ALSY

Foran, Hayes and Barrowman are all definitely out for tonight, according to the Courier. No further information about the seriousness of the injuries and whether they are likely to miss the Annan game. Imrie should be available, however.

Unbelievable. I'm going to miss the first game unless I can figure out some way of getting to Aberdeen for 7 pm on the 8th. Have a family engagement that I can't miss, and it doesn't look like any buses or trains will get me there on time. Was going to try for a 100% record for away games this season. Wonder if I could take up driving lessons again and pass by then?... Rest of the fixtures look great though: Dens on the 22nd, Starks on October 8th, just in time for a floodlit second half.

Superb. Think a wee jaunt up to Brechin might be required.

:P Perhaps I'm just in a forgiving mood. Or trying to be optimistic about what we can do with the odds and sods that will be left in our squad come August. Your description of him above is polite compared to what I was saying about him after the Hearts away game back around September. I'm sure that come the fifth or sixth game of next season, when he's failed to score for us, I'll be calling for the display of his severed head on the unicorn outside the Eastgate 2...

Another feckin home draw! One of the things I was hoping to get out of this season and the extra cup rounds was the chance to visit a few more grounds. Never been to Annan before. Now I'm going to have to hope we get relegated again instead...

The honest answer is that we've no idea because we haven't seen enough of Barrowman playing in what seems to be his natural role: goal poacher in a team playing pressing football with wide players who can cut crosses back from the bye-line. At the start of last season Brewster did make some attempt to get the team playing passing football, but he negated the effect by playing Cowie and Imrie the wrong way round, and Barrowman didn't get the finger out half the time. Butcher opted for playing long ball on the break - understandably to some extent, given the necessity of defending well - and this doesn't seem to suit Barrowman. I thought he put in a lot more effort in the last few weeks than he had at the start of the season, but he didn't have the pace to get into the box after dropping back to win and lay off the ball. The problem is, if we lose Morais and don't sign any midfielders or wingers with pace, then I can see Butcher opting for the same tactic again, and Barrowman will probably not be much more effective in the SFL than he was in the SPL. There were glimpses last season that suggested he has a quick football brain in front of goal (e.g. the dummy in the relegation match) and this might get him some joy against Tokely-esque central defenders, but we need to see him given the chance to get into that position.

I know it's pointless saying it now it's already happened, but I hate this development. Both players (Vigurs especially) showed enough potential at SPL level to deserve a chance at SFL level, and they had the benefit of a few years' experience as part of the club. Have we let them go simply to free up wages to try to keep players who are actively looking for contracts elsewhere? And if those players do move on, will their replacements be any better than Wood and Vigurs, and will they settle into the club? Wholesale changes at a club rarely benefit it, IMO - Aberdeen and Utd were messes for years when they kept changing squads and managers. I hope TB proves me wrong, but increasingly I feel that next season could be very scrappy for us.

Very disappointed that this isn't an away draw. A scenic train jouney with time for a few beers, a nice beach and, above all, the fact that a trip to Links Park in July would be the ultimate reminder we are really back in the small time.

In principle, I don't think there's anything wrong with trying to replace the likes of Foran, Morais and Black with 3 or 4 journeyman pros who might enable us to challenge for promotion or, at least, might allow younger players to come through at their own pace and buy the management time to bring in longer-term prospects. Plenty of clubs have done it in the past: one that really springs to mind is Kilmarnock 10-15 years ago, and they are now renowned as a team that brings through excellent young players. The ICT player who was arguably the most important in winning us promotion, David Bingham, was the ultimate journeyman pro. In reality, it's not that simple. As with other aspects of the game, our location puts us at a disadvantage compared to other clubs: pros nearing the ends of their careers and settled in the central belt, for example, may not be prepared to up sticks and move to a club paying first division wages, especially if they could command similar wages nearer home. Also, how many experienced players willing to sign are there who would really make a difference to us? I can't think of too many. Jim Hamilton has been mentioned on various threads, but in the season just past, he made very little impact in a poor St Mirren team with a serious shortage of strikers. If he can't get a game for St Johnstone in the SPL, it might be worth enquiring about Paul Sheerin as a loan signing in January to fill the hole Blackie has left. Still, if TB can identify and attract a few decent, experienced names, I don't think it would be a bad idea at all.

40+ persons pay a tenner each to sponsor a players shirt. Thanks Alex. Certainly happy to be part of that.

I'm in. Someone will need to explain how it works, though - I haven't contributed in previous years.

3. The narrow 3-2 defeat at Tynecastle just after Brewster had been sacked. Superb atmosphere among the away supporters, incredible fighting spirit from a team that had been unbelieveably poor for months beforehand, and Imrie's free kick. Just a pity about the result. 2. The 1-0 win at Ibrox. Not much of a game to watch, but worth it for the amazing finish and the crack in Brechin's before and after. 1. 2-1 at the Methadome, for the day in all its surreal glory: trouser-abusing jakeys in McGinn's before the game, Rosscoe's keepy-ups and winner, the supporters singing all the way through Central on the way home, and watching the whole thing again on Alba in the beer garden of the Clutha while being sexually harassed by swingers wielding a fondue set. Honourable mentions to the early-season wins at Aberdeen, Falkirk and Killie, but none of them seemed to have quite the same intensity: at that stage, going down was unthinkable. Strange to say, but this season actually contained some of my favourite memories as an ICT supporter: far more than last season. Hopefully next season will be more memorable again. You meet a fair few characters down in the first...

Although I'd predicted it, I'm disappointed that Vigurs isn't being offered a contract - some his performances early this season, notably the wins at Falkirk and Kilmarnock and the 3-2 defeat at Hearts, had me thinking I was watching potentially the best player the club has produced. It's clear Butcher had some sort of problem with him, however, and maybe the situation was beyond resolution. Also disappointed that Pavels has left, but I'd expected that too and I suspect Alex is right in saying that he wouldn't have wanted to play for us in the first division anyway. I don't quite get all this hostility about McBain being offered another year: he may disappear during games from time to time, but he's an intelligent and experienced player who offers continuity within the club and he can fill in at left back as well as wide left or central midfield: surely these are all qualities that will help us make the transition back down to Div 1? I wouldn't have minded seeing what Wood could do in that division either: he put in a few decent shifts for us early season. Still, I suppose TB has to be pretty selective about how to use the money is availiable, and if we can offer enough to Morais and Foran to persuade them to stay then it will have been worth getting rid of Wood.

I'm really looking forward to visiting some of these grounds again for the first time in a few years. The average journey is going to be longer than it was in the SPL, but places like Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy and Ayr are always a pleasure to go to. Not getting too excited about the football itself - as I said on another thread, I don't see any possibility of us bouncing straight back and I'm anticipating a mid-table finish. Mind you, I suppose it's quite exciting simply being unable to predict how any game will go. I don't wish the season started next week though - looking forward to having my weekends free to do exactly what I want with them for a couple of months. Also, when it gets to about a fortnight before the season starts, the anticipation really starts to build again: you can feel it coming through from the posts on here, and it is always one of the times of the year when this site is at its most interesting and enjoyable.

no depth to the squad plus i think vigurs will move on. I suspect you'll be right about this. Under Brewster this season he was one of our most effective players and he must be frustrated at having dropped out of the picture completely under TB. Any lower SPL manager who watched him in the first months of the season would probably think he is worth a punt under freedom of contract. Why would he stay to be a squad player in the first division with a manager who doesn't seem to rate him when he might have the chance to be, at the very least, a squad player in the SPL? Edited to add: I wouldn't be surprised if we received a couple of offers for Imrie either, and I think the board would find them hard to turn down. I know he divides the supporters on here and I think he had a poor game yesterday, but other teams do seem to have noticed him: the Hearts supporters were very positive when he was linked with them, and St Mirren and Killie supporters have also spoken very positively of him. Imrie clearly believes he is SPL standard, given the way he was touting himself for a Scotland 'B' call-up a couple of months ago.

It's just been confirmed that we will be playing Ayr in the first. Some of our most memorable results have been against them - coming back from 3-0 down to win 4-3, winning 7-3, and losing 5-1 in the league cup QF after Tokely was sent off... Looking forward to trips to Somerset - it's a complete toilet, but going there is watching football as it used to be. The only drawback is that I may have to visit my mother-in-law while I'm there.

I can't see us coming straight back up for a couple of reasons. Firstly, although we don't know which or how many players we are going to lose, it's fair to assume that the first team will change a bit, and the players will take time to gel. Secondly, we don't have any regular recent experience of playing these teams, and thus may be at a disadvantage when it comes to knowing the best way to set out against them tactically. A team like Dundee may add a few players over the summer, but the nucleus of their side is probably quite settled and will have plenty of experience of playing at this level.

Agree completely with that team. I've got a little bit of hat-eating going on re Lionel after yesterday: as several people have already pointed out, he had an excellent game yesterday and was probably our most dangerous player going forward. We really need players with that spirit and workrate next week.

McBain has played far more often as a midfielder, but that doesn't mean he isn't "meant" to be a defender: he can be either. I've seen him play at left back for us many times over the years and he's usually been pretty solid. As I said on my earlier post, I just think he's a safer bet defensively than Lionel: he is calmer passing out of defence and less likely to be turned or lose the player he is marking. Hastings has had very little football in the last few months whereas McBain has been playing fairly regularly, so that's why Roy would get the nod ahead of Richard for me.

Fraser Tokely Mihadjuks Munro McBain Morais Black Kerr Imrie Foran Odihambo I know Odihambo's may not be match fit but I'd still prefer to have him on the park for his pace than Barrowman. Pavels back into the centre - although in most other respects he's played well, that's two games in row that the player Tokely is marking has scored headed goals from set pieces. Pav jumps better and would be more effective against Kyle. McBain for Lionel because he's a lot less likely to make some horrible defensive blunder and he sticks to his man well.

Where is the Hunting Lodge in relation to the ground? Is that the little place in a side street off John Finnie St where they laid on food on the night of the cup replay a few years back? We always go to the Portland Arms beforehand because of the beer garden and the three-minute stagger to the ground, but if the weather's still like this tomorrow we might be just as well going to the Hunting Lodge instead.

The one I always remember is Paul Sheerin turning up among our support away at Airdrie a couple of months after he moved to Ayr. We were 5-0 down at half time (FT 6-0): he spent the whole time looking like he was trying not to laugh.

Bit of a frustrating night. I can't help feeling it's two points thrown away even though I would have taken a point before the game. The first half was very similar to Sunday's game: we stared brightly then seemed to lose our way a bit in midfield after the first 15-20 minutes. Some of the passing was really awful from the central midfielders, and although I don't really want to single him out, Lionel looked like a rabbit in headlights on a few occasions and had a few heartstoppingly bad sclaffs at balls coming into him. The Motherwell opener was a header at the left hand post, but I didn't pick up who (if anyone) was at fault among our defenders. I remember our equaliser clearly though - Imrie hit the bye-line, put it past the left back and cut it back for Morais to finish coolly. A lovely move, and it was great to see Imrie find the confidence to do that - I was worried that he was just going to fade out of the game like he did on Saturday, and instead he went on to have one of his best matches for a while. Second half was vastly improved - Butcher clearly had a word at half time and I felt we dominated throughout the half. Brian Kerr in particular worked his @rse off, and Morais and Imrie look like they could be the most effective forward line we have had in a long time. We fully deserved to go ahead and the second Motherwell goal was well against the run of play. One thing I don't understand is why Butcher chose to put Barrowman on when Morais came off - if he was intent on trying to defend the lead, why not put on an attacker with real pace (i.e. Odihambo) as a counterattacking outlet? We lost our lead within minutes of Barrowman coming on (not his fault, obviously) and suddenly found ourselves without a cutting edge up front when we most needed one. Still, though, while we're not the most attractive footballing side, we don't look like a team destined to go down either. There was a pretty respectable support for us considering it is a Wednesday night, and plenty of vocal support an encouragement. The Motherwell support was woeful though - less than 3,000 in the crowd altogether, which I suspect may be the lowest SPL attendance of the season?

Only about 3 mins walk from the ground - on the left hand side as you're approaching Fir Park from Airbles, just off the main road where the high flats are. It's more or less opposite the point where you turn off that main road and walk up to the ground. I can see it my mind but I'm not sure if that description makes any sense.

I honestly begin to comprehend what could be not needed about taking off a shirt that is probably drenched with sweat after running about all afternoon in the sun. I doubt anyone complained when Keogh took his shirt off at Broadwood in 2003/04 The ref did - he got a yellow card. Now if he'd been wearing a nice sensible vest like Hissy... Back on topic - I don't really see what the problem is with Imrie taking his shirt off at the end of the game, although I can perhaps why the Knowledge has developed an aversion to it - round about this time of year you do see more and more men naked except for their trackie bottoms aggressively shopping for lager in Glasgow supermarkets. Don't know if it is a peculiarly Glasgow thing, but I don't remember seeing anything of the sort in Low's when I was growing up in Inverness. A little more concerned by Imrie's performance yesterday, however. I've not bought into a lot of the criticism he's had recently because I think he's a heart and soul player and makes life difficult for opponents even if he doesn't always use the ball as well as he should. I expected him to be right up for it against Hamilton, though, and instead he had one of his quietest games for ages. maybe it's just that he was playing against a genuinely good left back in Easton, but I thought he looked reluctant take him on. Hopefully he'll show a bit more against Motherwell.