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The 'couldn't work out' comment was tongue-in-cheek (I should probably use the smiley); I think the opposition were supposed to be a Melchester Rovers job, unless it's Cove Rangers' away strip...

I remember the thread on the old board, and people who'd been there saying that they never wanted to see Barry step up for another penalty cos he'd hit the woodwork about ten times before they got a decent take. Someone described the lass in the ad as 'the wee witch' which I thought was a bit harsh. There were about 300 posing as the crowd, who got moved round the stadium for each shot, and nobody could work out who the **** 'Harty' was in the finished product. No recollection of how the thing came about though - probably on the back of the previous season's second cup defeat of Celtic :001: Oh aye, I also remember not being able to get the day off :008:

Couldn't agree more Scotty. Even the Gers getting to the UEFA cup final gives us a hand in recruiting, I'd imagine, but playing in the same squad as internationals should be a boost. Although my flag may be coming down at the end of the group stages :003:

Well, we're sitting here with Niculae who, on talent, should be banging them in for fun, so the position and the supply are clearly issues. I still believe that both Porter and Killen, though thoroughly different players, have found their level (Killen's is obscurity at Old Firm standard), and it isn't a million miles away from League One. I'm glad, though, that you're talking about the type of player rather than his age, because Brew, for all his faults, gave a master class in being a bossy centre forward in his first spell with us. "It's the fitness, stupid" :004:

Well, it's turned into a bit of a chat about where we should or should not be sourcing players and, by extension, where the SPL stands in the leagues there are in the British Isles. Leeds Utd probably figure in that debate, cloggers or no :016:

James, Leeds were ever cloggers - thinking back to Oldham's brief time in the Premiership, I remember watching players getting kicked off the park at Elland Road by hired thugs with a pair of boots. A club which employs Vinnie Jones needs no introduction, methinks. Perhaps you've had a career where you've never had a manager who couldn't see your strengths and knew how to use them - if so, you've been very lucky, because it doesn't happen to us all. Thompson's progression at Morecambe was hampered by a manager who had no idea what to do with him (I did actually point this out in my original post), but he stuck with the club in the Conference, where it's a wee bit more difficult to get noticed than in the League, and is now taking his pay day. Had he not had the difficulties I've mentioned, he would probably have fancied a couple of seasons in the SPL before looking to his retirement fund. Killen and Porter happened to be in the right place, on the right form, at the right time - again, this doesn't happen to everyone, and to write people off because they're 27 instead of 24 when they make the move to a higher level is naive. If you're going to dub the number of goals scored by a forward as insignificant and irrelevant then you may as well wave away every measure of success in any football match. The striking similarity between the two players' records in the SPL and League One is not a coincidence, however much you might wish it to be. If anything, given the finishing positions of the players' clubs in the seasons I listed, the SPL is an easier league than League One.

He's not my player by any chalk; the means by which he came to ICT's attention gives me no confidence at all in our scouting setup; I do, however, think he's an excellent footballer who would have brought something extraordinary to the team. If I chase rabbits it's because they stand still in the headlights and go fnp fnp fnp. If I point out the painful fact that League 1 away south is more or less the same as the SPL, and that bidding for English League 2 players is no shame, I make no apologies. And Julian Clary only has more pace after he shouts 'Chase me': it's a bit like Popeye and spinach. :003:

I'm guessing that you haven't seen Thompson play, whereas you have seen Imrie play; lumping them together with 'people like' then doesn't make sense, unless you can judge Thompson by watching Imrie (in which case I guess you can judge Tokely by watching Julian Clary).

So, you went to Elland Road a couple of times and judged the footie to be bog-standard. It may well have been - you see crappy, scrappy, spoiling football from sides in all leagues and divisions from time to time, especially from those going for a title (all aboard for Ibrox or Stamford Bridge!). But let me throw just two names at you - from another team I follow and who I therefore know about, because I'm not going to spend my Friday night trawling through stats :016:. They're both from a fairly pedestrian League One club which has only been in the top flight for two seasons in the last 100 years. May I introduce: Chris Killen - age 27 2004/5 (Oldham, League 1) 15 goals 2005/6 (Oldham, League 1) 6 goals (but only played half a season) 2006/7 (Hibs, SPL) 15 goals 2007/8 (Celtic, SPL) 2 goals (bought so they didn't have to play against him and left on the bench if lucky Heresy! Heresy!) Did feck all with Wrexham, Port Vale and Oldham until he eventually came good in 2004, then publicly slated the manager and was released on a free. Now picking up splinters for a living in one of the two sides that could give a Championship/lower Premiership side a run for their money. Chris Porter - age 24 2005/6 (Bury, League 2) 10 goals 2006/7 (Oldham, League 1) 22 goals (second top goal scorer) 2007/8 (Motherwell, SPL) 18 goals (third top goal scorer) Brought on to the peak of his game under Sheridan, reputedly got a nice signing-on fee at Fir Park after FIFA rules meant that, despite his age, he was moving cross-border and therefore Latics were due no compensation. If the SPL is such a step up from English League One, why didn't these players' goal tallies collapse the minute they set foot on Scottish turf in this superior league? If the answer isn't already smacking you about the head, it's unlikely ever to gain entry...

There are a fair few SFL second division teams who'd struggle in League Two, but we're bidding for Barrowman, and I tell you what, if Scunthorpe win promotion Thompson will be playing at a higher level than the SPL the season after next. I think you wildly overestimate the quality of this league, certainly towards the bottom (you know, where we are?).

Have any of the boo boys actually seen him play? He went through a spell at Morecambe where frankly the manager hadn't a clue where to put him. Once he settled on the right under McIlroy he never looked back. Last season he was instrumental in getting the Shrimps promoted to the football league for the first time in their history, not least by scoring the equaliser and making the winner at Wembley in the play-off final against Exeter (I was there). This season he's made the step up effortlessly, topping the League 2 table for assists (11) and banging in eight goals. Morecambe, the club whose youth academy he came through and to whom he's shown immense loyalty (yes, it does exist) despite other offers, offered him the best deal they'd ever put on the table to try and keep him. Meanwhile Scunthorpe, who'll be looking to get right back into the Championship, offered him more money than we could afford. So carry on looking down your noses - one day you might see beyond the end of them. He would have been a fantastic signing for the club.

about that quickie over the kitchen table, though... Isn't that Marius?

I am indeed :001:

Ffs RBC, how parochial can you get? Happen the lads should train running up and down Nairn beach a la Chariots of Fire? I've said before, if I were a prospective signing reading this board I'd go and play for Wrexham instead...

See, I never really understand this argument. I agree that having played at a high level will initially instil more respect for a coach in a player, but more and more these days we're talking about sports science, man management and strategy. Having been a good striker, or even having coaching badges, does not necessarily make Brewster better in any discipline than anyone who posts on (or just reads) this forum. Do I need to be in possession of a Champions League medal to see that Roy at inside right doesn't work, or that Ross can't get back quickly and needs someone better at passing than Russell to back-fill, or that nobody properly defends the back post at set pieces, or that gym work is a good thing for professional athletes, or that Barry and pies don't mix? The trouble is that coaching and management get mixed in together when they're really quite distinct. Many people who've spent a decade or five watching football matches have a sense of what works and what doesn't and can apply that knowledge to a given set of players (which is probably why football management computer games sell as well as they do). When asked to coach a centre half to deal with a fast cross at waist height six yards out in front of goal with no call from the keeper, most of those people would bow out gracefully in favour of a professional coach. What baffles me is when the manager can't see what's clearly going wrong on the pitch - as I said in another post, I think Brew needs to get off the touchline and up into the stand so he can get a proper overview of the battle. You don't play chess with your chin on the table...

First team plus Bobby. Cameos for 10cc, Golly, Pele, Richie, Tank and Robbo (bring on the boos) Robson can bring on the half time drinks. Maybe we could borrow Stevie Gerrard for a few minutes too. Oops, that's more than three...

Top banana, I am now a Romania fan for the duration (provided the provisional Marius goes).

I'd rather not say, or I'd have said already :016: I'm not about to bugger up a deal before it's begun; I'm just glad to see that there's movement behind the scenes and that it's nobody anyone would pick as a target but someone who could do a grand job for us, especially with Barry for a mentor. With that in mind, though, I'll pray to any god listening that prospective signings don't read this board. I know we've had a ***** season in many ways, especially if you're a home-only fan like me, but we've got to look forward, and who'd want to play in front of a bunch of whingers every week? I think I might be reforming... :004:

Aye, and there's a guy works down the chip shop swears he's Ronaldo, might be worth a look... There's one signing I really hope goes ahead this summer - completely off the radar but, based on the two times I've seen him, I reckon he'd do well. And he's not called Archie :003:

How have we got onto page 2 with (at least) two school teachers managing to let pass the phrase 'what would of happened'? :rolleyes02:

C?te d'Ivoire seemed to think he was pretty good up until a year or two ago. The talent's there, the lad just needs a good coach/mentor to bring him on down the road.

If we're not playing him even with two first-choice defenders out injured, Brew can't rate him that highly. Anyone for Bamba?

I always thought the folk in the North and South stands at reserve games were Sneck's forgotten homeless, like the kids in the barrios hoping desperately for a club trial (only wearing lots more clothes cos I believe it's colder here than in Brazil). I stand corrected (mind if I sit?)

It could be, depending on how you said it :016: I guess you and yer mate have never been to a reserve game before: if you had you'd have known that it's just the main stand (where you can rub shoulders with the visiting coaching staff and try to infect them with your cold if you judge it right, or run up to Brew and wave a flag in his face). The chief exec really shouldn't be shouting at fans, but I suppose Delia Smith set the precedent. Bet she can't really boil an egg, or hire decent stewards either.

Any change in people's opinions doesn't make any change in the man. If he's got Malky down in the dugout then he wants to take a leaf out of Smith's book and watch at least some of the the first half from the stand so he can actually get an overview of what's going on. I suspect the reason he so often misses what 'every supporter in the stand can see' is because he's kicking every ball from a player's perspective and still not completely in a managerial mindset. That has to change, and really ought to be a no-brainer for him. That he's no manager of men as yet seems to be pretty obvious, given all the rumours of dust-ups with Black, Niculae, [insert name of player here], the withdrawal of Dennis's contract, the freezing out of Rankin (how many of our starting 11 would get an automatic start at Easter Road?), etc, etc.; you also hear that Malky and his training regime are the bigger issue in the dressing room - but then, should Brew not be addressing that, and managing Malky, too? Still, the way that Barry's playing just now seems to give the lie to that, and Blackie seems a wee bit happier, so perhaps the manager's finally learning to manage, rather than being one of the boys, and maybe the 'boys' are learning to respect that. For pretty much the first time since he came to the club I find myself approving of a bit of what he's done - Imrie has proved to be a fantastic signing and, I'm hopeful we'll see some more good players coming in this summer; we're not playing the long ball game as a matter of course any more, though we do seem to resort to it at the worst possible times; and there are players who appear to be responding to what the gaffer's press claims he's saying. Next season may be make or break for Brew. He can't rely on the implication that it's not his squad after this summer, as he's already set out his stall in terms of of players earning contracts or heading off to pastures new, the new contracts for the three lads, Zander's recall; Pele's shadow is finally shrinking and what the manager gets from the side he builds for 2008/9 will, I think, define him. I hope it doesn't leave us defined as First Division but - boardroom discord aside - for the first time since the man hung up his boots, I find myself cautiously optimistic.