hislopsoffsideagain

Latest news from club website Malpas reckons we might have made a few new signings by the start of pre-season on Monday, and tied up a few more contracts. The article also confirms that Roy has signed on for another year, let's hope his 34 year old legs are up to it! Who are we still waiting on contract-wise now? Am I right in thinking that there's been no confirmation that Djebi-Zadi, Hastings and Proctor have re-signed? And of course we're still waiting on Foran and Odihambo to make their decisions.

Renewed my ticket. BRING. IT. ON!

Roy McBain has been a great servant to this club, and rarely gets the credit he deserves; that said, his days at this level are coming to an end and there's no room for sentiment. Vigurs has shown more than enough quality to suggest he should be kept on; in fact I expected him to be lining up alongside Duncan in centre mid next year. My opinion earlier in the season was that Wood was superior already to both Rooney and Barrowman; I'm also astounded that he's been dumped. And if Mihadjuks has been chucked for footballing reasons (rather than us being unable to afford him) then TB is completely mad! On the other hand, I have no disagreement with the departures of McNulty (too small and too dodgy), Byrne (too injury-prone), Gatheussi (injury-prone and not good enough for Hibs) and Sutherland (simply didn't live up to early promise). That said, if TB manages to convince Foran, Kerr and Morais to stay I will forgive him everything, as they would automatically be the best three players in the division and I would bet my mortgage on us winning the league.

I'd heard it suggested a few times that Vigs hadn't been pulling his weight in training in recent months, which is why he was out of the first team picture. However he had shown more than enough on the pitch prior to that to suggest he could do it in the SPL, so to not show faith in him for division one is mind boggling.

The Mantis makes the critical point here. Our points per game record in the league under TB was better than the average required to make it into the top six. And we still fell short. Fact is, in a lot of ways the remarkable thing is how close we came to survival. Remember, when Butcher came in we were five points adrift at the bottom and no-one could remember the last time we won a game. Yes, in the last four games we blew opportunities to get ourselves to safety. But the fact we came so close to escaping the drop is one heck of a feat. And the reason why our impressive record since January wasn't enough is - our record before January, under Craig Brewster.

Apologies, I didn't see renegade's thread. Though this one is more about who IS and ISN'T staying, rather than who we think SHOULD and SHOULDN'T stay. But if mods want to merge it then fine

I'm not fully up to date with who is under contract and who is not for next season, how do people think things will pan out with our current squad? And how many senior players can we afford to have? This appears to be our squad picture just now... 1. Fraser - definitely leaving for Motherwell. 2. Tokely - under contract; settled in the area, appears certain to stay 3. Djebi-Zadi - out of contract; appears to be first choice left back under TB - will this be enough to earn him a new deal? 4. Proctor - out of contract; TB may feel he can't afford to give Proc a deal unless he's likely to be first choice - can we afford him if he will be just a squad player? May depend on whether Rossco is kept in the centre. 5. McGuire - under contract, I think. As much as we'd love to chuck him, he is unlikely to get many offers. 6. McBain - out of contract; At 34, does he have the legs anymore? Might be overlooked in favour of youngsters. 7. Morais - out of contract; Will get some good offers from better teams, having shown plenty of ability with us. Unlikely to stay. 8. Black - definitely leaving for Hearts. 9. Rooney - under contract; might see next season as his big chance but might also be unkeen to drop down a level. 10. Barrowman - under contract; TB appears to have some faith in him, and unlikely to be wanted by other sides so will probably stay. 11. Imrie - under contract; is probably not going to get an SPL offer so appears likely to stay. 12. Duncan - under contract; settled in the area, appears certain to stay. 14. Munro - under contract; settled in the area, appears certain to stay. 16. Hastings - I'm not certain of his contract status; settled in the area, I think would be keen to stay but is out of favour at the moment. 17. Sutherland - out of contract; it doesn't appear likely that he'll be offered a new deal. 18. Mihadjuks - out of contract/end of loan; likely to get much better offers, will probably leave so he can stay in international picture. 19. Gatheussi - out of contract; likely to leave as has got nowhere near first team since return from injury 20. Byrne - out of contract; might be given his chance ahead of Lionel and Hastings if can prove his fitness? 22. Wood - out of contract; showed enough under Brew to suggest he could become a player, but new contract may depend on who else stays and goes. 23. Esson - under contract; may be on his way out if rumours of a fall out with TB are true. 24. Duff - out of contract; will fancy his chances of a new deal and becoming first choice next year. 25. Foran - out of contract; probably leaving as will surely have suitors in the SPL. 26. Odhiambo - out of contract; looks like TB wants to keep him and might be able to convince him to stay as first choice up front. 27. Vigurs - under contract; another one who will surely see next year as a chance to establish himself. 28. Kerr - out of contract; like Foran is likely to have suitors who will offer better cash and appears likely to leave. In summary: Under contract, will almost certainly stay: Tokely, Barrowman, Imrie, Duncan, Munro, Vigurs Under contract, might yet end up leaving: McGuire, Rooney, Esson Out of contract, uncertain future: Djebi-Zadi, Proctor, McBain, Hastings, Byrne, Wood, Duff, Odhiambo Out of contract, probably leaving: Morais, Sutherland, Mihadjuks, Gatheussi, Foran, Kerr Out of contract, definitely leaving: Fraser, Black Is this a reasonable assessment of the state of things? Please feel free to update and correct this to your heart's content!

Sure, some players had poor games today, but they gave everything on that pitch. What can you say? On another day, Foran scores that wonderful first half chance. On another day, Rossco doesn't panic, and manages to usher Lovell and the bouncing ball away from goal instead of having a rush of blood. Today, we were really unlucky. You can't say we were unlucky for the whole season, particularly the first half of it. But we were today. I'll be buying my season ticket again for next season. I hope there are a lot of others who will do the same.

Oh god, I'm more nervous than a rhinoceros that has just walked into a bar full of ivory dealers during an acute shortage of piano keys. So I am very nervous.

Jeez, its squeaky bum time, ain't it? Come on boys, nick a goal, please!!!!

Hi Robbo, as always it's a pleasure to have your insight available to us. Here's a question for you - who do you think will be relegated from the SPL? Will it be us? And, in light of my username, was it just my imagination that Hissy kept getting caught offside?

I think the phrase to describe today rhymes with "clucking bell". A terrible match between two equally terrible teams. How there were four goals at all is anyone's guess. The first goal looked to all the world like it was miles offside - even Finnigan initially looked like he assumed he was off. The penalty? No idea what it was for, it was down the other end and no Falkirk player was appealing for it. Calum Murray was appalling - every time there was a high ball one of our guys got a shove in the back. Defensively, though, we were a joke. Djebi-Zadi had a mare. I can't remember Grant Munro ever having a worse game. He lost every header to Higdon and his distribution was utterly abysmal. The number of times I saw Mihadjuks sprinting out to wide areas to cover his team mates was astronomical - he is the only one of the back four who doesn't deserve a total kick up the arse. There is certainly a case for Hastings to return to the team - either at left back or centre back. God knows what we were doing in the first half, lobbing high balls at Imrie and Rooney. Blackie barely got a kick in the first 45 because the ball kept being punted over his head. Proctor kept wandering in field and we had about as much width as Kate Moss. Only in the second period did we finally start putting into the channels and getting Foran in the box. Until the second goal, you would have said we were well on top. In conclusion, a complete, unmitigated disaster. And in front of a phenomenal away support as well.

Just back from the Steve Conroy show. This joke of a referee actually managed to outdo Mike McCurry in terms of farcical decisions. He lost control from the word go, and gave the impression that the only way to concede a free kick was to commit grievous bodily harm. As a consequence our guys were getting bumped and whacked all over the shop; Steven Pressley had his hands on our players so often you could have put him on the Sex Offenders Register. Not only that, but he managed to come to the conclusion that Barr's headbutt (it looked pretty damn blatant even from 50 yards away) was only worth a yellow card, and that exaggerating being head butted (I think if you get butted you are entitled to make a meal of it) was also worth a yellow for Duncan. Most Scottish officials are to football what Fred Goodwin is to banking. Ironically, the only decision he got right all day was the penalty - completely blatant and completely pointless. LDZ was in tears coming off, and he gets no sympathy from me at all because it was utterly, utterly stupid. Despite being 10 v 12 we battled to a man in the second half, but we just couldn't get the rub of the green. Their keeper made a stunning stop from Foran late on, matched only by the save he made from Rossco in the first half. Frustrating, frustrating, frustrating. Apparently Gordon Smith was at the game today; surely the referee's performance will not have passed him by? Certainly if we continue to get officials like Conroy and McCurry I am going to end up with one hell of a case of laryngitis...

Just back. That was just an incredibly frustrating afternoon. We weren't particularly great, but neither were Motherwell, and we lost because of two blunders best described as catastrophic. What Esson was doing at the first goal was a mystery to me, while Granty, who played the guy onside for the opener and in general had a complete shocker of a game, made an error for the second so farcical that it looked like a moment from a Keystone Cops movie. That was a bad game to lose. As for the referee, well, to borrow a quote from Spike Milligan, the best I can wish Mike McCurry is an early death. As soon as the crowd got on his back it just appeared to antagonise him to make yet more horrific decisions against us. You'd think that he would be instinctively giving the dodgy decisions to the team in blue, given his past record.

If we hold on this is surely the best result of the season.

Just back. It's a long time since a home game has been as exciting as that! A lot of tired legs at the end and we were hanging on a bit, but a phenomenal effort and we deserved that point. TB called it spot on tactically for me, though Proc should have been protecting Rossco more against McGeady. Foran looks a good find even if he was half a yard short of fitness. Imrie will sleep well tonight after putting in one heck of a shift. Even Djebi-Zadi had a decent game, bullying Naka out of it and only looking vulnerable when Robson went wide. Still can't be having with Barrowman though, he appeared to take one look at McManus and soiled his shorts with fear. Star man for me today was Mihadjuks. We need to sign him sharpish, he was absolutely colossal at the back. The great escape begins!

That's me decided, I have now ordered a Latvia flag which hopefully will arrive in time for the Celtic game. Mihadjuks is the man! Not sure if the flag would be big enough to fit his surname on it though...

Just seen the first Hearts goal on BBC Alba. On what planet is that not a foul on the keeper?! Obua isn't even looking at the ball, he's just jumped into Esson. When you're down, the breaks always seem to go against you...

I'll second that. He did a great job in his first spell, no doubt about it. I don't doubt for his second that he gave it his best efforts and he deserves respect for that.

You wait so long for a moment like this, then, when it comes, you don't know what to say... My tears of joy probably speak louder than any words could! Seriously though, all the best to CB, though I don't feel he was good enough for this post. He's now lost his job, though, and you have to feel very sorry for anyone in those circumstances. According to one of my mates (who supports Dunfermline), it's the "most deserved sacking since Nick Leeson".

The match report in the Sunday Times runs with the headline "BREWSTER ON BRINK". Reading it, it's quite clear that there is a lot of agreement with the comments of those at the game...the rest of Scotland is now well aware of our plight as well. Selected quotes below... "It is the worst run in the club's history" "What the Inverness board must weigh up is whether Brewster has it in him to make them any better" "The same men who will decide Brewster's future yesterday laid on complimentary buses...the Highland crowd responded, filling a respectable 500-odd seats. Initially at least, they also took up their benefactors up on the unwritten part of the agreement, leaving the widespread dissent at Brewster's continued presence in the dugout unaired until late in the second half" "While the home side were undone by the lack of a final ball, Inverness for the most part would have been grateful to get even that far...an utter fecklessness in the final third is now a defining characteristic" "Brewster removed the ineffectual Andy Barrowman and sent on Garry Wood, another willing customer patently not up to leading a Premier League frontline yet. It is strange the same thought did not occur to Brewster when Marius Niculae, Graham Bayne and Dennis Wyness left last summer" "'We know we need to score goals', said Brewster, who will attempt to sign another striker in the next two weeks. He needs to come up with something, anything, to stop them being his last in the job"

That last comment is the latest in a series of contenders from Brewster for the "stating the blatantly obvious" award. For the love of Pete, if a team finds it difficult to score, surely the solution is to use more attackers?

So far, the poll does not appear to be going in Brew's favour - and rather more than 20 folk don't like him. Right now he appears to be about as popular as influenza...

I can't believe that he has such poor PR ability that he has done this. He even comments on how sacking a manager involves paying them off - which suggests, between the lines, a whiff of "I'm not resigning, I want my money if I leave". As for the 20 fans comment, it suggests a man who is living in an alternate reality. If the man showed some sort of humility, some acknowledgement that he has made errors, then fine. But there is no sign of any willingness to take responsibility. Is Craig Brewster the footballing equivalent of George Bush? Or are we "mis-underestimating" him?

"The, ah, players just weren't, er, up for it today" "We've got to stick together, um, we've got to dig in and results will come" "La la la, I'm not listening" (this one while with fingers in ears and eyes closed)