Caley Thistle Signing Spree

[Scarlet Pimple]

If these youngsters turn it on  and develop strongly into very effective playerthen we can thank Terry's presence at the club as much as anything. As the ex captain of England these youngsters will still be slightly in awe of him and will see his influence and methods as a help  to their career. Amnd who can say that his influence on the club in general has not been significant to oput it mildly.

 

Cheers  and forward.

[Caley Mad In Berks]

It will be interesting to see if any of these seven can claim a regular 1st team place.  We have done well in the past recruiting from the lower reaches of the English leagues.

 

To be honest this doesn't really surprise me greatly.  I don't think there is a huge difference in standard in the English leagues below Championship level. And it is in these lower leagues that the majority of the SPL (apart from the one remaining ugly sister) would find themselves if they magically transferred to England.

 

More worrying is the lack of Scots on our books.  Can't be healthy for the long term state of the game in the north, nor for increasing our support by encouraging more youngsters to attend matches if they don't have any local 'heroes' to identify with.

 

I hope this year we will see one of our local lads be given a chance to claim a regular place in the starting X1.

[HeScoresWhenHeWants]

Just heard that Curtis Allen rejected Swansea for us! That Is quite remarkable in my eyes :0

[HumbersideDude]

As far as signing Scottish players go, in a perfect world it would be great. Another concideration for young Scottish players could be the various Scottish national team managements  who ignore Inverness/Dingwall. No young Scottish player, who feels he is good enough for the national team will go north to be ignored by Strachan or whoever is in charge. (A Shinnie was a 4th/5th choice by a caretaker manager so doesn't count ;-)  )

[Alex MacLeod]

 

More worrying is the lack of Scots on our books.  

9 English, 8 Scots, 5 Irish and 2 Northern Irish. Just need a Welshman now to make up the five nations

[Rival]

Just heard that Curtis Allen rejected Swansea for us! That Is quite remarkable in my eyes :0

Just heard that Curtis Allen rejected Swansea for us! That Is quite remarkable in my eyes :0

Just heard that Curtis Allen rejected Swansea for us! That Is quite remarkable in my eyes :0

It's not true he said it on Twitter

[Philip]

I couldn't care if we played 11 Martians if they perform and work for the team. so the fact that despite us singing 7 young players, all from within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, all willing to relocate to the edge of the arctic circle and without shelling out a fee people on here still find something to complain about is frankly mind blowing.

Not a game went by this season when I didn't hear the kids at games saying I like that Gary Warren and Billy McKay but if only they weren't both born south of Tomatin I could enjoy watching them so much more....

I'd take 1 ex PE teaching Gary Warren over 20 Scottish 1st Div/Lower SPL players with an over inflated ego and an unrealistic salary expectation.

[Broonerz]

Sadly Scottish talent is not good enough. The days of local teams being made up of local players has long gone, but is not merely an ICT or indeed Scottish problem.

Look no further than EPL teams, who have very few local lads playing at first team level. Taking it the other extreme, there are few Highland League teams full of ' local' talent.

Even our national team has few locals in it!!!!

As stated previously fans want to watch good players, and don't give a jot where they come from, albeit we would love our team full of locals. There is no room for sentiment when success is at stake.

Edited June 11, 2013 by Broonerz

[HeScoresWhenHeWants]

Just heard that Curtis Allen rejected Swansea for us! That Is quite remarkable in my eyes :0

Just heard that Curtis Allen rejected Swansea for us! That Is quite remarkable in my eyes :0

Just heard that Curtis Allen rejected Swansea for us! That Is quite remarkable in my eyes :0

It's not true he said it on Twitter It's on Sky Sports app from Daily Record interview

[starchief]

Signing Scots would be great but the better youngsters are too busy challenging for Europe at Bournemouth and such stellar clubs. I just hope the likes of Allan recovers from his injury. He got a nasty splinter from sitting on that bench.

[CaleyD]

The quote that is being attributed to Curtis Allen is that Swansea had "shown interest"....no more, no less.

[Scotty]

I wonder how the top local school sides of today would fare against those from 1972.

 

They'd hammer them on FIFA13 !!!!!

[CaleyThistle]

I couldn't care if we played 11 Martians if they perform and work for the team. so the fact that despite us singing 7 young players, all from within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, all willing to relocate to the edge of the arctic circle and without shelling out a fee people on here still find something to complain about is frankly mind blowing.

Not a game went by this season when I didn't hear the kids at games saying I like that Gary Warren and Billy McKay but if only they weren't both born south of Tomatin I could enjoy watching them so much more....

I'd take 1 ex PE teaching Gary Warren over 20 Scottish 1st Div/Lower SPL players with an over inflated ego and an unrealistic salary expectation.

 Could Not agree more!

[lukemackay]

 

I wonder how the top local school sides of today would fare against those from 1972.

 

They'd hammer them on FIFA13 !!!!!

 

im shyte at both, what that down too?...

[Scarlet Pimple]

Vancouver Whitecaps travelled 100 K South to Seattle in the U S last weekend and narrowly lost 3-2.

Kenny miller had a very good game , which he has upped from previous weeks, and put in a delightful cross for one of the Vancouver goals.

 

Wait for it--the crowd at this game was.....54,000.     Vancouver had brought over 1,000 fans with them too.

 

That is an incredible number with the average ticket costing about 20 bucks, say 13 pounds.  So these MLS teams can play and pay and no wonder players from all over the world are coming to the MLS to ply their trade. Local players are coming through also of course but no one here complains about the foreign element--all that matters for the fans here is that they put in a good effort and they get a few thrills and spills. This game was electric and the atmosphere was very, very noisy and exciting! The North American fans never stop cheering..

[SMEE]

Im not up to speed with the new siginings? but...i would ask.....are there any established/experienced players heading our way?

[Kingsmills]

Im not up to speed with the new siginings? but...i would ask.....are there any established/experienced players heading our way?

 

I doubt it very much.

[Libero]

Nice to see us signing someone who can score from freekicks:

 

 

supposedly Ben Greenhalgh can hit a decent dead ball as well so we might have more luck from direct free kicks this season. Been a while since we've had a player who can hit the back of the net with free kicks

 

 

[Scotty]

no one here complains about the foreign element--all that matters for the fans here is that they put in a good effort and they get a few thrills and spills.

 

League rules limit the amount of "non-domestic" players though Scarlet ....

 

MLS has a total of 152 'international' slots available for the entire league which are spread amongst the 19 teams. For MLS teams in the USA, an international slot is used for any player (including a designated player) who is not an American citizen, a holder of a green card, or who does not have special status (eg. is a refugee or has been previously granted asylum). In Canada, its pretty much the same with the exception that Americans are also classed as domestics and Canadian MLS teams must have a minimum of 3 Canadians in their squad.

 

As each squad has a maximum of 30 players, then that is 152 out of the 570 squad places league wide that are available to non-domestics. Each team started with a 8 slots, but teams can trade the slots as part of normal transfers/trades so Vancouver right now has 11 slots whereas Toronto has 9 ..... its somewhat similar to the old UEFA 3 foreigner rule that disappeared when it was deemed unlawful by the EU.

[Scarlet Pimple]

Well, who would have thunk it Scotty?

 

I didn't know all that interesting stuff. All I know is that Martin Rennie, manager of the Vancouver Whitecaps, comes from Golspie where his Dad was, supposedly, a preacher. 

 

Come to think of ,I have never seen his lips say a swear on the touchline. Jumps around a bit  maybe and gets agitated a little from time to time but curses? I don't think so.

 I know , like all of us, he was very disappointed at that loss to Seattle in that city recently--the 'Caps had played very well and had the momentum for most of the match so ,yes, it is a bitter blow to be beaten in the last moments of the game. But he accepted it with good grace but, like his very disappointed players, he  did look a bit down in the mouth.

 

The North American scene is livening up though with some faster action on the parks and some neat football on show so keep an eye on North America for the future. The 'Caps get a steady 20,000 to 23,000 fans in the door at home every time they play and the fans are  raucous lot--which is great ..

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

I am confused - is this thread about the SPL or the MLS ?

[RossP]

SPL? That's so last season... we're now talking about the SPFL*

*or something like that.

[+bughtmaster]

Come on you exiles, these big crowds? can't you organise some charter flights to fill the seats at TS? Just think they would be able to watch some real football 

[Scarlet Pimple]

Yeah, but  for quite a higher entry fee though?

 

The sport of soccer at the higher level is a relatively new phenomenon over here  and when the maestros of the buck decide to move they know that to spend money they have to spend it . So they build huge stadiums and get expert advice on the state of the game and how successful they are likely to be, Make no mistake about it they are spending money to make money and that is why, IMHO, that the likes of a good coach such as Alain Vigneault of the Vancouver Canucks ice hockey team got the boot after 7 successful years here just because the hockey team did not progress this year in the playoffs--hence the owners lost millions of dollars in lost revenue. One year they can overlook, yes, but two in succession that's just not  good enough for these businessmen first and fans second. 

 

In Vancouver, for example, in one area of the city over the past few years some 5000 boys played soccer regularly on weekends and that has been the trend for years. So there definitely has been an active interest in the game over here and since virtually all citizens are immigrants or sons or daughters of past immigrants then you can see where the interest readily comes from.

 

The development of T V and the internet has also glorified the sport and people can easily see now that it is THE game to be involved in because the networks are becoming more global by the day and the youngsters can see with their own eyes how popular and exciting this game is all over the world.

 

In England you have some 55 million people don't y, more or less and in Scotland the population has shrunk from what?--8 million   to five. Compare that with 33 million in Canada and some 240 million folks in the U.S. and you can see it's a no-contest situation. At the games it's razz-ma-tazz and constant singing and cheering whereas that's just not really the case in Scotland is it. People go for a good time here but not necessarily to cry their hearts out  for days if they lose. And there is a lot more money to invest in the game  over here  in North America, compared to Scotland I mean.