Council Juice

Probably get a fine and a deferred sentence. Think you have to wait 5 years before you can get visa for the US with this kind of conviction. Maybe he'll just stay here then...

Garry O'Conner is blaming him still being a fatty on synthetic pitches at Morton.

I applaud those people willing to self police on such matters. However I can understand there would be those who find it offensive but feel uncomfortable confronting those with the mentality to sing these songs. Therefore, as much as the police should notice it and act anyway, I'd implore people to make the complaint to the police or stewards. If nothing is done about it write a letter to the club notifying them of the act and the lack of action taken by the stewards/police. Hopefully they would liase with the match controller so it could be avoided in future.

Mmmmmm I'm not going to be able to give Hughes the excuse of a burnt out squad after the next game then... On a more serious note, well slightly, summer football would be great. 1st of all we'd have far less call offs and pitches would be in far better condition. Fans wouldn't have to freeze themselves to death in element battered stadia in January and instead sit and watch in mild weather. We wouldn't have to suffer with only tennis every other year. Our teams would be more competitive in the early European qualifiers due to being fully match fit and not at the start of pre season. This is often why our teams struggle against Baltic sea and Scandinavian nations. The Premier League is on during winter. We could watch that during the off season with the wall to wall tv coverage that we have these days. Sure people go on holiday in the summer for a week or 2. After which they're desperate to get away from the family The season would be from March to November. June and July being the only months where people travel. As for the world cup, add 2 weeks on at the start of the season and 2 weeks at the end. It wouldn't matter too much all that much about players getting time off. How many internationals play in the SPFL and go to world cups. 1 or 2 at Celtic, and even then they're out after the group stage. None play for top nations.

Put it this way, Im sure Hughes knows that this job could well be a win or bust for him. If he fails here its very unlikely he'd ever get another decent job. For me, that could be a blessing in disguise. He's eager to succeed. Butcher was in a similar boat. Fail and he'd probably struggle to find work, at least as a manager. He'd find it easy enough getting pundit work.

As far as I'm aware a hybrid surface is a mixture of grass and artificial surface.

If Hughes wins 1 of his last 5 he'll have bettered Butchers end of Jan to end of season from last season with 5 wins. TB only got 4, and Hughes now sits level.

Well they won the cup, soooo he's not wrong. But yeah I think he's neglected the fact they still had to beat Bayern, who were no mugs themselves that year and 3 finals in 4 years have proved. They've consistently been the best team in Europe in that period, but it wasn't until they thrashed Barca did people (other than myself) take note. And it's Bayerns style the one to emulate. High pressing, fast play, good wingers and lots of goals throughout the team.

Good win and good performance, had it not been for Brown could have been a rout IMO. Made some cracking saves. Great to see Doran back, made the difference. His goal, a peach and vision for the 2nd. We've really missed his creative influence. Quite a few pointing out that it was the introduction of wingers and width, but I felt it was really Doran who gave us the extra spark and movement. Might not have been so with another. He's certainly been missed. As for the penalty incident, wasn't a foul so no penalty, joke they got a free kick. Now play the rest of April with a similar energy and I'll be content You should never look tired for a derby match. Ever.

One reason we wont win tonight - Mark Brown.

Barcelona, Chelsea, AC Milan.... Though all utilised their full backs to good effect. Barcelona play with wide forwards - Pedro/Sanchez/Neymar/Tello spend a huge amount of their time out on the touchline. Ditto Hazard and Willian at Chelsea. (Can't really comment on Milan as I don't follow Serie A) In these teams, players start wide and wander infield, drawing full backs inside and so creating space for their own full backs to attack. This is different from not playing any attacking players wide at all, which is what we are doing. In addition, Barcelona, Chelsea and Milan have players who are about a million times more talented than those you find in the Scottish Premiership. That's what I was getting at, they play wide, but they are generally speaking playing on their wrong side (ie left footers playing on the right) so that they have to come in. They're not wingers as such. None of those listed players are expected to hit the bye line. However as we both mentioned, it's to utilise attacking full backs which they all do, and even we did under Butcher. They overlap, either taking the full back with them so the wide player can cut in or taking advantage of the space the wide players create by dragging the full back inside. The Milan team I refer to is the mid 2000s one with it's narrow diamond. But they had the Brazilian Tokely, Cafu. Who was one of the best attacking full backs ever. We dont. so we can't play a purposely narrow game like that. They also had Kaka, Seedorf and the quarterback Pirlo picking passes... bit of a difference. That lot could find gaps in a solid steel wall.

Aye but he did well enough at Hibs. Possibly the last Hibs manager to leave with his head held high. Collins might have had it not been for a player revolt.

That one baffled me, too! I have no idea what game he's referring to! Probably got mixed up between the Inter and Man United, easy mistake to make. If you read the article it's the SEMI final in the European cup he mentions, of which was between Inter and Barcelona. Inter beat Barca over the 2 legs, with Mourinho playing a tactical masterclass. They then went on to beat Bayern in the final. So not so baffling, easy mistake to make. You don't need quick players (none of Busquets, Xavi or Iniesta are especially quick), it's the tempo of the passing he refers to. In fact, the same slow passing game many on this topic have lambasted. He's mentioning playing faster. However it's debatable if we have the players who have the passing ability to play a quick tiki taka game. There was a BBC report fairly recently asking if Barca were in fact a BETTER team without Messi, not worse. Though I think there was a lot of emphasis on team. It was felt that with him out the team as a whole were scoring more goals and getting more assists between each other. The games with barca v Celtic and Ajax were effectively dead rubbers so it's not really a great example of their decline.

You'd have to ask the question, if Christie and Watkins are changing games for the better when they come on, why are they not starting? You need some sort of width. It doesn't matter if you're trying to play through the middle like Hughes or play crossing wing play. You need wide players to stretch the opposition and create the gaps to play through the middle. To me, from the way it's be consistently described, not only are the players trying to play completely through the middle, all of their runs and play go through there too. This just allows opposition full backs to tuck in and cover their centre halves and midfielders and stops them ever being turned and running towards their own goal. Maybe we've been missing Doran more than we realised. I think our best attacking mid 3 at the start of the season was; Doran - Vincent - Ross. I'd only suggest swapping Vincent for Christie in that. If Doran isn't fit, play Ross there and push Shinnie wide left with Tremarco coming in at left back. But Shinnie is quite capable of attacking from Left Back anyway without leaving us too exposed, more often than not.

Maybe we should go John barnes 4-2-2-2? ha ha! What I want is the ability to mix it up. Ok Hughes said Doran may be available, but Foran is out for about 4 weeks, in that now infamous "educate" post match interview so - Brill - - Raven - Meekings - Warren - Shinnie - - Draper - Polworth - - Watkins - Christie - Ross - -Mckay- Christie has earned his start. And I think Polworth has a fair shout too, though that could be harsh on Tansey so either/or. Really wanna see Ross starting on the left side of the midfield 3 as for me he has the ability to link up with the central players and Shinnie down the left. Give Christie a free role. let him play. Let him support Mckay as a 2nd striker/trequartista/number 10 type. If Doran is available I'd see him come off the bench. With Williams and Vincent there we'd have the options to change it up. Even bring on Tremarco and push Shinnie up wide left. This management malarky's easy eh!

Both these teams are quite poor examples of teams using wingers as they tend to rely on them being inverted winger (ie playing on the wrong foot and cutting in) Barca really don't use their wingers for wide play at all. The likes of Dani Alves is their main wide outlet. Bayern are slightly different in that Robben and Ribery despite playing on the wing not to their strongest foot still provide a lot of width and are devastating at then cutting in. But Rafina and Alaba are the players putting the bye line crosses in. However, you don't need wingers, just width. Look at the successful AC Milan team of the mid 2000s (won the champions league in 03 and 07). Played with a narrow 4 midfield diamond where Pirlo sat in the anchor libero role and was protected for his play dictating by the likes of Gattuso and Ambrosini. In front of them an offensive midifelder, often kaka or Seedorf. However, they had the Brazian Tokely... Cafu. Followed by Oddo. Or on the other side Jankulovski, Serginho etc Very attacking minded full backs who spent argueably more time pushing up that defending. This was due to the cover given by Ambrosini and Gattuso. My point being its not wingers that are necessarily required. Just the option of a wide option which it sounds to me that Hughes is completely overlooking.

I'd go with the 1st 5 for the same reasons but then 6 Baltacha - Never saw ICT under his charge so can't really judge, Did ok in the clubs 1st ever SFL season but was properly gazumped by Paterson. 7 Hughes - Aside from a good February he's been a bit meh to say the least. March has been awful, of that there can be no doubt, has a lot of work to do to win the fans. Ironically, play as the team was he inherited, and thus do nothing to it and he's do that. 8 Brewster round 2. He was only good 1st time round as he was playing. And with him stuck on the touch line his team were dire. He was a terrible manager, had no people skills at all. Alienated Ian Black and John Rankin to a point both were more than happy to leave. Hated him. Only ICT manager I've called for the head of to date.

Why on earth would he tie the rest of the team down on long term contracts then? Including wingers like Williams. Did he tie them down or had they already agreed to stay but waiting to sign on the line Held at gun point allegedly. But until a contracts signed it means nothing. In the case of Suarez it still means very little.

I'm inclined to agree with you, to a point. I would never say we should be thankful. You get what you put in and this team through good work, play and results earned a place high in the league table by the end of the last calender year. It is definitely one of the best squads ever assembled in ICT history, even more so than Christies 7th place team that was taken apart by Brewster. However I would still say that had someone offered me top 6 for only the 2nd time in our history and a cup final and quarter, I'd have been quite happy with that. Had it been a win and 2nd I'd be on cloud 9. That would be far beyond my expectations. I accepted at the start of the season, as someone who watches a lot of football and has a sense of realism that there would be highs and lows as despite the strength of the squad it isn't good enough to be THAT consistent. I am still comparing it to the final 4-5 months of last season and it's not that different. We won 4 from January then and finished lower than we'd been before then. It was a end of season anti climax. Dreaming of Europe, fell short. Personally, I thought that very insulting to our squad indeed and I fear it will do him no good in holding the dressing room. What an ill considered thing to say. Despite being an advocate of giving Hughes more time I too found this worrying. Educate is hugely patronising for a team who needed little education in getting high in the league before. Poor word choice. I don't feel it helps. I still feel Hughes, as any manager, should not be judged this early. I don't think he's done that badly. After what was a good February, where we went the month unbeaten, following an average January I satisfied. Alas the 5-0 at Celtic really came out of nowhere and since then our team have looked shot of confidence and belief. They put in an amicable performance and effort in the league cup, but after all that effort and ending up on the losing side it can't have helped matters. As much as Richie was adamant there were many things worse it seems that the team are still suffering from a cup final hangover. Now, I've not attended enough games to judge Hughes tactics so I cant really. Though gathering from most, and what he said after the game about playing it through the middle, there is an issue and it is worrying. 1st of all he's just told every team in the country how he intends to make us play (if it wasn't obvious already) but he seems to leave out any room for variation in his game. If it's not working through the middle the players need other options that they can implement in the game. Not at half time, not via subs alone, but Drapers on the ball, looks up middle packed, so passes out to a wide man, gets a cross in. And vice versa. You need to encourage imagination in play. Not restrict it. Ideally I'd always give a manager 12 months (end of November in Hughes case), but a poor result on Friday and I think the fans, who as the cliches state are the most important, will be lost. Yogi will have lost their faith. It really is a must win game I feel. I imagine the board conduct an end of season review and aside from Feb, Hughes December to March has been average at best. If he picks it up for the last 6 games then hopefully there can be hope for more optimism, but March, aside from a lucky win v Partick, has to be vastly improved upon. As for Europe, in terms of the games, it's a novelty to me which would be nice but not necessary, but it does help to sign players. Look at OTJ joining Hibs, for Europe were his words.

Why on earth would he tie the rest of the team down on long term contracts then? Including wingers like Williams.

Barcelona, Chelsea, AC Milan.... Though all utilised their full backs to good effect. While individual errors can be attributed to players, what doesn't help is a style of play that attracts pressure. Brill's kicking may not be great, but when he gets the ball and an opposing forward at pretty much the same time, things are going to go wrong. If I can see that insisting we play in a particular way is leading to unfortunate consequences, is it too much to expect our management team, who should know what they are doing, to notice and act accordingly? Hughes said himself it'd down to individual decision making after that, to me that sounds like he's saying use common sense when passing back to the keeper. Personally I am a little disappointed with Hughes comment re his preferences to Butchers. As opposed to out and out focus on wing play, or trying to go through the middle we should be looking to utilise both forms of play where the opportunity presents itself, ie space on the wings - play it wide, get a cross in. Gap through the middle, exploit it. Variation, change, opportunistic approaches. I'm happy with the idea of trying to evolve a team, but if he's just wanting to whole heartedly change us to one style I'm of the thinking it wont work.. Now previously I would be attributed to the "happy clapper" camp. I'm not a pessimist. I still feel that Hughes needs time. His results from the start of the year on are quite comparable to ours under Butcher in the same period last term, and a decent final flourish and they'd be better. They are also considerably better than Butchers at Hibs. It's not like he's taken our winning mentality with him. Add to that the mitigating circumstances of 13 games in 40 odd days and to me the players are reaching burn out. In summary, Hughes needs to stick to his word about not changing what was a winning formula. Perhaps he's use the excuse of the 5-0 loss at Celtic as an excuse to change the system, despite previously embarking on a completely unbeaten February. But this team was built around good counter attacking play. We were not exactly a long ball team either. They played good "football" and played at a high tempo, as well as being able to play with variation. If the long ball option was on, it would be used. There is no shame in that. I have no problem with him wanting to develop and educate players in better football techniques but he can't make us change overnight. It does not work.

Probably get slated but why not try... - Brill - - Warren - - Devine - - Tremarco - - Raven - - Draper - - Polworth - - Shinnie - - Ross- - Christie - - Mckay - I think it fulfils many of the required criteria. Wing backs, to allow for wide play. Extra centre half to cover for this (Preferably Foran but sounds like he's out) Loads of central midfielders. There's 3 in there. Giving the young uns a go. Personnel could of course be altered but if Tansey AND Foran are both out (maybe a blessing in disguise) perhaps a little tactical alternation to throw 'Well off. I don't see the point in even contemplating dropping Brill. Sure he's not a great kicker, but aside from that he's still been pulling off some top saves. Dunno what Esson is like now.

I've never too much confidence when we play St Mirren. Always seem to give us a "right good game".

Bringing up Steve Paterson is more of a counter argument as to why a manager soaring through the divisions in a short amount of time doesn't guarantee success. Steve Paterson, as far as the history books outside of Inverness will be concerned, was a flop at Aberdeen after having done so well previously. Loads of teams have leapt through the 4th tier to 2nd. And not all with money. I'd hardly say Hartley deserves all the credit for Dundee being in the running for promotion. The team was already assembled and he's not changed much in an uncompetitive league. His team have scored 8 goals in 9, LESS than Hughes goal per game ratio. They've slipped of the top spot. and play leaders Hamilton away next. I wouldn't put it past Falkirk going past them too In which case Hartley will have done just as badly at Dundee as Hughes at ICT in, arguably, an easier job. Hughes wasn't my 1st choice either. I was a little underwhelmed by the appointment. I think when a team is doing well results wise, coming in, even if you try not to change too much, it's difficult to keep the momentum going. I would have probably have taken Hartley at the time, due to his record. But would know that it would come with risks as he'd no top level management experience and is a bit weird. If it hadn't worked out (or as is now even) I very much guarantee many of the Hughes naysayers would be asking if Hartley should be sacked, that he hadn't enough experience at the top level. I have no doubt that'd be the case. I'm a bit sick of Hughes cliches myself. Good good honest hard working boys blah blah... I was perhaps a little spoiled with TBs anecdotes in the last few years. HOWEVER, I don't think it's been a disaster by any means, yes we've stuttered. Stalled a little. But I'm much of the opinion there was always a fairly high risk of that due to a small limited squad, with a lot of important games in a short space of time which have caught up with them. And because of this I'd like Hughes to be given a little longer to bed methods in before deciding he has to go, even if he wasn't the popular choice.

The fact we've played so many midweek games as well as normal fixtures has almost certainly taken it's toll.