Reekie_Red

Getting rid of Esson, Stewart, Clark (and getting a fee!), Muirhead, Winter, Prunty, Tiernan

I think that the fairytale of bringing the likes of Deano or Rico back should be killed off. These two, whilst fantastic players for us, have not done ANYTHING worthy of noting in a managerial sense. I'm not too keen on the Black/McGhee ideas either purely from the point of view that it again seems to just be one of those "he played well for us, so he's got to be a good manager too!" stories. We've got to look outside the bog-standard seven or eight managers whose names always do the rounds whenever we're thinking of binning our manager. We need experience. We need someone who maybe has a history of keeping sides consistently good. I'm not talking about a manager who has a pedigree of winning titles or bringing sides up through the divisions. I'm talking about a manager who has maybe kept his side at the upper end of The Championship for a few successive years, for example. Maybe an overseas manager from Scandinavia (or somewhere such) who has got his side pushing for runner-up spots year after year in the league. I still think there's got to be better managers in America, Canada or Australia who have produced wonderful results with the limited resources that these leagues have. Lets face it, the MLS and A-Leagues are pretty much graveyards for former SPL and Premiership players. But if managers in these leagues can still get good performances out of our old used tyres, then surely they've got something that we're looking out for ... the ability to work wonders with the relative shite that they are given. I'll push the boat out and say Frank Farina. He's currently managing Queensland Roar, and prior to that he was the first coach in the history of the Socceroos to get his nation to the FIFA World Cup finals.

+1 Priceless response, Chuck! Probably the biggest smile I've had whilst reading DonsTalk in about a year and a half!

Darren Young was a better captain than Seve! At least Darren Young was vocal ... albeit he was usually shouting stuff like "you're a radge, ya bassa"

You reckon? He's got a REAL soft spot for the New Firm, to the point that he's the first to defend the Dons and the Arabs when the likes of Gerry McElbow and Hugh Keevins throw shit at us. Dons fans stick out a mile (see Richard Gordon) so I very much doubt he's a Dandy. So surely he's an Arab. Unless he's that very very unusual breed of hun who actually likes other football clubs. Chick Young just pretends to be a non-hun to fit in with the likes of Stuart Cosgrove and Tam Cowan. But Spiers seems to be genuinely non-hunnish

Haha! Jimmy Must Stay

Spiers is spot on again. For being an Arab, he's often spot-on with his views about the Dons. When was the last Spiers article that we didn't agree with? I think deep down there's a number of Aberdeen fans who were desperate for silverware this season because JC mentioned that his job at Aberdeen would not be done until a trophy was in the cabinet. Wish he'd hurry up and finish his job cos (a) we'll hae a trophy and (b) he'll piss off

Good point. You don't see Simmie or Jess or Willie Miller going on record to say how bad the huns finances are. Why the hell is Hately all of a sudden interested in Aberdeen's downfall?

Dammit, cannae find it

How can a striker call himself a PROFESSIONAL footballer if he doesn't have the bottle to do what he is paid to do? Dressing it down by saying things like "a striker is expected to do a lot more around the pitch these days, there's a whole lot more going on with them than just sticking the ball in the back of the net" is perhaps a sign that many Aberdeen fans have grown to accept mediocrity as being okay at Aberdeen. I'm sorry, but I would exchange ALL of the strikers currently on Aberdeen's books for one player in the mould of Frank McDougall, Duncan Shearer or Dean Windass. These players were not flash, but WOW they did the job of getting the ball in the back of the net. Even if it meant playing a 4-5-1 formation, I'd be confident that someone in the mould of Shearer would hit the back of the net a hell of a lot more than our current crop of strikers forwards And let's face it, you're never going to win games unless you've got someone to hit the back of the net (as we've seen over the past two months in particular)

Hate to say it, but if that was Doug Rougvie or Frank McDougall who'd made most of those points (obviously nae the ones about being beaten up by Dons fans whilst signing autographs for disabled kids) then we would be singing his praises and probably calling for him to be the next Aberdeen manager. But I just can't bring myself to take anything that Mark "he puts the hate in" Hately says onboard.

I cannae find the programme on the Beeb Scotland website. Fit radio station was it on, Ajja? I wouldnae mind hearing that show.

Wasnae Sam MacDonald, by any chance?

Willie's biggest problem was he was given the task of replacing top quality players who had been the rock in Aberdeen's game for so many years. Now, though, Willie's seen everything that's happened at Aberdeen. He's actually had the balls to stand up in a press interview this week and admit that JC is on his last chance - I'd prefer to hear that than the usual "the manager gets my vote of confidence", which is what we heard from Wiggy about Roy Aitken and Alex Miller right up until the day they were binned. I think of the options in the poll, Willie would be the best for the job, and we wouldn't have to pay any other club a fee for him either. But surely there must be other managers out there that we just haven't thought about who can do the job whilst remaining in our budget.

I don't buy into the notion that strikers aren't necessarily good penalty takers. Over the past two decades, strikers have been asked to do more work further down the field and have been aptly renamed "forwards". But the thruth of the matter is, they are the players who play at the goal-scoring end of the field. It is their job to put the ball in the net. If they are no use at penalty taking (what should really be the EASIEST opportunity to put the ball in the net) then they cannot call themselves strikers. I mean let's face it, if they don't have the confidence to hit a target that is 8ft tall and 24ft wide (with the only obstacle being a goalkeeper who is maybe 6ft tall by 1.5-2ft wide) with no defenders to deal with then the question that arises is why is a professional club that is in the top four paying clubs in the country still fielding this person on the pitch? Dress a striker up with whatever other jobs around the pitch you want to. The fact of the matter is, a striker is called a striker because it is his job to STRIKE the ball towards goal.

Is that right Willie? Think how much more depressing it is when you actually have to pay for the privilege of watching the garbage served up on a regular basis there. Now that is depressing. Hate to say it, but that headlines doesn't do any justice to what Willie Miller said. Nowhere did he say that the actual stadium or the fans are depressing. His actual comment was about the combined mental state of the club. But hey, in typical journalistic style this reporter hasn't let the real story get in the way of a good headline. We'll pick ourselves out of this mess and we'll fire on all cylinders for the remainder of the season. Then we'll all be all hunky-dorey with JC again and we'll go into the Europa League next season. Then, when European football has deserted us, we'll get knocked out at the QF stage by [pick any Irn Bru First Division team] and the heat will be back on JC again. It's all cyclical. It's one giant rollercoaster ride at AFC. Hey, just be glad you're not a Killie fan where the highlight of your season is beating Ayr Utd in the League Cup.

She was a fan, but only for Seven Seconds

I'm sure I read that too. The path into the group stages was made easier by Rangers and Aberdeen's performance in the UEFA Cup last season and Ra Shellick in the Champions League in same season. Pretty sure that kicks in for the forthcoming European competitions.

1. TheChimp (x 1000) 2. Nessie Nespa! 3. mg_don (I hate the Huns) 4. E-P-K 5. Mizer 6. wee toon red 7. topcorner 8. Drewsome 9. Shakey heid man 10. JimmyJimmy 11. Dandy_Don 12. PKAMH - Signed : i hate those evil, ugly, retarded, racist, bigoted scum bags 13. BigAl - tbh I thought abody of a non Hun persuassion , hated them 14. Penfold 15. Things 16. Mini 17.Tuuubes-first post declaring my hatred for the scum,lovely stuff 18. RealRedArmy - its a no-brainer, really.. 19. Madbadteacher 20. Craig_Don (And the Tims...and the Arabs...and the Jambos...in fact all non-Aberdeen Scottish league teams) 21. chief wiggum 22. dundee_red 23. K-9 has dog-breath because he licks dog bum 24. Sooth_stander (with a vengence) 25. Ajja - Is there a stronger word ? Hate is too tame. 26. GlasgaeSheep 27.Chubbs80s- they are scum 28.d1nk11 29.Iversen 30. Don Incognito Oh dear only 30, I thought ABODY hated the evil minks. 31. thomsod 32. LeakyLaDon 33. OCTAVION. 34. jimmythered74 the huns are dirty orange basterds !! Hate them with a capital H 35. Madre-di-dio(t) Moi aussi, justice was well-served, despite the ref's attempts at gifting them numerous free kicks for fuck all. 36. innesciver - Minky B**tards 37. Mentorred 38.Wayne'o - Dirty orange bastards 39. Sneckie 40. One Bobby Clark 41. Minky huns 42. Reekie_Red Hate Rangers 42. Manc_don - BOO to Rangers! 43. Jimmys_Gut - fucking minkers 44. Fergie83 - Fuck the huns 45. NorthernLights - We fucking hate Rangers, we fucking hate Rangers..... 46. Elgin Red 47. Don4eva 48. caledonia 49. Don of The Red - With a passion! 50. Markylanegan - soap dodgers ! 51. redenek. (anyone who can read or write should) 52. capitalsharpie -oh fuk aye. born hating them 53. Ayrdons - where i come from im surrounded by them - what i would do for a bell tower and a high powered sniper rifle !! 54. IASM - Smelly, knuckle dragging, soap dodging Bigoted b'strds 55. Bobby Biscuit - also surrounded by them, but thankfully, I'm several rungs up on the evolution ladder. Cunts to a man (monkey). 56. Scotfree - Can smell the Bastards 12000 miles away!! 57. the soof king - hun bastards 58. Shabba Ranks - No loving from me for these c*nts 59. Boboisared 60. Makaveli - Stinking hun cunts 61. Stonefish100- Scumbags to a man. If you see somebody being a cunt in the street, 90% chance he is a hun. Fucking hate em all 62. Brownie - Giro chasing minks 63. PTKDon 64. glasgowdon - cunts 65. Mentorred 66. SWA 67. Caroline B 68. Chunk - Foolishly put money on them to win the Stanley Cup. Boo for the Rangers! 69. swaddon 70. Jagerdeen - I hate the huns and tims and jutes and etc and etc 71. Andrew - Hate the ones from Alford more 72. Tyrant. - Cunts. 73. The Lurker 74. quirie - they only come out when their winning cunts 75. jmo - though I didn't have to say it 76. Funster - Just us, Greater Manc Polis and the rest of the world 77. Friedrich's Moustache (zomg this is so much fun) 78. Hunter 79. Stoney and may i just add my dissapointment at the watered down hatred we now have with them, i miss the violence 80. Bigal1903 81. Keithdandy 82. Reekie_Red - the green are fast catching them, but the hunnery still eclipses everyone in terms of inducing hatred

Lets face it, the matches against the likes of Hamilton, Killie, Motherwell and co are never going to be spectacular events! But three points in the bag whilst our two rivals above us both drop three points? Can't have asked for much more this weekend in terms of the results. Throws us right back into the hunt for 3rd place. Looks like we're going to have another one of those seasons where everything runs right up until the last day of the season. I'll not complain about that, so long as we get into Europe. Out of interest, does 4th place get into the Europa League too?

The site was whizzing through everything yesterday. But it's ground to a halt today. We're currently trying to get to the bottom of the problem ... bear with us!

Radical thinking from Soccerbase, eh!

Excellent move by the club. Instead of outpricing many fans and making it "just another boring midweek game", this could be a real blockbusting crowd to see this game. Well done AFC

actually, just checking through some matches, it appears that Soccerbase does actually noted penalties by placing a (p) next to the scorer and time. Needless to say, I've gone right back to 1994 and still can't find any Aberdeen penalties at either Ibrox or Parkhead. The matches prior to 1994 don't have any details on the scorers. There's PLENTY of Celtic and Rangers penalties, though! Ranging from Gascoigne and Negri to Larsson and Weighorst.

Don't think Soccerbase distinguishes between penalties and goals from open-play, though