Brewster in Salzburg

[Alex MacLeod]

The realists among us know that, no matter who the manager, DoF, Chairman, tea lady or whatever, unless a very rich person, with bags of cash to throw around, buys out the existing shareholders and pumps endless wads at the club, we will not progress enough to compete at the top. Even Aberdeen struggle and they have a far bigger average gate than us. We dont have the income to attract the standard of player or indeed manager we need to compete regularly in the top half.

[PullMyFinger]

No arguments with that but on occasions we should expect a good cup run and even appearances at cup finals.

[luvgravy]

I want people at TFC games to know who ICT are when I mention the name or wear my ICT baseball cap or strip to a game,

I can personally guarantee that there are 4 other people at most games (besides you and I) who know ICT.  They've had to put up with my yammerings over the years.  :004:

[Scotty]

I want people at TFC games to know who ICT are when I mention the name or wear my ICT baseball cap or strip to a game,

I can personally guarantee that there are 4 other people at most games (besides you and I) who know ICT.  They've had to put up with my yammerings over the years.  :004:

I definitely think we have both educated a few people over the last couple of seasons ...... and this Saturday Big Stew's education about Toronto FC will be entering its next stage  :004:

[Harry Chibber]

I think the main point has been missed here

What the feck is he doing in Salzburg?? By all accounts it sounds like a group of lads going to watch the footie

?The Pro-Licence is mandatory now. We take them to Euro 2008 matches and then they have to write up reports on what they have seen. We are here to work, it?s not a holiday. We have group discussions every day. However, it?s not dry classroom stuff. It is real football talk. Jim Fleeting organised tickets for all the games, which was hard because they are like gold dust. We are also taking some of the candidates to watch a Russian training session. It will be great for them to see how someone like Guus Hiddink [the coach] works.?

only the guilty have excuses ready before they've been accused...... and I guarentee Brewster isn't paying for this out his own pocket

Brew should be spending every possible second in finding replacements for those that have left and players that will progress the squad. 

[Scotty]

He's damned if he does and damned if he doesnt on this one ... I am sure he is quite happy to be doing part of his UEFA pro license at the UEFA European Championships but very much doubt he had much say in the matter. However, I am sure there are plenty of others further up the administrative food chain who decided this would be a nice way to get to the Euros !!!

As for the license itself, its important because its part of club licensing and either required or soon to be required for managing and coaching in the top leagues as well as in European competition.

[FortressICT]

He's damned if he does and damned if he doesnt on this one ... I am sure he is quite happy to be doing part of his UEFA pro license at the UEFA European Championships but very much doubt he had much say in the matter. However, I am sure there are plenty of others further up the administrative food chain who decided this would be a nice way to get to the Euros !!!

As for the license itself, its important because its part of club licensing and either required or soon to be required for managing and coaching in the top leagues as well as in European competition.

None of which we will ever be in if Brewster remains as manager :020: :33:

[Scotty]

thats splitting hairs .... bottom line is that the qualification is mandatory if you are the manager/head-coach in the top league of your country and that is where we are right now. England got an extension until 2009 or 2010 but I am not sure if Scotland did.

For however long ICT are in the top league, or if we get relegated then promoted again, whoever is ICT manager has to have this qualification or be on their way to achieving it as it forms part of the club's license. If a manager doesnt have it by a certain date they can only stay in the position for a certain number of weeks !!!

To pick up on what was said above ... not sure if the poster was serious about that or not, but if Brewster IS paying for it out of his own pocket he should not be ... It is part of the club license and the club should be paying for it IMHO.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Pro_Licence

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Pro_Licence_in_England

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/6189330.stm

Club Licensing from UEFA:

http://www.uefa.com/multimediafiles/downlo...55_download.pdf [glossy brochure 57 pages]

http://www.uefa.com/newsfiles/358508.pdf [the 253 page manual !!!]

[FortressICT]

He deserves to be paying for it himself!  He gets payed by ICT for doing feck all.

[Scotty]

He deserves to be paying for it himself!  He gets payed by ICT for doing feck all.

Do YOU pay for the mandatory training that is required for you to progress in your chosen profession

[FortressICT]

Nope but I actually work and like to think i do a decent job!  Anyway!  Thats off topic, tut tut moderater :004:

[Harry Chibber]

my problem is that I think Brewster is still more concerned with forwarding his own career than ICT's.  Obviously, if Brew is ever to improve his reputation he has to do it with ICT but I just get the impression he will be off again as soon as he gets a better offer.  There is a time for European coaching qualifications and after finishing 9thin the league, now is not that time. 

my bad I didn't realise the training was mandatory

[Scarlet Pimple]

The season has not yet even  got to the preseason and I am already tired and exasperated by some of the negativity on here. :008:

What can running down Brewster do for ICT now at this stage? Precisely nothing positive.

Since we know he will be here for another seson is it not just common sense to support him? For those who answer "no" I suggest that you should consider finding another team to support--one who thrives on your negativity and girning which is like a dead weight around the necks of most of the rest of us, dragging us back and frustrating us to death. You post and are constantly running this Manager down but rarely suggest a detailed plan of action to replace him if he was fired. Pshaw! :020:

And do you posters who feel Brewster should not  be allowed to go on that course  are you suggesting:-

1. That he should be the odd man out in the SPL and in lower leagues by not attending?. Like it's fine for John Hughes to be on it, mingling with a lot of other guys, listening, contributing and learning but Brewster must stay at home like the shrinking violet at the dance?

2.Do you think it will enhance his stature and influence with the players by staying at home whilst all the other men are on the course? That's it's good to single him out and make him feel like a pariah or somebody so different that he should not be expected to be there with the others. ?

3. As for paying his way how does anyone know that he did NOT contribute to the expenses.?Who cares? And if they are lucky enoughj to get to the matches do you think that he is not learning anything from watching the top pros in the game at International level? That is you would much rather he concentrate on making calls to clubs whose main men are already there also looking at the "once every four years"event.

4. This makes me also feel that you think that Brewster has never made a single phone call all Spring since last Season finished? Is that correct? If so, you really should give him the respect that he is entitled to get and rather assume that he has worked hard to further the interests of ICT and his own interests, which go hand-in-glove with those of ICT, and has completed many calls before he went.

As I said earlier there will be new faces at Tulloch Caledonian Stadium this coming season .

However, on the Barrowman issue, I agree that this player should have been given one deadline and when it passed then he should have been toast. I would imagine that John Hughes , for example, would have stuck to his guns on this matter and after that the player would have had to come to him. He is,after all, only a 2nd/1st Division performer and is completely untried in the SPL. It looks like he is as indecisive as some allege Mr Brewster is for running after him?

:029:

[CaleyD]

From "your not a real fan if you slag Brewster" to "slagging Brewster in reference to the Barrowman situation"......and all in the space of a single post  :015:

[Glebeict]

  I have an awful feeling that all these mandatory coaching managing licenses , are going to make every team play the same way

  This will only help to make things boring to the nth degree.

[Scarlet Pimple]

But Caley D --it was shorter than yours. :001:

And I never said Brew was perfect. :021:

[Scotty]

The season has not yet even  got to the preseason and I am already tired and exasperated by some of the negativity on here. :008:

:clapping03: :clapping03:

Its all very well slagging off the man for something he has already done like a bad substitution, bad tactics or bad PR, and I will happily join in if that is the case .... but to slag him off just cos he is Brewster or because he is attending a mandatory coaching course setup by UEFA and subscribed to by the SPL and its member clubs is, in my opinion just plain wrong. Give the guy a break FFS ....

[CaleyD]

Had things been going well then I'm sure the whole idea of Brewster having to take time out to do this course at a time when we would rather he was concentrating on the squad and transfers would have passed without complaint.

But....it's just "one more thing" for people to complain about, and whether those having a go at people who are being critical like it or not, there's far far more to be negative about just now than their is to be positive about and the poor handling of the clubs PR just turns it into a self-feeding monster.

It's not as if it is all mindless moaning, bitching and complaining and anyone who takes even a moment to think about it will realise that the vast amount of criticism, be it directed at Brewster or anyone/anything else, is justifiable.  Despite what some might thing, the vast majority of folk don't just complain for the sake of it....although we may not always understand the reason, one always exists.  It's up to the club to manage fan expectation, understand the reasons for complaint and work to solve them.....not simply bury their head in the sand and hope it goes away.

Even this topic about him being in Salzburg instead of concentrating on the squad and transfers is merited, although most people probably wouldn't know why....but had Brewster not failed exams last season then perhaps he would be further along than he is now and not needing to spend time away from the club.

For what it's worth, I don't think it will make the slightest bit of difference to preparations for the new season as most decisions about where we are taking the team/squad will have already been made and the Summer could be extended by 6 months and it wouldn't have us targeting anyone different from those we are at present.  It's very little to do with the specific people we are targeting and more to do with the type of people we are targeting....that's what worries me.

[Scotty]

Had things been going well then I'm sure the whole idea of Brewster having to take time out to do this course at a time when we would rather he was concentrating on the squad and transfers would have passed without complaint.

Sorry. I respectfully disagree.

The UEFA Pro license is mandatory. All head coaches require it or are only allowed to take on a caretaker role for something like 12 weeks. The SPL - as far as I am aware - had no option but to agree to this and the timing of the various modules has nothing to do with Craig Brewster. This is one thing he cannot be blamed for either in terms of the timing or the location of this part of the course.

I do agree it would have been preferable to have him back in Inverness attending to pre-season arrangements or concentrating on rebuilding parts of our squad but it is beyond his control. Hopefully he and Malky along with Grassa have discussed potential signing targets (other than Barrowman) and those left behind can do their job.

I do however agree about club PR. The job of the PR people is to talk up the good things and minimise the bad things and ICT always seem to be in firefighting mode making a mess of explaining the bad and completely ignoring the good. Time for this to change so that we can get back to being a message board that delivers praise and criticism in equal measure where it is due.

[absent friend]

Caley D,

Are you saying that this course is a resit for one that CB has already failed??

[Kingsmills]

I harbour very serious doubts about Brewster's managerial ability but can't for the life of me see how the criticism of him in this thread can be justified.

[CaleyD]

Scotty, I'm not saying he shouldn't be there or that the Brewster had any choice, what I was saying is that if things were more positive in general with things at the club then those complaining about his absence and saying he should be here would have been very unlikely to have made issue of it.....in other words, it's the state of mind of some fans which is leading to every little thing being immediately latched onto as a means to criticise.....a state of mind caused, in part, by how poorly the club handle PR.  It's the whole issue of cause and effect....as I said, we may not always agree with or understand the reason for peoples complaints, but in most cases if you dig deep enough you will get to the root of it.

Absent Friend, I couldn't tell you precisely which part of the coaching exams were failed, but yes, it would have meant re-sits, either of what he is doing now or something earlier in the courses which might have set him back meaning that this part of the course has fallen when it has instead of perhaps having been done during one of the international weekends which is when, as I understand it, they try and do these things normally.

[Yngwie]

I couldn't tell you precisely which part of the coaching exams were failed

Q1 Your time are losing 1-0 with 15 minutes left, are visibly tired, and are being outplayed. Do you :

A - Bring on substitutes

B - Change tactics

C - Both of the above

D - Do nothing

:029:

[Glebeict]

  Q # 2

   

      Do you needlessly sell at cut rate one of your players to a rival?

[Alex MacLeod]

Can everyone stop and think for a moment. The gist of the comments are that CB should be back at the club and not studying for a mandatory qualification. The one point being forgotten is that Brewster is doing this in what should be his holiday time. He. like every other employee in the land, is entitled to a minimum of 28 days annual holidays + statutatory days. The only time of year that those involved in football can take their holidays is between seasons. Brewster is, therefore, forsaking part of his holiday entitlement to study for this licence. If he doesn't get it then the club get into bother.