DoofersDad

If he's 28 then at least Warren shouldn't be a complete rabbit

I fear there is more chance of the current management naming the South stand the Ross County Stand.

I have to agree with 12th Man here. A lot of people are far from happy with what is happening at the club at the moment. Nobody is disputing that a lot of people are working hard for the club, indeed, their efforts are greatly appreciated but people have opinions and have every right to express them. Of course, a forum such as this will always have a small minority who are deliberately contrary but increasingly we are seeing folk who are the bread and butter loyal supporters of this club expressing significant concerns about a number of issues. When that happens the club should sit up and take notice. The club cannot afford to lose its support and therefore needs to understand their concerns. It may be that some of the concerns are unfounded and criticisms based on a misunderstanding of the facts. In that case, the club should enlighten us. CD says "all others can do is sit behind a keyboard, criticize and do feck all but leave those who are trying with a feeling of "why bother?". Those of us who sit behind a keyboard are not doing "feck all", we are offering opinions and making our views known. Those who sit behind a keyboard are also, by and large, fans who give concrete support to the club by paying week in and week out for a product which, quite frankly, is somewhat overpriced for the quality provided at the moment. Far better to do that than keep our opinions to ourselves and simply stop watching the team. And "why bother?" Because it is clear that those who are expressing concerns (or making criticisms if you prefer) are doing so becaue they care about the club and demonstrating that they do by taking the time to get behind a keyboard and tell you. Also, as far as paid staff are concerned, I expect them to "bother" because we , the paying public, pay their wages.

Returning to the field with a bandage round his head after a head knock at Tynecastle a couple of years ago and a supporter starting the chant "there's only 2 Terry Butchers"! Sadly such "oneness" with the manager seems somewhat distant now.

Mmmm. I wonder what the size of cut Foran had to take with his new contract? The other interesting thing about Foran's early contract deal is that as the captain with a new contract, he should surely have been central to working with his team mates in persuading them to stay. One assumes that the manager wanted all the players offered new contracts to stay (except Tokely, of course) so this sorry saga doesn't seem to say a lot for the persuasive powers of the captain.

That to me sounds like Butcher wanted him gone. It certainly does. Of course there comes a time when people have to move on, but if the manager believes that a player has reached that stage he should release the player and acknowledge the contribution the player has made to the club. This is particulary true in Roscoe's case because nobody has ever made a greater contribution to this club. To force the player to leave by offering a derisory deal and then telling him by text rather than a face to face meeting that there would be no better deal is both cowardly and shameful. He has chosen this route because he did not want the same hue and cry that releasing Munro created. His inability to man manage is demonstrated by yet another major misjudgement both of his assessment of a player and how to deal with the situation.

Absolutely right. Attendances in England are generally keeping up and in many cases improving. People would turn up if the product was right. Of course, there have been times when ICT have played attractive stuff under Butcher but in general it has been pretty grim stuff and many fans have been voting with their feet. There has been plenty discussion on this forum about the quality of football on show this season. Part of that may be the calibre of the player we can afford but it is also down to tactics. It is Butcher who stopped Tokely going on his rampaging runs up the park and Butcher who stopped Munro using his long throw. And, yes, I know we got caught out from time to time when the guys did that but we enjoyed watching it and Tokely's scoring record perhaps suggests the tactic paid off more often than we got caught out. I still feel that Butcher has done quite well results wise since he's been here so he must be doing something right. Unfortunately, he is also getting a lot wrong. The coming season will be make or break time for the manager. It will be his 4th season with his team and it will be fair to judge him on how we do both in terms of results and the entertainment value provided. There are some who expect top six but to my mind that is unrealistic. I think finishing no worse than 9th would be a realistic expectation of where we would expect to be with a manager in his 4th year but frankly I will be both surprised and delighted if we achieve that. Looking at the way last season went and how the closed season is progressing I'll happily settle for 11th and really don't care whether County finish above us or not. We must be favourites for the drop. Come on Terry, prove me wrong!

I agree. I doubt we will ever see his like again. I remember thinking when we first won promotion that he would struggle at the higher level but each time the club took a step forward, Ross rose to the challenge and worked ever harder and harder and strengthened the various aspects of his game. I am really sad to see him leave because over the last few games of the season I think he proved he was still one of the best players at the club and had at least one more year in him as a first choice defender. That is not sentimentality - it's based on watching a real pro go about his craft. His record number of appearences will never be beaten and I very much doubt that any player will ever show the same level of committment and passion for the club. He epitomises everything good about the rise of the club from a new club finding it's first tentative way in the 3rd division to becoming an established SPL team. If we can't name the stand after Ross, we will never be able to name it after any other player.

At least someone else has signed a contract - and it's a 2 year deal at that! But I would much rather have kept Hayes, Tansey, Tokely, or Tade than MacKay. He's not a bad little player and might do well at a lower level but I remain to be convinced that he is SPL standard and his strike rate needs to improve dramatically. At least that's the high ball into the box tactic confirmed again for next season. I'm in a funny mood tonight - I wonder why? Better sign off and go take my Prozac.

:rotflmao: More chance of ICT winning the SPL.

Any thoughts for the January transfer window?

It's pathetic. Those who have not signed clearly don't want to be here. If they do sign it will only be because nobody gave them a better offer. If what Kenny Cameron said is true that good progress is being made with identifying replacements then there would be no need to give those who haven't signed more time. It is noticable that other clubs are signing players who were with us last year and who we wanted to keep but there is nobody new who wants to sign for us. There is no evidence that there are players lining up to come North. Extending the deadline tells the world we have nodoby lined up and that we are desparate. I know Terry has unearthed some good players in the past and he may manage to again but the signs are not good at the moment. I will be surprised if we end up with a squad as good as we had last year and I think most will agree that we actually need a squad that is better. So, in response to another thread, yes, I'm worried.

Heard on the radio today that the administrators are saying that the club has sufficient funds to recommence paying full wages to the higher paid players who earlier agreed a wage cut to help the club. If those funds are available then why are they not paying their creditors?

If his signing for Aberdeen is dependent on a medicial after his holiday rather than before then there's a fair chance he'll not be signing.

It's good Charles, but surely it starts "Ex Gers stopper"!

There is no reason why they should hurry. If the offer is on the table until a specific deadline then why rush to sign if there might be a better offer from elsewhere coming in before the deadline? Still, you're probably right!

I think a crucial point is being missed here. Whilst the rules would stop Rangers taking the SFA to court to argue against what it might feel to be an unfair application of a power that the SFA actually have, it is surely right for Rangers or any other team to challenge the SFA in the court when the SFA have acted outwith their remit. I assume the court took this view too as otherwise they would have thrown the case out as being outwith their jurisdiction. It is analagous to employment contracts where your terms of employment may preclude you having any legal representation in disputes with the employer over terms and condidtions but you would have every right to challenge your employer in the courts if you felt that what they were imposing was contrary to employment legislation. Having said that, I would have thought that both the SFA and FIFA would take a dim view of the approach Rangers took. Regardless of the legal nicities here, there is a clear expectation that representation to the judicial panel would be the first line of approach and only when that failed would legal action be considered appropriate. I must confess that I have not followed this in detail and apologies if Rangers did actually try the judicial panel first. I am sure Caley D will keep me right on that.

Other players past and present have parents as well. IHE could get a job at the Sun putting 2 and 2 together like that and getting anything but 4

I wonder if Rangers have shot themselves in the foot here. The SFA were saying that the seriousness of the offence warranted more than a fine but they were loathe to take action which would stop Rangers playing. If the imposition of a transfer embargo is now deemed to be illegal then the SFA may now revisit this and impose a suspension. This, or even expulsion is surely now more likely with the added pressure from FIFA. I always thought that the transfer ban was a blessing in disguise for Rangers. They have a number of talented youngsters in the side and whilst they would be unlikely to challenge at the top this would be a real opportunity to bring the youngsters into first team action and bring them on. This would be an investment for the future and the source of potential transfer income in the coming years. Whatever happens now there will be less to keep the youngsters at Ibrox. When the book of all this gets written it's going to be longer than War and Peace. More like the Bible I guess. An old testament and a new testament, most of it unbelievable but with revalations at the end.

The Sun! Where's the 'spit' smiley gone ! Aye fair do's, I had a nagging unease that if I posted that, somebody would respond as you did. You'd think with 30+ years in the classroom I would know better! All the same if you hear the same pattern of anecdote from different parents you do start to wonder.... Put it this way, I don't think our Tel subscribes to the 'democratic' school of management..... Not a criticism, just an observation. I think you may well be right. I've heard similar from another parent. What you were told may well be just as it is but it's not the sort of evidence that will hold up in a court of law.

One thing about supporting a wee club like ICT is, if you go to enough games, you end up having a pint or two with people like the parents of the players..... And since when have offspring always been completely honest with their parents when things are not going so well at work? And since when have parents not defended their offspring against any criticism and then painted a far rosier picture of the reality of the situation. Hearing something from the mouths of parents is similar in reliability to reading it in the Sun in my book.

Took the words right out of Terry's mouth. Good luck to all. Sounds like a great idea for a good cause.

Speaking as an Englishman, I think CC sums it up well. I like the Olympics but I don't like the same things CC doesn't like. I do think some people underestimate the value of hosting the olympics. I am sure it will increase the interest of a lot of youngsters in a variety of sports and there will be a significant boost to the tourist industry and a legacy of facilities. Having said that, I think it really is impossible to judge the financial impact it will have. In England at least there will be a general feelgood factor about hosting the games and this may have a positive impact on health although absenteism will rise as folk take time off work to watch Tom Daley make a much bigger splash than he intends. But the costs really are huge. I am all for the olympics but do they really have to be so expensive? The taxpayer really can't afford this. Mind you, had Rangers paid their tax bill things might be a little different.

I was in Rome a couple of weeks back and checked out this guy. His name is Joseph Ratzinger but he's known as Ben. Apparently he's a Michael Jackson fan and the nickname is a play on his last name and a reference to Jackson's song about a Rat called Ben. Whilst he's playing in Rome at the moment he is originally from Germany and represented his country's youth league as talented right winger. He still plays in that role and could be a useful replacement for Jonny Hayes if he departs. Ratzinger is getting on a bit and would bring some experience to the team. He's maybe past his prime but by all accounts he can really pull the crowds in and never tires of delivering crosses. Celtic were interested in him a couple of years back and there was media interest when he went to Celtic Park for a trial. Celtic were keen to sign him but the deal fell through on personal terms because he was reluctant to play on a Sunday because of other committments. However, we have fewer Sunday games than Celtic and that should not be a problem. Other personal terms shouldn't be a problem. He is single so there is no family to consider and he is not bothered about how much he earns. I went to his house to see him and boy, is he loaded! He is also knowledgable about ICT. He struggles with the English language but the picture above shows his response when I asked him whether he knew where ICT finished in the league this year.

That works for me So Rangers finish on 0 points ahead of County? How does that work? Would County not have at least 9 points? Rangers win all their games and end on 0 points. County lose all theirs and also end on 0 points but with a very much worse goal difference. How can they both lose against each other? In this scenario they don't. The concept is that Rangers start the season with a deduction of 3 points per match. If they were to win all their games they would therefore win 3 points per match and would end up with 0 points. For them to avoid relegation another team would have to lose all their games and also end up with 0 points. Rangers would obviously have a much better goal difference and would avoid the drop. Just a bit of end of season nonsense and an opportunity to have a go at both Rangers and County at the same time.