rocket_scientist

I can assure you that Calderwood WAS mentioned specifically in the article. He is very relevant to the context of the prevailing culture at the time. The omission of any mention of Miller is to ignore a big and material piece of the bigger picture.

What stuff about Milne? What, specifically, do you agree with that he said about Milne? Are you and I qualified to agree? We're qualified to listen but unless you work/worked at Pittodrie, what makes you think you're qualified to agree or disagree with his observations and his comparisons? When someone with more knowledge than you says something about a subject that he's qualified to comment on and you're not, why agree or disagree? Why not tell your over-active imagination to shut the fuck up and just listen? Why not try to get some context and find the ballpark and identify the big picture in which his comments can be interpreted? Why introduce this? Did I say this? For negativity, did you miss what he was saying of the prevailing culture at AFC when he arrived? Are you referring to the lack of leadership from the chairman? What of the role of the Director of Football, the man between the chairman and the manager? What about the player's who have the right or wrong attitudes? Which of that bunch were the enthusiasts and which were the drainers? The resentment he faced from the club when he arrived, was this a symptom of the AFC culture or the lack of leadership, the fact that Calderwood was "popular" within the club, yet not so popular with the fans? As others have said, a tragedy that he was ever recruited in the first place. Another legacy ruined. He wasn't up for the job. His record was pathetic. But just because we recruited yet an other duffer in the job, it doesn't mean our failings for 15 years was ALL down to our shite managers. There is a bigger picture.

His management experience at AFC was an unmitigated disaster, yet your comment misses the bigger picture. No surprise there then. Instead of ridiculing him, unable to see past his disastrous record, listen to what he's saying. You can learn from people with more inside knowledge than we have. We can learn the most from exit interviews. Yet rather than seek to improve the future by understanding what's going on and what's been going on, you focus on McGhee's present attitude, an irrelevance now to AFC. That is the dumbest approach you can possibly take. Who taught you to think? Oliver Letwin or Boris Johnson?

Intelligent retort and a flawless observation, thereby exposing the inadequacy and lack of clarity in my words. However, character of sorts and mind for sure are essential for success. We are all mentally ill, it's just a matter of degree. Dr M Scott Peck - The Road Less Travelled. Definition becomes important now. Allow me to further define where I made an arse of it before. Winners have certain qualities in common. So common in fact, that you do not win without them. There is no doubt that many winners are socially inept and struggle to function in everyday society. This is the price they pay, often. But the character deficiencies I was talking about include self-doubt, lack of iron will, being short of extraordinary self-discipline or an absence of conviction - blind, headstrong or otherwise. Most winners are very fucked up people. In golf, Nicklaus, Faldo and Woods are prime examples.

Those who try so hard without fruit are often the ones that were patently never going to make it anyhow. These people are what I call "losers", people that were never going to make it anyway mostly due to character deficiencies. It's all about the mind and all about character. "Just because you are a character doesn't mean that you have character", a wise wolf once said.

Widely played? Do you have the participation levels for sport globally? I couldn't find it via google. Tennis isn't played by many in this country, I know that much. Who denied that he may or may not be "incredibly gifted"? Who's even discussing him in this regard? Have you read Bounce, or the Talent Myth? The point that at least one of these texts discusses is the value of endeavour. Are you disputing this? How does your argument stack up in relation to Paul Lawrie for example, if indeed your argument is that Murray's (or indeed any top sports performer's) achievement is more talent-based than work? Golf is played by over 60 million people worldwide last I looked and is forecast to hit 70m shortly with the exponential growth in Asia. God-given talents may be more of a myth than you perceive in relation to the majority. For every Seve or McEnroe (and I know Seve ground out thousands of hours in his formative years), there are many more who get to these optimum levels through dedicated, focused effort without any apparent latent "god-given" talent. How else can you explain the three female chess grandmasters who were made, not born? There are tons of great stuff on this subject. Here's one on football from Australian Four Four Two. http://au.fourfourtwo.com/Features/6785,the-talent-myth.aspx

Yeah, that's bullshit and no surprise given that it's the cooncil running it. But surely they would react if there was a demand from kids and their parents and/or coaches screaming to play the game? Nothing preventing an enthusiast creating the demand however. The book I read a few months ago called Bounce by Matthew Syed had a particularly interesting stat. More than half of the UK's top 20 or top dozen or whatever table tennis players in the whole of the UK lived in the same street in Reading, Berkshire. The reason was very simple. A table tennis enthusiast (a schoolteacher, I think) found a disused shed, tarted it up, put a table tennis table in there and gave keys to interested kids. They used it, used it alot, got good at it, got very good at it and went on to win medals in Commonwealth and Olympic games and stuff. The book was fascinating on many levels but the key message was that excelling in anything will usually be commensurate with effort rather than talent. A book along these lines I've yet to read is the Talent Myth - which I've just googled and found an article by Malcolm Gladwell called this (who may have been the author of the book recommended to me by a mate in Dublin). I'd never heard of the boy until last month when I read a book by him which was excellent. On topic, Murray had advantages that the vast majority didn't. Whilst his mother's obsession was the driver, they had the means to get them out to Spain for warm weather training and coaching for most of the formative and development years.

11.11.11, 7.30 pm, RDS

Decades ago, I might have understood and even agreed with you. As I grew up and wised up, I want the good guys to do well and the arseholes to fail irrespective of their nationalities. Jingoism is unhealthy and particularly misguided is the Scottish version. As if Scoatlan was one. The biggest city is divided. The capital is full of fakes. Considering Fife's uncouthness, Caithness's insularity, the primitive Western Isles, Perth's snootery, the ugliness of Angus folk, Dundee's roch-ness and the parochiality of the North East, I'm struggling to see anything at all to unite us. Those Ayrshire backwaters are places and races I particularly don't want to have any part of.

Sorry about my half-assed attempt at passing on info, dude. Alan Moir, good guy, sponsor of the hat, is organising so there's probably details on there. It's a site I got banned from for no reason given (nor asked for - care bear) but will get the date tomorrow and will post up. He told me the date today when I seen him but my memory is that of near 50 year old.

There's a quiz night arranged at Pittodrie next month by an independent group of fans who are raising funds for AFC youth development. They have 22 teams already signed up but capacity for more than double this. £50 for a team of 4 is great value. Any of you guys interested in a good night out with a few bevvies and a laff? Some Dons LEGENDS (and I mean REAL legends) will be in attendance. Should be a memorable night. Post up your interest. Show that this webchatspeaksite is worthy of the AFC badge. Will post up the e-mail of the organiser when we have at least £50 worth of interest. For a great cause, plus some excellent auction prizes too. Cheers.

Anyone who wants to play tennis or badminton or squash or who wants to excel at swimming or football can do so in this country. It's the will and desire that is missing for the vast majority. I don't buy this national infrastructure deficiency as an excuse for Murray's failure at the top level. On the contrary, his will to be a tennis player wasn't his own. His mother, sex-starved freak that she is, is the ONLY reason Murray plays. It was HER obsession that drove her sons toward the game. She drove them to it including relocating them to Spain for most of their teenage years. The courts at Westburn Park don't get used. The facilities and the funding are in place. We don't encourage enough of our kids to engage. We're a fucking useless race of loser fat bastards. C'est tout.

just seen the face of Naismith on the telly. He's today's reason for my loathing my country's fitba team.

Levein might not inspire you if you're honest but what if you were dishonest, would he inspire you then? I was at Brazil and Norway in 98 but the Rab Douglas slow motion first of six in the ArenA was my last Scotland game and there won't ever be another. Your care factor is struggling to register as a one. I raise you - or de-raise you perhaps - to a sliver of a point 1 of your 1.

I agree. I liked him pre the national job but I think he knocked it out of himself rather than having it kicked out of him by Peat et al. From the very first interview he was oh so serious, like now I've got the most senior job, I'm going to act accordingly. He was always a slight oddball as a player. A man with undoubted integrity and commitment, but slightly odd. Odd isn't necessarily a bad thing but it's like he's been brought up by ultra-presbyterianism and other assorted establishment bullshit.

Only one day to go before the next glorious failure in Scoatlan's illustrious history. Is Craig Levein the most boring Scotsman of all time? Has he turned into a personality-less amoeba since getting the job or was he always thus?

The reason why some actively like Murray is a mystery to me. He has zero likeability.

Why would anyone want Murray to win a grand slam? He doesn't deserve to. He's a computer games enthusiast and a defective personality.

Your optimism in the face of history is wondrous. It's all down to Lithuania.

That was the worst international team I've ever seen. They were massively exposed at left back and had no shape about them at all. As for the keeper at the goal, schoolboys wouldn't have made that error.

Oops. A very silly mistake or proof of my utter fuckwittedness, take your pick.

I don't even understand the question. "More than new stadium cost" - what the fuck does this mean? Assuming you're asking how much will Pittodrie be sold for - like the thread title - I'll ignore that blue herring. £38m - £37m - £36m - £35m - £34m - £33m - £32m - £31m - £30m - £29m - £28m - £27m - £26m - £25m - MBT £24m - £23m - £22m - £21m - Glasgow Sheep £20m - Tyrant £19m - £18m - Kowalski £17m - BigAl £16m - rocket_scientist (and that's a fucking steal) £15m - Capitalsharpie £14m - £13m - £12m - £11m - £10m - £9m - £8m - £7m - £6m - £5m - £4m - £3m - £2m - £1m - Fuck all -

Another good post. Was at Highbury twice and the Emirates once. The first had soul, the latter is soul-less. But you know it will be full every week. It CATERS for its customers and the customer demographics has changed considerably. We're not in London though. We don't have a city of millions on our doorstep. The Arsenal model isn't relevant to AFC. The Bolton, Middlesborough, Sunderland, Reading situations aren't really directly comparable either. Our situation has been driven for the wrong reasons and is therefore destined to fail. Unless he has a vision of the club's future well beyond my limited imagination and he was right all along.

Excellent post. Chris Chrichton's piece in the P & J today was also excellent. The heart of the essence of the club is being ripped out.

Can I just ask... why the hostility? What is motivating you in this regard? It is likely that you don't even know yourself, far less be able to articulate it. Take this opportunity to stop and think about yourself, your life, your priorities, your likes and dislikes, where you've come from and where you're going. I'll be able to feel your warmth and gratitude from here once you embark on the exercise, one of self-awareness, peace and love. Getting worked up on the internet about anonymous posters isn't good for your equilibrium and would make you look very sad, if indeed this interpretation of you was correct.