4ize

I agree with most of that apart from the last sentence - there is no chance of a tap-in off the rebound because we never have anyone running into the hole to make that chance. The last time I saw us score that sort of goal regularly was under Pele: JR might eventually have had us doing that in the SPL, but he didn't hang around long enough, and neither CB nor CC have managed (or perhaps bothered) to drill a midfielder to come belting in a la Stevie Gerrard ready to bury the loose ball. I believe our goal tally every season would be at least ten more if we'd someone ready to pounce on those.

Yes, Black is a good player. Paula Radcliffe is an excellent marathon runner who has, on her day, put in some bloody appalling performances. Ability doesn't always translate to performance and I'm afraid Blackie is on a bad run of form. There is a difference...

Was it down to....

Team selection..?

Tactics..?

Two many (collectively) running into a poor spell of form.

Two many poor individual performances..?

Are our players as a team unhappy about something..?

Are certain members of our playing staff lacking in basic footballing skills

Did we meet a Hearts team who have suddeny discovered they have a couple of decent playes there...?

Did blo0dy awful referreeing play a significant part..?

Yep.

Easter that's when we will start getting better results!!

i know top six is a long way of but it could still be possible!!

I don't want a top six finish, even if one were on the cards; it'd provide the apologists with an excuse for the management's ineptitude ("oh aye, we lost eighteen goals without reply in the last five games, but we were playing top six teams, that's no the club's fault, they're victims of their own success"). I know exactly what it's like to work under someone who hasn't a clue how to motivate people and get them pulling in the same direction: with that kind of guy at the helm you'll always have favouritism, factions, division- and days like today.

:010: :010: :010:

Were we at the same game? Cowie, for one, knocked Black into a cocked hat, as he has done for the last few matches I've watched. Ian wasn't at the races today - along with most of the team  :rolleyes02:

Pantomime at its best: from the booing every time King Rat a.k.a Mikoliunas went near the ball (wait - you didn't already know he's a cheat?) to the Evil Stepmother with the whistle, to the urge to shout "He's behind you" every time we dithered in all-too-brief possession, to the eleven guys in blue and red, not quite sure who they were but they did a hilarious impression of sh1te football players, yelling "Oh yes he did" at Freeland whenever he waved play on - this had everything! There was even a happy ending when I managed to drive straight out of the car park at 4.35 instead of the usual sitting in a reconstruction of 3rd Ypres for half an hour  :003:

Not the first bad game he's had recently either. Shame almost everyone else was equally dire today.

MARIUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  :001: :001: :001:

Come on COWIE annoy your dad

You think the old block will be behind the Hoops, even tonight? Shame  :014:

Gretna 3-0

Oops.

Another for Gretna.

'Fantastic pace by Niculae' is the standout comment of the night so far  :024:

Another fine performance from the silent film duo that is Malky and Brew. Hal Roach never produced better. Could we get Alan Preston and Jim Duffy (now the Morton job's gone) in the dugout, or maybe Jim Traynor and Annie McGuire? At the least, could we shift our management team up into the stand by the press box and see if, from there, they can begin to see the problems so apparent to everyone else, while there's still time to change things? If you're not sure how the land lies, climb a hill - it's never been rocket science.

I will be on the continent over the summer, so would probably try and make one of the games.

Out of interest, who else would make the effort to attend our first ever competitive European fixture?

Out of interest, will you be on the continent for business or pleasure? To ask who would 'make the effort' is a little misleading - were it down to motivation I suspect most people would gladly toddle off to the Continent; most people, if money were no obstacle, would probably go to every away game by helicopter and buy a few more internationals for the club without asking for anything in return. Most people, unfortunately, aren't in that happy position. Glad you're doing so well though!  :022:

No, nay, never - scrap the European jolly, keep the players at FG and offer them the cash equivalent of the trip's cost per head as an 'early starter' bonus if they win or draw four out of the first six.

The game was looking bad enough without the referee compounding the issue.

There was a referee there? I saw some clown with a whistle and a tonsure running about in the middle but assumed he was the half-time entertainment arriving early and staying late.

The problems and the solution are there for all of us to see on this thread.

Now you've chipped in, they certainly are. Thanks again for your sage counsel and astounding insight.

Oh, and judging by Alex's glassy look in the Bovril queue this afternoon, he'll soon be starting another 'Do you remember......' thread, for an entirely different reason  :001:

so how do we get that warm and fuzzy feeling back without being relegated  :017:

Gin. Lots of it.  :003:

I don't think we can - it's a bit like Swindon, you should never go back. All part of growing up, however painful.

I agree with most of the above CD, but Black wasn't having his best game, Roy for me was playing pretty well and Duncan, for all his return to woefully inaccurate passing and lack of invention, provides a good presence in that holding position as well as cover for Ross when he gets forward. It was the right switch to make, for once.

Imrie - rough diamond. Lets hope they don't polish him too much too quickly, or we'll find it impossible to hold on to him for long.

Fair result; think we just edged it toward the end, but I'll take a return to the top six.

Well said, Mr. Pimple.

Oh right! That's easy, it was far more like a family, an extension of the Innes, before; maybe because there were many fewer posters. There was plenty of history, a patina of smoke and steam-let-off on the ceiling, beer mats a-flying, reminiscences and aspirations for the club thicker than gulls on the Longman tip, Feb8's immortal I-can't-post-a-pic thread, and the "we'll score one more than ye" mentality that came from the Pele days. The new boards have been pretty soulless from the start - SPL rules, old chap, no standing, no smoking - and have never regained that clubhouse feel, despite separating from the official site. This isn't the Innes, it's [insert name of popular but slightly unwelcoming Inverness pub here]. And there was me thinking you were talking about the state of the football  :004:

I barely check the boards before a game these days, and I was never off them two or three seasons ago. The only way I can begin to explain it is to say that I wouldn't sit by the side of the road discussing the circumstances leading to a car crash, in which someone will sprain their wrist, ahead of time. We're sitting sixth (oops, seventh), but at a point in the season where our league position doesn't really mean much in that regard; I've become accustomed to seeing either crap football or crap results at home, albeit with the odd glimmer of hope this season; we're clearly not going to get relegated, but we won't be playing in Europe next year either; and with Brewster's glaring inability to read a game from the dugout (he should do a Walter Smith and watch from the stand) I approach each match with a dread of the wheels falling off twenty minutes into the second half and nothing done about it. None of that makes me want to log on - I'm happy to leave impending doom posts to the cultists. Humbug.

It's a bit vacuous, isn't it? The questions about transport and facilities (1 and 2) are fair enough, but what's the point in asking about the atmosphere on matchdays (3)? If we all say 'Shoite' are they going to re-program the stewards as human beings, hire Daleks to police the away end during Old Firm games and get U2 to play a set at half time? The rest is all corporate come-ons and community touchy-feels bar the last one - what do you think we can do to get more fans? Well, you could plough through a few years' worth of suggestions on these boards...

My feelings exactly.  However, I suspect we'll be in the minority prepared to express this view.

Oh I doubt sanctimony is on the wane, in the Highlands or in Berkshire; never fear, there'll be a new bout coming to a tabloid campaign near you soon (you could just buy a few back-issues of the Sun/News 'n' Screws/Spectator and distribute them among the community if you're needing a fix).

Good luck Richie, you've put in some sterling work for ICT and played some of your best football latterly before your drugs ****-up. I think Brew's daft to let you go: I'm no SPL football manager, but then nor is he.

It is on the radio - they must just have had tech problems at the start of the game. I resorted to the 'net before Mrs. 4ize pointed out that it was on FM about 5 mins into the match.

Get in  :022:

Kheredine Idessane is usually complete mince - I remember us scoring from a corner season before last and he hadn't even mentioned the fact that we'd been awarded one.