frankthetank22

Hopefully there's a defender or two lined up to sign this week, we're pretty thin at the back at the moment.

Good warm up yesterday against Elgin City, I'm glad I went, good to see a few mates who I haven't seen since the last game I was at, some 16 months ago! Anyway as said County lined up in a 352, Randall & Spittal providing the width, Spittal instrumental in most good moves. Tillson. Paton & Callachan were the midfield 3 and looked like they would compliment each other pretty well. The introduction of the young lads in the second half added another dimension, Williamson & Wright particularly were impressive & I'd like to think they'll be serious contenders within the squad this season, they looked good enough.

Mesage from Uncle Roy As the new season draws closer I feel it is important to update you as to how the club is progressing. At present, we know under government guidance we will have at least 1,000 supporters allowed within the stadium. The club has already submitted an application to increase that capacity to 2,000 supporters given we had run 5 very successful test events last season. In the knowledge that social distancing will be reduced in the weeks to come, we do not feel this is ambitious, but a more realistic expectation. We know that this will be extremely welcome news for our supporters and will give you all more comfort in purchasing your season tickets. We hope you will all have great confidence in returning to the stadium on the success of our test matches with fans last season. Although we are looking forward to welcoming our supporters back, it is important to remember that there will still be some physical distancing, which we anticipate to be around 1 metre, but this will, in the short term, impact on where people will be seated in the stadium. We can not guarantee that the seat you want will be the seat you sit in initially, but we will endeavour to keep Jailend season ticket holders in the Jailend stand and the same for the other stands- again this will be a short term issue. It is important for us to understand that there will still be nervousness around returning to stadiums for some supporters. With that in mind we will still be running the Virtual aspect of our season ticket- guaranteeing coverage of all home league matches through RCFCTV- where physical attendance is not possible. We are delighted again to be maintaining the high standards of our virtual coverage which we feel was one of the best in the league last campaign, with Rory Hamilton, Stephen Craigan and Jamie Lyall all returning to present the coverage along with the return of our production partners QTV and Stream Digital. The feedback we have had on RCFCTV has reiterated to us that we made the correct decision to provide a quality product for our supporters at a time of great challenge. I also want to address the wider aspects of the club. Since the end of last season our leadership team have been reviewing and evaluating all departments and we have made various changes and improvements in order to continue delivering firstly, a club that our fans can be proud of, and secondly a club capable of competing within the top level of Scottish football. This has included looking at our football operations, recruitment, medical and commercial departments, and we are now in a position where we feel stronger in each of those areas. A lot of our supporters I understand will be wondering about recruitment of new players. I encourage all of our supporters to bear with us- it is important that we recruit in the right way and take our time to ensure that we bring the right people to our club. There will be some recruitment news this week, but our recruitment strategy is reliant on being a bit more patient and ensuring that we do as much research and due diligence as we can. If we all support this way of recruiting we will undoubtedly see the fruits of our labour going forward. Finally I want to touch on season tickets. We have been encouraged by the early sales of our season tickets and to see the volume of supporters who received a discounted season ticket through their StaggiesArmy memberships- also to see the uptake in kids season tickets that come free with all StaggiesArmy kids memberships. It is imperative that for the success of the team going forward we have as many people behind us as possible and every supporter we can get in to the stadium gives us a greater chance of achieving that success. Given the impacts of COVID-19 we have also re-introduced our finance option to allow supporters to pay up the cost of season tickets. This has previously been a popular option for supporters and we are delighted to again be able to offer this service after such a challenging time. All information on season tickets and the finance options can be found on the links below. As a club, it is important that we understand the varying situations of our supporters so please, if you have any questions, queries or concerns contact us directly on 01349 860 860 or email [email protected] where our team will be happy to help. From speaking with supporters, season ticket holders and StaggiesArmy members over the past few weeks it is clear we are all looking for normality to come back sooner rather than later. We are no different. However, it is important we still do as much as we can to stop the spread of COVID and make sure we all get our vaccinations so that we can best protect ourselves and others. I look forward to seeing many of you sooner rather than later when the new season kicks off.

I'd have assumed that Randall would be right back out of the current players? As for our left side well we've been weak in those areas for many years.

Well now that the brief Scotland distraction is out of the way it's back to club business so it's Elgin away in our first warm up game, a week today. Have we a team to field in that match, can we expect anyone new in, or a new strip to be revealed?

I'm getting quite excited about us in this tournament but it's all a bit too upbeat for my pessimistic mind lol This Czech game could EASILY go any way, I mean we only beat their 3rd team 1-0. On Monday the performance means nothing, it's all about winning the 3 points by whatever means possible.

I'd say it's exactly the same from the Czech's point of view, they must see us as their best chance of 3 points.

I get that you want Gilmour to play in the midfield but my concern is who do we play on the right side of central defencive three? I'm not a huge Hanley fan so I'd go with the back 3 that started against the Netherlands, Hendry, Cooper, Tierney. Hendry is probably the weak link in that though.

Can I assume that County's transfer targets, are involved in the upcoming Euros and therefore unable to conclude negotiations?

Chow got a couple red cards but iirc, it was mainly due to trying to cover for others, who weren't tracking runners. He was generally pretty steady with recycling possession but that's not recognised by many fans and therefore he was never really a fans favorite. Mckay still has plenty to offer, he'd be a great signing for ICT. It'll depend on what wages he's looking for I'd imagine, although he's clearly happy to stay in the local area. Likewise for Gardyne, he's plenty to offer but I'd only offer him a year deal if I were you. As much as our defence was a mess, I was a fan of Callum Morris. He's very strong in the air and a leader on the park. He's had a couple of injuries that kept him out for long spells last season, one was a hand injury then a hamstring pull. Again like Mckay, if the budget was there, I think he'd be a great signing for ICT.

McKay & Gardyne would be good signings for the Championship, Drapers broken, I'd be surprised if he played again tbh. Tim Chow is an interesting suggestion, he was better than he got credit for at County, a disciplined central midfielder.

Yes please.

1-0 Morecambe, this would be a huge result for the Shrimps, an amazing season by them and Adams.

Yeah, I'm in a bit of limbo with this and just trying to clear my head with it all. But as others have put probably more eloquently than me (I ran out of greenies the other day) there's very little remorse, it's as if everyone is acknowledging an incident occurred 6 or 7 years ago but no one wants to address the matter, which is REALLY EFFIN important to many Scottish football & County supporters. By fronting up and talking about this openly we can all hopefully see if Mackay is a reformed character. Hopefully he is and we can progress but if it becomes apparent that he hasn't reformed, it's important for the club to get him TF! Because as well as supporters leaving, sponsors will start withdrawing £ too. The Club, MacGregor, Ferguson, Mackay himself, can't stick their collective heads in the sand on this matter, it's not going to blow away once the Euro's start, or we sign a new player or two.

That's exactly what it is, I've spent time in his company (literally, I don't mean Global) but certainly don't claim to be itk on anything particular but MacGregor has always been a man of the people sort and quite approachable, whether he takes any heed of what you say is another thing but he's a wealthy business man so that's a justifiable position imo. This last week has been horrific. As football fans, especially County fans, we're used to negative headlines after a heavy defeat or a top player looking to move on for little return but what's happening now is all TOTALLY SELF INFLICTED. I for one am at a loss by it all. I'm at the brink of binning MY team, it's a crazy situation to be in but positions seem to be getting entrenched, which can only be bad for County. Season ticket renewals are about to go out to everyone and at this moment, I've no intention of giving them one more £ of my money. I hate feeling like this and can't understand why those who have acted so well before (yes mistakes have been made) have read the room so so badly.