New contracts on offer for Dargo & Brown

[kencar]

Press and Journal.....

Caley Thistle will make another attempt to secure forward Craig Dargo on a new deal as they try to avoid losing another key member of their squad.

Inverness captain Darren Dods has signed a pre-contract agreement with Dundee United and the defender will move to Tannadice for nothing in the summer.

Goalkeeper Mark Brown, another free agent when the campaign ends, has had talks with Falkirk about a move to Westfield and was offered terms by the Bairns last week. Inverness responded with a two-year proposal which would make him the best-paid player in their history and the 25-year-old will consider the offer.

Dargo was given the chance to commit his long-term future to Caley Thistle several months ago but has so far failed to sign.

With Alan Gow likely to leave Falkirk, former Kilmarnock player Dargo has been linked with a move to the Bairns.

Bristol City are also thought to be keen, with reports suggesting the Ashton Gate outfit is ready to pay £50,000 for Dargo now.

Manager Charlie Christie knows how costly losing all three players might be. The trio make up the spine of his team and their departures would leave him with a significant rebuilding job.

But Christie has limited money to offer and concedes they may be priced out of the market.

He said: "We plan to talk to Craig. We had been hoping to speak to him on Thursday but he was unavailable. Instead, we will have a chat with him first thing during the week and the situation with him is the same as the other two players.

"All three are integral parts of our squad but we can only do so much as we try to hang on them. We can tell them how great a club Inverness is until we are blue in the face but finances dictate things in an individual's life and I appreciate that."

Barry Wilson is another player who could move on under freedom of contract in the summer and Christie will discuss the winger's future with him.

Christie, who has been with Caley Thistle since their 1994 formation, has seen the club experience similar situations and believes it can recover. He added: "Obviously, I am disappointed to lose Darren but it is not unexpected. I know the budgets other clubs work with so it is not a huge surprise.

"We got him for nothing and turned his career around. If we hadn't signed him from St Johnstone when he wasn't getting a game, who knows where Darren Dods might be just now?

"He owes a lot to Caley Thistle, but we have had a huge payback from the man and we just have to accept that these sort of things happen.

"We had to deal with it when we were in the First Division and we lost the likes of Paul Sheerin and Davide Xausa.

"We still managed to step on from there and the challenge for us now is to do the same thing again."

[Harry Chibber]

Think you highlighted the wrong line there

"Dargo was given the chance to commit his long-term future to Caley Thistle several months ago but has so far failed to sign."

looks like his mind has been made up for a while now!!

Out of the 3 players I care for Dargo the least, I think with Bayne and Wyness upfront we have looked more comfortable this season, similar to Paul Ritchie & Wyness combo, and for the fact he seems to be moaning his chops off it might be best for all concerned if he went. 

Fair play to the club for pulling out the stops to keep Brown at the club but I fear that other players will try the same tactics to improve their contracts now.  If he turns down the offer then at least the club have done all they can to try and keep him here.  I'd love if he stayed as he is the one player of real value in the ICT squad, if we can get him tied up to this contract and even if he decides to leave next season we could easily demand a big fee for him, not to mention he could be the first ICT player to get a full cap for his country, but if he leaves then fair play to him, we still have Fraser who is a very decent replacement.

Dods has been excellent for us and will be a massive loss, IMO caff isn't up for the job so we will need to get a replacement and I think the board are going to have to dig into their pockets for this one because the chance of us finding another Dods on a free aren't likely.

[davieB]

Dargo spoke to the press once.....about him being continuously substituted. Hardly a case of 'moaning his chops off'.  If I remember rightly quite a few other players have 'moaned their chops off' to the press this season(Hart and Duncan spring to mind).

Of the three I'd rather us pull out all the stops to keep Dargo, though the way CC seems to be handling the situation there seems to be no chance of that. The Bayne/Wyness partnership might indeed work well together, but seeing as they've notched up a grand tally of 5 league goals BETWEEN them this season, compared to Dargos 6, then they're hardly prolific.

20 goal a season strikers are few and far between, and to lose one will be a massive blow to us. Yes, I know Dargo hasn't hit the heights he did last season.....yet, but he's still an infinitely better choice up front than anyone else in our squad.

I'm not that bothered about Brown leaving, as I think Michael could prove to be an even better keeper. Saying that, if Brown does resign then we'll definitely lose Fraser.

[Harry Chibber]

Dargo spoke to the press once.....about him being continuously substituted. Hardly a case of 'moaning his chops off'.  If I remember rightly quite a few other players have 'moaned their chops off' to the press this season(Hart and Duncan spring to mind).

Neither criticised the manager, only stated that they required first team football if they were going to stay at the club, while Dargo openly questioned the manager, which shows absolutely no respect. 

Of the three I'd rather us pull out all the stops to keep Dargo, though the way CC seems to be handling the situation there seems to be no chance of that. The Bayne/Wyness partnership might indeed work well together, but seeing as they've notched up a grand tally of 5 league goals BETWEEN them this season, compared to Dargos 6, then they're hardly prolific.

20 goal a season strikers are few and far between, and to lose one will be a massive blow to us. Yes, I know Dargo hasn't hit the heights he did last season.....yet, but he's still an infinitely better choice up front than anyone else in our squad.

Wyness has been INJURED half the SEASON so can't really count the goals RATIO, and they have only played 4 times together as an upfront PARTNERSHIP and we have picked up 7 POINTS, which has kick started our SEASON! Before hand we couldn't buy a goal and were verging on RELEGATION.

[Guest donmac298]

In Kencar's post the thing that convinces me that Dargo's on his way is "we had hoped to speak to him on Thursday but he was unavailable".  If was keen to sign he would have pulled out all the stops to make himself available.

[buckett]

I reckon Michael Fraser would be a bigger loss to the club than Mark Brown at this stage, reason being that Brown has proved himself at this level and has already attracted the attention of wealthier clubs and will probably leave within the next year or so anyway.

I like what I've seen of Fraser and reckon he will not be out of his depth playing in the first team - we'd probably get at least 5 years out of him if he were to replace Brown now and prove to be as good or better, before being poached by a wealthier team.

What I don't want to see is Fraser leaving because he can't get a game for the first team. That would be worse than Brown leaving now.

It is quite feasible, for the reasons given above, that Fraser could leave, closely followed by Brown.

And that would not be good!

[beachcomber]

It is quite feasible, for the reasons given above, that Fraser could leave, closely followed by Brown.

And that would not be good!

Ach, I'm sure Jimmy Calder would step into the breach

Might even save the odd penalty  :016:

[strathyjags]

mr calder is trying ot reitre even from highland league fottie,i speak to him dialy and have mentioned ict a few tiems to him,he is a coach there but wouldnt play for them again,he,s nowhere near good enough,and thats his own words

[Kingsmills]

The bottom line is if it's purely about money we are unlikely to keep either of them.

If, on the other hand, the players have other priorities, there may be just a chance.

In my opinion Dargo would be the bigger loss of the two as Fraser could be potentially as good whereas I can't see any of our remaining forwards being nearly as prolific as Dargo.

[strathyjags]

prolific? hadnt say i had notcied this season :006: