As I tweeted previously, supporters of many, if not most, SPL teams could easily declare their team to be in a crisis at the moment. Rangers may be top of the league by some distance, but have the increasingly inevitable prospect of administration hanging over them. Celtic's problems are on the field; they, along with Hibernian (understandably, considering Colin Calderwood's dreadful results in charge) and Dundee United (bizarrely, since it's only 18 months since a cup win and the team finished fourth last season), may be looking for a new manager by the new year. Aberdeen boss Craig Brown is far from safe in his post.
St. Johnstone are already searching for a new man to take charge after Derek McInnes left for Bristol City - it's not unreasonable to expect his successor to struggle to emulate McInnes' success at McDiarmid Park. Dunfermline haven't won a game since 20th August. And as for Hearts...well, 'crisis' appears to be the default situation at the best of times, so a situation where the players aren't being paid probably commands a stronger description.
In fact, the SPL side the furthest away from being 'in crisis' are undoubtedly Motherwell, second in the league. Yet, proving once more that logic does not exist in Scottish football, neutral observers attending their away game at Inverness on Saturday would have been astonished to discover that the away side were the team riding high in the table, rather than rock bottom of the league.
For it is Caley Thistle who prop up the SPL a third of the way through the season, even though they utterly dominated the first 75 minutes against Stuart McCall's team. A 2-1 lead at that point seemed scant reward, yet the last quarter of an hour produced a long-range screamer from 'Well veteran Keith Lasley, a questionable red card for Caley's Chris Hogg and a deflected Tom Hateley free kick. Having created all of three chances in the game, Motherwell drove back south with the three points.
Depressingly, this has become fairly standard fare for supporters in Inverness. So far this season, Caley have proven that they couldn't hold onto a lead if it was attached to the collar of a newborn kitten.
In addition to the Motherwell game, they have conceded late equalizers against Dunfermline (twice) and Hearts; in addition, they managed to lose a late winner to Hibs in a game where Caley passed up so many opportunities that there might have been a forcefield around the opposing goal. These five matches have produced just three points; they might have produced fifteen. In fact, in one of our rare victories, against St. Mirren, the Buddies had a last-gasp equalizer disallowed for offside...incorrectly.
The Motherwell game, therefore, follows a rather disturbing pattern for the current campaign - when Inverness play well, they are still quite capable of failing to win. As for when they don't play well...well, you can guess.
I blogged in the summer about my excitement about the new direction the club was taking, bringing in younger players from south of the border and looking to play was two wingers. The latter plan has largely gone out of the window because of necessity; Aaron Doran, signed from Blackburn, dislocated his shoulder at the end of August, whilst his fellow Irish wideman, Jonny Hayes, sustained a similar injury three days before. Hayes made his return to the squad against Motherwell.
The decision to exchange experience for youth has so far proved to be folly; how Caley fans have reminsiced about the solidity of former captain Grant Munro, who has excelled since leaving the club and crossing the Kessock Bridge to sign for Ross County. In his absence, Caley have so far deployed ten different defenders this season. For the Motherwell game, Terry Butcher made three changes to the back four, which could not be less settled if itching powder was poured into their shorts pre-match. The squad cries out for older heads; what it has is only two outfield players over the age of 27. It is fair to say that the lack of experience is a contributor to the failure to see out games.
The summer signings have proven to largely be a disappointment, with the possible exceptions of forward Gregory Tade, who has scored four goals, and midfielder David Davis (on loan from Wolves). That's two out of twelve new arrivals (not counting Tom Aldred, a loan signing from Watford who returned to his parent club in August after failing to cement a regular place). With so many new players, Butcher has no budget to strengthen the squad in January unless some of the on-loan players move on.
And to cap it all, Doran and Hayes are not the only ones to have been on the treatment table. More than once this season the substitutes' bench has not been full. Arguably the best player brought in, Welsh international midfielder Owain Tudur Jones, broke his foot in only his third match. Another staple in the centre of the park, Lee Cox, has only just overcome a long-term groin problem. Niggling knocks here and there seem to have left the team short of at least five names for every game so far.
In short, it feels like everything is going wrong for Inverness Caledonian Thistle this season, and so they have only nine points from their opening thirteen games. The hope is that, once everyone is fit, the results will come. But Caley's next three games are Kilmarnock away, Celtic at home and Hearts away. It's realistic to think that, at the end of November, things will be even worse than they are now. Butcher, like Billy Reid at Hamilton last year, can sleep soundly in the knowledge that he has built up enough credit with his previous successes that his job is not in any immediate danger. But, even at this early stage of the campaign, I would say that, if you have a spare fiver, putting it on Caley Thistle being relegated from the SPL would seem a decent bet.
L.
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