Billy Dodds has every right to feel angry at the SPFL’s decision not to allow him to recall loan players due to the injury crisis at Caley Thistle.
The Caley Thistle boss was far from impressed at the league turning down his club’s request to recall some of their loan players.
The ruling is all the more baffling when, as Doddsy pointed out, St Mirren were allowed to recall loan players due to their squad being hit by a Covid outbreak previously.
Surely if you are down to the bare bones in squad numbers then you should be allowed to recall loan players?
It makes no sense that illness is an acceptable reason, but long term injuries are not when you are asking for what seems, on the face of it, a reasonable request for special dispensation.
As a result of not being able to recall goalkeeper Lewis Munro from Nairn, Clach duo Aly Riddle and Robbie Thompson, Harry Hennem from Wick or Ethan Cairns, who is at Forres, the squad is as threadbare as can be.
Just look at the bench from Saturday’s 2-2 draw against Ayr United – the senior players were goalkeeper Mark Ridgers, George Oakley and 20-year-old Lewis Hyde, who was on loan at Rothes last season.
The other subs were Matthew Strachan and Aaron Nicolson, who are both 17, and 18-year-old Calum MacKay.
Nicolson only made his first-team debut a week ago when he got 15 minutes at Queen’s Park.
Caley Thistle players showing their commitment
The situation is so bad at the club just now that two players had to play when not at 100% against Ayr.
Sean Welsh took painkillers to play despite suffering from a dead leg, while Danny Devine, who the manager believes shouldn’t be under consideration for at least another week, patched himself up and gave his all for 76 minutes.
I would commend both of them for their efforts under the circumstances.
With the team going through a difficult spell, the rumour-mill has been running wild in the Highlands with all sorts of silly tales about players not wanting to play for the manager.
I’ve been at clubs where that sort of talk has done the rounds before and it’s not nice.
I can tell you this much, though – if that was the case there’s no chance either Welsh or Devine would have played on Saturday.
I hope their willingness to play when nowhere near fit shows just how much the players are behind their boss.
David Carson is also worthy of praise for putting in a great shift.
He has had a rough few weeks with a slip leading to an opposition goal being scored and he has also scored an own goal.
But, with his team struggling for bodies, I thought he was excellent in midfield.
I don’t know Carson at all, but he has all the attributes needed at a time when his manager is looking for strong characters in his changing room.
Fifa making it hard to focus on World Cup
It still feels as if it is destined to be a tournament where all the headlines are generated by events off the field, but the World Cup is here at last.
I was pleased the England players took a knee before their opening game against Iran yesterday, but it’s sad Fifa threatened to ban captains who wear the OneLove armband.
It is almost as if the association is picking and choosing what causes to support depending on where tournaments are being held, and that will have a lot of people feeling uncomfortable.
The associations of the countries which had planned on letting their captains wear the armband have been put in a horrible position as a result.
It will be interesting to see if Fifa’s threat has the desired effect as the tournament progresses.
Coming after Fifa president Gianni Infantino’s remarkable press conference at the weekend where he accused Western countries of hypocrisy for being outspoken about Qatar’s human rights record, it is doing little to put the focus on events on the pitch.
I’m trying to do that, but with this tournament taking place during the season for the first time in its history, I find it very hard to predict a winner.
It’s the usual suspects for me of France, Brazil and Argentina.
Karim Benzema’s withdrawal from the French squad is a blow for them and how they cope without him will be interesting.
Brazil are always contenders, while the romantics will be rooting for a fairytale win for the great Lionel Messi.
But, honestly, I just want to see some entertaining games.
Honoured by Hall of Fame induction
It’s a special week for me as I’m being inducted into the Aberdeen Hall of Fame.
I’m honoured and proud to be joining such esteemed company in the 2022 class alongside fellow inductees Russell Anderson, Davie Robb, Frank McDougall and Dougie Bell.
Sadly, illness will prevent Frank from attending, which is a shame – but I’m sure he is as proud as I am at joining esteemed company when you look at those who have already been inducted.
My wife isn’t one for football events, but even she is coming down to Aberdeen with me and we’re really looking forward to what will be a memorable occasion.
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