Biggest game of the season...

[davie]

I'm with bridgender on this one. Saturday is MASSIVE. In terms of it's possible influence on the club (revenue, players staying/ going, the board etc.) it could be one of our biggest games in years. Winning could propel this season forward in a way that no other result could. And please, naysayers, don't tell me that this is impossible after I watched the game at Dens earlier and the first half of the cup final. They are not that far apart. Follow that up with a win against c*unty and Robert is indeed yer Da's brother.

[DornochCaley]

If we finish above county this season thats good enough for me.

If we can beat them in the league at some point this season i would be happy.

Both are a must or Butcher doesn't even get the option to stay

I agree. If we fail to beat County in the league all season and they finish ahead of us, he has to go. No ifs or buts. We were lucky to beat them in the cup and so far we have not been good enough to beat them in the league.

[+HawkeyeTheGnu]

last time we won it we only dropped two points at home all season plus were good away from home

Drew 4, lost 1 at home - 11 points dropped. Best home form by 6pts. Joint 3rd best away form (Clyde & St Johnstone were better, Falkirk the same).

[Council Juice]

I'd say promotion is pretty hard now but certainly not impossible. Rememeber when we were a similar distance behind Clyde and pulled it back?

Though I'd be satisfied with a good top half finish... above County.

[TheKnowledge]

There are many games until the end of the season, and if we win the next two at home, then that could well be our home form, and our season back on track. I believe it can be done. We've all seen Dundee play this season, and I thought they were as bad as us at the back, and just a bit better going forward. There is every chance they will lose quite a few before the end of the season.

[gingerjaggy]

i am with the optimists yes defeat and we can say no chance but victory then it gives us a chance but tht does nt mean we will just keeps alive for a while longer. 9 points with 2 games v dundee and other chances of dundee losing points makes it possible but we need to be consistent if tht is to happen so all to optimism

[TSTtiger]

last time we won it we only dropped two points at home all season plus were good away from home

Drew 4, lost 1 at home - 11 points dropped. Best home form by 6pts. Joint 3rd best away form (Clyde & St Johnstone were better, Falkirk the same).

my mistake not two points, but was it not only 9 dropped, 1 loss and 3 draws?

[caleykid1994]

last time we won it we only dropped two points at home all season plus were good away from home

Drew 4, lost 1 at home - 11 points dropped. Best home form by 6pts. Joint 3rd best away form (Clyde & St Johnstone were better, Falkirk the same).

my mistake not two points, but was it not only 9 dropped, 1 loss and 3 draws?

.........................................................../.............home......./........away

2003/2004 Bells Scottish Division One 1st/10 36 13 4 1 37 12/8 3 7 30 21 21 7 8 67 33 70

13 home wins

4 home draws

1 home loss

[TSTtiger]

.........................................................../.............home......./........away

2003/2004 Bells Scottish Division One 1st/10 36 13 4 1 37 12/8 3 7 30 21 21 7 8 67 33 70

13 home wins

4 home draws

1 home loss

cheers.we've got some way to go to emulate that although the first is even more competitive now.

[Alex MacLeod]

.........................................................../.............home......./........away

2003/2004 Bells Scottish Division One 1st/10 36 13 4 1 37 12/8 3 7 30 21 21 7 8 67 33 70

13 home wins

4 home draws

1 home loss

cheers.we've got some way to go to emulate that although the first is even more competitive now.

With only 10 home games to go and 2 losses so far its impossible to emulate that.

[Kylef]

Im out of favour for this one, and this has been the first time ive been negative regarding our title hopes. Yes, 2 wins and we are back on track, but then after that it will be the same story as we have been going on.

We have talked for weeks about 'if we win this game, we will go on a roll', or 'first win at home will start us off on winning form'. Not this year im afraid. Far too many points dropped in games we should have won, and thats going to continue as far as i can see, especially after the Pars game.

Ill carry on to show my support for the rest of this season, even though im settled on the idea of not 'bouncing-back'- the worst slogan we could have ever come up with for this season IMO. I think the aim is to see how good a finish we can get this season, then get settled on the idea of a new manager, new players, try and keep as many of our good players we have at the moment, and try for the SPL in the next 2 or 3 years after that.

This is all in my opinion of course, but whats a forum without opinions?

[Stirling Observer]

Its a classic clich?, but one game at a time and all that!

It is important for the players to be motivated and have a winning mentality but this goes for every game.

Personally i feel Dundee have a similar squad but have more experience at this level and more match winners in their side. They will probably strengthen further in the transfer window.

I feel the club should look to have a strong 2nd half to the season finish in top 3 and build for next season in the 1st. In terms of the clubs budget, we are better to predict the worse and offer 1st division wages and sign them up early than wait without offering contract and lose players. There isn't a big difference between the leagues anyway as our current position shows.

[mainstander]

.........................................................../.............home......./........away

2003/2004 Bells Scottish Division One 1st/10 36 13 4 1 37 12/8 3 7 30 21 21 7 8 67 33 70

13 home wins

4 home draws

1 home loss

cheers.we've got some way to go to emulate that although the first is even more competitive now.

With only 10 home games to go and 2 losses so far its impossible to emulate that.

OK so if we were going to win the league this season with the 70 points we did it with in 2004 we need 43 points more from the 54 that are still on the board. Such as W13 D4 L1 or W14 D1 L3 from 18 games. From the first 18 are on W7 D6 L5. Some people seem to be expecting one hell of a sudden transfermation in the last half of the season, just like that. And 70 points will only be enough if Dundee colaps from the 39 theyve got in the first half to 31 or 30 in the second half. Oh yes AND if QOS, County and Partick also come back to us.

Edited December 21, 2009 by mainstander

[TSTtiger]

.........................................................../.............home......./........away

2003/2004 Bells Scottish Division One 1st/10 36 13 4 1 37 12/8 3 7 30 21 21 7 8 67 33 70

13 home wins

4 home draws

1 home loss

cheers.we've got some way to go to emulate that although the first is even more competitive now.

With only 10 home games to go and 2 losses so far its impossible to emulate that.

yeah i mean next season alex! this season we've blown the league barring a miraculous turnaround imo

[Scarlet Pimple]

Away form is sterling. Home form is stunning.

And I always thought that home advantage counted for a heck of a lot.!

Unless the next two games are strong wins, then I go back to my original prediction that if ICT were not in a challenging position by Christmas then there will be no promotion this season.

After that where we will end up is anyone's guess?

Butcher did come in at a big turning point where solid, experienced players were leaving, money was tight and about to get tighter, the youngsters had not yet been blooded to any extent in the first team and so on. He would need more than one season to sort all this out so laying blame at his feet would seem to be unfair. The whole structure, the strength of the skeleton and the lack of flesh on the bones needs quite a lot of time to re-build and the spirit has waned or has vanished--take your pick.

With spirit depressed I think it could take up to three years in Division 1, AGAIN, to rekindle the name that ICT once had ----so there you go.

That's a long term view from a long way away. :)