Ajja

What time is KO tonight, our time ?

He needs to blood some young 'uns and fast. Motherwell were playing babies in Europe in the last round, albeit against inferior opposition but still, its all we have at the moment.

I would suggest that Aluko, MacDonald, Kerr and possibly even Mulgrew were good additions who may bring different skills to the likes of Clark, Nicholson and Severin but are not obviously poorer replacements. I do agree, however, that defensively we have not replaced good players.

It was hard to differentiate for sure. They were asking for a MoM on the bus home. I honestly had no fucking idea.

On the way back down to Edinburgh last night I tried to find some reasoning as to why this season is not going to be an almighty disaster for us. As you can imagine I wasn't particularly successful on that score. It did leave me thinking that we are still likely to be challenging for 3/4th spot come April 2010 and that is a damning indictment of the state that Scottish football is in. Last season we made Europe, largely because nobody else had the strength and depth to mount a challenge. While the levels that Scottish football sinks to can sometimes be lost as everyone drops at a similar rate, European nights can really tell you where you are placed and last night was that rude awakening. Sigma were a very ordinary side who we allowed to mug us by having absolutely no idea what we were supposed to be doing most of the game. The tragic part is that we are almost powerless to do anything about it, such is the state of our game. Potentially 4 of the 6 sides in Europe will be out before we hit mid-August is further proof that we are letting our position in European football slip to an almost unrecoverable level. We will probably still give Celtic a good game in two weeks, just to confirm that the SPL is dropping into the abyss. Its depressing stuff, it really is.

7.45pm. No TV. Ticket allocation 450 so no chance all going to Charter flight. Enjoy

There was no style about last nights performance. They were very very poor. Hopefully we can catch them cold in two weeks time.

Do you think the Sigma manager is printing this page of the forum out and is handing it out around the team bus as we type. Or is it that you are implying that there is a higher force that is listening to our perceived dismissal of a lesser European advisory and is therefor determining that we shall not claim victory in this encounter. I never had you down as a religious man Nellie.

It does now.

Romantic pish. Something stirring and primal. Its FOOOOOOOOTBALL

C'mon guys, one of the great things about football and being a passionate supporter is that you get to press the reset button endlessly. If your team loses on Staurday, then there is always next Saturday. If your team signs a player you used to hate, you can now like them. If you have a poor season, there is always the next one. We have a new manager in place now and the reason for that is so he can do something with a squad of players that was not being done. Lets have some enthusiasm that he will be able to do that and at least give it a few games before the doom and gloom settles in over Pittodrie. We need to forget about the lack of signings, its too easy to obsess about the lack of new players coming in. We have to remember that new players are not the panacea we sometime think they are. Its symptomatic of the pressure we all feel that this week we have felt gutted in losing out on a 21 year old guy who has played very few games in the lower levels of French football. Signings for the sake of it will not automatically bring success. Far too often, as we well know, they bring the opposite. We have to believe that with the addition of some fresh youth players to our squad (players we have all agreed look like they have potential) McGhee will mould a team that will play the football we have all been looking for and ultimatley bring results and success. This might not happen tonight, it might come to early, but be confident it will come. Times are tough but we have opportunity here. A new manager, another crack at Europe, a new season is upon us, a great support, a club with personality, history and character. Where else would you rather be ? I'm on the bus from Edinburgh in 5 hours and while I'm 39 years old I will step on that bus with the enthusiasm and excitement of a 17 year old, again, because thats what football does. COYR

Best home record in Europe you know. Fucking unbeatable in their own back yard the hoops. AC Milan, Barca, Man UTD all came a calling and nothing. Oooooops for da hooooops.

Did we not play Foster at CB a few times last season ? Maybe he will do a McNaughton and excel there......

The second half of 'I am the Resurrection' would be good.

There are alot of IFs in that one GS but there must surely be some shocks in this round. Fingers crossed because, as you said in another thread, we are putting a lot of store in what looks like a fucking big ask in the next round. Mind you, Dnipro were something like 4th favourites for UEFA when we dunted them out were they not.

PRobably best to hope for at this stage is a good tie with a side who will command a decent TV deal in the final qualifying round and take it from there. Who are the Ethel Merman teams in the final round ?

Ach well, I'll hold off on purchasing that V+ box for a week or so then.

It most certainly is. This is fuckinA as I have just purchased a beautiful Samsung TV and look forward to the HD action. Is our game with Timothy on ESPN or is that one of the Sky games ?

I see the BBC are now running this story.

...or possibly we are about to sell Langfield to generate some much needed funds ?

I wouldn't disagree with that at all. The point I'm trying to make is that we do not have all the levers in our possession. We can't control what the market does and in the current climate, with our resources we are trying to push water uphill with a fork. Most of all we, as mere supporters of the club, have very little insight into how these dealings are actually evolving. We can't say with any confidence that there was doubt over this signing in the early stages and we can't say that McGhee didn't have targets outlined and has fallen flat with the resources on offer and the changng market place. Sure, we can guess and we can certainly allow our emotions to ride over the top of logic but at the end of the day we should give the club and manager some level of understanding as to the extremely difficult trading environment they are in and be patient.

I'm increasingly thinking the same, although I have to say I never saw that coming from last season. I have a niggling worry that it knocks ZD's spirit a little....we don't need that for fucking sure.

My understanding of the world of football agents is limited so I may be off the mark but I don't think that clubs are provided with exclusive access to players. In fact the exact opposite is more likely. If a player is being courted by a club then you can bet that their agent (if they are doing their job properly) is talking with as many potential other clubs as possible. The more clubs they can get interested the more they can use that to attract further interest. The idea that somehow the club or manager could have just kept his mouth shut and then nobody would have known that we were trying to sign this guy is laughable. I sometimes wonder what the real world looks like from the perspective of some posters on here. The perceived 'logic' applied to the commercial activity of a football club, its transfer dealings, all of its relations with external bodies, how information is communicated and controlled, the loyalty and commitment of its staff is like some sort of Peter Pan Neverland that you would never expect to see operate anywhere else.