absent friend

The Board must be reading the offerings on here and shaking their collective heads! All that 'Muppet' calling - the Board have no idea - they can't tell Euro's from ?? - no correct contract - they are an embarrasment to the club name - pay him now (the last, if I remember correctly, came from Scotty) The club stuck to their principles and we, the supporters, will see our money spent ON THE PARK and not thrown away. Well done to our Board!!

Ahh, thats why were in the bottom half ... we only use 14 !!!! Culcabock primary has a lot to answer for, Scotty!!

Perhaps, just perhaps, ICT are being very good to the two top players by letting them go on a free. If their legs did go their value would drop so they are leaving at a time when their agent can punt them for the top dollar! Assuming we are going to follow Killie's footballing style (under the last manager) - as opposed to route one, I feel that maybe Grant would be needing to adapt his game and this could be seen by management, as unfair. Let's hope the future at ICT is fast attacking play, ball on the ground, with the up and over only a small part of our play. I also hope that the management realise we have a team of 15 players and use the subs to attack tired legs and not just for the last 5 mins - too late to make an impact!!

Yep, thats true(the pudding bit) especially when NONE of the games will even make Alba! I can only say that they, ICT, should all have had a White Horse test or something similar - Aberdeen performance and last night was chalk and cheese!(Cue Langfield shaking his head in disbelief) I am so pleased that our cheesy performance was against Celtic though! Still purring.

Any one of us present at Pittodrie on Saturday will be amazed at last nights performance. This then begs the question... Did players, knowing they were on the way out, up their game on TV hoping to catch the eye of a new club? If the answer is yes .. then they have proved why they are on the way out - not giving their all to the management team in all matches, resulting in the club losing a possible top six place.

I think this sums it all up!!

I was ashamed at the behaviour of some of our support on Saturday! Told to sit on their rear end by the stewards, only resulted in a total 'face up' to them and this was justified by the fact that some fans were standing in the Aberdeen area. For Heavens sake - we see this at all OF games and realise that there is one law for some and not for others .. BUT this does NOT justify bad behaviour. 'Throw out' resulted in some 'fans' anyway being seated at the back of the empty section next to the Aberdeen fans but under the watchful eye of the stewards - enjoying possibly a better viewing spot than we had, seated as we were above the goal line. The upshot of their behaviour resulted in some ladies around me being most concerned for the 'ejected' fans BUT the 'Bouncy, Bouncy' brigade was NOT there to watch the match but on a wind up mission and they blooming well wound me up and others around me as we missed part of a game due to stewards having to invade our space to get at the 'fans'. A lady on my right gave the proper response as one silly wee laddie was being led out past us with a BIG smile on his face ... " I suppose your richt proud of yursell now!!" (Wicker accent) I could not have put it better!! Action in the shape of a 'skelped dock' is called for by parents of some of their offspring's as they may think they are big enough to make trouble but their wee brains have yet to mature, in my opinion! Please grow up and behave as ambassadors of ICT!!

I fail to see any problem I have caused by answering, in a civilised way, the areas raised by another poster and indeed I notice other posters have also discussed the areas raised with no resort to anything other than Queens English. However if this is seen as a problem for posting on this forum, I'm sure there is an easy way to rectify it without resorting to pm, twitter or whatever - just don't post!! .

Can you explain what you mean by that? I am not quite sure which part of the above you don't understand, no big words, gave my opinion as I saw it at the time and how I now see it, which is slightly different due maybe to change of playing staff. He is a decent manager for us, in my opinion but he always gives me the feeling when talking that he will perform miracles with the players BUT it does not happen! Hence my goal count for us in the prediction league is always high. (A)No, no big words, but the few you've managed to string together don't make a whole lot of sense. (B)Should ICT persevere with his managerial/interpersonal/media skills beyond the expiration of his contract or not? I have now placed the reply in two sections (A) and (:021: (A) I have no idea where your ability to understand my comments let you down, perhaps you can be more specific and I can tailor my written English to suit. ( This area was never part of my offering and why you feel so strongly that I should give an opinion on it at this time, I fail to understand. .

Can you explain what you mean by that? I am not quite sure which part of the above you don't understand, no big words, gave my opinion as I saw it at the time and how I now see it, which is slightly different due maybe to change of playing staff. He is a decent manager for us, in my opinion but he always gives me the feeling when talking that he will perform miracles with the players BUT it does not happen! Hence my goal count for us in the prediction league is always high.

Thinking back to this time last year and how our Festive Cheer was somewhat overshadowed by our feelings of doom for the club and considering the 12 months since, I wonder if I can touch on a few areas. Brewster - If he had been retained would we be higher/lower than mid table right now? He has been a useful target for all that went wrong at ICT but was the backing by the Board to halt the decline too little too late? Butcher - The right choice at the time? In my opinion, of course, we were lucky to get him. I now have to accept that he is a decent manager with a great ability to work the media, which makes me expect more from him. The Team - Does not now compare with what we had as the ravages of finance has ripped the heart out of the playing staff and backroom staff and we are now only a shadow of our former selves. Tactics - Only now, due to the new players settling in, are we seeing a glimpse of what we can attain on the park and I feel that the run in will be enjoyable for us all. The Fans - Due to their diet of success over the years they have a degree of unrealistic expectations. This can best be seen at this time where our makeshift team of bogof players, as someone on here so aptly put it, only now, well into the season, are starting to gel but are expected to compete with Dundee, a team that has served it's apprenticeship in this division and has spent a fortune to climb out, both in the purchase of players and remuneration. I would have been happier to see the fans accepting this and being realistic by accepting a high(ish) finish this year with an attack planned for next year maybe, if we can hold onto our better players. That said, it is this non acceptance of being the underdog by the same fans, that has brought such success to this club and they hold the TT award for supporters..... "Simply the Best"! The Board - Not able to offer an indepth opinion as I am not privy to their meetings, I know many on here do offer an opinion but I will only say that I am disappointed at the lack of free flow of info emerging from the Board Room. This does not need to be regarding the good running of the club that by necessity is somewhat confidential, but more the sharing of the nitty gritty, to make us feel part of the club. The Future - More rosy than is being expressed on other threads but again I am not privy to the club's finances but I live in hope that an ICT supporting Callum, will come to our aid. . .

IHE a MUPPET!!!!!

I would hope so as he does not shine in the Aberdeen team but there again they are SPL so maybe he will be OK with us. I always think of him as lacking anticipation but good and industrious, on the ball. You know the type of thing, when a ball is played out to him but he has stopped his run and both he and the passer of the ball look prats. However his distribution and running with the ball are good. Interesting signing.

He is up visiting his grannie and went in to see some of his pals, maybe!

I assume this could impact on our current local provider with a loss of trade. I hope this does not also impact on the quality. Increased profits are one thing, lowering standards are another.

Maybe if he acted as professionally in his job at ICT, as he does on TV, then by some he may be more highly regarded. Don't be so serious - that was a wee joke!

Hibs are the exception - balls and ability! Hughes has the balls to put his neck on the line and his forwards have the ability to stick the ball in the net. Easy..... and it must be so exciting for their fans!!

His heart is obviously not in the job - no interest whatsoever! That's what happens when your manager does presentation work on TV.

Your question - Who cocked up the Marius contract? Scotty, maybe I am reading the above incorrectly but I see this as a wish to have the person who carried out the deal named - and indeed shamed, in their opinion, as they feel the contract was not drafted correctly, whereas I feel that it could be a legal beagle dispute and the matter be grey as opposed to black and white! I do agree that statements made does not help our cause, if indeed we do have any grounds for reducing the amount due, but I feel that it is so wrong to criticise without being in command of facts and indeed payment should be withheld until the need to pay be satisfied. If you look through previous postings you will find some people being surprised that a SPL contract was in place, as Alex has stated, as the inference has been that ICT did not carry out that part of their duty. I feel, like you, that it was not the contract but the termination actions that presents the greyness of the case but the overturning of a verdict is not unknown.

Can I therefore accept from the highlighted area in your above posting that, as a repeat customer and to deal fairly and squarely with you, you feel you are entitled to the name of the ICT official, or legal practitioner, who was party to the signing of said document?

I think the bold bit answers it all. Nothing, zilch, nada. There was an error on the contract, evidenced plainly by the fact that ICT sought to dispute the outcome. Therefore the interpretations of what was and was not permissible under the contract diverge. What we must demand to know is who, why what and so on? Someone somewhere got it badly wrong. Who? One says 'Seems to be some assumption that their was an error in the contract..... I've not seen anything from either side to suggest this is the case' The other says 'There was an error on the contract' This highlights the situation...nobody knows the full situation and all are guessing. To also offer one side of a story to confirm the situation is maybe a little bit suspect. At the end of the day it has all happened, let's hope they have learned from it. This raises a thought, with respect, what right has any fan got to demand the details of a legal document belonging to the club he supports and furthermore to demand the name of the ICT official, or legal practitioner, who was party to the signing of said document? Next we will have a call for Ian Black's transfer document on this forum - just so we can confirm it is OK by the fans and, when you are in that drawer maybe we can have a wee gander at the Rankin one as well to see you made a good job of it! We only want to know because we think we have a right!! .

Your question - Who cocked up the Marius contract? I assume from the highlighted area that you accept that maybe, just maybe, the Board did employ a legal advisor and he may have made a mistake as opposed to the ICT office girl sending Marius a one line email to confirm the signing. If this be the case, are you asking for the name of the legal firm involved or the actual solicitor acting, within the legal firm? Did we lose out financially on the Marius deal i.e. did we as a club pay out more for his service than we received over the period??

UEFA did not interpret it the same way as the boards solicitors did. I would assume that any transaction entered into by the Board members, in their everyday work, would have a legal input prior to any docs being signed and work commenced. Should the transaction have any overseas involvement I would suggest that a legal beagle with international knowledge would be brought in to confirm understanding. However reading between the lines of some posters on here, we as a club, with the same professional people at the helm, signed an overseas player up using the back of a fag packet. Aye, Right!! There may be room for a difference of opinion in law but that is hardly a 'fag packet' signing.

Maybe the cards are a reflection of the increased 'effort' being given by the team as a result of their team talk - Terry's size 12 must be quite intimidating. At half time maybe Foran had been given a heart to heart and promised to tone it down and considering, as stated on here, Foran was the best player on the park at that time, TB would have received belters for subbing him at halftime. Hindsight is wonderful. The snippet from the Tube of the game shows up some interesting areas, Foran tackling a player running away from our goal with all the defenders in place to take care of it, being a pro - WHY?. Jabi looking confident and getting stuck in, although we only see a wee bit of his game. Our shots at goal making their match report embarrassing.

I have stolen two of your quotes from this thread and to deal with the second one first - Are we entitled to be an SPL team? Do we have the fan base/financial support to carry an SPL team? Without a 'sugar daddy' can we do a Dundee and get better players in considering our financial and geographic, positions. Half full/half empty!! I think we were very fortunate to have the run we had in the top flight and it will come again BUT we have to 'enjoy' the games in the interim, against teams that were not in our league for the past few years until we regroup and become a force once more. Kingsmills showed his annoyance with the team, after Saturdays result and that is understandable but we have different players, almost a new team, to knit together and that will take time, especially when we accept that there will also be movement within the squad in the New Year. Are the Board doing the best job?? No way. Why? Because we should still be in the SPL, we should be better off financially and, in my opinion, that is a fact! However the past is past, what is done is done and they should move forward learning from their managerial/player signing mistakes. Are the posters better qualified than the Board members? I don't know as I have no idea who each poster is (the thread showing the posters occupations is an eye opener!) but I would hazard a guess that in no way are the posters, in the main, better qualified unless one takes hindsight into it as a factor! .