Dargo is a Saint?

[tm4tj]

Well, I am disappointed in the whole episode.  Like he didn't know what to do, what a dilemna, Central belt or the Highlands of Scotland, so remote people can only get here after a horrendous journey from the hub, a place only hunchbacks and lepers live, where tumbleweed blows around all week and the Hillbillies come out to play at the weekend, more eerie than watching deliverance. The comparisons are so remote it is unthinkable that anyone would play up here for more than a few games.  Well Mr Dargo, your ego has outgrown you, thanks for the goals and goodbye, ICT are bigger than any player, we will move on, can you. :sillywave: :sillywave: :sillywave:

[Guest MIDGE55]

CANT BELIEVE THEY WASTED SO MUCH TIME TRYING TO KEEP HIM. HARDLY WORTH KEEPIN IF ONLY THE LIKES O KILLIE, WELL, ST MIRREN, AND A COUPLE O ENGLISH TEAMS AFTER HIM.....IF HE WAS MAKING SUCH AN IMPACT "BIG" TEAMS WOULD BE IN FOR HIM. HAPPIER THAT MORGAN'S STAYING RATHER THAN HIM.

[IcyTea]

Well here's my tuppence worth...

I can understand why he is leaving with his bird wanting to stay in the central belt and him wanting more money in what may be his last big contract.

I think he was a better player with Brewster and has not shown that form since his injury earlier in the year. He missed some howlers in the last game of the season; if any scouts were watching him then, I'd be surprised if they make him an offer.

Don't get me wrong, I would have liked Craig to have re-signed, he was at his best when hassling the defeners and forcing them to make mistakes. I totally disagree with his agent who said that he has repaid us over the last couple of seasons; we took the risk on an out of favour player, he was injured for half a season and has been pretty poor during the last games of the season.

He was a big fish in a small pond up here and will find it tough to establish himself in the less patient central belt SPL teams or Engerlish ones for that matter (if he goes for the latter the whole girlfriend wanting to stay in the central belt was a heap of b0ll0ck5)

It is never easy losing a player, but as Scotty touched on, there are players who move on with honour (DD), Craig, sadly is not one of them, and for that reason I will not be wishing him well.  :33:

[chris123]

Well here's my tuppence worth...

I can understand why he is leaving with his bird wanting to stay in the central belt and him wanting more money in what may be his last big contract.

I think he was a better player with Brewster and has not shown that form since his injury earlier in the year. He missed some howlers in the last game of the season; if any scouts were watching him then, I'd be surprised if they make him an offer.

Don't get me wrong, I would have liked Craig to have re-signed, he was at his best when hassling the defeners and forcing them to make mistakes. I totally disagree with his agent who said that he has repaid us over the last couple of seasons; we took the risk on an out of favour player, he was injured for half a season and has been pretty poor during the last games of the season.

He was a big fish in a small pond up here and will find it tough to establish himself in the less patient central belt SPL teams or Engerlish ones for that matter (if he goes for the latter the whole girlfriend wanting to stay in the central belt was a heap of b0ll0ck5)

It is never easy losing a player, but as Scotty touched on, there are players who move on with honour (DD), Craig, sadly is not one of them, and for that reason I will not be wishing him well.   :33:

Exactly

Has HC said

f*ck'm

[buckett]

We'll boo him of course!

[HighlanderICT]

surprised the official site hasn't even mentioned it yet let alone made any comment.

[Scotty]

Maybe they're hoping he will change his mind and stay  :023:

[RiG]

What did people want from Dargo? He kept us up to date on the situation right up to the end of the season. Perhaps he could/should have answered  quicker whether he wanted to sign or not but we always knew there was a very high chance he would leave.

He was well within his rights as an out of contract player, and therefore unattached, to explore every option open to him. He had as much time as he wanted to look over his offers. he was no longer our player to order about.

Sadly ours, despite what the club have so boldly claimed, didn't offer the best deal in the end.

[caley100]

Be interesting to see who he signs for, £60k signing on fee and £2k a week is what is being mentioned to me that he was offered, so there it is then, is he better than that?

We can still move on without him.

Dargo = 

[clacher_holiday2]

Really?

That's actually pathetic

granted if dargos wife came on here and gave me a talking too ala mrs mann itd be sweeter, i retract the statement

[Scotty]

granted if dargos wife came on here and gave me a talking too ala mrs mann itd be sweeter

I remember that  :rotflmao:

[tm4tj]

What did people want from Dargo?

I think fans and the club wanted honesty.

I get the impression he had no intention of re-signing for ICT, I am too good to continue playing for a wee country bumpkin team like ICT, so I will see out my contract then GTF.........well thats what my ears perceived.

He could have let ICT know sooner and gone before now. Like others have said before, some players left with dignity, Dargo is going and I have a bitter taste in my mouth, unlike Dods who is leaving as a cult hero.

[RiG]

How was Dargo dishonest?

[Guest wighty01]

dishonest is far too strong do you know when Dargo was offered his new deal and how long the club gave him to give an answer

after all it is only a trivial matter like his future that we are talking about

i say go for it Dargs get as much money as you can in this short career you've been great for ICT 

[tm4tj]

ok then, how about economic with the truth...........or how did he tell the truth.  He even gave a politicians answer at the supporters end of season do, when asked by a young lad if he was staying, after a short pause, he said, something along these lines, "I always said I would decide at the end of the season, and thet is when I will make my decision" (we still had one game to play), my belief is he already new.

Did he ever intend to stay at ICT after his contract expired?.........I don't believe he did. He got what he wanted, we got what we wanted and true to form, whooosh, he's off.  He won't be the last player to use us for his own gain, get in the shop window and leave in a hurry when the time suits them, no loyalty whatsoever these days. I was happy with his contribution, although the last few games he was going through the motions

His future is not important to me, the future of ICT is much more relevant, he has strung us along too far.

It's his choice at the end of the day, we now have a month less time to find a replacement. :sillywave:

[Scotty]

thanks for the goals Craig but may the curse strike and your scrotal itch not be soothed by any creams known to man nor beast .... with the exception of IHE  :017:

[RiG]

ok then, how about economic with the truth...........or how did he tell the truth.  He even gave a politicians answer at the supporters end of season do, when asked by a young lad if he was staying, after a short pause, he said, something along these lines, "I always said I would decide at the end of the season, and thet is when I will make my decision" (we still had one game to play), my belief is he already new.

Did you honestly expect him to say that he was leaving the club in front of all the supporters who were attending this do?

It's his choice at the end of the day, we now have a month less time to find a replacement. :sillywave:

We should have been looking anyway. We should always be looking to strengthen and the manager has even said he wanted a new face in up front. He should already have an idea of who to go for so, in theory, it shouldn't be a problem.

However, if we placed all our eggs in one basket with Dargo then that puts us in trouble (maybe).

A lot of people seem to be getting stuck on how it took him so long to announce his decision but I would have thought after the Black issue last season folk might realise that contracts aren't just offered then signed right away. They take a while to look over and the contract that Dargo is about to sign could be the most important one of his life. It's likely to be one of the last major ones he will sign and he needs to get it right.

I don't blame him for not rushing into signing it despite the constant deadlines set by ICT to him. Remember of course he was out of contract and could do what he wanted. He was no longer ours to boss about or demand actions from.

[Bush]

Seems to me that a lot of the resentment being expressed here surrounds the manner in which CD left, not that he has actually gone.  However, I don't see how we can blame him for the way things panned out.  Over the past two seasons, ICT got what they wanted from CD, and CD got what he wanted from ICT - the problems arose with the extended period that CD took to make a decision.

However, this is a simple case of supply and demand.  Demand for a pedigree goalscorer far outweighs supply and, on this basis, CD could afford to stall on making what is a very important decision for his future.  Unfortunately, ICT had no choice but to sit and wait because the alternative was to stick an acceptance deadline on the offer and force a decision from CD.  The club chose to wait, hoping the outcome would be positive but it wasn't.  Hopefully, they will have had a plan B bubbling along in the background and a replacement will be in place before the start of next season.  Even if there is I would expect that the initial thoughts will be that the new player won't full Dargo's boots, but that is something that ICT have to deal with.  It has always, and will always be like that, we can only hope that they come onto a game and find a new level of form as so many other incoming players have in the past.

Overall, I thank CD for his contribution to the ICT cause, express my disappointment on his departure and look forward with interest to who comes in.  As for CD's future, I hope he gets what he wants and wish him all the best - as long as that's not to the detriment of ICT.

Onwards and upwards.  (as the Gallacher brothers once said 'don't look back in anger'!)

[tm4tj]

Do you honestly expect me to answer you honestly in front of all these people.

Dargo had plenty of other opportunities to say yes or no, but we all knew the real answer was no. He has sold ICT short over this. I don't think any amount of money would have tempted him to stay in the Highlands, so why drag it out. As soon as his contract was out he should have come clean and said he was moving.  The writing was on the wall when he refused to extend his contract and wait until season ended.  I am also sure that ICT were already looking, but they had two options then, young back up striker Buchanan and nobody or young back up striker and also a proven top flight goalscorer.  We need another poacher despite what CC said in the press that Denzil will do the job.

[Kingsmills]

Dargo is a striker approaching 30 with perhaps three or four years left in him unless he's fortunate enough to last as long as Craig Brewster which, given his injury history, is unlikely.

In these circumstances I don't think he can be faulted for signing for the highest bidder and he, or at least his agent, seems o think that there are higher bidders out there than ICT.

That said, there is still the malevolent side of me tha wouldn't be too disappointed if he fell victim to the "Highland curse".

[RiG]

Do you honestly expect me to answer you honestly in front of all these people.

:017:

Dargo had plenty of other opportunities to say yes or no, but we all knew the real answer was no.

Indeed he did have plenty of opportunity to say yes or no but he wanted to see what other options are open to him. What's wrong with that? If you already knew the answer was no why are you getting so worked up about it when you "knew" it was going to happen anyway?

He has sold ICT short over this. I don't think any amount of money would have tempted him to stay in the Highlands, so why drag it out.

Clearly he must have given staying here some thought otherwise he would have just left like other players have done or signed a deal with another team like Dods. He has not sold ICT short - he made clear months ago that he would be taking time over this decision.

Unfortunately for us we can't compete with other SPL teams (despite what our board claim) or League 2 English clubs. Dargo looks likely to go with whoever offers him the best deal. Had he signed a deal while he was with us then questions about his commitment might have begun to creep in.

As soon as his contract was out he should have come clean and said he was moving.

Why should have he have done this?

The writing was on the wall when he refused to extend his contract and wait until season ended.

Well that should make dealing with him moving on a lot easier than some people are currently finding  :015:

[CaleyD]

The club made numerous efforts to open negotiations with Craig Dargo throughout the whole of last season and Craig Dargo and his agent refused to even look at them.  The answer was always "We'll talk about it at the end of the season" - not the actions of a man who was even willing to consider an offer from ICT in my book.

Added to the above.......

1.  He has apparently made the decision to leave without having decided where he is going

2.  We've heard nothing of any firm offers from anyone else

3.  The "Story" being leaked that his girlfriend wasn't happy in Inverness to pave the way for an easy excuse to depart

....and I think it's safe to say his mind has probably been made up for quite some time - he was simply stalling to....

a.  See how much interest other clubs were showing

b.  Get some press to highlight the fact he was available

c.  Use the offer from ICT to bump up offers from elsewhere until such time as he 2 others interested and could set them bidding against each other to maximise his income

He's played this entire scenario with only himself in mind and we can argue the rights and wrongs of his actions all day long and everyone will read it different and feel differently.  All the "you shouldn't feel like this or that" from others won't change a thing.

Personally, I think he has just "used" the club with little regard or thanks for what we have done for him.  You can argue that he repaid that debt with all his goals, but there are ways and means of doing things and this whole affair just doesn't sit right with me.

As for wishing him well or wishing him ill - I really don't care one way or the other.  I thank him for his contribution to the rise and rise of ICT but I can't help thinking back to Hastings when his Agent told him he was worth more and he ended up at C*unty  :024:

[Harry Chibber]

I think what annoys me more than anything is that this club is crying out for a 'Legend', although we have players that have excelled in lower divisions Dargo could have made himself a hero to all ICT fans forever if he had contributed 2/3 more years with a decent goal scoring ratio.  There is no doubting he has the the ability to score goals at the highest level and has scored some absolute corkers against the likes of Rangers that will never be forgotten but when it comes down to it all that really matters is the money.  As Grassa has said our offer will match any team in the SPL outside the OF and would have left him extremely comfortable for the rest of his career.  He has had this offer for months now and knew exactly how much he was valued by the club, him (and his agent) have used this to bend us over a barrel and even when we adhere to the demands he makes us look like a bunch of mugs.  If he had any decency he could have cleared this up months ago before swanning off on his holidays to come back and give the answer that we all knew was coming anyway. 

Don't get me wrong I am also not happy with the way the club has dealt with this and although Dargo has ripped the pi55 (IMO) they made it extremely easy for him to do so.  If anything good has come from this seasons transfer/contract business it will be that Grassa, CC, Savage etc. learn to CONDUCT ALL BUSINESS BEHIND CLOSED DOORS.  Seems every transfer we are involved in becomes public knowledge in a matter of days and this whole ' will he, wont he' saga that has been publicly dragged out in the papers has no doubt given Dargo, Dods, Brown the ego to think they are bigger than the club when truly they are not!!

We will move on and no doubt find replacements for these guys, as always, but the way this was handled has been extremely unprofessional  and the club has been very naive to be lead on a merry dance by Dargo and his agent.

[RiG]

Sadly, even though people won't admit it, ICT are simply a "stepping stone" club.

Hopefully that will change in the next few years though.

[CaleyD]

Outwith the OF I don't think any club in the SPL can claim to be anything else.