Caley Mad In Berks

On the other hand, can we afford not to? If the manager is seen to be weak in a case like this and gives in to a player, only total anarchy will result. It is a matter of principle, not the ease or affordability of replacing the player. With regard to the league position/losing money situation which you brought up, may I remind you this thread is about Ian Black. Unless you are suggesting that we would have won the game with Aberdeen with Black in the side (and there is little evidence to support that, given the energy and determination shown against Aberdeen, as compared with the few games immediately before with Black in the team), then the your rant about Brewster's arrogance is off topic for this thread.

Very well put. And the Fergie example which one or two posters have jumped on was to indicate he would not tolerate indiscipline from any of his stars, no matter who. Nothing to do with his ability to go out and buy replacements. As stated above, within ICT's budget there are players out there who could replace Black, if he does go in the end. Incidentally, I hope he doesn't, but that he comes up with the requested apology, and gets on with things.

Yes, thats the unfortunate thing. If it wasn't for Gretna, we'd be the laughing stock of the SPL (apart from the SPL management themselves, of course), for washing our dirty linen so openly in public. By the way H the G, good to see you back posting again. I've always thought you have just about the best user name on the forum

Absolutely right, Black is not going to win this spat, and the sooner he accepts that, the better for everyone

At last the voice of reason. I'm with you all the way on this. Brewster is the boss, and probably for some time to come will remain so. You can't have players dictating to the manager. Can you imagine Alex Ferguson putting up with cr*p like this , even from one of his stars? He soon got rid of Beckham and Van Nistleroy when they fell out with him! We have all seen evidence on the field as to how hot headed Black can be. Time for him to eat humble pie and get on with it.

I'm sure salary wise Oldham would pay him a lot more than us. A pity because I think he would be a great addition to our squad, to replace someone like Bayne, say!

I know we keep making excuses for him, putting his petulence down to the fact that he does care. But, nevertheless, my patience is wearing thin with him too

Spot on, I've said much the same on another thread

I agree 100%. And yet I find it unbelievable that there are so many of our fellow posters who can't wait to see the back of him. I guess they blame him for some of the 'so-called' back room unrest, and breaking our wage structure. What a load of bollox. Wyness, when on loan from Hearts was probably on double most of the other players in his take home pay as Hearts were still paying a good percentage of it. But there was no hue and cry about that. If there are any players who grudge Marius his wages they should take a long look at themselves, and perhaps grumble about it when they have the number of international caps he has. They should feel priviledged to be in the same team as him. I would love to see him still with us next year, but I fear pressure to sell him might be too great to resist.

Wait till you see what next week's crowd is! Will it reach 600? About even money I would think.

Yes, I believe we have seen the best of Wyness, but it is odd if Brewster tells him he has to prove himself by the season end, for him not to give him a chance to do so.

I hope you have read the tea leaves wrongly IHE, but I have a horrible feeling you could be right.

Its noose I assume you meant. It beats me why anyone would want to get rid of our best player.

Had to pick up on this and must point out that when we were on our good run Wyness was an integral part of the team. If you mean by our good run when we won 6 out of 7 at the end of 2007, Wyness started only 2 of these games and made a late 10 min period as sub in one other. Hardly integral, by anyone's standards. Imo, he has not been the same since his shoulder injury, and although it saddens me to say it, I fear I'm right and that we've seen the best of him

Delighted to hear that. It shows you what a difference it makes when you have good players and a good coach around you. Some of the nonsense written about him on this forum from certain posters is grossly unfair. What has the guy ever done to deserve it? Despite his international caps and reputation he has done nothing but get his head down and work hard from the moment he arrived and if you speak to any of the current squad they can tell you that he's fitted in well. Regardless of personal opinions etc. Marius is not the problem at this club..... Well said James, I agree with you 100%

I was not for Brewster returning, but not vehemently against. I feel that less than a full season is insufficient time for any manager to make his mark. I feel too many posters on this forum are automatically taking the players side, in every issue, without knowing all the facts. There are clearly off the field problems at ICT, but are they Brewster's doing? I think not. For me, if he continues to blood more of our successful youngsters from the reserve team for the rest of the season and then brings in two or three new players in the summer if necessary, then I'd be prepared to let him have another season. With the demise of Barry and Denzil, both of whom are past their best, and maybe another one or two to follow ( Roscoe/ Granty ??) it is clear that whoever manages ICT has a pretty big rebuilding job on their hands. I suspect this will take some time, and I fear next season may be another struggle to stay in SPL

Fair question JB. I can only suggest Watt and Vigurs off the top of my head. But the point is, no player is bigger than the club and if Brewster is having to disipline some of them to fall in line, then that's his prerogative whilst he's still manager. It seems to me his best option for the rest of the seson is to try out some of the successful youngsters from the reserve team to see if they are up to it, and then assess where he needs to bring in new players. I don't know the ins and outs of the latest Grant/Black reported bust up, any more than any of the others on here, some of whom obviously think they know, but what I do know is that you can only have one boss, and that's Brewster, for now, anyway .

Well done tm4tj, I thought I wasn't dreaming it.

The most accurate and sensible post on this thread so far.

I remember being in Grant St for a Caley v Rangers friendly in the early 50s. Maybe it was at Grant St for crowd reasons for there were at least 10000 there. Incidentally Rangers fielded a full strength team (including George Young, Willie Woodburn et al) and won 5-3 However I can remember a couple of Scottish cup ties at Telford St, also in 50s I think, v Raith Rovers who won 3-2, and v Motherwell who thumped us 7-0, where I'm sure the crowd was closer to 10000 than 5000. Is there any way of finding out now?

SP I'm certain its Bobby Bolt despite the number confusion. Of course, in these days numbering on shirts was quite new, and strictly 2 to 11, no squad numbers as now. Bobby played right half for Caley, traditionally the number 4 shirt. I,m sure they squeezed more than 5000 into Telford St on occasions.

Great clip. What a good crowd! I would have been 7 then, just before I started watching Caley. (My first match was actually Clach v Caley at Grant Street in about 1950). That looked like Bobby Bolt collecting the trophy. In a number 8 shirt (!!!!). He was always number 4 I thought when I saw him play. Great shot of 'Ginger' McKenzie at the end too.

andwinding road

Even if true, if we are honest about it, is it a big deal? ICT legends though they were, Wilson and Wyness are way past their best, and Bayne imo doesn't hack it at SPL level. It is rebuilding time for ICT. A mixture of fresh faces and slowly blooding one or two of our very successful young reserve side into the first team, is what is needed. That doesn't happen overnight. I second that, although i heard Bayne to Killie :029:

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