DoofersDad

It makes sense really because Billy is the sort of striker than the Germans in particular tend to favour. Looking at Tomato Terrace's excellent video of Billy's goals I was reminded of the video showing all of Miroslav Klose's record number of world cup goals where his longest range strike was a penalty! Germany previously had Gerhard Muller in a similar role. These sort of players may not be spectacular but they can be very good at winning football matches. The Germans appreciate them and know their worth. If we are talking in the region of £500K then that is the sort of level where the next stage up gets into silly money. Whatever fee Billy may eventually go for (and go he certainly will at some point) it will be important to get a clause which gives ICT benefit from any subsequent move. Another point to make is that whilst I would expect Billy to score a good few if he stays here, the need to get a replacement or back up is probably not as urgent as some folk think. The style of play Yogi is bringing in is a bit more fluid and not reliant on a traditional striker role. We have several players capable of scoring and who, in the style of play, will get into scoring positions. A windfall from selling Billy might be best spent on securing longer term contracts for key players like Shinnie and Christie rather than an out and out proven replacement. Yes we will need to bring at least one more striker in but in my view we should be looking for someone with the potential to develop within the team we have and who won't break the bank - which is what we did when we signed Billy in the first place.

I've only seen brief highlights and will therefore restrict my comments to Billy's goal. It wasn't a spectacular strike or the result of a breathtaking passing movement but it really was a brilliantly taken goal. His awareness to see the opportunity, his vision to see what needed to be done, his control to execute it and his bravery to take that deft touch when he knew he was going to get clattered by the keeper were all top drawer. There are very few strikers who would have taken that opportunity and lets hope the qualities he displayed there gives him the confidence to score many more.

We should be thankful that we are in a position where the journalists actually want to interview the manager. And we won the game! An ideal opportunity for Yogi to throw their gloomy predictions back at them. I would have thought he would have relished the opportunity.

Very strange. As someone else said, he comes across as an honest, likeable sort of guy and what you see is what you get. He may be prone to the odd strange statement but there are always opportunities to correct misunderstandings if he has said something which has been interpretted differently from what he meant. I don't know why he chose not to speak to the media after the first game of the season but making himself available is really part of the job. He needs to win over the fans to his style of play and refusing to give interviews doesn't help.

Good luck to those new to the competition, but it would be good to get a few more signed up as I will be completely unbearable if I win -again.

It is completely unjust given that Celtic were to all intents and purposes soundly beaten before the illegible player was put on. Celtic were beaten fair and square. However, if the rules state that if an ineligible player is played at any point in the tie the tie is forfeited to the opposition then Legia only have themselves to blame - somebody must have known he was illegible. It seems like another example of stupid officials making stupid rules and thereby making a laughing stock of the game. There should be some scope to use a bit of discretion in situations where the offence clearly had no impact on the outcome of the tie. Trouble is that the numpties who run the game want to avoid making difficult decisions and having to use a bit of judgement. Allowing Legia to progress but giving them a fine would be far more appropriate, but if the rules don't allow for that kind of discretion, it aint going to happen.

Punching above our weight, then, without England doing it on our behalf! Another example of the Scots being able to thrive and do well as a part of the Union. Support for the Better together campaign should ensure another fine performance in Australia in 4 years time!

Whatever that means doesn't take away from the fact that he said he would be happy just to avoid relegation. Despite saying "we'll let everyone else tell everyone what they're going to do" he also says that he expects we'll win more games than we'll lose - which, of course, is telling everyone else what he thinks we're going to do. So he thinks we will win more than we will lose (so presumably that's top six again) but he will still be happy if we just avoid relegation. I'm sure he does have higher ambitions for the club but his words don't exactly inspire confidence. Ictchris makes a good point about small changes having a big impact on league position and therefore it would be foolish to make any more specific predictions, but surely nobody at the club will be happy if we just avoid relegation - relieved, maybe but surely not happy. I would have thought the line should be that we have been top six for the last 2 seasons and will be looking to build on that. At the same time he should be acknowledging the progress other clubs like Aberdeen and Dundee Utd in particular are making which will make the league very competetive. That would demonstrate ambition whilst playing down expectations.

There is nothing to indicate this was written tongue in cheek so I will bite and take it at face value as I think this illustrates why we are never going to agree on whether posts are positive and negative. SP starts with a quite extraordinary statement which begs the question of why anyone would consider favouring either positive or negative posts in the first place. Surely reasonable folk would favour objective posts - whether you then perceive those posts as positive or negative is a matter for your your own perspective and expectations. SP goes on to refer to himself as amongst the "standard balanced folks" but he seems pretty firmly in the "happy clapper" camp to me. SP finishes by saying "The old saying ''Oh,wid the guid lord the gift tae gie us tae see oorselves as ithers see us"springs to mind as something the non-happy clappers and negative criticisers could ponder over". Note that he doesn't see those sharing his own happy clapper views having a need to see themselves as others do as presumably their views are unquestionably the only views that have any validity. The truth is that it behoves us all to reflect on how others see us and to respect the views of others. To me the issue is not about positive versus negative posts, it is about the intolerance of some towards those who offer objective comment on aspects of this football club. Far too often when the comments are critical, the happy clappers condemn them as "negative" yet rarely offer any objective argument to counter the points made. There are many folk who are no longer posting their views or who feel intimidated to post any views in the first place because of the way any critical posts are responded to. Interestingly, it seems to me that those who are often branded as negative are the first to acknowledge improvements. Renegade makes an excellent post relating to this. Whilst not agreeing with the OP, he raises an important point in questioning whether critical postings on this website have a negative impact on the players and the potential support. As far as the players are concerned I would expect that objective criticism will always be welcomed by players with any ambition to succeed. The players will know when criticism, however well meant, is misguided and they'll not worry about that in the slightest. But where they can recognise that objective criticism has some validity to it, any professional worth their salt will use it to motivate them to respond positiively. As far as the fans are concerned, surely honesty is the best policy - tell them the product is better than it is and they'll feel cheated and won't come back There is nothing so negative as an intolerance to an honest exchange and debate of sincerely held views regarding concerns that fans may have. I wish that what we were seeing on the park was such that everyone was saying it's brilliant to watch - but it isn't. If you don't like what you're seeing then why pretend that you do? I doubt that there are any fans who don't hope that the faith Caley D has in the development of Yogi's plans is justified, but I think it is perfectly reasonable for folk to raise concerns based on what was undeniably a season of two halves last year. Let's end this positive v negative nonsense and have a bit of respect for other folks views and concerns and debate the points raised in an objective and respectful way. That is the kind of positivity I would like to see.

Agree. The downside for me was the rolling out of Rod Stewart but at least he wasn't quite as awful as Sir Paul at the Olympics. Other musical elements blended in with the ceremony beautifully and were performed, often in a wonderfully understated way. The piece involving the Scottish Youth Choir and the interpretation of "Letter from America" with two young dancers from the Scottish Ballet was particularly effective. Unheralded performers outshining the bigger names at Celtic Park - hope that sets the scene for ICT's visit to Celtic Park in a few months time

I quite like the Ado Den Haag strip as it is. No blue and no red. Change the name simply to Inverness FC and we can move forward supporting the new club with a clear identity of it's own with no one whinging about whether the identity of one of the merged clubs is more prominent in the kit or the name than the other. Having a name that is a constant reminder of the past, keeps the pot stirring and gives us an identity crisis - and folk on here wonder why the wider football community doesn't take us seriously enough!

Decent mix of red and blue, some stripes and a general image to reflect the amicable union of two clubs with proud traditions. Is this the sort of thing folk are after?

I agree that it has been a good tournament. For me Messi was a huge disappointment and whilst he had the odd touch of something special, for large parts of most games - including the final - he seemed pretty disinterested and contributed little to the team. It is illuminating to look at the FIFA stats in this regard. In terms of distances covered most players ran over 1K every 10 minutes - even the much maligned Fred managed that. Schweinsteiger managed 1.26K but Messi only 0.90. Apart from his goals he didn't contribute much. 5 of his Argentinian team mates made more passes than him and all had a better pass completion rate. 9 of the German team exceeded him in both respects. Messi's pass completion rate was 68%. Even Pirlo made more passes than Messi (and with a 90% completion rate) and he only played 3 games compared to Messi's 7. Of course, Messi is renowned for his running with the ball and his shooting but he only had 8 runs into the box in his 7 games and had 22 shots on goal with only 10 on target. The awful Fred had 9 on target in his 6 games. Ronaldo only had 3 games but managed 23 shots on goal with 14 on target whilst chewy Louis managed 9 on target in his 2 games. Messi's contribution has been average at best and to have him named as player of the tournament is a real kick in the teeth for the many players who are far more deserving. Far from getting player of the tournament, Messi wouldn't even be close to my team of the tournament. In fact, he would struggle to get into my Argentinian team of the tournament. Well done to the Germans though. They thoroughly deserved their victory. Their work rate, team work and style of play was all excellent. The only downside is their tendency to appear to be injured more than they actually are or pretending to be injured when they are the ones who committed the foul. The otherwise excellent Thomas Mueller was chief culprit and having got Pepe sent off in the first game he was up to his old tricks again in the final. If they could eliminate that from their game, I could get to quite like them! Of other teams, the Dutch again thrilled but fell just short, Mexico, Costa Rica, Columbia, the USA and Algeria all provided some superb entertainment and excitement. Most of the other teams had their moments and came with the intention to play attractive attacking football. The competition will perhaps be remembered most for the astonishing 7-1 thrashing of the hosts Brazil but in many ways the most significant result was the thrashing the boring World and European champions Spain suffered at the hands of the Dutch and their subsequent elimination at the first stage. The world cup is over and the beautiful game is alive and kicking.

One has to look on the bright side in life. At least I can be assured that one of them is going to lose.

I'm not sure whether I've commented on this sad and negative thread before, but as it is now over 600 posts long I think i'll say my bit. Not having been born and bred in Inverness I never developed a particular alleigence to any of the inverness teams. When I moved to Inverness in 1975 I would watch any of the three teams to fit in with when I was free or if there was a game that had a particular attraction. For me, supporting the merger with the prospect of entry in the Scottish league and progress within it was an exciting prospect. From a purely footballing perspective supporting the merger was a no brainer. On the face of it, it seems absurd that over 20 years later this is still something people feel compelled to talk about. I can well understand that at the time many people were very unhappy with the prospect of a merger and about the way things were handled. But whatever issues may have caused hurt then are over and done with. What we now have is a new team which is far more successful than either of the merged teams ever were and which deserves the support of all local football fans. I am not going to speculate on how many refusniks there are because I neither know nor care. Whilst I can understand the passion these folk may have had for preserving the identify of the team they had supported over the years, I fail to understand why, if they are genuine lovers of football, they don't give their support to ICT. OK, so they were deeply upset about the merger but ffs, get over it. Just what is the point of denying yourself the pleasure of supporting the local team as it progresses over the years? These are the sort of people who, if a Marathon bar had been their favourite chocolate bar would refuse to eat a Snickers because they didn't think the name should have been changed. But I suspect that many of the so called refuseniks were actually never particularly keen on the football. For them it was an identity thing and supporting either Caley or Thistle was like being in a big gang. When the gangs disappeared there was nothing for them but to mourn the loss of their gang and they are mourning still. Asking them to come along and watch ICT was a bit like expecting gang members to trot along to the boys' brigade (if it still exists). Refuseniks. Either stupid or not interested in football. Yes, they may influence their offspring (if they're allowed access) but youngsters are also influenced by peer pressure and increasingly this pressure and the good promotional work done by the club will reduce the impact of any refuseniks on the youngsters to an insignificant level. Of course, this continual obsession with the merger merely keeps the poison flowing. The refuseniks have cut off their noses to spite their faces and they aren't going to start supporting ICT now. There is nothing productive to be gained by continuing to speculate on their numbers and the potential loss of support they represent. We will progress better as a club if we ignore them - just as they have ignored us for the last 20 years. Hopefully I'll do my bit by not posting on this thread again but it would be much more productive if Dougal stopped posting his nonsense on the subject.

Last night Shearer was going overboard about how good the Germans were but the scoreline is much more about how shockingly bad Brazil were rather than how good the Germans were. The Germans played very good competent football but they never did anything exceptional. They had two particularly good strikes for goals but by then the match was as good as won, there was little pressure from defenders and it was almost like being on the training ground. Had Gernany played like that against say Colombia or Costa Rica they would probably have won but only by one or two. The fact is that Brazil's defending was woeful for each and every one of the goals. What was really astonishing was not the utter ineptness of the defending but the lack of passion or effort. This was a World Cup semi final which Brazil were playing in their own country and yet for 2 or 3 of the goals David Luiz, the captain for the night and key central defender, was missing upfield. And whilst Germany patiently passed the ball around to create the opening, Luiz was walking back into position watching his team mates get pulled apart. I can't remember seeing such deriliction of duty from a player in any match ever. The "Special One" must be thinking he did a great bit of business selling Luiz to PSG for £40million! He was the worst of the bunch but others were not far behind. Part of the reason why Germany's play was so fluid was because they were never closed down. Nobody put any pressure on the Germans and they were able to trot into space without being tracked and then they were given time to spot the next pass. No other team in the the whole of the competition would have allowed the Germans that freedom. Up front, Fred has been totally ineffective throughout the tournament - he has offered no movement and when he has got the ball his touch has been hopeless and he has generally lost possession straight away. It is extraordinary how he has been allowed to start every game. Brazil weren't just very poor - they were a disgrace. Ironically, this astonishing result may backfire on Germany. Whether it is Argentina or the Netherlands in the final, Germany will face a far sterner test. And unless we see something equally extraordinary tonight, Germany will go into the final as hot favourites after their demolition of Brazil. That will put pressure on them and they do have vulnerabilities at the back which were not exploited last night. I think they will win but I expect the final to be pretty tight.

I hope I'm wrong.

The Costa Rican keeper did play well but it was not a one man show by any means. Defensively they were excellent. The backroom staff had done their homework and they developed effective game plans which the players then delivered in a very disciplined way. They all worked tremendously hard for each other. If they had had a little more quality in the final third who knows what they might have achieved. I was also sorry to see Colombia lose to Brazil. Rodrigues is clearly the stand out player but again it was a great team effort. Brazil resorted to the dark side of the game with an astonishing number of fouls which the referee let go without showing the yellow card. It all rather backfired on them when Colombia started dishing it out on Brazil's star player who will now miss the rest of the tournament. It's a shame because he's a great talent who seems to have a good attitude. I can see Germany winning it now.

I suspect we may see the tactic a little more often in the future and I fail to see why people think this is somehow insulting to the keeper who has played the match. Saving penalties is a very specific keeper task and whilst one keeper may be a good spot kick stopper, another keeper in the squad may well be a more rounded keeper better at narrowing angles, collecting crosses, coming off the line to make blocks etc. It's a bit like taking off a defender and putting a striker on when you're chasing a game - it doesn't mean the defender has played badly, it is just that you need a different skill set on the park at that time of the game. In the context of the world cup game I think the strategy of bringing Krul on worked brilliantly. He is a very big man and his sheer presence immediately puts a bit of pressure on the kick takers who feel there is that little bit less margin for error. Added to that is the fact that it gives a message to the opposition that the substitute keeper is good at saving penalties and again this must put pressure on them. Krul also used psychology effectively by his general swagger and body language which oozed confidence. But regardless of any pschology here, Krul actually did the business making 2 stops, the second of which was a particularly good save. It is a sensible tactic and the keeper who has played the rest of a match should not have a problem with that provided it is a strategy agreed in advance.

I couldn't really care as long as he doesn't run onto the pitch when the manager wants a sub on

Well I doubt he's making it up... Kingsmills makes a fair point. It may or may not be true but it's not "official" till the club confirm it. If it is true I would rather players wait for a formal announcement before tweeting about it. Having said that I would like to see the club announce these things promptly. There should be no reason why a brief press release can't be fired off as soon as the agreement is made.

Looks as though he's been sleeping in a subway.

I'm reliably informed that the delay in releasing the new strip has been caused by concerns regarding the image of a 12" baguette on the shorts.

What a thrilling game between Belgium and the USA last night! It goes to show that it is not quality football that necessaril;y entertains, but a real desire to play attacking football. There was some poor defending with players being out of position and allowing attacking opportunities to develop for the opposition and there was some poor finishing by the Belgians who kept aiming at Howard's legs rather than lifting the ball over his flailing arms as he went to ground early time after time. Made for a really exciting game though. If Iain Stewart had been in the Belgian side last night he would probably have scored about 10.

Used to live just 3 miles from St Andrews and would love to get down to Brum for the game and catch up with friends and family down there but we'll be out of the country that weekend. Sounds great that so many ICT fans are planning to get to the game. Favourite Brummie joke. Q. What's the difference between a buffalo and a bison? A. You can't wash your hands in a buffalo!