Ajja

I agree that the risk of sticking with him this season is significant and relegation is a real prospect in a league where there is little to put between most teams. However, I have enough optimism that without too many injuries and players out we are capable of winning enough games to get to mid-table. Here is a question for you. It's clear nobody trusts McGhee to make the right decisions to turn things around in any significant way but do you believe that the Board have the skill set to select his successor with any degree of competence ? I don't think I do and that's actually a bigger worry for me.

I'm going to try really hard here to not get labelled as an apologist for McGhee or to be seen as supporting his managerial regime. I have been hugely unimpressed with the way that McGhee has managed the team since his appointment and I am not sure that anything will change. He appears to a be a combatitive character who struggles to get the best out of our footballing staff for whatever reason but I am not convinced that he is a bad manager per se. Although he has been for us, no argument, and in an ideal world we should get rid and build again with a better quality option. As always there is a bigger picture to consider in this that may mean that the simple, straightforward result of sacking him and his team and starting again (again) may not be the smartest option. I think in our anger and embarrassment we need to at least consider that. I agree it is unfair to compare JC and McGhee and you cannot argue their records are miles apart at Aberdeen. It is also unfair to compare them because the climate in which they are operating is also miles apart. Crowds were falling in the last seasons under JC and McGhee has not been able to arrest that fall for sure. We also have to appreciate there is the most savage economic recession on in all of our lifetimes and every club, indeed every business, is seeing the same problem. Its not a black and white issue, although I concede its a pretty dire one. The collapse of TV revenue has also severely impaired the player budget in a way that JC never had to contend with, not even close. McGhee simply has not been able to draw on anything like the same resource as JC did in his early years. Results and performances were sliding very fast when JC was pushed out as quality players were leaving and he was not able to replace them. JC has done nothing since leaving Pittodrie to suggest he is a manager in great demand. I actually think McGhee has brought in some decent players and with the obvious glaring error in the back line we have a side well capable of beating anyone in the league and winning more than we lose. He has, without doubt, been hammered with key injuries but for whatever reason is finding it difficult to motivate the squad as a whole. If we pay him and his team off then I fear that we will have a smaller, poorer squad next term and that is frankly a terrifying prospect under any manager. Add that to the fact that we are not a club who can go after managers as we please, even guys like Butcher, McInnes or Adams would think twice about taking the job and we would not have the money to prize them away. It's possible to pull out examples where an unknown manager has done exceptional things with no budget but the risk on such a manager is huge and as fans I would struggle to see us accepting such a move. Personally I believe that we have to ride out this season and salvage what we can and look at replacing McGhee without the costs. If by some miracle he gets to grips with this team in that period then great, but it's hard to see that happening. In the next 6 months the club need to be working very fucking hard to find that diamond in the rough manager that will turn things around but it's a huge challenge as they will be trying to manage a team at a rotten club, saddled with debt and shackled by the dying Scottish football establishment around them in a hideous economic recession. Good luck with that.

Who can tell, possibly so. It's only speculation on my part anyway so don't read too much into it. Milne is a businessman first and foremost and what ever is said about him he will know his way around P&Ls and balance sheets and pissing away money in this environment is not a smart move. He has had a history of holding back on sackings has he not ? Sure he was reported as the reason Ebbe stuck around so long and possibly sanctioned a 3 year deal for JC when the rot was setting in there.

Very true but what change will reverse that ? I'm not convinced that there is an obvious choice out there that we can afford and can be sure will turn it around. There is a rot at Aberdeen that can't be fixed by a different manager as far as I'm concerned. I'm not suggesting McGhee is the right choice for the future but I think we have to stick with him as we have very little options that are better. It's a fucking tragedy that we are here...but we are.

Cop mate working at Tynecastle tonight says atmosphere is nasty and there were running battles before the game. Says Celtic fans are utter scum....no news there then.

My understanding is that the Board are not in agreement about the best course of action. Mainly as a result of Milne's input. He does not want to sack McGhee at this moment, possibly due to the costs involved and potentially then having to spend more on a replacement who is likely to make little difference given where we are going to be shopping. Have to say that, as controversial as it is, I agree with Milne.

My mate works with Calum Jeffries and by all accounts his dad is ripping about this. Doesn't rate Skacel as he is overweight and past it. Romanov is just trying to buy the support. Still, he will put numbers through the turnstiles as those morons will come in their thousands to genuflect.

Don't forget that was combined with the introduction of FF into midfield. Although I think Vernon looks a more intelligent player than Magennis, he looked more dangerous against Alloa when he came on and was making smart runs, Magennis is a battering ram.

Forum hopping

'Good' is a relative concept. He was good if you compare him to Duff, Young et al.

Anyone who can be arsed searching online know when this takes place ? EDIT: OK, so I think I see it's Tuesday next week.... Just forget I asked

If there is any truth in this, and I doubt there is, the Huns will be thinking they can get him on the cheap because we are rooked. I actually think we need to work bloody hard to hold onto Foster, not because I don't want the huns to have him, by fuck we could do with the money. It's more because we are seriosuly short of pacey full backs. We have managed fine with McArdle and Considine so far but they have not been challenged. St Johnstone lined up with the express intention of exploiting us down the flanks and its only because they were no good at it that we got away with it. When we come up against guys like Weiss, Driver, Conway or Forrest/Maloney we will be found out if we don't have Foster. He is the best man marker in the SPL and has silenced many of these types of players previously. We MUST keep him in the squad for these types of games.

I'm good with that. As long as he is deployed to man mark all of the fuckers I mentioned in my previous post then we can have as many big fucker FBs who should really be CBs as we like.

Do we not already have two 6ft plus FBs. I want some short, fast little fucks out there who won't get turned inside out by Conway, Driver, Weiss or Forrest. ....Clearly I am making sweeping judgements based on nothing but the guys height but hey-ho it's an interent forum, who needs facts ?

Don't remember such activities but then I was utterly rinsed that day....in many ways.

FuckinA, was wondering about taking the brolly!

He is like a tank up there. Goes through just about anyone and I suspect anything.

I just can't get past how he uses the ball. I know it's not his job to be spraying inch-perfect balls around the park but it lowers my confidence in him to watch it. There was a moment in the first half where he went to meet a high ball on the right hand side, he took it onto the inside step of his right boot and killed the ball instantly with the control of an accomplished and skillful footballer, it was beautiful. Having created the space with this touch he then proceeded to slice it straight up into the roof of the stand. Ooooooft.

Folly without a doubt.

Been thinking about the issue of PP and Maguire as it seemed so obvious to everyone that they needed to be switched yet McGhee didn't do it. In fact he switched Aluko and Maguire about 10 mins before HT to try and get Sone to exploit the weakness that Maguire had been getting some change out of through the right channel. I suspect this was as a result of them bringing an unfit Grainger in there due to the injury to their FB. He then switched it back in the second half ?!? This demonstartes that McGhee is looking at moving players about to get the best of a game and is aware of the tactical requirements yet he didn't ever think to shift PP out wide despite him doing almost nothing in the centre. Go figure ? I think the big problem is that in order to play a formation that allows someone like Maguire to play 'through the middle' effectively he has to be feeding off the takes from either Magennis or Vernon (as you suggested). Again it seemed obvious that this was lacking on Saturday as a lot of Miller-esque takes were wasted as nobody was there to use the ball. This can only really work in a 4-4-2 but the modern game is all but out-moding the 4-4-2 as a credible formation. In order to play it you pretty much have to go to a 4 man midfield and I agree the idea of Aluko and PP playing aggressive attacking football while Harltey and Folly hold the midfield sounds beautiful in theory. However, with the new 4-5-1 (which can move to a 4-3-3) style the emphasis is on flooding the midfield and gaining control of the game. Its what made UTD so effective last season and the OF and Hearts tend to play that way these days. Hibs are more inclined to go for the 4-3-3 version of it and are getting found out now. Unfortunately the tiresome technical approach to football is winning the battle and so any decent side we come up against who are going to play a 5 man midfield are going to kill us if we play 4 with attack minded wide men in that group. I suspect McGhee knows he has to be flexible enough to go with a strong 4-5-1 set up that can adapt to a 4-3-3 to suit the way the top 6 sides in the league are going to play. If you then try to play 4-4-2 against lower league teams then the players are less likely to settle into a routine that they can understand. Maybe if he played Mackie or Maguire in central midfield with a view to supporting the target man it might work but I think the idea of a 4-3-3 is two attackers coming in through the channels to support the target ? I thought the switch that really changed the game was introducing FF into midfield alongside Hartley and Folly. That move created so much more space for Aluko and Mackie and they were far more effective in pushing on top of Vernon in a more 4-3-3 style formation that the previous personnel had been. It might have helped that Morris did his hamstring in with 15 mins to og but they had no subs left. All just my interpretations but McGhee clearly has a strong will for a formation that we are not quite understanding and everyone in the ground on Saturday could see something that he was not willing to change.

GS, I'm heading to the 208 near the ground if you fancy it.

So....50% of 21,000 = 10,500, sounds like an improvement on a lot of games last season to me ?

I'm thinking the complex world of Aberdeen Football Club will conjure up 8 points somehow, just to keep us all confused.

I'm totally with you on the giving him time. Its really our only sensible option. However, the money is not going to come. We lost a significant income when Setanta went and our crowds are dropping alarmingly. McGhee will have to work wonders to turn things around. Unfortunately for us we are up the proverbial creek without a canoe.

The frustrating thing for me is that in our last 13 games we have won comfortably at Tannadice, easily dispensed with Hearts in the cup and taken them to pieces at Tynecastle with some scintillating football and given Hibs a really good game away as well as outplaying Celtic at home. However, we have also failed to defeat Raith twice, been humiliated by Motherwell at home and lost to Falkirk twice as well as losing to St Mirren. Its easy to think we are a team who are on the slide right now but 40% of these recent performances have been good ones. The whole clubs is suffering from a lot of problems, there is no doubting that but at present its really only confidence and hard work that is putting fears of relegation in our minds. I can't see us in serious trouble but this season will deliver nothing for us for sure. Its all about what the squad looks like going into next season and right now ho the fuck knows what thats going to be!