ICTFC Squad Update 21/22/23/

[Northern_jaggie]

Welsh and Wotherspoon in the middle of the park is a duo to be excited about. 

[Duke of Inverness]

17 hours ago, Northern_jaggie said:

Welsh and Wotherspoon in the middle of the park is a duo to be excited about. 

Don't mean to be negative, but I'm slightly worried about them both being fit enough / injury free to even be on the park. Both will be a few weeks off match sharpness even if fit to go now. 

[CaleyCanary]

32 minutes ago, Duke of Inverness said:

Don't mean to be negative, but I'm slightly worried about them both being fit enough / injury free to even be on the park. Both will be a few weeks off match sharpness even if fit to go now. 

I can understand your worries, however, given the quality of the pair of them and the extra experience Wotherspoon brings, it’s a good reason to be optimistic. Just need to keep everything crossed they can both stay fit to help us climb out of the mire.

[IBM]

And with a stricter training regime hopefully they will get fitter. 

[SteveA]

Jay Emmanuel-Thomas is in on trial.

Edited October 19, 2023 by SteveA

[Robert]

1 hour ago, SteveA said:

Jay Emmanuel-Thomas is in on trial.

Worryingly the P&J article has worrying news on our injury position:

https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/sport/football/inverness-caledonian-thistle/6225495/ex-aberdeen-forward-jay-emmanuel-thomas-on-trial-caley-thistle/ 

Doran is out for a few months. Boyes has an eye injury, whilst Welsh, Wotherspoon and Devine all picked up knocks last night, although Wotherspoon will be ready for Saturday.

It is good to see Ferguson being much more informative in his interviews than his predecessor. 

Edited October 19, 2023 by Robert

[+DoofersDad]

50 minutes ago, Robert said:

Welsh, Wotherspoon and Devine all picked up knocks last night

Was Devine's during or after the match? 

[Robert]

23 minutes ago, DoofersDad said:

Was Devine's during or after the match? 

The article says he came off with a swollen knee, so it must have been during the game. 

[CaleyCanary]

3 hours ago, SteveA said:

Jay Emmanuel-Thomas is in on trial.

JET could do a good job for us in the Championship - things are definitely starting to look more interesting and hopeful…

[Scotty]

2 hours ago, CaleyCanary said:

JET could do a good job for us in the Championship - things are definitely starting to look more interesting and hopeful…

A Google search is less than encouraging with his stats! 

 

 

[bdu98196]

14 hours ago, Robert said:

Doran is out for a few months. Boyes has an eye injury, whilst Welsh, Wotherspoon and Devine all picked up knocks

Doran and Welsh.......how is maintaining contracts for these guys sustainable. Slow and poor recruitment along with inability to be proactive in new deals for existing players the last few seasons has ultimately allowed deals for these players to be put in place due to desperation and no alternatives with the same old outcomes.

These are a Robbo and Dodds legacy issue and exemplifies our poor recruitment strategy.

[bdu98196]

12 hours ago, Robert said:

The article says he came off with a swollen knee, so it must have been during the game. 

Hope he'll be fit enough to drive himself and Doran to physio

[Yngwie]

We are accustomed to Doran getting injured but it’s still a shame. I was slightly surprised that he got a contract extension this summer but he’s shown that he could still make a contribution to the first team this season.

[Huisdean]

2 hours ago, bdu98196 said:

Doran and Welsh.......how is maintaining contracts for these guys sustainable. Slow and poor recruitment along with inability to be proactive in new deals for existing players the last few seasons has ultimately allowed deals for these players to be put in place due to desperation and no alternatives with the same old outcomes.

These are a Robbo and Dodds legacy issue and exemplifies our poor recruitment strategy.

Have to disagree on this. Wr are a much better team with Welsh in it and he has been sorely missed this season. My understanding is that he played with an injury at the back end of last season and this has been the problem for the start of this season. Don't know if the injury sustained at Nairn is a similar injury.

Doran can also still do a job for us in the Championship. His latest injury is a hamstring one which can happen to any player. Ferguson had obviously thought he was good enough to start the last 2 games.

[bdu98196]

Whether you feel we are better for the brief cameo appearances of these guys or not. Given the constant feedback on our budgetary constraints do we get value in return? Unfortunately probably not over the last few years.

[Robert]

3 hours ago, Huisdean said:

Have to disagree on this. Wr are a much better team with Welsh in it and he has been sorely missed this season. My understanding is that he played with an injury at the back end of last season and this has been the problem for the start of this season. Don't know if the injury sustained at Nairn is a similar injury.

I was also told by someone in the club that Welsh played through an injury as he was wanted for the cup final. As a result he missed pre-season and still had to shake the injury off.

I didn’t see what happened on Wednesday as he was flat on his back by the time I was aware there was an issue so it may have happened off the ball. He seemed to be holding his back which means it could be a different issue. He came straight back on and played for 10 minutes so it may be that he was subbed as a precaution or he thought he could run it off.

I don’t think he missed that many games last season although I have not checked any stats.

[Robert]

19 hours ago, DoofersDad said:

Was Devine's during or after the match? 

Meant to ask: is there a story there about something happening after the game?

[STFU]

I don't think Doran is a 90 minute player, but still useful to have in for the first hour of a game, or off the bench.

What "value" that has to the team is for the manager to decide when handing out contracts and agreeing wages.

[Donald1973]

9 hours ago, bdu98196 said:

Doran and Welsh.......how is maintaining contracts for these guys sustainable. Slow and poor recruitment along with inability to be proactive in new deals for existing players the last few seasons has ultimately allowed deals for these players to be put in place due to desperation and no alternatives with the same old outcomes.

These are a Robbo and Dodds legacy issue and exemplifies our poor recruitment strategy.

Totally 100% agree, jobs for the boys contracts on a rolling year basis and now it's coming back to bite us. Time for a clear out, no loyalty ties required 

[Robert]

First year apprentice defenders Sam Nixon and Jack Walker have joined Forres on loan until 4 January. 

[bdu98196]

1 hour ago, STFU said:

What "value" that has to the team is for the manager to decide when handing out contracts and agreeing wages.

Why would the manager be dealing with contracts when we have a DoF?

[Scotty]

32 minutes ago, bdu98196 said:

Why would the manager be dealing with contracts when we have a DoF?

Director of Football was originally setup to be a direct link from the boardroom to the dugout not to scout and sign all the players without the manager consent. He may work on negotiations on contract terms, length and other details, and may have to liaise with the board to get approvals and make the occasional case to sign a player if (when) there is no budget, but recruitment falls squarely on the manager (or should). Renewal of contracts would be the same. Cant see Big Dunc agreeing to a situation where anyone else has power of veto over him on purely footballing squad decisions unless it is a monetary issue affecting the club. 

Sporting Director on the other hand is less clear. The club's own press release in 2021 and the BBC article naming Robbo simply said "The club say Robertson will work on a "number of specific projects. Chief executive Scot Gardiner added that he would be "a great help to the board and myself and his love of the club and the city will help drive us on"." Thats murky to say the least. After Dodds was given the job he further muddied the waters by noting he would be mad not to speak to Robbo about signings:  "Dodds says he will have the "final say" over new signings, adding: "But I would crazy not to go and ask John Robertson, who is a football man, and we will be working together to look at players and come up with targets."

 

 

[STFU]

Not often you see us sending out players to bigger clubs!

https://twitter.com/ICTFC/status/1715427665719517302

[Robert]

We’ve hardly seen him this season so hopefully game time will benefit him. 

[Satan]

Cillian Sheridan.

Big man up top...

Initially until January

Edited October 26, 2023 by Satan