Kmcalpin

Good luck to them but what are they going to achieve? Runners up spot in the Premiership and the odd cup win? The investment required for them to win the Premiership would be astronomical.

Agree. One tried and trusted way of dealing with opposing dangermen is to starve them of service but that's not something we're currently good at.

Going by that site we have less out of contract than most Premiership sides!

In very broad terms similarly sized clubs. However I'd say we have a bigger budget and support wise we're about 20-25% larger.

Any idea who is out of contract at the end of the season? Lee Hollis, Lionel Ainsworth, Steve Hammell, Faddy, Shaun Hutchinson, Stephen McManus and Craig Reid. Anyone else?

Good post and pretty much how I see it. We need some more pace in the side and the Ainsworth "position" needs to be addressed. We're not too badly off for strikers with Moore and Erwin coming through.

A good win but it should have been far easier, if we'd taken our chances. I thought that Vigurs and Reid were the pick of the bunch and good to see John Sutton notch another. County were a big powerful hard working side who chased and harried everything for 90 minutes but that was about it. Parts of the game were turgid and scrappy and it was no surprise that County scored late on given that we fell into our customary habit of defending far too deeply but still leaving spaces in and around our box. Good shots from Vigurs and Moore set up our goals and the former was very annoyed with himself for not connecting with the ball properly - but it was still too much for Mark Brown to save correctly. Sorry folks - not impressed with Ian Brines as a ref - far too inconsistent and missed a lot. Still a wins a win!

Pretty much agree with that. I'd think Fraser Kerr will be pencilled in for central defence. Simon Ramsden is a solid defender, who I like, but he's injury prone and not getting any younger. Craig Reid is good in defence and on the overlap. He can also play in the centre of the defence. I'd be very disappointed if we let him go at the end of the season.

Will we get a mention on these radio programmes tonight or will it be a rehash of the usual drivel? Perm any 3 from the following: What do Gers fans think of the fact that nothing has happened in the last week? Was Wim Jansen a better manager than Willie Maley at Parkhead? Do St Mirren fans think that Danny Lennon has done enough to avoid the sack at Paisley? How good a manager is Alan Archibald - is he a great manager? Will Aberdeen do the treble? Is this the best Dundee United team for 40 years? (Cue Lorraine Kelly dominating the airwaves) Don't forget the John Hughes interview. Tongue in cheek I know. No mention of us of course.

No. To some extent I think its down to our own footballing authorities. Its extremely unlikely granted, but not impossible, that their participation would be supported by the SPFL & SFA.

Now I don't know about SPFL rules but do know that transfers within the same association used the 24 years of age threshold, but transfers between associations was 23. Do you recall the stushie that Northampton and Shrewsbury caused when we took on Coke & Humphrey? Threats of legal action and the like, because they weren't aware of this subtle difference. If the SPFL has indeed changed the internal threshold to 23 then I'll be surprised and disappointed as the vast majority of its members would be disdavantaged.

Good summing up. We never really needed to get out of 2nd gear and in the second half we concluded it was job done and we invited ICT to do their worst, which they couldn't do. Perhaps we treated them with contempt but they did little to earn respect on the night. Gunnar had 2 or 3 good saves and we took our goals very well. I thought if we had to take Faddy off at all then Craig Moore would have been the obvious replacement. Still ZFA had a good game when he came on. Stuart Carswell has all the attributes to be a good player (decent physiques, very fit) but more often than not he needs to demonstrate a bit more aggression and bite in his game - he did so in flashes last night. Inverness had plenty of possession but no cutting edge and rarely threatened. Credit to them though, after a gruelling run of games they were still full of energy at time up. A bit disappointed at some of their late and off the ball challenges though and Richie Foran was a very lucky lad to remain on the park after having been yellow carded.. Refereeing was inconsistent and bizarre at times.

So its still possible, although very unlikely, that Aberdeen, Dundee United or Inverness could win the league. However it seems we've been ruled out. Ah well I suppose it reinforces the media's view of us

He must have missed 8/9/10 games last season Greg. Probably about a 20% - 25% absence rate overall.

A tad harshly expressed but you're right. Irrespective of how well a player performs when he's of little use if he's very injury prone. Another player in the same boat is Simon Ramsden. He came to us with a questionable injury record and has been out for long spells this season and last. That said he's one of my favourite players when fit. Its unfortunate but theres limited scope for sentiment in football.

Not to my knowledge. I don't like it but accept it has to happen, given our finances.

Almost certainly giants like Ferrier, Ferguson and McFadyen from the 1920s and 30s would have achieved this. Later than this?

If he's available. We still don't know why he wasn't on the bench at Easter Road. Hopefully he is fit.

Rather than let the ICT thread drift even further off topic I thought I'd start a separate dedicated thread to the young lad. Frazzie wrote "But when is his contract up? There's no point in giving him a handful of games, paying Celtic a fee then watch him walking away.". That's very true and it could happen. However, equally possible is that he's talented, and knocking on the first team's door. If we don't give him his chance (even if only coming on late off the bench) we run the risk of him becoming brassed off and leaving at the end of his current contract. The club management will know best and we have to trust their man management skills.

He also made a blunder a few weeks ago against Dunfermline by letting a harmless shot trundle into the net. He's not ready for first team football. In time maybe just not now.

What goes around comes around I guess. I recall a few years ago we were ordered to play a cup tie at Inverness on the Monday evening after we played on the Saturday (ICT had a free weekend). They're a fit squad but yes the next week should test their stamina.

Didn't notice this before but you're right - he was well behind the line. Maybe being very unassertive/lack of confidence/lack of physical presence. Certainly not what you expect from an Premiership goalie. A good goalie should assert himself more and be proactive rather than trying to react. Not to blame for the other two goals though.

Part of our problem too is that we don't really play with an out and out central defensive midfielder. More than any other part of the team the midfield is about a mix, a balance if you like. We haven't got that right but I suppose its only year 1 of a rebuilding programme. Its crucial therefore that we bring in players who will fit into the team pattern and add something to the side. Its not just about quality its also about sourcing the right type of player.

I reckon we need two new keepers, although Gunnar Neilsen is on a 2 year deal. He's been prone to blunders and despite his height not overly assured in the air. Lee Hollis is what he is. He's the more reliable of the two but is very poor in the air. To his credit he knows that and sticks to his line. With Lee Hollis we at least know what we have. When he plays the central defence has to adapt and sit that bit deeper to protect him. That in turn affects the rest of the defence. The answer to that, in an ideal world, would be to play the two wing/full backs wide to cut out crosses and unnecessary corners, but for some reason we can't or won't do that. Maybe lack of cover from the 2 wide midfield men? Either way we do need a new keeper. OK we can't afford another Darren Randolph but I'm sure we can do better. Our defensive problems go deeper than just a keeper though, but that's another post.

Great post, which sums it up for me. If anyone really feels that cannot attend out of principle then donate the entrance fee to MFC. Maybe this will let you all see just how awkward some clubs can be. Our club directors have to put up with this nonsense week in week out at SPFL meetings and votes. Organise "away season tickets" or change voting rights yer havin a laugh. If other clubs can be this awkward over something a simple as a drum it really does make you think.