rocket_scientist

Jimmy Calderwood is not the problem. However, some people don't believe there is a problem. That is a problem.

Agreed. So where did this following comment come from? 3rd? It should be our minimum ambition, but we're not the third team in the country, either in achievements or attendances, or whichever way we look at it. We have slumped far below the standard where we could even expect, with the right ambition and organisation, to be the 3rd force. This year we were an unconvincing 4th.

That depends on which particular observations you are referring to, and yes, being away from the NE can assist clarity of perspective. 15 years overseas and many years living in other parts of Scotland certainly helps to make an informed decision as regards where best to bring up kids. I will never live in Aberdeen again, much as I love the place.

I agree with you, and therefore vicariously and egomaniacally, with myself.

Yeah, we were always going to get found out that night, although who could have legislated for Clangers reactions for all three of the first goals being crap.

Other than his first statement in bold, which I don't agree with, although I sort of understand where he's coming from, I like his sentiments. This is why:- As if 4th place, two cup semis, and the last 32 of the UEFA cup is some sort of achievement. It isn't. Other than an unlikely QF victory against a poor Celtic team, who after Barca dumped them were in a real slump - Motherwell even went to Parkhead after us and won - we beat rubbish to get to the semi's, then let in 8 in the both of them. It's the continued "acceptance" of mediocrity at best, piss poor performances on the whole, needless tinkering, poor motivation and organisation, and never providing any real hope of a sniff of success for the fans that gets us pissed off. The conduct of the club, in stoking up this ridiculous "unrealistic expectations" "defence" of their lack of ambition is counter-productive. They've seemed to finally learn to ditch this line though, probably through forums like these, because we're not delighted, most of us. Well I was there, and barely 1,000 of us bothered, and Lee Miller and Darren Mackie were on the pitch as far as I can recall. We got pummelled the whole game, but the one chance we did get, which the two of them combined to create, we took superbly. The formation couldn't have been anything other than 4-4-2 that game. And if we are resigned to never having consistency, then what is the point? The reason we have such a threadbare squad, is because of the lack of investment in it. We must have made a £2m profit this year, despite all the non-productive hingers on that reside on the AFC plc wagebill, but how much will get ploughed into "football affairs"? If we have a chairman who's priority is, as he said it was, "the product", the football on the park, then we should expect some exciting moves this summer. Initial activity in the transfer market looks to me like replacing outgoing wages with cheap "imports". Finally, stoney, we aren't going to win the SPL under JC. You know this. So do I. He isn't going to get the budget that we probably could have afforded if we had a chairman who actually passionately cared about "the product", and if he suddenly did grow the ambition he has never shown, for a decade plus, then JC is not the man who could deliver.

Not only have the results been bad for years and years, the performances, inconsistency and lack of quality and fight has been ridiculously unacceptable, to any self respecting Aberdeen football fan.

I'm good. You? Nice surprise for me today. Cherry & Almond Croquette, tea and grapefruit.

And who will this benefit? The fans? Will the manager see any of it? Is the culture at AFC plc right? The club has been in a fucking state for the whole period of Stewart Milne's tenure, coincidentally, so lets not fucking bury our heads in the sand. They want us to accept the shite we've been given for over 10 years. Attacking dissenting views, and being dismissive and insulting to anyone daring to question the direction of the club, is a surefire way of more of the same.

Very easy to pick an isolated sentence like that, but look at the original post that sparked such an exagerrated response, accusing him of largely bollocks. That is the post of a fan who cares. That is a post of someone who actually invests time and money watching AFC. That post contains an accurate assessment of many of the failings that have brought AFC to where we are today. It did not deserve such a denigrating response.

Thats a bit of an insulting post TFu. You say it was largely bollocks. Others may disagree. Are we permitted to have a contrary opinion to yours? What about fucking Europe? We won ONE game in 8. If supporting the football club means going on European piss-ups for the purpose of... a piss-up, then how sad is that? The Copenhagen win was unexpected in the manner of it, the Bayern game at home was unexpected in how shite they were that night. But we got humped. We had zero chance in the competition, and got as far as we were ever going to go. Even DUFC and QotS fucked us over in make or break cup ties. It's attitudes like yours, failing to even question the ambition and commitment of AFC plc that guarantees more years of mediocrity. Happy with a couple of European piss-ups? Get a life. And some real perspective of where Aberdeen could be, with even an ounce of ambition.

glasgowsheep. Question. I've noticed that you've referred to Aberdeen Mad quite frequently in the last couple of weeks. Are there any plans afoot to consider a joint venture or perhaps any commercial reason why you would seek to continuously mention that site to DT users? For what its worth, that place (like hat) is run by individuals, some of whom are not Dons fans (not a problem by itself) but some of whom hold Aberdeeen and Aberdonians in a really unhealthy contempt.

That, will NEVER happen.

Agree. Debating Lovell is an exercise in futility. Slow news day.

It wouldn't surprise me if the sympathy pick came in here, which is pathetic. I haven't ever noticed Clarkson as being a stand out player, but he did contribute to a team that was clearly better than the rest non OF this year, so hopefully this means that Burley and Butcher actually did their job and watched him often enough to make a decision. They've had fuck all else to do for months. Even typing "Butcher" made me want to pause and phlegm-out, like Spit the Dog does.

The picture of Kev on the back of the P & J today is a poignant reminder of how many lights years away AFC are from having a Scotland international. Severin and Anderson were the last AFC players to represent the team at full level (that I can recall) and the former was a long time ago and unlikely to ever get back there again, and the latter is no longer with us and not looking like getting back any time soon. Of the current squad, Diamond, if he cuts out his howlers and makes similar progress to this year, is a prospective international in the future. Surprisingly, Lee Miller, may be the only other possibility, however remote this may be. Looking at the rest, forget it. Clangers was quoted once for the Scotland squad. I nearly vomited with disgust at the very notion. So, for a club that used to supply the national team with a number of players, including the rocks that were Leighton, Miller and McLeish - we must've had many games where we had at least four Dons in the team, with many more international squad players over the years - we now have none. Worryingly, we're not even looking like employing or developing international calibre players. Why? I know for (almost) certain, that Phil McGuire was the highest paid player at AFC at the time he was got rid of, at £2k pw basic. I thought he was a good prospect at the time, and couldn't understand at the time why Calderwood was making noises in the press that seemed to suggest that his future at AFC was going to be limited. Similarly, the handling of McNaughton was another one that I could not understand. Not only was he being played out of position regularly by JC, being utilised as a midfielder and worse, in an attacking midfield role, to accomodate Byrne at the time, but JC was also making noises about Kev's limited future at AFC for reasons unknown. Now that Kev has been deemed good enough for his country, where no-one from AFC is even remotely close, either JC can not spot a player's potential, or most likely, he's operating within restraints imposed upon him from above. Assuming it is the latter, then how can our chairman honestly say that the priority for AFC plc is "the product" - the football on the park? He promised Aberdeen shareholders and fans that this would always be the priority of the club, but the evidence of results, and a squad that is getting further and further from international class, progressively, during the whole decade+ that he's been in charge, suggests that "football affairs" are not his priority. There has been a chronic lack of investment in the player pool. Even a couple less non-productives at Pittodrie would provide increased resource to attract a really good international class player, or at least the quality of young player with potential. The results over Milne's years are evidence enough of mediocrity, now entrenched in the culture of AFC plc, but the McNaughton example proves a complete lack of ambition from the board. Like McGuire, I would bet that Kev was got rid of for financial reasons, not football ones. If it was football reasons, then it doesn't say much for our management team, but I believe the problem is higher than JC. He was moved on because we wanted to reduce the wage bill, and fuck what the fans want.

Not during the last three games v. the OF I saw, all in the last couple of months (wasn't at Ibrox). Defence was awesome. But yeah, know what you mean stoney. Need a proper LB, and Consi aint getting any better. Then again, it was only this season that Zander finally showed some consistency though, coincidentally when he cut back on the bevvy. Who'dathought? Still makes howlers, but less often.

Provincial also hits that spot, given that he's not, as he reminded us often enough in his first couple of years in particular.

But you imply that someone has come in for him, with your "Haven't they?" comment. What else could you possibly be alluding to? I've been away for a couple of days and not read this anywhere. Was just hoping you would share your info with this messageboard.

Given the shambolic nature of previous negotiations, and their grossly incompetent PR skills, and the average quality of player on the pitch for over 10 years now, I would be more inclined to think that the people in charge of "football affairs", as our chairman calls it, are continuing to be true to form. Even if they had made an offer, what is this, primary school negotiations? What, throw out a figure, in writing even, to see if the buyer's going to bite? Negotiation is what it's about, not making offers for the buyer to use as leverage. Then again, Miller's business track record is out there, and he's been left on his own by Milne. Gordon Smith's interview before the Cup final with Richard Gordon was another overwhelming illustration of a football man way out of his depth.

Enlighten us. You know something I don't. Or do you like waiting to be asked?

I know there seems to be this notion, from the majority of Dons fans, that BN is a player worthy of such enthusiastic praise, but I just don't see it. In the last 2 or 3 years, since Seve went tits up in terms of the guaranteed consistency that he had when he first came, I agree that BN has been the best AFC midfielder. But it's really not saying much. How many games have you ever came away from and thought BN ran the show? How often did he make the vital contribution that changed the game? How many times did he drive the game forward deep into opposition territory? When can you remember him tackling and breaking up moves against us? It's a measure of the mediocrity that we have become, where BN gets lauded as a sad loss. He will never win anything in his life. Even his next club hasn't come in for him yet.

Thanks for the revealing insight, and totally unsurprising unfortunatley, but him being in no rush is one thing, where is the club's urgency to manage its affairs? Delays, especially unnecessary delays like the one that WM and JC have allowed to happen, increases the totally expected likelihood of other clubs, clubs that are already thinking about next season, like Plymouth for example, coming in for him. Even if we did get him to sign, the chances are that the other interested clubs have cost us an extra £25,000 minimum, by his having other offers on the table. What the fuck does Miller do to justify his six figure salary? Is he on holiday for 2 months? On holiday in his head? Or is he permanently out to lunch? EDIT: The Hull City manager, interviewed just now, revealed that they had a club meeting this morning, despite the sore heads from the celebrations last night. The objective of the meeting was to plan for next year. This is what professional people do. Manage time properly, and plan ahead. Miller, Milne - take a hike.

Still way to early to say Duff's duff. Have a bit of Patience...

My preference would be not to indulge inane irrelevant discussions. Who cares? Why care?