nogbad the bad

Best thing about his game yesterday was the change in attitude. All of a sudden he has found his voice and was shouting at his defenders all afternoon. Lots of 'leave its' ,'keepers', etc, and loads of advice to them to move up quickly and pointing to areas needing cover. Plus, he seemed more ready to come to the edge of the six yard box and beyond to gather and challange for balls( He also gave a withering glance to someone in the home support in the 1st half who shouted something or other....neer chilled me to the bone it did) . I get the impression he's been given a bit of a blast from the management too.

Umm! Is'nt there a little 'rose tinted glasses' going on here. Yes, from the limited highlights it appears we had a few good moves and several decent attempts on goal, but please, they tore us apart down the flanks and they only ever looked in second gear. From what I could gather our defence was not unlucky it was awful and unless we sort that aspect out PDQ, we will be leaking goals against the likes of Gretna and Falkirk let alone Celtic.

Can I suggest in future, for anyone watching an Engand game on t.v, that you turn down the sound, tune in to Radio 5 Live, and listen to Alan Green's ( Northern Irish, Bigoted, near r-cist ) commentaries. He relentlesly savages the English team , even if they play brilliantly... and there is only ever one great English performer....Gerrard. By the way ... Green is a liverpool fan

I dont quite get this, Brewster player/Brewster manager, percentage wins bit. Brewster before and even now at 41 years old is still one of the best target men/goal scorers in Scottish football( and that doesn't say a lot for our football I'm sorry to say). So, naturally, when he plays , a team has a much better chance of winning than when he is replaced , due to tiredness or suspension or whatever, by a player not even half as good as him.It has nothing to do with how good or bad a manager he may be. Surely this is a no brainer.

Surely its not just Dods. Don,t forget we have lost the whole heart of last years team......Brown, Dods, Wilson ?, and Dargo. It will take time to settle the team down and for replacements to fit in..but time will start running out soon. There is still the basis of a good team there waiting to shine....time for Charlie and Donald to earn their money and bring it about.

It's pretty much like this every year. The players seem to be resting on their laurels of the previous season ie, the relative success of staying in the Premier league. It takes one or two games to get up to speed and for the guys to remember what got them there in the 1st place; hard work, fitness and 100% for 90 minutes ( and also encouragement and close teamwork and perhaps a smidgeon of skill) Don't worry , all this will return soon (apart from the skill perhaps), there is no way these boys want to or will be playing in Div 1 next season. My only real worry, like some others, is Stuart MacAffrey at centre half, a great trier and loyal servant and nice guy, but I,ve never considered him good enough at this level........good cover for injuries and suspensions, but we need a tall powerful centre in this type of football and league and then Grant can carry on playing his more accustomed sweeperish type role from the left side.

According to most sources he's defo playing for the next 2 or 3 weeks. Personally I hope he plays great and puts real pressusre on Borucs place in the team. He's a top keeper who served us well and did as much as anyone to keep us in the Spl for 3 years. Good luck Mark.

Mugged Old Gobbo in the town sunday night and persuaded him to part with the dosh.....on its way.

Blimey! Talk about Cinderella and the two ugly sisters......although it appears this time cinders got to the ball first.

" Turning up on time skills"? Is this what it's come to?

Well if that is true Alex, good luck to mark as their no 1, I dont wish him totally ill or anything like it.......but can you really see him as their 1st choice keeper, isn't it far more likely that Craig Gordon will troll on over from Tynecastle for a couple of million and take that position.

Craig Gordon and MacGregor, Scotlands 1st team 1 and 2, last nights B international keepers, Gallacher and Langfield. That makes Mark at most, No 5 in the country and with 2 years of reserve team football and sitting on the bench to come. Yeah, moving to Celtic is really going to improve your international opportunities. Enjoy counting your money, Mark.

The last 6 months of Browns tenure in our goal, saw him, in my view become the 2nd or 3rd keeper in scotland. A genuine top class keeper, great shot stopper, improved his kicking to better than competent, at last gained control of his 6 yard box in the air, great reading of the ball into the area ( whether to stay or come out quickly for the ball) and at last a sound overall understanding with his defence, We wont discuss saving penalties. All this took 4 years to achieve, 3 in the Spl. The times when he went on bad runs of form, noone got too concerned by, because we knew he had bags of talent that had only to be refined over time . A goalkeeper as much as, maybe even more than any other position needs plenty of time to gain experience and mature. I believe it is often said that a keeper doesn't hit his peak years until between 30-35 years old. Mike Fraser is young, has bundles of natural talent, is full of self belief and confidence and has played 4, yes thats 4, games of senior Scottish football. I suggest we all just sit back and relax and enjoy the journey and rise of one of the best young keepers in the country.

If all this is true, really looking forward to seeing Mike Fraser play in goal sunday. Things change, a new era beckons, keep the faith and keep supporting. For those still bitter, dont worry, the curse will kick in,it always does. Big reception in order for Mike on Sunday for his first game as No1 keeper.

I too have often thought about and mentioned on here over the last few years the possibillities for Ross to move inside to centre half after 8 years at right back. You dont have many 6' 3'' 14 stone fullbacks playing pro football at this level and when they do they are usually centre halfs in waiting , learning the game from a different perspective. I know he is a bit slow ( so was Bobby) and can be cumbersome with the odd penalty inducing tackle, but he is strong, dominant in the air, reads the game well and can play football and distribute as well as any of our defenders. Maybe the management could give him a run out in the reserves against a decent reserve side like Rangers or Celtic and see how he shows up. Having said all that, I cant believe that our various managers over the years havent considered this option, so maybe its already been decided long ago that he just wouldn't cut it in central defence. As for Richard Hastings moving inside, for Gawds sake, leave it out..... .... there was a time a few years back when Richard's ego got the better of him and he started to believe he was one of the best footballers in Britain, who could play for anyone , anywhere up to international standard.....he wa wrong! He is now back in his natural and by far best position playing to a high standard, in fact at present he is probably one of the best left backs in the Spl ( despite what Sponge says).......leave him there.

I dont often get to away games but that 1999 stirling match was one I did make. It was made memorable I think by the debut of Bobby Mann, and I remember thinking at the timel, at last, a proper footballing centre half, we will go far with him. He was the best player on the pitch, read the game beautifully, showed great composure on the ball and distributed superbly...it was from that moment on we started to make real progress as I recall. What has happened to him now, he doesn't seem to even get on the Dundee bench these days, or is he a long term injury?

Surely in these situations, isn't it always the club caretaker who takes over the reins!

P&J has Gallacher as playing entire game and making the best save of the match in the second half. Some mistake surely? BBC Scotand commentary team also said there were at least to representatives from english clubs over there looking at Brown. There may be trouble ahead.....

2-3 weeks ago when Rangers first released said player, I posted here with the contention that perhaps, money , location and fitness not withstanding he might be an ideal replacement for Dods next season. I wouldn't say I was laughed out of court but the general opinion was that I was dreaming. 3 weeks later we find Marvin signing a 3 year contract with Raith!!! for goodness sake. Now I know he used to play there when he first came to Scotland and maybe still has many friends and contacts there, but surely he could do better than that....like us. I would be very dissapointed if I heard that ICT didn't even make tentative enquiries about him at the time of his release because if so we may have missed an opportunity of signing a quality replacement central defender.

Don't know why everyone expects there to be a big noise from the main stand. In my experience a bit of cheering , moaning and clapping is all you get from main stands around the whole country, heard the deafening silence from Old Trafford lately. There may be the odd exception like Celtic or Rangers but in general you always expect the main vocal support to come from behind the goals, and thats the same with us............on occasions.

I see Rangers have let Marvin Andrews go.....always been impressed with him since his Raith days.....would he be a good replacement for Dods, or is his leg too dodgy, or are his wages too high, or would he not want to go this far north......or all three?

You once new me as 'gobbo'. New site, new name, but same £10 for granty. Will probably get to you through 'Sponge'.

Hold on a mo......stuff Charles Kennedy. How about our own ex MP Dave Stewart, a sort of celeb and for once a true Caley Thistle supporting politician seen frequently at home and away matches , now and when he was in parliament, top man, also often in the caley thistle club after games.I'll doubt you will get anything like the same interest or commitment from the latest lib dem t*sser of an excuse for an MP. Ex Cambridge git, all rugger and rowing don't you know, I doubt he'll be seen dead at the Caledonian stadium unless we reach a final and it suits his image to be seen there.

We still need all these type of experienced players, either playing or on the bench or just in the squad so we have big fairly high quality group of players to choose from and to cover for suspensions or injuries. If we cut any slack it will probably be from the younger quotient who look as if they may not be up to it or from our overstocked midfield ( Fox anyone?)