Nationalities

[Yngwie]

With the signings Terry has made this summer, along with his ruthless disposal of our native stalwarts, the outcome of this ethnic cleansing is that we can expect to see ICT lining up with Scottish players very much in the minority. I would say that Esson, Tokely and Ross are the only Scots to have a pretty much guaranteed starting place.

This is surely the most international team we have ever had, and a far cry from just a few years ago when non-Scots were a rarity. Is this a sign of progress?

(PS There's a red dot coming to anyone who comes out with the entirely predictable "It doesn't matter where they come from, so long as they are good enough" blah blah blah)

[fraser]

I think it's just the fact that Scottish players that are spl quality are just too expensive on our budget.

[wazzow]

I do like to see a fair proportion of the team being Scottish but as thecaleyteenager says it is hard to get the right quality of these players. I certainly would no like to go down the route of the likes of Arsenal though!

[PullMyFinger]

"It doesn't matter where they come from, so long as they are good enough"

Are you suggesting a reintroduction of the 8 numpties rule?

[lukemackay]

tom aldred represents scotland and graeme shinnie could well be i contention for a starting place

[starchief]

There's just no option. Duff would prefer to go non-League. Snodgrass went Division One (or Division 3 as was), Cowie went to a relegation battle in the ECL. If those players were staying in Scotland, then there's an argument about displacing Scots. Unfortunately, it's just not the case. Steven MacLean could have come back to a decent club up here but instead will be journeymanning in Yeovil instead.

[SMEE]

Well....call me predictable...but...It doesn't matter where they come from, so long as they are good enough" blah blah blah (sorry, couldnt resist)

Seriously for a moment tho....i had always beleived that ICT's strength was, that we were a Highland team, made up of localish talent and the camoradarie was there, coz there was hardly ever major tinkering done with the squad. That served us well coming up thro the leagues. Terry has come and blown the whole lifetime ICT ethos out the window, so, i do wonder if we will be siging his praises, or be calling for his head, for ruining our club, come the end of the season. Persoanlly....i do feel we have to stop this small highland community club mentality if we are ever to take it to the next level

Edited July 28, 2011 by SMEE

[Alex MacLeod]

Sadly, as has been said, and as Terry has said, home grown players price themselves out of contention. I do however believe, with our youth coaching policy, that we could get to a stage again where we field a majority of highlanders.

[CaleyD]

I think we're in a bit of a transitional period on this one....and if last year is any indicator in terms of young lads getting a chance (and doing well) then "Scots in the Minority" may not actually turn out to be the case over the course of the season.

In regards to SMEE's comment on being a Highland Team made up of localish talent.....I get where you are coming from and agree it served us well in getting to the SPL, but we did seem to have reached our peak in that regard and something was needed to push us on, or at least make an attempt at pushing us on. What's more, you'd be hard pushed to put together a predominantly localish squad today that could compete in the SPL, even if you had free pick of all the players out there. Hopefully that will change as young lads coming through the ranks get their chance and others see that there's a route from junior football to SPL available if they work for it.

In all honesty though...the subject of player nationalities and reduced number of Scots in the squad hadn't really entered my head before reading this thread.

If local talent was being overlooked to bring in "foreign" players then I might have stronger thoughts/opinions on the matter, but I don't believe that is happening.

[SMEE]

I am also not too bothered where our players eminate from. as long as they compete, i couldnt care less if it was made up entirely of Vatican City International squad!

[+MrCaleyjag]

It's a sign of progress that the club are prepared to move further afield than normal pastures to pursue better talent, surely it's good that the club are willing to branch out and go that extra mile?

I think it is also a symptom of the countries poor performance at bringing through young Scottish talent that can compete at the level that is needed to help clubs progress, yes clubs do their best to promote this talent but with the harsher financial burdons that are on clubs and the ever increasing need to stay in the top flight due to money not many clubs are willing to take what they see as a 'risk' in blooding these youngsters and keeping what we may regard as traditions going.

Saying all that are there really enough 'local talents' out their that would go straight into our first eleven that aren't already here that we haven't already had? For a club like ICT we will bring a small steady flow of youngsters through the ranks but not at the rate we need to that would fill a team and unfortunately the need for money to stay in the league and progress will ultimately mean that if we unearth a gem or two we will sell them. In this vain our budgets don't allow us to bring in Scottish talent that are good enough as they are out of our price ranges so bringing in young international talent is the natural progressive route to go.

I don't think the question should neccesarily be is it a sign of progress for ICT, the question should be is it a sign of progress for Scottish football which would throw up a whole new argument in itself.