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

[Supercaleyman94]

2 hours ago, TheScarf said:

Devine and Duffy, I'm on the fence about.  The former has regressed a lot since Broadfoot and Deas left.  As @RiG points out, they were probably guiding the others through games.  We look far more solid with Ujdur and Boyes in there.  Duffy was brilliant in the cup final but that's really been the only game where I've thought 'this boy is not bad you know'.  I'd happily drive Delaney, Davidson, Hyde and Lodovica to their next clubs.  Anywhere on the planet.

Duffy is horrendous at CB just keep him at RB. The fact that Dodds thought he was our replacement for Deas is insane. Devine seems to only perform well when he has a competent partner in CB (Warren, Meekings, Broadfoot, Deas etc etc) when he's playing with centre backs like Delaney or Duffy he struggles it's almost likes he's exposed too much. 

Udjur and Boyes are a much better pairing no doubt about it Devine can offer cover. Keep Duffy and Delaney away from Central Defence no matter what. 

Totally agree with all those players get them to f**k. Got a soft spot for Hyde cause he's one of our own but he's cleary not cut out for this level 

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Juanjo Nostalgia said:

Five/six of those players have had a decent amount of first-team football. Add in Wotherspoon (who to be fair might not be “match fit”) and that is a shocking result. Billy Dodds really did leave us with a terrible squad.

Billy Dodds is responsible for an unknown percentage of those bad  signings but he’s obviously not blameless. John Robertson is the Sporting Director, it’s literally his job to oversee transfers. 

[TheScarf]

4 minutes ago, NorthStand10 said:

Billy Dodds is responsible for an unknown percentage of those bad  signings but he’s obviously not blameless. John Robertson is the Sporting Director, it’s literally his job to oversee transfers. 

Robertson, apparently, signed most of the players.  I think both he and Dodds are at fault for where we are currently.  Hence why I'd like Robbo to follow Dodds out the door (which I've heard is happening when his contract expires at the end of the season).

[RandomGuy.]

27 minutes ago, Supercaleyman94 said:

I thought quite a few people knew knew this I'm not making it up that's why we had Ryan Barret for just over a month (Thank f**k!) Even tho he was an emergency signing he was so crap we didn't offer an extension.

A few fans knew if we signed Wotherspoon we could only offer him a short term deal till January cause for some reason clubs can't sign players after September on a long term deal. I don't know why that is but apparently its the rules.. this was said weeks before he even signed so it ain't getting plucked out of thin air

Does anyone honestly think we've offered him a 3 month contract over fitness and finances?. A player of his calibre? If we signed him in the Summer or September pretty sure he would've been on a 1 year contract at least. We just gotta hope he signs an extension, plays well and stays fit. 

End of the day we'll see how he gets on. 

Nobody has heard of it because its completely fabricated in your own head.

Dundee United signed a player on a 2yr deal on the 15th October last season. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/63268792

[TheScarf]

Jay Emmanuel-Thomas is on trial. 

[Central Belt Caley]

https://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/sport/former-arsenal-and-aberdeen-striker-jets-in-for-trial-at-cal-330184/
 

Quote

Aaron Doran, who picked up a hamstring injury in the draw with Partick, is set to miss three months.

Usual from the usual

Quote

Centre half Morgan Boyes has a serious eye infection after scraping his cornea

This is the type of injury you see coming up on Football Manager 

[TheScarf]

JET will be announced today I reckon.  I can't say I'm too enthused by him signing.  The caveat being he'd be playing at a level down than he's at played before in Scotland so the defenders will be worse than in the Premiership.

@bdu98196 over on CTO mentioned something and its a view I've held for a while.  We need to stop giving deals to Welsh and Doran.  We get virtually zero ROI on them and for a club that doesn't need to seek money worries, that's a bad financial move.

[PB1994]

26 minutes ago, TheScarf said:

JET will be announced today I reckon.  I can't say I'm too enthused by him signing.  The caveat being he'd be playing at a level down than he's at played before in Scotland so the defenders will be worse than in the Premiership.

@bdu98196 over on CTO mentioned something and its a view I've held for a while.  We need to stop giving deals to Welsh and Doran.  We get virtually zero ROI on them and for a club that doesn't need to seek money worries, that's a bad financial move.

He seemed to do alright at Livi so I am quite willing to give him a go though I do realise the spell at Livi was very much a one off. As you say though, playing a level down against worse players could work out for him. He certainly can't be any worse than Lodovica.

Totally agree about Doran, he should have been released years ago. I would have given Welsh a contract as at least he is still a very good player when he is on the pitch, however limited that time has been.

Edited October 20, 2023 by PB1994

[TheScarf]

5 minutes ago, PB1994 said:

He seemed to do alright at Livi so I am quite willing to give him a go though I do realise the spell at Livi was very much a one off. As you say though, playing a level down against worse players could work out for him. He certainly can't be any worse than Lodovica.

Totally agree about Doran, he should have been released years ago. I would have given Welsh a contract as at least he is still a very good player when he is on the pitch, however limited that time has been.

That's my thought too.  He is 100% better than Harry Lodovica, so that's a positive.

[Central Belt Caley]

I think Doran will always be considered a legend for how long he’s been at the club and being apart of the cup final team but he should’ve been gone after the playoff defeat to St Johnstone imo. His legs went years ago and we surely can’t afford to keep him on while he sits in the treatment room for months at a time

If Welsh did go, David Carson would be my next choice for captain 

[TheScarf]

1 hour ago, Central Belt Caley said:

I think Doran will always be considered a legend for how long he’s been at the club and being apart of the cup final team but he should’ve been gone after the playoff defeat to St Johnstone imo. His legs went years ago and we surely can’t afford to keep him on while he sits in the treatment room for months at a time

If Welsh did go, David Carson would be my next choice for captain 

There's some on CTO today saying Doran can 'still do a job in the Championship'. Boy plays 10 games a season if he's lucky. He's out until February. Unfortunately finance trumps sentimental value and we can't be offering him a new deal when his current one expires imo. 

[PB1994]

He does well in cup games against lower league teams which seems to give fans the impression he can still do it at this level, when it isn't true at all.

He will occasionally have a decent game in the league but he hasn't been good week in week out ever since he did his knees in.

[Central Belt Caley]

27 minutes ago, TheScarf said:

There's some on CTO today saying Doran can 'still do a job in the Championship'. Boy plays 10 games a season if he's lucky. He's out until February. Unfortunately finance trumps sentimental value and we can't be offering him a new deal when his current one expires imo. 

Surprised CTO is still going tbh, looks to have very little users. Had a wee look for some stats on how many minutes Doran’s actually played and found the below

It’s from https://fbref.com/en/players/edb7a79f/Aaron-Doran so not sure how accurate it is. We’ve barely managed much use out of him and he doesn’t contribute much either. Unless he’s on buttons (he won’t be) he should’ve been out the door a while ago. 

[TheScarf]

What do we average a season match wise? 45-50? Between 2015 and 2018 he played 35 times ffs. His 2023/24 stats are going to match is 2020/21 stats too IMO.

[Central Belt Caley]

Aye think with the league cup group and league games you’re guaranteed 40 games. Then challenge cup, Scottish and any playoffs you’re probably not far off with 45-50. 

I’m not sure if the picture above is just league games or all comps, still pretty pish either way but just a bit less pish if it’s league games only 

[TheScarf]

11 hours ago, Central Belt Caley said:

Aye think with the league cup group and league games you’re guaranteed 40 games. Then challenge cup, Scottish and any playoffs you’re probably not far off with 45-50. 

I’m not sure if the picture above is just league games or all comps, still pretty pish either way but just a bit less pish if it’s league games only 

He plays so few games it's hard to tell. If one season it said he'd played 40 times then we know it's all competitions as there's only 36 or 38 league games in the SPFL. 

[bdu98196]

On 20/10/2023 at 09:34, TheScarf said:

@bdu98196 over on CTO mentioned something and its a view I've held for a while.  We need to stop giving deals to Welsh and Doran.  We get virtually zero ROI on them and for a club that doesn't need to seek money worries, that's a bad financial move.

Thanks for the recognition. Just one of my many views which seem alternative or polarising to the CTO rose tinted brigade for whom the club can never do wrong.

[TheScarf]

Just now, bdu98196 said:

Thanks for the recognition. Just one of my many views which seem alternative or polarising to the CTO rose tinted brigade for whom the club can never do wrong.

Aye I don't have an account on there but read the threads most days. It's an echo chamber for everything being rosy all the time. 

You're 100% correct, we can't afford to keep offering deals to players who rarely play. 

[bdu98196]

On 20/10/2023 at 12:47, TheScarf said:

What do we average a season match wise? 45-50? Between 2015 and 2018 he played 35 times ffs. His 2023/24 stats are going to match is 2020/21 stats too IMO.

Tbh, it's not just the appearance stats. Although I haven't actively looked, I'd expect his game contributions have diminished accordingly too (I certainly struggle to recall games he's been MOTM or highly influential) - goals, assists which given the views of some should be still highly competitive given we are not in the big league. Sadly a player on the decline both in terms of physical capability and game influence.

Edited October 21, 2023 by bdu98196

[Guest]

On 20/10/2023 at 10:17, Central Belt Caley said:

I think Doran will always be considered a legend for how long he’s been at the club and being apart of the cup final team but he should’ve been gone after the playoff defeat to St Johnstone imo. His legs went years ago and we surely can’t afford to keep him on while he sits in the treatment room for months at a time

If Welsh did go, David Carson would be my next choice for captain 

Doran has missed around 52 league matches since relegation and IIRC around 2018 I read on Transfermarkt he was injured for 850+ days in the premiership. No idea how that translates to matches missed.