DoofersDad

Two minutes after the announcement that Terry is staying and Dougal posts another boring anti-merger tirade! Why am I not surprised?

And a commitment to stay to the end of his contract. Great news indeed!

I thought Terry's faithful pooch was an Irish Terrier called Richie.

There's a nice pre merger programme for sale on eBay of the January 1994 league meeting between Caley and Thistle. The starting price was set at 50p and such is the fanaticism of all the hordes that could never reconcile themselves to the merger that the bidding war has caused the current price to soar to - er - 50p. Actually, joking aside, this might be an interesting item to have. Presumably this must have been one of the last matches to have been played between the two sides before they merged and therefore an interesting item for all fans, whether supporters of the merger or not.

They were happy it was only 4.

:frustrated01: :frustrated01: :frustrated01: At least Terry won't have to put up with all this nonsense in Barsnley. No wonder he wants out.

By the time there's a vacancy Richie will be too old to still be playing.

Of course, the more interest there is in him and the more he makes it appear that he's open to offers elsewhere, the more bargaining power he will have in negotiating better terms for an extension of his contract here.

For the reasons I gave in post 27 I think Terry would be mad to leave. But as things have developed somewhat since I wrote that, I'll add another little thought. As others have said, it's a choice of money or glory because there is no way on earth that Barnsley are ever getting into the Premier league. So if he leaves, it will be for the money. But in my view, a move to Barnsley motivated by money would actually demonstrate a major lack of belief in his own abilities. Let's be honest, he hasn't actually achieved a great deal as a manager. Yes, he's been a relative success here but we have still not reached a major cup final or finished in the top six. Current interest in him is about what he might achieve - we are 2nd in the league and in both cups, but we've won nothing yet. By the end of the season we might be bottom 6 and not have progressed beyond a cup semi-final - in which case other clubs will soon lose interest. On the other hand, if we maintain our 2nd place in the league and win one of the cups then that will be a tremendous achievement and Terry will suddenly become very marketable indeed. If that were to happen Terry could expect to attract interest from bigger clubs than Barnsley offering considerably more they they could. So if money is the motive, why go now? If Terry is in it for the money (which I don't actually believe) then he should wait to the end of the season when he's actually achieved something. If he goes now then that would suggest to me that he has no belief in his ability to lead ICT to success this season. If that is the case, then Barnsley is actually quite an attractive option as he could blame failure and relegation on what's gone before and basic survival can be viewed as success. If he has any ambition and faith in his own abilities, he'll stay.

Now on the BBC site as well http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20934863 Come on Terry - a quick statement to say you're going nowhere, please.

Barnsley is also a lot closer to Chorley and access to the psychological advice Terry relies so heavily on these days.

Caley 100 answered that in an earlier post. It was his brother, Bianco. A lovely man who made "fudge" that tasted just like I remember my grandmother making 50 years ago. I blame her for the state of my teeth today.

2nd in the table at the end of the year! Now where have I heard that before? I have to say it is absolutely right that Renegade's excellent post is a clear winner in the chart. Voting "no" and getting rid of Rangers was the most important topic of the year. Not only was voting "no" the right thing to do but it has been the best thing that could have happened for this club and for the Scottish football in general. Despite the dire warnings from officialdom that the SPL could not survive without Rangers, we are currently seeing the most open and exciting season in SPL history. The fact that fans expressed their views so forcefully on this matter was an important factor in how things turned out.

I can't see any sense in Terry wanting to go to pastures new. Sure he might be offered more money at the likes of Barnsley but would he end up with more and is that really what he wants in any case? If he wants to stay, I am pretty sure his future is secure here for some time to come, during which time he will be on a good wage. He may be able to earn more elsewhere but that could be pretty short term and unless he produced positive improvements, he could soon find himself out of a job again and unable to command the same sort of salary in another post. In any case, at his age and with his background and other interests he should be financially very secure by now. My feeling is that the money isn't actually that important to him as long as he has enough to live comfortably (which he has). He likes to be in the limelight and I am sure he would love to win a national trophy and manage a team in Europe. He won't get that at Barnsley, or Wolves or any other Championship side but he may well get that at Inverness. And being associated with a team that is challenging for those honours (albeit in a far less competitive league than in England) he maintains a higher profile for his wider interests. If he achieves success here, then he will be in the shop window for a seriously bigger club and I wouldn't blame him then for moving on and trying his hand at the top level before he retires. But to move to a championship side at his time of life just makes no sense. If he wants to win something then he needs to stay here.

Yes. There's 4,000 seats in it.

"Soil was excavated and regraded to improve root growth and improve drainage". In other words they've raked the soil and haven't actually put any drainage in. The turnips should be good though.

Pork followed by porkies.

Seems like a no brainer to me. The ground is saturated and heavy rain is forecast for tomorrow morning. It would be far worse to delay a decision and then end up calling it off late as they did against Hearts. It is, of course, the only way County would be able to stop us remaining in second place at the end of tomorrow but it is without doubt the correct decision.

They can cope with the Reindeer - it's the sh*t on the park that's the problem. Seriously though I think the game could be in doubt. They have, in fact, made significant improvements to the drainage without which they would have barely played a game at the Global Energy Swamp all season. In previous years they have had a number of postponements but the amount of rain we have had this year is signifcantly more. The ground is saturated and the water table is high so there is really nowhere for any more water to go - and the forecast does not look good. A bit of a respite on tuesday but with more rain forecast for Wednesday morning we could end up with a pretty similar scenario to the Hearts game. If it does go ahead the ground conditions will favour their hoof ball tactics and the tightness of the ground will also be in their favour. It will be hard for our more skillful players to put together the smooth silky football they have been playing elsewhere. It will be a hard game and we need 100% effort if we are to win this. Our cause has also not been helped by the fact that they had a little rest on Saturday and will be fresher . I'll be happy with a point from this - if it takes place on Wednesday.

The police should spend their time catching criminals. Billions is lost to the public purse (which pays their wages) through tax evasion and benefit fraud and they would be far better employed chasing those people rather than persecuting honest fans enjoying a bit of banter I suspect this is just a bit of a ruse to allow a few of the boys in blue to get free admission to a good game of footy.

I read the title as Offensive Signing. Thought it was another thread about Ross Tokely

This all seater stadia farce is just symptomatic of the twisted values and priorities in modern society. There is no commonsense in the corridors of power. Sitting at football matches is just wrong. It's like going to the bloody theatre where you sit in silence and then applaud at the end. It destroys spontaneity and has killed the atmosphere in the game. We all know the reason for it but it is like taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut. The Hillsborough tragedy was not caused by the standing areas per se. It was caused by a variety of factors all of which are capable of being managed out of the system in order to prevent any repetitions. Within the general design of an old fashioned standing terrace there is no reason why there can't be more crush barriers to reduce any surge, there is no reason why grounds can't be subject to inspection to ensure barriers remain fit for purpose, there is no reason why there cannot be systems to restrict the numbers allowed into any area (modern turnstile technology for example). Actions can be taken to prevent fans trying to access grounds without tickets or trying to enter grounds when under the influence of drink or drugs. Severe sanctions can be taken against clubs and police forces who fail to have proper management plans for dealing with crowds. In other words, the lessons of Hillsborough and elsewhere where more minor incidents have occurred should be learnt and commonsense allowed to prevail.

Adams may be interested, Butcher won't be.

I wouldn't be too concerned at yesterday's crowd against the league's bottom club. It was a foul day and the Saturday before Christmas. Aberdeen's crowd against St. J was just 7051, by far their lowest league gate of the season and over 1700 less than against Kilmarnock last week. The way the team are playing I am sure our crowds will pick up again - maybe not as much as we would like but there's no need to panic.

Wunderbar!