DoofersDad

I think Storey was our best outfield player. He put in a lot of effort even if the end result often left something to be desired. It seems from the votes in the POTY poll so far that others agree. If other players who let the club down on Saturday know that their place is at risk they will maybe heed the wake up call. I actually felt Doran was OK too. Far from his best but better than most, but as captain he should have done a lot more to drive his team on to great effort.

It seems that every time we have a poor performance these days, questions are asked about whether we have the right manager. Personally, I have little doubt that we do. Looking at the wider picture we are still 2nd in the division and above teams with significantly bigger budgets that ours. Robbo took over when the club was in a real mess and with finance being used to pay off former managers and to pay the wages of players with premier division contracts but without the performance levels to match. He's had to bring in new players at rock bottom wages and develop a team which was not only good enough to survive in a tough Championship but good enough to move forward again and challenge for promotion. He's done that and we shouldn't under-estimate how good an achievement that is. That's not to say there aren't problems and that the team couldn't do better still. Let's face it, Saturday's performance was one of the poorest performances for many a long year. As manager, he takes responsibility for results and performances on the park, but how much was he to blame for Saturday's fiasco? Some may say that it is the manager's job to motivate the players, but how much motivating should they need? Precious little in my book. A win would have closed the gap on Utd, increased the gap between 2nd and 3rd to 6 points and avenged the 3-0 doing at Gayfield. Added to that, there were no premier division games on so we were the highest ranked team playing in Scotland so there would be a bit more media focus on our game. Also, the January transfer window is just round the corner, so if players are looking to catch the eye of a bigger club, Saturday was the perfect opportunity to impress. If the players can't motivate themselves in those circumstances then frankly there is little the manager can do. I accept that Robbo does, at times seem not to have a plan B. But sometimes when plan A is not working it doesn't mean that there is anything wrong with plan A, it might mean that the players are failing to implement it properly. I don't like managers picking on individual players for public criticism (except for a specific incident like a rash challenge for a red card) but a general criticism of the team is fair enough. They enjoy the public adulation when they do well, so they deserve some public criticism when their performance falls well below the level the paying public expect. Privately he will talk to individual players and explain to them the extent to which he feels the general criticism does or does not apply to them, and why. There is a bit of work to do following Saturday and it will be a test of Robbo's man management skills, but I have absolutely no doubts that Robbo remains the man for the job.

I'm finding it hard to understand that a team that has been playing pretty well recently, who could have increased the gap between 2nd & 3rd to 6 points and who should have felt they had a point to prove after a poor 3-0 defeat earlier in the season at Arbroath, can put in such a truly awful performance. They should have been really up for this game. Instead, it looked as if most of them simply couldn't be bothered. And I don't think I can remember a game when possession has been given away so easily so often. It was like watching a 2nd rate pub side at times. It was just dreadful. Storey was probably the pick of the outfield players. He at least put in some decent effort even if the end product left a lot to be desired. The game was rather summed up for me by the incident in the first half when Storey got the ball wide right and ran virtually the width of the pitch with the ball at his feet but couldn't find a team mate to pass it to. I thought taking Doran off was a mistake - not just because I had him down to score our first goal but because he also worked quite hard and was the one player who seemed most likely to unlock the Arbroath defence. I can't criticise the team selection because it was the same players who did well against Dunfermline, but there must be some reason for such collective ineptitude. The last time we had a couple of poor performances was when the sickness bug ran through the club. As far as I know, there are no such problems just now. Let's hope this is just a one off, because unless they get back on track we will quickly slip out of the play-off places. We may be 2nd, but our points total is closer to Morton in the relegation play-off position than to Dundee Utd.

Well, to be fair, it was probably better than the 2nd half

After being turned over at Gayfield last time we met, we need a solid professional performance to get a result. It won't be easy though, Dick Campbell is tactically very astute. They are likely to sit deep and with Linn and Donnelly they have players who can hurt us on the break. An early goal is what we need but we may need to be patient. With the Dundee Derby ending all square and Ayr having a difficult game against QOS we could extend the gap between 2nd and 3rd to a healthy 6 points whist cutting the gap at the top by 2. This is the final game of the decade - and what a decade it has been! Getting a convincing win this afternoon would be a fitting way to end the decade so we can look forward to the new one with renewed confidence. I'm sure the boys will be up for it today so lets hope we can get a few more than 2,000 into the ground to cheer them on.

Garry Warren would be my choice. He was with us for 6 seasons during this last decade with over 200 appearances. He led our team by example through our most successful period and was a great ambassador both on and off the field. It is so disappointing that his time at the club ended end in the way it did. A shout also for Ross Draper. He had just under 200 appearances for us this decade. He played in that role in front of the back four where good work so often goes unnoticed. He and Garry Warren were the 2 rocks our most successful period was built around. And, yes, I know he went OTB, but we did get £100,000 for him by which time his best days were some way behind him!

For me the best moment has to be Graeme Shinnie lifting the Scottish Cup. It is one of the big 2 competitions in Scottish football and to win that and have our name in the list of champions is a wonderful achievement and something that can never be taken away. Lift the cup might have been my most memorable moment, but the final certainly wasn't the most enjoyable game! For a club the size of ours it seemed almost surreal to be going into a Scottish cup final as the clear favourites. Having done the business against Celtic in that wonderful semi-final, it was a nervy day. I remember just imagining how gutted I would feel if we lost the final to a team in the league below. I remember that as the game wore on, Falkirk looked increasingly the more likely team to win the cup, but then up popped James Vincent with that lung busting run to score the most important goal in the Club's history! Any lingering nerves were banished with the final whistle and then we could celebrate the victory as champions. An absolutely magic moment. Looking back though, it is truly remarkable that there actually are so many very special moments to look back on. We can be very proud of what this Club has achieved.

Not the greatest performance but there was a real team effort in there with Aaron Doran leading by example in Tremarco's absence. McHattie did really well at left back too. We deserved the win but twice we allowed Nesbit in on goal and again we have Mark Ridgers to thank for 2 outstanding bits of goalkeeping. It is notable that both our goals were scored by one of our back four, and whilst it is brilliant that they can pop up and score, we need our strikers to be more clinical. There are aspects of Jordan White's play that I really like, but I'm hoping that Santa brings him a pair of magic spring loaded scoring boots for Christmas. It may not be a white Christmas but perhaps it will be White New Year.

Bear in mind that the figures presented at the AGM on Thursday are for the financial year which ended on 31st May and therefore they relate to the activity last season and not this. It is true that the operating loss last year was similar to the previous year but it is important to note that the concerns raised by the Auditors in the report for the previous year about the club operating as a going concern have been been removed this year. And since the end of the last financial year the club has been making some progress on identifying additional sources of income whilst containing costs. That indicates a significant improvement from where we were a couple of years ago. I'm afraid financial balance sheets make little sense to me, but there were a number of former club directors there on Thursday and others with experience of these things and nobody raised any concerns or felt the need too ask questions about the current financial situation. It seems to me therefore, that there is a general consensus that whilst our financial situation remains difficult, we are moving in the right direction. When he spoke, CEO Scot Gardiner was at pains to point out that the single thing that would make the biggest improvement to our finances would be a return to the Premiership and there is a focus to achieve that. However, I get the sense that whilst that might be true, there is also a pragmatism in place to ensure that we remain financially viable should we fail to regain our Premiership status.

Whatever wage he is on with Celtic, he should be in a position to double that given the way he has been playing this year. He's always been a Celtic fan so I can see him wanting stay for at least another year and win more with Celtic. Unless he suffers a serious injury then his value will only go up if he continues or even improves on his current form. One would expect he would want to move on before too long though and probably to the English Premiership were he would be up against very good teams every week and would be regularly mixing it with some of the best in the world. He has a terrific attitude to go with his talent and if he carries on the they way he is then he could well attract a price tag of well over £20 million. 10% of that would be nice!

No reason why anyone should slag you off. That's a perfectly reasonable point you make. In addition, they need to see what interest other clubs may have in them. At the same time, they need to be aware that the contract offer that may be on the table here could be removed at any time for a variety of reasons. Some of them spend too much time listening to their agents.

We can be very good but we lack consistency and adaptability and we lack a striker who can score regularly. Our top scorers in the league are Doran and White with 4 each. This, along with Partick is the lowest tally for top scorers for teams in the Championship. However, we have had 12 different players scoring which is more than any other side. There must be a message in that.

Great stuff IHE, It's been a long time since my tackle was the subject of such controversy!

We are now 13 points behind Utd. We may be 2nd in the league but we also only 13 points above Morton in the relegation play off spot. It's a very competitive league and with better resourced teams likely to strengthen in the January window, we will do well to hang on to a play off place. We need to be more clinical up front. It's maybe a shame Nathan Austin left us. He scored 4 for Kelty yesterday and I believe is averaging about 2 goals a game for them! It's a very important game next week. If Dundee Utd beat Ayr and Partick take something off Dundee, then a win against the Pars would see us with a wee bit of breathing space in second. But if the results go the other way then the the fight for the play off places closes up quite a bit.

ICT Supporters Trust held its AGM last night at the Caley Club. Giving the Chair's annual report, Stewart Murdoch reported that the key areas of activity this last year had been around the membership lists (a system to collect annual membership fees is now in place), other administrative issues and the relationship with the Club. The previous Club Chairman and CEO had agreed to meet with members of the Trust Board but issues discussed had not made any real movement. Communications with new CEO Scot Gardiner have been more positive but we are yet to meet with the new Chairman. Changes in the Board Room and in the senior management structure of the club have not been conducive to developing the on-going, constructive relationship we would have liked, but we are hopeful that we can establish a programme of regular meetings as both the Trust and the Club come through their respective transition periods. We are now better placed to move forward and this should be reflected in more proactive engagement with the club and in more regular communications with the membership and the wider supporter body. Laura Grant, who had stood down from the Board by rotation, was elected back onto the Board without objection following an affirmation vote. Unfortunately, no further members of the Trust put themselves forward to join the Trust Board and the Board's membership remains at 7. The Board has no sub-committees. Activity is limited by the number of Board members we have and therefore we would be interested to hear from any members who would like to be considered for co-option on to the Board. We would also encourage other fans of the club to join the Supporters Trust as the more members we have, the stronger our influence can be in taking forward issues of concern to fans. People can join the Trust at membermojo.co.uk/ictst. Following the meeting, members were asked if there were any particular concerns they had which we could pick up with the club. The big concern centred around the Sports Bar and the way the doors were locked half an hour before kick off thereby denying access to fans coming to the ground on the Caley Club bus and others. There is also a related problem of access to the toilets from the main stand when the bar is open. The general attitude of stewards was mentioned with one member commenting that ladies handbags were required to be open for inspection both on entering the Sports Bar and subsequently at the turnstiles. There was a general consensus that ICT was perhaps the least welcoming club for fans in the Championship. Concern was expressed that these issues may well have prompted many people to vote with their feet. When the Club is facing a difficult financial situation, it simply can't afford to antagonise its own support in this way. These issues will be taken up with the club.

Really good team performance today. I thought we had a really good team performance against Dundee, but today we moved up from that and were not only solid and tenacious but played some really good and often slick attacking football. Weather conditions were poor but you would never have known that from the way the lads played. Difficult to choose a MOTM as so many were excellent and there were no weak links. Donaldson and McCart were solid at the back, Trafford and Carson worked really well together in midfield whilst there seems to be a good understanding developing between White and Keatings. But today I would go for Miles Storey as this was by far the best performance I have seen from him since his return. When you consider the quality in the squad who did not start today, then I think we can look forward to the future with some confidence. Robbo has not had much funding to work with but he is building a very decent side. What we need now is for more people to turn up and watch. Nothing negative to say about our team but I thought the so called "honest men" were a disgrace. They might have been in serious trouble had we had a remotely competent referee. Some of the decisions were quite bizarre and he seemed to be totally blind to the constant pushes trips and tugs.

It wasn't the most exciting game of football, but I came away with a smile on my face not just because we won, but because of the manner of the win. What I saw on Saturday was a really solid, professional team performance. We've not seem many of them of late. Players worked hard and were disciplined, they kept their shape and there was not the kind of niggling between team mates which has been creeping in recently. They worked hard for each other and you could see how much that win meant to them when the final whistle went. Dundee didn't look great but there's an old adage that you play as well as you are allowed to play. Dundee were chasing the game after our early goal but only managed 6 attempts at goal and one on target. To a very significant extent, that's a reflection of how well we did in stopping them playing. Sure they had more of the possession but they could do very little constructive with it and we were disciplined enough to stand off them and keep our shape. When we regained possession we also seemed a bit sharper on the break than sometimes. We always looked more likely to get the 2nd goal and the only disappointing thing for me was that we didn't get the 2nd goal our team performance deserved. Just to add that it is a shame nobody has voted for Kevin McHattie in the POTY poll. He doesn't often get into the starting line up but he had a very solid performance.

Not the greatest draw but it is a tie we will be favourites for. There are no all Premiership ties so it may be a bit more difficult for smaller teams to find a way to the business end of the competition. Motherwell, County and Hibs all have difficult away ties against good Championship sides so that might provide a good marker as to how the standards in the 2 divisions compare.

That'll be County then!

The Scottish Cup is a great competition. There are always upsets that produce great memories for the fans of the smaller clubs. Yesterday both Bonnyrigg and BSC Glasgow put out league opposition whilst Auchinleck and Brora took Championship opposition to replays. Two other Championship sides were beaten by other lower league opposition. It promises to be an intriguing draw. A run to the latter stages would be really good for the club, so at this stage I would prefer a home game against lower league opposition. Having said that, as yesterday's results show, you cannot afford to underestimate any team that is in the draw so, whoever it is, we will need to give a good professional performance to progress.

Absolutely terrific effort from the team today. Captain Carl led by example and made a brilliant clearance off the line in the first half to keep it at 1-0. Doran too led by example and must have run miles. He scored the goal but arguably should scored when through on the keeper and blasted another couple wide, but he did well to get in the positions to score in the first place. Carson and Trafford were excellent today. If they can play like that every week then when Welsh and Walsh are back, that will be some midfield we will have. A huge 3 points. Well done lads!

The stats show us to have had more of the possession and most shots at goal, but we were laboured in possession and none of our attempts at goal carried much threat. Their keeper only had any serious work to do after the 90 minutes were up.

It looked as though they were the only thing they were fit enough to practice last week. I enjoyed my Caramel Wafer at the start and the penalties at the end. Don't think I'll comment on the bit in between.

It sounds as though some of the management team have been really very poorly indeed, Scott and Robbo in particular. The sickness bug has affected several of the players, so lets hope nobody else catches it now and wish everyone a speedy recovery. Credit to the club for not blaming the illness for a poor performance last week, but in reality it must have been a significant factor. It takes a good few days to get back to your full physical fitness and stamina after these things. In the circumstances I think any sort of a win against Clyde will be a good result. No doubt there will be some changes to the side both related to illness and, probably more significantly, due to the policy of giving fringe players a starting opportunity in this competition. Hopefully today will see a return to better health and better form. Good luck, lads.

I know very little about these 2 returning directors and so can't comment specifically about what they may bring to the table. But just as a general point, I don't see this as a step backwards either. I don't know what their reasons for having stepped down previously but they may have been due to clashes with Board members at the time or they may have been personal. The thing is that they now feel willing and able to serve on the Board again and have the distinct advantage of knowing what they are coming into. No doubt we'll hear more in due course, but on the face of it it seems like a very welcome development to me.