AlexJones

Galling that he wasn't even on the bench for the Poland game. Just shows you what a closed shop the Scotland team is. In contrast, Northern Ireland regularly pick lads from clubs like ICT, Kilmarnock and Hamilton Accies. They won their group comfortably. Scotland finished a distant fourth.

If he was serious about being a manager why hasn't he been in the dugout during his injury spell? You would also expect him to have done his coaching certificates already. He's had virtually a year off. If he hasn't used that time productively, that should rule him out of the running straight off the bat.

United may have the third highest budget in the league but they also have one of the worst squads in the league, so a new manager will have to wait a couple of years to get the duds off the wagebill before the rebuilding can start in earnest. By then Sevco and Hibs will be back into the SPL, other clubs will have progressed, and the landscape will have changed. This is an inauspicious time to move there.

Marius Șumudică. (FC Astra manager)

Seems that United are going for Tommy Wright at this moment but I wonder if they can't snare him would they look again at Hughes? In the meantime why don't we offer the guy (and some of the players) contracts instead of running the risk of losing players and managers for buttons like we have done in the past. You're going to feel pretty foolish when Scotland leaves the pound and buttons become our de facto currency.

As good as Yogi's results have been for us, let's not forget that the team was already assembled before he got here. If he'd had to build from scratch, would he have been so successful? There's no doubt that we have improved under his stewardship, but how much of that improvement would have come no matter who was in charge? Young players generally get better with age and experience and most of our players were in their early and mid twenties and yet to peak. Those players were already competing at the top of the league and getting to the later stages of cups under Butcher. The absence of Rangers, Hearts and Hibs, and auspiciously timed collapse of United and Motherwell also worked in our favour. There are so many factors behind success and failure in football. Simply crediting or blaming the manager is too simplistic. This isn't an attempt to discredit Yogi Hughes achievements. His record speaks for itself. But credit must be shared. Butcher, Malpas, Marsella and the mythical 'talent agency' built the squad. Duncan Shearer and Scott Kellacher steadied the ship. The board sifted through a wad of applications and bravely picked the unfashionable Yogi Hughes against prevailing opinion, then Russell Latapy. The players grafted hard to a man and did the business on the pitch when it mattered. It's a team game at the end of the day and everyone at the club has played their part. To me the clearest reason for Yogi to stay is purely for football reasons. All the foundations are in place now and his work is baring fruit. His philosophy / blueprint has finally been achieved. Previous clubs didn't give him the time, previous players didn't take it on board. Fans laughed when he spoke about emulating Barcelona. Not anymore. Last year Yogi Hughes finally reached the Guardiola-esque football Utopia he's always been striving for. The question shouldn't be whether he can go back to square 1, start again, and repeat it in a radically different environment with another clubs players. The question should be, now that his philosophy has been successfully bedded in at a club - how far can he take it? There's plenty of time to go and start over somewhere else further down the line. He's onto something special at Inverness. These could be the best years of his career. If he walked away now, he might look back and wonder what might have been.

I reckon Newport is probably his last chance saloon. If he bombs there I can't see him being offered a job at that level again. You can't even call his managerial record 'chequered' anymore. The best you could say is 'one hit wonder'. Why is it that so many apparently dismal managers seem to excel in Inverness? Pele, Robbo, Brewster #1, Butcher, and you could even include Yogi given how low his stock had fallen before he was appointed. It's baffling. Anyways, would love to see our former 'leader' back in Scottish football as a media personality. Can see him rustling plenty of jimmies and shaking things up in contrast to the obsequious wet blankets who currently occupy the mic. Come home Terry!

Butcher started all this tosh about Foran taking over as manager. I understand why, dangling a carrot to keep a (then) key player at the club, and also talking up his buddy (or 'co-dependant' as our resident psychologist would say). But from the clubs point of view, it's a terrible idea. He has zero managerial experience of any kind at any level. It's a recipe for disaster. Jobs for the boys might be business as usual at Highland League level, but we're a Premier League club now.

Can't agree with that. They have 89 years of history! It's not their fault that the closed-shop SFA wouldn't allow Highland clubs to compete in the Senior Leagues until relatively recently. I don't have a problem with clubs like County and their ilk (Gretna is a more fitting comparison than Chelsea ). It's the benefactors who grind my gears. Think of all the philanthropic causes guys like Brooks Mileson and Roy MacGregor could be spending their money on. Imagine all the things they could be building for their local communities with the money they blow on football. It's tragic.

The first half was the best we've played since the corresponding fixture at the end of last season. Terrific stuff. As others have said, we should've gone in at least 4 goals in front. As usual, Aberdeen were jammy as feck against us and the scoreline flattered them. Their goal came from virtually their first effort on goal, a scrappy corner (cheaply given away by Devine) which was bundled in as Fon Williams was fouled. From that point on Aberdeen's whole gameplan seemed to consist of lumping high balls into our box. Surprisingly, and deservedly, we managed to hold firm. Christie's transfer value has gone up a few hundred thousand on todays performance alone! An assist and a goal fit to grace El Classico. Dave the Rave was outstanding at the back, keeping Hayes quiet and also providing decent support on the right flank in attack. He's having his best season for us IMO. Hopefully a few more years yet before he leaves us for the music business. Miles Story also impressed. He has the running power of Marly Watkins and the finishing touch of Billy McKay. Quality signing. When he tired I would have preferred we gave Sutherland a runout. Mutombo doesn't have the pace to race in behind from the halfway line. Playing him as a lone striker on the last man didn't work. Every time we got the ball forward it kept coming back. Taylor and Consodine were tired, isolated and pushed up to the halfway line. Sutherland would have caused those lumbering carthorses all kinds of problems with any ball played over the top, just like he did late on against Saint Johnstone. A minor gripe in an otherwise excellent performance. Keep up the good work lads!

Lot's of lads have missed the boat. It's a buyers market. I reckon the club should show some enterprise - rather than paying a wage, we should CHARGE players to join our squad. Think of it as an internship. We give ambitious wannabe pro-footballers from far and wide a platform to train and showcase their skills, and they pay us for the privilege.

It's early doors but with both ICT and County in the quarter finals, what odds of a Highland derby final? That might even top last season.

Richard Laird is one of those Councillors (along with Donnie Kerr) who's entire raison d'etre appears to be to get his picture in the Inverness Courier every week. They probably do a lot of good, but boy am I tired of seeing their mugs!

Have you been to 'Speronis' restaurant OP? He used to be somewhat of a cult hero when he was in Scottish football, playing in one of the most bonkers teams in living memory - Dundees Bonetti Revolution! Imagine the likes of Claudio Cannigia, Fabrizio Ravanelli and Attilio Lombardo - playing alongside the likes of Jamie Lanagfield, Graham Bayne and Barry Smith. Crazy stuff. Good to see him still doing well down there for Palace.

So basically Dundee United have been playing tosh all season and this should be our easiest fixture so far... In my experience whenever we expect to win we get humped, so I'm going for 4-0 Dundee United.

Glasgow and Dundee could declare themselves independent people's republics. It would instantly reduce the rest of Scotland's benefits budget, and give the west coast media what they've always wanted - a new football league consisting entirely of Celtic and Rangers.

Where does he go now? The manner of the defeat means very few of the bigger promoters will see him as a money drawing opponent. One silver lining though, he barely took any punishment and wasn't seriously hurt. It was a good early stoppage from the ref IMO. Some will be writing him off, but his only defeat has come from a potentially world class opponent (who Wlad Klitschko rates as the best heavyweight prospect for 25 years). The fight clearly came too soon for him. The step up in class between Joshua and his previous opponents was too steep. But it was too good an opportunity to turn down. He's still young and healthy enough to rebuild. Hopefully he keeps grafting and gets some more big money fights down the line.

Diving to win a penalty, or simulating to get a player booked when they haven't hurt you are both unacceptable IMO. However, the incident in question doesn't fall into either of those categories. The Hearts player threw a punch (though not a very good one) and deserved to be sent off - he was not cheated. If the roles were reversed I wouldn't have any complaints about the decision.

Williams Raven Meekings Devine Williams Wedderburn Christie Draper Vigurs Lopez Story

Cumbernauld Colts It's about time a Highland League side had a decent run. Especially with all the £££ sploshing around there these days.

Sucking up to the fans of your new club is just part of the job. Everyone on here used to love it when Butcher talked up Inverness in the media. Hopefully Ryan keeps his head down and goes on to fulfil his potential on the big stage. Then again, a 20 year old, living in Glasgow, on £7k a week, with new found fame - it's easy to see how so many talented youngsters careers have gone off the rails at the Old Firm.

With Celtic just receiving £11.5 million for Van Dijk, and their fans up in arms demanding more investment in the team, this would have been an extremely auspicious time for ICT to play hardball. The pressure was on the Celtic board. Having already stated their interest in Christie, missing out on his signature by lowballing Inverness over an extremely modest £1 million transfer fee (by Celtic's standards) would have been a huge embarrassment.

Newcastle the Sevco International of the EPL. I reckon this could be a year of upsets. With all the extra money coming into the league, the top 4 is much harder to call. Other than Man City, all the other big names have looked decidedly mediocre thus far.

About time this lad was given his own song.

If Scottish football managers have a problem with soft red cards ruining games, the first thing they should do is tell their players to stop play acting. Hearts are as bad as anyone in this regard. They deserve no sympathy.