tlg1903

My memory of it was most folks got on board with the merger and it was really just late teens/early twenties mob that took a hissy fit. The thing is though I wouldn't say the new club lost any fans to the cheeks over it. The vast majority of people that followed either thistle or caley supported one of the cheeks anyway (probably a 60/40 split in favour of der hun) and it's biggest problem has always been they have been seen as a second team/soft spot for them as they are the local team but I have a true love (that's me btw, I used to go a fair bit in the early days at Telford street) by Invernesian football fans. More kids are growing up Inverness fans these days 2bf but not enough to make a noticeable difference sadly. What's happening now will not be helping either, the club is totally fucked best I can tell and at the very least will have to go PT again assuming they can avoid liquidation. Sadly Inverness have made poor decisions all throughout their history starting with where the put the stadium. There were other options that would have been far more sheltered and I think more people would have gone/go to games if they weren't going to be freezing their nuts off next to the Moray firth. Dingwall might be much smaller than the schneck but County have everything north of Dingwall as a catchment area and shit ton more history to boot. I used to travel around the highlands with work a lot and would be visiting 5-6 homes a day. Most folks I met that liked football would follow the cheeks or Aberdeen but for those that didn't county was usually the team they followed these days. Basically people have been travelling down from the likes of caithness, sutherland, skye etc to watch county since they moved to the senior league setup. Previously to see league football they would have had to travel to Aberdeen or Perth which would be a 10 hour round trip give or take. Also, Roy McGregor is a grade A cunt but does indeed run a tight ship.

I'm not sure we could have sewn it up in the summer after the basket case of a season we had culminating with the fucking tourist. Hardly grounds to extend for a few years when you have a talent and can do better. Our only hope I think is the stability and progress we have clearly made since can convince him we are worth staying at. Sadly though if the tims are interested he will go, he probably is a Tim as his family were over for the game Saturday which he seemed very chuffed about. I know it was a big game and they could have just been there anyway but it is an easy one to speculate on.

The hun forums are a delight at the moment, 80% odd want him binned and they all think they will get thumped by us next week.

Yeah bar a few harsh yellows Walsh was fine, certainly didn't feel like he was getting influenced by the crowd and by and large let the game flow. I would go as far as to say it was most competent display I've seen from a Scottish ref in a game between ourselves and one of the ugly sisters away in quite a while. Re the chalked off goal I can't help but feel if Celtic had scored that against us we would have been howling for a handball so whilst I agree the rule has become a nonsense it is what it is and the goal was correctly not given. It would have been amazing to win but what we did was as good as one in some ways. It would be fair to say every Scottish football fan had a curious eye on the San Giro yesterday and coming back from 2 down there is never not impressive. It's not like a really good celtic team didn't show up yesterday either, they played really well in spells and their first goal was utterly ruthless. We got a point because we not only could go toe to toe with them we could do so from two goals down and if we can do that to them, there, then we can do it to anyone in the league. The best bit about that? They all know it When you think about it this is the first time since the early 90's that every single fan of the other clubs in Scotland would at the very least be wary about playing us. I've already seen utd fans online saying they are dreading next Saturday and they have had a great start to the season, they would normally be hyped for a trip north in such circumstances. What a game that is now as well, a win puts us in such a strong position to really turn the screw on der hun. Der hun who are very fortunate to be going in to half time still drawing against Killie. Even if they win today though if we beat utd we would still go 6 clear of the cunts should we do the business against them. I've no idea how long this can last but I'm defo going to enjoy it while it does. However early in the season it may be I really think yesterday's performance and result could be one of the most pivotal moments of the season for us. The confidence and belief in the squad will be through the roof after that and I can see us really going for the jugular in games a bit more as a result.

As far as I'm concerned it's a free swing at the cunts Jute. What excites me is I think this team will actually try and take one at them. I fully expect us to lose as well 2bh but I keep thinking back to that first Elfsborg game I watched after Thelin was announced. They were playing Malmo and the game ended 3-1 to Elfsborg. Over the 90 though they only had about 17-18% possession if memory serves but somehow looked in complete control of the game. I said at the time and I'll say again that I've never seen anything quite like it before. So I expect us to set up like that Elfsborg team did 2bh and that's defo going to be a bit different to what we have seen so far. I think we will change shape to a more conventional 433/4141, Palaversa will defo be in for Clarkie and I think we should go with a front 3 of Keskinen, mcgrath and Duk. It would be a bold move but this isn't a game for a not fully match fit Nisbet to start and whilst Sokler is defo a more mobile and physical option I think we would get more joy out of Mr Lopes. He's unpredictable, strong on the ball, good finisher and quick.... Add in we seem to put a lot of on the deck crosses/cutbacks when wingers are getting to the byline these days I think our best chance at getting something from this game is with him in the team. So much will depend on keeping a good shape and not conceding soft goals like we did against hearts, particularly early on. I think you're right that they will want to slap us down and will be going for it from the off. If we can manage that though I think we can cause them problems going forward. Also, for the first time this season, keskinen is going to have space to run into and if we can get the ball to him he could get us off our feet I think.

They kept on going on about analytics being a big reason why they appointed him. Do analytics not show up how hard he's found it to keep a job? They would have been better keeping fox until the end of the season as I was well impressed with hearts last week. They had us figured out big time for most of the game.

The gammon reaction to a German managing England is as hilarious as it was predictable

Because we are joint top of the league with the opportunity, however unlikely, to go three points clear and ultimately we are dreamers deep down regardless of what our rational mind says?

I genuinely thought hearts would be fine re relegation this season but now I'm genuinely not so sure.

My neighbour is a jambo, young lad but he's absolutely sound and much wiser than his years. Was just chatting with him there, he's fucking FURIOUS at this which I had to hide my amusement at because he's normally so mild mannered. We actually watched the game together last week, his wee face when we scored the winner Also just spotted this online about critchley "This guy makes Beale look like a born winner. He won a massive 8% of games at QPR and lasted 9 weeks as their manager. At least Beale lasted six months before being punted for being shite."

It was always in afc chat Al. It's because it started as a post to laugh at them for one time we beat them in 2007 and snowballed from there. Regardless though it's one of my favourite threads, I always have a wee smile when a new post appears in it.

And having a decent game, that's two or three times he's gone up against walker and got a good ball across. In fairness the English defence is looking shaky

Exactly. It's a free swing at the cunts as far as I'm concerned but my feeling is we won't be able to stay in touch with the tims over the course of the season. Second is there for the taking though.

It really wasn't meant to though on re-reading it does come across a wee bit wide. It was meant far more tongue in cheek than that fwiw.

I'll be kind and say that's not my recollection, brown absolutely did play as a holding midfielder for us. Not to say he didn't occasionally get forward in games but he wasn't playing as a B2B. Player who has played the one position all his career is better in position than someone who has played it for a few years shocker. It seems fairly obvious to me from watching him that Nilsen understands the position far better than brown and I would have said this after watching him play fewer games than 10. Who knows though, maybe I'm being hasty and my opinion is tinged with favouritism...... or maybe I'm not and just a better judge of player than you are. Time will tell I suppose. I'm curious though, where's the tipping point for you ? 15 games? 20? 40? How many games does TLG need to watch for Panda to respect my opinion on this more? It's not like I didn't watch Scott Browns career with great interest given how important he was to the national team. Och, miniskirts. You know you get marked as successfully completing a pass to someone 2 yards away right? That stat on it's own tells you very little other than he didn't give the ball away very much, that's hardly the same as what I was talking about. Given Brown was hardly renowned for his forward passing ability and the level being played at most of those CL passes would have been back/sideward passes. In comparison Nilsens reading of the game and how he applies that to his forward passing ability was one of the first things I noticed about him. He makes really smart distribution decisions and that is not something I have ever thought about Scott Brown over his entire career, his were far more simple. I would also add Nilsen is a much better first time passer than Brown and it's a keystone to Nilsens game imo. Combined with his positional awareness that's what makes him such an effective player in the role to my eye. And that's my point, they shouldn't be compared as they were/are very different players regardless of whereabouts on the pitch they were playing.

I don't think the Nilsen Brown comparison is particularly valid aside from the fact they played the same position for us, they are very different players. Brown adapted to playing as a holding midfielder, with reasonable success, as his legs went and that was before he even signed for us. Before that he was ridiculously effective box to box shithouse after starting out life playing a wider role at hibs. Nilsen has always been a holding midfielder by the look of him, he really gets the role and is far more effective in it than Scott Brown ever was for any club. He see's and executes passes that Brown could never conceive in the first place and despite his lack of pace he always seems to be in the right place at the right time. Fwiw I thought Brown wasn't awful in red...... I wasn't devastated when he left though. Despite his age he wasn't a terrible holding midfielder at this level by any stretch and his presence on the park was effective at times. For me the biggest problem with Scott Brown was it was just a bit too much about Scott Brown both in his demeanour and the press sycophancy which he lapped up, especially when there was hun involvement. Nilsen doesn't seem to have that ego about him, he's all about the team and add in his already notable leadership qualities I would say Nilsen is a better leader on the park than Brown and far more effective in position regardless of the standard of team mate available to either.

Aye hate watching, let alone playing against, one of his teams. Best thing about his binning is he goes back to the radio. I've often found him quite amusing when he's been on off the ball and sportsound, not scared to laugh at himself either.

Well, he's never going to be done for dealing in speed is he

That's hilariously nuts

Exactly this. We won't need to rest anyone really at all this season. It's the big advantage that we have over the likes of the ugly sisters and Hearts. Pretty much every game we play this season we should be able to go with our strongest available 11. It's one of the reasons I really fancy us to push for second.

I wonder if the pressure of having to fill BM's boots got to him a bit. If so a wee bit of time out of the limelight may do him good.

Oh, bravo

October has the potential to be a season defining month 2bh. If we take a positive slant and say we get to the hearts game with 12 wins out of 12 then do the job against them the celtic game becomes incredibly interesting. Hard to see us beating celtic or even getting draw at the San girò but that's a free swing as far as I'm concerned. If we could win the other 3 though what a position that would put us in, especially if we do the business at dens.

Disagree to an extent re Nisbet, I thought he did well enough first half and he was making the Motherwell defence nervous but I would agree he faded in the second half. It's been great to see the progression at the top end of the pitch but we are far from the finished article and quite frankly we still have plenty of defensive lessons to be learning if that last ten minutes is anything to go by. The defending for the goal was incredibily lax and it was highly preventable. Not to say that Motherwell hadn't become a handful (tavares in particular was lively and I'm surprised he didn't start) but for a spell we looked a bit panicky at the back and don't get me started on how often we gave the ball away needlessly. You could argue if Shinnie was on the pitch we would have coped with them better but he wasn't and we didn't. We got away with it but the warning shot across the bow was quite clear to me and there are sterner tests on the horizon than Motherwell at home. Possibly not the worst thing in the world though for the team to have a reminder it's not all going to go their way this season. We still got the win but we need to learn from that last ten. Spartans at home next week is obviously a wee bit of a curve ball but no-one expects them to be coming to dominate the game. Dens the week after though, they'll try and get at us then October it's Hearts H tims A utd H huns H so we need to sharpen it up at the back when under pressure quickly.

Kettlewell whining has just put a extra wee cherry on top. Suck it up you shit bearded fud.