marks

I think having the gyppeg sellers in the SPL would be great for the local area and really raise the local interest in top flight football, bit of extra cash for us for half a season for renting the stadium (must remember to get some of those mechanics disposable seat covers though)

We spent a lot of last season in the top six and had an eye on European football for quite a few weeks too, so regarding County it doesnt count for much being at the top until the end of the season. (does it Dundee, eh)

As for swapping places with County that would be a tough one to take,they couldnt play at ours though Dougal if the worst happened as we would be in different leagues.

If the unthinkable were to happen then they could play at TCS, so long as SPL fixtures were given priority over SFL fixtures.

Not only do we have a Christmas and New Year home fixture but if your working between the two games and cant make the midweek Hibs match, its being shown on BBC Alba

The way things are going that might be as welcome as finding this wrapped up under the tree.

Going to be a long season , thank God for Dunfermline the only team that looks as bad as us .

Aye but, Dunfermline have a game in hand and it's only against Celtic.

Is it time to start wearing slip on shoes to matches yet?

Baltacha - allegedly fined defenders for going over half way line !!!

Did he though? or is that just another story which has grown wings? More a case of fining someone for getting caught out of position?

ICT 3-1 Clyde (The one where McBain got sent off)

Clyde 1-2 Inverness (The one where Partick fans joined us)

Livi 4-3 Inverness (the one which would have been top had the Clyde results not been so significant)

Celtic 1-3 Inverness (the one where supercaleywentballistic)

Inverness 3-2 Celtic (the one where Proctor scored and got sent off)

And it brings back memories of Rankin, Black, Cowie and Wilson in midfield being covered by Duncan - now was there ever a better midfield unit than that.

Greeny.

"It's believed the consortium, who want to invest around ?250,000 in the club, have reached a deal in principle, with majority shareholder David Sutherland. The investment would see them acquire the voting rights on his 30 per cent shareholding should their offer be rubberstamped."

250K for his voting rights - that sounds like a good deal doesnt it

The consortium had a number of conditions and requests ahead of any investment and it is understood that only a couple of talking points remain outstanding.

Is anyone trying to tell me that giving TB a renewed contract was not one of those conditions. A good decison IMHO but one that was stumbling on and on and closely related to football politics and the ongoing background battle to control ICT. I fer one would prefer Terry and Mo to Robbo and Parky.

Note that some of the moderators appears twitchy when the Sutherland/Tullochs v Savage/Orion scenario is brought up. It is not in the past, it is in the here and now and could determine the future of the club. Sutherland has the reputation and the history behind him and should rightly be viewed as a saviour and a major reason for our drive to the SPL but times change and perhaps a "leader" with more contacts within football, more cash to splash, some big backers waiting in the wings, albeit possibly a score to settle influence - I would sincerely thank and laud the former but welcome the latter.

Are the Muirfield Mills going to build a Hadrians Wall around the dump or are they a Trojan Horse ?

This thread will hit ten pages in the near future.

5:20 See you there.

1. Brewster

2. Rooney

3. Ritchie

4. Wyness

5. Foran

This ^^^^^

1. Robson

2. Cowie

3. Rankin

4. Black

5. Wilson

Here's a prediction for you, old man loses his head and powers go, you should have been looking at the past instead of second guessing the future.

http://www.football.co.uk/inverness_caledonian_thistle/sutherland_may_sell_caley_jags_shares_rss1546685.shtml

There can be only one.

Are you off yer head?

Sutherland has stated he is willing to sell his shares, why would he want to get involved in a power struggle?

I guess thinking about it like that Scotty it would be a bit of a work up but like you say I am sure the concept could be simplified. I like tm4tj's idea of a fair play award.

I have been reading about the player of the year polls run by the website, it got me to thinking that it might be a nice touch to award points in the same manner to opposition teams, that way we could award a player who has performed particularly well against us over the season with a small token/award. I would imagine this would be the first fansite to do so in Scotland and might raise the profile of our fans as leaders amongst our peers. Thoughts?

Post edited because Scotty is correct in the following post, no need to get involved in anything other than the topic of discussion.

I believe that Terry and Mo getting contract extensions will turn out to be a good decision, however I still hold reservations about the timing of the announcement and the fact that it seems to fly in the face of comments made by TB himself during the transfer window. I hope that this is just the beginning of a building process which will see the same faith shown in TB and MM being shown in the playing staff, after all the playing staff have been chosen by TB and MM.

The whole point of signing players on short term deals is to be able to offload if they under perform or if, heaven forbid, we are relegated. Should this approach not be followed for managerial staff? One rule for them another for the players, maybe it could be counter productive as far as settling the team/ dressingroom.

Sounds like advocating for the devil if you ask me. That scenario is being implanted in others minds by yourself.

Marks said>> Why is it down to the fans to create confidence in the team rather than the other way around?

The confidence from the fans is gained by the team/management not being knocked at every opportunity. The teams performance also gives out confidence to the fans. It's a two way thing. They play rubbish we get on their backs, we drag them down all the time they find it difficult to get out of the rut. Accept that sometimes there are no hidden agendas in things that happen. Not everyone/everything has an ulterior motive.

I don't need to re-read your post thanks, once is enough, and if the cap fit's then wear it.

No, I think that what I have given is a fair assessment. I am looking at all scenarios, others are looking only for positives. Ying and Yang, if you have only a one sided view you have a false view.

As for the confidence issue there is a world of difference between confidence and support, eg I am going to support Scotland (via the TV set) in their next two matches but I have little confidence in them winning their group, hope yes confidence no. Please tell me where I have slated the team/ management, I have raised issues and given reasons behind my issues, to get back to Scotty's point you have not addressed issues which I or anyone else has raised you have only taken the points people have made and slated individual posters for addressing possible negative outcomes, even going as far as to put ideas into people's minds of ulterior motives. Who is playing devil's advocate?

Nor have I claimed there are ulterior motives from the club, just an apparent lack of preparing for the worst.

Seeing as his contract has been signed up till 2014 is everyone happy if he is still with us if we get relegated this season? I don't think it'll happen but i think its a tough spl this season and it could. If we get relegated would we be ok with that for the long term plans of this club and hope Terry can bring us back up the first chance of asking?

Yes, I'd be happy to see him stay if the worst was to happen but I'd like to think that he'd drop down to the wage structure of SFL clubs, this is my main concern. If there is a clause in the contracts to this end then without doubt I would not have as much confidence in any other management team's ability to do so, they have a proven record as far as that is concerned. However our squad's contract status is not as strong as the last time, if we dropped we'd lose players and we would need as much money as possible for the playing staff's budget to make a realistic challenge. Hopefully this would not happen but I believe it has to be a consideration.

Who said we are "firmly rooted to the bottom of the table"?

The term, which was from yourself, was actually "sitting rock bottom" and I had inferred that to mean what I said in my post which is not necessarily the case. My error, apologies.

However, I still believe that this is good news as it should still any rumblings or uncertainties, at least for a while.

Then again, when things really are tough, no manager ever wants to hear a Club spokesperson say " . . . . has the full confidence of the Board . . . " as that is usually an indicator of this: !!!

Thanks for the apology, green dot for that. I meant exactly what I typed we are sitting rock bottom in no way do I think we deserve to be rooted there, nor do I think it is beyond our ability to get off the bottom but it is a possibility that we could find ourselves there at the end of the season and this should be a consideration when planning for the future, we have no idea of the terms of the contracts which have been awarded but I do think that if they were to remain contracts of SPL value and we were to find ourselves an SFL club once again that would be a serious misjudgement.

Remember, moderators are posters too.

My previous comment was with regards to the negative comments against something that is surely only a positive move by the club. However, there are certain posters who always find a way to take the shine off of anything that happens, in my opinion, based purely on stirring the muck. I also wonder how many of the negative posters have seen us play this season on a regular basis and if the answer is yes, then there is no way that the form of the team should lead to the negative conclusions drawn out kindly for us all to see. Yes, the club the management the players and the fans all have their faults as well, but playing devils advocate does little to raise confidence and the belief of others if they read what they see at face value. I am not convinced that many of the postings on here are for real, and fishing trips are a part of forums that we all have to sift through.

I have no issue with anyone partaking in debate, whether positive or negatively, but simply being negative for the sake of it is just immature and frankly turns a lot of people off.

Why wait until January to make this decision? The club see the current duo as the way forward, signing them on now builds confidence in many ways for players, management, investors and fans alike. Would some like to see the current management fall flat on their faces. I fully understand why the question was asked, I just wondered if it should have been asked at this time.

With regards to the bread and butter comment, surely there is more to this than simply we are bottom of the league full stop. The board obviously have more vision and are looking at the bigger picture, sometimes you have to go backwards before you can go forward.

Remember this, not everything you read on here is meant with good intentions, I'll let you make your own mind up about that.

And to finish off, I am sure the board will have a few legal loopholes to use if it all goes tots up, so I am all in favour of this early boost.

You are correct this is a move by the club which was done from a positive perspective, it is a move which shows commitment to the management team, my original point though is not one of negativity for the sake of negativity as your post here would seem to be hinting at, I am thinking that Butcher himself said (during the transfer window) that the way things are in the game short contracts are the way to go at this time for reasons already discussed on this forum. It seems a little hypocritical that management should be offered extensions to their contracts when players have the uncertainty of short term contracts hanging over them, everyone knows that playing careers are short so why give players even more doubt with short contracts? Why not raise their confidence by giving them longer terms also?

Why is it down to the fans to create confidence in the team rather than the other way around?

We have already taken the big step backwards through relegation, then moved forwards through a great season last year, do we have to go backwards and forwards in alternative seasons? I am not trying to play devil's advocate, I am genuinely wanting to know why this has been announced now. If I was to play devil's advocate I would ask if this is a move to build confidence in the fans given our league position rather than a move to build confidence within the team. For the record I do not believe this to be the case.

As I said before, what is good for the goose should be good for the gander and if the club feel that players should only be given short term contracts for financial reasons then the same should go for the management team. If players are seen as a financial risk and are kept on due to performance then the same should go for coaching staff. I hope that the club answer my concerns now by proving me wrong and showing the same level of commitment to the playing staff as they have to the coaching staff. I would also hope that you could take the time to reread my posts and take notice of the positive aspects within them instead of picking up on the negative aspects and dwelling on them.

To all you guys questioning the timing of this news take a look at this quote from Kenny Cameron "The league position never entered the directors thoughts".

That's not what really people are questioning. Seven weeks into a season is a funny time to offer new deals - when things become clearer in January, that would have been more appropriate.

When the league is the bread and butter for clubs then league position should be the first thought of the directors, I was going to rant about poor running of the club but that would be wrong since I have not seen the quote in it's full context.

So we are "firmly rooted at the bottom of the table" are we .. .?

We are 1 point behind the three teams above us, two points behind thetwo above them. One win and one or more of those above losing and wecould be up 2 or 3 places and right back in it. In terms of goaldifferences, we are on -9 as is Dumfermline with Hibs on -7. Aberdeen areon -3, courtesy of their recent 4-0 thumping of the Fifers. And even StMirren are still within our sights.

There is a loooooong way to go in this league. Our new team isstarting to show some confidence and therefore results. The picture ismuch more hopeful now than it was at the start but they just need to keepplaying and keep grinding out results.

Too much of football is about sacking managers, but there are heavycosts involved in that mindset and it is too often the easy answer to what areusually much deeper underlying issues. To create a measure of stabilityat this stage shows that the board have confidence in the strategy that Terryand June have laid out and are willing to put their money where their mouth is.

More sail!

Who said we are "firmly rooted to the bottom of the table"? From what I can see anyone speaking out against the wisdom of offering contracts at this stage has also acknowledged that, given good results, we could turn this position around in a few games and have said so before you took the time to recap the league position for us. Think back to the Brewster sacking, when fans started calling for his departure we had not even hit the bottom position, I am not suggesting that we sack Butcher and I do not believe anyone has suggested that. What is being suggested is that offering a new contract when things are so uncertain may have been the wrong move, should things not improve, and consider that the teams immediately above us are showing signs of improvement too, then it could end up being a costly exercise.

Like any other fan I hope beyond hope for my team to do well but I question the logic of offering contracts to an underperforming management team who had refused to give contracts to a couple of our better performing players just a few months earlier, Butcher may be a legend but so were Munro and Duncan. Legend status should not be a consideration in the extension of contracts, results should be, this decision could have waited, this decision should have waited.

There's not many clubs that would reward a bottom of the league management team that got knocked out of the cup at the first hurdle with a 2 year contract extension !!! Hope this doesn't come back to haunt us .

I agree with you DALNEIGHCALEY, this is a ludicrous time to be handing out new contracts while we are sitting at the foot of the table, total madness!!!!

That fella Laurence was ridiculed by almost everyone on here but this decision beggers belief IMO it really does, he's probably having a right good chuckle at this tonight

I personally would have waited till January before discussions took place that way we would have had more first team players back from injury and hopefully be in a much healthier league position

If results improve and we start to climb the table that is the time to dish out rewards not when we are on the back foot, check my previous posts as i've already stated this opinion on a previous thread in case i get accused off fishing

As usual the site admin and moderating team can only see nothing but positives my advice to them would be its time they entered the real world and accept there are some of us who are not scared to voice our opinions because it differs from theirs

dougal

Good post, I too believe that January would have been a better time to announce this, our place in the table could quite easily look a whole lot better after 3 or 4 good results and other results going our way conversely it could look a hell of a lot worse given some bad luck and a run of form for our rivals. I believe that signing TB and MM up for an extended spell in charge is probably a good thing but there are too many things which could go wrong and end up stretching our modest budget to breaking point.

Could you not post without dragging things to a personal level in discussions which are valid and worthy of discussion? I usually sit back and don't comment unless I feel it is merited, I do however read most threads on here and you have a lot of good stuff to say, yes you get a fair bit of flaming some of which is undeserved but in some cases you get what you deserve.

What is it with this forum. Anything positive that emanates from the club gets met with scepticism and negativity.

Good to get the men at the helm tied up, lets work on the rest as we progress.

Should the conversations here not be balanced? Otherwise discussions deteriorate into high fiving and back slapping, if you chastise people for holding a differing view or pointing out possible pitfalls then they will leave and the forum will become stale and boring. Just a place for like minded people to tell each other how great their ideas are without the benefit of a steadying influence.

This sounds about right.The whole point of signing players on short term deals is to be able to offload if they under perform or if, heaven forbid, we are relegated. Should this approach not be followed for managerial staff? One rule for them another for the players, maybe it could be counter productive as far as settling the team/ dressingroom.

Seems to be this assumption that because players are on "short term" deals then they are immediately going to be gone at the end of that. Here's a revolutionary thought for you....maybe those players might extend their contracts, just like Terry and Mo have!!! What's more, maybe they might now be a lot more willing to extend those contracts now that Terry has extended his!!!

Not all players are/were on short term deals...in fact, there's probably fewer than people think.

D, I did say that "if" they were not to perform up to scratch or we got relegated they could be gone, I am not making any assumptions as to whether or not they will be here just that there is an option should it be required. It is good news that they have commited themselves (both the club and TB/MM) but as someone said before this could blow up in our faces. I was just trying to point out that the club have stated, even TB himself, that short term deals are the way to go in the economic climate and with the state of the game just now but what is good for the goose should be good for the gander, hopefully it will not be too long before we see players being awarded the same level of commitment from the club as has been shown towards the management team.

Forgive my pessimistic stance but we are sitting rock bottom at the moment and whilst you can see only improvement in the future I am pretty sure I read and heard the same sort of comments, from many and various sources, around the time just before Brewster's departure.

IMO they should have waited until the new year and looked at how we are doing at this point before offering contracts. This will be a more accurate representation of how 'Terry's new team' is performing for better or ill.

Totally agree...hopefully this will turn out to be great decision but a could be a costly one if its wrong

This sounds about right.The whole point of signing players on short term deals is to be able to offload if they under perform or if, heaven forbid, we are relegated. Should this approach not be followed for managerial staff? One rule for them another for the players, maybe it could be counter productive as far as settling the team/ dressingroom.