CELTIC1CALEY3

A man of his word and modern day Carnegie. Good luck to our new Chairman who has the right credentials to take us gently forward in a tough league.

So far it has been a disappointing close season without a Court of Session case to be heard on the SPL. Surely damages for constructive dismissal must be just around the corner if professionals are humiliated by their employer without just cause?

Press today quote Grassa as saying the rules would not allow us to recall Michael if Mark got injured so he's staying. Bad news for Michael perhaps but good news for us unless this means no Hoolihan. SPL Reserve League plus SPL Subs bench is still good experience for Michael.

Ralph Milne = Brains = Genious = Mathematician Michael Fraser + Liam Fox = 2 = More than 1 Thank you Ralph for drawing this to our attention.

Does he want pre-season training running around the Almondvale Shopping Centre or would he prefer Italy followed up by a new challenge against Sheffield United followed by easy access to Dublin from Inverness International as and when required?

http://sport.scotsman.com/football.cfm?id=900702006 DUNDEE United's hopes of signing Inverness' Darren Dods increased last night when he rejected Caley Thistle's offer of a new contract. The defender has a year left on his current deal. If he goes it'll be all downhill for the rest of his short career!!!

Brew has problems and to solve them he is in a Greek hideaway negotiating a bolt hole when the roof falls in at Tannadice. The Club have 5 top earners who were to to get out of town. 'We don't want you.' Put bluntly 'a brilliant bit of psychology for the opposition'. Until all those 'rotten apples' are sold from the barrel the shop will be a haven for discontent. New players will be on lower money and look enviously at the big money guys. The big money guys just sit back, keep themselves fit for the move out, and their agents milk the grocer for termination payments. If they don't come they stay and that does not make Brew's job any easier. If United start badly, the Greek trajedy unfolds. Unless of course you like Greece and Brew told us he wanted to Manage there sometime in his career.

And he was injury prone!

That aside, we retain two very promising players and here's hoping they sign extended deals.

If we were offered the Italian place we could go to Italy as preparation and still have time to prepare for the game on 15 July. The rules seem to indicate we might be able to come in at Round Three A stand-by list will be created, at the bottom of the access list, for the vacant places - as not all 52 member countries will enter a team - and these berths will be allocated to the associations in coefficient ranking order. Format change The format of the Intertoto Cup will change for the 2006/07 season. Under the new format, decided in September 2005, three rounds will be played instead of the previous five. The eleven victorious sides from the Intertoto Cup third round will go through to the second qualifying round of the UEFA Cup, which replaces the old system where the winners for three finals all progressed into the UEFA Cup first round.

Are you sure he didn't say we will be taking the place of the Italian team in the third round of the Intertoto? No Italian teams will enter the Intertoto Cup this year due to the corruption scandal being investigated in Italy. Palermo and Livorno would have competed. 3eme tour : 15/16 juillet 2006 - 22 juillet 2006 1 US Palermo (ITA) B B Pobeda Prilep MKD -Farul Constanta ROM Lokomotiv Plovdiv (BUL) 1 Pobeda Prilep (MKD) Farul Constanta (ROM)

Wednesday 7 June 2006 ROME (AP) - No Italian teams will enter the Intertoto Cup this year due to the corruption scandal in Italy. It's the first significant casualty for Italian soccer since the scandal began a month ago. Following a meeting Tuesday in Munich between Italian soccer federation interim commissioner Guido Rossi and FIFA president Sepp Blatter, the federation issued a statement saying that the ongoing investigation into the scandal prevents teams from taking part. "In consideration of the need to confirm the standings from the 2005-06 season, the FIGC has decided that it is not possible to proceed fast enough to register an Italian team for Intertoto," the statement said. Blatter proposed a July 31 deadline for Italian investigators to impose possible sanctions, and the federation said it hoped to comply so Italian clubs can compete in the UEFA Cup and Champions League. Winners in the Intertoto Cup qualify for the UEFA Cup. Usually, mid-table teams from Italy's Serie A compete in the competition. Palermo and Livorno may have made the competition this year.

Grampian News tonight indicated we cannot pull out of the Intertoto Cup until Friday so maybe another team with financial troubles who may not make it. An outside chance maybe.

Put money on Brewster's team - the pressure after one win in 14 games will be intense. If they start badly the supporters will forget he was a hero and feel he changed nothing. The grocer will be intolerant of further failure especially if he pays a fortune to get rid of high earning players and Brewster still fails to deliver. Brewster will not want to retire as a player and will get himself in knots working out a strategy.Currently they have a destabilised ship and Brewster is not someone who can bring compromise or comfort. He is very strict and authoritarian. Last year the public's choice was Livingston for the chop. Next year Dundee United.

This is a true headline. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/t...age/5032688.stm. What is the best football headline you have seen apart from 'Supercaleygoballisticcelticareatrocious'?

Hackett was useless against us. He has a left leg and can only go one way round a defender. After we'd sussed that he kept heading for the wing. I don't recall him switching sides to come inside but he was Rix's signing from Oxford and would struggle at Elgin to get a game.

Euro-cup fate of “Neftchi” to be defined after final Cup of Azerbaijan Source: Trend Author: Z.Safarov As some leagues reach their climax, can anyone understand this potential option? 31.05.2006 The opportunity of “Neftchi” to participate in the Cup of UEFA will depend on the result of the final Cup of the country between “Karvan” and “Karabakh, which will be held on June 3 in the stadium named after T.Bahramov. As a result of the national championship, “Neftchi” has taken the third place, which gives it an opportunity to participate in Cup of Intertoto. However, guardship of Agasalim Mirjavadov keeps the chances to play in the European club tournament if “Karvan” gain the victory over Agdam team in the decisive match. In this case, the team of Yavlakh that gained sliver medal and the opportunity to play in the international arena will, as the holder of the country Cup, go to the Cup of UEFA.

In an effort to boost slow-moving season ticket sales, Dundee United chairman Eddie Thompson has personally written to every registered Tannadice supporter (writes John Brown). “That’s why it is not unreasonable to expect Dundee United to finish in the top six.” Eddie has put around £4 million into the club since acquiring his 82 per cent. stake from former chairman Jim McLean, and failure to get into the top six last term cost United upwards of £500,000. Speaking from Spain today, where he is enjoying a few days’ break, he said, “I never expected my investment to yield any dividend, but I did expect results on the pitch — and that hasn’t happened. “Rightly or wrongly, I stood by previous managers. “These managers brought in established players, but those players did not perform for us, for whatever reason.” Several players, including David Fernandez, Derek McInnes, Grant Brebner and Jim McIntyre, have been told they are surplus to requirements at Tannadice, and the chairman insists they won’t be leaving with a big pay-off. Clearly Dundee United is a club going places. Clearly Brew could be going places!!!

If Brew doesn't shut up in his Largs base with Charlie, Malky MacKay etc we should start the reverse psychology speculating on Dundee United players joining ICT. A chance for the Inverness Courier to start a counter rumour. Barry Robson anyone? Come to think of it there's no one there good enough to get into our first team.

One new stand for Procter, plus covered seating for the wings and a new super dooper lounge with free beer for 10 years for season ticket holders for Black.

Inverness doesn't quite realise the privilege it has to host SPL football. Mark Brown is one of many very talented players who have helped put the city on the world map. This award is richly deserved. Hopefully for Mark he will make the breakthrough to international level sooner rather than later.

There are still associations to select clubs e.g. Romania, Slovenia, Azerbaijan - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Intertoto_Cup_2006

So where did they go wrong? One minute they were appointing a Business Consultant who played a bit of football, then the club with Intelligent Finance said get rid of Gough and go for Lambert. It took 12 straight defeats for him to realise there was a problem. Robbo came in and said we must start winning soon. Who do you blame and why?

This is looking pessimistic unless Azerbijan mess up the paperwork. There aren't many chances left as far as I can see. However, in the absence of a close season legal challenge for the SPL maybe there is still some drama to come.

We seem to be clutching at straws. Odense do look as though they are in the Intertoto. We may have to wait for the Azerbijan nomination unless someone knows that one already. There are a few cup finals today so something might go our way but I am not optimistic at present.