Caley Stan

I disagree. A number of those players are performing at a high level. Gordon, Hutton, Berra, Caldwell, McFadden and both Fletcher's are playing every week in the Premiership. A further 6 players are playing regularly for teams in the top half of the Championship and 6 more are Old Firm players with Champions League experience. The problem for Scotland arises when these players get injured. We don't have much depth and it's difficult to think of many players who have a serious chance of breaking into the squad during this campaign.

The list of midfielders is very strong, and the four strikers can each offer different qualities so i'm reasonably happy with the depth in those areas. The centre of defence remains the weakest area of the squad. I don't see a half decent partnership emerging from that list and the inclusion of Kenneth is a major surprise, as is the omission of McManus.

I'm always surprised to see Butcher taking flak for our relegation. When this happens (and it hasn't happened yet on this thread but i'm sure Johnboy will be along in a minute to rectify that ) the argument is usually that Butcher's team selections in the last two games cost us our place in the SPL. I prefer to judge Butcher's contribution last season on all of the the 15 games he took charge of and the circumstances that surrounded that period of our history: He took over a team that looked isolated at the bottom of the SPL. The team had absolutely no confidence, the fans were dejected following an horrendous run of home form and the board had allowed Brewster to splurge on desperate signings in the weeks before they sacked him. Butcher comes in following a run of 8 consecutive league defeats and gets a draw at home to Celtic. Suddenly we look organised and motivated, the two qualities that more an anything else had formed the platform that made us so successful in the SPL. The players and fans are galvanised and we take 20 points from the last 15 games in the SPL. On the last day of the season, we are relegated by a single goal with the highest points total of any relegated team in SPL history. But no doubt somebody will tell me we got relegated because Butcher played Tokely at centre-half................ Nearly 8 months on from that horrible afternoon, we find ourselves with an outside chance of promotion following a 7 game unbeaten run with a side which usually contains at least 6 Butcher signings. Recent history tells us that relegated teams with big games in March are more likely to be concerned about relegation to the Second Division than promotion to the SPL. But we are about to play games at Dens and Dingwall while dreaming of promotion. Thanks to Terry Butcher, who has an excellent record at ICT. Sign him up.

I don't think we have any right to expect a better record against bottom 6 SFL clubs and Division 1 clubs. To suggest that 23 wins, 12 draws and 14 defeats from 49 games against these teams is average shows just how inflated expectations have become following our spell in the SPL.

After the Challenge Cup game at Firhill, Corky said that his focus was on making sure that Partick finished in the top half of the table. Many laughed and accused him of playing mind games but he was right - Partick are playing for the top half. Good luck to them.

Scotland fixtures 2010 Friday 3 September - Lithuania (away) Tuesday 7 September - Liechtenstein (home) Friday 8 October - Czech Republic (away) Tuesday 12 October - Spain (home) 2011 Saturday 3 September - Czech Republic (home) Tuesday 6 September - Lithuania (home) Saturday 8 October - Liechtenstein (away) Tuesday 11 October - Spain (away We have to get off to flyer or this could be over by the second week of October.

Looks like County are playing twice a week for 5 out of the next 7 weeks, including midweek trips to Dumfries and Ayr. Sit back and watch the wheels come off.

We've played 10 league games at home, taking just 2 points from the first 5 (3 defeats and 2 draws) before taking 13 from the next 5 (4 wins and draw). Given that turnaround, i'm happy that we have have more home games than our rivals during the run-in. If belief grows among the home fans then support for the team on the park will also grow. I might event ake a trip up a home game myself.

The owner of the hat has been located and this thread has therefore served its purpose.

Somebody posted this photo on P&B: It looked like a clear hand-ball at the time and Raith have every right to feel hard done by as that was the moment that changed the game. Until that point, we had created very little, partly due to a succession of woeful hoofs form the back and partly due to the organisation of the Raith team who prevented our creative players from finding any space.

I found this hat on the ground next to the Starks Park ticket office just before kick-off. If anyone wants to claim it then we can arrange to meet at a future game.

Good to hear that Tade and Simmons are out for Raith as they both seem to have been important players for them this season. Our line-up is pretty settled now, and i suppose the only decision for Butcher is whether to keep Lionel in or not. The last time i saw him was at Airdrie when i thought he had a solid game. I expect Butcher to stick with him for his pace as much as anything. Did Odhiambo do anything with his half hour at Killie to suggest he might be worthy of a starting place?

We'll find out at the end of the month. Make sure you register interest throught the SFA website to receive an e-mail as soon as they announce. My suspicion is that there won't be a problem joining for this campaign. The unusually high demand for the last campaign was just a response to the wins over France and all that nonsense. Normal service has resumed since then.

Pat Nevin isn't from Inverness.

The first one. 9 group winners + best runner up + 4 play-off winners + hosts = 16

It's a tough draw. Although they failed to get out of a weak World Cup qualifying group, the Czech squad is full of players who ply their trade in the top leagues of Europe. They outclassed us in Prague 18 months ago, when the extent of their technical superiority was embarrassing. At least with Levein in charge, we know we'll be organised and i'm looking forward to the battle for second place. I think our best chance of getting points from Spain is to get them at Hampden as close to the start of the campaign as possible. Big teams often underperform in the months following a World Cup.

Good question. It's been the main stand at least the last three times we've played there as far as I remember - both games last season and the 4-1 the season before that. A few years ago we'd have been guaranteed an end for a fixture like this, but I suspect we'll have a pretty small following again, especially with the clash with the event in Inverness: it'll probably be the stand again. You've done well to erase the penultimate game of last season from your mind. The quantity of Guinness we were consuming on the road to relegation may have helped on that front.

Here are aome 'facts', taken form the official website.

That is ******* magic. Up to 3rd in the table. Happy days.

And we haven't lost at home since. 6 games - 4 wins and 2 draws. As the mannie says, we're building something here.

What a great result. I had a cracking night watching Sky Sports News in the pub. Feck. Feck. Feck. I'm out as well. Uncle Gordy's retirement do. I'll bring a radio.

If this is a draw, when will the replay be?

If that's what you're into then i'd suggest a visit to TCS.

There were a few Caley fans calling for the manager's head that night - myself included. Hissy also took a lot of a abuse. What a turnaround for those two over the next 14 months!

4 days after they beat Liverpool at Anfield. I remember this match well as Celtic only made 2 changes. They brought in Javier Sanchez Broto for their 1st choice who i think was either Gould or Marshall and they started with David Fernandez insted of John Hartson and Chris Sutton was at the back. I could not believe how s**t Fernandez was that night and actually Larsson was pretty poor aswell. Also remember Hartson coming on after about 14 minutes because Martin O'Neill could see they were struggling. But when Denzil scored, jeez what a noise from the Bridge End(back when it was terracing! :) I don't have time to check, but i think they made a lot more than two changes. From memory 3 players remained from the team that won at Anfield (Larsson, Lennon and Valgaaren???) Granty and Richie Hart also deserve credit for the goal. Lovely ball down the line from Grant for Hart to cut inside and lay it off for the inrushing Denzil. Bliss.