Forfinn

Perhaps ICT should consider a plastic pitch as a way to save money in the long run? Less maintenance, can train on it, let it out etc. I know the top flight is about to ban them, but that's not likely to be a concern for ICT any time soon.

That's insane if true, and presumably breaking a number of SPFL rules.

Fond memories of the "Davis Keillor-Dunn, has got it going on" chant, to the tune of Stacey's Mom.

A bit of a reach to describe Ross County v Aberdeen as a derby.

I've just been looking back on the post I made when Adams was appointed. He's obviously not mellowed, he's certainly wound up all the right people, but unfortunately he's also wound up all the wrong people, and it certainly is going spectacularly wrong. When he took over we were 11th and looking favourites for the play-offs. There's no denying we weren't good enough and things had to change. Adams opted to move fast and break things. In hindsight, maybe the right approach would have been to tinker lightly round the edges - but then maybe we'd still be in 11th anyway. Should he leave? I don't know enough about what's going on behind the scenes. If relationships have been irreparably damaged then he needs to go. There's no coming back from that. But if things are salvageable, then he probably needs to be given longer. He's brought in a bunch of players who will need time to settle in and in some cases (eg CBJ) will need to get match fit. It's not unreasonable to expect this team to at least become good enough to win a play-off, if not catch 10th. A new manager would have to work with the same players, so sacking Adams (or him walking away) is not necessarily a panacea.

A draw keeps Livi alive, but if they lose they're surely dead and buried. A 9 point gap between 12th and 11th is too much. Defeat isn't a disaster for County, but it would be good to continue the momentum after a decent performance on Saturday. Rein in St Johnstone and Motherwell, then see where Adams can take us.

I think we're on a bit of a hiding to nothing with our youth system, tbh. It's a great thing to have and almost something of a public service, but the odds are against it being successful (if we measure success by the number of top quality players it produces, although I appreciate that's not the only possible metric). We have a relatively small talent pool available to us and amongst of the lowest population density in Europe, so the geography is challenging. Anyone who shows real promise is likely to be tempted away by more money at bigger teams before they can make an impact - although Josh Reid should act as a cautionary tale against that. It would probably be a more effective use of money to scrap the youth system and focus on signing rough diamonds released by the Old Firm or teams down south. Get them on 2 or 3 year deals and sell them with a year left. We've historically had much more success with that sort of signing than with our own homegrown players. That's what Brentford did a few years ago, recognising they couldn't compete with the bigger London clubs. I'm not advocating that approach - I want some homegrown stars as much as the next fan, but we've got to be realistic about these things.

I'm not sure that it is. Avoid a complete drubbing and we move on to the important games that follow. Would be an idea to either keep the post-match interview completely anodyne or leave to Cowie though, because anything he says will get blown out of proportion and context.

Yeah. It's very hard to get decent players in on proper deals in January. And if we want to be sure of avoiding relegation, the evidence suggests we need players that are better than the ones he inherited.

He was eligible until he played for Shrewsbury yesterday. Seems a bit harsh to get annoyed about that.

Not good enough for a big team like Ross County. Will do well for a wee team like ICT.

I'm surprised at the reaction to Turner leaving and the extent of the negativity towards Adams at the moment. I'd have expected the most successful manager in our history to get more of the benefit of the doubt. Maybe it'll all go wrong, but if he's pissed off a few players with his comments, who cares? Those same players got us to the lofty heights of 11th in the league and the previous manager the sack. The Aberdeen performance was dire, but the Hearts game was actually quite good, so isn't evidence in itself that he's "lost the dressing room". Let's see how the rest of the month pans out, but so far I've been enjoying Adams 3.0 much more than the dirge Mackay served up.

Just a one-off for now, I'd imagine. There's restrictions on how many games can be offered domestically on PPV, and to make it worthwhile doing it needs to be for the bigger games when a decent number of away fans will also pay for it.

Good to see RCFC TV making a return for this one. £12.99.

FWIW, that's from a Motherwell game a few years ago. Not that Russell bears a grudge or anything.

RCFCTV during covid was a proper professional production. MacGregor took the view that if it was worth doing, it was worth doing well. Proper commentators in Rory Hamilton and Jamie Lyall, Stephen Craigan on co-comms, and ex-players in as pundits. There's absolutely no way it ran anywhere near making a profit. You'd hope they've considered the viability to run a reduced service for "overseas" viewers, but it's presumably not financially viable and not worth subsidising.

It's almost a shame we don't have William Akio and Owura Edwards any more. Almost.

Derek Adams is probably the only realistic appointment that could have united the fans as much as Malky Mackay divided them. I'm certainly feeling more positive than I expected after the malaise of the last 2 1/2 years. It's the most nostalgic appointment possible, certainly for me. Adams was in his first spell as a player at the club when I started going to games, and his achievements as manager tell their own story. But I think it also stacks up in a footballing sense. Things had run their course when he left in 2014. He's had eight years managing in England, with reasonable success. When he's failed, there's usually been mitigating circumstances. He can only be a better manager for that experience. He says he's mellowed, which was probably needed, although I'm sure he's still more than willing to wind up the right people. He's back in an environment he knows well, surrounded by people he knows just as well. He should reap the benefits of the behind the scenes work done over the last couple of years, particularly a proper recruitment structure (thanks Malky). It might all go spectacularly wrong, but I'm confident we're better off with this option than some ex-Old Firm media darling with no experience at this level.

They say never go back, but sometimes a manager and a club just fit. It worked with Adams once before and I'd be happy enough to give it another whirl. He's a moaning b*****d, but he's our moaning b*****d.

Is that because he was touting himself for it in the Record, as well as saying Mackay would be better suited to a bigger club than Ross County and would make a good Prime Minister?

I think Adams would certainly be more popular than Scott Brown, who Sportsound are presumably working on commission for considering how much they were touting him for the job.

The reason he was never charged by the FA was because they concluded messages sent "with a legitimate expectation of privacy" were outside their jurisdiction. The incident did, however, prompt them to review their policies.

In Mackay's defence (words I never thought I'd write!), he did apologise. He did a grovelling interview with Sky Sports the same week the texts were originally leaked. However, his initial response had been to dismiss them as "friendly text message banter". When that went down as catastrophically as you'd expect, he did the Sky interview and changed tack - it was blatant crisis management. At that point and ever since he's never actually appeared sorry for anything other than getting caught. He clearly has a massive chip on his shoulder about Vincent Tan releasing them in the first place. He could have gone down the Martindale route and shown leadership but he chose not to. As far as he was concerned it was in the past, he'd apologised and we should all move on. If Martindale had done that he'd have been similarly coldly received. The difference between the two is quite obvious, and those holding it up as an argument know that well enough. When given another chance to respond instantly to allegations of racism (albeit not at him this time), he started on some nonsense about asking where Tam Courts got the t-shirt from. Anyone who'd absorbed an ounce of the training he's apparently been on or understands basic PR would have known that was a ludicrous line to take, especially with his history, which suggests to me he's not changed at all. Very glad he's gone, and hopefully now the club can appoint someone who isn't so divisive (which shouldn't be hard).

Yeah, OTB was put out of its misery last year.