Kingsmills

I believe that there may be merit in handing the armband to Ian Black for the reasons alluded to above. The added responsibility might just be the incentive he needs to finally grow and mature.

In my opinion the main problem with Caff is lack of recent consistent experience of the pace at SPL level. If Dods, as seems likely, has committed himself to Dundee United by then, Caff should be given an extended run in the team beside Munro from the split onwards assuming that relegation is no longer an issue. Even if he does prove himself between now and the end of the season we will still need to sign another experienced central defender before the start of the season whether that person is used as cover or in preference to Caff will depend on how they each shape up pre season.

Solemn

Dods is coming towards the end of his career. United are offering 50% more than our best offer together with the opportunity to work much closer to home.Who can blame him for accepting ? Nevertheless, we should still hold him to the remainder of his contract unless the grocer comes up with an offer of £1000,000 plus for him to go no.

Surely one of the most entertaining threads ever on the old site. "A police officer of rank".

I think that Joe Jordan would be a very capable Scotlan manager with Tommy Burns as his assistant to maintain continuity.

John (Leslie)

If Dargo has indicated to the club that he intends to go, what's wrong with preparing for next season by giving some preference to the forwards who will b here next season especially as we are now all but safe from relegation.

Mee

I continue to wonder whether, given that we are now all but certain to lose Dods, we should be going after Bobby Mann ourselves. He's only a year older than Dods and could probably do a job for t least one season in the SPL.

It appears from the Motherwell scenario that we were under no obligation to agree to a move to the sunday. I think that the three day rule is only hard and fast i relation to european matches played midweek. Have we been naive in not seeking to take maximum advantage of the situation like Motherwell have done by forcing Hibsto play 44 hours after what may be a taxing and tiring cup replay ? For what it's worth, my own view is that ICT have done the proper and decent thing by agreeing to the delay. Hopefully, one day we will be in a similar position nd our decency will be reciprocated. Ican't see Aberdeen being very accommodating the next time Motherwell are looking for a favour from them.

I believe that Caley D has a point but if we are to attract such players even in the short term CC has to stop implying in interviews that are a team of Highland League or third division size who have have wonderously found ourselves in the rarified heights of the SPL. Charlie's interview style is articulate and refreshing but these self effacing references to " a xclub of our size" are not only increasingly irritating but potentially damaging and self fulfilling.

I tend to agree with all that's been said. Even in the past our wage structure has not been as rigid as has often been suggested, while that was true of basic weekly or monthly salary the club have, in the past, created exceptions by paying, for instance, enhanced signing on fees by instalments together with other similar departurtures from the basic structure. It seems to me tht there is now a great deal more of this under the Savage regime for certain players that we are particularly keen to recruit or retain as well as a fairly healthy accross the board increase for the entire first team squad. Nevertheless, the club remain constrained overall in what we can offer players due to our relatively modest turnover but, unlike the majority of SPL clubs, be have no large burden of debt to service, as a result of which we have moved over the course of the last two and a half years from having far and away the smallest overall budget for players wages to being not far short of being able to compete on a level financal playing fied with the likes of St Mirren, Falkirk and Dunfermline. The longer we can retain our SPL status and grow the commercial side of the business the better we will be able to compete financially with other clubs in the league.

..... Could well be Seve Lovell. With things being so tight this season between fifth and eleventh places in the league the four points Mr Lovell has deprived us off with his two last gasp equalisers could well be costly indeed. These four points could easily end up costing us at least a couple of places in the league and the prize money that goes ith then. It's not beyond the realms of possibility that the four points will be the difference between a top or bottom six finish. In that case, taking the combination of additional prize money and gate money we might lose into account, Lovell's last gasp efforts could well cost ICT £200,000. The next time that we take the lead against Aberdeen late on in the match it's essential that someone is assigned to the essential tas of breaking the bstw*rd's leg !

Gone

I believe that Buchanan will probably still sign as a free agent in the summer although, because of his age, we will still have to pay Cowdenbeath some modest compensation.

Word has it that Williamson is the cheap option with Elgin being unwilling, or indeed unable, to match the wage demands of the other candidates including Iain Stewart despite these demands being relatively modest. In fact, as I understand it, Iain has signed a playing contract with Inverurie Locos for not much less than he would have been prepared to accept from Elgin for the position of player manager. The purse strings must be very tight indeed these days on the banks of the Lossie.

Same information in the P&J. He could be a very useful squad player.

Denzil was fully committed all right but it was common knowlege at the time that he'd committed himself to Hearts.

The great advantage that we will have is that Aberdeen had a very hard work out on a heavy pitch less than three days before our match with them in contrast to our strolling to a win a full week beforehand on what looked like a good surface at Forthbank. They will not be fully recovered by saturday and will, in all probability, not be fully focused on the league match with th cup replay next week. We should take full dvantage by plying the game at as high a tempo as we can manage with a view to sapping their stamina. I feel that our first win againt the Dons is o the horizon.

Imagine beating Rangers and being relegated in the same season. That said, I'd rather the fate befell the Pars rather than ourselves.

Champagne

Good decision by CC.

Only a matter of time before he's off to Ibrox then. I wouldn't mind seeing Mcleish as Scotland manager although I'd far prefer George Burley.

I tend to agree, if Mak leaves it will be about increasing his salary rather than anything else. There's nothing wrong with that, he's beenm a good servant and we're all entitled to maimise our income but he should be honest about it.