Lets have a honest opinion with no slagging others views

[mainstander]

I think the Board are to blame for apointing Charlie Christie and not any one of all these fans you see on here who obviously know how to do the job far better than he does.

[monthecaley]

lets not slag each others views.. but slagging charlies clothes? thats fair enough  :004:

i think giving wyness some time in the side alongside dargo makes the most sense right now.

[Action Man]

You can change the forward line as much as you want, if there is no service being delivered no one is going to score. Need a fresh approach quick. Are there any quick wingers in the lower leagues we can sign in January.

[Johnboy]

We've actually got one, (a quick winger) sitting on the subs bench every feckin week....

[kaiser]

It's inevitable that we would come off the crest off the wave in the SPL sooner or later , maybe the fact that the situation looks so damning now takes the eyes off the fact that the malaise has been creeping in for longer than results show us .

The playing squad at ICT needs improved , continually tweaked, like every other SPL club needs to do to improve the quality of play and results ...the standard of players here reflect on the geographical position of our club , financial constraints and managerial decisions regarding player recruitment.

The fact which hasn't helped is the short tenure of Brewster and now CC's turn at the helm giving us a set of players and team selection which was selected to play one way , then another with the managers changeover - there hasn't been the overall stability which is needed to add to the squad whilst keeping in mind the mid to long term goal of how the game should be played in many peoples eyes...including the current man in the firing line.

Maybe when we pick up a few more points and put the mini crisis to the back of our minds the powers that be can really try to plan out our development at playing level for the next few years , ensuring we evolve form the " hard to beat, well organised" team that we currently aren't.

[Alex MacLeod]

Track suit good enough for O'Neil and Strachan etc.

They dont have to do the PR bit. Look at all the other managers is this league. They all wear suits trackside. Yogi does it. Mowbray done it. The Tango man. Even Brewster and Robbo. McLiesh and now Le Guen. Its not the suit that makes the manager, its the person inside it.

And anyway Sandy, why have you such a downer on Christie when you have never once slagged of Park, who has an equal standing at the club and is just as involved in the decision making. Seems to me that your bitterness towards Christie is more of a personal thing than anything to do with his position.

And to all the bar-room lawers out there, these remarks are a personal observation, based on what is written, and not a slagging off of any individual.

[Guest Sandy Cromarty]

No bitterness or grudge at all Alex, I have said all along that I have my reservations and I think I was the first one on here that mentioned the problem with legends going into management at their clubs, I have a lot of admiration for Charlie, a fact that I reiterated only a couple of days ago on another post when I said that he was probably our greatest player, the track suit comment was just that, a comment on the fact that other managers wear track suits and are successful.

We have problems at the moment, very serious ones which need addressing and IHE has mentioned that there are problems with team selection and I feel that is a fact, I am not advocating for Charlie's demise far from it, what I have said that it would be beneficial  to bring in managerial help.

I know that you care as much as I do about the club and it seems to me that presently you are sensitive over certain issues but to hint that I have some vendetta is wrong believe me.

We can all make mistakes from time to time, the other day you responded to a post asking what is wrong at the moment by replying' Not enough good quality players' and then some lines later you say the players are fed up with the abuse on and off the park? we all mistakes Alex, lets not argue amongt ourselves, after last weeks interview in the press it may be that there is enough arguing among the players, witness the mention of Brown throwing the captains armband to the back of the net when handed it by Wilson, probably nothing meant by it but an opposing fan picked up on oi.

[Guest MIDGE55]

Said from day one that he wasn't the man for the job, and he hasn't let me down :014:.....but will his board of "pals" have the balls to get rid......i think not

[Guest Get_off_the_park_Wyness!]

I think it's fair to say that Christie was appionted for the wrong reasons. Giving the job to a caretaker manager who gets a couple of good results is a SCHOOLBOY ERROR!!!

But that, and accusations of cronyism shouldn't be dragged up when evaluating his performance. Judge him on what he does week in week out.

[Alex MacLeod]

Points taken Sandy.

The thing that really gets me about some of the posters though is that from when CC took over the reigns in january right through till after the first wave of eleven games this season, he was the greatest thing that has ever happened to this club. Into the second wave of games we've played eight, won two, drawn three and lost three and we have a crisis at the club.

So far this season we have lost six out of eighteen games. Rangers have lost five, Hibs, Killie and Falkirk lost six. Are those teams seen as being in crisis? I think not.

[Harry Chibber]

I think it's fair to say that Christie was appionted for the wrong reasons. Giving the job to a caretaker manager who gets a couple of good results is a SCHOOLBOY ERROR!!!

But that, and accusations of cronyism shouldn't be dragged up when evaluating his performance. Judge him on what he does week in week out.

I'm not Roeder's biggest fan because of what he did to West Ham but currently he is unbeaten in his last 8 matches and flying high in Europe... which if anything shows that when a club sticks by his manager he can turn it round

[RiG]

Would love to know who, in the opinion of the folk wanting CC out, would come in instead?

[tm4tj]

Quite frankly, we have gone stale.

All the other clubs know what to expect from us and how much rope they can give us. We are now predictable without having the flair players to unlock tight defences. Our previously watertight defence has started shipping goals and the strikers purple patch from last season has gone pale. The midfield has no leader, someone to take control, Rankin has not been the Messiah we were searching for. Lots of theories already put forward, a lot of them plausible.

We are the same team we were earlier on this season..........same old same old, but the rub of the green has not gone our way since Aberdeen spoiled our night.  Still, if we can buy shrewdly in January, then I believe we will finish above relegation.  The league has probably sorted itself out by now, top six, and bottom six. All those who thought CC was talking rubbish when he said our main aim is to avoid relegation.............look at us now, the line between success and failure is a very fine one.  We should be proud of what our team has achieved in a short time, but the longer we are in the SPL, the harder it will be to maintain our status there. Success for us has already been achieved, for ICT there is probably only one way to go, lets hope we take it gracefully when it comes along.

[The Mantis]

Duck, here's Sandy  :015: :015: :015: :015: :015:

I don't think our defence has started leaking goals, we just missed Dods on Sat as the back four hasn't been disturbed in yonks. Expect normal service will be resumed next week, but Dods off at season's end.

Agree with most of the other stuff though DonkeyJaiket.

[Guest Sandy Cromarty]

I noticed that yesterdays report in the P & J says that we have 8 dissatisfied players at the club, well you all know my take on the press so you can shove that ,but it does look as if we have one dissatisfied  player and as you and I know Alex, having worked in small teams/squads, one mouthy bad one can upset the applecart, so if the player in question isn't happy then adios lad in January.

Glad to see some of us are getting onto the same page re our present state but as much as I respect all of your opinions I think that some calls are too extreme, my take is to bring in some help soon on the managerial side, there are guys out there who might take a short term consultancy, McLeish is one, some of you might laugh at that one, but there are others and it would be no damning of Charlie only a recognition that we need assistance, it would give the players and fans a boost.

[big man]

Could it be we have been punching beyond our weight the last two seasons and we are now beginning to find our place a good bottom six team rather than a top six team.

[Guest ICtinAngus]

have to with Mr Cromarty on that one, we do need assistance, and some new faces in Janaury.  This is a team which is in the main still what Pele left us with. 

I admit I wasn't comfortable when CC got the job, thought we should have tried to bring in someone with more experience.

This is the time, the end of December, when we will see if CC has the real experience to rally his team and bounce back, if not then the Board have to act quickly in January and put someone else in. 

[RiG]

Would love to know who, in the opinion of the folk wanting CC out, would come in instead?

No one fancy it no?

[Guest Get_off_the_park_Wyness!]

"Could it be we have been punching beyond our weight the last two seasons and we are now beginning to find our place a good bottom six team rather than a top six team."

We weren't punching above our weight last season, we were genuinely playing teams off the park - and if anything finished LOWER than our performances merited. We're struggling this season because half of our players have gone backwards.

Plus, if we'd lost Wyness and Morgan in close season, everyone would be saying that we were going to struggle. Well it's as if we actually HAVE lost them they're so far away from the pitch.

[Guest Get_off_the_park_Wyness!]

Would love to know who, in the opinion of the folk wanting CC out, would come in instead?

No one fancy it no?

Steve Paterson

[caley100]

:015: :015: :015: :015: :015: :015: :015: :015: :015: :015: :015: :015: :015: :015: :015: :015: :015: :015: :015: :015:

Oh dear....

:015: :015:

Wait a minute.. are you serious?

[Bush]

I'm not quite sure what's going on here, but we seem to be creating a situation when the club is going to self-destruct under the pressure and negativity that is being heaped upon it - pressure predominantly generated through this forum.

I personally don't see this massive crisis that is being protrayed.  Yes, we've had a run of bad form and some poor results - although I would say the 'unexpected' bad results only extend back two games (DU & Motherwell).  Even then, you could argue that we struggled against Motherwell last year, so that should be no shock, and DU are somewhat rejuvenated under Levein.  All clubs, particularly relatively small clubs like ours, suffer from variances in form - so it should be almost expected.  We had a good spell in Oct/Nov when CC was named Manager of the Month, and we've now dipped a bit - certainly disappointing but not yet crisis territory.

A bit of perspective and realism is required.  We are currently one defeat and 3 points worse off than this time last season - hardly good reason to turn suicidal (or worse - turn on the team).  I think most would consider last season to be a relative success (nearly gaining top six status) so I think we need to be a bit more supportive and encouraging at present.  Positivity on this forum and from the stand is more likely to reap benefit on the park than persistent criticism, negativity and calls for CC's head!

Over the last 12 years we've enjoyed massive success and phenomenal progress - but we must realistically expect that rate of progress to slow.  We're not in a position to challenge for the league.  It would be a massive ask to gain a European spot.  We are possibly capable of a top six spot.  Yes, in an ideal world, we'd push on from the last two seasons to bigger and better things but we live in the real world.  We can't possibly maintain the same rate of progress as we have in the past - but that should not be considered failure.  We need time to take breath, take stock and then push on towards greater things.

In my opinion (humble and worthless as it may be) the club are doing fine.  Progress has slowed, but not unexpectedly.  We've had some tough games recently followed by a couple of poor results, but provided we compete with (and take something from) the forthcoming games against our genuine rivals (St Mirren, Falkirk, Dunfermline,etc) then the 'crisis' will be forgotten about and we'll be talking about the possibility of a cup run in the new year.

Please, for the sake of the team - encourage, be positive and give solid support.  Be the twelfth man!

[caley100]

Some fair points Mr Bush, i dont think this forum has a direct effect on the teams performance however, the players know themselves that their performance is not up to standard at present.

What we see from the stands is a team with a lack of confidence, that is all, fitness is as normal and skills do not disappear overnight.

This is where the manager and coach have to work on the mindset of individuals, that combined with some luck, will in my mind have us turn the corner.

So starting on Saturday, we need a performance, not 3 points ( which would ne nice) but to see the team back to playing the way we have seen before.

[Bush]

What we see from the stands is a team with a lack of confidence, that is all, fitness is as normal and skills do not disappear overnight.

But surely the lack of confidence that you mention is exacerbated by pressure, ill-feeling and criticism emanating from the stands.

[caley100]

The only game that we have had the ' Ill feelings' from the stands was the Motherwell game, the home games prior to that were Hearts & Aberdeen which i though we should have won.

Whats causing the problem is the lack of goals, this is due to team selection and the players themselves, the fans will get behind the team, but as with the fickle highlanders only when we get 'up and at them'.

What we need is every feckin fan to shout and sing on saturday, and not sit like a tailors dummy.