Transfer Window approaching.

[+DoofersDad]

What our club does well and no doubt will continue to do well is to bring in players who seem to be under-performing at a lower level and developing them within the structure.  We have always had a good team spirit which has allowed us to play as a team and through a succession of managers the focus has been the team rather than more prominent individuals.  New players need to be ones which fit in with the ethos of the club and can bring something to the style of play.

 

I think an important element of this is continuity.  Sides built on teamwork rather than individual flare need time to develop as a unit and that means that we need to find players who are keen to live in this part of the country and sign up for 2 or 3 years.  These factors make the County players an obvious place to look for replacements.  County have some good players who are under-performing as a team.  You only need to think back to the first half of the game at TCS earlier in the season when we were lucky not to go in at the interval 4 down.  They also know what it is like to live up here and, indeed, many wouldn't want to move away and if they fitted in with the team ethos at ICT would be ideal candidates for a longer term commitment to the club.

 

I wouldn't want to speculate which players might have the potential to develop within the ICT set up - all I'm saying is that OTB should be the first place Hughes should look at when seeking new blood.  As for the County boys, a switch to ICT would be perfect - they'd get to move to a big club down South without having to move house.

[davie]

At the moment, County don't have a single player who is of sufficient quality to command a place in our team.

[Kingsmills]

Actually agree that both Boyce and Cardle have potential and would improve the squad.

[Renegade]

At the moment, County don't have a single player who is of sufficient quality to command a place in our team.

 

Maybe not at this given moment, but should Mckay and Watkins etc leave the building, then there are some do definitely have the potential to be more than adequate replacements.

 

Also, I think dismissing County players out of hand because of their current form is short sighted and naive.  No-one complained when we signed their best players when they were in the league below, nor when we signed Don Cowie from a side that was later relegated from Division One.

[ICTRoughi]

In my opinion if we signed Liam Boyce, he wouldn't be any different to having Curtis Allen back at the club. The only exception I would take if we were to sign a Ross County player would be Tony Dingwall as I have watched him a few times a couple seasons back in the U20 league and always shined and now seems to be a regular starter OTB (currently injured though)

I personally feel you get better value for money if you sign a player from the lower leagues in England than signing a couple duds from OTB.

Edited January 23, 2015 by ICTRoughi

[Renegade]

In my opinion if we signed Liam Boyce, he wouldn't be any different to having Curtis Allen back at the club. 

 

No it wouldn't.  Boyce has been one of the players to actually stand out for County and does seem to have ability, as well as actually scoring and playing regularly at this level.  Again, you don't go from playing for Cliftonville to Werder Bremen for nothing.  Curtis Allen didn't make the bench once with us for a number of reasons, not least because he was actually pretty hopeless.  Considering I've seen both play, I would say Boyce is far superior player.

 

Again dismissing County players outright is naive.  Presumably going by that way of thinking, the signing of Don Cowie on a pre-contract from a very poor County side, in the league below and who were later relegated to Division 2, would also be classed as a 'dud'.

Edited January 23, 2015 by Renegade

[ICTRoughi]

In my opinion if we signed Liam Boyce, he wouldn't be any different to having Curtis Allen back at the club.

 

No it wouldn't.  Boyce has been one of the players to actually stand out for County and does seem to have ability, as well as actually scoring and playing regularly at this level.  Again, you don't go from playing for Cliftonville to Werder Bremen for nothing.  Curtis Allen didn't make the bench once with us for a number of reasons, not least because he was actually pretty hopeless.  Considering I've seen both play, I would say Boyce is far superior player.

 

Again dismissing County players outright is naive.  Presumably going by that way of thinking, the signing of Don Cowie on a pre-contract from a very poor County side, in the league below and who were later relegated to Division 2, would also be classed as a 'dud'.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves when Boyce was signed for Bremen's reserve team 'Werder Bremen II' and only played 3 times for that side. To be perfectly honest if Boyce was such a profilc striker in this league then he would have scored more than 3 league goals at this stage and established a regular start in their first eleven. Just imagine Mckay is leaving ICT and we replaced him with Liam Boyce, the downgrade in that is remarkable.

I don't feel I'm being naive, I feel I'm being realistic that Boyce would be a waste of money that would be better spent elsewhere. I'm not totally dismissing all Ross County players as I said in the previous post that Tony Dingwall would be an exception I would be willing to make.

[CELTIC1CALEY3]

Bring back Barrowman!! Just joking. 

[Kingsmills]

Very true, for every Don Cowie there is an Andrew Barrowman.

[davie]

It's not naive or short-sighted Roughie (it's me who dismissed all of them), it's recognition that Ross County are currently very, very poor. Boyce is a  player whose lack of ability and poor first touch would make him of no use to us. The fact that he can't command a starting place in the league's bottom team says a lot to me, at least. Cardle has not realised his potential at any club he's been at and is an english lower league player of the type that Marsalla probably looked at and thought nah. I can't see how they would improve our squad. In the current County side, there isn't a single player of the calibre of Cowie or Rankin (for instance) Even if the players that Renegade mentions leave the club in the summer, I'd like to think that the (currently) third best side in the country would replace them with better than those of a side (currently) plummeting to the division below. 

[CELTIC1CALEY3]

''..............plummeting to the division below...'' has a nice ring about it and the game on the 31st could be the last we have against them for a very long time although next year's SPFL could be exceedingly competitive if Hearts and Hibs come up.

 

Kiss is potentially a good player but he must be quite demoralised. He would though not fit in at ICT. Even Derek Adams on the radio thinks there is something wrong at the County!! Unlike Yogi, McIntyre and the Wee One, have already undermined the squad by a massive turnover (a touch of the Butcher philosophy).

 

In fact, it would not surprise me to see an advert on Gumtree during this window from Ross County putting the whole squad up for sale and asking buyers to 'pay what they can afford' for each player!!!

[caleydawson]

I personally feel you get better value for money if you sign a player from the lower leagues in England than signing a couple duds from OTB.

Sadly i have to agree with you there, their top youth prospect wouldn't make our U20's. The players we have gained from england have been fantastic as the saying goes if it ain't broke don't fix it. 

[+bughtmaster]

            Who are we to tell JH who to buy or not to buy.............leave it to the experts please.     

[Renegade]

 

I personally feel you get better value for money if you sign a player from the lower leagues in England than signing a couple duds from OTB.

Sadly i have to agree with you there, their top youth prospect wouldn't make our U20's. 

 

 

Nonsense.  Tony Dingwall is a good player and has a heck of a lot of potential.  To say he wouldn't get in our U20s is laughable.

 

While the English search has been successful on the whole (there's been a couple of duds), I hope we don't start flinging the net too wide.  That was what happened with our team in 2011, where we signed quite a few journeymen foreigners and as a result the team didn't really click at all.  Had Hibs and Dunfermline not been so poor that season, we could've been in trouble.

 

We've seen Dundee this season make a good signing in Greg Stewart from Division One.  I think it'd be foolish not to have a look there as well.  There'll certainly be a few players around in Scotland who'll be capable of making the step up.

Edited January 23, 2015 by Renegade

[ICTRoughi]

Wasn't Terry Butcher once quoted saying that players from the Scottish leagues demand more money which is well out of our wage budget than say players from the English leagues?

Without a doubt finances excluded there are players in the Scottish leagues that I would want to play for ICT but I think we should stick to our most usual transfer strategy in raiding the English leagues - I do agree we've had our fair share of duds with Claude Gnapka being my biggest gripe.

Where I think we could benefit is having a look in the European market too - with Latapy having experience in Portugal it could be a place to kickstart things off. In my mind, teams in Portugal and Spain will play a lot of passing football and we may have a hidden gem there that may be a good fit here.

[caleydawson]

 

 

I personally feel you get better value for money if you sign a player from the lower leagues in England than signing a couple duds from OTB.

Sadly i have to agree with you there, their top youth prospect wouldn't make our U20's. 

 

 

Nonsense.  Tony Dingwall is a good player and has a heck of a lot of potential.  To say he wouldn't get in our U20s is laughable.

Not really, i would say our forwards in the U20's are better than him

Edited January 23, 2015 by caleydawson

[Renegade]

Well we'll see who goes onto have the better career then.  As good as the likes of Ferguson and Sutherland are, if they were going to keep the likes of Dingwall out of the side, we'd probably be finding a losing battle trying to hold onto them.

[Scarlet Pimple]

ICT Roughi

 

Quite an ambitious thought that you have there.

 

Another Juanjo would  please me . ...

[gingerjaggy]

I think looking at county players is selling ourselves short. Yogi has contacts and with the positions we have finished we are making more of a name for ourselves that players want to come to the highlands. Remember yogi plucked Kasper Schmeichel and Anthony Stokes to Falkirk so if and when Billy and whoever do leave us I am Sure Yogi has contacts tht will get some quality players to replace them.   

[Sneckboy]

That's a bit of a 'blinkered' attitude, gingerjaggy! I fail to see how looking at players from certain clubs - County in this case - is 'selling ourselves short'.

I infer that you think all clubs currently below us are not worth looking at as their players are clearly inferior to what we've got.

Football isn't as simple as that. 'Club X' is currently doing better than 'club Y' therefore none of the players at 'club Y' would be good enough for 'club X'. !!

Andrew Robertson would still be playing in level 4 if Dundee United had thought that 'scouting' Queen's Park games was beneath them.

[Guest Shaun]

I don't think we will be seeing any new signings because they wouldn't get into team just now due to our current form.

Don't think we need a goalkeeper due to having Ryan as number 2.

In fact, imo its time to keep youngsters like Sutherland, Polworth and Ferguson in our matchday squad.

[Scarlet Pimple]

You just never know where the next gem is coming from. Maybe under a stone....?

 

Just because they play for a losing team or a disadvantaged one, does not mean that they don't have potential.

[gingerjaggy]

That's a bit of a 'blinkered' attitude, gingerjaggy! I fail to see how looking at players from certain clubs - County in this case - is 'selling ourselves short'.

I infer that you think all clubs currently below us are not worth looking at as their players are clearly inferior to what we've got.

Football isn't as simple as that. 'Club X' is currently doing better than 'club Y' therefore none of the players at 'club Y' would be good enough for 'club X'. !!

Andrew Robertson would still be playing in level 4 if Dundee United had thought that 'scouting' Queen's Park games was beneath them.

 

I think you have misunderstood what i mean't. I am not devaluing players who are not playing at clubs higher than us I am just saying that in my opinion there are better players than are at county regardless of their fortunes. There are clubs not even in the premiership that I would reckon would do a good job for us but I think overall we have a better side than county man for man at the moment and I don think any of there players will necessarily improve our team if some of our key members leave. So looking at county I think we are selling ourselves short but say St Mirren who are also having a poor season I would take Kenny McLean in a heartbeat and also i think Rory Loy at Falkirk is a good striker but we won't get either them. Yogi has brought in some good players to Falkirk who are not much bigger if they are than us and yes we do have geographical issues that makes it harder to attract players but i am sure he can find a few gems either on loan or permanently.  

[Rival]

Boyce is a very good player, has been in the NI squad and while I can't prove this, I reckon he'd have 10+ goals if he was in our team right now.

[ICTRoughi]

Noticed this today: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30966730

Wouldn't mind taking him here as a short term back up to Mckay.