DoofersDad

I wasn't at the game but posts from those who were make grim reading. We shouldn't read too much into one or two dismal performances. The previous week, our reshaped team, still lacking several key injured players, outplayed the team who are favourites to win the division. Dunfermline fans would also have been glum after being dismantled the previous week by a team who recently crashed out of Europe at the hands of Luxembourg part timers. Dunfermline bounced back with some style and hopefully we can too. These things happen. I remember Terry Butcher on more than one occasion saying he simply couldn't understand why we were so poor across the whole side after a dismal loss at a time when the side was generally playing very well. We need to beat Morton but we also need not to underestimate them. They had a great win on Saturday and will be confident that they can get at least a draw at a time when we are clearly struggling. Much has been said about the poor quality of some of our signings but I do think we need to show a bit of patience here. Seedorf, Calder and Oakley have all impressed in other games. Elsdon and Chalmers are trying to find their feet in a very makeshift back line which is missing the experienced Gary Warren - they will maybe impress more when Gary returns. As someone else has observed, a few of our recent signings come with a decent CV from bigger clubs than we usually recruit from. Calder was on Villa's books for several years and presumably was felt to have enough about him to hope that he might progress to the 1st team squad, but he obviously didn't quite make it. Elsdon has done well at Middlesbrough and has an England Youth cap. One assumes he is out on loan because they want him to have 1st team experience and will be assessing him for their 1st team squad. His background certainly suggests there is more to him than has so far been evident. Remember, Robbo does not have the level of resources to sign new players that either of the last two managers had. Personally I don't think the players he has signed are any worse than the ones signed by Hughes and Foran. The one thing I would criticise him for is saying that Raven is not in the plans. Raven has been one of our better players and always gives 100%. He is maybe getting on a bit but I would like to see him in a defensive midfield role. We don't have replacements for Tansey and Draper, whilst Polworth, sadly, seems to have gone backwards. Vigurs can't do it all. Raven would give us a bit more of the bite and composure which we so clearly need in midfield.

That would appear to be because he was carrying an injury which our neighbours appear to have identified and dealt with before you could say Feliticiano Zschusschen. Wee Billy is recovering well from his opp so let's see how he gets on OTB (if he can get into the side with the options they have!)

I would have thought the website and communications in general was of crucial importance at the moment. This is not an "either or situation". Doing some work on the communication side of things does not mean that work has to stop on work around managing the finances and addressing shortcomings at the playing end of things. All these aspects are essential parts of the business and should be complimentary. Let us suppose you are a young player down South looking for a move to get some first team experience and your agent tells you ICT are interested in signing you. What do you do? You look up the club's website, social media outlets and probably the fans forum as well to find out a bit more about the club. As things stand, unless you were desperate, you would probably tell your agent you weren't interested. In order to attract the quality of players we need, the club must project an image of an efficient, progressive club with a positive sense of purpose and with a supportive fan base. As it is, the website and social media outlets give an image of a club in crisis. For instance, in the "News" section there is a choice if "Club" news or "Team" news. The latest "Team" news concerns the visit of the Krankies to the stadium in early July. News of new additions to the team are listed under "Club" news. And even then, the extent of any information about any of the new lads is just the absolute minimum. If the club announces it's new players to be world in such an amateur way, it is not going to make the club attractive to young guys looking to progress their careers. The lack of attention given by the Board to its social media outlets may well be preventing us from recruiting the very players who could help us turn our fortunes around. And it is not as though it is difficult to do. We may need to buy in some professional expertise to improve the website and to provide some training for staff in putting new stuff on (and removing when necessary), but website update would be a one off and not very substantial cost. A small proportion of Draper's transfer fee. Once that was done it would just require an hour or two a week at most for trained staff to keep on top of things. As for the Board members themselves, I appreciate that they may not have the social media skills themselves, but from their professional backgrounds each and everyone of them should know how important it is for the club to utilise social media effectively. They should all also be capable of drafting statements or tweets and making decisions in response to any events which happen, e.g telling someone with the IT skills to remove the picture of Ross Draper from the website. P.S. Having just had a closer look at the website, I note that the club hasn't even bothered to post any announcement at all about several of our new players. Welcome to ICT guys!

HT 1-0 FT 2-2 ICT Polworth Opp Wedderburn Crowd 3280

Yes. This is huge opportunity for Liam to realise his potential. Having once had a plethora of players who could play in central midfield (Hughes only ever signed midfielders!) we now have a distinct shortage. and the danger here is that Polworth and Vigurs might get complacent if there is lack of competition for places. In Polworth's case though, I suspect that less competition for places and hopefully a bit more freedom to play in a preferred role will give his confidence a boost. Getting back to the form he showed early in the 2015/6 season would help to make us a pretty competitive side.

Relegation means a significant drop in revenue for a number of reasons. And with no significant financial backer the club simply has to significantly cut its costs or risk financial ruin. The harsh reality is that poor recruitment by our previous 2 managers and a number of players being on wages significantly higher than players were earning the last time we took the drop means we don't have the depth of squad or the resource to make recruitment easy. Added to that is the rather worrying lack of young talent at the right age group to move into the senior squad. No doubt some of the reasons for us being where we are will be debated at length in due course, but the first thing is to accept where it is we are. And where we are is in trouble. Getting out of trouble will not be easy and will be a long term effort. We are not going to bounce straight back to the top flight but instead we need to set the key goal of not leaving the Championship by the back door. Having said that, I am, so far, hugely heartened by what our new (returned) manager has achieved so far. I like his attitude and the way he wants the team to play. I am also encouraged by the early views of some of his signings. There looks to be real quality in Seedorf and Calder in particular and signs that others younger players could develop nicely. If we can get injured players back and a bit of stability in the side then I think we have the potential to do better than we have any right to expect. I am sure that we have the potential to play some really attractive football this season although we desperately need someone to find the back of the net with some regularity. Unfortunately, I doubt that playing attractive football is going to bring the fans back in the numbers we need in order to secure the finances required to return to and stay in the top flight. It should, though, prevent us from ever becoming a part-time club.

I've explored this in a bit more detail on another thread, but the bottom line is this. At the Inverness end, Draper instigated the move by expressing a wish to leave after County's initial offer. Had he not done so, County would have been told to politely f**k off and that would have been the end of the matter. I agree with your last sentence.

What a mountain over a molehill some folk are making over the Draper transfer! What has happened here is that County put in an offer for him which the club were not willing to accept. Draper knew about that. If he had wanted to stay with ICT he would have said so and the club would have told County that he was not for sale. That would have been the end of it. However, Draper clearly was interested in a move to County as it would mean he could continue in the Premiership and would not have to move house. Presumably it would also mean bigger wages. Given Draper's interest in the move, County's initial bid will have been turned down but they would have been told that Draper was interested in moving and ICT would be willing to sell him if County were prepared to meet the club's valuation. After at least one more rejected bid which Robertson thought would be County's final bid, County this week came up with an offer which ICT felt was a good offer , Robertson is quoted in the Courier as saying the offer was "a very substantial offer which I didn’t think they would go to". Two things are crystal clear from this. Firstly, Draper wanted the move to County. Secondly, the club were only prepared to sell him if their valuation was met. With regard to the transfer "request", this is just semantics. Draper had already informally made it be known that he wanted away and so when an offer came in which the Board was prepared to accept, they asked him to put in a "transfer request" which in reality is simply asking Draper to formally confirm that he is willing for his current contract to be terminated so that the Board can progress with finalising the transfer. It is surely good practice that before a club sell a player to another club, they have the player's formal consent. Maybe Draper thought it a bit strange, but if it is simply confirming in writing what he has previously expressed verbally and which is being acted on, what's the problem! The Courier headline is typical media sensationalist nonsense. It says "Caley Thistle boss John Robertson in the dark over claims club's board forced Ross Draper to submit transfer request". Absolutely nothing in the article remotely backs the claim up. Robertson is quoted as saying " Once Ross had tabled his transfer request it would have been futile to keep a player who had his head turned. The board and I discussed it and the transfer request was put in - that was the final part to draw a line under it and move on. We could have said no but then we’d have a very disgruntled player who wants to play in the Premiership." In other words, Draper wanted the move, Robertson discussed the latest offer with the Board and they agreed they wouldn't stand in his way. Putting in the "transfer request" was a simply a necessary formality which clearly Robertson was aware of. The suggestion of Draper being forced to request a transfer is clearly nonsense. That would imply, for instance, that an offer had come in which was so good that the club put pressure on the player to move against his will. Clearly this is not the case. Indeed it is clear that the opposite is true - the player wants to leave and the club have reluctantly let him go. The Board can, in my view, be rightly criticised over a number of issues but not regarding this. In the past when the Board generally received praise from the fans, the one recurring criticism was that we consistently failed to get decent transfer fees (or any at all) for our departing players. It is ironic that at a time when the Board is generally receiving criticism, it is being slated for what is perhaps one of the better bits of business the club has ever done in the transfer market.

There is no reason why fans should expect "loyalty" from players in the sense that we feel betrayed when they take a decision to move on. Why on earth would Draper choose to play in the Championship when he has the opportunity to play in the Premiership? Why would he turn down the offer of earning more money somewhere else. If Draper was on £2,000 a week then that may sound a lot to some folk, but being a professional footballer is not something you do till you start receiving your old age pension. Players only earn good money for a few years and after that they need to find other work till they get their pension. Sure, the top players get silly money, but players at our level need to maximise their earnings when they can in order to provide some level of security for their families. If players choose to stay at the club rather than move on then that is fantastic (as long as we want them to stay!) but it is wrong to expect that kind of loyalty. What we can expect from players is for them to play for the shirt when they are here. Ross Draper did that for several years for this club and I salute him for that. Have we sold him on the cheap? No. I don't think so. It has been well known that Draper was available if the price was right and if no club has come in for him for more than County were willing to pay then I would suggest that what they are paying is his market value. Whilst a good ball winner, Draper scores very few goals for a midfielder and is not a very creative player. Getting £100k and saving his wages is a significant boost to pretty empty coffers and I would imagine that Robbo will be looking to use some of that to bring in a combative midfielder with a more attacking mindset. I'm not sure Draper really fits in with Robbos approach to the game, and whilst I'm sorry to see him go, we might find more positives than negatives come out of this.

Did he not score early last season against Partick in the league?

I'd far rather have Draper in the team than not but I'm just making the observation that he doesn't seem to be as effective of late. You certainly can't fault his commitment when trying to win the ball back when he's lost it - particularly if he feels he was fouled in the process - but you don't see as much of that drive in other aspects of his play. He didn't have a bad game on Saturday but there were a few others who were better. I don't see anyone shouting abuse at him, but if he is going to stay, I would like to see him back to his rampaging best. I'd rather he stayed, but on current form I don't think it will be a disaster if he goes.

It pains me to say it, but our club is extraordinarily amateurish when it come to these things. Programmes were on sale on Saturday but the poor folk who sell them are given a bag of programmes and a handful of change and left to stand in some random spot regardless of the weather. You can walk straight past them with realising they are actually selling programmes. Why does the club not do what others do and have a clearly marked covered stall for programmes? This would make it clearer where to get your programmes, it would keep the folk selling them dry and protected from the biting winds, it would make it far easier for them to handle both the programmes and the money, and the stall could have scarves and hats for sale . And why not have someone just inside selling them as well. Same goes for 50/50 tickets. They could be on the stall too and certainly as you go through the turnstiles. I would happily buy a 50/50 ticket but I never see anyone selling them. Anybody who has ever helped out in a fundraising event in the local community hall or school could organise the sale of these things better. As for the tannoy system, I can be walking to the ground 400 yards away or more and hear the team line-ups as clear as a bell , but when I am in my seat in the North Stand I can' barely make out a single word. it is no doubt an effect caused by the distance from different speakers which create that distortion, but most modern PA systems get round that problem these days.

Good post, Sean. I don't think Draper is playing nearly as well as he did a couple of years back and I think maybe that some posters' take on the importance of Draper to the team is based on past performances and not on more recent ones. To me, he doesn't seem to have the drive he once had.. He can be a real handful going forward but he rarely seems to take responsibility for anything creative. With the talk about the need to get Raven off the books my observation would be that Raven played a lot better and showed considerably more commitment against Dundee Utd than Draper did. Despite the fact that in Warren's absence he was given the captain's armband, I saw precious little leadership from him on the park on Saturday. The club have made it quite clear that they are prepared to sell him for something a shade above £100k or thereabouts. If he stays, it will be more a reflection of other clubs' views on his worth rather than our determination to keep him. Getting £100k for him and freeing up his wages may not be a bad move. I certainly think Raven's contract should be extended, and with Seedorf looking good in the Right Back position, I think Raven could do a real job in Draper's current role. He's defensively solid, can tackle well, he's not afraid to run with the ball or have a shot at goal and always gives 100%.

Remember that the official figure is not the number who actually attend but the number of tickets sold. Season ticket holders are deemed to be there even if they are not and a good few will have been away on holiday . If it looked as though there were less people in the stands than the official attendance, that will be because there were. On the other hand, during the first half I noticed a grumpy looking guy sloping off into the main stand and I don't think he had bought a ticket!

Disappointing to lose but I think we can take a good few positives from that. I thought there was real effort and determination in the team. 2 standout performances and sufficient from others to show the potential that exists. Bear in mind that this is largely a new team and we were missing several players from the starting line up who would be first choice. The stand outs were Vigurs (again) and Calder. Vigurs was immense in the first half and kept us in the game at 1-0 when he tracked back and made a perfectly timed tackle when McMullen, I think it was, was through on goal. He faded a bit in the 2nd half but few seeing him today can seriously doubt what an important player he will be for us this season. His corners, though were generally poor - they need more pace rather than being floated in. Calder was also excellent. His control in taking some drilled long passes was terrific and he seemed to mix it up pretty well between running with the ball and crossing it - some of his crosses were pretty decent too. I said earlier that he looked promising but lacked confidence. He seemed to play with more confidence today and I would think this performance will give him the confidence to believe he can do very well at this level. Unfortunately Calder's game ended prematurely following an incident with Toshney. I'll be interested to see if the club says anything about this, but to me it looked as though Toshney put his hand into Calder's face with perhaps a finger in the eye. Toshney then went to ground clutching his head as though it was a clash of heads. What did the referee think? F**k knows! He was well placed to see the incident but despite the two of them lying on the ground, Calder clearly in distress and Toshney holding his head; from 5 yards away he glances down at them, waves play on and runs off after the play. Unbelievable! Had he seen it as I did then he should have blown for a foul and given Toshney a straight red. If he didn't see it like that then it was an accidental clash of heads and he should have stopped the play immediately to get treatment for the potentially concussed players. The referee was late stopping play then but stopped play on a number of occasions when a Dundee Utd player went to ground having been fairly tackled. Throughout the game he let both Toshney and Scobbie constantly foul the players they were marking and engage in blatant holding. Meanwhile he managed to book no less than 5 of our players for rather more trivial offences. He was quite the most inept and one sided referee I have seen for a very long time. We have a small squad and these bookings will be costly when suspensions inevitably kick in. I was also pretty disgusted by Dundee Utd. The amount of gamesmanship, play acting and downright cheating was also as bad as I have seen for a long time. They seemed to have no ambition to play football and having gone into an undeserved lead did anything they could to try and stop us playing. The only good thing about utd today was their fans who came in large numbers to support their team. No doubt they are happy with the win but hopefully not in the manner of achieving it. It could all have been different had we scored. That would have brought Utd out more and created a bit more space to exploit. Despite our superiority in midfield, we could not find the cutting edge to create decent chances or to finish any half chances we had. That is a worry. Today was the first time I have seen Bell and he looked the most likely to be able to nick a goal or two. I'd like to see him get a bit more game time because I can't see Baird scoring many. We really need to find our way to goal or else we will continue to lose games which our general play should see us winning.

Having been signed by Burton Albion from County, Liam Boyce has sustained a cruciate ligament injury in a pre-season friendly and is likely to mist most if not all the coming season. He will also not now feature in the remaining World Cup qualifiers for Northern Ireland. It's a real shame for the lad. Having made this move to further his career he now risks the distinct possibility of never returning to the same form that he found last season. He will have moved to Burton with high hopes of impressing in the championship and moving on to a bigger club. He now faces a very uncertain future. This a the kind of harsh reality faced by so many players in the game while the elite in the game earn enough in a year (or less) for a lifetime's financial security. But the really annoying thing about this is that if Boyce had to have this type of injury, why could he not have had it before he scored all those goals against us?

Just to put it into perspective, what Neymar will be paid every two weeks at PSG will be more that the vast majority of people in this country earn in a 45 year working life. Obscene does not begin to describe it!

The Neymar transfer probably has more to do with the Qataris making a political statement than the general financing of football. But, yes, it is disgusting. Of course, the more general trend in football financing is driven in a large part by the consumers. If consumers didn't pay Sky and BT large amounts of money to watch these players and if the consumers weren't sucked into buying the vastly over-priced and over hyped "must have" branded products which are advertised by these broadcasters then there wouldn't be that sort of money around to pay the top players such obscene amounts. If instead, people supported their local sides, they may not see as much quality play but they would get something far more worthwhile with the emotional engagement with the club and the community around it. With money distributed more evenly, then far more hard working professional players would be able to make a living from the game. By our own consumer choice we create the very inequalities we so deplore.

HT 0-1 FT 1-2 ICT Vigurs Opp Edjenguele Crowd 2911

Maybe Hearts will appoint Foran then. Seriously though, Cathro was always going to get booted early this season unless he got off to a really good start. If Robbo nurtured any hopes of replacing him, I can't see he would have taken the ICT job when we came calling. Nor can I see him not honouring the commitment he has made to ICT. In any case, given the Cathro debacle I am sure Hearts will be looking for somebody with more recent managerial experience either in the Premiership or at a decent level down South. There are several plausible candidates around and the Hearts job will create a lot of interest.

I would have thought Scottishhighland's original post was a perfectly reasonable question. What would be the point of asking the club if somebody on this forum knows the answer and by giving a quick answer can inform not just the OP but the rest of us as well? Secondly, it is reasonable to ask the question here first given that others on here are always saying how difficult it is to get any information out of the club.

He probably will be now.

And I've got him to be first scorer on Gringo's NPL!

This isn't about playing our best available side, it is about trying to determine what our best side will be against Dundee Utd. Last week Robbo was hugely displeased with the attitude of some of the players who he sees as the better players. This could be a match in which they are challenged to perform in if they want to start in the league match. It was good to hear his comments about the attitude of the youngsters who played in the Clach game and I guess he will be far more inclined to give the youngsters a chance than either Hughes or Foran were. He might give a couple of youngsters some game time. The chances of us progressing to the knock out stage is remote and so it doesn't really matter whether we win this game or not. I would therefore not be surprised if two or three of Robbos first picks started on the bench with others being given the chance to impress.

Very interesting article on Billy in the Inverness Courier today. Billy has had a recurring groin strain which clearly was a concern for County if they were going to sign him. Billy is quoted as saying "It's been ongoing for 18 months and I've been at a few clubs - no-one picked up on what it was." "I've come up here and within an hour of my medical they knew what the problem was, had me booked in and got it sorted." Well done County! But given the number of injuries at ICT and the sheer length of time that some of the players seem to be out for, one wonders if there is an issue here. Getting top medical support for the players may be expensive but it can be much more expensive for the club if players are out for any length of time or playing through injury. It is expensive in terms of bringing in players to cover and also in terms of the consequences of poorer results due to key players being absent. Had Billy's problem been sorted out earlier and he had been firing on all cylinders last season, we may not have been relegated.