DoofersDad

Maybe. But in an interview reported in the Highland News today Hughes was praising Tansey's leadership qualities.

If that's true it is shocking. Maybe his agent hasn't passed it on

Maybe Marley should get rid of his agent and listen to Greg Tansey instead. Agents tend to get significant percentages from the deals they broker and therefore often act in their own interest rather than the interests of the player. I'm never clear why professional footballers see the need to have them. There must be a better way of arranging movement of players between clubs.

Technically Rangers have never been relegated either - they went out of business before a new club with a very similar name appeared in the lower reaches of the SFL.

Living OTB I know a few folk who watch county regularly. The general view seems to be that they have been playing some pretty decent football for the most part but have given away too many poor goals whilst not taking chances up front. In general they have not been worried by their lowly position, although if they're not worried now they should be. I am a bit surprised that McIntyre hasn't appeared to have made much of an impact yet. They might have expected him to bring an improvement which would have minimised the need for bringing in new players. It will be very interesting to see if they invest heavily during the transfer window because I'm not convinced that Uncle Roy will be prepared to invest as much as he has previously. They clearly need to find a goal scorer and I would doubt that someone who hardly ever scored for lowly Nuneaton is going to score too many in the SPFL. At one time I thought Arquin might be good for them but he has never lived up to his potential and now has left the club quietly after failing to bother himself for 33 minutes of the match last Thursday. If County go down I fear they will find it difficult to get back up. Derby games with County will become as rare as those between Celtic and The Rangers.

I note that Celtic need to win all their remaining games to equal last year's points tally. Looks as though 3rd and particularly 4th and 5th could all end up with significantly more points than usual although the average points per game for the top 6 obviously drops off after the split. Totals may be high this year because there seem to a lower than average number of draws this season - or am I just imagining it? Interesting that best of the rest in 7th place last season got less points than 11th the year before. It also demonstates how grim County's position is. They are currently averaging just 0.55 per game. In order to get above the worst ever 11th place total they need to average 1.22 for their remaining 18 games and 1.72 to get above the best ever 11th place total. Round about 1.5 would probably see them avoid the play offs but that is the kind of form which as Sneckboy's chart shows, would normally get you about 4th in the league.

Fans are bound to link what they pay to the quality of recent performances so would this not be a pretty risky one for Sevco? No Income Tax, no VAT, no money back, NO GARANTEE. Cushty, you plonker! They'd probably get 20,000 IOUs.

How about collection buckets at the exits so that if people felt that the entertainment was worth more than they paid they could toss in a bit more? But no taking money out of the buckets if folk feel they paid more than it was worth!

Brilliant news!

If nobody wanted any of our players then I would be worried. We have to accept that other clubs can offer more money which obviously attracts the players as does the prospect of playing in front of much bigger crowds week in, week out .In the meantime the move towards getting players on longer term deals increases the chance of getting a transfer fee when they go. And go they will. This is still essentially Butcher's team. The test for Hughes will be whether he can replace players leaving with players who he can develop into the type of players who can keep us challenging for honours in Scotland's top flight.

My mistake, with Goodwin laid flat out after the goal I thought it was him. Quite frankly skinning Tesselar just doesn't seen quite as fun. From the highlights clip it appears it is actually McLean who Raven skins. But frankly, who cares who it was! It was a great goal and worth the admission money on its own.

I'm sorry if anyone thinks my post was a pop at home fans and hope they can accept that it was simply an expression of disappointment about a situation and not one of blame. I certainly didn't see your post as "jumping down my throat" nor do I disagree with anything you say in your 2 points. As you say, what is the point of a forum if you can't express views without others who disagree with you being personally offensive in response? I've been in management long enough not to bother about some of the less pleasantly worded posts that are sometimes directed at me but it does concern me that some with less thick skins don't post on here because of the nature of the responses they see others getting. I've also learnt that attacks on the poster are often a defensive reaction of those who don't like or don't want to accept what the poster is saying. Better simply to let the post go unanswered. By the way, with reference to my original question of "after a large and noisy turnout at Dingwall, are we going to revert to a sub 3,000 crowd on Sunday with just occasional bursts of support from time to time?", the correct response was - "Yes!"

A generally disappointing performance but an absolutely superb goal to win the game - a superb ball from Tansey, brilliant work from Raven to cross for Billy to score with a clever finish. It was interesting that with Draper available, Tremarco continued at left back with Shinnie in midfield in preference to Draper. In my view Draper is better in the defensive midfield role than Shinnie whilst Shinnie is better at left back than Tremarco. I was wondering if this means that Shinnie's departure is imminent and the thinking here was to give Tremarco the opportunity to establish himself at LB whilst Shinnie is still here. Whilst Shinnie didn't have a particularly poor game today, it does seem to me that in the last few games he has lacked some of the intensity of performance that we have got used to seeing. Draper showed enough when he came on to show why he should be starting against better teams than St Mirren Also interesting to see Nick Ross start in preference to both Vincent and Williams in Watkins' absence. I thought he played pretty well - he had some nice touches and did little wrong but he rarely hurts defences in the way Watkins and Doran do. Williams looked more of a threat when he came on but by then, we had scored and St Mirren were chasing the game. I think Ross probably played well enough to start again next match if Watkins is still out.

What a spectacularly poor post. There is categorically no "uncomfortable truth" with our crowds. There were 6614 at the game, of which 3052 were Aberdeen fans. That means that 3562 people made the effort to be there and support their team, a fact that delights me. The club were so grateful for the support at dingwall that they released a statement thanking the fans who made the trip. The assertion that there are some people only go to games against county is frankly ridiculous. If it's not, please give me some evidence and I'll target these people as the ones we need to get along to TCS regularly and make the noise that you snipe about. It is difficult sometimes to create a vast amount of noise in such an open stadium but I don't think that it makes the people who turn up, pay their money and support the club and less than valued. What does make it difficult is the constant carping about how poor our support is from people who ought to know better. So do us a favour DD and give it a rest for a wee while eh? You've made your point. Charming! I write a post praising the support on Thursday and saying it would be great if that kind of support could also be given to the team at routine home games - and I'm told to give it a rest!

In among the bitter nonsense there can be the occasional uncomfortable truth which we can be reluctant to own up to. Whilst we did see a bit of an increase in the home attendance against Aberdeen it was still disappointing for a "winner goes 2nd" match against North rivals. It is also true that our fans were pretty quiet on that occasion. We get large numbers of noisy support OTB and it does seem to be the case there are some who reserve their support for ICT for games against County. If the some of the vocal support generated in Dingwall could be transferred to routine home games it would make a massive difference to the atmosphere which in turn would have a positive effect on the team and attendances. After a large and noisy turnout at Dingwall, are we going to revert to a sub 3,000 crowd on Sunday with just occasional bursts of support from time to time.?

Great to see a much more positive game plan with us looking to get forward with pace and width. The result was a much more exciting game and plenty of goal scoring opportunities. I thought everyone played pretty well and looked comfortable with the positive approach. A great away support as well - whilst disappointing not to have sold all the seats there was great vocal support which was clearly appreciated by the players. County were disappointing both in the quality of their play and in their attitude. They were always a nasty side under Adams and it is disappointing that under the new manager not much has changed. They were lucky the referee was in a charitable mood and only game them 5 yellows.

I would also support tougher sanctions but as a club we need to be aware of the old saying about glass houses and stones. After the game in Perth, John Hughes clearly felt the referee made the wrong decision but he was at pains not to criticise Graham for his actions (although he probably accepted that there was some contact at that point). This was not just Hughes being unwilling to criticise individuals publicly (a trait I very much admire in him), it was a more general point about players forcing the referee to make a decision. What he said was words to the effect that if one of his players felt contact in the box he would expect them to go down and force the referee to make a decision. My view is that you should make every effort to stay on your feet. I am really not sure there is a great deal of difference between going down when there is no contact and going down when there is minimal contact when it would have been easier to stay on your feet. It's all very well to say that referees should be asked to make a decision but they have a split second to make a decision and are often not at the best angle to see. It is inevitable that referees will often get it wrong. I am therefore all for any process that allows for retrospective action which either condemns or reprieves a player. Incidentally, such a process would also be very effective in those difficult situations where players "buy" penalties by deliberately tripping over a defender - often where a defender pulls out of the tackle but the attacker makes a slight change of course and goes over the defender's leg in any case.

Dad of Doofer want's more Hoofer ???.......... The teams style of play is mostly fine we just can't find the net !!! imo. Want I want is for us to take fewer risks at the back and more at the front. If you take risks at the back and lose possession at the back you are immediately exposed to a goal scoring threat. If you take risks at the front and keep possession then you create goal scoring opportunities. I am sure nobody is advocating "hoofball" with a tactic of aimless punts up the park in the hope that opportunities present themselves but I also think a tactic focussing so strongly on possession is equally futile. It is not how much possession you have that counts, it's what you do with the ball when you have possession that matters. To my mind we haven't got the balance right and it worries me when I hear the manager giving interviews suggesting that we shift the balance in the opposite direction.

scarlet, I think sometimes its difficult for John to give the composed and rational explanation you are looking for 5 minutes after the end of the match. If it sounds like he's still composing his thoughts, that's because he is. This is especially true of the BBC interviews, which can be quite adversarial. The you tube ones are better (I would say that) because he's generally chilled a bit by then and knows we aren't just after a bit of controversy. His analysis on the game there is quite clear. I think you are being a bit over-defensive on Yogi's behalf here. Firstly, whilst the you-tube videos can offer a more considered perspective, very few poeple will see them. It is the more immediate post match interviews that have the mass audience and the impact and if a manager can't compose himself for an interview which is an integral part of the job then perhaps someone else should do the interviews. Most managers cope pretty well with interviews most of the time even when they are adversarial. But if you listen to Hughes' interview you will find that it is about the most non adverserial interview you could imagine. The interview lasts nearly 5 minutes in which Hughes is asked only 3 very bland questions. At no time does the interviewer make any attempt to interupt.

I think that's right? I think it seems narrower due to the stands being much nearer the pitch? We had the same debate last year. Whether the pitch is bigger, smaller or the same size the fact is we beat them 3-0 and played them off the park with one of the best performances I've seen from any ICT team. Same again would be good. By the way, I understand that County still have plenty tickets for sale and are surprised that ICT shut up shop early for New Year and didn't want more tickets once the original 1,000 were sold.

I think that's a bit unfair. Doran is perhaps less prominent than he used to be but that is more a consequence of the passing style the manager wants the team to play. I would love to see him run onto balls and take defenders on more but he seems to be playing rather deeper these days although he always puts in a great shift appearing all over the park. For example, it was Doran who raced back to cover Tremarco when he and Meekings went for the same ball. Doran actually got back and would have cut out a convential cross but McGinn was clever enough to cut it back to through his legs. Meanwhile, Murray was bursting into the box and Shinnie made no effort at all to cover him. At the other end, it was Doran who moved the ball on for Mckay and who then made space for himself in a good shooting position. Mckay went for goal but the lay off to Doran would have been the better option. It was certainly not his best game for us by a long chalk, but his work in midfield in pressing the opposition was a big factor in why Aberdeen got so few chances during the game whilst his involvement in our build up play contributed to us creating more chances than usual. He deserves to keep his place as much as anybody. Having said that, I am reminded of a point made earlier in the season, by Yngwie I think it was, about what a poor record we have had this season when Doran is in the starting line-up. The last 2 matches would seem to reinforce that perception.

We've played better and we've played worse. Apart from the goal we were generally pretty impressive defensively against a very talented Dons attack, although we always look vulnerable when we pass the ball around at the back. I was impressed with Christie's work rate and the way he shies away from nothing - some good balls from him too. On another day we could have won that. What does worry me was the manager's post match interview. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/scotland/30619234. What a confused and rambling interview that is. Of particular concern is that he talks about the need to be braver on the ball in terms of playing the passing game rather than playing it long and goes on to say that if you lose games playing that way, then so what! I'll tell you what - it's more important to win matches than play pretty football. The fact is that we create more chances and certainly more excitement when the ball is played long and yet the tendency to play the ball long is what the manager seems to be criticising the team for.

Same team for me. What's more important than the team is the tactics. County will close us down hard and pressure us all the time and we need to focus on getting the ball forward quickly into the spaces.

BBC reporting that despite Dundee Utd losing today they remain 2nd, but that if Aberdeen win at inverness they will go second. What they fail to mention is that if Inverness win at Inverness it is Inverness who will go 2nd. If Inverness win it will no doubt be about Aberdeen losing and missing the opportunity of going 2nd rather than ICT winning and actually going 2nd.

Going a bit of topic DD I was once told that there is a spring or well on Glentruim Estate just west of Newtonmore that the Laird claimed was the center of Scotland. Your geography is quite good! Which means that the real Central Belt Old Firm rivalry is between Newtonmore and Kingussie! Or perhaps in footballing terms, Strathspey Thistle and Fort William.