Renegade

I still find it absolutely bizarre that despite the "high quality of candidates" (the chairman's words, not mine) we went for John Hughes, a man not even mentioned in the running, until days before he was appointed. What I find even more bizarre, is the man who came second....you know, the man we'd have offered the job to had Hughes turned it down for some reason. Out of the shortlist of six, five names leaked out prior to the appointment, one did not. That man, the one whose name didn't leak, was who came second. That man was Paul Telfer.....I repeat PAUL TELFER! A man who came second for the job of the club then in two cups and second in the league and whose only coaching experience is as player/coach of Sutton United, a team in the sixth tier of English football! There's a good interview with Brian Clough where he says that when he was being interviewed for managers jobs, it was clear that the people interviewing him, hadn't a clue about the game. Is that one of our problems? I think I'm right in saying that most of the board have more of a background in shinty than they do football. We went for the cheap option, it's as simple as that. Essentially everyone wanted Hartley to some degree and if he wasn't most people's first or second choice, he was their third. Hughes I highly doubt came up on hardly anyone's lists - he certainly wasn't on mine and I didn't even consider him getting the job at any point whatsoever. I re-iterate what I said - he was cheap. Telfer probably would have been cheap as well. Hartley interviewed very well (his own words quoting the chairman), but wanted to bring a couple of his own staff with him, along with having to pay compensation to Alloa. For what it's worth, he did want the job, he did not pull-out, we turned him down, he was willing to move and this was story about not wanting to leave his son in Hamilton was quite simply not true. Ryan Esson getting a new dual role I think also shows that they didn't want to part with too much cash. Anyway, now we're stuck with Hughes and the fact our goals have dried up, should come as no surprise. His Falkirk side did not score goals. His Livingston side did not score goals. His Hartlepool side did not score goals and in fact went at one point eight games without scoring. It's no coincidence that we've stopped scoring as well and that's with one of the league's most deadly strikers up-front. Hughes doesn't have to abandon his philosophy, he just needs to be a little more direct (direct, not long ball) and encourage the team to pass the ball forward and get it into positions to score. Keeping the ball for the sake of it and then passing it back to the keeper for the inevitable hoof up the park when the defence have kept it for so long that they've drawn pressure onto themselves, is of no use to us whatsoever and certainly does not conjugate "good football". I think a few small changes like that, could lead to Hughes being a successful manager for us. Whether he'll do that or not though, is another matter.

As a natural-born, handsome and charismatic Invernesian, I for one am shocked at these revelations that many of the people who sit around me on a Saturday are not natively born Invernesians such as myself! I had no idea so many unclean non-Invernesians attended ICT games and I am shocked and saddened that even people from England (insert screeching violin sounds here!) attend matches! How I have survived this long without coming down with some terrible disease, such as rickets or the plague, is quite simply a miracle! Henceforth I shall be rounding up all non-Invernesian ICT going people, Dog the Bounty Hunter-style forwith and hand them into police where I'm sure they will be fairly but sternly dealt with by Chief Constable Dougal!

Why's Duncan Shearer not down there anymore? We've gotten worse since his disappearance IMO.

Has anyone else heard the guy in Section D (I think)? He speaks with a broad Invernesian accent and seems to go on rants that last a good few minutes! Classic entertainment!

What an ignoramus! Football genius? What's someone's level of football knowledge got to do with anything? I was just reporting what I was told, which came from someone who would know. If you had some knowledge of my posts in the past, you'd realise I don't advocate the long ball at all Butcher was more direct this and last season than the dull and lifeless (and unpopular) stuff being served at the minute, but it wasn't long ball and nor are many other football approaches not played by Hughes. Maybe you should calm down to a frenzy and actually posted something of note instead of attacking posters whose opinions you don't like or toe the party line but before ranting off at them about things you clearly don't know about.

OMG!!! Say what you like but that's what I was told and it comes from someone who certainly knows their stuff. More so than me and certainly more so than you.

Heard at the game today from usually a very reliable source that a lot of the players are absolutely sick of Hughes's tactics, his insistence of passing the ball at all costs and his reluctance to change. The 'favourited' tweet from a certain ICT player the other day, seems to confirm this. Worrying if this continues and coming from where it came from, it's almost certainly true.

HT - ICT 1-0 SMFC FT - ICT 2-1 SMFC ICT - Mckay SMFC - Thompson Time - 14

HT - ICT 1-0 SMFC FT - ICT 2-1 SMFC ICT - Mckay SMFC - Thompson Time - 14

There's a famous quote by Thomas Jefferson which is "Dissension is the greatest form of patriotism". So it is with this. I don't want to criticise Hughes, he seems a nice man and does seem to genuinely want to be here, but the fact of the matter is, I have to. There's nothing wrong with playing possession football and we all want to see the ball on the deck, but Hughes strikes me as a man who is a slave to his philosophy. People are debating whether or not it is Dean Brill or Josh Meekings to blame for the second Dundee United goal, but they are missing the elephant in the room entirely. If they weren't instructed to pass the goal around the defence so much, this wouldn't have happened and Tuesday wasn't the first time they've been caught out, as we know. Hughes's teams have had this problem at the past. His Livingston side did much the same thing. Keeping the ball at that end of the field and not going forward with it, just invites the opposition to press forward and put us under pressure. This then leads to the inevitable pass back to the goalkeeper to hoof the ball up the park. If this is 'good football', I for one am not impressed. What has become of our slick and effective counter-attacking? A good example of this was on Tuesday. Vincent won the ball when the United centre-backs were back-peddling. Under Butcher he'd have driven forward or switched the play and had teammates striving forward to score. We were good at that. What did he do? Put his foot on the ball and pass it back the way. There was no drive to get forward from any of them and any chance of creating a goalscoring opportunity was gone. When we do get forward, we seem to be trying to pass the ball into the net. It's usually ineffective and we need to do more of what Polworth did on Tuesday - putting a foot through the ball. People can talk about making progress and waiting for things to click, but as I said earlier in the thread, Hughes was manager of Falkirk for seven years, yet they didn't score many goals and were nearly relegated as a result. It should be no surprise that our goals have dried up as well. You can tell things aren't going to plan by looking at Foran. He's getting back to what he was like a couple of years ago when things didn't go to plan. An irate seething man, who's liable to do something rash, with his general performance negatively affected as a result. Does Russell Latapy actually do anything? He looks to me like a boy on work experience. Remember, this was a man who's played at the highest level and managed his national team, yet he stands out the front watching, only for Hughes to come over and whisper in his ear every few minutes. What's the deal with that? And here's another thing: Has anyone else noticed that we've been poorer since Duncan Shearer disappeared from the dug-out? Has his absence had an impact on the players? Surely he'd be a good foil for Hughes as well. Did the board make the right choice? I don't think so. Our results and performances have nosedived since he's come in. Should Hughes be sacked? Absolutely not. He was the man chosen by the board and given a two and a half year deal. He deserves to get the end of the season and up until the first round of fixtures next season. If we're heading on downward spin and things are really looking bleak, then that'll be the time to really discuss whether he is the man for the job. Don't get me wrong, there's a number of things I do like about Hughes. He seems a genuine and nice man and I like the way he's not afraid to get the youth involved, but things have slipped to a worrying state when you consider where we were and what we were like when he took over. He shouldn't and will not be sacked any time soon, but if things continue as they are over the course of next season, then serious questions will need to be asked.

He might have a bit of skill and pace but he'll never be a good player I reckon. He's a quintessential modern-day brat. An absolute ned, who think's he's miles better than he is, and include that with the fact he's an angry little man who, much of the time he was here, swaggered around like he couldn't care less. I couldn't stand him when he played for us. A career in the lower echelons of the English southern leagues awaits.

Ian Murray might have been quite good actually. Done well with Dumbarton. Laszlo seems a nice man, but he's very very defensive. That wouldn't suit us either I don't think.

Kevin MacDonald was my preference when Butcher left and I think he'd have been a shrewd and effective choice. Whether he'd want to move back up here or not is another matter and I wouldn't be surprised if he wanted to stay down south. Jimmy Calderwood though? No way! I heard a few horror stories about him when he was at Ross County, so I wouldn't want him any near our club. Seemingly he was extremely arrogant and walked around Victoria Park like he was doing them a favour.....that's when he was there of course. I heard he'd regularly turn up at 11am on the Thursday, leave at 11.30am, same again on the Friday, go to the game on Saturday and then go back home to the central belt and not re-appear until the following Thursday! He also appointed his son as assistant. He might have a good record at Aberdeen and Dunfermline (though Kilmarnock and County chose not to keep him), but he's a horror of a man, has a habit of falling out with people, plays dreadful football to watch and would probably plough the team full of journeymen Dutchmen, which is not what we need at this club.

Brill Raven Warren Meekings Shinnie Tansey Draper Watkins Vincent Williams Mckay Subs - Esson, Foran, Devine, Polworth, Christie, Ross, Tremarco Presume Doran will be out again.

HT - DUFC 1-0 ICT FT - DUFC 1-2 ICT DUFC 1st scorer - Cifti ICT 1st scorer - Meekings Time of 1st Goal - 32

Here's Hadjuk Split's old away kit - Could work actually. I wouldn't mind swapping between hoops and stripes either.

I went for ages not knowing how to do it as well, but I took a partial screenshot and then loaded to Tinypic.com.

Hoops - Red dominant version - Stripes - Alternate Version

Something like this - This isn't real shirt by the way, just a mock-up for some other team who's fan want to change colours.

Think most of the talk was in the thread of the question I asked. I also came up with (I think it's fair to say) ubercool design, but couldn't find the way of getting it from my computer into a post!

Think I'm right in saying that ICT's first ever game in England (and possibly our first ever match outside of Scotland), was in some barracks somewhere against an army XI or something.

I think I'm right in saying that Stagecoach were one of today's sponsors!

Agreed with what others have said. We were far better in the second half when we went a wee bit more direct and up and at them a bit more. Good management by Hughes to change the formation and the approach slightly. That's the way that suits us and they we should play all the time. One thing I noticed in the first half was while we had more of the ball, Partick seemed to create more with it in the times they did have it. We were more like that in the second half. One thing though was that James Vincent was a passenger today. Quite simply, he is not a winger and I'd have hooked him for Watkins at half-time. It's a bit like playing Tansey or when Butcher used to play Draper out wide. He should either be played in the middle, or not at all. A winger he ain't. Thought Danny Williams was quite good mind and I was surprised when he was the first man taken off.

I may be wrong, but I think some sort of XI played down the Bught once.

HT - ICT 0-0 Partick FT - ICT 2-1 Partick ICT 1st scorer - Tansey Partick 1st scorer - Taylor Time of 1st Goal - 57