Alex MacLeod

I stopped being a fan of Levien when he went 1-10-0-0

I'm not a fan of cricket but I believe it's quite healthy in Scotland. I know there are teams in Perth and in the Falkirk District, Edinburgh and Fife. Indeed I remember Freuchie being famous way back in '85 when they won the Villages Trophy at Lords.

Agree with a lot of what Clacher says but I dont see Aberdeen as being a step up. I think Shinnie has to go to Championship or Celtic for that. All the teams, outside of Celtic, this season are very much on a par with each other. The Aberdeens and Dundee Uniteds are cutting back drastically on spending. The others are struggling to balance the books. AS may get offered a little more to move to Aberdeen but will he get what he could get come the end of May if he's part of a cup winning, Euro challenging team. Also, perhaps we could offer better than Aberdeen when we confirm the £2.4m prize money for being second + the million, or whatever it is, for competing in Europe.

Pray tell me Alex how do you know how good our youth coaches are? Oddquine is making some really sensible points and you reply with your usual drivel! My count of first team squad players who have come all the way thru our YDP is Laing, Polworth, Ross & Morrison. From my reckoning Shinnie and Sutherland arrived either at U17 or U19 but I stand to be corrected. Any others I have forgotten? Where you and I differ caleyboy is that when I see players being signed as sixteen year olds on the modern equivalent to the schoolboy form and then they sign as first team professionals that is a credit to the coaching they've been given. I don't know what your problem is but this is not the first time you've jumped on me for defending our coaching. If you have issues with the current youth coaches please take it up with them and not me. It's not my fault the highlands are not producing talented footballers. I don't even see them coming through at County and they have the academy on their doorstep. But in answer to your first question I base my judgement in the fact that our teams at U-16 and below regularly get invited to competitions around europe and regularly do quite well. Not too many Scottish teams get that opportunity.

For the wrong reasons though. An extract from http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/inverness-caleys-dwindling-fan-base-1538612 Seriously. Aberdeen’s Red Army will be a couple of thousand strong and in full voice could, if this season is anything to go by, outnumber the home support. That’s a pretty sad state of affairs given what Butcher and his band of kids and strays has achieved this season.

As we say here, keep the church in the village. Drink driving is something you shouldn't do, but innocent people can die because a driver without alcohol, drugs or medication suffers an unexpected heart attack and his car plunges into a group of pilgrims because of that. As happened in Southwestern Bavaria a couple of years ago. The only way to prevent death is abolish living . That is true but, of the approximate 3,000 deaths on Britians roads each year, over 1,400 are directly linked to drink driving.

Bit of trivia: Back in 1979 Inverness Thistle v Falkirk Scottish Cup 2nd round was postponed 29 times due to frozen pitch. The British record for postponements though is held by Airdrie v Stranraer, another SC game, postponed 33 times back in '63.

Not according to BBC forecast. They have heavy rain tomorrow and saturday for Aberdeen. They have sunshine and part cloud for Inverness. They do have heavy snow forecast for Huntly though so A96 could well be affected.

Oddquine, we have very good youth coaches. We may even have good players at youth level being coached by these good coaches. Unfortunately, and partly due to our relegation, there is a big gap in age groups. We haven't had the talent come through, in the last season or two, that could do a first team job. Coaches can teach the laws of the game, they can teach how to play the game, they can nurture talent but they cant produce the talent. That is something born into the individual and if it isn't there then it can't come through. I do think you should take a good look at our first team squad and count the number of players that have come through our youth system. Approx 30% of the current squad came through our youth system. I'd say thats a pretty good reflection of what we do. It is a rule of membership of SPL that we must have a U-20 team. Prior to this season that league was U-19. Prior to that it was a U-21 / reserve league. There is no reserve league so we need to field eligible first team players to give them match experience.

Like you Lizi I used to enjoy the Murrayfield days. The old Murrayfield that is. My last memory was standing sharing a half bottle with a couple of Frenchmen. We won 9-6 that day. Have never been in the present stadium simply because I couldn't justify the cost and difficulty in getting tickets. Also marraige breakdown and moving to work offshore lost me the rugby club contacts I had. Nowadays the football takes first preference of my free time. Might take a trip up for this one though if only for the excuse of a night in Sneck.

My mistake about you being critical, I took 'barbary monkey on acid' as a criticism rather than the humorous statement you intended. It's a funny image though, reminds me of the youtube video of a guy from vice magazine going to a dog show on acid. That is very true about the results based system, at school we were taught more how to answer exam papers rather than learn about the subject. One of our teachers was very critical of this, however he still spoon fed us exam papers. Apparently teachers are assessed regionally and nationally and their class results have to literally compare and even compete against an average. Failure to compare calls their competence into question. I could make a go of answering a physics and biology exam but know feck all about them. P.S. incorrect apostrophe on results ;). For your info Martin: In January 2013, Butcher rejected an offer to manage Barnsley, having been linked to suceed Keith Hill. After rejecting Barnsley, Butcher made a explained his stay, believes the club can make history and happy to settle in Scotland. His stay was relieved by newly signing Daniel Devine. The above is taken from TB's Wiki page and not ICT's as I first indicated. I don't have a clue who the author is but just feel that such grammar makes the whole page look unprofessional.

From Jan 09 he was at Elgin. Can't remember if that was a loan though

I don't think I have criticised anybody. I made a statement based on what I have read on the ICT page of Wikipedia. As for Scottish Education. It is my belief that the standards have fallen because it has become a result's based programme. The requirement for performance tables has diluted the quality of material being taught.

Suppose it all depends on what they want to do with their lives. Assuming they all get other jobs in the area and are still getting paid to play then the HL is as good as any other league. Not every footballer wants to get into coaching though those who do can also start at HL level and step up from there. I'd imagine that's the way Rossco is likely to go.

And the problem is what?

I just cant be ersed finding the appropriate emoticons but Luke today is the start of the Tay fishing season and I think I caught one.

I'm more interested in who he replaces, Tokely or Munro? Has Deek seen the same light that Tel seen?

Sorry but I have to wonder about the mindset of the OP. There isn't one player in the world that I could say I hate. I've not met many but those I have have been very nice, honest, pleasant people. Yes there are players who make the headlines for being arses but I cant find a reason to hate them. Oh and I actually thought the young Mr Sutherland was more mature than to be involved in such friviolities. Would Mr Sutherland senior support those views?

Can he do worse? I dont think so but I cant see him doing much better, in the short term, with the current squad. However, and I hope GS can see past his favourite teams, there is upcoming talent out there. Even in the SPL there are players who would give their all for country. Our own Andy Shinnie being one. What I'd like to see is for GS to have the chance to build a team from the many youngsters and not from the has beens that other managers have chosen.

Soz.....never looked at fixture list

Is there no possibility of shoehorning in a simple database that could be populated both by manual insertion and cut & paste from researching other public domain places such as Wiki, Soccerbase etc.? Have it done such that the source of info is acknowledged as is done in Wiki. I know its all a big challenge for the persons doing this. And if there are a number of people involved they need to communicate and agree with each other as to whats being included and who's doing what. Its a challenge and its not something I've seen on any other site so it could be another first for CTO and ICTFC. I dont have a clue how the sort of software needed works but I can appreciate that the whole project will be a time consuming and difficult task but I'm sure that if committed people can be found then the historians and BBC Reporters/Writers would be only too willing to give up information. Going back to what I said earlier it has to look professional so the volunteer's must have a good grasp of grammar.

I'm sure they play home games at TCS and entry is free. For anyone interested in our up and coming talent we are away to Dunfermline on 24th Feb for Scottish Youth Cup QF k.o. 1:00pm. Possibility of more silver to TCS this season.

Just for you http://chrishoggthefightback.blogspot.co.uk/

Matty Cooper is a kid who's been thrown in at the deep end and doesn't deserve that tirade. I'd be very surprised if Chris Hogg is back playing in the next few weeks and would agree with davie that Meekings will be the first choice.

And a chance to improve that co-efficient