DoofersDad

Isn't McKay still contracted to Wigan? In which case he has been promoted and not relegated - not that he can exactly claim the credit there!

I take it that the fact this is a David Raven thread is a clue?

Well done indeed. Are the club sending an official note of congratulations, I wonder? It would be a nice gesture.

Personally, I'm looking forward to the game about as much as any this season. Any lingering relegation worries are gone and in the last few games we seem to be seeing a rather more positive approach with more attractive, attacking football as a result. It should be an opportunity for the team to play with a bit of freedom. In addition, with there being concerns about attendances and the need to boost the numbers coming through the gates there really should be an emphasis on entertaining the fans.

What a great result. Sounds as though it could easily have been more. But according to the BBC stats we had less possession than Partick. Sounds like a more positive approach is being deployed and that we are looking to push forward when we get the ball. I'll be interested in hearing the views of those who went to the game.

So more current ICT players scored this Saturday than ex ICT players. Can't be often that happens

Well done to the Board for issuing a really informative statement. Not only is it informative, it contains a number of encouraging bits of news.

Thanks, Sneckboy. Informative as ever! Sorry not to have picked up on this sooner but rather surprised nobody else has commented on this rather alarming and important statistic. Now I appreciate that an early kick off on a Sunday with the game live on TV will affect the gate, but we have had televised games before and not had such a poor gate. One also needs to bear in mind that this was a very important game with a win virtually assuring Premiership football next season and that should have encouraged a few more folk to come along and support the team. Bottom line is people will attend matches more if they feel they are being entertained and getting value for money. The appalling crowd on Sunday is evidence that more and more people are not being entertained and don't feel they are getting value for money. Our budget is tight enough as it is without it getting tighter as a result of falling gate receipts. Ironically, I thought there was a more positive approach on Sunday, but we need to build on that if we are to persuade the occasional fans to come along a bit more often. Great post by bdu98916. Absolutely spot on! I think ictfcsince94 misses the point slightly as the criticism on here is more akin to writing a review on Tripadvisor or Rotten Tomatoes after a meal or a film. We support the team on the day but criticise later. I do agree though that some fans are a bit too vocal in their criticism during games and not vocal enough in support. But it is fair enough to allow a certain amount of displeasure (not abuse) at the time. After all, if you are in a restaurant and your steak is well done when you asked for medium rare, you would complain at the time surely?

He also had a real go at Polworth not so long ago. Whatever, the reason for him being annoyed, it is not good man management to give someone such public abuse. It's also not good man management for the club to allow it to be repeated. But there are other things that suggests all is not well behind the scenes. CaleyD posted a clip of the pre-match interview with Hughes on the Raven thread and someone commented that more than once he referred to the match as being on Saturday. In fact, I think he did so 3 times! Now, one can perhaps understand the odd slip of the tongue or even that he just had it in his mind it was Saturday for some reason, but what struck me was that nobody corrected him! Why? It's the sort of error that you would expect someone to correct and that the person making the error would make a bit of a joke about - "better it being on a Saturday and me not turning up till Sunday" sort of thing. Everybody has a laugh and you move on. But on 3 occasions nobody corrected him and, as a result, made him look like a fool. Were they apprehensive about how he might react? And despite emphasising how important it was to finish as high as possible in order to get more money for contracts, he stated he didn't know how much more the different places were worth! I would have thought it was etched in his brain and was routinely being used to motivate the team. It came across as a rather tense interview. It was certainly a very different John Hughes from the John Hughes of last season when his infectious enthusiasm made so many people warm to him.

I didn't hear it. I don't know why it appears not to have been published but it was certainly a very poor crowd. It would not surprise me if that was our lowest ever top flight league crowd at TCS.

It's a funny old game. Like HawkeyeThe Gnu, after that sucker goal at the end of the first half following a period of good pressure from us, I thought it was not to be our day. But we were gifted a goal and a one man advantage which soon led to 2 more goals and a comfortable win at the end. We are now all but mathematically safe and can breathe a sigh of relief. Phew. I'm sure the manager will have enjoyed the third goal. It was a John Hughes style of goal. Patient possession, tease out an opening and slot the ball past the keeper. A very nice goal but made possible because Draper's rather less pretty goal had knocked the stuffing out of Kilmarnock and they gave us plenty of space to knock the ball about in. There is a time and place for that style of play - and that was it. But after that, they regrouped and with Vigurs having been taken off they managed to find a bit more space in midfield and were, perhaps, a little bit unlucky not to get back into the match. I was pleased that we played with a much more attack minded approach from the start. The pressure that created should have had us in front by half time and should convince the manager to persevere with this. The more positive approach was exemplified by Meekings getting forward much more than usual but, unfortunately with less effect than we have seen with Raven. Surely today's game should also have made it clear to Yogi that Raven is a better RB than Meekings and Meekings is a better CB than Devine. I have no ill will at Devine, he's a perfectly fine player and I would love to see him extend his contract - but as cover for a CB pairing of Warren and Meekings. Draper needs to be pushed forward more. He has got surprisingly nimble feet for a big man. He also looks very ungainly and when he surges forward defenders simply don't know how to cope with him. It's not that often he gets into the box but it is telling just how often he gets results when he does. Vigurs did some great work in midfield today but Tremarco was MOTM for me. Renegade is spot on in what he said above.

Doran's agent is just going to love that! What an idiotic thing to say. In any case, isn't Tansey already signed up? Suggests to me that there is an offer in for him which the club is prepared to accept, but that Tansey would like to stay if his personal terms can be improved. Again, not something that should be in the public domain.

And where does the journalist get his facts from if not from sources, be they official or unofficial, associated with the club?

Hughes is not saying he definitely won't offer Raven a contract but clearly he is not going to if he is successful with his other signing priorities. Leaving aside his stated priority for quality up front, he still only has 3 defenders signed up so there is a need to do some work on that front. Devine is not signed up yet so presumably Hughes thinks Devine as a centre back and Meekings at RB is a better option than Meekings in the centre and Raven at RB. That's not my preference for sure. But even if you accept that, where's the cover? Is he planning on having all our defensive cover coming from the development squad? However you look at it, it makes no sense not to offer Raven a contract. Interestingly, he talks about finishing as high up the league to get that bit more money in. So just how tight are the club's finances after last year's success and the sale of Christie? There certainly seems to be something worrying about the financial position. Perhaps some contracts will be signed once survival is assured as players will not want to commit to the club and then find they are playing Championship football next year. Even more need, therefore to ensure we win on Sunday. Maybe then there can be something confirmed about David's future.

The conviction has been quashed but he still has to face a retrial. Best to look elsewhere I think!

Much as I want Raven to stay, I think the focus on Sunday must be to give full support to those on the park and not those off it. This is a crucial game. Win and we are virtually assured of staying up. Lose and it is squeaky bum time. The team is bigger than one individual and we cannot afford to have distractions. Of course, should David feature in the match day squad or if we are getting humped, then that's a different matter!

I would have thought that if it was niggling injuries which meant he was not fit to play here then he was not fit to play anywhere on a full time basis. If so, I would expect a statement along those lines in due course.

Thanks for the clarification. By the way, who on earth gave you a red dot? You are the bringer of the bad news, not the cause of it! Red dots to John Hughes on this one, I think.

Any reason given? On the face of it that is a shocking decision. He's been a great player for us.

I think the only manager currently managing in Scotland that Celtic would be remotely interested in is Warburton. Somehow I don't think he is available. Celtic are a big club and just about guaranteed Champions league football every year. There will lots of quality managers home and abroad who will be interested in the vacancy.

Rather than a thread on the Hearts game, this seems to have morphed into a bleeding hearts thread with posters lining up to say how they are being poorly treated by others who disagree with them. I hope nobody stops posting on here, because a forum is nothing if there are not differing points of view. But please accept that there will be differing points of view and as long as folk are not being offensive, they are perfectly entitled to voice them. By the way, I can't see anything nasty in the reply FoolPhysio refers to - methinks you were just being over-sensitive to a change in viewpoint being highlighted! And wynthank15 must realise that posting something so out of line of conventional wisdom on a sensitive subjects is going to get a reaction and can hardly complain when the reaction comes. Back to the game. After all, it was an objection to critical comments which led to this off-topic diversion. I wasn't able to get to the game, but having seen the highlights and read several reports and comments, it does appear that it was one of those games where the 0-0 scoreline made the game sound more exciting than it actually was. It is not surprising therefore that there were some critical comments. People should be free to make those comments. If you don't agree then that's fine. But if you don't agree, then please say why rather than simply objecting to people saying something you don't like.

They were certainly rank on the pitch but that would have been related to the level of debt they had and the club beginning to take measures to address that. In 2012/13 they had a debt of around £8m. Clearly there has been nothing like the scandal at Ibrox but the level of debt they had was a reflection poor financial management in the past. Nevertheless, last year they reported an operating loss of just under a million but have been able to reduce the level of debt through share issues etc.

Can't say I want either of them to win it. Two clubs who are not in the Premiership due to financial mismanagement in the past and who are now buying their way to cup success and the top flight by running at an operating loss. It is not good to have the premier cup competition won by a club in debt, so perhaps the SFA should declare the competition nul and void this year and just let us hold onto the trophy for another year.

Through the entire competition there have been 9 ties between Premiership and Championship sides with Premiership sides winning on only 3 occasions. The Rangers and Hibs have both beaten 3 Premiership sides. On top of that, County needed a replay to see off a league 1 side, we needed a replay to see off a league 2 side and Hamilton memorably got well beaten by a league 2 side. That's 7 of the 12 Premiership sides getting knocked out by lower league opposition. This is all evidence that the top flight is a pretty weak league at the moment.

Is there any footage which shows the highlights?