Ajja

Always feels like fucking miles that hike.

Oh please. Deploying such childish plays on words in a thread addressing an important subject says so much about the value of your opinion I'm afraid

As I have stated before, I actually think that McGhee would do an excellent job in the short term. I think he would turn around the squad of players we have and make them a solid side who presented a better brand of football. I have some doubts about his medium to long term prospects however as I suspect he has a similar curse to Calderwood in his traditional management values. I genuinely have no clue as to who we could replace Calderwood with and this worries me. We just haven't got the money or clout to shop uptown and so I suspect we would be forced to take a punt on a young, inexperienced manager. This strategy could work very well or fail catastrophically. I'm just going to go to Motherwell tomorrow, have a few beers with my mates and Padre, support my team and try to forget all about this pish for a few hours.

My own position, and many others I know has been to continually try to understand the bigger picture, the context and the environment we are in. To take into account the competitive market place, the attitude of players in modern football, the role of agents and financial managers, globalisation of football as a sport to try and see that football is not a simple game and to appreciate that hindsight can bring power without responsibility. However, also to avoid being blinkered by a manager who talks a lot (often a lot of shit), operates with traditional management values that are often out of sync, deflects and sidelines opinion when it doesn't suit and lacks any real sense of class or professionalism in his communication. In summary, I have always felt JC was limited but was willing to stick with him until something better was at our disposal. While we are discussing the idea of absolutist points of view and the lack of reasoned discussion can I raise another related annoyance I have. There are fans who have been saying that JC should be given the boot for a few years now. There are fans that are now saying they think he should go who may not have said so a few years ago. I can't be fucked with this idea that somehow these people were 'right all along' and that they had been 'trying to tell us but we didn't listen'. It doesn't mean you were right all along, it means you were less tolerant and less capable of seeing the balanced viewpoint. It means that you were less willing or capable of analysing and assessing and more interesting in knee jerk and hysteria. Fans who are willing to take a step back and view from a wider lens are entitled to shift their opinion on the basis of feeling that the balance is shifting too. If our situation deteriorates significantly (like another cup calamity) then its OK to finally decide you now want change without being made to feel that you were always wrong and that now you have been shown some sort of divine path. Its bullshit and its part of the same childish input that we are constantly exposed to on low grade sites. ....incidently, I didn't vote

I fucking hate protestants

Affirmative

Inevitable that with us facing Motherwell this weekend that McGhee will be questioned on the subject. He is never going to say anything else but we should be wary of assuming he has voluntarily come out with his statement, its more likely just a repsonse to prevocative pre-match interviews.

Did you not tell him that King Billy dropped anchor in poo bay.

Under his stewardship I suspect he might have been right.

It may be a terribly judgemental thing for me to say but in general, 'football people' are not particularly bright and are certainly not often schooled in the art of diplomacy, protocol, respect or general professional conduct off-field.

Very well put and sums up how most of us are feeling I suspect. My personal favourite was this line: Aberdeen grind along delivering solid but unremarkable league results and then twice a season the whole club gets its trousers pulled down in the cups.

I suspect that we have to accept that the quality of communication is not the critical issue here, its all about volume and penetration. Milne, Miller and Calderwood will always have an instinctive reaction to this level of criticism whether it be fans booing, protesting at the doors, spouting on forums or writing letters. They will naturally think 'these people do not understand what is going on at this club and have no real knowledge of how running a football club in todays economic environment works'. This will illicit the same response designed to calm the hysteria as they have no interest in flames being fanned but at the same time they will fire little shots across the bows of the fans to say 'you don't know what you are talking about'. If we want to publicly impress upon the management that its time for a change then the society have gone about ensuring public scrutiny. They may not have written an eloquent and beautifully structured prose in order to achieve it but they have, nonetheless, done so. This letter has the effect of pushing debate to the fore and enforces the club to respond in some way, it also removes the opinion from the terraces and puts it into heart of the club. If the management wish to continue to put up the shutters and deny that there is a problem then they will do so but I believe that this communication makes them look less competent and less committed to 'open discussion' if they choose that route.

Agreed, thats why I have qualified it with the bit about 'respect when you need it most'. My experience as a manager is that being everyones mate can be very effective and can deliver some very good results in the short term or in particular environments or periods. However, when things go a little tit-shaped or there are individuals who don't accept the 'rules' of this friendly relationship then it is very difficult to suddenly take the firm line. You invariably end up doing one of three things: You continue with the mate approach and get run over the top of You cause the employee to be disgruntled as his/her expectations are not being managed consistently You over compensate by wading in too heavily and fall out with them My observations of JC would suggest that all of these factors are in play with various members of the squad at any given time (eg. accusations of 'favourites' coupled with irrational culling of those who dare to question him etc etc) . I think his man management skills are excellent in certain circumstances (one being the position you highlight) however, they are very one dimensional. This leads to an enormous amount of inconsistency in the reaction of players and therefor an apparent rollercoaster of performance on the pitch. I firmly believe it is the root of the problem with him as a manager and goes a long way to explaining why I personally swing from feeling he is the best we can expect to get and wanting to string him up in the nearest tree.

They made it clear that they have approached the 'open door' several times to no avail so felt that this would be the only way to add substance and weight to their concerns. Have to say it has been pretty successful in getting attention on the issue, we should see that as positive if we are looking for action to be taken.

I'd suggest you are more likely to see Foster at ER than anyone. Hibs fans I know rate him very highly and he has played well against them in a few games in the past. I remember him giving them it tight when we gubbed them 4-0 a few seasons back. .....so, just to reiterate, rumours coming from my house is that Foster is a Hibs target.

Getting £1m for Anderson weeks before his legs snapped Sol.

48. Missing one of the key principals of management - that you can't be friends with the people you manage, you never have their respect when you need it most.

Wouldn't be surprised about Mackie as he often gives them a torrid time. Smith ? No chance

Club have stated they will not be making a public response so we will probably not get any info on this.

There is no disputing that he was very poor that night but inconsistency is a function of youth in most footballers. They lack the experience to know how to cope with every situation whether it be the opposition or their own team set up, the ups and downs of their team mates performances or simply just the conditions under foot.

Its a good article and the sentiment is on the nail. Despite the clarity of view he presents, I think we will be seeing JC delivering more of the same for the next 2 years. I honestly don't think that he will go anywhere inside this contract. I can't see him being in demand and I am certain the board will not be keen to pay out any package to get rid of him only to take the risk of replacing him with a failed experiment. We need to get used to what we have.

As much as it irritates people to read it, I think we are being a bit rough on this guy. As I said before: New country, different cultures New city to settle into New football league set up New footballing style Only on loan He is only 19. I'd have struggled to cope with the basic stuff in life when I was 19 under those circumstances, never mind live up to the expectations some people have for him on the football field. Give the guy some space to find a consistent level of performance, he has shown signs of being a player so have some belief.

Would it twist your melons too much if I pointed out that typing that response cost you more time and energy than simply voting I'm going 4th as I too feel Hearts are good for 3rd spot now, unless they blow up completely. It has to be 4th because that will require us to finish above UTD and....well....erm......don't we always ?

tommy Wright is like firing a blunderbus. If you point it in the general direction of where you want it to go then it makes a brave attempt at hitting the target. He looks utterly directionless and the biggest cheer he got was returning to the park with a white bandage on his head. That should tell you all you need to know about how he played on Saturday.

Had thought something similar. Its not often you see a CD when someone is not old or terminally ill.