wynthank15

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.

Sussed oh dear.

Without being pendant in residence boom boom my response to your points are as follows: Butcher left, we did not finish second nor did we win a cup and we lost Andrew Shinnie who was a stand out for us. I'm glad you accept that losing your best players and injuries can have a deleterious effect on the team, which relates to point 3. With no out ball (Watkins had left and Doran was injured) an aimless hoof up the park would have achieved little so yes, the players at the back had difficulties as a direct result of losing your quickest forward and having another quick player injured. The reason why JH left was over the very issue you raise, trying to clarify the budget. I accept your point about Hughes recruitment but remember it wasn't Butcher who identified the bargains brought to the club from down south. The fact is we have never had enough money to buy established front men, they cost too much, which is why we have always gone for players from the lower leagues or strikers who have had injury problems or fallen out of favour or guys who can't find another club we were soooo fortunate to get Marley Watkins who could convert from being a winger to a very effective centre. I do not expect in my lifetime to experience the highs of JH's reign, he turned us into a proper football team and the board turned us into a laughing stock in one season, quite an achievement. You can continue to have a downer on JH if you like but he will remain our most successful Manager long after we have departed this life.

I agree with a lot of what you say Chris, we need another Pele to find players from lower leagues and mould them into a team. JR won promotion with Pele's team plus a great addition in Bingham who was nearing the end of his career. Our football in that season probably wasn't as good as Pele's teams and JR was using a tactic which went out when he played, the big switch ball to the back of the box. For me, the players would have won that championship with almost any Manager pity it wasn't Pele in charge. We need to find our level wherever that may be and build from there but we need the right man at the helm and it's not JR, we are not in a financial position to attract anyone else unless we identify the next go getter from the lower leagues.

Hawkeye, I've tried to explain this before on this forum but some just don't see it. The reason for the heavy defeats in the early days was because JH completely changed the style of play ie out from the back. I remember the horror show against Dundee Utd in the SC where we gifted them a 3 goal lead at home all self inflicted but this was the players trying to adapt to the new way of playing. Had we not changed we would never have gotten 3rd in the league and won the cup. In the final season not only had we lost good players we had a horrendous injury list hence the reason for emergency signings and you can only sign what is available at the time according to your budget. The performance against Astra who were no mugs was one of the most mature i have seen from an ICT side and only a goalkeeping error from OFW caused us to lose that match. You may not have liked JH's style but while you have the ball the opposition cannot hurt you which is why we eked out points when we had no right to do so. I don't know why you dismiss winning 4 out of 5 after the split, they all count. As regards the treatment of Raven, JH clearly believed he could free up wages to invest in one or two players to make the team stronger, whilst I liked DR as a player and a person, every player comes to the end and it is the Manager's prerogative to decide who stays and who goes for the good of the club. Football is a business like any other even if the fans don't appreciate it, so I don't think it was shoddy, it was part of the football business. Hughes regarded the original budget plus the emergency signings as the budget for the following year, the board would only agree to the original budget, hence JH claimed his budget had been cut and the board claimed the budget had not changed. The sad part is that the system and style that JH inculcated in the squad could have been a successful template for many years to come but it was thrown over by the new inexperienced manager and the rest as they say is history.

How do you figure the spirit was eroded under JH, if it was eroded it was by losing our best players and not replacing them with similar quality. The start of the serious decline was replacing JH with a total rookie supported by many on this forum. Am fed up with the JH bashing, history will show he was our best ever manager who completely changed our style of play in the right way. I also have a lot of respect for what Pele achieved during his tenure, I enjoyed his style of football.

I absolutely disagree, you are effectively saying that the fans don't matter but they do when it comes to a TV spectacle, if there are no fans there, even no away fans due to a ridiculous kick off time it absolutely matters to the spectacle. Someone quoted Jock Stein earlier "without the fans the game is nothing" absolutely correct. All it would take is for a group of fans saying we will not be yanked around for TV and will not attend a game with a ridiculous kick off time no matter how important and I guarantee it wouldn't happen again. I believe you would even have opposition fans complaining about no away support and ruining the spectacle, what fun is there with no opposition support to bait. The question is, are a group of fans willing to take that step and say it's not on. If not, don't bleat about stupid o'clock kick offs.

Dodds mentioned tonight on Sportsound that our disciplinary record might prevent us obtaining a top four finish. I've had my say on the issue in the Vigurs thread so wont go over it all again.

Charles, If there was no ICT support at the league cup final and it was announced that it was due to the ridiculous mid day kick off I assure you we would never have to play at stupid o'clock again in a major match, the TV companies would make sure of that. The TV companies will televise games for as long as they think they can make money from them, if people switch off, the TV money will move elsewhere. The only people making money out of TV deals are the players, if TV money disappears due to viewer apathy, wages will reduce dramatically. I refuse to be yanked around by the TV companies re kick off times, I don't care what the event is, as I said above I didn't go to the league cup final. Before Rome collapsed their highest paid sportsmen were their charioteers and their Chefs were celebrities, sounds familiar?

Correct, I couldn't care less like the rest of our support and neither does the rest of Scottish Football including the SFA.

It's unfair to tar the 15,000 as glory hunters, the two girls sitting next to me at the final travelled from Toronto and Paris both born and bred in Inverness, there were also neutrals who went along with their Inverness family and friends for the occasion. It's up to the clubs to attract supporters by having an entertaining product on the pitch, it is after all an entertainment business. I can fish for a whole day for £20 why should I turn up as someone said at stupid o'clock at the whim of TV companies or the SFA. I remember the league cup final held at midday on a Sunday which I did not attend. Sky were in such a panic about their being no away support at the match, they got their newspaper division to subsidise the travel of ICT supporters by bus. As someone else said the game is nothing without the support, the supporters don'r realise the power they have, all it would take to rattle the TV companies would be a boycott of an important match in protest at stupid kick off times, an empty stadium isn't much of a TV spectacle.

Every investment into a Scottish Football Club is a charitable donation, it's a money pit. The only people I am aware of who made big bucks from their investment were Fergus McCann, Craig Whyte and Charles Green and I would hesitate before calling the latter two investors.

Not so RiG it happens quite a lot. https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/row-zed/10-players-loaned-back-former-7128246

It's how we get players for nothing BDU, think Craig Dargo, he was so injury prone that he only played a handful of games before he came to us. Had he been playing regularly getting 15 goals a season he would have been nowhere near Inverness. Many of the players we get for nothing are on a last chance to play at a decent level either because of injury, languishing in the reserves at their club (Darren Dodds), playing lower league (Don Cowie). McNaughton was a decent player just injury prone like Dargo, he was also older which makes recovery more difficult. The sale of Christie sticks in my throat given he is not playing for the club that bought him, he could have been playing for us last season and I don't know why our club didn't insert a clause in the sale that if he was to be farmed out it would be to ICT

I wouldn't change a thing other than the appointment of Foran, we are always going to be a yo yo club, as soon as someone shows any talent they are scooped up by a bigger club. Since freedom of movement came in no one can build a team over a number of years, players and Managers move on it's all short term. Clubs which used to be able to compete successfully in Europe, Dunfermline,Dundee Kilmarnock, Dundee Utd, Aberdeen thanks to tying up players for several years on long term contracts haven't even been near the Europa cup proper for ages many of these names with the exception of Aberdeen have been nowhere near the top end of their domestic league in decades.

Celebrate it by winning the championship.

A huge part of the problem with referees is that they have never kicked a ball in anger, ever. I believe Willie Collum refereed from the age of 15/16 and boy does it show, he is ripe for conning simply because he has never been in the position of a player. I don't know if he is still our top rated ref but is frankly an embarrassment to the profession. The fact he is well paid for such appalling performances in important matches just adds insult to injury. Where I will defend refs is on the subject of dissent, if you are going to chirp at the ref for 90 minutes or indulge in sarcastic hand clapping at decisions, you will get booked and will be given nothing in the game, they are after all only human, no one likes to be told how to do their job nor receive sarcastic applause for their decisions be they right or wrong.

As someone who has had back surgery and chronic disc problems I can empathise with him, constant leg pain will wear you down and make you crotchety. He is now a senior pro for younger lads to look to for leadership he needs to cut out the chat to referees and concentrate on his game, he could be a massive influence if he plays to his potential and stays on the park. I can forgive a player taking one for the team but dissent really is the most childish and needless of bookings, it also ensures that referees will give you no benefit of the doubt in a 50/50 challenge.

Vigurs was always a bright skillful player in a very dull Brewster team that got relegated, problem was he only got a 20 minute run and eventually lost patience. I'm surprised he didn't make it at Motherwell, could have been an attitude problem. I have no problem with players having attitude as long as it is directed towards their work and not against Managers or Referees. He can't defend to save himself he is too much of a ball watcher which was cruelly exposed last season, especially without Tansey behind him, ideally, you want him around the edge of the opposition box as the furthest forward midfielder with a holding player behind him in a 4 man midfield or as a no 10, he also has a good free kick in him and an eye for goal. Given the relatively poor quality in this division one would hope he can stand out and weigh in with some goals. I get the feeling that he is a player who needs bigging up by the Manager to get the best out of him as he seems to be easily discouraged which leads to his mouthing off at referees rather than knuckling down to the battle. I think he could be much better if our forwards were banging in the goals, I know I would be frustrated if chance after chance was squandered.

Aberdeen clearly think he needs game time and they are probably correct, his injuries last season and lack of playing make it difficult to break into a winning side. If he can recapture the form of two seasons ago he is a force to be reckoned with. I am a big fan and would welcome him back if the opportunity ever arose, which is unlikely.

Nice guy, good pro, average player, no one will ever forget his run and goal, what a legacy to have, something to tell the grandchildren.

We really could do some work on our corners and give the strikers a chance. Both sides hit high floating corners into the box which favour defenders in a dead jump, there's also insufficient pace on them should our striker actually win that jump. The one pacy low delivery brought the goal.

I have been pushing for Chris Duggan East Fife would cost us £25,000 - £40,000, (for the most important position on the park I think that's a bargain) they got him for free from Partick, only 23, now over his injury problems and scoring regularly in a mid table team. Good strikers take time to mature, you have to be in the position enough times to make the correct decision, this boy is now there and I expect him to kick on from here, we should move for him, I think it would prove to be a steal but the decision would be down to the board.

Am pushing for Chris Duggan East Fife would cost us £25,000 - £40,000, they got him for free from Partick, only 23, now over his injury problems and scoring regularly in a mid table team. Good strikers take time to mature, you have to be in the position enough times to make the correct decision, this boy is now there and I expect him to kick on from here, we should move for him, I think it would prove to be a steal but the decision would be down to the board.