Renegade

An attacking 4-3-3 for me - Esson Meekings Warren King G.Shinnie Draper A.Shinnie Foran Doran Oswell McKay Subs - Reguero, Raven, Sutherland, Ross, Morrison, Pepper, Laing

Some may think this is unrealistic, but this season all the eyes towards Highland football will be towards Ross County. If history has shown us anything, ICT do nothing better than overshadowing it's yokel neighbours. We've not really had any real "buzz" around the club since 2004, bar winning the 1st Division two years ago. This season we have to get to a final. A Scottish Cup semi-final would maybe do the trick, but either of the national cups could well re-generate interest in the club and a great opportunity to get more people on board. And I don't think it's an impossible aim either.

In modern football it's unusual to have players for long periods of time. The night Tokely was confirmed as leaving I posted something on Twitter about it and an East Fife fan replied, saying that they have had two players in their entire history, over 100 years, who played for the club as long as he did for us. If people aren't renewing their season tickets because of that then they must be rather naive about how football is. The problem with releasing these players is that they haven't been properly replaced. When we let Grant Munro go, I thought Butcher had earned the right to make that decision. It was his responsibility to replace him with someone better and he didn't do it. That's the problem - if Grant had been replaced by a player of equal or improved standing then there would be no issue. Yeah I agree with that and how things have gone in the game. On the Munro things as well, remember who replaced him - Aldred. And we all know what happened there (Golobart and Williams came later and Golobart was a man I liked). Of the new group the one I think that does show the attitude and mentality of the ICT of old is Gary Warren. I like the look of this bloke. Perhaps because he hasn't played predominantly as a full time professional, his attitude and style might be a little different, but I think he could be one of the few that maybe the fans could relate to a little more.

Funnily enough, if you look at my first post you'll see there's a positive section this time around! Some people just don't seem to like differing opinions though!

Oh dear looks like I have another stalker! I never said Tokely and Duncan were local (more local than the likes of Gnapka and others mind!), but they were mainstays who the fans felt made the team as recognisable on a weekly basis, season after season - it was almost like you knew them (along with Munro and others who have departed over the last few years). That was also the reason given by a few on here as to reasons they've heard about why some have renewed season tickets. Tiresome to watch as well I'm afraid and I'm not going to change my views on something just because you don't like it, I'll call it as I see it. Incidentally, both Sydney's and Brentford's average attendances dropped under Butcher's reign. The reason given - the long ball. Bore the fans and they'll turn away and so far, they are.

Yeah okay Looked to me to be a straight 4-2-3-1 from the beginning. After about the half hour mark, Draper and Jones seemed to be basically sellotaped in-front of the centre-backs, meaning Killie dominated possession for the rest of the game, also helped by the fact that they were also far better at winning the ball back. They weren't without it for long. In the second half, Sutherland partnered McKay up top, with no-one at right wing! Bit of both, but the game seemed to get somewhat longer as it went on, gifting possession back to Killie. I wasn't impressed I'm afraid. There was even one point where took a throw in on the half way line and threw it straight out! Neither, he was rotten. Sometimes aye, but he was useless on both sides. Shinnie was behind McKay, who pulled wide now and again. Kind of wide.....sometimes. He did.

Oh I don't know, Bobby Mann was a bit on the large side and don't forget Jim Calder!

After the game yesterday, it seems obvious now that 4-2-3-1 at home is not going to work. It's far too cautious, particularly with Jones and Draper both being very defensive minded. Add that to fact that McKay is not a lone striker - there's no doubt he's a hard worker, but he looks totally alone up there sometimes. Terry Butcher seems to be the only man on the planet that thinks that Sutherland is a winger - and in his opinion "the man to replace Hayes and has all the attributes to be a great winger". Utterly baffling. It was quite sad to watch him play there yesterday actually - he's so obviously out of position and so obviously not build for the role that's almost like ICT are playing with ten men. The strike force looks weak to me, so in my view a switch to an attack minded 4-3-3 with Sutherland or Oswell up top with McKay and Doran alongside them is the way to go I reckon. It's often been the other way round in recent years, with the defence being the poorest part of the team, but this time around, particularly the two centre-backs (with Hogg yet to return) look, while not the biggest, certainly fairly solid. We need more attacking power and playing three out and out strikers is the way to go at home this season I reckon.

I've just done some maths there and out of Ross County's squad that played Aberdeen, there was....and wait for it - 1366 Caley Thistle appearances (Out of Tokely, Munro, Duncan, Fraser and Vigurs). Out of all the players that played for ICT at the Caley Stadium against Kilmarnock, there was......478 Caley Thistle combined appearances - 143 of which were Ryan Esson's. Ross Tokely has more ICT appearances that today's entire squad combined, and taking away Esson's appearances, the total for the ICT outfield players was 335. That's less than both Munro and Duncan's respective appearances. And therein lies the problem. People are starting to feel dissatisfied and unattached to the club the once felt a part of - and Terry Butcher is to blame. Long ball football, strangers coming and going and a team playing more not to lose than to win - and we wonder why season tickets are down. It's not the club we once knew and I feel it too. It'll be a long time - if ever, that we have something we can truly believe in happening again and that's not nostalgia talking - that's facts.

What about a "Dear Dougal" page?

I'd always wondered that if ICT upped the programme prices to £3, but made them of a better quality, then they might sell a lot more. Motherwell's last season in particular was £3, but it was excellent. I don't really have any interest in Motherwell, but they'd done it really well, with lots of interesting stuff.

I see you can buy a 50p information sheet now instead of a programme. I prefer the old traditional programmes myself.

I see. Again though, both those angles are from in-front and behind the incident. The side on/North Stand view was the best to see it I reckon, cause I had a completely clear view. On the second part it's not just your post, but the reasons given by others as well - "injury history" (true, but no excuse), "out of character", "high pressure situation", deflecting it towards fans who were quite rightly annoyed at a stupid action that could've cost the game......one even blaming the heat! (I hope he never goes to Dubai or Hong Kong or somewhere, he's have someone's head off!) Seems to me like some people are trying to belittle what was violent conduct and undoubtedly a red card offence.

Incorrect. Where were you sitting? Perhaps Main Stand folk wouldn't have seen it quite so well due to that angle and bodies in the way and what not, but I was in the North Stand had a great side on view of the incident. He did attempt to head butt him - or at least the motion that he intended to. Everyone in my area saw it, so much so there's was a big groan from everyone as soon as he did it. I find quite hard to believe some people seem to be quietly or indirectly justifying and condoning what he did!

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?

HT - ICT 1-1 KFC FT - ICT 2-1 KFC ICT 1st scorer - Andrew Shinnie KFC 1st scorer - Harkins Attendance - 4,031

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:

She didn't have to get married - she could have gotten engaged and waited till her term was over.

She was elected to represent her constituency and those who voted for her did so under the belief that she would represent them for the whole term. Had she said she wouldn't run again for whatever reason at the next election then that's fair enough, but if she wasn't in a position to represent her constituency for the whole term, then she shouldn't have stood in the first place.