wynthank15

Would not be surprised if Ayr had the bulk of possession, we need to be tight at the back and quick on the counter. The first goal is vital and whomever gets it will, I think, win the match.

Lets face it macaroni cheese costs nothing to produce nor does decent home made soup, proper bovril, nor a HOT pie come to that instead of some lukewarm offering. No one likes feeling they are being ripped off and ICT are not alone in offering so called soup and bovril consisting of some dust in the bottom of a cup and some hot water. As someone on here said, there is no substitute for having a winning team on the park. I also feel the people of Inverness had become tired of the SPL and I have to confess it is a boring competition due to inequality in financial terms. I remember being at a match against Celtic during the time Dargo played for us, he scored inside 5 minutes, missed a penalty and Hartson scored the equaliser, it was a great game and the home support was packed in. In recent seasons ICT have had trouble in selling the home seat allocation against the OF . The main problem with our football generally is the lack of money, Burnley got £118M for finishing 7th in the premiership Aberdeen got £2.3M for finishing 2nd, in today's game £2.3M buys you nothing, I'm afraid our game is headed to oblivion with more clubs becoming part time. None of the Croatian players who reached the WC final play in their domestic league which is impoverished as a result. I have the feeling that at some point either due to financial circumstances or indifference TV audiences will wane and we might get back to supporters being important to the game once more, here's hoping, as Jock Stein said "the game is nothing without the supporters"

Correct but the reverse is also true, when you look at the reserves or development league, due to the paucity of quality at first team level their development is poor. Look back to the 60's when the old firm had top sides, both also had outstanding reserve teams because they were playing and training with top notch first team players. The current lack of quality filters its way down. Any player in our top league who looks like he might have some ability joins a championship club though many haven't made it and come back home in short order. The massive difference in standard shows up in our european results where clubs you've never heard of can comfortably beat ours with the exception of Celtic and yet even they now are forced to play ties at home as though they were the away team in terms of possession against the top european clubs which was not the case in the past. Scottish clubs once supplied many players to the premiership now we recruit players from non league such is the state of our game.

I vote for this one

There is so much I agree with in the above, when we won the SC I had tears in my eyes having watched the triumphs and failures of previous years and knowing where the club had come from and I am not the emotional type. BUT things have changed a great deal from those early years. I liked to stroll up pay my admission and stand at a match and be entertained, that is no longer an option. The craic by the support towards opposition fullbacks and wingers is no longer tolerated by overbearing, untrained stewards, sit down, shut up is the order of the day. Then there was the whole JH/RF fiasco, as many on here will know I was a strong supporter of JH and his style for ICT which could have been a template for many years to come but Oh no the board played to the crowd by appointing RF and got exactly what they deserved. I once wrote to KC, didn't even get an acknowledgement of my letter, how's that for a community club? Allied to the above we have rubbish catering which is far too expensive plus the standard of Scottish football currently is complete pants, our nation is a footballing backwater and until we start to play football a la the style that JH tried to impose at ICT we will drift ever further backwards in the footballing world. Look at the record of Scottish clubs in Europe it's an embarrassment and the way most clubs play the game for the sake of financial survival will ensure it dies a slow lingering death with most clubs becoming part time simply because the public will no longer be conned by the pundits that the game in this country is worth bothering about. Until we start producing players prepared to accept responsibility for the ball in tight situations and the requisite skill level that demands our game is going nowhere. Scottish rugby has shown the way to their footballing counterparts, skill, risk taking and entertainment will bring people back to the game, we need to go backwards before we can move forwards (pun intended).

Wouldn't sentence anyone to being a teacher for three years however the point re emergency services could be a possibility, also, I can only see govt making this kind of commitment, as someone above said private business is unlikely to commit to someone they haven't met or they may not be in a financial position to pay for, or they may just have hired someone. Nice idea though.

I recommended on another post Chis Duggan of East Fife 24 year old Australian scored 22 goals in 56 competitive games. Had an injury which was misdiagnosed for many years, last season was the fist time he has been fully fit, he certainly knows where the net is, would be within our budget and is a good age.

I think you missed out the season ticket cost effect. My cousin and his son who were long term ST holders refused to pay the price demanded and wrote to the chairman explaining why they were not renewing. The fact that the board back tracked on the ST price and made promises conditional upon promotion shows that this was a major issue for many fans. I would like to know what the drop in ST numbers was. I don't believe embarrassment comes into it, long term ICT fans could never be accused of being glory hunters, we came from the Highland league and we could go back there one day, many on this forum feared successive demotions and the very real prospect of part time football. It still wouldn't stop me from being an ICT supporter.

That 2003 game was the best atmosphere I have experienced at the TCS and yes our front two of Ritchie and Wyness guaranteed goals a joy to watch.

Have long beaten the drum about opening the west to standing, you could meet your mates every week, discuss the game and get an atmosphere going also for someone with athritic joints standing at a barrier is much more enjoyable than sitting. In a game v Celtic in the SC, (the game where they kicked our entire midfield off the park and we lost 2-1 McSwegan came on to play midfield!!) we were standing at the back of the open southern end of the main stand, a policeman came up to us and told us to sit down even though no one's view was being obstructed, when we pointed to the Celtic support and asked "what about them" the answer was "they will be sitting down in a minute" still not sure whether the Police/Stewards are too scared to ask the Celtic support to sit or whether there are different rules for different clubs. Frankly, were the club to ban me for something so petty I wouldn't be back. (I qualify this by saying I have no intention to block any other supporters view or enjoyment of the game) in my experience people automatically stand up when a scoring opportunity presents itself.

The point I am trying to make is Caulker a better player than Christie, Watkins or Shinnie? we could certainly have done with £1.8M or Christie for a season rather than losing them on the cheap or for nothing.

Truly appalling record but I sense we are a different team now mentally, of course, it all depends on other teams results against one another.

Utterly ridiculous would love to know how many were for idiocy ie not tackles. Black used to pick up his fair share but at least his were for getting stuck into the opposition or taking one for the team.

Would be interested in the forum's view of the players we have allowed to leave for nominal fees or in some cases for nothing due to contracts having expired. Should players who are clearly a cut above, I'm thinking Christie, Watkins and Shinnie and to a lesser extent Meekings and Tansey have been tied up under longer term contracts so that we could negotiate larger transfer fees? We seem to have left contract extension negotiations to the last minute in the past when a players head has already been turned by another offer. As everyone will be aware, Christie is still on loan to Aberdeen which rather sticks in my throat, we could have done with him last season, he may have been the difference between relegation and staying up.

Don't be too hard on Brechin, they have done very well to be in this league when you look at the full time teams still in Div 1.

Thanks cif73, that's my concern about Seedorf he is always hesitant these days, don't know what the cause of lack of confidence is, possibly in his head or due to his injury but he is definitely indecisive.

Didn't see the game was Seedorf pushed up front as a winger? how did he play?

Shows what a good dose of aspartame can do for you.

If it was a couple of years ago maybe he/she wasn't so weird after all, they chose Foran instead.

Specifically, they are being self righteous. Sorry couldn't resist.

Wurthers original I hope nothing rustles so gently.

I would suggest the only club in the SPL smaller than us is Hamilton and boy the PTB wish they would get relegated? In our league, I would suggest Dundee Utd, St Mirren and Falkirk have inherently larger supports than us, am going by cup final attendances. From the lower leagues possibly Dunfermline also have a larger support. Ross County at the SC final probably had around 10-15,000, the same for StJ. The point I am making is that we have found our level for now and a long rebuilding programme is needed to get us back to being serious challengers, it wont happen unless we find the next highly motivated young manager who is prepared to put in all the hours necessary to find and build a squad capable of surviving in the SPL. The sad bit is no one sees ICT as a long term project where they will remain for any length of time, we are destined to be a yo yo club. That said I am immensely proud of what the club have achieved from very humble beginnings we were a genuine thorn in the side of the major clubs during our spell in the SPL, I think they were all glad to see us go down, as were the west coast media possibly due to the travelling.

DD I think you are being very harsh, what did Butcher achieve when he went to Hibs? after all he made the decision to go. I think he would have been delighted with 29 points. Re the DU game which I referred to earlier in this thread and the reasons for that defeat, my point is this, had JH not changed the players mentality and style of play we would have won nothing. My regret is that the style he infused the players with which got results, despite crippling injury problems, the club should have maintained that philosophy going forward as a template for how the team should play. That style forces every player to be responsible for the ball and improves their touch and vision, if either is lacking they are quickly found out. Touch, vision, movement backed by fitness which is a given, plus understanding how you fit into the overall team structure both offensively and defensively are the essentials of any successful team. The great Marcello Lippi was asked what was the greatest asset he looked for in a player, and he answered intelligence. If a player is intelligent he can understand all of the nuances required by the Manager and how he fits into the overall plan. I really don't understand the reluctance to give JH the praise he deserves for what he achieved without all the speculative backbiting, we shouldha couldha, wouldha if Butcher hadn't upped and offed, he did and the rest was a wonderful part of our history. So much so I've written a song about it which I will put up on the site time permitting.

RIG, let me enjoy my delusions, anyone suggesting we would win the SC and finish 3rd in that season would have faced the same charge. Never ending romanticism is bang on the money, that a small club with a savvy Manager could do so well. The feeling of joy was only enhanced by the gnashing of teeth coming from the central belt press who wanted us gone from the SPL and gave only grudging credit for a marvellous achievement, don't you know it was only due to the weakness of other clubs that we did so well, that's delusional.

Kingsmills I will be very gentle and suggest you wrote the above whilst not thinking. Listen, I loved watching the football played by Pele's teams and he had to rebuild several times during his tenure but he wasn't competing every week in the SPL nor in national cup finals and sadly he never won the Championship though I contend that JR won it with his team. As for Yogi being arrogant, I worked beside a lad who played out in the middle east, his son was captain of Falkirk's under 18's and he raved about Yogi as a person, a coach and a Manager, arrogance was never mentioned as one of his traits. We all have a bit of ego, it's what protects us from the world but arrogant? not in my book. As you can see from my numerous posts I have too much time on my hands at the moment, please excuse my fulminations.