Caley Stan

Potentially. Of course a draw would neither make nor break our title challenge. I'd take that in the hope that Dundee drop 3 more points than us before the final game.

Me neither

Butcher interview with Herr Bannerman. I get the impression he had to go and ask for his contract.

Had you beaten Ayr as i fully expected you to, i would have mebbes agreed with you Alex,but dropping those points and tomorrows postponment puts the pressure right on ICT, must win game for you lads or yer teas oot eh reckon. I'd be happy with a draw. If we can win our game in hand then we'd be 6 points behind with 11 games left for both teams. We'll both drop points in those games and hopefully Dundee drop 3 more than us leaving us with a real must win game on the 1st of May. Having said that, i think we're fecked if we lose at Dens.

Since we started playeing 4-2-3-1, our league stats are as follows: Won 7 Drawn 4 Lost 2. We're also on an 8 game unbeaten run in the league, so changing the formation, dropping Proctor and Sanchez and moving Hayes over to the left doesn't seem to make any sense at all.

I'm a big fan, although i do get the impression that home fans don't see the best of him. In away gamed, Dani gets more time on the ball and has more space in front of him to thread through those delightful little through balls. Some of his best performances this season have come against Dundee and i think it's no coincidence that those games have been amongst the most open of the season. Hopefully he can make the difference at Dens next week. I agree with some of the points made about his lack of confidence in the penalty area though. Earlier in the season, i thought he might just need a couple of goals to set him on his way but it hasn't panned out like that. Does anyone know what his scoring record was like at previous clubs, or even which clubs he played for before joining us?

B)

Where did Jimmy Calderwood fail? He failed to win the league in his first season at Dunfermline - they got promoted in 2nd place due to SPL expansion. It was a bit cheeky to add his name to the list, especially as your original quote was: I still disagree strongly with that statement. Do you really believe that Butcher should be sacked if we finish in 2nd place? Anyway, more to the point, where's the money? And what the **** is an aquifer?

No, not negative, just unrealistic. I happen to think that it is highly unlikely that we will be promoted. I just feel that sacking (or not offering a new contract to) the management team should not be dependent on winning an ultra-competitive league, which until recently contained six contenders, three of which, it could be argued, are bigger clubs than ICT.

So how long do we run with that policy? As we all know, the last relegated team to win the First Divison was Hibs in 1999. By demanding that Butcher delivers where Jimmy Calderwood, Billy Stark, Jim Duffy, John Robertson and Stephen Kenny all failed seems to be setting a ridiculously high target.

Surely it's possible to offer contracts that provide different terms according to which divison we're playing in. With a bit of forethought, players who the club want to retain could have been told before the January window exactly what terms they would be offered. I found it very distrurbing to hear Rosscoe saying to the papers last month that none of the players had heard anything about contracts. As much as anything, it's disrespectul to leave employees in limbo. Without a doubt. They have signed about half of our current squad and that squad has continued to improve as the season has progressed. If we end up spending 5-10 years in this division, should we change the manager at the end of each season if they fail to win promotion? Building a team takes time, especially without much cash to splash. Pele needed 3 seasons in mid-table before his team could start to push for promotion.

My team would be (using squad) - Gordon - Hutton - Caldwell - Berra - Wallace - Thompson - - Brown - Fletcher - - Miller - - - McFadden- - Boyd - I think that's pretty close to our best 11 and i think that Levein will certainly opt for some variation on 4-5-1. The line-up you offer should be great for when we play Liechtenstein, but for the Czechs and the Spanish i think we will need to be a bit more conservative. With the same defence: -------------Fletcher-----Thompson------------- Robson-------------Brown---------------McFadden ----------------------Miller------------------------ Steven Fletcher could also be considered for the lone striker's role, with Boyd coming of the bench if need be.

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.