour and are relatively sensible! And it's none other Mahonio who proves it! Who would've thought!