rinomac

Yes, Burley may be staying and I can see the logic in the decision, but I think it's time there is a complete overhaul at the SFA - starting with that muppet George Peat who doesn't seem to know when to keep his mouth shut. For us to have any chance in the next campaign, we need our team, management team, SFA and fans to be pulling in the right direction. Not people all backstabbing each other like Peat, Ferguson, McGregor et al.

Apart from Ross County, no one really. It would have been really easy to answer in the SPL as there are several teams there that I really don't like - the Old Firm, Aberdeen, Falkirk..... As for going back up? This is a very tight league and I don't think that the team who wins it will win by very much. I reckon it will come down to ourselves, Dundee and Dunfermline. I wasn't at the Partick game so I don't really know if they will be challenging us or not.

He is a professional footballer for a big club and he has to realise that he is supposed to be a role model and he can't go behaving like that. He just shouldn't be running the length of the pitch to the opposing fans. As it has been said, if it was an Old Firm match he there would have been a riot. And then his stamp on van Persie. He knew exactly what he was doing and he should be absolutely hammered. If it was me, I'd give him a months ban for the stamp alone and then another 2 months for inciting the Arsenal fans. Idiot.

So glad we got through that. Is it just me, or are penalty shoot-outs awful to listen to on the radio! At half-time the commentators and Richard Gordon were singing the praises of our team, which I thought was very unusual because they don't normally bother with any team north of Stirling. Next round I would like Annan and then save County for the final!

Apparently we are going to try and appeal it as mistaken identity, but if that's the case, I think the booking was intended for Brown, and then he would have been sent off and suspended for the Holland game. Anyway, second half was probably the best performance under Burley and it gives the nation hope. I reckon the journey home from Glasgow on Wednesday night is more than likely going to be like the one home after the Italy game. But you never know....

With relegation, there were bound to be cuts in budget, reduced playing squad etc. Butcher has therefore had to build a relatively new team - something which we aren't used to at ICT. Also, the First Division is not called the hardest league to get out of for no reason. Anyone thinking that we were going to walk this league was dreaming. St Johnstone were promoted last season having drawn something like 14 games. When Hibs bounced back up straight away when they were relegated, in the first round of matches, they didn't win many points as all the other teams were out to prove a point to the relegated SPL side and show them that they didn't have any right to just walk away with the league. Since Dundee are the league favourites, we don't have as much pressure as Hibs did in the first round of matches but teams will still want to prove themselves against us. I think we should all give Butcher and Malpas to Christmas at least, if not the end of the season, because we don't have the money to get rid of them and with the financial restrictions that most teams in Scottish football have to deal with, we are probably not going to do much better. I'm hoping that the County game was just a blip and we can kick on from there. We are known for our horrendous starts to seasons, but we have only lost one game this year! Teams like ourselves and Falkirk will probably never be more than yo-yo teams with years split between the First and the SPL, and an occasional cup run to celebrate.

I think Butcher subbed him last night to keep him fresh for the County game. He could certainly turn out to be one of our best players this season. As he says, I think he just needs a goal in the league to get him going. One this weekend would be a good start. :024:

Can't wait for this game! I reckon it will be the same team as at Dundee. I'm just gutted that Tokely isn't back for this one as I'm not the biggest fan of Proctor. I would play Eagle from the start - he seemed to play better against Dundee, so maybe it's a fitness thing, but McBain should come on at some point in the second half.

One of the best games I've been at in a while. End to end stuff, with a draw probably just about a fair result, although if anyone was going to sneak it, it was us. Foran and Sanchez really seemed to understand each other having played a few games together and Cox was immense again. Hayes also did well and I know that Eagle gets some stick, but I thought he was better on Saturday too, even having a shot cleared off the line. Great atmosphere once again from our fans - the Dundee fans were terrible considering how many of them there were compared to us. As said before, Dundee didn't look too good at the back and we looked capable of scoring every time we went forward. Cox really should have scored when he was through on Bullock. It's all looking good for the season as it shows that we can more than match Dundee and our players should take confidence from that.

Either Butcher or Malpas said that Tokely would be playing to give him a bit of match practice.

Me plus any from 0-3. Should be a good game and I hope we can take the three points, but a draw would do for me right now.

And another scary thing is that before the Jamaican relay team won gold in Beijing, instead of training, they went for a McDonalds!

I have to agree. Even in the second half against Dunfermline when things weren't going so well, our fans were still behind the team. It must make a difference to the players, psychologically. I know we don't play the most beautiful football at times, but we still have to get behind them and try to lift them. It showed at Dunfermline where they kept going, defended for their lives and ended up getting the winning goal.

Last year, Saint Johnstone won the league having drawn 14 games. Ayr drew last weekend with Partick, I think? It just shows you how tough this league is. We had a relatively new team out there on Sunday, with only 5 players starting who were playing last year, and I think they will need time to get to know each other. The booing was a bit excessive in our first home game of the season. Ayr came for the draw and they got away with it. As has been said on another thread, we play better away from home as teams will come to TCS to sit in and we just don't have the cutting edge to break them down at times. Away from home, teams let us play, the game is a lot more open and we can play our counter-attacking football that won us so many points in the SPL. We were just lucky this weekend that all the other results went our way.

That's exactly how I felt! Was a really good game to be at - good atmosphere from our fans, we played well in the first half and Rooney missed loads of good chances. Barrowman will be proud of him. Second half, Dunfermline had the upper hand, but we still had a chance or two. Graham Bayne was their main man, winning a lot in the air and at the centre of most of their chances. As for our goal, I really don't care if Lee Cox's goal took ten deflections, we got a very good three points. I think he is going to turn out to be a very, very good player for us.

What really annoyed me was that the vast majority of our fans were moaning at our long ball tactics, but when our midfield played it back to the defence so we could build from the back (rather than lumping it to the forwards and losing it again) they moaned at that too. That is probably one of the first times that team has played together, and to be honest, we have never been known to start a season very well!

Yeh what happened to relegation costing clubs over ?1.5 million! I have to say that our squad is starting to look like it has a lot more depth now. Not sure about the right side of midfield though.

Hamilton have lost a few players and are losing offiong and thomas as well so unless they replace them, then I think it will be them. I think it will end up being a bit of a scrap again with Falkirk, Hamilton and St Mirren.

Russell Duncan knows what it is like to play in the First Division so I don't think we will miss Kerr all that much. As has been pointed out, it's a replacement for Black that we need. With the amount of signings that Dundee are trying to make or have already made, you just wonder if Kerr will even get a game. I hope not, but if he does, I hope that the bad luck that has fallen to others who left us, follows him too. :022: A mate of mine who is a Dundee fan doesn't seem too bothered when I mention Gretna and Livingston to him. He just says that it is some random investor's money. We will wait and see what he says when this investor gets bored, turns his back on them and then they are left with a lot of players on unsustainable contracts.

Foran said he is waiting to decide on what to do. I reckon he is probably waiting to see if any bigger clubs come in for him, other than Falkirk and St Johnstone. Aberdeen were interested in him at the start of last season, but since they are now managerless that has probably put a dent in his hopes of moving to a bigger club. Both him and Kerr have had their careers rescued by Butcher, twice in Foran's case. They should think long and hard about going anywhere else.

I thought that Butcher never ever gave Vigurs a chance. Against Hearts at Tynecastle, just after Brewster was sacked, he played very well. Then when Butcher came in he brought in his own players (Kerr, Foran etc.) and played them, which is fair enough. But Vigurs wasn't even making the bench for most of the games. Whoever took the decision has made a very poor on indeed. Not so much with Wood, but Vigurs. He could have been a great player for us in the First Division with Black having left. If Butcher and the Board were banking on players like Foran, Morais and Kerr to sign for us, then I think they got it very wrong.

WE 8 BREW? :024:

So how did we get him??? :( Foran couldn't really afford to be fussy when Butcher got him in January as he wasn't exactly doing stunningly well at his last club. I think Kerr wasn't bad for us. He got stuck in and did the sort of job that Russell Duncan did, but Kerr did it better. If he leaves, along with Black already gone, then there is going to be a gaping hole in our midfield for next season.

Before the game on Saturday, I said that I could take being relegated (but only just), but not if it was thanks to another debatable decision from a referee against Falkirk AGAIN! :(

A Dundee mate of mine says that they are interested in Kerr and Foran. Since they have money to burn and the two are out of contract, I think they would go if offered more money. Aberdeen wanted Foran at the start of the season but couldn't match his wage demands - could they come back in for him? Who knows. We will have to wait and see.