DoofersDad

What a dope! He made a hash of his escape. Obviously he was not on speed.

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.

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.

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.

Hamilton going down should mean County are safe from the drop to Division 2 for another year.

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.

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.

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.

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:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. .

More likely to replace Mulgrew with Munro.

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?

Play that well next season and we will beat both halves of the evil empire.

Hint from Terry on BBC interview that there may be a change of mind on a decision or two after tonight!

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!

Will we be in the SPL next season or are we entering a 5 a-side league?

The Club statement tells us very little. Money may be tight but have we not been told that the money available for next year is the same as last? That being the case, it is surprising that someone who has started 35 times for the team this season is apparently not wanted next. Grant has also scored some important goals for the side and is 5th highest scorer with 4 (4 more than Nick Ross!). It may be that Grant is at that age where he is not going to get better but he still has a few years left in him and he has a wealth of experience. If retained, he might not start 35 times next season but he would be an extremely valuable cover player at the very least. The number of starts he has had this season clearly indicated that Terry rates him so I guess there is something else going on here. Grant may well feel that he should have the captaincy back and may be unwilling to play another season under Foran's leadership on the park. Perhpas Terry is confident that he has a stronger central defence lined up for next season and there is simply no room anymore for Grant - time will tell. Whilst I would be extremely sorry to see such a fantastic servant of the club as Grant Munro leave, I also accept there is no room for sentimentality in football if the club is to move onwards and upwards. As you step up to another level, it is inevitable that you have to ditch players who have bust a gut in getting you to where you are. But in this case it is surely not sentimentality to say that Grant can still do a useful job for the club. I don't accept this is about finance and I doubt that the club will come clean on the real reason. It's a sad day for the club IMHO.

9/11 was truly horrific and there have been other incidents - and no doubt the security services have prevented other attrocities as well but I can't help thinking that the powers that be rather overstate the threat. Just think of the impact of a bomb of the London underground and how easy it would be to plant one there. The fact that there has been no such incident makes me think that whilst there may be a lot of muslims with passionately held anti western philosophies, there are very few who believe mass murder is a justified tactic to advance that philosophy. It is a sobering thought that the last act of terrorism in the UK was nothing to do with international politics, it was about Scottish Football. Perhaps now that the Americans have got Bin Laden they can be invited in to sort out the moron(s) threatening the lives of those associated with Celtic football club and those of postal workers and others who might just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I know I'm wrong and a lot of people will disagree with me for this, but I'd like to think he was treated with all the respect he deserves (ie kicked out of the back of a helicopter from 10,000 ft.) Near enuff.......being buried at sea pretty much flies in the face of Muslim Burial traditions! It would be more appropriate for him to be simply taken in a laden bin and disposed of in the local council tip

These things just don't happen. County know they are safe and can relax and enjoy the game. Cowdenbeath equally know that they are into the play offs and will have their mind on that. I can see County getting 5 or 6 in this one.

Duncan on only as a late sub and we lose 1-0 with a poor performance. Says it all for me. I am convinced we do better with Duncan in the side and the stats prove it. I really don't understand some of Terry's selection decisions but then, we are on course to equal our best ever finish after having bounced straight back into the SPL under Terry's leadership - so what do I know? I think this is a bad decision but I also think we need to give the manager the benefit of the doubt for now and see what next season brings.