Caley Stan

http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=41392

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_McDonald

This guy doesn't sound like a goalscorer.

He played centre-half a few times in our first SPL season and didn't look the part at all.

Tam McManus looked really promising when he first came through at Hibs. He left the club having scored 19 goals in 109 appearances after a series of unsuccessful loan spells to join Dundee where he scored 10 in 37. He has been widely derided for his bad attitute and laziness, but looked to have increased his work-rate in the few games he played for Dunfermline.

Wouldn't be a bad replacement for McSwegan but not for Dargo. An out and out goalscorer would still be required.

Simon Mensing, as many will remember, was a fiercely competitive full-back in his Clyde days, not impartial to the occasional bit of ultra violence. He looked good as a midfielder for St. Johnstone last season, but that's not the area we need to strenghten.

If the P & J can name him, why can't we?

Webb, McManus and Elliot. That'll do fine.

3 players from in no order:

Mike Teasdale

Denzil

Ian Black

"Wish i had your optimism K'Mills, what with CC saying Denzil will fill Dargo's shoe ( after Denzil saying dont expect me to fill Dargo's shoes ) and Richie Hart saying Rory is going to be brilliant this season and fulfill his potential could it be that we are going to make do?"

Edited to remove a comment which was deemed inappropriateL_G

On the question of whether Dargo strung as along all this time in the hope of getting better offers from other clubs, it's interesting to contrast the reaction of the club (nothing) to St. Mirren's reaction to the departure of John Sutton. Gus MacPherson said:

"Really, all along John has just made excuses. I think John was quoted somewhere as saying he would be a mug not to look at all his options. But, the way things panned out, I don't really think over the last five or six months that St Mirren was really an option for him. I just don't think he wanted to be here."

Wilson is a Caley Thistle legend and deserves a testimonial for his ten years of service to the club. But looking back on his career, i feel that never really fulfilled the potential he had. 'Professionalism and dediction' are relatively new attributes for Barry, and i never could understand why he was playing in the third division when he was twenty-five. Anyway, it was us who benefited from this. and  correct me if i'm wrong but i think Barry played in all of our promotion winning teams.

Sometimes he was fat, sometimes he was lazy, but he has always been total class.

I too forgive him for holidaying in West Lothian - mainly because it meant he was playing in the SPL where he should have spent his whole career.

But i still can't forgive him for that t-shirt..............

We can look at the end of season standings and be happy with where we finished but i will still always remember it for its disappointments - 3 in particular.

1. Cup Quarter-Final.

2. Losing 3-2 away to Killie and missing out on top 6.

3. Lovell's last-minute equaliser on the Monday night in November - we could've gone equal second with a win.

Some people might consider it boring to hover around mid-table for most of a season, but we were at least allowed to dream this year - of top 6 and of winning the cup, and if we keep this team together (and keep it fit), then we can do those things next year.

Alex McLeish said at his press conference today that he seriously considered calling up Robson to the Scotland squad as he searches for a natural left-sided attacker. In the end he plumped for Charlie Adam because Barry has been playing a more central role recently and this is an area where Scotland are very strong. From the sound of things, he will make the Scotland squad sooner rather than later. To do this while playing for such a small club would be a great achievment.

I would be very suspicious of gift-bearing Tories.

Scott Wilson is a good shout. Thug or not, we need to replace Dodds with a centre-half who dominates in the air.

As for Ireland, that market has already been plundered by the arabs, pars and well without much success.

Paul Ritchie is available on a free transfer this summer. Still only 31

There's only one Paul Ritchie.

It's Great! Bring it on.

Yeah, it's a bit of a long shot really. How do we make teams care about the League Cup again?

Maybe if Platini & Taylor manage to swing us a couple of extra UEFA Cup spots it would help.

This old chesnut. It seems to come up every season and watching them debate it on scotsport last night was tortuous. I've always favoured a 16 team set-up because playing the same teams 4 (or even 3) times is just boring for fans and players. Anyone excited about the Motherwell game?

Have to agree with HC that a revamped League Cup, possibly with a group stage, would be the way to make up for the loss of income caused by a reduction in league fixtures.

Of course this is all fantasy because regardless of what fans, players or even managers think, clubs will never vote to reduce their incomes. 

Club. I've spent 12 years of my life following Caley Thistle, while Scotland games only come around every few months or so.

The France game was one of the greatest football moments i've ever had, but it still didn't compare to the Clyde game and our subsequent promotion.

I also consider my identity as an Invernesian or Highlander to be stronger than my identity as a Scotsman, but maybe that's another debate.

Thought that was Barry Ferguson.

Grant Munro - player of the year?

Fully agree with what's being said here. This is a great opportunity to see if a Munro-Caff partnership will work for next season. I have my doubts about Caff, mainly becase we've conceded so many goals every time he's started this season.

Having said that, he deserves a chance to show he can form an understanding with Granty. 

No hard feelings towards Dodds at all.

Wikipedia confirms it. Charlie is 41 today.

Johnboy, i don't think we should aim for a league position which fits with the size of our club, after all, clubs only grow in size by punching above their weight for a few seasons. I don't expect Caley to finish in the top 6 regularly, but this season we had a great opportunity to do it. We've got a really settled squad, a great work-rate, and a spine of very good players.

We also keep hearing that the club is in a stable financial position and that CC has money to spend on strengthening the squad. If we had done that in the correct manner then i have no doubt that we would be celebrating a place in the top 6 just now, instead of having this painful discussion.

Alex, i'm just going by CC's 'official' explanation of why we didn't sign a striker. I believe it was because he wanted to show faith in Rory and McSwegan.

This thing about loyalty to the players is total nonsense. Charlie seems to think that it was in some way noble of him not to buy a striker when Denzil and Dargs got injured. His outburst after yesterdays game was unacceptable because he didn't shoulder any of the blame himself.

Who's fault is it that we don't have any cover at the back or that we're relying on a raw 19 year-old and a fat 35 year-old to score goals? We keep hearing that the resources are there to bring in players - well if they'd been used wisely then we'd be in the top six.

I'm not calling for Charlie's head, but i think he's had a very shaky start to his managerial career.

Well he's facing 8 meaningless ones now and so are we.