El Padre™

It was something that AFC was applauded for constantly last season, by pundits and media alike. Put your fishing rod away, it's boring as fuck.

We had the youngest squad in the league last year, that is a fact. Average age was something like 23. You stick to the drivel, I'll stick to the facts.

Complete and utter bollocks Stoney. I'm bored of going over this. Jimmy played more than enough youth, we had the youngest squad in the league last season. You clearly have no clue how long it takes to develop youth players. Either that or you're fishing. I know which one I think it is.

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Is he going for the 1950's gentleman look here? http://www.afc.premiumtv.co.uk/javaImages/b1/65/0,,10284~7038385,00.jpg[/img]

Ach well, we're in good shape, bring it on!

Even if its across the board, clubs in England will still be able to pay a fuckload more on wages/transfers so nothing will really change in that regard. What percentage of our finances are taken by wages? Anyone know?

THE Scottish Football Association are discussing a salary cap where clubs would only be allowed to spend 65% of their income on wages, Gordon Smith has confirmed. The model being considered follows the reforms in Ireland and would attempt to tackle the problems of clubs spending beyond their means, something UEFA president Michel Platini is also keen to combat. In an interview with FC Business magazine, SFA chief executive Smith said: "I have been talking internally about what happens in Ireland where clubs can only spend 65% of their income on wages. "If we carry on like we are now, I'll be pushing for this and additional reforms in relation to the license to play in our leagues. How can the SFA sit back and watch clubs destroy themselves? And there's a few close to doing that. "Michel Platini has it right on one level that spending through debt is a form of cheating. "But for us here in Scotland it's about ensuring that we retain the clubs we have and they have more money to help build the game as a whole. "Our review on youth development would be pretty useless if there are less professional or league clubs for young Scottish players to play in, wouldn't it?" Finance in Scottish football was complicated by Setanta's UK operation going out of business this summer and Clydesdale Bank Premier League clubs being forced to accept a vastly-reduced broadcast deal with Sky and ESPN. Smith added: "It's not a good idea to be reliant on the TV money, clubs have to be more prudent."

On the upside it might let Considine develop further.

To be honest, it would mean we would have our highest earner missing for however many months a year due to the African cup, so I'm not bothered. Save the cash and spend it on someone available for selection all year round.

Those are reasons that people should and did hate Jimmy, but it was vocalised like this - "FUCK OFF MIN YA DORTY ORINJ BASTIRT!" I've got no idea what time Sky show games at, I never watch it. Incidentally - So we were both wrong.

Fair enough re Paton (although he was only on for half an hour against Celtic ), but Calderwood had stated this was the year for these players to breakthrough and I have no doubts he was going to introduce these boys more regularly. No evidence to back what up? He was accepted for the first couple of seasons but people eventually started showing their true colours and were regularly spouting bile at him for being who/what he was. You probably couldn't hear that while you were in the pub watching Man U though.

108 mins including friendly games. If he wasn't hated for being a hun then why was it deemed so offensive that he referred to rangers players in such a friendly manner? Why was there regular shouts of "fuck off you fat hun bastard" from the stands? I like how you totally pocket yourself at the end there by stating speculation as fact. Nice one

I never found that embarrassing at all, unfortunately everyone in football is "big blah de blah" or "Wee yadd yadda". That was the weakest excuse that the people who hated jimmy had for wanting rid of him when they basically just hated that he was a hun. That's a totally different discussion that's been done to death though. Do you really think if McGhee could get in the 'experienced' players he wanted that the youngsters would be so prominent in the team? Would Fyvie have had a sniff at the first team if Hughes had signed on? Absolutely not. Stop living in a fantasy world Stoney. Incidentally, McGhee has barely let Paton cross the touchline so far.

I've personally got no agenda re McGhee, but I find his interviews to be clumsy as fuck, it seems as if he hasn't been briefed on what he's going to be asked and just blurts out the first thing that comes across his mind. Most of the stuff in the papers is exactly what he's said in his interviews as well.

Absolutely bang on.

And so has McGhee, infact McGhee has talked more embarrassing shite in his few months here than JC managed in a whole season. Managers tend to do that though. If JC was faced with the same issues McGhee had then I'm fairly sure we would have seen similar players brought into the starting XI. He wasn't scared to gamble when he brought Paton on against Rangers was he? Anyway, we need to see performances from these kids because they don't have a choice anymore.

Everyone seems to be completely ignoring the fact that Calderwood had said on more than one occasion in the last quarter of last season that he was going to play Paton and Pawlett this season as he wanted to see more youth in the team. It's not some revolutionary thing that McGhee has introduced.

Are you suggesting Ifil is anything less than godlike?

Not fishing at all, I thought he was still in Norway!

He seems to be having a minor meltdown in this interview.... http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/aberdeen/8233682.stm

I'm just worried that the midfielder was Charlie Miller!

http://www.afc.premiumtv.co.uk/javaImages/69/da/0,,10284~6806121,00.jpg[/img] "There was still some money to bring in someone before the transfer deadline and I had several options. Mark McGhee "There were several players we could've gotten, who were of a great quality, but earned far too much money for us. I thought we might be able to negotiate down and sell them the idea that coming here would put them in the shop window. "There was one in particular. I came close to bringing an attacking midfielder in from Norway who would have been a good player for us, but the club decided on the Monday night not to go ahead with it, even although he would probably have become the highest paid player at the club. "After that I had a group of young players which I could have signed at any point over the past six weeks. I decided none of them were of a quality that was obviously better than the ones I have here. Fyvie, Crawford, Pawlett, Paton and one or two coming up behind them. So rather than block their way I wanted to give them the opportunity to prove whether or not they are good enough for the long haul. "The last category were players represented by agents, most of whom we had never seen or even heard of, and even then there were few of them that would've come here for nothing. "In the end I decided with all the evidence and all those circumstances not to bring anyone else in, because we want players who can go straight into the team, not just players who will strengthen the bench. "There are still players who are out of contract that we can sign and if they fit the criteria that I mentioned then of course I will have a look at them." "It is going to take time to get the squad as strong as I would like it, not the couple of months that I have been here so far. I am prepared to take my time to do it. I am going to work really really hard behind the scenes with Craig Robertson and Willie and others to find players and identify players who are out of contract next summer, so we can line them up and be ahead of the game. "That is our priority now, to find targets and approach them when we legally can - we also have the January transfer window which opens in four months time." The manager also confirmed that the Gary McDonald trained today, and is awaiting the results of a scan on Zander Diamond's injury. http://www.afc.premiumtv.co.uk/javaImages/19/5f/0,,10284~7036697,00.jpg[/img]