ICTFC Squad Update 21/22/23/

[Kingsmills]

I can't help contrast our activity this month with that of Kilmarnock.

They have replaced their faltering manager with someone who will be, by a margin, the highest paid in the division, brought in Ash Taylor, Kyle Lafferty and Daniel McKay on loan.

By contrast, we have brought in a few on loan that, I for one, had never previously heard of.

Killie have, for better or worse, bet the farm on going straight back up whereas it looks like we are maybe hoping to pip Raith or Partick to the last play off place 

That said, surely we now have a great incentive to beat them for the third consecutive time on Saturday.

[Eagle4Caley]

7 minutes ago, Jockdoonsouth said:

Anyone else feeling a little underwhelmed by our efforts in the transfer window? 3 loan players in - 2 really struggling for fitness and lacking game time. Shows a complete lack of ambition to get us out of the championship in all honesty.

Or lack of money.... Have we had any attendence over 2000?

[Yngwie]

44 minutes ago, Kingsmills said:

 completely underwhelmed by the fact that, according to Wikipedia, he is a forward to has never scored a senior goal.

“A striker who doesn’t score many goals? He’ll fit in well here!”

That, by the way, is a quote from PM Gordon Brown when I was discussing with him Raith’s new signing at the time, Steve Hislop!

[Scotty]

Its always the same ... but realistically, as the saying goes, you can only pi** with the co** you got !!! Whilst we all love our team, in the eyes of the rest of the world, and regardless of whether it is a right or wrong perception, we are a small provincial club in the middle of nowhere with piss poor crowds playing outside the top division in Scotland, a league which is not highly rated, and with no money to spend. Our benefactors have put in money as and where they can, but unlike some other clubs, that too is not a bottomless pit. 

We cannot force players to come to Inverness, on loan or otherwise, just as we cant force existing players to sign longer terms deals .. and while we all know that we are only an hour or two flight from London or Amsterdam and therefore the rest of the world by plane, the rest of the world still seems to think we have steam powered carriages coming up the single track A9 to the quaint village of Inversnecky. 

Where I think we can and must do better is in our vision for loans ... We seem very narrow focused when there is a wide world out there. If any of our staff have contacts in the game at other clubs in the UK through agents or employment then utilise them. These can be clubs at home or abroad. Barry's played for a few teams, Doddsy too and Robbo should have good contacts. Our CEO also has those within Scotland ..... I will also repeat myself about MLS .... its a great place to look for up and coming youngsters and with Canada now in the top 40 (fastest rising nation of 2021) and the USA at #11 the work permit situation is a lot easier ... I notice Dundee just signed ex-TFC player Jay Chapman from Miami for example, a workmanlike midfielder who didn't seem to have an issue with permits due to his involvement with the Canadian national team. Liam Fraser, previously at Toronto and on loan at Columbus for last year just signed for a second division Danish side and he would have done a job for us too and also would not have permit issues .... The point is that there are bound to be a lot of gems out there and some quick phone calls or emails to contacts they already have may bear fruit (pending those ITC papers). 

[+Robert]

1 hour ago, Kingsmills said:

Not sure whether to be overwhelmed by the fact that he has been, not so very long ago, been on the books of both Manchester City and Liverpool or completely underwhelmed by the fact that, according to Wikipedia, he is a forward to has never scored a senior goal.

In fairness to him, he’s hardly played any senior games. Reading the Wikipedia piece, his goals record in Academy and Under 23 matches is pretty good.

Hopefully he is one signing who turns out to be a master stroke by us. 

Edited January 27, 2022 by Robert

[GaliantGrunt]

Were Dennis Wyness or Billy Mackay prolific goalscorers and the finished article before getting the chance and finding their feet with us? Also I don’t think our young up and comers Roddy McGregor or Cameron Harper for example scored any goals until they got the chance to. We need to give players young or old a chance, don’t we?

[old caley girl]

5 hours ago, Jockdoonsouth said:

Anyone else feeling a little underwhelmed by our efforts in the transfer window? 3 loan players in - 2 really struggling for fitness and lacking game time. Shows a complete lack of ambition to get us out of the championship in all honesty.

Aye me. Totally agree 

[RiG]

Good luck to all these guys(obviously) but I think supporters were hoping for a bit of a lift and maybe get a "name" through the door.

There's still time of course... 

[+snorbens_caleyman]

5 hours ago, Jockdoonsouth said:

Anyone else feeling a little underwhelmed by our efforts in the transfer window? 3 loan players in - 2 really struggling for fitness and lacking game time. Shows a complete lack of ambition to get us out of the championship in all honesty.

More likely shows a complete lack of money.

[forresjags]

It's not  the supporters who need to give these new guys a chance ,its Dodds and co. Please let's see them and not bring them up here to make up the numbers as benchwarmers.

 

[CaleyTennis]

I still expect another one or two to come in before Mondays deadline so hopefully they are centre backs.

 

With this guy signed today I'd expect Hector-Ingram to not be getting a contract but I've not seen anything about Daniel Fox (if he was even on trial) from the Instagram story so he could well have left also, without getting a contract.

[RiG]

Almost like rumours from a Caley Thistle Instagram page are a load of pish.

[+IBM]

According to Billy Dodds he is hoping to add one more player before Monday from the P&J today. 

[tm4tj]

A Journalist?

[Kingsmills]

34 minutes ago, tm4tj said:

A Journalist?

You beat me to it. We could do with a speedy left sided features editor.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Does anybody actually want us to be promoted this season ?  If we are doing to go up then we need to have the core of a structure and finances ready to support us - if not we face the prospect of being the proverbial whipping boys which could result in the crowds dwindling further and the "support" diminishing. If we had real ambition to go up then it would have been clearly apparent from the comings and goings. And are we also stepping back in the realms of the club communicating with the club base. This has been as poor a league this season as it has been for a long time. At the present time we could end up first or fifth and that could happen in a few games. Kilmarnock are massively odds on now. They may take a few games to get going and I can see us picking up at least a point tomorrow.

[Kingsmills]

15 minutes ago, IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER said:

Does anybody actually want us to be promoted this season ?  If we are doing to go up then we need to have the core of a structure and finances ready to support us - if not we face the prospect of being the proverbial whipping boys which could result in the crowds dwindling further and the "support" diminishing. If we had real ambition to go up then it would have been clearly apparent from the comings and goings. And are we also stepping back in the realms of the club communicating with the club base. This has been as poor a league this season as it has been for a long time. At the present time we could end up first or fifth and that could happen in a few games. Kilmarnock are massively odds on now. They may take a few games to get going and I can see us picking up at least a point tomorrow.

The whole of Scottish football thought we would be whipping boys the first time we were promoted to the top tier yet, apart from a one season blip, we remained there for a decade including regular top six finishes, cup finals and the premier knock out trophy in the land all on poor crowds but prudent management.

There is no reason why that can't happen again but the priority this season has to get there which is the frustratingly worrying aspect to our lack of business this month.

[RiG]

19 hours ago, RiG said:

Good luck to all these guys(obviously) but I think supporters were hoping for a bit of a lift and maybe get a "name" through the door.

There's still time of course... 

And as expected it seems we have another signing in the shape of Austin Samuels, a forward from Wolves, coming in on loan.

He was at Aberdeen earlier this season and didn't really make much of an impression.

[RiG]

Scratch that. Not a loan but an 18 month contract for the lad.

 

[ymip]

Dandy mate says he's lightning fast. Was a bit of a rising star for 2 or 3 games then benched for rest of his time at the Dons without any apparent explanation. An interesting signing whom you'd hope would kick on in the Championship. 

[hislopsoffsideagain]

Kilmarnock need to go up this year, otherwise they are going to be in massive trouble financially. Therefore they are throwing everything at this. I expect even their loan signings are costing them some cash - they won't have been the only club looking to get in Daniel Mackay for example. Their budget is the highest in the division by miles and we can't possibly compete with it. Ash Taylor will be on crazy money.

 

I'd like to think Dodds has a plan for all these attackers he has signed, but it may well be the case that he's taken a punt on several players who have plenty of upside (Hardy was good enough that Liverpool signed him as a 22 year old; Chalmers has been heralded as a star in the making for a few years at Dundee United) and if even one of them turns out to be a goalscoring machine then that will make a huge difference to us.

 

I feel like we will be massively short in midfield when Welsh inevitably gets injured though...

 

 

[RiG]

They're getting Scott Allan as well.

[+Robert]

3 hours ago, hislopsoffsideagain said:

I feel like we will be massively short in midfield when Welsh inevitably gets injured though...

 

 

I agree we need to bring someone in for either defence or midfield. With question marks over how long Devine will be out for, either Duffy or Deas will have a run at centre half.

Carson could cover midfield but looks like being needed at right back.

Hopefully MacGregor is back soon, and it could be his chance to become a permanent feature.

Suspensions may become an issue too, as Carson, Deas, Broadfoot and Welsh all have a few bookings.

And we are definitely vulnerable to further injuries.

Up front we have had three out and four in, so hopefully have found a gem amongst the signings. Hopefully Samuels does well given we have him permanently. We are likely to lose Sutherland at some point if he is found guilty of the betting charge.

Looking further ahead, with four loan players and a small squad, there is a rebuilding job to be done again in the summer regardless of which league we are in. Anyone got a list of those still signed for next season?

Off the top of my head we have Ridgers, Carson, Deas (although he may be snapped up by St Johnstone in the summer), Harper, Allardice, MacGregor, Walsh, Samuels and Mckay.

Are there others (and I’m pretty sure the club never advised how long MacKay and Doran resigned for)?

Edited January 28, 2022 by Robert

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

6 hours ago, Kingsmills said:

The whole of Scottish football thought we would be whipping boys the first time we were promoted to the top tier yet, apart from a one season blip, we remained there for a decade including regular top six finishes, cup finals and the premier knock out trophy in the land all on poor crowds but prudent management.

There is no reason why that can't happen again but the priority this season has to get there which is the frustratingly worrying aspect to our lack of business this month.

I think I may have assessed somebody with similar delusions the other night. OK lets add another couple of questions- Can we survive going up with the current squad of players and the financial situation ? Did we have a better squad and were in a considerably better financial position on the last occasion ?

[tm4tj]

This is arguably the worst team we have had since we joined the Leagues. Short of class, pace, creativity and anything else needed to get us promotion.