wynthank15

Utter shambles, the dressing room is lost, the players have lost all confidence in what they are supposed to be doing.

I'm not suggesting a ban on BBC Journo's lets charge them for entering the stadium after all, the BBC are swindling Scottish fans out of £4M for a service which is extorted from all of us whether we watch their tripe or not. If nothing else it might highlight the inequity of it and possibly embarrass (if that's even possible with the BBC) them into a more equitable sum for the rights. It would certainly hit the newspapers if the clubs did it.The independent firms can do what they like but the BBC is a publicly funded body receiving £3.5Bn per year much of which it wastes via BBC Media Action trying to undermine the democratically elected Syrian government amongst others.

Should read 433 and 442 above, my mistake.

To my mind the way to build a successful side is a) Have a dominant CB or sweeper who determines when the line steps up to compress the space and when to sit in, with full backs who know when to tuck in and when to go forward. b) Midfield is a personal battleground where generally the side who wins most of the individual battles wins the match depending on having a midfielder or preferably several who can see and execute the pass eg a Paul Sheerin, or Charlie Christie. c) up front where I played till my mid 30's I always preferred to play with a strike partner plus one winger who could either play in a 443 or 442 formation rather than as a single striker, two up front can create more havoc than one on his own, also, if the only option is to flick the ball on you need someone to flick it to. Re wingers I prefer the Barry Robson type with a good shot on him rather than the lightweight type like Doran, who is a fine player. The one thing about young wingers is they are consistently inconsistent as has been seen with Mulraney, they take time to mature into consistent players, to judge when to take the man on or play a one two and to cross consistently between goal and the penalty spot rather than behind the goal. Mulraney is only a young man and I've no doubt if he gets enough games and remains injury free he will be a good player by his mid 20's by which time he will also have bulked out a bit. I don't rate any of the so called strikers but then, perhaps it's not their fault, delivery into them is poor though you can't excuse being unable to control or strike a ball on target The most mature performance I have seen from an ICT side was the home tie against Astra who were no mugs and only a goalkeeping mistake cost us that night but the amount of control we had around their penalty box with young Ryan Christie looking like a genuine no 10 trying to thread balls through for our depleted forward line (we had lost watkins) was really excellent and a testament to the style of play that Hughes had instilled in the team despite our having lost our two best players and having several injured. The ball has to be played through the opposition midfield 90% of the time so that you have midfielders supporting the front men and should a defender get a tackle in chances are it will break back to one of your own players. The other thing this style of play ensures is that the entire opposition team has to defend it thereby ensuring they have almost no outball should they win possession back.The way the Cameroon midfield played the year they almost knocked England out of the World cup was textbook midfield play at its best, had Roger Miller been able to play 90 mins they would certainly have won handsomely. All the top sides know when to press as a unit and when to stand off which takes hours of practice on the training field, think of the great AC Milan side, they literally won the ball back without making a tackle so expertly did they reduce the space as a unit. I don't know what the training has been like with RF or what they have been working on but I don't see much shape nor a controlled style of play. JH's team was able to control the tempo of a game and knew how they intended to get at the opposition whether you liked the style or not, it took time for the players to buy into it and it started with some real disasters, Dundee Utd at home springs to mind. Once the players bought into it and understood the purpose, they became much more comfortable and patient in possession. Yes you might say they overplayed at times or were over cautious at times (Rangers away in the league cup comes to mind) and I would agree but it was still very much a work in progress weakened by transfers out of the club. I feel we have thrown all that good work away which could have become a template for the way in which ICT played the game for many years to come, as a club culture, irrespective of who the Manager was. As to what we can do to get us out of our current predicament? no idea, there is no magic wand, it takes months of disciplined practice in the right areas.

If we lose to Hamilton we are down and the board had better act quickly rather than dawdling as they did with Brewster when it was obvious with half the season gone we were in deep trouble.I think the players have lost confidence in RF, once you lose the dressing room it's finished. All the good work JH and Latapy had done, the passing, game management, organisation has gone.

Quote: “However, it is worth revisiting the issue of the disproportionately low fee that Scottish football gets for its TV rights. Simple arithmetic indicates that if Sky and BT are happy to pay £1.712bn a year for English football the comparable figure for Scotland should be £142m (Scotland has 8.3% of the population of the UK). To be getting just over one tenth of that at £15m a year needs to be reviewed. “Equally the BBC gives just £1m a year to Scotland’s football clubs against £66m for its Match of the Day highlights. These figures are only exacerbating the gap between English and Scottish football and should be examined in more detail by the appropriate authorities.” This is from the BDO annual report on the EPL and SPL . My suggestion is that the fans tell the TV companies where to go by not attending televised games and not buying tv packages if you really want to change things, the only thing sky and BT understand is loss of revenue. IF 200,000 football supporting Scots pay Sky £500pa that's £100M, save your money and use it to buy a season ticket for your local team, these companies would soon get the message.You could save the game and your club by doing so, otherwise half the current SPL will be part time within 10 years.. Disclosure: I don't watch Sky BT or most other TV.

If you want to kill Sky TV's domination of the game, don't attend, especially for games in the final stages of competitions held at ridiculous times. Remember the league cup final? Sky panicked about their being no ICT supporters being there so they subsidised the travel via the Sun (Clue) Newspaper. All it would take is a boycott of a final (and make it public) and things would change, I just don't mean by ICT supporters. If you play their game they win but it takes a combined mindset amongst supporters to destroy it. Stop being a slave to Murdoch and his like. It's a small price to pay to kill this money driven monster. Jock Stein said " the game is nothing without the supporters" and he was right. Realise the power is with all the supporters in the league and they can change it if they would only think and organise. Sky rely on the fact that we wont. Sky is killing the game as regards attendances and the money going to players which is destroying clubs including our own. Scottish football will become part time with the exception of a few clubs if this continues.

Whilst I have been critical of RF was pleased to hear him say tonight that we are too open and that was his fault and the closed season work concentrated on tightening up the defence. Exactly what is needed, I would take four one nils in the next four games.

Can't believe O'Halloran can't get a regular game at his current club. Given the time he's been out it will take him several games to get up to speed which is possibly why he's no longer consider as a starter, they can't take the risk, unfortunately, can't see him coming to ICT due to wages, would be a bit of a coup for the club if they did get him.

As Caley 100 has pointed out our results have to improve dramatically to equal last years second half performance, and it's not going to happen. I have made the point in other posts that RF should never have been put in this situation and never have been offered a four year contract without having served an apprenticeship somewhere. Do we really think a rookie manager can dig us out of the mire we are now in? The board need to bite the bullet, stick with RF and see us relegated or pay him off and employ an experienced manager. I liked RF as a player and as a human being but he is not a manager, nowhere near it,he has served no apprenticeship, even Mourinho served an apprenticeship before going on to greater things, so all this hopium on here is just wishful thinking. You can red dot me all you like but it wont make one iota of difference in the end. I hope I'm wrong.

To be fair to the board over the years they got most decisions correct, those they got wrong were major. 1. Employing Brewster when he was no longer a player 2 Failing to sack Brewster when it was obvious he couldn't keep us up and the football was the worst seen in many a year. and they are about to make the same mistake with Foran. I liked Foran as a player, wholehearted etc but it is unfair and unrealistic to expect someone to step straight into management in any capacity and expect it to work. Managers in any walk of life have to build up to it and be guided by more experienced heads on how to handle different situations. Once the players start to question Foran's judgement it's all over. Ask yourself honestly, what has changed player wise between JH's last season and RF's season so far?

Sack those who voted to give a rookie untested manager a four year contract. It was no doubt sold as golden handcuffs rather than a golden ball and chain. Everyone likes RF and I liked him as a player but professional football has no place for sentimentality, clubs, players and managers prove that every year.

Three wins in twenty games, no wins in the last ten, and three goals conceded in five of the last ten. I said at the start that the current squad should be good enough for a mid table finish and with an experienced manager I had no doubt that it would be but we don't have an experienced Manager, we don't even have a Manager who has served an apprenticeship as an assistant. I wanted things to work out for RF but it hasn't and is not going to improve. I defended JH's style of play and pointed to the fact that JH managed to pick up a steady stream of points even with a horrendous injury list. Look back to the number of first teamers missing after the double header with Astra plus the fact we had lost Shinnie and Watkins. I understand why the board parted with JH and I also understand why JH pushed as hard as he did to improve the squad, he wanted to kick on. Under JH we had a style of play whether you liked it or not, that has gone out of the window now, the team is directionless both defensively and offensively, I believe they are going out hoping to win whereas under JH I believe they went out expecting to win.Remember Tremarco's comment after the SC final that he was afraid of the manager when he got sent off? that says it all. Watkins called JH a madman, they all knew the plan and the consequences of not delivering it. It's no one's fault really, the board took a gamble on RF, they wanted some stability which we haven't had since Patterson but it hasn't worked and they now need to make a decision.

On a serious note I would like to see the Tulloch name retained given what they have done for the club. On a more frivolous note it could be called "Bridgend" "Bridgeview" "Seaview" "The Dock" "SafeHarbour" forget that last one given our defensive record, since we have the longest club name perhaps the stadium should be "The Inverness Caledonian Thistle Pride of the Highlands Stadium", the name I don't want is "The Relegation City Stadium".

If the supporters can see it why can't the manager? We will see how the defence performs without him. You can't win games if you concede goals, Paul Hartley decided to change the emphasis having lost his two strikers and it's paid dividends. I said last season in defence of Hughes he won us many points despite injuries and suspensions just by the way he set up the team and our style of play. The supporters didn't like the style of play, are you enjoying it now?

IHE what's with the "WE" why pick on the Free Presbyterians of which I am proud to be a member? they are a godly congregation. I know this is not ICT related but you started it. Stick to football.

Doofers Dad I agree with you completely see my post on Doumbouya or Fisher.

I would try to convert Vigurs into a no 10, you don't need a lot of pace just an eye for a pass or touch and decent control (think a poor man's Ross McCormack). Lets face it Vigurs doesn't work hard enough defensively as a midfielder, he often doesn't get up the park enough to trouble the opposition but he certainly has an eye for goal, good touch and a decent shot and is young enough to learn a new role. I think the no 10 role would suit him just behind the main striker. This would utilise our resources to their best and as someone suggested why not try to convert Mulrainey into a striker with the pace he has, he would just need to work on game intelligence, timing his runs and finishing, Marley Watkins achieved it before he left us. After all, our current strikers are neither pacy, nor good in the air, nor blessed with great control, nor great finishers, we could save money by binning them and signing a no 9 with some promise.(with all due respect to the present incumbents)

If we are going to press high which we did you cannot allow their midfielder to drop deep, receive the ball from the keeper and turn, which is what they did all night. Our midfielder has to go with his man. The result was we were caught short up the park with Raven having an extra man to mark on numerous occasions. Either commit to the press or sit in. To be fair we were much better second half. That said we had the two best chances on the night and should have at the very least hit the target with both. Doumbouya is not up to it at this level and useless in the air for such a tall man, Vigurs whom I am a fan of needs to work much harder defensively. Both subs had an impact, Draper did the work of two men and Tremarco had an excellent match. If we could only find a quality striker we would have a very decent side. With our budget this has always been the problem as we can't retain our strikers when they succeed ie Wyness, Dargo, Rooney, Mackay, Watkins etc I think we will be better next time the teams meet for having played against the Rangers system which they don't change.

Agreed iftfc, fantastic, great memories and a much more enjoyable football experience standing on the terracing.

Why all the concern over whether Christie will make it at Celtic or not? I don't care. I don't want to see him score against us or rip our defence to shreds, he is no longer our player. I supported his dad when he played for us not when he played for Celtic.I said when Vigurs arrived he would score more goals than Christie, he may not be as good a player but he will score more goals. Given the choice I would have kept Watkins rather than Christie but he's gone too so forget him, get behind the guys that wear our jerseys.

Celtic will push on their full backs as they always do, we need to take advantage of that space when we counter, I would ask the likes of Doran to stay in position when we are defending as an out ball when we win it back. We also need strong runners to support him from midfield which probably means Draper getting up in support. There's no point in punting it up to a centre forward marked by two CB's.We have no right to expect to beat Celtic but ICT teams past have shown it can be done when we are well organised and are prepared to have a go and Celtic are no world beaters as we have seen.

Fraser 54 I can assure you that I am educated and I did not say that mental health issues only affect poor people, but the poor people with no resources are cast aside while footballers are lauded by society and blessed with wealth, good nutrition , support systems, medical care, first class travel, accommodation etc etc.they live in a gilded cage. I have nothing against our manager supporting player's mental health but bear in mind they are a tiny minority compared to the thousands struggling daily with life itself, unheralded, ignored, even despised. If you have any humanity, can you not understand the point I am making or do you only care about those who live a life of privilege and wealth? I have picked on football players because they have shown themselves to be narcissists, self centred, greedy (anyone remember the van hooidonk quote after being offered £7,000 a week in 1996?) let me remind you, "It may be good enough for the homeless, but not for an international striker" there's the arrogance of someone who has lost all touch with reality and as I've pointed out on this blog these heroes were unwilling even to help their fellow pro who gained them the riches they enjoy today, so go ahead and weep for the pro footballers and I will do the same for the vast army of ordinary Joes.

Good one Izzy I hadn't the heart to point it out.

I thought JH was pretty honest in his assessment and what he achieved albeit with someone else's players was remarkable. Re his buying policy I think most were panick buys, we were so short of first team players after the Astra games that he just started signing those that were available.Re his passing style it worked a treat when we were ahead but he couldn't change things when we went behind, players must be able to mix it up but to be fair to JH he picked up points with a team often without recognised first team players due to injuries. Re his comment about RF being a rookie manager is again correct RF has never managed at any level and I worried when RF in his pre season interview with the Chairman said we would keep passing forward which is as sensible as saying we will keep passing sideways, there is a time to go forward and back, we saw the effect of the Hughes dogma I hope the forward pass and loss of possession is not the RF dogma. After many calamities with the JH passing style the players took to it and it was noticeable that the opposition were generally more tired than ICT in the last 15 mins because of it. I would hope RF would build on that style with a little more variation rather than abandon it. There is nothing worse for players than have to do a 180 about turn under a new untried boss. I wish RF and the club the best of luck with what is by any stretch a gamble, doing your badges is no different to training for your chosen profession, we all know that theory and the real world are very different.