Council Juice

I remember Buffon had to revise plans to wear the number 88 shirt (at lazio I think) due to supposed fascist links. To do with H being the 8th letter in the alphabet. 88 = HH, Heil Hitler. A load of nonsense I'd imagine. He probably just liked the number. I'd chose 69....

Oh well, looks like he'll have to suffice with the own brand bottles of Claret for a bit. Haw haw haw! He can stay well away. Made his bed. I'd take Marsella back though I reckon.

Oh that makes me dizzy that.

I think a lot of football in Scotland suffers from rotten pitches in the New Year period, and would happily advocate a summer league, following other Northern leagues, but there's too many stuck in mantra that it's traditional. Got to move with the times. In fairness to Yogi, we lost the likes of Doran for parts of the run in, Foran was out a long time as well as others. Sometimes it just trips you up like it did to us in March/April. Lots of games, injuries and suspension take their toll. Then it can be hard to regain the momentum.

I was thinking the 16-25, could maybe get away with 25 if I shave. or with a little grey dye I could get in with you old boys as a concession.

I explained a while back, something to do with Yogi being the reason everything is going to **** and all the fans wont renew tickets because of it apparently. My point was fans across the league are going to less games because the standard is dwindling, there is nothing real to play for in the top flight asides from a short Europa league qualifying run embarrassment, and ticket prices are too high to reflect this. All quite simple really.

Every league has good games, and absolute stinkers, but the standard in Scotland is significantly lower. Yes there are some games in England I have no interest in, and some in Scotland I'd actively watch but that's not the point. The players are nowhere near as good and you notice it. Most of our team, for example, come from teams who have released players in league 1 and 2 and we're top 6. The teams they are leaving deem them surplus to requirements. Surely that says something? I watch a lot of English football, but I watch a lot of German football and the occasional French and Italian game (depending on who's playing) in addition to Scottish games on both BT sport and BBC Alba. You can't pull up pre season friendlies against lower league English teams as a fair comparison of the standard. 1st thing is they're pre season friendlies, the result doesn't matter too much. It's about building match fitness and getting the tactics right. Secondly the Scottish teams are usually about 2 weeks ahead in their pre season campaigns, therefore the fitness levels tends to be a little higher. Why do you think Scottish teams, aside from the odd result are in general horrific in Europe. Hibs 9-0 to Malmo FFS? Such a high standard. Our other teams were out before the groups stages too and Celtic were limp. My point is not that I think that Scottish football is rubbish (though the standard in the last 10-15 years has dropped drastically) but that the prices in the top flight are too high in general and do not reflect the product on offer. It's not like the gate numbers disprove this assertion. They continue to tumble across the board and will again next season.

So all I need is a fake driving license and I can get in for what I think is a fair price. Nice.

We need another striker, and he doesn't even need to be a permanent signing either. I'd be perfectly happy for Hughes to try and pull another Stokes out the hat like he did at Falkirk on loan from Arsenal. As for youths I'd imagine there are those in the ranks below who are to step up to the level of the released players as would happen any season. Maybe a youth keeper, but with 2 senior keepers we're fine. If an injury crisis were to occur Im sure we could get someone in.

It's not ICT in particular. We have among the cheapest prices out in our league, It's Scottish football as a whole. Trying to convince others it's a big brand elite sport, when really it's a diddy league with fairly poor teams throughout.

I have to accept that, this can't be denied. Though I think this is due to so many fans slowly but surely getting fed up of seeing sub par entertainment, not just at ICT, but in Scottish football as a whole. 10 years ago the SPL could perhaps have competed with low end Premier League, Championship and league 1 clubs depending on the team. Now most teams are around a league 2 standard at best. That's where the players are coming in from in a lot of cases. So it's been a problem for a while. When gates were higher clubs were over spending in other departments or taking it for granted the fans would remain, Now every clubs attendances are down for numerous reasons. On a whole most people can't afford it, or as there is so much football available on tv now choose not to attend in the freezing cold and rain. Clubs are caught in a fix. They can't really reduce ticket prices without the guarantee of extra fans, but the ticket prices are as they stand no fair value. EFL league 2 does not take in colossal amounts in sponsorship, tv rights and investment and on the most part have similar fan bases, but charge £12-20 as opposed to £20-30. I don't see the problem in charging high end for food at games, it's similar to the cinema, where they actually make very little profit from the tickets so have huge profit margins on the food and beverage to cover costs. You aren't forced to buy it to attend. I'm not saying go as low as £12 from £20, that would be financial suicide, however a small drop to say £18 might be worth a try. Shops don't charge £19.99 just to be annoying, it works as a selling technique over a nice round number. How much are programs these days? £2 (well they should be), oh look every fan has £2 left from their £20 note, may as well buy a program....

Well people were stating that with Yogi we have no momentum and because of that people were turning their backs. And the fact numbers have been on the drop for a number of years. That people were choosing to be arm chair fans My point was perhaps with the standard price of games being a minimum of £20 at the cheapest clubs that it was turning fans away. The fans of Man City can get in for a minimum of £26. Just £6 more to watch the best team in the league with the biggest tv deal in world football. I was also making the point that when comparing it to European leagues, lets take the Dutch, their top end teams, the Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV (ie the Old FIrm) can charge LESS than the cheapest teams in the Scottish top flight. Ajax - Feyenoord a massive game, with a lot of fierce fan rivalries I would imagine costs significantly more to put on than ICT - Kilmarnock. Of course, yes, they have many more fans attending games to make up these costs. But at least they're still allowing the fans to afford it with cheap pricing at big rival games. The standard of football and attendance levels in Scotland are akin to Football league 2 if not less. The games there are for between £13-20 and the players don't earn less than our lot, nor do the games cost more to police etc. I can't see them getting vastly more in TV and sponsorship money down at the bottom of the football league either. You want fans, make the prices relate to standard of entertainment.

So at least 3 weeks then, and relax.

Out of interest, this has always intrigued me, how much was the average gate for the 2 teams in their last 5 years? Most 3rd division teams get about 500, they weren't even at that level...

Dougal, perhaps the club realise that fans already pay through the nose as it is, even if we are the cheapest available. If the costs of putting on a game are not significantly increasing there is no reason to increase them, How about having just completing arguably our most successful season ever? Having a whole team signed up for the new season and a club who are healthy and looking to go one better? What players are leaving this summer? They've ALL signed new long term deals. None are out of contract. Our chairman today said only truly exceptional offers will be considered. Some people just look for the gloom when all the evidence suggests a contrary reality. Glory hunters? I'd have thought most season ticket holders would be the more hardcore fans who support the team through thick and thin. As I was saying... hear hear

With the play off 1st leg currently underway surely that means that the season has not ended and therefore the past seasons shirt is still current. It might be contractual. Perhaps Orions shirt contract runs until the 30th of May (for example) and as such the new shirt cannot be made available until then. This is purely speculation on my part.

Prices from the top league of our closest European neighbour: Manchester Unit: £31 to £53 Arsenal: £63 to £126 Southampton: £37 to £50 Sunderland: £32 to £40 Norwich: £33 to £60 ICT: £20 to £30 So, you are saying we should be putting the prices up? Maybe your not so wise retort would be if you took the time to read and understand the statement. Can people not remember this from 2008, the one time Celtic fans have made a protest that has any merit at all. People saying who cares what they charge elsewhere, but look at it. It's a rip off. You can see a massive derby match in the Netherlands for about £15-18 (at the time) or a Bundesliga game. The 3rd best league in Europe, between 2 teams at the time who were top end. One being one of the 5 biggest teams in Europe. And then you have every game in England on the tv. In the pub. Day - sorted! Back on topic. Kenny Cameron said in the papers today that unless they receive a "truly exceptional offer" no players will be sold. If this is the case all we need is a striker. Even if it's just a loanee. Anything else is a bonus. Might be a boring window in fairness.

Enganche, it means the hook. Basically the number 10 for all the old school mob. Playmaker, etc Or as most ICT fans would put it, the Andy Shinnie role. Tequartista is type of shadow striker, essentially like Del Piero. Neither term I learned from Football Manager, both, and others like Libero etc, were learned through watching continental football, and discussing the game with people outwith the UK, some being coaches. Maybe we could play him as a false 9...... It's not surprising armchair kids are turning to Football manager, the standard of football from those pixelated dots moving around, is far in excess of many a current SPFL game. And it costs considerably less. Perhaps when Scottish football brings its prices into line with the rest of Europe, and more in line with the standard on offer, fans might return. For years it's tried to kid on it's some kind of EPL diet version when in reality it's not even English league 1. And I think most people have better things to do now on a Saturday than fork out those sums for sub par entertainment. Why would people pay to watch a pub band at Rolling Stones prices?

Well it's nice to be going into a summer for once knowing we only need to make a few tweaks. No one is going by the looks of it, save for a fee. I'd like to have a young keeper to challenge Brill. At the back, we have Shinnie and Tremarco at left back, Raven/Shinnie/Meekings Right Back, and Warren, Meekings and Devine. Draper and Foran can drop back there in emergencies. In the middle, in the holding roles we have Draper, Tansey, Foran, Polworth (who'd I'd be happy to see get a run there) and even Vincent and Ross. Wide we have Doran, Williams and Watkins. Attacking mid we have Ross and Vincent. Trequartista/Enganche - Christie and Ross. Up front we only have Mckay. We need minimum a stiker, even on loan, to challenge Mckay and perhaps another goalie. Depends if Esson is still seen as number 2. Only other areas we should look at are wide attackers and RB, CB. Yogi might be able to get a loan in there too though. But if we didn't bother I'd say role with what we have there. 1st team squad is 19 deep. Needs number 20, a striker. If it's a loan, happy days, no risks.

James Mcfadden has just been released....

Like this you mean?

Decent wee player...

16 released by Blackburn... could there be the next Ian Black in there? Only less of a wee ned perhaps.

As mentioned above it's to do with some Subway shops catering to Halal specs. So removing pork and stocking animals who have been prepared in the halal manner. There is a lot of poor information about this. To prepare an animal via the halal method in the UK the animal is normally shock stunned and has it's throat cut. This is the same method for normal abattoir animal slaughter. The only difference being is the animal must be blessed in accordance with Halal by a Muslim...Jew or Christian. I can't see what the fuss is really. As for Subway as our sponsor... Bit gutted. I wanted a completely different bread American company.... bimbobread.jpg Halal meat means the animal is NOT stunned I understand, rather just slitting it's throat mechanically in a factory. This is against British laws and because it's to do with religion they get away with it. It's a lot of nonsense really. The eat fresh part of the logo is almost certainly going to be on the top, I've seen a few tops over the months with subway on them and they all seem to have them. I actually think it looks alright and I'm happy with such a well known brand committing to us. It is sometimes. As the animal isn't dead it still falls in halal. And having seen an animal slaughtered on that You are what you eat show, they never once did it mechanically. Here's some facts and figures on UK halal meat - Stunning cannot be used to kill an animal, according to the Halal Food Authority (HFA), a non-profit organisation that monitors adherence to halal principles. But it can be used if the animal survives and is then killed by halal methods, the HFA adds. UK Food Standards Agency figures from 2011 suggest 84% of cattle, 81% of sheep and 88% of chickens slaughtered for halal meat were stunned before they died. Tesco says the only difference between the halal meat it sells and other meat is that it was blessed as it was killed. Source - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-27324224

I think the squad is good enough to finish top 6, and therefore a similar placed finish next season would be the aim. Can't bank on a cup run but hopefully we can do it again, preferably the Scottish Cup.