absent friend

Story is that the sacking decision was made prior to last night's result - I also think they have Gordon Strachan waiting to walk straight into the job, all prearranged. Well I am sure GS will bring back the crowds with his wit and repartee at interview time.

Is'nt it amazing, 2 pages of team selections including subs and Ross's name does not appear but guess what, according to another thread TB is a bad manager because he is not being selected. Guess that makes you lot in the mire along woth Terry.

Could his manager be sheltering him from the boo boys so that his confidence will not be undermined? He is a ball player and as such requires time on the ball, time on the ball means he will make mistakes, mistakes at ICT means you are crap and should be booed, booing steals confidence. What therefore is the answer? Play him away from home for short periods of time, which will not help his developement in a hurry. I watched the Dons match on Alba last night and saw their three young guys do magic things on the park, wanting the ball, holding it up, back heeling into space etc. It did not all come off but it was a joy to watch and I doubt if the fans offered anything but encouragement. Here we would be offering 'help' verbally and on this forum - all with a negative overtone. As was stated by an ICT fan on another thread "I wish we had lost on Saturday...." Not a lot of negatitivy there then. This must really gee up the lads. .

I would also say Esson but not just for his goalkeeping ability, I feel it must give the defenders added confidence that they have someone of this caliber behind them. He is also not above giving them a verbal roasting and this, in a funny way, must help i. e. commands his space leaving no room for doubt- a point we have covered on here in the past as this was something Esson's predecessors were not so good at.

I wonder if the other clubs in the league had the same wholesale change of playing staff that we had on our first day, to face the new season? The new players required a fit Imrie, a non suspended Rossco and a fit Odhiambo(?) to be playing to have offered a wee bit of stability in the past 9 games. I also think that Duff is big miss as he is a very good player and look forward to his return to assist at the back. The next 9 games with the new players now at least accepting that they play for the same team and the aforementioned guys back - we will be on a roll. Our current 12 plus 3 lots of 20+ will give us circa 75 points and any team that beats that, in this league, deserves to be promoted.

Well Don, flaws in my thinking would not be anything new!! It would appear from our person in the know (a wink is as good as a nod, as they say!) that this should just be 'put to bed' So be it.

I accept, as I have stated above, the clubs statement.. you don't! Simple. I accept that my club can transact a transfer ....others don't. Simple I accept that SPL and FIFA interpretation of rules can be different....others don't. Simple. Your final part I have covered and if our legal team were wrong whilst other clubs legal teams are correct...sue them.

I cannot think that, considering the amount of money involved, we as a club did not take professional advice. I accept from the club, that there appears to be a difference between Scottish and non-Scottish contracts and we have been caught out by this BUT our legal advisor must have been aware of this or else he is negligent and probably 'sue -able'.(cue Kingsmills) I find it so disappointing that the first reaction on here by 'fans' is 'we can't even do a transfer' - what a load of twaddle!! We do and have done, I would suggest, hundreds of transfers with no problems!! This, the club state, was watertight under the Scottish contract law but ..... Now I am just waiting for the 'shower of muppets' to appear in print as his knowledge of international law knows no bounds.

Harry, I would suggest that that we have no style or home advantage. We will have style if the squad stays together long enough and injuries are limited. Home advantage was not here before Butcher and no doubt will not be here with his replacements in years to come as well. The change of league has diluted the playing staff but expectations are still very high so ongoing criticism will be the order of the day in times to come. We have not started the league well, 6 points short of my expectations (I said they were high) so whatever formation he uses on Saturday it better show results or the standites will be swearing at him again.

I accept that a starting formation is always present at kick-off but surely the formation should be altered to take cognisance of the oppositions strengths and weaknesses, on the day. This alteration should be further amended to embrace the fatigue being shown within your own team or to take advantage of this in the opposition. Did Queens not take advantage of Rossco's fatigue in the second half last week? I also see the subs as an integral part of the team, using a player as a battering ram initially and once the defence has been 'softened up' put on your correct man to take advantage of the new situation or indeed replace your own player that has become less effective. This latter point makes me again think of Rossco at the Queens game, maybe he should have been replaced in the second half as they had done the damage and he was by then, less agile. This subbing could then alter the formation so I do not see a formation as being set but amended throughout a game. ICT formation only plays one up at home? Yet we have a Queens fan stating that 'ICT seemed to have 9 men camped in our penalty box for most of the first half.'

You have just gone away up in my estimation. It takes a BIG guy to put that in print!

Maybe the 'fans' that wound the management team up, not the early leavers, could be man enough to come forward on Saturday and offer the hand of apology to them.

'In the shadow of the OF' This is a quote from above and I suppose there is a bit of truth in it. I remember the early '80s when the glory hunting OF supporters could not take the fact that their teams were taking a beating and their average home support dropped to circa 17000 in one season!! The OF cavalcade leaving Aberdeen now, they hold up the traffic on Anderson Drive for 15 mins plus for it to pass through nose to tail at 30 mph with police outriders, was only a few single decker buses back then. So yes, the taste of defeat is difficult for many to stomach, the fault must be hung around someones neck, 'fans' stop attending games and infighting becomes the order of the day. All OF traits. Maybe the shadow of the OF is not that far away at ICT. So lets see the current situation with us - we get beat by the team at the top of the league - big problem. We should change the manager and ICT will be SPL bound as the other teams in this league are crap - dream on. Our players are all excellent and are being held back by ill advised tactics - WHAT? We should have held on to players that wanted away, were here on loan, were too expensive to fund in the SFL - aye right! With no transfer funds we should have signed the cream of Scottish players just like Dundee did with their millionaire and we would now be at the top of the league - dream on. .

I have a wee problem with this whole thing. I will accept that the management team are feeling the strain and have reacted to it, as did our right back. All human and have feelings and therefore understandable BUT it does show a bit of their inner self. I would be more concerned if there had been no reaction from TB, to be honest. Anyway back to the problem, 'if you want to attend a football match, even with children, accept swearing as the norm'- so says the bulk of posters on here. We are allowed to shout our feelings at the manager even if it contains sweary words, say the posters on here. Don't you use sweary words back to us TB, say the posters on here. However JJ can, Yogi can and guess what, they are good craic! Do we have a problem??????????????

Our wonderful, supportive, knowledgable, pulling together, fans.

If we turn the clock back a few weeks, the reason for ANY defensive problem, as per this forum, was Grantie covering Zadi's shortcomings and pulling the formation to one side. Now it is a fact that Zadi did, on occasions, take a wander inside but usually chasing after a ball that he had given away. He is not the finished article but he does supply fire power to the left side that appears to be lacking - not Gollies fault - blame old father time. However forget Zadi, the fans don't want him they prefer what they now have, (well they don't boo gollie anyway), so I assume they are now happier than they were. For me, I think we have a super piece of raw(ish) material in Zadi, who had all his confidence knocked out of him by silly laddies, that would have given us a stronger back four than we have right now. I would suggest that the Zadi in training and the Zadi on the park at a home fixture would be two different players, due to 'fan' pressure. However back to my main point, the defence are suspect with or without Zadi and therefore the use of him as a scapegoat was just that!!

My predictions are 1) The current management duo will leave Inverness sooner rather than later - due to supporter unrest (ignorant behaviour to them and their players) This leaves the recruiting of a new decent manager an impossible task. 2) Foran will up sticks and away ASAP and will leave the team with no leader up the park. 3) The wave of 'Get JR back' is acted upon by the Board to satisfy the fans. 4) We move, with the new managers 'bounce', down towards relegation. 5) IHE blames the Muppets for bringing in this manager who, he reasons, if he was any good, would not have been working half a day a week for the BeeB but would have been picked up by another club. He then blames 'rose tinted glasses' and nostalgia blinding the forum users. 6) The site goes rather quiet as they think of a reply to IHE and then we get many postings of 'Yeabut, nobut,.....! 7) We then come to our senses and realise we have a wee team in the Highlands, no great wage structure, only therefore able to attract not the best of players. A position of mid 1st div dawns on the supporters as a realistic target but.....downward spiral is being felt. 8) A convoy of buses travel over the bridge every 2nd Saturday, with the new supporters hiding behind their scarfs as they pass the stadium going off to support their new team. This allows them a glimpse of what ICT enjoyed in the past. 9) The forum fans start a campaign to get JR out and replace him with Pele....'he is magic, his team's football a joy to watch' A cry also goes up to bring back Wyness, Rankin, Cowie, Black and Dargo. Now all playing with East Stirling they will accept the new part time status of ICT and the speed of play in the now 3rd Div is not so fast. .

(1) I fail to see an 'allegedly' in the above post, so I hope there is proof. (2) This is a question. (3) Statement of fact to an unanswered question. (4) This is the same Vigurs that was crap last Sunday against us and was hooked and not even a sub on Saturday.

Can the 'vast majority' (not your term to use?) ask that you substitute defend with tolerate?

I wonder what our crowd would have been against Alloa? Maybe 1000 tops.

I'd agree with that. Those doing the negotiating on this will have looked at average away support. They will also have looked at the home support numbers in this very competition and based there figures on that. And if we can only muster 2275 fans for a home semi final tie how can we have the audacity to ask for more than 3400 for the final. Alex, we ony mustered 2275 with circa 50% of that number being Ross County supporters - what chance 3400 turning up for the final!!

Well Renegade, I always enjoy your input - not always agree with it - but this time I assume you are telling us on here that you never posted number 1 at the start! Maybe started posting at number 90 or something?? Everybody has to start posting at some time and I feel sure if the subject is topical it will entice people to caress the keys when previously they were happy to read the offerings. For you then to label them 'Muppets' or 'Muppet spies' or whatever, is unfair on anyone now thinking of posting on here, with a different point to the main stream rantings on offer for fear of unjust criticism. It is rather illuminating, thinking about the point you raise, that any opposing point to your own must have a hidden agenda and not just be a normal poster with a differing point of view. Oh, and yes, many of us like Butcher as manager, think the Club has to stay inside the law and don't enjoy foul mouthed obscenities when children are around. Does that make us different, maybe not, just less vocal.

Apart from the 'lift' that this win will give ICT, is there a cash incentive for winning the Alba Cup. There does not appear to be much cash made in crowd appeal - even this Sunday seems subdued in the support front. It would be nice if the cup came with a ?100,000 winners cheque.