hislopsoffsideagain

Hi folks, 

just a wee note to confirm that the club will again be broadcasting live audio commentary from Sunday's game. Same drill as previous - a link to a Periscope feed will go up on the club's Twitter account 5-10minutes before kickoff. (For the second half, there'll be a new link put up).

Hopefully there won't be any horizontal rain like there was at the Alloa game!

Hope the online commentary was better than the result.

If you thought the first half was poor viewing, try watching it from that gantry opposite the main stand where, having made the rookie error of sitting on a wet chair, I got hit by rain, wind and then sideways rain. We did have the offer of an umbrella but had I used it I'd have probably sailed across the pitch like Mary Poppins. Having started shivering by 3:30, there was enough second half action that, combined with me standing up, I nearly got the feeling back in my toes.

I feel like we got caught cold (ahem) at the start. Having seen TV footage of the opener it's a cracking finish by Buchanan but he finds ridiculous space in the box because after he played the one-two with Cawley (who had escaped McCart with his movement), Rooney strangely chose to go towards Cawley rather than track him. A bit of a shambles to be honest. We dominated possession after that but after MacDonald saved smartly from MacGregor a few minutes later we barely created anything before half-time.

The second period was lit up by that extraordinary Tremarco goal. He was out on the right having taken a corner that was cleared back to him, and he almost casually wrapped his left foot around the ball and it fizzed in the far corner off the junction of bar and post (for maximum aesthetic effect!). That's the club's goal of the season competition finished for 2019/20.

After that we pretty much pinned them back though last-ditch defending kept us mostly at bay. However we looked like we'd won it when Tremarco whipped in a pearler of a cross and White outmuscled the defender at the back post to head home. Inexplicably though we switched off and blew two points.

It seems like either Andy Graham - who has a great goalscoring record from set plays - either wasn't identified beforehand as someone for the watching or simply the players failed to keep tabs on him. He missed a free header at 1-1 when Alloa used a training ground routine to get him unmarked at a corner, and when they got a long throw opportunity he was the inevitable target. However he wasn't challenged for the flick on...and everyone was statuesque except Trouten who had the freedom of the box to smash it home for an equalizer.

Massively frustrating as we would have gone top with the win. I felt we struggled badly to break down a very compact and defensive Alloa side; we lacked width and our central midfield pair were not nearly ambitious enough; both Vincent and Trafford spent too much time going sideways and backwards. The introduction of Carson and Keatings did help things in that regard but we missed Welsh's intelligence in possession and Walsh's wing play.

All in all a frustrating afternoon, though at least we haven't lost ground on those around us. And at least I'm warmed up now!

Hi folks,

for those who haven't seen it on Twitter, the club will be broadcasting live audio commentary again from the Alloa game. It's the same process as previous - a link should come up on the club Twitter feed shortly before kickoff to a Periscope link. Fingers crossed for a good game and a good result (and for none of the gremlins that plagued us during the QOS game last month).

Feedback appreciated.

First off, an apology for those who were trying to listen to the live commentary. Unfortunately we had a broken audio cable, which we didn't notice till half-time. So we were jabbering away for 45 minutes and no-one was able to hear us. To be honest, we'd just spent most of the time raving about Sean Welsh...

As for the game, that was a stroll in the sunshine. Welsh's goal was a cracker, whilst Walsh got a fortunate break of the ball but finished brilliantly. After that we pretty much controlled the game, rarely breaking out of third gear but also rarely looking threatened. Had our strikers been particularly good today (that White miss in the second half?!) that could have been another 5-0.

The back four were all terrific today. Has it got to the point where we stop going on about how good Rooney has been, as if its some sort of surprise? Both the goals came from him getting forward down the right flank and he defended well again. As for Welsh, I think he gave the ball away once, in about the 75th minute. He absolutely strolled it and I thoroughly enjoyed watching him in action.

Matches like this are not always entertaining, but the manager must be delighted. Dominant and confident without really breaking much of a sweat. Long may it last.

There are lots of factors at play here.

For a start, the dropoff in income compared to being in the Premiership is huge - the difference in prize money, TV money, sponsorship opportunities and attendances (both home and away) is enormous. I'm pretty certain that most of the full-time clubs in our division either made significant losses (us, Dundee United, Partick Thistle) or relied heavily on handouts (Ross County, Dunfermline, QOS, Morton) to get by.

Unfortunately the nature of things is that if you spend beyond your means and don't get promoted then you're in financial trouble, but if you balance the books you're probably at risk of getting relegated to League One and losing further income.

Moreover it's all very well complaining about poor attendance but the fact is that people clearly would prefer to spend their hard-earned cash in other ways. Cost, apathy, inconvenience - for whatever reason people aren't coming to games and no other club has found a magic fix to this problem other than success on the pitch (which as stated elsewhere didn't exactly lead to a hike in our crowds either).

The bottom line is that the club is not currently sustainable without investment from outside (I say 'investment' but it's basically handouts) and we're not unique in that respect. The difficulty is finding someone wealthy who is willing to waste their money on such a venture. That I suppose is what the EGM is about.

Hey folks,

happy to confirm that we'll be broadcasting free live audio commentary of Saturday's game. It'll be the same process as before, using a periscope link that will go up on the club's Twitter feed shortly before kickoff. Hopefully it'll be a good listen and a good result!

Hope the commentary sounded okay for those who were listening in.

Thought the first half was great entertainment. Arbroath had no interest in sitting deep and pushed players forward when they could with Linn the obvious threat on the left. He had a shot over the bar with his left foot and a right footed one saved comfortably by Ridgers early. Meanwhile Keatings kept popping up in the space in front of their centre backs and was the creator of almost everything good for us. Doran got in behind twice, but the first time he struggled to get the ball out of his feet and shot tamely and the second time he took too long and allowed Jamieson to block. Keatings then had an audacious overhead kick which looked terrific from my vantage point but was probably an easier save than it looked.

So since we were on top, of course Arbroath went and scored. Ridgers flapped at a cross, the ball fell to Linn and instead of racing out to block his shot our players all tried to form a wall on the goalline. So Linn did the sensible thing and just leathered it. Having seen the footage at half-time I think Ridgers should still have saved it. He got a hand on it but was beaten by the power. Crucially we got level just before half-time. Unsurprisingly it was Keatings who played the killer pass (Polworth-esque!) and this time Doran finished the one-on-one. Half-time probably came at the wrong time for us as we looked like kicking on.

After the break we started slowly; whilst Doran had another half chance so did Arbroath with one that somehow got flicked away from goal at the front post. The decision to bring Storey on for White kinda made sense as Arbroath were playing a super-high line but White's linkup play had been decent. And with Arbroath now tiring they dropped so deep that their central midfielders were on top of their centre-backs...and therefore denying Keatings any space to orchestrate in.

That said when Storey went wide we didn't look any more threatening. Whilst the visitors were now leggy and sitting deep they defended pretty comfortably...until Storey cut in from the left and had a speculative shot that looked like a comfortable save at the near post, only for it to end up in the far corner via Jamieson's hands. It was an absolute gift. I'd love to hear what Dick Campbell said when that happened!

Over the 90, we deserved the three points but anyone expecting a comfortable win will have been disappointed. As mentioned above I thought Keatings was terrific. Walsh had the beating of the full-back all day long and our central defenders were excellent in and out of possession. That was as good as I've seen Rooney defensively too, he was well disciplined and dealt with Linn very well.

The obvious problem is in central midfield. Vincent's energy proved crucial in the later stages but Carson looks like he's still getting used to playing at this level. His decision-making wasn't great and he was too hesitant. We miss Welsh's confidence on the ball so much. A midfield duo of Welsh and Tansey (hey, I can dream!) would make us an altogether different proposition.

Three points are three points. We only won five home league games last year so it's not to be sneezed at.

I believe so. It was last year, I think.

I'm delighted to confirm that the club will be providing live audio commentary of Saturday's game.

For those who can't attend, a link to a Periscope feed will go up on the club's Twitter shortly before kickoff, probably just after 1450. This seemed to work okay when we tried it towards the end of last season so hopefully it'll go fine again.

For those who complained I was too loud when Coll Donaldson scored against Ayr in the playoffs, I can't promise that won't happen again 

Expect Arbroath to play 4-4-2 so our 4-2-3-1 should match up favourably against that.

Looks like McKay, Rooney, Curry and Welsh are going to miss this.

Carson has really struggled at RB from what I've seen. I remember Tremarco had to play one game last year (against Ayr I think) at RB and I wouldn't be surprised if we move him there. McHattie presumably would then go to LB though I feel like if Harper is as good as Robbo thinks he is then he should get a shot.

The key here is going to be finding the best CM duo out of Trafford, Carson, Vincent and McHattie. Trafford has really gone off the boil but he is the most natural defensive midfielder of the lot and his physicality will be important as Arbroath are not short on that. I'd have Vincent over Carson at the moment.

I'd go with the same attacking quartet that started at Tannadice rather than pitch Storey in.

This is surprising and interesting in equal measure. Scott Burns is an excellent source so I assume its true.

In his first spell with us I was a big fan. He was certainly streaky in front of goal but his workrate was outstanding and he has pace to burn. He was an excellent fit for Yogi's team because of his ability and willingness to get in behind and chase the ball into channels.

He's had a dreadful time of it since though. At Aberdeen he struggled to get gametime and when he did play it always seemed to be out wide where his impact was limited. That seemed to drain his confidence and he didn't get it back at Partick Thistle, where they also seemed to stick him on the flank most of the time. His performance for Thistle against us last September summed it up - he tried unbelievably hard but every touch was too heavy, every decision was the wrong one and to cap it all he missed a penalty!

I'm convinced there's a player there though. I wonder how Robbo intends to use him? If it's as a wide player I think he'll struggle. In theory a little-and-large front two with White or Todorov could work I suppose. Robbo seems to like a big centre forward though so I'm not sure we'll see him as a lone frontman.

14 hours ago, Alan Simpson said:

Some of the posts on here are class we sign some completely unknown goat herder from Bulgaria it's and I quote "quite remarkable how Robbo does it" Utd sign the best player in the division but yet him and Neilson are suddenly terrible !  Dark horses for a play off spot get a £10 on it Morton gonna pay for my week in Shagaluf nxt year!

Firstly, Todorov has been on the books of Nottingham Forest (2014-15), Hearts (2016-18) and Falkirk (2019) and had loan spells at Livingston and Queen of the South. Anyone who watches lower league Scottish football will at least have heard of him.

Secondly, "unknown goat herder from Bulgaria" has racist overtones and should be called out as such. I'll judge our players on their performances and attitudes, not their nationalities.

2 hours ago, northstandfan said:

my dream team would be the team that won the scottish cup

It'll be interesting to see how the views of older and younger supporters compare - those who joined the ranks after 2004 and are used to top flight football will be familiar with higher quality players, whereas those who watched the club in the lower leagues will have attachments to those who stood out in the early days...and to the ones who went ballistic!

My own opinion is that Ross Tokely, Bobby Mann, Charlie Christie, Barry Wilson and Dennis Wyness should be shoo-ins. What that quintet accomplished in our colours is astonishing. Tokely, Christie and Wilson played for us in all four divisions, Bobby is surely our greatest ever captain, and Dennis' goalscoring was astonishing (as were his stepovers!).

As for the other choices, I like the idea of an exception being made for Alan Hercher, our first club captain and scorer of a hat-trick in our first league game. As Charlie Christie himself put it, “Alan was more than a terrific football player; he was a terrific individual who was hugely respected by all those who played alongside him and against him." Besides, I don't think there is a real standout in the other options to fill the second central midfield spot anyway!

My own XI:

Jim Calder - the last Thistle player, a proper cult hero and one of the stars of that night at Celtic Park

Ross Tokely - more appearances for the club than anyone else by miles - that record will surely never be broken

Bobby Mann - our greatest ever captain and an outstanding centre-half. His ability to ping the ball to a teammate 40 yards away was astonishing at that level

Grant Munro - always seemed like the second-best central defender we had at any one time, but a local product who made over 300 appearances for the club and would have been a one club man if Terry Butcher had allowed it!

Graeme Shinnie - captained us to Scottish Cup glory. Consistently one of the best left-backs in the country while playing for us and has gone onto international recognition

Barry Wilson - immense in his first spell at the club, and scored two of the most special goals of the early era - vs Celtic and Motherwell in the Cup. Came back from Livingston to help us to promotion and was an important factor in our first few top flight campaigns. Now on the coaching staff

Charlie Christie - the last Caledonian player, seemed to get better as we went up the leagues and orchestrated the attacks in the gung-ho Pele days. His spell as manager was better than was often acknowledged. Now our head of youth development

Ian Black (if I can't have Hercher) - the toughest pick to make. I went for a midfielder who always gave everything, who liked a tackle but could also pass the ball beautifully (I would happily pick Russell Duncan, Ross Draper and Paul Sheerin here too)

Jonny Hayes - the second toughest pick to make, because it means leaving out Barry Robson. But Hayes was my favourite ICT player of the last decade. No tricks, just pace, balance and a work-rate that 99% of wingers don't have. A wonderful player who deserves all the success he's had since he left us

Dennis Wyness - our record goalscorer, and a technically gifted player who was a joy to watch

Billy Mckay - could just as easily choose Richie Foran, Paul Ritchie, Adam Rooney or Iain Stewart here but Mckay's goalscoring between 2012 and 2015 was mental.

Loving this idea, which was mentioned in this article for the club website - https://ictfc.com/ict25-blog-liam-dalgarno

Quote

"fans will also be involved in choosing the ICT25 Dream Team – the best 11 players to have played for the club since 1994.  A short-list of three players per position will be available for fans to vote for.  To make the short-list players must have played 100 or more games for the club."

So let the debate begin!

Here's the 47 players who have made more than 100 appearances for the club - please point out any I've missed! There are obviously a few utility players there (*cough* David Proctor *cough*) who could be put in another position.

Goalkeepers: Mark Brown, Jim Calder, Ryan Esson

Right-backs: David Proctor, David Raven, Mike Teasdale, Ross Tokely

Centre-backs: Darren Dods, Bobby Mann, Stuart McCaffrey, Brad McKay, Josh Meekings, Grant Munro, Mike Noble, Gary Warren

Left-backs: Stuart Golabek, Richard Hastings, Graeme Shinnie, Carl Tremarco

Central midfielders: Ian Black, Paul Cherry, Charlie Christie, Ross Draper, Russell Duncan, Richie Hart, Liam Keogh, Mark McCulloch, Liam Polworth, Paul Sheerin, Greg Tansey, Iain Vigurs

Wide midfielders: Aaron Doran, Jonny Hayes, Roy McBain, Barry Robson, Davie Ross, Nick Ross, Danny Williams. Barry Wilson

Strikers: Martin Bavidge, Graham Bayne, Richie Foran, Billy Mckay, Paul Ritchie, Adam Rooney, Iain Stewart, Dennis Wyness

Obviously I'm disappointed I can't pick Vetle Andersen or Marius Niculae, but never mind 

Who would you have in your ICT25 Dream Team? 

Credit where credit's due - that is one terrific kit.

45 minutes ago, ictchris said:

We've signed two players from clubs who finished below us last season, neither of whom were particular stand outs for those teams last season.  Todorov has scored three or four goals at this level in his entire career.  Vincent underwhelmed at Dundee and didn't stand out at Dunfermline either.  We have to hope that both will do better in our environment than previously.

The big loss for us is Liam Polworth.  Last season he either scored or assisted 30% of our goals and the season before he scored or assisted 40% of our goals.  We need to replace that contribution.

This is a fair assessment.

When we signed Vincent the first time round we had just lost Andrew Shinnie. Whilst Vincent was a different sort of player he initially slotted into that advanced midfield role and gave us a different sort of attacking threat. We weren't particularly worse off as a result. However after he got an injury or two and Yogi came in he spent a lot more time playing wide which never seemed to be a good position for him.

I wonder where Robbo intends to play him - in the areas that Polworth used to operate in, or in a more deeper 'Chalmers' role like the one he was playing at Dundee and Dunfermline?

I remember Todorov having a blinder against us for Livingston in Autumn 2017...as a centre-back! The fact he can play there too won't do us any harm at all.

I seem to recall that Livingston were quite fond of him when he played for them in League One and the Championship but he had a loan spell at QOS that was nothing special and spent the second half of last season stuck on Falkirk's bench. He's still relatively young though and Robbo knows him well - and presumably knows how to get the most out of him.

When I saw the 'volunteers required' headline I assumed maybe they wanted a lick of paint on the walls, not something like this.

I appreciate the club are going through an 'austerity' period just now, but is it reasonable to ask for people with specialist skills like digger operators and dumper drivers to do this sort of work for no pay? Personally, I don't think so.

I think there was more anxiety in the crowd than on the pitch at 0-1 down. Certainly there wasn't much in the way of panic, though we didn't play all that well. Ayr weren't all that adventurous and couldn't believe their luck when they picked us off on the counterattack. It's hard to think of another clearcut opening for them though. I thought our forward line didn't really click today, and we didn't get enough in an attacking sense from our full-backs until Rooney came on. Ayr clearly identified McHattie as the weak link and McDaid gave him a hard time. I would feel happier if Tremarco were fit on Tuesday.

It's going to be hard to get past Dundee United - let alone a Premiership team after that - but I still feel we have a chance if we can keep our best players fit and get some momentum up.

Thanks for all the kind words, folks. Having listened back I got a bit excited when Donaldson scored and I hope I didn't damage anyone's eardrums!

It'll be back to BBC and BTSport coverage on Tuesday night - not much point in us doing it as well, and the professionals will be using all the tech for their transmissions anyway! Hopefully there'll be more of this next season though, fingers crossed.

Just to give folks a heads up that we should hopefully be transmitting live audio commentary of Saturday's game (if the technology behaves). As with the previous times the plan is to use Periscope. 10-15 minutes before kickoff a link to the commentary should go up on the club Twitter feed.

Be gentle with the criticism - I'm doing it solo and it's a hell of a long time to talk on your own! 

3 minutes ago, bdu98196 said:

Tedious link with all former clubs (although not suggesting he was a main protagonist in these occurrences)

Rangers - Liquidation

Hearts - Administartion

Dundee - Administration x2

ICT in significant debt with losses ....................

Inverness Caledonian Thistle is delighted to announce the appointment of a prominent figure in Scottish football administration as its new Chief Executive Officer.

This isn't fair at all. His role at Rangers was as Commercial Sales Manager, so he'll have had nothing to do with their admin/liquidation. He joined both Dundee and Hearts after their spells in adminstration.

The good news - he has plenty of experience from having worked in significant roles at Rangers, Dundee and Hearts.

The not so good news:

Dundee and Hearts fans have not been positive about him...

From the club's point of view, this is just bad luck. I can easily imagine that last summer there was enough reason to believe he would get back to fitness to justify signing him, especially given the reports from his spell at Stranraer were so glowing. It's not ICT's fault, it's not the medical team's fault and it's certainly not the player's fault. Just one of those things.

Whilst the club got a lot of criticism on this board for the lack of communication regarding the player, I'd say they were right all along to be discreet about the player's fitness issues - better to let Angus deal with such a dreadful prospect in his own time and with a bit of space.

I feel so dreadfully sorry for Angus himself. It's awful for anyone so young to have to give up their career, and also awful to be left struggling with chronic pain at that age. It's great that ICT and Hearts are going to play a benefit match for him and I do hope he goes onto great things either in coaching or outwith football.

38 minutes ago, Shorty said:

Does that work even if dont have a twitter account

I think (hope) it should work just by clicking on the link in the tweet. You should be able to access the tweet without a Twitter account, but perhaps one of the mods can keep an eye out and post the link on the matchday thread if I'm wrong about that?