bdu98196

Given that Brill, Doran, Foran were all injured very early on and we had to bring in a keeper in Williams and cover in many areas across the park - R.Williams, Fisher, Hughes even the signing of Vigurs - are these players that if we never had the problems would have been here this season? I'm pretty sure the club increased the budget and dug into the 'rainy day; fund to ease our injury woes, therefore a reduction of budget for next season may not be anything more than going back to 'normal' levels.

Agreed, yet fans still complain and wonder why we don't have budget to offer new deals and improved packages to players? Strangest of all is that he got the full 90mins against Hibs in the cup without playing any time before or after and he was far from our worst performer that night.

2228 according to BBC wherever they got that figure from. Looking around at the vast empty areas all over, I'm shocked it was as high as that - unless we are counting security, officials and the playing squad to up the numbers.

TBH, I fully expect DUtd to part company with Mixu as he has done nothing at the club and taken them backwards from even the Jackie position, there is no doubt they are going down and in that case I would think they will come north looking for a new manager - but which one would get offered the job or want it more.

From the talk on Sportscene last night they brought up the Tansey to Aberdeen talk again, so perhaps this isn't going away and with the McInnes comments regarding more steel and fight in midfield required in the Dons team, we already know he is a Draper admirer so this may have growing foundations. After yesterdays game, I am starting to wonder if there is a rift between the 'senior' players and the manager starting to develop too. As I put on the matchday thread the behaviour of Foran, Raven & Warren is interesting and we know that those guys along with Draper, Meekings, Tansey and Esson are pretty close and more so pivotal to the club.

3rd goal I enjoyed, shame so many fans got impatient within the first few passes, but I thought it was great and eventually what Yogi is trying has come off, sadly its not often enough. If that was a bigger club Sportscene would have showed all the passes in the move, not the last 2 - but then we got less highlights time that Rangers, so what can we expect. Some points from the game Anyone notice that Richie has the last few games sat outside the dugout, rather than in it alongside Hughes, also yesterday he was joined by Raven? Also anyone else see how after Kilie scored and we were returning to the centre to kick off that Richie ran over (from his seat) to kick the ball back, granted it was only a few yards infield from the touchline but seems an odd thing to do considering the 4th official and Rice were both closer - was that to make a statement? There was also the incident where Yogi was clearly having a real go at Warren, considering he lost his man once and performed pretty solid throughout compared to Devine - it seems odd. Clearly Warren wasn't happy at this and the touchline exchange looked quite heated. Reading too much into this or is there a rift opening up at our club with Foran (others) and Hughes?

If hes sacrificing 2 or 3 players like raven for someone quality up top, im expecting a quality striker coming in on record club salary. While we know up front its been light this season should we not be reducing holding and defensive midfielders instead of getting rid of our only natural right back. This all suggests he is keeping horner but more worrying who else will go.

Unlike the message from public enemy - they do believe the hype. We seem to suffer from managers having some success or taking the club forward with plaudits from media and peers then they seem to go off the rails and become ego maniacs. Rather than continue their initial philosophy and humility which brought success they become so hungry for more they end up destroying what they built or inherited to promote themselves further.

The Tokely and Munro situation was similar yet different, both were stalwarts and club legends who had given so much, but both were past their best and fading fast - it was never going to be an easy decision or time to move them on but had to be done. Raven however is still performing at the highest level and has consistently done so since arriving with probably another 2 years left at least.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36100893 Interesting approach that St J are increasing their player budget due to the arrival of a newly promoted club, seeing them as potential rivals. Given all the discussions of how qualification for Europe losses money for Scottish clubs, then to spend more to try maintain position seems odd. As a team similar in fan base and level to us, is this the right approach and will others do the same to keep up and try avoid the relegation battle? We saw before that clubs spending money they don't have such as Hearts, Rangers and Dundee - this may not be to the same level yet but to increase expenditure based on promotion of one club seems speculative at best. If others follow this, then ICT will find recruitment and retention even harder, personally I'd rather see our club maintain the philosophy of spending what we have and living within our means even if we end up with a weakened squad and potentially relegation battles - so long as we have a team that tries, plays the best they can and we see signs of development for the future, this has to be better than speculative spending and the potential issues that inevitably come with this?

All we hear from yogi is how hard it is to sign players and how low our budget is, lets hope this isnt a sign of all we can afford. I still expect yogi signings of vigurs, wedderburn, horner, mutumbo maybe even hughes and fisher to stay - none have been consitently high performers and might see staying as the best option for them. Whether thats best for the club to develop or maintain the status quo im not sure or excited about it.

Celtic will opt for Lambert or Lennon as both are out of work 'cheap' options, there will be stories of Rodgers, Monk, Moyes but its likely all 3 will be after jobs like Villa and will see opportunities for high profile championship or lower premiership clubs as a bigger draw than a fleeting European adventure followed by travelling to provincial Scottish grounds. Yogi - not a hope in hell of a job the profile of Celtic. If Hibs don't go up Stubbs might be out anyway but not sure Yogi would be high on that radar either. Sadly for Yogi I don't see many upwards steps available in Scottish football only sideways or backwards.

I would expect to start seeing more of Horner playing, JH seems to be keen to oust some of our key players over the last few seasons in favour of those he is bringing in whether better quality or not - similar to his match tactics he is becoming more stubborn in his approach at the club. Very disappointed to see DR leave, but really comes as no surprise - he has been a great player at RB and really made the position his own - I will be even more gutted if he goes to another SPFL club which I'd say looks probable. He will forever be remembered for running into the box and scoring the winning goal to get us to the Scottish cup final.

That makes no sense. The commentator is to remain impartial and unbiased, yet tailor their language to only praise the team doing well and not comment negatively on the opponent as this may affect future crowds? So to recap - they have to remain positive at all times even if one team is bobbins (hence lying) to try and emphasise the entertainment part as it may get fan numbers up - although this is not his role for any club as he is impartial so will have to mention all 42 senior clubs during every commentary?

Its unlikely, given that Yogi has a 2 years left on his contract, he hasn't had an awful season for the board to want to sack him and even if they did can we afford the compensation. That means he has to walk away and given the lack of other jobs out there he would be a fool to walk out of a regular job for 2 years, so unlikely as is another club coming in for him. The end of this season is a little flat, probably because we are mid table with nothing to really fight for, we are bottom 6 which isn't where we hoped to be, but fortunately far enough ahead that relegation is almost improbable. I think we all looked at the cup draw when we saw that if we beat hibs at home in the replay we could face a struggling DUtd side, that failed to materialise and I think for many we look at the high of last year and see this as a huge chance lost to get back to Hampden and given the semi opponents probably consecutive finals. Had the results been different I think the mood all round would be much more positive.

100% agree and in most business there is always a deadline and take it or leave it date. However the criticism of the board on here does not indicate that ICT taking a hard stance would go down well with a lot of fans, many believing that the club don't do enough as it is. If it became known as a club we were 'letting' key players leave without continually offering deals and discussions up until expiry of contract many would cite that the board just aren't trying and they both they and the manager should go etc.

"I’m keen to sort out my future as soon as possible and get it out of the way. It doesn’t play on my mind as it’s out of my hands. People who speak for me just need to sit down and sort it out," he said. That is exactly everything that's wrong with modern football, I'm all for some protection to ensure the players are not ripped off, exploited and remunerated fairly, but they should be involved or leading the discussions with the agent as a 3rd party IMO, not the primary party. Here we have a player keen to stay but that hinges on T&C's being sorted out by agents and club representatives, which if an agent its beneficial to drag this out as long as possible in order to keep the door open for counter offers. So perhaps all the fan criticism directed at the club and board is not all fair as their is a significantly influential additional party which has a different agenda to the club and player in many cases. Lets hope this gets resolved soon.

Which makes the one and only appearance when he started against Hibs in he cup even more bizarre, he hasn't featured even for a few mins as a sub since yet played 90 mins that night?

Who picks the days and times, only one 3pm Sat fixture out of 5?

Not sure what the point being made is? These are 2 players St J developed and sold. One went to the 2nd biggest club in Scotland with the 2nd biggest budget although in a lower league, much like Ryan Christie going to the biggest, the other went to an English Championship side like A.Shinnie, B.McKay (who we got a transfer fee for), Watkins did from us. Stevie Mays wages are so high that nobody in the SPFL could afford to take him back on loan last year. Players leave St J, ICT, D Utd and the others every season, but any club is lucky if 1 out of 10 commands a transfer fee - yes, it would be great if we sold Ryan for a higher fee and got money for the Shinnie's, Ross etc, but then how many other clubs all say the same about their talent. Buying clubs can look at what's on offer and if for example Adam Rooney is valued by Aberdeen at £1M, but Billy McKay is only £100k then they may see better value, prospect and opportunity with the cheaper deal - a club like ICT have to avoid pricing themselves out of the market when selling a player and ending up with them leaving for nothing - afterall if the player wants away they just run down the contract, nobody can force them to sign if they don't want, just the same as during the contract we cant sell them unless someone wants to buy them. Maybe this needs to be put into perspective - SPFL players (like ours) can leave for the English lower leagues where the clubs down there can afford the gamble of salaries many times our first team players for a reserve or prospect. Put really simply we have 29p so can buy a tin of Lidl beans in the hope they taste good, of we are lucky we may get some Tesco beans reduced on an offer, but we will never be able to afford Heinz and certainly not high end Harrods (unless out of date and past their best) - unless of course we decide to do without bread - only giving half a meal?

Preferred option Fon Williams Raven(Horner) Warren Meekings D.Williams Draper Tansey Roberts Polly Mutumbo Storey What I expect, given Hughes has frozen out Roberts and D.Williams it seems, possibly Raven too even if fit Fon Williams Meekings Warren Devine Tremarco Draper Tansey Polly Mutumbo Vigurs Storey

Agreed we need him back and put Meekings back to the CB position, however sadly I think Yogi may argue now that with it so close to end of season and Raven clearly not in his plans, he may want to continue with the defence as is giving more time in preparation for next year. Odds are we may never see Raven in an ICT shirt again, except for some kind of cameo prior to season end as a farewell - but I really hope that I'm very wrong on this as he is better than both Meekings and Horner at RB.

Without having any figures, I'd expect Hamilton to have the lowest budget in the league as they have the lowest average attendances and really struggle to get fans through the gate even more so than we do, then ICT followed by Partick/Kilmarnock and St J. One thing that might be more interesting is to define performance based on budget and we will probably find that over the last 5 years ST J come out on top as a team that consistently over-achieve based on investment and salaries.

Realism, is what we need now - we were lucky to have built up a great team on a small budget with the gamble of signing unproven players working and everything aligned and clicked with limited injuries, bits of luck like Meekings handball and our fans pulling down the Celtic players in the cup final, even the season before to come back and beat Hearts in the LC semi against the odds. Like many other smaller clubs who do well, we may look back and think - what if we'd kept that team together how far would they have gone, I bet hibs say the same about their early 2000's team before the OF picked off all the talent, or DUtd now they are staring relegation in the face compared to 18 months ago. As said we are a mid to lower SPFL team, where top league survival is the aim each season, but foremost we want to be entertained. If the team looses that should be accepted providing they show desire, work-rate, fight and at least try to entertain the fans - unfortunately this season there have been spells lacking in some of these areas. We now need to make the transition to Yogi's team, let him bring in who he can or wants and let those who want to move on do so. But it has to be remembered that we can only attract those who are in our budget and want to come to Inverness. Biggest disappointment this season is meekly loosing to Hibs in the SC QF, a team with poor form who cant pick up a win recently yet beating us on our own patch, this season ICT should have been back at hampden and with the draw we could have been looking at a final place. Sadly these occasions cannot be taken for granted, much like our SPFL status or the calibre of players at our club. Bigger, more well supported, higher budget and some may argue better clubs than us have been relegated recently and will be in the future, therefore we are not immune and its probably inevitable that unless our crowds grow and therefore budgets we will eventually stagnate or start to fall back with relegation at some point.

Andy Robertson moved to DUtd at 18 where a development fee was paid, where do you suggest ICT get that money from? We can't afford transfer fees, not even development. Additionally for every Robertson there is an Aiden connelly who moved in the same deal, where is he now, unable to make a struggling DUtd team - investments like this are a gamble and for and club with our limited finances not very viable.