Council Juice

We've been spoiled the last few years with the class of Shinnie. Losing him will take a while to recover. I'd go as far to say he's one of our best ever and certainly the best we've produced IMO. Tremarco suffers due to having to follow in his footsteps. Aside from the cup final gaffe, he's a solid dependable left back. He's just not the same caliber as Shinnie. But that's no slight on him as Shinnie is a good good player. It's a comparison pretty much all SPL full backs would come out unfavourably. That's not to say I wouldn't take another left back. I'd like to give Ferguson the chance before bringing in another striker. - And if worst case scenario occurs we can always offer Mario Balotelli an alternative to Qatar.

Good to see Graham Bayne has found a profession outside football. A fine piper indeed. Apologies to anyone who this actually is for the comparison  Still cheers me up a little to know we'd have beaten a team that drew with a mid table EPL side who can afford to splash millions on players, if we had a goal scorer.

but that doesn't fit with the old Barca ideology. 4-6-0. Wouldn't mind the new Barca front 3. How much you reckon that'll cost use. Get the squad to skip a chippie on the way home after the next away match? Sounds like we don't have anyone who is a natural poacher. But everyone wants one.

The Highland Horde. And for the Family section The Nessie Crew. ;-)

I think the team I'll go with is - Esson* Raven - Meekings - Warren - Williams Draper - Tansey - Wedderburn Doran - Lopez - Christie * I think Fon Williams will start. I'd play Williams at left wing back thus allowing Christie to tuck in and directly support Lopez. Doran would be a more orthadox winger. Wedderburn and Draper filling gaps for full backs forward runs. Tansey pulling strings.

Kevin Kyle still able to move? I wouldnt turn my nose up at a fit Jon Daly. But that's the issue is it not. Keeping him injury free. I reckon wait until the season is under way and see how we start. If needs be players will be available on loan up till deadline day and available for free beyond that. There's no point jumping in if the current forward line is capable.

I think it will be a transitional year having lost key players in Shinnie, Mckay (who was temporarily replaced by Ofere) and Watkins. In saying that we've kept most of the rest of the squad together which is very good considering our success. Holding onto Meekings etc. I think aside from left back our squad is near complete. I wouldn't be opposed to a loan striker near deadline day (often when a lot of loans are arranged) but if we've got Andy and Lopez we might just have to see how they fit in. Any loan player would likely be an unproven kid. I think we have cover enough at centre back, i saw Eagle4Caley mention it but Draper and Tremarco can fit in there too. We only have space for 2 centre halves. We dont have the resources to have players idling as a 4th choice centre half. We just need to be flexible. Wedderburn could probably operate there too in a fix. Personally I cant see us replicating last term. Top 6 would be good I think. This in not fault of the manager or his new signings. I just think last season, finishing 3rd and winning the cup was near top end for us in my opinion. Aberdeen should finish 2nd again. It would be surprising if they don't. Dundee United and Hearts I think will challenge for the top 6 too. Many teams with be trying to fit in that 3-6 place group. I don't see it as a huge failing if we miss that one year. It'll be a fight.

If I remember correctly Billy Mckay was hardly prolific at Northampton Town. Something like 13 goals in 74 games according to wiki. He was more a hard running work his socks off type as opposed to the goal machine he turned into. Even then it took him a while to become a regular scorer.

Perhaps we're getting more cash up front from an exclusivity deal than RC. We don't know the terms of the deal.

There are advantages to keeping transfer dealings secret. All very well keeping the dealings secret. But that's different to not even announcing it once it's all been signed.

jinx

Connor McGregor is from RoI OR the United Kingdom according to the BBC. So desperate were they to claim him.

I think Fon Williams would be signing to start, not as backup, if he does sign.

Probably not. I imagine due to licensing issues from Uefa. Always worth trying to stream it.

All this changing of the league names. Jeez I can't keep up. Ha ha! I'm not saying there's a "spot on" measure of comparison. Just as a rough guide relating to the source of a lot of the Scottish Premierships outside talent which generally comes from below the top 2 leagues in England. Because most of the teams can't come close to affording the wages of English Championship or Premier league players, so they have to look beyond that. Now if the clubs in the top flight can't afford much in the way of wages then it's even more drastic in the case of the majority of the league below. Therefore if outside talent comes from lower down in the English leagues. The defenders. And they step up a level to the SPL then I would imagine JJ Hooper, if deemed good enough, maybe has the potential, at 21, to be able to bridge the quality gap pretty quickly. I don't think he'd be coming up against a whole new level of defender. Though one never really knows.

Did not see this coming. It's on BBC Uefa qualifying live feed too.

firstrows . com .eu. I've heard, on the grapevine, in the pub, allegedly, show many games on line and has been used for desperate measures by folks.

What part of Midlothian refers to the pi*her or said action as the thingwie? Bog I've heard. never thingwie. Or lan.

Jon Stead was signed by Blackburn from the lower level of the English game. Granted that was probably too big a jump in hindsight but he did show glimpses in his first season of the talent that persuaded them to sign him from 4 leagues down and throw him into the 1st team. It's not necessarily about the level of player he's been against before. It's whether he has the considered ability to play at the required level and the specific aspects to his game that can translate over the levels (positioning, game reading, intelligence, timing etc). You'd also look at whether he is quick enough, strong enough and naturally fit enough.

As mentioned before, make a show reel of a player banging in goals and he'll look great. But if you consistently see goals being scored then you'll see a fair bit of bad defending. Conference football. Probably on a par with the Scottish Championship? Talk about talking the game in this country down. To suggest that our Premiership on a par with the conference is just about as ludicrous as your previously expressed view that the Highland League was and is amateurish pub football.... Goes to show how little you bother reading (again). I clearly, as pointed out by several other who took the time to read and not jump the gun and be offended, said Scottish Championship. This is the 2nd tier in Scottish football. It was previously known as the 1st division. I think back in the 70s it was the 2nd division but that is many many years ago. I'm not saying that every conference team is as good as the Championship. Nor am I saying that the best teams in the Championship (Hibs, Falkirk, QotS et al) are of, without being deliberately demeaning, as low a standard as the Conference. But roughly, yeah. The Championship is probably on a par with the top Conference/League 2 teams. How do I figure this you might ask? Well, several of our players (a team who won a cup and finished 3rd in the TOP league - this being the Scottish Premiership) come from being released by league 1, 2 and conference teams. (Albeit some leave to try elsewhere on their own terms). So if our players are around, lets say, an approximate average league 1 side then it stands to reason that the Championship is possibly of a lower standard. Possibly. It's not an exact science. There are several variables. My point was simply to state that comparatively speaking the Scottish Premiership probably isn't so much of a leap up in defensive standards. Certainly not to the lofty heights some might dream it is. All that being said I'm not saying that players signed from the lower levels of the English game can't progress to being higher level players with the right training, competitive level and most importantly game time. This is pretty much why we sign young hungry players eager to prove a point. However they will be coming up against some players who have played at that level also. So it's a mixed bag.

Some well taken goals but it has to be said that the standard of defending at that level looked very poor and he would need to sharpen up for the Scottish Premiership. A contract until January initially ? As mentioned before, make a show reel of a player banging in goals and he'll look great. But if you consistently see goals being scored then you'll see a fair bit of bad defending. Conference football. Probably on a par with the Scottish Championship?

Shinnie can't get a look in with the national squad despite having been the best and most consistent left back in the country, certainly of Scottish nationality, so we could have a whole team of youth products and it wouldn't help Scotland as they never look beyond Dundee. As stated, best kid in the country according to the writers. Surely that's not a bad achievement? And the age of the club is a fairly significant factor. At 21 years of age it's only now we'd be expected to be producing players that have only ever known ICT. And even less time as a Premiership club. There's no point in trying to hide the possibility that when ICT were in the lower divisions or when the Caley and Thistle were playing that youngsters may have either had "big teams", or just plain wanted to go further in the game....thus signing for bigger clubs at a younger age.

Looks like he's a strong runner, a bit of a tank, and predominantly left footed. Seems like he can play either side though and through the middle. Worth a look. If a player is released without being offered a new deal then I don't think a fee needs paid either. As well as the whole cross country thing.

It's all well and good looking to criticise the club for not being a successful team full of Inverness kids. In an ideal world that would be the case. But they neglect the fact that we have none of the Performance schools anywhere near Inverness. ICT have to compete with bigger clubs for young talent in our area. When the talent is there we generally aren't too shy at giving them a go. I wouldn't say we're the best at it. Likes of Dun Utd, Hibs, Heart etc have fairly well funded systems we couldn't match. Some clubs have been reduced to using only kids. Killie, Well and such, at times. Nick Ross, Christie, Polworth, Shinnie all came through our youth system and were first team squad member last term. I would find it hard to class many of the rest of our players as journeymen. Most are young players from other clubs looking to relaunch their career. Meekings, Devine, Doran were all youngsters released by their clubs. And even the more established signings like Watkins, Mckay, Williams, and Tansey were all relatively young when signing and trying to relaunch their careers. It just seems like a bit of a ill informed statement without looking at the facts. Hey we won the cup. Are we that bothered?

oooohhh 3 or FOUR! It's like Christmas!