PerfICT

Truly impressive, Mantis. Respect!

Well done lads. Just frustrating that we didn't turn the corner a week or two earlier! Between the positive statement from the club and that performance, blue skies ahead! Let's hope we get the guys we want signed up and finish the season on a really positive note.

Full set! Nice one Sneckboy......and ICT!

spot on Kingsmills.

I quite like IHE's suggestion, but am a bit of a "tried and tested" individual myself, so: Fon Williams Raven Warren Meekings Tremarco Draper Tansey Mutombo Polworth Williams Storey

I'm delighted with this announcement for so many reasons. First - brilliant news for both Liam and for the club. He's really come on this season and it is great to see another local lad making it - 3 years is wisde too: if anybody wants him they;ll have to pay! Second - at last a statment from the club! This has been very well-crafted, with information that we've all been seeking and guessing (sometimes wrongly) about. For example, timely efforts were made to keep Danny Williams, but he chose not to accept the offer in December, which is his right. Now we know. Equally, it seems that Aaron Doran is the main target. Still a risk in my opinion, but the club doc seems to be advising that he's healthier than some others, so that's good enough for me. Also some new faces in the pipeline (but obviously not the Partick Thistle lads), so hopefully exciting developments there. The pieces are finally starting to fall into place for the first team, with 3 of the back four sorted, Draper and Tansey (hope we can keep him), Polworth, hopefully Doran and maybe even Storey. That leaves a goalie, right back (I wonder if there's somebody who might be interested?) left-sided midfielder and the supporting cast, with hopefully some of the young guns pushing for places. I agree with some of the comments above - there seem to be some different messages coming from Yogi and the club....

Killie's average crowd this season is 3857 against ours of 3751, so roughly 100 more per game - and yet they still managed to post a big deficit - even less sustainable than wynthank15 suggests. Assuming that the income between the two clubs is of the same order, Killie's expenditure must be substantially higher than ours. The bottom line is that Killie and several other clubs have been spending beyond their means in an effort to attract and retain players that they can't actually afford. Tempting as this is, it will only end in one place at the end of the day and I have no sympathy for them: after all, we are competing with these clubs for the services of players, but in an effort to balance the books, we are unable to match the wages offered elsewhere. Personally, I think the tough line from the board with respect to budget is exactly the right one. Yes, we may struggle to attract and retain players in a climate whereby most clubs are either richer on account of bigger crowds or sugar daddies (and that can go wrong too - ask Hearts or Gretna!), or are willing to overspend (Killie, The Rangers again), but financial oblivion is a much worse option and I'd prefer our club to still be here in 10 years time than not!

Exactly.

That's terrifyingly low. How many will be at the United game? They might well be relegated by then and bring absolutely nobody. We can hardly expect the players to not be on their summer hols already if the fans already are! 7th might not sound very glamorous, but it will earn a stack more than 10th in prize money!

Don't think it was announced. I'd guess something like 2,700, but it might even have been lower. It was certainly the quietest!

I'm glad to see this has sparked some discussion. To reiterate: in the ideal world, I would love to see all three of Raven, Doran and Tansey with us next year - no question. It seems, however, that Yogi has chosen to prioritise extending Tansey's contract and to get Doran tied down at the expense of Raven. Fair play - that is his choice and he is best-placed to make a decision on Doran's fitness since his injury. I'm not suggesting that Doran's injury is career-threatening, but it was really serious and players often fail to ever fully recover to their previous best in such circumstances. I hope Aaron gets a game or two before the end of the season to prove me wrong, but it seems a big risk on allegedly our top earner. I don['t think anybody is suggesting that DR is a world-beater, but IMO he is a good right back and retaining him would enable the Meekings/Warren partnership to be rekindled - so a double-whammy. As for Tansey, he's been an excellent player for us too and I see why Yogi is keen to keep him. However, we constantly bemoan the fact that players leave ICT for free or at cut-price, generally because we fail to cash in on them before they sign pre-contracts (e.g. Shinnie, Vincent, Williams), leave on a free (e.g. Watkins) or are sold cheap because they're so close to the end of their contracts (e.g. Mckay). So, here's the rub: get a decent fee for Tansey now or let him go on a free in one or two years' time? I don't know the answer, I'm only posing the question. At the bottom of all this, we have to realise that on gate and league "winnings" alone, ICT probably make a loss of ~£200k per season (I think others much closer to the finances than I have suggested as much and it is backed up by the fact that we only made very small profits over the past 2 years, despite higher than expected league finishes, good cup runs and the sale of Billy). That means that, following a lean year, we need to find £200k in "windfalls" - we're not going to win the cup every year, sadly, so we either have to reduce the wage bill or sell a player who is in demand. Put bluntly, nearly half of the earnings from Christie's sale has probably gone to fund the shortfall from this season. Yogi has apparently opted for keeping the family silver and reducing the wage bill, which he is entitled to do. I simply put forward another option, which is to sell the family silver while it is still worth something and retain the core of the squad, with some cash left over to fund bringing in reasonable quality replacements. Either way, it is something of a gamble - you only have to look at United to see the risk of continually selling your best assets. Equally, I don't want to see ICT with accounts like Killie's (£750 k loss this year) or to have such a big rebuilding job every season as to jeopardise survival. Choices, choices...

No you're not missing anything. I suppose the thinking is that the combination of results is now highly unlikely, if not impossible. We should not be satisfied with 10th when 7th is within our grasp, however.

A tale of half hours: Killie on top for first 30, even Stevens next 30, ICT on top final 30. The sending off drained the spirit out of Killie and we picked them off with a corner + a wonderful passing move for the 3rd, surviving a couple of scares in the process. Draper did really well getting beyond the strikers and Tremarco was at his combative best. Important to finish strongly and not go to the beach just yet: Each position is worth £££s. Now let's sort out our signings for next year.

OK - I'm going to stir the pot here. Yogi implies that his priorities are (1) Doran (2) extended contract for Tansey - if these fall through, he might entertain something for Raven... If he's lucky. Here's what I'd suggest as an alternative (controversial!): 1. If there's an offer on the table for Tansey, sell him and put the alleged £200k in the kitty. 2. Sign Raven on an enhanced salary because he's worth it. 3. Forget about Doran - he's allegedly the Highest earner at the club and we have no idea what he'll be like after a terrible injury. 4. Use the earnings from Tansey and savings from Doran to bring in a decent front line and attacking midfield. Note: I really like Tansey and Doran, so this is not a reflection of their quality, BUT, if we are going to lose players, I'd prefer them to go for a fee (Tansey) or because there's an injury doubt (Doran) than on a free (Raven).

This is spot-on, Scotty. I don't envy the board - it's a tough gig to run a business with so many uncertainties from year to year. There is no doubt we are punching above our weight (measured in fans) and to retain our status will require (a) prudent financial control (b) outstanding management (c) an innovative recruitment and retention policy and (d) a huge slice of luck. (d) by definition is unreliable; my real concern is that (b) and (c) has not been good enough this year and the risk is that we will soon be punching at or below our weight - the Championship. The DR issue is prime example of the deficiencies of (c).

Fair point, DD, but again you question the merits of voicing this in public. If I were DR, I'd sign my pre-contract with County immediately: The undertone is "we'll only sign him if our other targets turn us down and we have to scrape the bottom of the barrel". Well, thank you very much indeed - I'm glad you value my services so much!

These comments from Yogi give me no confidence in his management ability. We have 3 defenders, and 2 midfielders signed for next season (excluding Foran and Esson, who are unlikely first teamers IMO). So, if Hughes thinks that blowing the budget on a striker will solve all his problems, he has failed to grasp the concept that a football team has 11 players and a club needs a squad of about 20! Right back is a need at the moment and the incumbent is quality. Sign him up. Then see how the budget looks for the rest. This should all have been sorted months ago and he would have had fewer gaps to fill and a clearer idea of budget. Poor planning.

Totally agree, Kingsmills. The two issues are not mutually exclusive. Whether DR plays or not is a contributory factor in the game. Of course we'll support the team to get this crucial win, but IMO if Raven is fit and doesn't play, it will damage our chances and I will make my feelings known.

....we could always go for the "you don't know what you're doing" for Yogi. Thinking about it, a song for David Raven will have even more impact if he's not selected or on the bench. I don't wish for that at the weekend, but if he isn't selected, there's even more reason to chant his name throughout the 90 min!

Totally up for this! Not sure the "He scores when he likes" ditty will quite hit the spot, funny as it is. "One David Raven" is unoriginal, but appropriate. Any better suggestions?

It is terrifying that, as yet none of the "six or seven" players that were allegedly offered contracts in the past couple of months - and have since been given ultimatums by Yogi - have signed. Polworth was allegedly close, but still not signed. Is there a fundamental issue here? Is Yogi not as popular to work with as he seems to think? Has the Chairman tightened the purse strings to the extent that it is strangling the club? We currently only have 7 players for next season FFS! Of those, one is the goalie coach, one is permanently crocked and another is quite likely to be off to Aberdeen! The U20s that we might have hoped to step up have been sent out on loan and no news on any of them being signed up either? ARMAGEDDON!

Shocking decision from Yogi, I'm afraid. I think most of us saw this coming a mile off - not one of Yogi's favourite players and yet an excellent servant of the club, topped off by that wonderful goal in the semi-final against Celtic. It'll be interesting to see if Rave plays on Saturday (now that he is allegedly fit again). I agree with some of the comments above - we all make mistakes, but Yogi's Achilles heal is clearly that he doesn't learn from the mistakes he made at previous clubs. I sense that he has an over-inflated ego and a stubborn streak - not a good combination. Boy, is he going to have to pull a few rabbits out of the hat this summer.

...there is another scenario - what if Alan Stubbs were to get the Celtic gig (he's certainly in the frame)? The Hibs job would definitely be an option for Hughes, even if he had a fairly unsuccessful stint there previously. He does now come with better credentials than he had at that time and he does still live in Edinburgh by all accounts....

Anyone else think that JH will be interested in having a pop at the Celtic job, now that Deila is on his way out the door? Given that he was interested in the United job, I'd be surprised if he didn't want to put his hat in the ring for this, especially as he doesn't hold back in his admiration of the club. I don't think he'd stand a chance because I'm sure they'll go for a bigger name (e.g. Moyes), but they might not be able to attract that calibre. My question is - if JH requests permission to talk to Celtic, should KC refuse it? IMO the answer is "no" because this might well be JH's dream - grant him permission and he doesn't get it, he might have renewed enthusiasm here on the basis that he realises that he's not quite in that league yet. If he were to get the job, then good luck to him and we move on.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz