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DoofersDad

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Everything posted by DoofersDad

  1. Ryan Esson. Underrated by Craig Levein.
  2. Fine sounding words from Smith - but do you believe him? He says he has no time for the sectarian aspect which attaches itself to the old firm. So what has he done about it in the years over the last 25 years when he's been at Ibrox? He may not have incited it as Lennon has but it is as deeply ingrained at Ibrox as it is at Celtic Park. If he has no time for the sectarian aspect he should have walked away from it or done something about it. He did neither. Guilty by association in my book.
  3. He claims not but I think he might be telling porkies.
  4. Lots of things Lennon has said and done make people dislike him strongly and stir up sectarian rivalries, but nothing Lennon has ever said or done justifies the threats and abuse he and his family have faced. But the real culprits here are not Lennon or those who over-react to his odious remarks and actions. The real culprits are Celtic FC who continue to employ Lennon . Celtic are supposed to be signed up to stamping out bigotry from football but their continuing support for Lennon allows and encourages these tensions to simmer and boil over. All the debate about the rise in sectarianism in football would not be happening if Celtic had not employed Lennon in the first place or had dispensed with his services as soon as his behaviour showed he is not fit to manage a football club.
  5. Don't think anyone comes close to Barrowman, but in his favour he's probably given us more laughs than anyone else on this forum. When I first saw him play I thought he was sh*te so I have to admit that I also seriously over-rated him! Seriously though, it has to be Barrowman by virtue of the faith managers showed in him. Someone else made comment on how vigourously Brewster persued him but it is sobering to think that just 2 years ago, Butcher was picking Barrowman over Rooney . We should not forget also that there was some debate on here about who was the better player - but I won't name, names. It was only the fact that Barrowman got injured and Rooney seized his opportunity that it finally dawned on just about everyone and finally our Terry that Rooney was by far the better player.
  6. What a dope! He made a hash of his escape. Obviously he was not on speed.
  7. Had it not been Rooney on the line to make sure, but a Hibee defender hooking it clear, I doubt the officials would have awarded the goal. Rooney's goal for sure, for sure.
  8. With Hearts getting gubbed by Celtic this evening, there is a real chance that we could end up the season with the 3rd best GD in the league. Go for it, I say.
  9. Apparently Rooney got on the end of Foran's header after it had crossed the line. Don't care which of them it got credited to. Much more important is that Nick Ross opened his SPL account - plenty more to come I'm sure.
  10. Hamilton going down should mean County are safe from the drop to Division 2 for another year.
  11. I am all for picking the strongest team and going all out to end the season on a high with a good win. I think the fans who give such great support away from home deserve no less. Also, I think it is only fair for the players who have acheived so much to have the opportunity to sign off in style in an end of season, no pressure match.
  12. Having seen the highlights it is clear that in attempting to dispossess Duncan, Mair went to ground and Duncan , far from diving desparately tried to keep his feet - which he did. In trying to reclaim the ball he was brought down by Mair who was on the ground. Duncan, amazed that no penalty was given, gave Mair some verbals and he responded by either holding or pushing Duncan at throat level. Duncan respoded by pushing Mair away. Mair then went to ground in a way totally beyond the type of physical contact there was. In my view Duncan should have been given a yellow card but Mair committed three separate offences all of which could have justified a red card - but no card was shown. On the plus side, the highlights also illustrate just how good Rooney was. Surprised the ref didn't book him for being too good.
  13. It will be interesting to see the highlights to work out exactly what did happen. My recollection was that Mair had a verbal go at Duncan presumably accusing him of diving and Russell had a go at him. I think it should have been a penalty to start off and Mair deserved at least a yellow for his part, Russell should not have responded as he did and I will await judgement on whether it was worth a sending off or not. What I would question is how the linesman could be sure that what Russell did was a red card offence from so far away and when Mair was between himself and Duncan. It's just such a shame to see Russell end his career at ICT in these circumstances.
  14. Despite dominating possession we created very little in the first half. Eric confirmed the reason for him not being offered a new contract although no doubt Dodds would have argued that his silky skills were sabotaged by a dry and bumpy pitch. Morrison worked hard but lacked any creativity with his passing and to be honest, Duncan was similiarly lacking inspiration and his poor perfomance no doubt contributed to his frustration and his reaction which got him sent off - very sad end to a great career with ICT. MacDonald was poor leaving just a few flashes from Foran to show any quality in front of the back four. But what a difference Rooney made. He was truly awesome when he came on. 3 terrific efforts hitting the woodwork and a well taken goal. But he also contributed a lot more to making us a more potent attacking force in the second half when, ironically, we actually had considerably less possession than in the first half. If he is holding out for more money the club should pay up. The lad is top quality. Munro and Gillet were excelent and Tokely solid too. Great to see Tuffey get a game and he was very solid without being seriously tested. He kicks it a long way - with Ronney running onto the long ball that could be a useful tactic. Maybe not the best team performance but we have secured 7th with 2 games still to play. That is a fantastic achievement so a time for celebration. Well done ICT - it's been a great season. :ictscarf:
  15. I think the way he played inspired a whole new generation of golfers. He tried things others never would. He got into trouble and then got out of it spectacularly. Such a shame that his health did not allow him to bring his charismatic skils to the senior tour. Probably one of the top 3 talents ever in the game of golf. A sad loss to sport.
  16. I think he will tell him that the SNP have a mandate from the Scottish Electorate and the Tories don't and that there will be an expectation that Cameron will respect that.
  17. Meant to add that a more likely explanation for the good performance is the confidence the manager has shown in the players who are (hopefully) staying being reflected in confident performances on the park.
  18. There were a lot of positives to be taken from last night's result but the big thing for me is that the bulk of the team that started yesterday either have contracts or have been offered contracts for next season. With Foran and Hayes to come back in that gives us the bulk of a very good side for next year. There is some business to be done around the centre of the defence but if the midfield and Rooney (without Foran and Hayes) can do that to Celtic, then there must be real optimism for next season.
  19. A pretty unfair comment I would say. Of the starting line up yesterday, Innes is leaving for personal reasons, Doran is a loan player who I expect Buthcher would keep if he could. All the rest are either on contract or have been offerred contracts with the notable exception of Munro. To suggest that Munro has not given his all in previous matches is grossly insulting to someone who is Caley through and through and who has been a fantastic servant of the club. .
  20. More likely to replace Mulgrew with Munro.
  21. Couldn't get to the game but listened to the 2nd half on the BBC. Obviously it was a terrific performance from the whole team, but I have a question for those who saw the game either live or on the box. Foran was not in the side today and I wonder whether others think that was a factor in a better team performance? Over the season there have been differing views regarding Foran and his captaincy in particular. Would the team be better if it was Munro who stayed and Foran who left?
  22. Play that well next season and we will beat both halves of the evil empire.
  23. Hint from Terry on BBC interview that there may be a change of mind on a decision or two after tonight!
  24. Having initially reeled from the shock of this I decided to try to see things from TB's perspective. I opened a bottle of wine and have gone through a couple of cycles of glass full, glass half full, glass half empty, glass empty and am now at the the glass and bladder full stage. Much as I am sad to see the likes of Munro and Duncan go, I accept that there is probablty a brutal logic in this. The aim of the club must be not just to stay in the SPL but to move us on to the top 6. This needs to be done on a static budget. So what are the options? Status Quo? No chance. Some players in that scenario will not progress and we simply cannot afford players on fairly significant contracts if they do not have what it takes to step up to the next level. That applies both to legends like Munro and Duncan and younger players like Blumenstein and Odihambo who have been given a chance and who have not made the grade. There are others who have made the grade or who the manager feels have the potential to step up. Of those who are staying are a number of youngsters with real potential. Not just Ross and Sutherland but Cox and Rooney as well who we sometimes forget are still very young. Some of the emerging talent such as Shinnie and Morrison will presumably not be costing the club a lot but are keen to stay because they see the club as a great place to develop and to showcase their talent. When they move on they should be able to maximise their earnings. This leaves a small number of quality players who the manager is keen to keep and who the club can afford to offer better contracts to in order to encourage them to stay. This still leaves a gap - a big gap, but I think Butcher sees this being sorted by short term contracts and loan deals. He has stated before that the club is attractive to players who have undoubted talent but are not quite realising their potential elsewhere. He feels some players see Inverness as a good location for rejuvinating careers and players will come on short term contracts to gain confidence and put themselves in the shop window. Better still are loan deals where clubs want to have players getting regular competetive football to help develop them. In this way we can, on a short term basis, get the services of players we could not otherwise afford to sign. By making the statement before the end of the season, Butcher is giving players released the best chance of attracting attention from elsewhere but I don't think he and the club are doing that just to be decent. I doubt that they would be letting these players go if they were not pretty confident of getting decent players in on loan or short term deals. There may also be one or two more significant signings in the bag. So a mix of a small number of proven players on good contracts, emerging youngsters and players brought in on short term deals/loans seems to the way forward and will be the pattern for the future. With very limited resources, this may be the only sensible option. I doubt anyone at the club has taken any pleasure from the hard decisions taken but they could well be the correct decisions. Yes, I'm sure we all have views on who we would have kept and who we would have let go but we have to back the manager on his decisions here . The proof of the pudding will be in what emerges at the start of next season and the time to judge him will be this time next year. It is certainly the start of a new era and should be interesting!
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