ICTFC Squad Update 21/22/23/

[RiG]

There's your striker in.

 

[Kingsmills]

Far from convinced that he has any more potential than our own young forwards and I would still like to see another defender.

[hislopsoffsideagain]

1 hour ago, Kingsmills said:

Far from convinced that he has any more potential than our own young forwards and I would still like to see another defender.

I mentioned my concerns about the signing on Twitter, but a lot of St. Mirren fans have been quite insistent that this kid is a talent and they think he'll do well for us. Fingers crossed.

[Robert]

Given McDonald is no 17 in today’s squad, presumably Billy Mckay will have the no 9 shirt this season.

If so, AaronCoganShogun gets his wish this season!!

Edited July 25, 2021 by Robert

[The Mantis]

52 minutes ago, Robert said:

If so, AaronCoganShogun gets his wish this season!!

Why, who’s getting shot?

[ClickbaitProponent]

A few weeks ago I was very vocal about my concerns regarding Broadfoot and Gardyne, and held my reservations about Dodds. After Broadfoot's performance against Peterhead I happily rescinded my viewpoint - not anymore. Sorry but Broadfoot and Gardyne need to start doing something very special or we have wasted a years contracts on the pair of them and two years on Dodds. Let's face it Dodd's is out of his depth. I'm going to hazard a guess and say McCann was the one with nounce in their partnership. 

[Kingsmills]

50 minutes ago, Jockdoonsouth said:

A few weeks ago I was very vocal about my concerns regarding Broadfoot and Gardyne, and held my reservations about Dodds. After Broadfoot's performance against Peterhead I happily rescinded my viewpoint - not anymore. Sorry but Broadfoot and Gardyne need to start doing something very special or we have wasted a years contracts on the pair of them and two years on Dodds. Let's face it Dodd's is out of his depth. I'm going to hazard a guess and say McCann was the one with nounce in their partnership. 

A disappointing League Cup group stage is hardly a novelty for us although admittedly this one was more disappointing than most.

That said, the league season has not begun, our pre season preparation was severely disrupted and our most experienced forward has yet to kick a ball yet.

How about giving the new manager and the players he has recruited a chance before condemning them out of hand.

[ClickbaitProponent]

9 hours ago, Kingsmills said:

A disappointing League Cup group stage is hardly a novelty for us although admittedly this one was more disappointing than most.

That said, the league season has not begun, our pre season preparation was severely disrupted and our most experienced forward has yet to kick a ball yet.

How about giving the new manager and the players he has recruited a chance before condemning them out of hand.

Sadly, as we have seen season after season, a poor pre-season marks a poor season ahead. I'm not going to hold my breath. Dodd's signings so far have proven to be less than inspiring ... the proof of the pudding is in the eating ... and at the moment anyone eating that pudding has dose of the shites. 

[RiG]

Must be a new record on CTO to write off the manager and new signings after *checks notes* four games...

[hislopsoffsideagain]

23 minutes ago, RiG said:

Must be a new record on CTO to write off the manager and new signings after *checks notes* four games...

I think I wrote off Foran after six...but I think we all wish the club had too!

[Donald1973]

Problem is its history repeating itself, some of us can see every year from one or 2 games whether any lessons have been learned. Sadly so far this year it appears not. We have now lost 6 goals in our first 3 games and had it not been for a motm performance by Ridgers we could be into double figures. That coupled with the fact that, granted I didn't watch the whole game yesterday as I missed the first 17 mins due to Premier sports being awkward, but I can't actually remember Craig Gordon being tested once. Obviously Hearts are a much harder opposition and we couldn't gauge much from that, but the lack of effort and aptitude shown at the last 2 games are a major cause for concern. It appears that some fans think that next sat a highly polished version of effectively the same squad we have watched over the last few weeks will emerge and run riot over Arbroath. Sadly I think this couldnt be further from the truth and if previous seasons are anything to go by it could be Sept/Oct before we actually start looking like a team 

[Kingsmills]

5 hours ago, hislopsoffsideagain said:

I think I wrote off Foran after six...but I think we all wish the club had too!

Took me until October. I wish the club had even have been that quick.

[Scotty]

7 hours ago, Jockdoonsouth said:

Dodd's signings so far have proven to be less than inspiring ... 

He can only sign who is willing to come here from other clubs, or who already stay in the area if they were here with other clubs. He cant force people to sign with us, and we don't have the financial muscle to make players an offer that's hard to refuse!  

I feel we all need a bit of a reality check at times .... Lets face it, ICT in the championship, in the middle of a pandemic, with a less than stellar wage budget is hardly going to attract the type of player - or perhaps manager - that (some of) our support wants (or even had as recently as 6 years ago) ... but if we can claw our way back to the Premiership then perhaps we can build on that as we have done before .....   

[Kingsmills]

1 hour ago, Scotty said:

He can only sign who is willing to come here from other clubs, or who already stay in the area if they were here with other clubs. He cant force people to sign with us, and we don't have the financial muscle to make players an offer that's hard to refuse!  

I feel we all need a bit of a reality check at times .... Lets face it, ICT in the championship, in the middle of a pandemic, with a less than stellar wage budget is hardly going to attract the type of player - or perhaps manager - that (some of) our support wants (or even had as recently as 6 years ago) ... but if we can claw our way back to the Premiership then perhaps we can build on that as we have done before .....   

I agree. We were perhaps spoiled by a decade of (almost) unbroken participation in the top tier, numerous semi finals and a couple of national cup finals and an unforgettable foray into Europe.

Personally, given time, I believe these sort of times may come again but oscillating between the top and second top tier may be our more natural position given our location, resources and fan base and we have not fared as badly in recent years as similar sized clubs such as Partick, Raith Rovers and Falkirk.

For those of us raised on a diet of watching our neigbours, milkmen, PE teachers and firefighters playing part time in the Highland League often for beer money and when beating the likes of Clyde, Albion Rovers or Stirling Albion in the Cup counted as giant killing having a team playing in a half decent stadium, on a full time basis at a reasonable level is still a source of some contentment.

[+snorbens_caleyman]

29 minutes ago, Kingsmills said:

... but oscillating between the top and second top tier may be our more natural position given our location, resources and fan base

I agree with that, especially given the size of the divisions.   Having seen even Hearts, Hibs and the Dundee clubs relegated recently, no club apart from the Old Firm and maybe Aberdeen can regard a Premiership place as a given.

The frustrating thing is that if the divisions were a sensible size, then we could well be a more permanent fixture in the top flight.

[Kingsmills]

5 minutes ago, snorbens_caleyman said:

I agree with that, especially given the size of the divisions.   Having seen even Hearts, Hibs and the Dundee clubs relegated recently, no club apart from the Old Firm and maybe Aberdeen can regard a Premiership place as a given.

The frustrating thing is that if the divisions were a sensible size, then we could well be a more permanent fixture in the top flight.

Only greed and self interest stops there being 2 national divisions of either 16 or 18 with North and South regional divisions beneath.

[IBM]

33 minutes ago, Kingsmills said:

Only greed and self interest stops there being 2 national divisions of either 16 or 18 with North and South regional divisions beneath.

Spot on Kingsmills!

[ymip]

On 7/22/2021 at 7:13 PM, ymip said:

Given Tuesday night's defensive train wreck this, on the face of it, seems like a very strange decision. Unless I'm mistaken that leaves us with six recognised defenders (Broadfoot, Deas, Devine, Duffy, Harper and Fyfe) which suggests we either have reinforcements lined up or Dodds has decided to play 2 at the back over the Winter period. 

That's Fyfe off to Nairn until January which I believe leaves us with six defenders, assuming Carson is now classed as a defender. This would surely suggest we have someone incoming...or am I being overly optimistic. 

[Kingsmills]

3 minutes ago, ymip said:

That's Fyfe off to Nairn until January which I believe leaves us with six defenders, assuming Carson is now classed as a defender. This would surely suggest we have someone incoming...or am I being overly optimistic. 

I think you are being sensible and realistic. Let's hope that Billy Dodds is similarly realistic.

[IBM]

 Sorry to disappoint you 

[Robert]

Presumably we can recall Fyffe if needed.

The game time should do him good, but we are short of cover if one of Broadfoot, Devine or Deas gets injured. 

[+HawkeyeTheGnu]

I thought we were a defender short before this…

[Robert]

I agree. We only had one defender on the bench today, Harper, with no sign of Duffy.

[Kingsmills]

19 hours ago, IBM said:

 Sorry to disappoint you 

I suspect that he has been told that the coffers are empty.

[Robert]

Five more youngsters have gone on loan:

Ethan Cairns to Strathspey:

https://ictfc.com/ethan-cairns-joins-strathspey-thistle-on-loan

Aly Riddle and Harry Hennem to Brora:

https://ictfc.com/aly-riddle-and-harry-hennem-join-brora-rangers-on-loan

Robbie Thompson and Lewis Nicolson to Clach:

https://ictfc.com/robbie-thompson-and-lewis-nicolson-join-clach-on-loan

 

Edited August 10, 2021 by Robert