Renegade

Surely UEFA will step in...wouldn't they?

Out of all of those who are out of contract at the end of the season - Those I'd offer a new deal - Esson - Most consistent player in the team. A must keep. Tokely - Old and slow yes, but still reliable and seems to still be one of the few of really cares about the club. Gillet - Seems solid enough to me. I like him. McKay - Works hard, but needs a Rooney character alongside him. He is not a lone striker. Tade - Hardest working player to ever wear an ICT shirt. Like McKay, needs someone to work alongside. Hayes - For obviously reasons... Tuffey - A good keeper, but supposedly on one of the biggest wages at the club. Would probably offer him a deal, but I suspect he'll be away. Those I'd perhaps offer a new deal - Owain Tudur Jones - A good ball player and international, but is apparently earning the biggest wage at the club this season and for his record with injuries, is he really worth keeping when he isn't available for large parts of the season? Greg Tansey - Can't think of the last time I came away from game and thought he'd played well. Flatters to deceive most of the time and is often nothing more than a passenger. Is perhaps worth offering a new deal, as he maybe has "something", will we ever see it though? Thomas Piermayr - In and out the squad. Perhaps re-signing as a back up. Those I'd punt - David Proctor - Rubbish and has been for years. Claude Gnakpa - Lazy and already (thankfully) gone. Of the loanees - Roman Golobart - A great defender who'll play at the top level IMO. I'd try and sign him again next season, or even on a real deal is he becomes available. Steve Williams - He's steady most of the time. Certainly could do worse. Sam Winnall - Another Steve Watt/Aiden Chippendale/Alex MacDonald, never had a chance and will probably not be seen again.

Is is just me, or is it the standard of football in some of these videos higher than what ICT currently play?!

There seems to be a real air from some of the squad that they think the season is already over - taking a "it's nearly summer holidays time, lets kick a ball around" kind of attitude. Some are worse for it than others, particularly those non-Scottish players who were signed last pre-season (I'm looking at you Tansey...). Attitudes like that from the players and management will lead to doom. We are NOT too good to go down.

As I said on the other thread, I'd have him back in a second. Though I think the chances of it happening are slim to none.

I hope some of this money will be going to offer Ian Black a contract due to him leaving Hearts soon! (Yes I am aware the chances of him ever coming back are extremely slim, but one can surely hope!)

Didn't Billy McKay get injured during a warm up down in England (Yeovil?) during his trial period? He was signed though.

I would go into a long winded report about the game (well done McKay and a stupid sending off for Hayes) but it doesn't mean much when a fan sitting a few rows in front of you has a suspected heart attack.

My worry would be that some potentially good local/Scottish players are not getting the chance with instead, mediocre foreigners are taking their places.

Presumably then he'll play right through the summer and re-join the club in the pre-season, as I'm sure the Icelandic league play yearly like the MLS, Russia etc.

Tuffey Tokely Golobart Williams Gillet Ross Jones Tansey Doran Tade Hayes Subs - Mathieson*, Foran, Meekings, Piermayr, G.Shinnie, McKay, Sutherland * - If Esson is fit enough for the bench then he can come in, if not then stick with Mathieson or re-sign Calder till the end of the season just for the entertainment value!

That's a perfectly legitimate reason particularly if he couldn't get out of it, but as Sorted said, he should have mentioned this beforehand that he couldn't attend, gives the reason why, acknowledged the game was taking place and then wished the players well either via the website or programme or whatever. Had he done that this whole episode would have been avoided.

I had a look at Saturday's programme earlier and from what I can see, Butcher had no intention of going whatsoever. In the programme there is an advert and a little piece about the game which is to be expected. Richie Foran also mentions it in his column and wishes Duncan and Munro well, again as one would expect. Butcher meanwhile doesn't even acknowledge that the game is taking place. Think that says it all.

I don't think he was on a loan deal actually. I remember reading on the Walsall website at the time that they had cancelled his contract and he'd signed a six month deal with ICT.

Who was the number 2 that came on in the second half? McCuish? McLeish or something?

This seems to be another recurring trend in the management of Butcher. Was just reading there, that from the start of the season to the end of the season Butcher had at Sydney, attendances went from an average of 17,000 to 15,000 in a matter of about three months. This was put down Butcher's kick and rush style of play, leading many to turn away apparently.

If Butcher didn't go because he was scared of being booed then maybe he should move to another profession - not that he would have been anyway mind. If he really didn't attend through his own choosing then that is very unprofessional, no matter what the circumstances are.

He'll probably blame the players again....or maybe even the referee!

Not at all. Terry Butcher is the face of this club and should have been there. Even if someone had asked him why he was there all he would have had to say was "I'm here to represent this club, to watch some of the young boys for next season and to see some of next season's opposition as well". But of course, no-one would've batted an eyelid. Heck, even Brewster turned out for the legends team in Roy McBain's game!

Interesting that some people seem to blaming the injuries as the be-all-and-end-all of ICT's problems. No-one's really mentioned something here that I believe is very important - the training. I was doing some reading recently about a fitness coach named Steve Black. He's regarded as one of the best in England, with his most recent job being at Huddersfield (he's also previously worked with Newcastle, Sunderland and the Welsh rugby team). While he was there they supposedly had the lowest amount of injuries the season he was there our of every other professional club on the planet. He credits this to some of the routines he does when training the squad. A while back, I went away and researched Butcher's history of training at his previous clubs and obvious trend seems to occur - it's never been very good. Supposedly at Brentford it was awful and the players hated it. At Sydney the players thought it was to a poor standard and would meet in secret to do it again in the afternoons. Combine this with his part time role as a defensive coach at Raith Rovers (where apparently the defence got worse) and at Dundee United, where Jim McLean also thought his skills weren't much good. Could Butcher's training be an issue in performances on the field and in regards to the amount of injuries that have arisen this season? I think it could certainly be a factor.

I really enjoyed it. It was a good game for a friendly with actually some quite entertaining performances. Some of the players obviously still have it in them and Bobby Mann's passing is still something to behold. Their was even some niggles between Adams and Christie, but special mention must go to the still great Jim Calder! Still the showman and pulled off one really good save as well. Going up for that corner made my day! Sadly, one thing though did dampen it somewhat. If Terry Butcher missed that game on his own choosing, then that is really a disgrace. This was a game for two legends of the ICT team throughout the years and two players he managed. He's the face of this club and should have been there and in doing so also missed some performances from reserve and youth players who could make the step up next season - particularly the 1st half ICT number eleven Kyle White, who looked very dangerous at left wing. If all those ex-players, fans and managers can make the effort then so can Butcher.

Will Terry Butcher be showing his face?

Interesting some people's views towards GMS and trying to think of every reason under the sun to justify Butcher's choice not to sign, conveniently ignoring the fact that at the start of this season Butcher signed Owain Tudur Jones on supposedly massive wages knowing full well that the guy was really just an injury machine. This would be all fine and well if he was Lionel Messi Mark II, but going by yesterday's performance and some of his others recently, I'm even sure he's worth a new deal!

That wasn't just bad - it was terrible. Started off okay and got gradually worse and worse as time went on. Nobody out there had a good game today - nobody. How Foran continually gets a game I don't know. Jones did nothing, Hayes and Doran had poor games by their standards and McKay offers zero. Tade had one good chance and then continued the headless chicken routine till he was taken off. Another point no-ones mentioned is there was no Scottish players in today's starting eleven - I find that quite a sad state of affairs. No-one can doubt there's a problem here. There is, and it's name is Terry Butcher. Same old kick and rush tactics and the "blaming everyone but himself" routine is getting so bad, he's starting to sound like a broken record. There's no fight in this team anymore and what was left of the team spirit that was once so prevalent about this club left when Munro was shown the door. To quote BB King, the thrill is gone. If this trend continues to next season, ICT are in big trouble.

As it says, will next season be Butcher's last in charge of ICT? Renegade says yes.