acharacleoracle

"New Inverness boss Terry Butcher will be without injured full-backs Richard Hastings and Thierry Gatheussi." (BBC). Looks as if our defensive troubles are still with us then, will it be LZD at left back today?.

Defo on a two horse race now.

1) They are written contracts that state that when employment has ceased at one club, the other club will start employing them. 2) They are legally binding. 3) They can not renege on the deal unless the contract is dependent on them passing a medical at a certain date. This never happens though. 4) A player can change his mind, but he will have to come to an agreement with the club that had the PCA to terminate that contract. I can think of Dietmar Hamman that this happened. cheers Carlos On point 3 I wonder what would happen if a player picked up a serious career threatening injury though?. No instances of this so but could easily happen.

In days of old I?m sure that deals were offered to players on the quiet even when they still had existing contracts to run out but in this day of big money deals and the post Bosman free transfer the use of the Pre Contract Agreement has become commonplace, this can be clearly seen when you look at the latest transfer news and see the number of players signing PCA?s. I have questions about them though. 1. Are they written or verbal agreements?. 2. Are they legally binding?. 3. What happens if a player picks up a serious injury, can the new club renege on the deal?. 4. Can a player change his mind?. Yes, I can see advantages to signing a PCA. 1. A player is secure in the knowledge of where his future lies having agreed wages and personal terms. 2. Is able to plan ahead and make the move for himself and his family as easy as is possible. 3. The players new employers can plan ahead and arrange to replace out of contract or retiring personnel. 4. A six figure salary is more appealing than a low five figure salary. However there are disadvantages to consider to. 1. Your manager and DoF takes umbrage at you signing a PCA. 2. The fans take a dislike to you. 3. As a player do you risk injury putting your move in doubt?. 4. As a manager can you get 100% effort out of a player on a PCA?. 5. Likely to spend time on the bench. 6. End up training with the U19s. TBs comments on Setanta sound as though he is not a fan of the PCA but with three players having signed them, two of whom are important to the squad he has a real dilemma in picking them or not. Personally I?m not a huge fan of these agreements. By making them public knowledge they cause disruption in the squad and doubt in the fans. I?d far rather a return to the quiet word in the players ear, keeps everyone happy.

Maybe he is trying a little kidology to get something out of this bunch of misfiring duds, sounds better than an ultimatum of shape up or ship out. Sunday will tell the real story, lets see how this PR guru handles his first defeat.

Hopefully, Ross Jack at Elgin will help him progress, give him some competitive football and next year we will see him back bigger, stronger and with a little experience under his belt to take up a place in midfield along side Vigurs. Elgin fans will be delighted to have him on their side for a change.

If you want 1st division football I don't think you will have too long to wait. So far I hav'nt seen anything to get excited by on the transfer front, three out at the end of season on pre contract agreements (if not sooner), a bunch of temps brought in to the end of the season to attempt a rescue bid and a load of long in the tooth players who regularly misfire, its looking very bleak. If we do drop a division then things will get worse, the temps will go and I can see other players heading off to pastures new as ICT can't offer the money teams in the south can. This will require a massive team rebuilding programme and that will take time to achieve. At least you will have something to look forward to at the end of this season as we face a relegation dog fight of epic proportions.

If true and he has an 18 month contract, then from the boards point of view there are two possible scenarios: 1. He saves us from relegation this season and he will be offered an extended contract as reward. 2. We go down to div1 and he is expected to bounce us straight back up into the SPL and be rewarded with an extended contract, fail and by this time next year we will be looking for another manager. Hopefully he fulfills scenario #1, he has his work cut out though to turn things around but the incentive is there for him to do it sooner rather than later.

'Terry Butcher', heavy duty hinges being fitted to dressing room door as we speak.

We need Harry Houdini to get us out of this one!.

Robbo no thanks, new man needed.

So - you didnt think that Hastings was at fault ? Yes, Hastings should have dealt with the guy long before he got to the box, Granty just happened to drive the final nail into the coffin with what was a pathetic challenge. As I said our defensive errors has cost us dearly. Absolutely - no captain could do anything with the management regime in dictatorship. Grant is Sneck born and bred and should be a natural leader. I think that the captaincy has affected him but I am very reliably informed that he is in constant turmoil in regard to his complete devotion to ICT and the demands / orders of his employers to conform. Nice try but I'm not rising to the bait on this one.

Our defensive mistakes have cost us dearly this season, yesterday it was Munros turn to balls up and gift the opposition 3 points. Not the most inspiring captain I can think of. Has had little or no criticism so far but that might change if Mihadjuks turns out to be good-un and shows up Grantys frailties.

This is the biggest load of the brown stuff I have had the misfortune to read for a while. Your a complete prat believing this BS. Just how much of this crap can this forum hold?. Blackie's shiner was the result of a unintentional clash in training and it was indeed Dale Gillespie who inflicted the damage.

No Ian Black today. Maybe his commitment on a pre-contract to the Jambos was the reason, who knows. Personally I think Blackie has been a little disappointing of late, at the beginning of the season he vowed to change his ways, keep his gob shut and not attract so much interest from the referees. This he has certainly done, he has gone from a stroppy, petulant little git to a choirboy and as result has lost something from his game. I wonder which Blackie you prefer, git or choirboy?. Ok he was a bit of a liability last season but he did add a little fire to the midfield belly, a fire we need to reignite.

Did John Robertson post this poll by any chance?, he is certainly touting himself at the moment!!!.

Not surprised at all, he's not the player he used to be. We haven't seen any of those brilliant surging runs into the box for a while now as the pace has slowed. Sadly, time has taken its toll but thanks for the memories .

Its got to be a central defender for me. I don't know who is available but there has to be someone out there. I read somewhere Mark McGhee has drawn up a list of 50 possible loanees (probably not a proper word but hey it fits the bill) to beef up his Motherwell squad, hope ICT have something similar.

sorry but iam 99% sure we wont sign anyone in jan so why roll on jan? 99% sure, I'm intrigued, will there be no transfer activity come January then and if so why not???. Tell me more please. I'd agree with that not 99% but pretty sure there won't be any incomers unless there are a few out. Falling attendances and it may get worse so prudence is needed to protect the club financially. 11th place means SPL football again next season and we live to play again, the squad we have look like surviving so why spend in the current climate? 11th place is fine by me. Prudence is a desirable commodity at the moment in any walk of life never mind ICTFC. However a weak defence could kill us, we need to shore things up, we have had our defensive frailties exposed on more than one occassion this season so I don't share your confidence when you say "the squad we have look like surviving". We have already pruned the squad when Pattielainen was released and it looks likely that one other will go at the end of December so there should be cash available to bring in a new face.

sorry but iam 99% sure we wont sign anyone in jan so why roll on jan? 99% sure, I'm intrigued, will there be no transfer activity come January then and if so why not???. Tell me more please.

Roll on January and the transfer window. Time to find a central defender to beef things up.

TACTICAL NIGHTMARE. Forwards: Barrowman up front on his own was never going to work, he did'nt win a single ball and got nothing anywhere near the target. Hopefully we won't see him start for while after todays performance. Rooney and Woody where far more effective. Midfield: Usually our strong point but today it never got going. Why was Imrie playing if he had a bad back???. Russell Duncan just can't pass. Black , Cowie and Vigurs just never got it together. Giving Zanders 10 minutes was fruitless, I think he touched the ball once. Defence: Duffers is no right back, Barry Wilson would have been a better choice. Proc and Munro struggled to contain Daly, Conway and Robertson who all duly scored. I've said it before we need someone with experience in central defence, come January this has to be the priority. Esson; did'nt stand a chance the way the defence played, prefer Fraser as no 1.

Tactical nightmare today. Barrowman up front on his own was never going work, I don't think he won a single ball all day and did'nt get a single shot off. Hopefully this is the last we see of him for a while, Wood and Rooney up front from now on with Rory (YES RORY) as back up. Defence need to sharpen up a bit too but thats whole different topic.

Its Partick at home

Listening to the radio commentary on Saturday its sounds as though shooting practice is needed, may well be on the cards for the first team at training today!!!!. If we can perform like we did on Saturday the next two games could be very productive and boost our points tally. Would be delighted to see Woody find that little extra and find the net on a regular basis, he is not far away from cracking it.