MacShimidh

3 hours ago, Charles Bannerman said:

Not when, just as the last time this happened in around 2007, people were seriously claiming fifth place whilst in the bottom six. 

Ah yes, I can see now that is a matter for solemnity and grave shaking of heads.

Foran, with Steve Paterson in the 'Patches O'Houlihan' role?

1 minute ago, Charles Bannerman said:

In other words conveniently ignoring the fact that Caley Thistle only had bottom six counterparts to play in the last five games while two of the teams placed "below" them had the more successful top six clubs to contend with.

Charles doesn't do 'light relief'

  I'm not as spooked by the idea as I would expect to be, Richie is certainly a leader - and his shouts on the pitch are usually the right ones.

Bang on, he was mighty.

13 minutes ago, Robert said:

Just went into the club's website to see if there was anything about Hughes.

I happened to notice that the league table is in points order rather than reflecting the split, implying we had a much better season than we actually had.

I assume the club imports the table from somewhere rather than it being wishful thinking.

Some light relief in our current uncertainty?

It's an omen. Top Six next year for sure ;-)

3 hours ago, dougal said:

Richie Foran knows his legs are gone, I think deep down he knows he's going to have to go out on loan next season if he wants first team action guaranteed

Elgin City would be an option and I've heard from a reliable source that they are interested

Dougal

Before he got injured, he was playing really well just in front of the defence - positional sense and organisational ability can substitute for pace there.

That said, Draper has been excellent playing the same position - not sure you would want to move him.
 

Funny, and certainly there is a lot of truth to it, but I'd say Hughes and Latapy got that extra mile out of them. Sometimes, that's the difference.

Och, it's not the way I would have written any of this - but in a sense a lot of this is whip-lash from winning the cup.

Shinnie was away before that, of course - but arguably his desire to leave on a high was the catalyst for such great performances.
Marley Watkin's cup heroics played a part in him attracting a move - doing it in the big games is always going to earn you attention.

I think it's understandable that there is a hangover in terms of performance and motivation after winning almost the biggest prize that the club is likely to be in the running for in the forseeable future
- and just winning silverware is more than a lot of the players in that squad would have ever anticipated doing in the game.

Russell Latapy might have seen it as a sign that he needed to push out and try management, and for both Nick Ross and Ryan Christie, it was a watershed moment.

Hughes has undoubtably played a shorter game in terms of squad management than previously was his style at Falkirk and Hibs - and that's left us in a bit of a mess this season.

Would I trade comfortable mid-table anonymity this season for the Cup? Would you?




 

I think we should take this offer instead.

Nothing personal Charlie, you've been a great servant to the club, but we need the money :-)

There's no point in talking down any of our players - we have a paper - thin squad, like several of the other teams in this league.

Last season, we escaped long-term injuries in areas where we lacked depth - this season so far has been the opposite.

We've got several new players up front, and it's not surprising they aren't on the same wavelength - too soon to write them off as bad players I'd say.

Likewise, the youngsters who come in need time to find their roles in the team. For now, I'm worried - but not surprised, and I'm sure as hell not booing anybody.

Pob lwc Owain!

They've binned most of their extra strikers... but Anthony Stokes is playing for their reserves...?

This season is going to be a bit of a salvage operation, which is going to be deflating after last season's swashbuckling.

Thin squad, hasty buys, injury crisis before the new players have time to blend into the team.

I honestly don't think there's a lot Hughes can do right now except keep their morale from hitting the floor and try to make us harder to beat.

Cheers Marley, good luck!

Going down the route of looking up old players... do you think Ian Black can still play football?

What is Lewis Horner's best position? (Assuming he is staying, seems like he just got here.)

Interesting, I did wonder why he hadn't been picked up again - I'm just impressed at the hit rate of our recent signings, but if that is more about the club as a a whole than one man,

then I'm delighted!

Somebody certainly did very well to look at players like Draper who were in the conference, and see just how much they could improve - I thought he was pretty rough when he arrived, but his mentality and awareness now is excellent.

Credit to everyone involved in seeing the potential in this group of players and getting it out of them.


 

Here's one signing I would love to see us make... find it incredible he hasn't been snapped up by a bigger team - his record for us was pretty incredible:

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/580728/EXCLUSIVE-Steve-Marsella-believes-Inverness-can-cure-his-Wembley-woes

Sounds like a flash in the pan if you ask me. Be better bringing back old flame Lionel-Zippo-Zadi

Carl Tremarco has put in a decent shift when called upon - it's not easy to stay at match speed if you aren't getting regular games so he deserves a bit of slack for the odd mis-judgement.
Same goes for Devine - it's tough coming in as a defender - if a winger comes on for their first game in a while and blooters it into the stands, it's no big deal - one slip for a defender can be calamity.
 

Total respect to all the Bairns fans I met before and after, totally sporting. Hard one to take on the day, you took us to the very edge.

To be fair to Falkirk, put yourself in their shoes, and that was an utter sickener of a way to lose a football match.

Most of their fans I bumped into afterwards getting on the buses looked like they were in shock.