Alex MacLeod

Laurence being one of those 'supporters' who jump from club to club doesn't know everything. Indeed I wonder if he knows anything. He certainly knows nothing of highland loyalty and passion. Nothing of the highlanders attitude to never being defeatest nor the highlanders biological make up where heart controls brain. Next he castigates us for, supposedly, not giving youngsters a chance. Sorry mate but maybe we've given too many a chance. Yes some have come from elsewhere but they are still youngsters getting a chance. Polworth 16, Ross 19, Sutherland 20 and Shinnie G. 20 have come through our system. Golobart 19, Meekings 19 Davis 20 Doran 20 Chippendale 20 are all youngsters in my book. Of the rest the only ones over 26 are Esson, Tokely, Foran and Proctor. To say we're not giving youngsters a chance is to say you've done no research. I know many fans who think Butcher has gone too far in his blooding of youngsters. Finally, to take the bookies as your guide to our success or failure is to be more stupid than I give you credit for. We have been favourites for the drop every season we've been in the SPL

Think your wrong about the league but could be right about the manager Cilin Calderwood is really struggling

Couple of questions When did Celtic score in relation to the moment Proc got injured and Golobart was mobilised? How did Golobart perform yesterday?

Are we now a team with all players totally out of position ore are we Esson Tokely, Golabert, Shinnie G Chippendale, Ross, Davis, Shinnie A Foran Sutherland, Tade

A. Shinnie on for Piermayr......................looks like we're going all out attack

They were very instrumental in making the rules so I'm sure they, and their west end cousins, will manage to change them. We can blame the OF for many things but not this. Interfering politicians with perceived populist agendas are solely responsible for the atmosphere and facilities in which we now watch our game. Point scoring sought from tragedy when, for once, that old adage 'lessons to be learned' was very appropriate. Instead we had over reaction and legislative pressure. Don't get me wrong, I like sitting at games (age and mobility ) and won't change my arrangements. That said isn't it obvious to all that there is a significant opportunity to give lots of customers (and perhaps some that are no longer customers) what they want? Not quite true Sorted. Yes the politicians went a wee bit overboard in their interpretation of the recommendations of the enquiries. The politicians made legislation that 'any sporting stadium with a crowd capacity of over ten thousand must be all seated'. The football associations in UK gave all their registered clubs who met that criterea three years to comply with it. The SPL, on the other hand, made their own interpretation of the law and stated that 'all member clubs of the SPL must have a ten thousand seat capacity and that all seats must be numbered and tickets allocated to a seat number. There is no actual legislation that states that all persons using a stadium must sit down. That is only enforced in the SPL. It is not enforced in EPL or any other league. Listening to Radio Scotland before kick off with Traynor and company talking about the situation. At no point in the discussion did it it mention any responsibilty on the OF for the ruling. They referred to the SFA implementation of the Taylor Report which was in line with that of the EFA (refuse to call it the FA as it's not!). Interesting, on the Celtic case they mention that their CE was worried about his own position as the Safety Officer who is responsible for the certificate issued by the local authority. He is clear that his club is in breach and he is responsible. They also commented on how the situation in England is exactly the same and specifically mentioned Anfield. Throughout the match, announcements are made requesting people to sit down predominately within the Kop. These are ignored as they are at Celtic. Ultimately, I maintain that the current situation is politically driven and that the appropriate FAs didn't have the ability, desire or gumption to argue their case properly. The SFA implemented the recomendations of the Taylor report, as they interpreted it. The OF were very vociferious and instrumental in breaking away from the league and forming the SPL. They also were very much involved in making the rules of the SPL. They made the rule that all stadia had to be ten thousand seat capacity. Had they used the figure 9,999 then they could have had standing areas. The law says stadium over ten thousand capacity must be all seater. If the SPL allowed it our stadium could have standing area's just like Ayr and many others of less than 10k capacity.

Sutherland on for Chippendale

Think I'm right in saying that the only positive from the club in this is that they agree to the event taking place. My understanding is that the testimonial is being organised by a committee of which Barry Wilson is involved.

They were very instrumental in making the rules so I'm sure they, and their west end cousins, will manage to change them. We can blame the OF for many things but not this. Interfering politicians with perceived populist agendas are solely responsible for the atmosphere and facilities in which we now watch our game. Point scoring sought from tragedy when, for once, that old adage 'lessons to be learned' was very appropriate. Instead we had over reaction and legislative pressure. Don't get me wrong, I like sitting at games (age and mobility ) and won't change my arrangements. That said isn't it obvious to all that there is a significant opportunity to give lots of customers (and perhaps some that are no longer customers) what they want? Not quite true Sorted. Yes the politicians went a wee bit overboard in their interpretation of the recommendations of the enquiries. The politicians made legislation that 'any sporting stadium with a crowd capacity of over ten thousand must be all seated'. The football associations in UK gave all their registered clubs who met that criterea three years to comply with it. The SPL, on the other hand, made their own interpretation of the law and stated that 'all member clubs of the SPL must have a ten thousand seat capacity and that all seats must be numbered and tickets allocated to a seat number. There is no actual legislation that states that all persons using a stadium must sit down. That is only enforced in the SPL. It is not enforced in EPL or any other league.

They were very instrumental in making the rules so I'm sure they, and their west end cousins, will manage to change them. Partick Thistle? West with a southern bias

Stepson-in-law is a golf course manager. He knew about Dundonald. They had applied for the Scottish open when it was mooted that the comp would move from Loch Lomond because the demand was for it to be played on a links course way back in 06. They had to make big changes there but when it came time to award the competition it was decided that Dundonald would need another three years of development work to make it ready. Hence it arrived at CS. The lad works in Jersey but had thoughts of moving back at that time if he could get management of a championship course in Scotland.

They were very instrumental in making the rules so I'm sure they, and their west end cousins, will manage to change them.

I reserve judgement on this one till I see her play. She may be just whats needed to get the injured guys back fighting for their places. And she'd probably be first of the bus as well.

I would imagine that Barclay's pulling out has more to do with them having sponsored this event for ten years than the fact its now at Castle Stuart. Another sponsor will come in and there will. likely, be a further two events staged at CS. The only reason it came to Inverness is because Dundonald Links in Ayrshire (the preferred venue) is not going to be ready to stage such a competition for another two years. The competition itself would probably have stayed at Loch Lomond had it not been that the big names in the European Tour took a lot of persuading to come along. Those players wanted to compete on a links course in preparation for subsequent European Tour majors and generally went to Ireland for this. I think, when Dundonald is ready, the competition will be held their for its close proximity to Prestwick.

Esson-----regular starting place Piermyar--regular starting place Tokely------regular starting place Shinnie G-regular starting place Ross-------regular starting place Foran------regular starting place Tansey----regular starting place Tade-------regular starting place Eight players who started are regulars. Of the three others Davis is the only one who should maybe have been of the boil seeing as he's the least used to SPL style football. Golobart has started a few games now so should be used to it as should Andrew Shinnie and having seen all of those players perform very well in other games this season I would have thought that we would have defended a lot better than we did on saturday. We can all argue as to whether the injured players are a big problem but the truth is that those who were selected should be puting in much better performances and should be fighting to keep the place they've been given. If you get a start in this game its up to you to keep it and up to others to wrestle it from you. That for me is the bottom line.

And Ayr win it 4-1 on penalties

Just a shame County aren't good enough to emulate East Fife, Falkirk and, at the time of writing, maybe even Ayr

Sorry Mr CJ but I have to agree with the comments after yours. If fans want the right to express their disappointment at the manager then they must also accept that the manager has as much right to retaliate. Fans begin to lose their tempers with the manager when things are going wrong. The manager does the same. Its a natural symptom of frustration.

Wonder if Terry reads these forums. If he does then maybe for the next game he leaves Golobart in and plays Piermyer, Tokely, Golobart, Shinnie G Proctor Foran, Ross, Davis Tade, McKay And, of course, Esson in goal

Are any of my usual ballroom buddies likely to attend this one? Gringo? Junior?

I hear a murmur that there's to be a testimonial match and dinner for Grant and Russell. I've found no further info on this anywhere and wondered if anyone can shed any light on this. Rumour has it that the match would be a County v ICT derby, though this fixture is also supposed to be pencilled in for Raigmore childrens ward appeal.

England are scraping the wins as well so here's hoping we can beat them and top the table. Looks like All Blacks in QF for runners up with the winners getting France. Realistically though, and based on the performances I've seen so far, I dont see either Scotland or England progressing past the QF's. I predict the semi's to be All Blacks v South Africa and France v Ireland.

Other leagues in the world, including La Liga, may have three or four teams who tend to be at the top for most of the time but I wouldn't say they were not competitive. What they do have is a level playing field for all. The best teams may dominate the prize fund but the rest get equal shares of the league sponsorship and TV monies.And every team actually believe they can win it each season. Unlike the SPL where every team believes they can be third, apart from top two. Our press is never filled with stories of ambition of the non OF teams. The nearest we get to that is 'who can split the OF'.

When I was a lad the nearest I had to a computer was a brain and an abacus

You could turn the statement around a bit Starchief and ask why it is that we are able to attract young players, either on loan or otherwise, from the English leagues..........even the Premiership. Players who are coming up here and displaying loads of skill and talent. Players who walk into the starting line-up week in week out. Yet the players of similar ages who have come through our system struggle to get a start. Is the English coaching and development systems more superior to the Scottish one? Are those players who move south doing so because they are, in the main, going to get better coaching thus getting better chances to reach their performance pinacles? I have only realised this in the last couple of seasons but analysing the players who have come here, Dorans, Rooney, Davis, Chippendale, Hayes etc, it seems to me that these guys have a playing maturity and mentallity that is a year or two further ahead of those we are producing at home.