Caley Mad In Berks

I think we will probably be OK. Its asking a lot for Dunfermline to win all 3 and Hibs to win 2 out of 3 (including beating us), the only combination that could relegate us if we also lose to Midden. But then again I thought we'd done all the hard work in 2009 with 3 games to go, only for Butcher to mess about with the defence (dropping Esson, Tokeley played out of position etc), and we all know what happened. Butcher still doesn't seem to know what his best defence is (or the rest of the team for that matter), so I wonder what surprises he might have in store. However I'm trying to remain optimistic.

Then he'll he in really good company back here. Seriously, I can't see him coming back to ICT. Englandshire more likely.

I think we'll be safe, not through our own doing, but because Dungfarmland will drop points, although probably not to us the way we are playing. I suspect we'll end up with 36 points. However many we get it must go down as an extremely poor season, for which Butcher must accept much of the blame. Personally I think he should go. I don't really know who I'd want to replace him. Anyone who has a desire to play football with the ball on the ground would do me! It doesn't have to be a big name. St Johnstone are the benchmark for trying out new, unproven managers, over the past 5 years or so, and it has proved highly successful for them Perhaps we should follow their example.

Yes, I've been sorry to watch Hendry slide down the rankings in recent years. He is still excellent 'in the balls' and his positional play is second to none. I see he is drawn against Higgins in round 2. Can't see many folk outside his immediate family rooting for Higgins in this one. I hope Hendry wins 10-0. Mind you, I want all Higgins opponents to thrash him as I firmly believe he should have been banned from the game a couple of years ago. He was a complete disgrace to the game.

Poor little Neil! What with Killie beating them in the League Cup Final and Hearts today in the Scottish Cup semi, his befief that there is a conspiracy by everyone, especially referees, against his side, must be full to overflowing! Couldn't happen to a nicer fellow! GIRUY.

Brewster has been deputy there all season. I think his promotion to manager is as a 'stand in' after his boss left suddenly to manage Rotherham, a few positions below them in FL2. A surprising move but admittedly Crawley have slipped badly in recent weeks, after looking odds on for their second promotion in a row before Xmas. Nevertheless Crawley are a decent side and if Craig keeps them in contention for promotion to FL1 he will have done well. Good luck to him.

I've had a bet on Mr Consistency, Luke Donald. I feel sure he will be in the mix come Sunday evening.

I agree with much of this. Gillet did have a bad day today. But over the season he has been one of Terry's better imports, even winning Player of the Month a couple of times. I'd give him the benefit of the doubt as it was his first game back after injury. Generally I prefer him at left back to Shinnie. I agree re Foran, McKay, Tansey, Tade. But why did you stop there? Meekings?, Williams? Gnapka? And probably one or two others! Terry made it evident at the start of the season, by his clear out of most of the ICT old guard, that he wanted his 'own team'. Well he has got it and it is clearly much poorer than the old one. So the buck must stop with Terry.

Two games in a row where we have had the lion's share of possession and couldn't turn it into wins. At this rate we could finish 11th and be firm favourites for relegation next season. Our strikers couldn't light a match! Two 90th minute substitutions! Not for the first time this season I ask what on earth the point of that is. Despite many of the posters on here being tolerant of Terry, my patience has now worn thin. He clearly talks the talk, but as he has shown at other clubs before, he doesn't walk the walk. His tactics have been suspect all season. We have massively regressed this season. We can't use the injuries excuse any longer - all clubs get injuries. Many other clubs would have binned Terry by now. In the recent poll about how satisfied people are with him, I voted 'fairly dissatisfied'. I'd now change it to 'very dissatisfied'. I fear the man is a 'chancer', an opinion I felt right from day one, but fought hard to repel for over two seasons, but now I think I was right all along.

Just finished watching it on Alba. Great result. I thought we shaded the first half and deserved to be ahead. Second half was all Aberdeen, especially when we went down to 10. However it was a fine defensive effort. I've been critical of our defence several times this season, but today I couldn't fault them. They kept their shape well and fairly comfortably repelled all Aberdeen's attacks. Very pleasing, and what was particularly good to see was that there seemed to be a good team spitit. Should set us up nicely for a good run in the final 8 games.

1955/6 - Inverness Select 0 Leicester City 2 Anything to do with Alec Bowman? Almost certainly as a result of Bowman moving south. Good left winger he was too.

I checked. Disqualified I'm afraid, you were going down Stephen's Brae at lunchtime to the nearest pub. Apparently it was wind and **** assisted!

Looking forward to seeing him on Match of the Day tonight. He certainly was, by far, our best loanee this season.

Just watched it on Alba. We certainly had enough chances to win it comfortably. Bell deserved his MOM as he had several good saves. Was Gillet dropped today, or injured? Also, for about the 3rd time recently OTJ is brought on at the death. What is the point of that? Is he paid on appearances? If he's not fit, I can't see how 2 or 3 minutes at the end of games is going to help! I know this was Winnall's first start, but he didn't look the part to me. Also the other recent loanee, Gnakpa, is not up to SPL standard. I wouldn't be looking to sign either of them at the end of their loans. I see today as 2 points dropped rather than a point won, against a weak Killie side who no doubt were saving their best for next week's final against Celtic. All I'm hoping for now is no late revival from Dunfermline in the final 8 games or so.

Athletics, and some other Olympic sports, is rife with drug cheats. Has been for years, and we would be mad to think it is any better these days. The only deterrent in my view is an instant life ban from all competition, from the first offence. Then the obvious double standards which the Chambers case highlights would never happen.

Couldn't agree more. Even allowing for the long term injuries to Hogg and OTJ, Butcher does not seem to have any idea what his best defence is. Every week he tries a different permutation!

Well, I wasn't expecting much after the debacle against Rangers, and 'not much' is what I got. I actually missed the first couple of minutes watching in the pub and didn't realise we only had 9 men on the field for quite a while. At least only 9 who touched the ball in the first half. Were McKay and Ross really there? Not much better in second half. Poor defending for the second two goals. I'm struggling to give pass marks to anyone tonight, except maybe Esson. Forget top 6. We're nowhere near good enough. I'll settle for 11th and hope for 10th at best.

How disappointing was that? Like most ICT folk I had high hopes for this game. For them to be dashed within 20 minutes or so through lack of defending was just too painfull to watch. Not too many pass marks for our players today. I didn't think Hayes was as bad as many have made out. He had a few good runs and created some chances. Ross, Shinnie, McKay all too lightweight for me. McKay MOM - what was that about? Tade for me was his usual bustling but clueless self. We were actually a bit better in second half when Proctor, yes Proctor, came on. He had a good 45 mins. Can anyone explain the sense of only giving Tudor Jones about 5 mins at the end? If he is fit he could have been on at the start, or early first half when our defense was non existant. Anyway, the weather was nice.

Well done for doing the further research, TBB. That agrees exactly with when I thought Mitchell (and Jamieson) left Caley for Jags. Looks certain that caption on Thistle photo of 51/52 is wrong, and that it must be 53/54 at earliest.

Charles Your account here supports my view that Mitchell was still at Caley in 51/52 (and probably 52/53 as well). So, as I hinted at in my earlier post, the picture of the Thistle team cannot be from the 51/52 season as the caption says! Maybe my memory is not playing me up after all!

So they swap one manager who can't speak English for another, who by his own admission is only semi literate. What does that tell you about football managers?

Someone said earlier in this thread that 4 of the Thisle team pictured ended up with Caley. Being pedantic, two of them, 'Joopy' Mitchell and Willie Jamieson started at Caley before going 'up the hill'. Two others, Dave Christie and Rod Clyne did start at Thistle before going to Telford Street. Both Mitchell and Jamieson were in Caley's great 50/51 all conquering team. I'm surprised that they went to Jags immediately afterwards. My recollection was that they went a bit later, maybe 53/54. However I guess my memory is not as good as I thought, if the date on the Thistle photo of 51/52 is correct!

I'm old enough to remember far bigger crowds than todays for Scottish Cup ties when it was just Caley, 50 years ago!. I know all the arguments about cost and 'on television', etc, but it is still shocking.

I really like Gillet. But I can't agree that this was one of his best games. As I said on another thread he was skinned by Samaras more than once, and came out second best to him most of the game. I agree about Ross though. Shouldn't have been subbed imho, he was our best player by some distance.

Watch the first goal back again. yes Tokely missed the ball but Samaras was being marked by proctor who didn't react when he (Samaras) moved off him. Thats a bit rich, Rig. You've made it clear in other posts that you have no time for Proctor, but implicating him in this Tokely blunder is stretching it, even for you. Isn't his error for the penalty enough for you?