"The ICT Thread - From the Premiership to the Seaside"

[lochnesscaley]

48 minutes ago, SandyCromarty said:

little billy dodds MASTER TACTICIAN always bound to fail as we said so many times.

He got it all wrong! However certain players need to look at themselves this morning. 

It really stings. Such a hard one to take. 

We had the ST chat on way home. Jury still out on that one but not playing in advance to watch a season like the last 2. 

 

 

[PB1994]

2 hours ago, Juanjo Nostalgia said:

Some “highlights” this season:

- struggling our way past Brechin and Stirling Albion in cups

- getting pumped at Firhill twice

- that night at Cappielow

- losing to Motherwell was fair enough, but the way we played that night might be the worse I’ve ever seen us

- losing to Hamilton four times out of five, including twice in one week

- a recruitment policy that brought in Steven Boyd, George Oakley, Ryan Barrett, Daniel Mackay, Max Ram…

 

But Billy Dodds will get a new contract on the basis of three results against Livingston, Kilmarnock and Falkirk.

Probably a bit harsh including Daniel MacKay on that list. The signing hasn’t worked out but it seemed like a great signing at the time.

Bang on about everything else.

[starryfish]

As an outsider, realistically what do ICT fans expect of their team? Top half of the Championship seems quite reasonable to me, given budgets etc, many clubs would bite their hands off to be in the cup final as well 

[PB1994]

8 minutes ago, starryfish said:

As an outsider, realistically what do ICT fans expect of their team? Top half of the Championship seems quite reasonable to me, given budgets etc, many clubs would bite their hands off to be in the cup final as well 

Not sure where you get top half of the championship from?

[starryfish]

Just now, PB1994 said:

Not sure where you get top half of the championship from?

What would be your thoughts?

[Stephen Malkmus]

3 minutes ago, starryfish said:

What would be your thoughts?

That we finished in the bottom half of the Championship.

[starryfish]

2 minutes ago, Stephen Malkmus said:

That we finished in the bottom half of the Championship.

Appreciate that - what are your expectations?

[lochnesscaley]

6 minutes ago, starryfish said:

Appreciate that - what are your expectations?

Play offs as a minimum 

[Guest]

The only way for us to go up this season was winning the league. The injury crisis made that practically impossible. The play-offs were practically impossible too due to the huge fixture schedule.

The injury crisis meant for several months we were having to regularly field players described by most of you as being bad signings or not at the required level - yet somehow you expected a team severely lacking in quality in your own words, that’s apparently not at the level, to win. The club clearly stated for months the bad run caused by injuries would ease once the players returned, they were right. 

I have argued from the beginning that this season the biggest problem was injures and that was proved correct. We were joint top in October, slipped, bounced back but unfortunately came up a few points short. Is anyone seriously going to argue injuries weren’t the biggest issue? There’s clearly evidence to suggest it was.

The second biggest issue for me and it’s something Dodds and Robertson are culpable for is recruitment. I think if we’d signed better the injury crisis would’ve been far less impactful and therefore we’d have been challenging. This next season is absolutely crucial.

People can argue Dodds cost us X points against Hamilton for example and that’s fair enough, we could go through individual errors and see how much that cost us too. There’s a multitude of reasons. However, these weren’t the main issues - injuries and recruitment were.

 

 

 

 

[starryfish]

1 minute ago, NorthStand10 said:

The only way for us to go up this season was winning the league. The injury crisis made that practically impossible. The play-offs were practically impossible too due to the huge fixture schedule.

The injury crisis meant for several months we were having to regularly field players described by most of you as being bad signings or not at the required level - yet somehow you expected a team severely lacking in quality in your own words, that’s apparently not at the level, to win. The club clearly stated for months the bad run caused by injuries would ease once the players returned, they were right. 

I have argued from the beginning that this season the biggest problem was injures and that was proved correct. We were joint top in October, slipped, bounced back but unfortunately came up a few points short. Is anyone seriously going to argue injuries weren’t the biggest issue? There’s clearly evidence to suggest it was.

The second biggest issue for me and it’s something Dodds and Robertson are culpable for is recruitment. I think if we’d signed better the injury crisis would’ve been far less impactful and therefore we’d have been challenging. This next season is absolutely crucial.

People can argue Dodds cost us X points against Hamilton for example and that’s fair enough, we could go through individual errors and see how much that cost us too. There’s a multitude of reasons. However, these weren’t the main issues - injuries and recruitment were.

 

 

 

 

Think you’ve answered it yourself, seems the squad wasn’t of the required level 

[Guest]

15 minutes ago, starryfish said:

Think you’ve answered it yourself, seems the squad wasn’t of the required level 

I think that’s the same for all championship clubs, we have a good starting 11 but once you need to regularly play the fringe players they’re typically pish.

Edited May 6, 2023 by Guest

[Jaffa]

1 hour ago, starryfish said:

Appreciate that - what are your expectations?

Title challenge with a 4th place finish the bare minimum 

[SandyCromarty]

I haven't looked for Dodds reaction in the press today but there is no doubt that he will be trotting out the injury excuse again aided by Neil McCamnn and his media pals, and I am fuckin sick to my teeth hearing it, the five teams above us all had major players injured throughout their season, that is borne out if you look at the table and see how little points divided us, there was no runaway winner as we've had in the past because every team had an injury crisis at some point.

So Dodds and the happy clappers have to acknowledge that the team in  some games were dreadfully poor, that's the real reason we are sixth and the two losses against Hamilton highlighted that, if we had won them we would have been second, the only one to take the blame is Dodds.

Robertson has also to shoulder responsibility, to commentate for the BBC while we are playing is total nonsense and I don't know any club that would put up with that

To even think Dodds should be here next year is absolutely fuckin ludicrous as I'm not even sure the team would want him, if the board offer him the job then they can have my season ticket and I'm sure there will be others thinking the same.

Edited May 6, 2023 by SandyCromarty

[lochnesscaley]

3 hours ago, NorthStand10 said:

The only way for us to go up this season was winning the league. The injury crisis made that practically impossible. The play-offs were practically impossible too due to the huge fixture schedule.

The injury crisis meant for several months we were having to regularly field players described by most of you as being bad signings or not at the required level - yet somehow you expected a team severely lacking in quality in your own words, that’s apparently not at the level, to win. The club clearly stated for months the bad run caused by injuries would ease once the players returned, they were right. 

I have argued from the beginning that this season the biggest problem was injures and that was proved correct. We were joint top in October, slipped, bounced back but unfortunately came up a few points short. Is anyone seriously going to argue injuries weren’t the biggest issue? There’s clearly evidence to suggest it was.

The second biggest issue for me and it’s something Dodds and Robertson are culpable for is recruitment. I think if we’d signed better the injury crisis would’ve been far less impactful and therefore we’d have been challenging. This next season is absolutely crucial.

People can argue Dodds cost us X points against Hamilton for example and that’s fair enough, we could go through individual errors and see how much that cost us too. There’s a multitude of reasons. However, these weren’t the main issues - injuries and recruitment were.

 

 

 

 

How much input was Dodds allowed in reality? 

[SandyCromarty]

On 16/04/2023 at 14:18, approximately dave said:

There I was pondering about where is Dodds of to next season and I see the St. Johnstone job has come up.

He'll be in demand with this end to our season.

I can see the County managers job being vacant very soon with Dodds being high up on the list.

Great news.

[SandyCromarty]

7 hours ago, Central Belt Caley said:

I totally understand the injury crisis that will be cited by many but we had a fairly full squad against Hamilton and still lost to them twice in 4 days shipping 5 goals in the process to one of the poorest teams in the league. Add to the fact we only managed to beat them once this season. 
 

Recruitment has been dire, Shaw has come onto a game to be fair but the likes of Boyd, Ram and Barrett look(ed) miles off it. Delaney looks decent enough at times and Dan Mackay seems to only show up every few weeks (or when the tv cameras are at the game). To their credit, wee Jay Henderson has been superb. 
 

You can't say that about Daniel, I did and one of the happy clappers went apeshit.

Glad I'm not alone with the thought and I have noticed over the season there have been other DM criticisms.

[Guest]

36 minutes ago, SandyCromarty said:

You can't say that about Daniel, I did and one of the happy clappers went apeshit.

Glad I'm not alone with the thought and I have noticed over the season there have been other DM criticisms.

A number of folk including myself have voiced opinions saying Mackay’s been poor. However, yours went the extra mile, something along the lines of its obvious he didn’t want to be here from the beginning - baseless pish as usual unfortunately and you were rightly called out

[sophia]

8 hours ago, SandyCromarty said:

If silence be good for the wise, how much better for fools.

 Never tell a fool that he is a fool. All you'll have is an angry fool. 

How touching it is to have you thinking of me Sandy.

I'm puzzled though, you've previously pledged to ignore me, so does this mean you minded to communicate?

If so can we put this jumper for goalposts scouting nonsense to bed? Have a listen to the sacked in the morning podcast with David Martindale. You'll then be aware, as I am, of the way technology and specialists are deployed.

Also, @NorthStand10 is absolutely correct, your comments with respect to Danny were as disrespectful as they were ludicrous.

 

[Guest]

On 29/12/2022 at 16:26, SandyCromarty said:

Reported today that Hibs are keeping a close eye on Daniel MacKay during his loan spell but there is no sign of a January recall so that's some good news.

if I speak….

Edited May 6, 2023 by Guest

[GraniteGype]

10 hours ago, lochnesscaley said:

certain players need to look at themselves this morning. 

This. I think some folk on here were watching a different game to me last night if they are blaming Dodds for the defeat(I was nearby and went along as a neutral). 

Too many players were well off it in the first half yesterday. How many times did Allardice get rolled or over commit and miss his challenge opening up the lines? Welsh was poor and had little impact. Deas and Devine were getting rag dolled by Akinyemi all night. Along with Ridgers they were also guilty of terrible distribution too often. And where do you start with last weeks hero Danny Mackay? What a sh1tebag he looked.

Same shape, different personnel in the second half and they looked much better. Carson gave some much needed energy and bite to centre mid. Samuels shifted defenders around with his pace and movement. Shaw and Harper were your best over the 90mins - thought they were very good.

Dodds might have made some mistakes over the course of the season (I couldn’t comment), but it was the Caley players sh1t’n the bed in the first half last night that cost you the result. You made a decent fist of it in the second half but Ayr managed the game out well and landed a sickener of a sucker punch late on when ICT had sounded the bugles.

Edited May 6, 2023 by bpdon