"The ICT Thread - The Championship Years"

[SandyCromarty]

11 hours ago, Stephen Malkmus said:

 

 

Now there's a real fuckin hard nut.

Looks like a member o the Hilltoon Ballet Ensemble or the Lochee Knitting for Beginners Club.

[Highland Capital]

I see Lewis Nicolson has been loaned to Elgin.  Not sure I like that tbh.  Our squad is pretty depleted as it is.  We only had four outfield players on the bench on Saturday, I think I'd have liked to have seen him with us for a while yet.  Unless someone's coming in of course.

[micaley68]

5 minutes ago, Highland Capital said:

I see Lewis Nicolson has been loaned to Elgin.  Not sure I like that tbh.  Our squad is pretty depleted as it is.  We only had four outfield players on the bench on Saturday, I think I'd have liked to have seen him with us for a while yet.  Unless someone's coming in of course.

I don't like that either,  Elgin are Pony!! 

[SandyCromarty]

9 minutes ago, micaley68 said:

I don't like that either,  Elgin are Pony!! 

He's only out on loan for just over 4 months.

And usually there's a clause where we can call him back if need be, plus, as with all loans, Elgin will be required to play him in his usual position.

Better he gets game experience than warming a bench.

[TheScarf]

3 hours ago, Highland Capital said:

I see Lewis Nicolson has been loaned to Elgin.  Not sure I like that tbh.  Our squad is pretty depleted as it is.  We only had four outfield players on the bench on Saturday, I think I'd have liked to have seen him with us for a while yet.  Unless someone's coming in of course.

The only logic I can see in it is that Dodds expects a few players back for Friday.  Devine and Carson hopefully.  

[Derry Alli]

Are hotels always so bloody expensive in Inverness?

Trying to book up for our tie in April, just Friday & Saturday night (so I can take the works van from Aberdeen, lololol) - the half decent hotels are astronomical. I'm talking £4/£500 for the nights.

Any recommendations, just needing decent nightlife. Pp referable not a guest house.

[PB1994]

30 minutes ago, Mr. Alli said:

Are hotels always so bloody expensive in Inverness?

Trying to book up for our tie in April, just Friday & Saturday night (so I can take the works van from Aberdeen, lololol) - the half decent hotels are astronomical. I'm talking £4/£500 for the nights.

Any recommendations, just needing decent nightlife. Pp referable not a guest house.

Yeah, hotel prices are absolute madness in Inverness. Coming to the wrong place for decent nightlife!

You could try the corriegarth. It’s a 5 minute walk from town, granted it’s up a b*****d of a hill if you are walking back steaming. I’ve no idea what it’s actually like to stay the night in but I’m sure it would be fine.

[rossd98]

Alright folks, I had Robbie Deas on my podcast for the first episode of the new season as he discusses all things ICT. There is also a giveaway going on for a shirt signed by this seasons squad if anyone fancies getting involved. It’s on the Twitter page which is @HeadItPodcast Any feedback, follows or shares on social media is greatly appreciated. All the best for this season!

YouTube:

Spotify: 

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a-chat-with-robbie-deas/id1570371231?i=1000576263317

 

Cheers

Ross

[Aidan]

Are hotels always so bloody expensive in Inverness?
Trying to book up for our tie in April, just Friday & Saturday night (so I can take the works van from Aberdeen, lololol) - the half decent hotels are astronomical. I'm talking £4/£500 for the nights.
Any recommendations, just needing decent nightlife. Pp referable not a guest house.

Was up in Inverness in May and we got a wee 1 bedroom flat on Airbnb about a 10 minute walk from the train station for £74 a night, sure it had parking too. Might be worth a look if the prices elsewhere are as mental as you’re saying.

[SandyCromarty]

13 hours ago, Mr. Alli said:

Are hotels always so bloody expensive in Inverness?

Trying to book up for our tie in April, just Friday & Saturday night (so I can take the works van from Aberdeen, lololol) - the half decent hotels are astronomical. I'm talking £4/£500 for the nights.

Any recommendations, just needing decent nightlife. Pp referable not a guest house.

You're right, they are overpriced, however Inverness is a major Scottish tourist attraction thanks to Nessie.

There are three travel Lodges in the town and for your dates the city centre one is charging £85 per night, I'm not sure about a parking charge though.

[TheScarf]

Yeah, those prices are kind of to be expected for a major tourist hub. 

[SandyCromarty]

51 minutes ago, TheScarf said:

Yeah, those prices are kind of to be expected for a major tourist hub. 

It used to be mostly the summer months when we saw tourists, now it's like year round with weekenders short breaks, hence the hotel building programme in the centre, sad btw to see the Ironworks has lost it's battle to keep that new 7 storey Marriot out.

[The Mantis]

16 hours ago, Mr. Alli said:

Are hotels always so bloody expensive in Inverness?

Trying to book up for our tie in April, just Friday & Saturday night (so I can take the works van from Aberdeen, lololol) - the half decent hotels are astronomical. I'm talking £4/£500 for the nights.

Any recommendations, just needing decent nightlife. Pp referable not a guest house.

Are you not staying with Sandy then?

[Sherrif John Bunnell]

You might be better off getting a hotel in somewhere like Nairn or Aviemore and then get the train into Inverness.

[SandyCromarty]

3 hours ago, The Mantis said:

Are you not staying with Sandy then?

There's room in the byre if he disnae mind the sharn.

[Highland Capital]

Last night's capitulation showed we're still at least two short in numbers.  We've needed at least one central midfielder since McAlear went - why haven't we signed one?  We've needed a proper right back since Rooney left - why haven't we signed one?  I know Carson has the right-back slot to lose just now but we really need a proper option in there.  I find it hard to believe the club haven't realised this but we now seem to be a bit top-heavy with attackers and centre-backs.

[Central Belt Caley]

3 hours ago, Highland Capital said:

Last night's capitulation showed we're still at least two short in numbers.  We've needed at least one central midfielder since McAlear went - why haven't we signed one?  We've needed a proper right back since Rooney left - why haven't we signed one?  I know Carson has the right-back slot to lose just now but we really need a proper option in there.  I find it hard to believe the club haven't realised this but we now seem to be a bit top-heavy with attackers and centre-backs.

I’ve tried to write last night off as “one of those nights” anything we tried didn’t come off and players were misplacing simple passes which is unlike them (Allardice, Macgregor the main culprits).

I do agree regarding recruitment, Carson is our number 1 right back. Hyde can do a job there but we really should’ve signed a proper back up for there. Another centre mid should’ve been high up on the priorities I totally agree. 
 

On last night specifically, I have no idea why we gave Doran another deal, 45 minutes of football last night and he was completely anonymous. Shaw and Boyd look out of their depth but it’s still early days so will reserve judgement for a bit. 
 

Hopefully there is some room left in the kitty for a loan or two to strengthen the numbers. 
 

[Highland Capital]

2 hours ago, Central Belt Caley said:

I do agree regarding recruitment, Carson is our number 1 right back. Hyde can do a job there but we really should’ve signed a proper back up for there. Another centre mid should’ve been high up on the priorities I totally agree. 

On last night specifically, I have no idea why we gave Doran another deal, 45 minutes of football last night and he was completely anonymous. Shaw and Boyd look out of their depth but it’s still early days so will reserve judgement for a bit. 

Hopefully there is some room left in the kitty for a loan or two to strengthen the numbers. 

It's criminal that eighteen months after Rooney went we're still without a natural right back.  Carson has done well there but if he's out it's probably Duffy who looks mediocre at best and says himself that he sees himself as a centre-back and Hyde who was naively thrown to the wolves last night.  Another midfielder would give us some flexibility and allow MacGregor to go back in as a 10 - I don't rate him deeper at all.  Carson doesn't seem to play very well as part of the two in midfield either - think he can only work in midfield now in a system with three central midfielders.  Our best football in the play-off against St Johnstone was with playing a proper 4-3-3 which we haven't used since and Dodds is probably too afraid to play 3-5-2 again.

Our best teams in the past had grit in midfield - what we'd give to have some like Draper, Foran, Black or Duncan in midfield now.  

Edited August 20, 2022 by Highland Capital

[bdu98196]

1 win, 2 draws, 1 defeat - a decent performance, one abject one and some 'meh'. Sitting 3 points off the top, but equally 3 of the bottom in the league. Only one team undefeated and 2 teams without a draw to their name after only 4 games.

Standard Scottish Championship we see every season - no panic yet, but not enough to be excited.

[PB1994]

It’s all fine margins isn’t it. Going into the season you’d be wanting 3 points at home to QP but with the players we had missing and since they’ve had a good start you could maybe say it’s a good point.

Arbroath away I think you’d again take a point but they’ve had a shite start so maybe we should have done better to get all 3.

Good win against Cove and a shocker against Partick. If the Partick game had a different result you can say it’s a good start to the season but with defeat it’s now just average and you could then look back at other results and say we should have more points.

The Partick performance was the most worrying thing. We looked devoid of any ideas. Hopefully it is just a one off. It is very early in the season but you don’t really have the luxury of having a bad start and recovering well in this division.