Ajja

Surely some mistake. Has the gear box on the Hibs conveyor built packed up ?

Exactly.

All I know is we will be looking down on UTD come the end of the season

Did he not just go down in the aisle and look for a staff member to offer him a 2 for 1 deal to get up ?

If we are running on stats then here is another. Last season after 11 games we had 14 points. This season after 11 games we have 14 points.

Correct. Under intellectual property legislation its referred to as being 'too descriptive'. If you are chatting about AFC then you cannot protect the term as it describes exactly what you do. It would be like being a bike shop in Edinburgh who are run as a co-operative trying to protect the name Edinburgh Bicycle Co-operative, just can't be done. Not that I have any personal experience of such matters.....

Huns chucking seats at the stewards. Scummy bastards. Scotland's shame strike again

Typical of our support to react in such dramatic fashion to a piece of possible news that was coming a mile away. This is business, not emotion. Mulgrew and his agent will lever whatever they can to get the best for both parties and Aberdeen FC will barely figure in that discussion. As long as there are bigger clubs with fatter wallets we will suffer this problem, it shouldn't be a shock or a surprise. The most damning aspect of this is the apparent distress that can be caused by the potential loss of an average player with very limited ability. Its like the Reda Johnson affair, he was nothing to get excited about but because we lost out on him so publicly he turned into the greatest player ever to shake his tail at the SPL. Now because Mulgrew turns down a contract he is the linch-pin of our entire team. He is a poor defender with an ability to hit a good dead ball....sometimes. If he couldn't deliver a decent ball into the box then he would be playing for Montrose. I say ship him out and put a player on the park who has something to prove.

Put me down for £20 as well.

Prefer to hear (ie news from the club) is not the same as prefer to change the subject of a thread and well you know it. You are clutching to find the rational for your ridiculous attack on a thread that moved ever so slightly off topic. Just let the thread be a thread that takes its course. Its not like I started talking about what I had for lunch on a football thread ffs.

I don't remember saying what I prefer it being about, I just remember posting my thoughts about a topic and then having it jumped on by someone who had decided what they wanted it to be about. For some reason you have decided to go toe-to-toe with me on this one so I'm happy to engage. If your ability to debate extends beyond utterly nonsensical comparitive analysis then lets hear it. If, as I suspect, it doesn't get past teenage angst (or whatever has made you feel the need to go on the attack), then lets not bother.

Being a lifelong Dons fan I would not have taken this decision and I would agree that this guy is an egomaniac who needs to be big cog in a small wheel. However, if I had a chance to rubber dick UTD then I might be inclined to play for a bit

An intelligent analysis might conclude this topic has two layers to it. Mulgrew and contract extensions. Smashing one dimensional analysis will do for some though.

I'd prefer to hear we have signed Fyvie on a new contract for 4 or 5 years

You are correct, that is how many see it but I think they are wrong. Exactly how solid were things under Calderwood in his last season ? The ground has been further softened under us by a collapse in revenue since then and McGhee has made as decent a start in terms of points to Calderwoods previous seasons. Add to that an exciting couple of additions to the first team and I would argue things are already improved on how I felt last season.

I guess that depends on whether you view McGhee's short period in charge as a step backwards. I personally don't, although I recognise that the quality of football has not improved yet. If you are trying to make significant change to a squad that is leaking yet more of its experienced players (Severin, Smith etc) and has become stagnant (as you correctly point out), carrying a number of players who are simply not up to the job then you have to be prepared to do some pretty major restructuring. I have said this many times but it just isn't going to happen overnight. You say the football has 'been uninspiring bar the young players', lets not forget that those young players represent a fair chunk of the first team these days (between 25-35%) and most fans have been pretty excited by that element. I agree, the formations are frustrating but you also have to applaud McGhee for wanting to play the style he believes in rather than accepting that due to the limitations of certain players he has to abandon his principals. Like you, I'd prefer to see him focus on a short term plan to play a formation that works with the players he has but to build a squad that can play the way he wants them to. Again, this will take time. As for chasing players he never had a hope of signing, how do we know what really goes on with these discussions? Fans need to relax about signings and transfer window gossip because we have no idea what is going on behind the scenes with agents and media specualtion. The one thing we do know is that there is fuckery a plenty and its not worth getting boiled up over.

You can't fault the galvanising effect that this sort of chat has on the fans. They just have to be careful not to actually spend too much money. Talk cost nothing.

Have we lost away from home in the league yet ? On the whole we do OK at ER and I think if we can remain solid at the back and NOT FUCKING TRY TO PLAY FUCKING 4-3-FUCKING-3 then we should be able to out play Hibs. You could see from a distance that if we tried to play a lightweight midfield against UTD then we get over run but we did it anyway and we did. Hopefully, a nice simple 4-4-2 with strength across the midfield will see us snub out Riordan and Zamanamnamanmanaa. Could go either way really.

I think you are right manc. This guy clearly wants to be the big cheese. He is deliberately going at making a big splash. Its quite funny and is certainly getting it up UTD, always a crowd pleaser!

While I agree that we made a mistake in blowing the money 'adjusting' the JC situation, the mistake was surely made in giving him 3 years when the rot was already beginning to set in. I don't agree that we could have waited another season or so. I think it is fair to say that the majority of fans felt to varying degrees that things were becoming difficult under JCs management. If we had let the this fester I think it would have been hugely damaging for the club and its relationship with the fans. You can be as pragmatic as you like but most football fans are fickle and knee jerk, its just the way the game works. Ironically, this myopic viewpoint that saw JC hounded out the door is exactly the same myopia that has fans losing heart with McGhee after a dozen games. Its deeply frustarting to watch Aberdeen right now but I don't remember it being any other way for around 18 years. McGhee has been honest enough to assess the squad and the position we are in and say that he thinks it will take him at least a season to transform our performance. In most businesses this would be an acceptable plan but not in football. I would agree that its pretty hard to keep up levels of interest while these transitional periods are going on but we just have to give the manager some time to make a difference. We also know that a few good wins and some good performances and that myopia will kick in again and we will all be salivating at the prospect of the next Saturday.

This is surely just a bit of mischief making. UTD will never sell the guy to Dundee for that amount when they are looking for £1m+ (think they have said £2m!). Melville knows this and there is no chance of him moving. What better way to get Dundee fans cramming themselves into Dens Park than to come out publicly and state that you are able to pay more wages and have more money than your biggest rivals? You are effectively putting a marker down to say 'we are bigger than you and are an SPL side'. I think in terms of PR its a pretty good move.

I appreciate you were being sarcastic here but it might be the most significant contribution that Wright makes ot our squad. If he pops up with a goal or 2 (my expectations are low!) then it might actually put a rocket up Miller, and by fuck he needs one.

Thought he cam across well. Honest and humble. Hopefully he will prove to be a good addition and will bring some much needed strength and stability in the RB position. If he can get forward a bit as well it will help the front end to push on, I think thats something we have lacked for a long time with a series of makeshift fullbacks.

I don't believe that I said that but what I would say is that a players market value is not inert. I would ask you if you really believe that there is absolute knowledge available to scouts and that no influencing factors exist dependant on how players are presented in the media or through the activity of agencies etc ?

Lets just remain patient. McGhee has steadied things and while not exactly impressing we are unbeaten in the league since the opening day. I think its actually quite an accomplishment to have had the run we have with such a depleated squad. The key thing is that we see continuous progress, the performance against UTD is quite a big milestone in the season IMO. If we can boss them and win convincingly then most peoples golden boys for 3rd place will be firmly in our pocket. I think a positive view of McGhee will be increasingly reinforced by next week.