absent friend

I see the BBC site is saying that there is a possibility of a change of back room staff now that Burley is being retained. Could our manager be in line for the bullet or is he considered front line and not back room?

I think you will find that we also think- DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER...........CRAP! But their supporters are no too bad!

I hope the professionals that worked on Imries leg were ICT supporters and took about 10% off the loft of his foot so that his old 20 feet over the bar, balloon shot, will now hit the net!

Can you imagine Zadi, playing for his new team Morton, at Inverness, scoring the winning goal in the South goals? I feel he could hold his fingers to his lips to the away fan(s) as a sign of respect - or - he could run past the front of the stand, at top speed, to the boo boys in the North stand and do an Adebayor and I feel many home fans would think...... good on you Zadi. How much verbal abuse has Adebayor taken from his old fans? In the cold light of day we can all agree that his actions were wrong but everyone has a breaking point and the reaction by fans is always the same - we can verbally abuse you but if you react we want you banned .

I think a wee bus run across the bridge, pre match, and offer the players a look at Victoria Park - their new home if they do not play well. They should then be made to walk through Dingwall, savouring the sights and smells of the 'gadgies' and I would suggest that the bus back to the park would be full of very motivated players, ready to attack any team to get the result to keep them away from this potential fate.

I think we have to accept that the West Coast press/ure comes into play in all of this with not only their biased reporting but timing the release to cause the most mischief and this has not helped the Burley cause at all. He will go because of this, despite the antics of the three players mentioned above, undermining him as a manager during and after the events and the 'blazers' looking for a scapegoat. I feel that he has at least got the players with him and Wednesday was a super performance from our team who played as a team throughout. Successor? Wee Strachan was not on the BBC sofa last week, as a pundit, for nothing. 'Remember me' 'I'm free' was there for all to see but made press enemies by his antics at Celtic. Levein would be daft to hang his jacket on the hook when he is in with the bricks at DU. Calderwood? Keeping a low press profile is our Jimmy but would suit the West Coast mafia and therefore is my punt for the job.

Is this an 'I belive' fact or an 'I belive' wish it is a fact re County wage, his talent and our new players talents? BUT As I said elsewhere, if you are not part of the ICT management team how do you know why he should not have been off loaded? Oh wait a second now! The manager should apologise for any mistakes, he should ask some folk on here what players he should keep or off load and who cares about confidentially - get it onto the forum! Make some of the posters happy. .

On the subject of 'chuckling' - the BBC match commentary was waxing lyrical about the ICT fans having travelled all the way down for the game and that they were all sitting in a 'wedge' behind the goal.....all except for two who were sitting miles from the pack, in their ICT tops. The reason for this was about to be debated when an onfield incident happened and they never returned to it. The banished two will know who they were and will now realise that they had all our and the commentary teams, attention for all of a minute or so in a lighthearted manner. .

I would submit that retaining Ian Vigurs would have made more sense than re-signing Gollabeck. Not being a part of the ICT management team, I would submit that you have no idea why Vigurs was moved on and this makes your 'sense' - nonsense. .

yet Now how can I put this nicely? You make a mistake at work and lose your job. You now find a better position and guess what? You are going to make the same mistakes again - so says our Brentford positive thinker, et al. I would submit that Butcher has made a difference from our last manager, has recruited a number of decent players for the league we are in, even the 'not good enough for the Tinks' player that he signed who appeared to play to an acceptable standard on Sunday. I accept that posters on here do not credit our current manager with any tactical skill, do not believe he has any budget restraints and feel he should change our players into something they are not. I believe that he has learnt/can learn as he goes through life and we, at ICT, will be the recipients of this learning. .

Well Dalneigh Caley, I feel that we all, including Scotty, are entitled to react to a defeat in whatever way we wish! If you care to read my posts you will find that I have stated that it is the breadth of views on here that makes this forum 'so rich'! As Birddog also stated 'because I know that my view is not the whole picture and others see things I don't, it frustrates me how peoples views are shot down so readily because of blind following'. Now believe it or not, I agree totally!! I will however also offer an opposite view, from Scotty, to something that happened at the County game. I wonder how many mature Captains of a football team feel the need to 'swear' at their own 'fans' at the end of a game?? Is this reaction a reflection of the Captain or the loyal supportive 'fans' - oh wait! I already know the answer, it cannot be the loyal supportive fans that are fault! .

What an excellent post - says a lot with the minimum of words. .

I will accept that your knowledge of the strength of the PT team is better than mine! Listening to the BBC radio broadcast, it was evident that this was a tactical game in the main, with our plan being better than theirs in the first half and their and our changes at half time putting them on top. It was remarked upon that our players individually were 'good buys' but still to knit into a team. They underlined this by stating that for years the ICT players names were known to them pre the team sheets and now they had difficulty identifying them. Following this game I bet our management team would like to sign a few of the 'poor' PT players if they had an option!! .

Questioning the managers , whatever you call them, is one thing but, in my opinion, to have such a seasoned manager with his playing and managing pedigree, in charge of our Div 1 club, makes us jolly lucky. To offer him time to improve, after one defeat this season, with a virtual new team, is nonsense and highlights some of the 'fans' ICT have. Putting the manager under pressure with one lost game this season, in your book, is supportive?? If any other stance is taken we are 'happy clappers' ' silent starers at yards' 'unable to see the direction the club has moved'. I would submit that the main thrust of real ICT supporters, were aware of the downward spiral we were on when Butcher took us over and were grateful we were able to be involved in the SPL up to the last kick of the ball in the last match!! We also appreciate the financial restraints, change of playing staff and loss of confidence relegation created and we think that this is the time to get behind our team, including the management team. I respect your right to have the opposite view and no, I don't have to resort to name calling!! You see this is what grown ups do. .

Maybe John would come back if needed due to his historic link with the club BUT when he loses his first match he will be put on a time limit by this 'fans' and given a month/two months to produce results the 'fans' will be happy with and this with another big change in playing personal, all freebies, before his head was called for. John come and join us if our Board are stupid enough to heed the herd on here BUT be aware that the ICT managerial role must be now the most shooglie hook you can hang your jacket on, due to our fan base. ICT recruit a good manager? The fans on here would drive away any person with an ounce of managerial ability, unless they were cast-offs or just plain daft! The greatest manager, in my eyes, would have been given the bums rush by this crowd on here due to his teams initial performances so you see - Alex Ferguson therefore is not fit to manage ICT in the eyes of those negative posters on here? .

Alex, being from Culcabock and easily lead, I just accepted the stats given by 5th Stand and put some meat on the bones! It now appears the stats are all nonsense so that was a waste of time. On researching Butchers stats, I was however, impressed with the way he turned our fortunes around and not all against bottom 6 teams. But maybe the stats on here relating to that are nonsense as well and he was rubbish.

Assuming the games are all league games, the stats make interesting reading Terry Butcher average 1.19 pts per game BUT 1.33 at ICT- 1.24 at Motherwell despite problems! Craig Brewster average 1.13pts per game BUT 1.24 at ICT (1.38 first time, 1.14 second time) Charlie Christie average 1.09 pts per game John Robertson average 1.46 pts per game BUT 1.72 at ICT Steve Paterson average 1.86 pts per game BUT 1.74 at ICT ( He also averaged 1.2 at Aberdeen) Sergei Baltacha average (no stats) pts per game I do realise that JR and SP were in different times but our current manager considering he came in when we were in freefall, seems to be doing OK

[Pedantry Alert]But you didn't say "some of the fans" you said "100% of the fans".[/Pedantry Alert] ^_^ I thought you had accepted Alex's correction of my statement, "100% of the fans that had posted a team selection" - I concede that with the wide difference of opinions on here, knowing what 100% of the fans think on any matter would be difficult! Alex point taken, I am now off to have a wee liquid refreshment(well it is mid afternoon!) and leave this matter in more knowledgeable hands.

1) I have merely pointed out the hypocrisy of some of the fans in picking this player for the LB slot in the upcoming game selection and then coming on here stating he is not fit to wear an ICT shirt. Where am I wrong?? You are wrong in that I have never, ever said I wish LDZ to be part of our starting lineup. If I have never said it, I'm pretty certain there are others in the same boat - thus blowing your "100%" stat out of the water. I do realise you are a big contributer to the forum but you will accept that when I say 'some of the fans' I may not always include you.

How did playing with 10 men relegate us? As I recall, we played for a long time with 10 men comfortably, without conceding, no? What relegated us was a poor cross from where LDZ should have been defending, being scrappily knocked in by Higdon. I love your footballing managerial style. Playing with 10 men does not create a problem for my team, ICT are comfortable with a man short. Would we have scored with another player on the park - 10 men does not create a problem to my team! Would we have defended better with another defender on the park - no way, Rossco hides in a match anyway! 10 men made no difference folks - believe me - it was all Zadi's fault. Aye Right! .

I at no time defended Zadi for his play on Saturday - you are welcome to trawl the threads to ascertain that. I made three points. 1) I have merely pointed out the hypocrisy of some of the fans in picking this player for the LB slot in the upcoming game selection and then coming on here stating he is not fit to wear an ICT shirt. 2) Stating that booing him helps in some way. 3) If he was subbed we somehow would have won the game on Saturday when all our players were below par or, God forbid, Ross County were better than us. Where am I wrong?? .

I thought maybe playing with 10 men relegated us but maybe since it was not Zadi that was sent off, it does not count!

Your bit in bold is simply not true. Not even close. Jay, if I had stated almost 100% would that have made you agree with the rest of my post?? Can I assume that it is only this statistic you differ with. You accept he allowed Ross County win the game, that the booing was inspirational for the player and everyone and their cat, knew he was going to perform badly on the day. .

I totally understand the hurt on Saturday, I also understand the human need to find a scapegoat but players do have good and not so good days and management only have so many subs they can use in any game. Perhaps if he were subbed early we would have won 10-0 because, let's face it, Ross County weren't very good and changing that one player would have made all the difference. Perhaps booing him earlier would have made him play so much better, so it could be the fans fault. I have a problem with this anti Zadi feeling because, as I have already stated, even Zadi's biggest critic, IHE, has this year, in his after match smileys, supported Zadi and has picked him as his selection at LB for upcoming games and Zadi has been picked as a team member for upcoming games by 100% of the fans on this forum this year! 'Lionel is a liability and not good enough for inverness, FACT!' Wise in hindsight comes to mind!!

Caley D 'In any other profession it would be called Constructive Dismissal.' I may not condone the way it was done, IF this be correct but I would think that every Saturday there is grounds for constructive dismissal as players are left out of teams where they feel they have a right to play. Managers must put players in the picture re their future at the club if they are to be fair and this will then allow that player to map out their future within the game. Sometimes a move backwards/sideways is really a move forward in the longer term and let's hope Dales experience at the moment, although hurtful, will lead to better things for him. Do we accept this presentation at face value and slate our manager for ehhhhhh- doing his job? .