wynthank15

Winning 4 out of 5 after the split put a gloss on things? faint praise indeed. Do you recall the injury list we had that year? and as I said in an earlier post how do you replace Watkins, Shinnie and Christie within our budget restraints? you can't, no wonder things slipped, players are hardly falling over themselves to join ICT so we sign injury prone players like Dargo or last chancers, players with a bad attitude to training, referees, lifestyle, authority or an old head like Scott McDonald going to Thistle who still thinks he has something to offer and probably has at our level. We are a million miles away from the level of Pele's teams but then the level of Scottish football since those days has also dropped dramatically we are the backwater of Europe in footballing terms.

Just how do you justify this statement? we lost our best players to other clubs, had a horrendous injury list where we had to make emergency signings but we never looked like relegation material under Hughes yet you blame him and give the incompetent Foran and the incompetent board that appointed him a free pass, unbelievable.

It's not mismanagement of finances that have cost us it's mismanagement of the team, that's what people pay to watch.

Whats to be proud of? Had any team we met beaten us other than County it would have been considered a shock result at our expense.

Recommend the clockwork beer factory probably mostly populated by Hearts fans as on the west side of the ground, good ale, child friendly, good food no colours, good pub.

Really, how would you have replaced Watkins, Shinnie and Christie within our budget genius?

For families, why not just go to the clockwork beer factory? it's right next to Hampden west side, is child friendly, serves real ale and food, you can get a table, yes there might be some Hearts refugees in there given it's west end but so what. I don't think they allow football strips unless covered, scarves can be put in pockets. Well run large pub on two levels and they do take cash. Been there many times.

but lets not erect the statues or canonise him just yet !  Scotty, Charlie Christie suggested there should be a statue to Yogi outside the ground and he could see up close the changes that JH made at the club. What irritates me the most is the fact that the style he imposed on the players was the correct way to go in my opinion and should have been the template for years to come whomever was in charge at the club. The other irritant is the refusal of many to acknowledge just what he achieved at the club, he fundamentally changed our style of play which resulted in our getting trashed by Dundee Utd in the SC but he kept at it despite the players inability to get it right at times. Even when we lost some of our best players and had horrendous injuries he kept getting results because of the style of play. JH's departure didn't just result in relegation it set the club development back years. By the way I loved the style of play under Pele but JH took us a step further where we looked like a proper controlled footballing team. The match against Astra (who were no mugs) without watkins and shinnie plus some injuries was one of the best performances I have seen from iCT despite the 1-0 loss.

Hi Lizi, I trust your health has improved, I was lucky enough to see the boys win in 2015 and will never forget it especially when I thought of where we had come from, I will admit to being misty eyed at full time given all the highs and lows of the previous years. That said my reasons are as above as to why ALL supporters need to make a stand at this time and I mean supporters of all clubs. I hope you enjoy the match.

Yes, as I say starve them out. If we don't make a stand now there wont be a game in 10 years. Do you realise that between the time Rangers were relegated to the 2nd season after they returned the prem lost 500,000 supporters? That's with all the best supported clubs allegedly back in the division. Look at our own Chairman's comments regarding our financial position and lack of support. Change is needed and getting rid of the incompetents at the head of the sport is the first step. I am not suggesting people stop supporting their teams only boycotting matches where the support is being messed about due to the SFA's vested financial interest. These people have no interest in the game only their own financial survival, it's time to root them out and I feel the sacrifice will be worth it if others join the bandwagon and refuse to be taken advantage of.

Only each time someone else suggests reinventing the wheel or start craving what they already had.

What seems to be slipping through the cracks here is that the ICT and Hearts support is being forced to attend at these ridiculous kick off times due to the SFA's enforced blackout period between 2.45 and 5.15 only because the SFA want to get their pound of flesh from the TV rights which they hold and can't sell for a later kick off due to their own rules. In other words everybody has to turn up early so that the SFA can get their cut on the TV rights. This game could have gone ahead at 3.00pm without TV coverage. I have said it before on other related topics we should boycott the matches where the SFA insist on stupid kick off times to circumvent their own rules and collect on their TV rights, ruin their TV spectacle, we need only do it once ( and advertise it) and they will get the message, no opposing fans means no spectacle, a dead atmosphere and a poor viewing experience. I live within 15 minutes of Hampden but I will not be attending nor will I be putting money in the pockets of those who are unfit to run OUR game be it local or national. I suspect many of our national supporters will be doing the same, starve them out.

Two things are needed to give us a fighting chance: 1) Ensure Mulreaney cannot deliver into the box, put Tremarco on a man marking job whichever wing he decides to play on. 2) Ensure we win every second ball that's played up to Ikpeazu, we don't need to beat him in the air just cover the second ball. I'm sure JR has already sussed these.

Quote from the 2nd para of the article: "So we came back to three things - employ someone who can implement a certain style of play, be open-minded in the transfer market and promote young players from within. In appointing the head coach, that person had to fit in with those three things. Daniel (Farke) has been brave enough to play homegrown players and make them better and as a club we have given him support in doing that because it’s one of our criteria for success." I seem to recall we had a manager that fitted the above description but folk didn't like it so we fired him and appointed a rookie with no football management experience, philosophy or style. Reinventing the wheel may be good fun but it's not productive, the past three years of torture could have been easily avoided by sticking with JH's style of football throughout our teams. The reality deniers on here will try to justify JH's removal because he wasn't good at this or that but the fact remains we finished 3rd in the premiership qualified for Europe and won the SC on a shoestring, it could have been the start of something brilliant and success attracts players who want to play for your club especially when they are getting good money moves elsewhere by performing well but no, the board had to exercise their authority, appoint their favourite son, supported by at least 50% on this forum, so please, no more plans about how to run a club successfully especially one with no money, we had it and we blew it, end of, that opportunity has passed us by.

Some of the comments on the highlights were priceless. "San Marino manager considering who to rest against Scotland" "McLeish tries to disprove the adage there are no easy matches at international level" "Unacceptable, disgraceful Kazakh manager fired after lacklustre performance against Scotland" We really have become a laughing stock a downward spiral over the last 30 years, it's a good job we don't have to play the Africans or South Americans regularly our FIFA ranking glosses over our true level. Peter Grant actually thought we started the game well?????? 2 down after 12 minutes, didn't know Peter did irony.