bloo_toon_red

I'm sure that Dundee were caught out for paying players "under the table" so to speak, but yes, Rangers gained alot more from their particular brand of cheating. It just comes down to the legal definition of if they are found to have actually "cheated" with this whole EBT mess. From what I can gather, and I am by no means up to speed with these kind of things at all, it's such a grey area in legal terms that no legal precedent currently exists to suggest that it is in fact illegal - in which case it is quite possible, in fact near enough inevitable, that they will get off with a slap on the wrists. At which point they can comfortably negotiate a CVA and come out of administration scot-free. In which case we are all left quite bewildered at how they managed to bend the rules. But there's a difference between bending and breaking. If they do in fact get liquidated and get back into the SPL I think that will leave thousands of disillusioned supporters in Scotland. To a far lesser extent I remember being quite sickened by Airdrieonians re-forming as Airdrie Utd being allowed to buy Clydebank's SFL "license" and indeed the footballing frankenstein that is Livingston FC taking Meadowbank Thistle's place. If we are moving towards a league that is indeed an operation with clubs as "franchises" then let's just be open and honest about it and get on with modernising it. I've said in posts in the past that Scottish football is far to deeply-rooted in traditionalism to move forward and I can see no set of ciscumstances under the present SPL structure where Rangers will not re-emerge as an SPL club. I am/was in favour of the ten team SPL and I am undecided, but certainly not opposed to a ten or twelve-team SPL 2 with regional leagues below. I suspect that had clubs not dragged their heels on this issue and ploughed ahead then we may not be having this conversation - Rangers' newco could be allowed into SPL 2 and very little damage would be seen to have been done. But once again, the traditionalists that run the game, or at least hold the balance of power, vetoed the move. A move to an MLS-style organisational structure could be the future, where the league and not clubs hold player registrations and contracts. That way, all player transfers would be fairly dealt with by tribunals, TV and sponsor monies would be dealt out more fairly, and the opportunity to completely modernise the game from grass-roots upwards through one body. I am sickened enough with the state of the SPL at the moment as it is, but a Phoenix Rangers coming out of liquidation straight into the SPL would quite probably be the death knell in terms of my attendance at any future AFC participation. They'll always be my team, but if it's proven that mickey mouse wears a Rangers watch, I want no part of his league.

Gutted though I am we aren't in it, an Edinburgh derby final is a great prospect for the neutrals.

It's interesting to note that so many people are happy to give managers "time" to get their team into shape. I think this is all fine and well when you're talking about putting a team together to win the SPL title, but all we are talking about is putting together a team that is competitive in the SPL and can get to a cup final and qualify for Europe now and again. Since Ebbe Skovdahl took us to both cup finals in 2000, here is a list of the managers of non-Glasgow clubs who have taken their clubs to cup finals since: Paulo Sergio (Heart of Midlothian) Pat Fenlon (Hibernian) Kenny Shiels (Kilmarnock) Stuart McCall (Motherwell) Derek Adams (Ross County) Peter Houston (Dundee Utd) Gus McPherson (St Mirren) Gordon Chisholm (Queen of the South) Craig Levein (Dundee Utd) Steven Kenny (Dunfermline Ath) Jim Jeffries (Kilmarnock) John Collins (Hibernian) Rowan Alexander (Gretna) Valdas Ivanauskas (Heart of Midlothian) Jim Leishman (Dunfermline Ath) Gordon Chisholm (Dundee Utd) Terry Butcher (Motherwell) Jimmy Calderwood (Dunfermline Ath) Davie Hay (Livingston) Bobby Williamson (Hibernian) Jim Duffy (Dundee) Gordon Dalziel (Ayr Utd) Alex McLeish (Hibernian) Bobby Williamson (Kilmarnock) One swallow doesn't make the sun shine on a dog's erse and all that stuff, and of course the lottery of the cup can be exactly that. But we have had supposedly good football managers (!) who have successively failed, with more than adequate resources when compared to the other so-called big non-Glasgow clubs, to get us to a final. Point being - does it matter who the manager is? Have our managers perhaps been too lazy as to motivate their players enough against hungrier lesser teams? I think it's a bit of a cop-out to say that our resources aren't good enough when you see the list of teams that have actually made it ahead of us. Couple of Qs: How many of those managers do we reckon had more resources than their contemporary Aberdeen manager at the time that they reached these cup finals? How many of these managers would we as fans have accepted as being candidates for the position of manager of Aberdeen FC at any point over the past 12 years (including at this precise moment in time)? My own personal thought is that it is now time for us to stop going for the bigger name so-called established managers and take a chance on younger talent. We obviously got burned by the Steve Paterson experiment but we have to accept the mitigating factors in that instance and not allow that to cloud our judgement in future.

We're going to finish 8th or 9th in the SPL, we have no width in our team and we don't create enough chances to score goals. I find it truly astonishing how anyone could call that an improvement, let alone a vast one. It really wasn't a difficult task, in this SPL season to have got tope 6, which is a MINIMUM target. I think he should resign and let a younger, hungrier man come in. For me, that's not a knee-jerk, as I've thought that someone should've been in the process of being groomed by now. A year and a half ago when McGhee left I wanted Derek McInnes but that ship has long since sailed. Could Derek Adams step up? Or Pressley? Only time will tell. We need a young man, a hard man, an ambitious man. I think both those men would take the job, but I'm sure there would be plenty of other candidates too.

Disappointing if not unexpected. He had his best days during the first two thirds of his spell with us. During those days, and on his game he was one of the best fetch and carry midfielders in the SPL and we were privileged to have had him.

Dame Anne is rumoured to be delighted.

The Blue Knights of Bukkake.

Hibs in semi. Yass! Destiny calls.

Indeed. It would be great to be able to say we can build a team around players like Fyvie, but in the cold light of day, he really isn't all that. He appears to have good technique, but as you say he is slow and laboured in how he applies it. After 50+ games in the SPL now you would think he must be able to adapt to the pace. Perhaps he would flourish in a slower-paced league - he doesn't seem to possess the attributes (pace, directness, stamina) to stand out in the SPL. All he has are the basics, which is good, but it's probably a sign of the times that a Scottish player with command of these basics, is seen as a "hot property". He has arguably better technique than Ryan Jack for example, but Jack has come on leaps and bounds in a short space of time and has adapted really well to the rigours of SPL football, whereas Fyvie has remained quite stagnant. He has time on his side, but unfortunately AFC don't, so if someone is willing to pay for him, get rid in the summer.

Foster for Scotland. Dear Christ we really must be shite.

Anyone hear any soundbites from last night's debate? Normally I find Lewis Macdonald to be a disagreeable eejit but on this occasion I could scarcely agree any more with him. For me, this whole process has been seriously flawed. No single one of the designs on the shortlist ticked all of the boxes and there shouldn't have been a declared "winner" until a referendum had taken place. It shouldn't be the case that "here's your design, take it or leave it". You will have people who strongly preferred other designs voting against the project as a whole and so adding to the "no" vote. Every design has some very good aspects about them and I would have liked to have seen a honed single design incorporating many of these aspects - after the referendum too place and after everyone had their chance to air their views as to what is required. I was personally never really too interested in a winter garden - what would then happen to the winter garden in Duthie Park? One of the schemes proposed tidying up the "back end" of Belmont Street with new buildings forming an edge. Fronting on to this new public space, these new blocks would become prime real estate in Aberdeen City Centre, for which there is a demand. This would also have encouraged alot of pedestrian activity on the new square, which in turn would generate movement up and down the pends that link to Belmont Street. Another of the designs maintained the arcade at the west end with small boutique style shops, again generating activity. It seems to me that Diller Scofidio & Renfro (the winning landscape architecture practice) have not understood Aberdeen that well. That said, in my opinion it was the most radical, but it doesn't go far enough and it is anti-contextual in that it just doesn't seem to adequately address what surrounds it.

The end is neigh.

That's harsh. WIth the plight of the huns I've been pissing myself for days and I still think her music's shite.

An 11-1 (or is it a 10-1 given that there would be 11 teams left?) vote in favour of a liquidated and resurrected Rangers FC 2012 being admitted to the SPL would be proof it is at all needed that the clubs in the SPL have absolutely no interest in taking action to improve the standard. A levelled-out playing field for a year or two will force clubs to focus on living within their own means. It could conceivably mean that two or three big clubs may go to the wall with them but in the longer term a new order would rise. Scottish football is far too rooted in traditionalism. English football could conceivably have become accused of being the same without the advent of the Premiership in 1992. They modernised and we didn't. The much heralded but ultimately ill-fated ten-team Scottish Super League in the mid-90s could have capitalized upon the early success of the EPL at a time when there was money floating around the Scottish game and the national team was still qualifying for finals. We failed to strengthen while in a position of strength. It's the same old story in Scottish football. Let them die and let all the other hangers-on go the same way.

Men in bowler hats turning up to shut down the huns. The irony of it all.

Fighting talk from Mackie, I like it. If he scores the winner in the cup final there'll be a queue of dons fans the length of union st waiting to shake his hand. The romance of the cup, you've got to love him!

Hughes is a good player who’s just lost his way a bit since picking up an injury when he was at Norwich, probably through no fault of his own give Norwich’s rapid progression since he signed. He was in a couple of Scotland squads only a couple of years ago and I think he’ll do a good turn for us. He’s a really good passer of the ball, could be good for a few assists, which we most definitely need. Welcome aboard. I'm really quite pleased with the business we've done this transfer window.

I think it was renegotiated after last tv or sponsor deal, before that I think OF were getting an 80% share of everything. It was widely publicised at the time that this was a "fairer" deal for the other clubs.

None of us can know for sure which way it would go. He is a good player, a stalwart for us this season probably. And the team was poorer when he wasn't in it, yes, but that's more of a sign of the chronic lack of balance or creativity in our squad rather than anything else. From a business point of view, with our current injury list only likely to get worse it is better we sell him and use his wage on one or two loan signings, rather than have to replace him with fresh air at the end of the season. He's influential and a good leader but he's not a match-winner. And therein lies the problem. We seriously lack creativity and we rely on workmanlike players like Arnason and Osbourne to pull us through. When did we last have a midfielder capable of scoring 8-10 goals a season? We hounded the last one out of town (Gary McDonald - "The Poor Man's Frank Lampard"TM) because we didn't think he worked hard enough, and the one before that, Barry Nicholson, was chronically under-appreciated, when the truth is he was possibly the best player Aberdeen have had in the last ten years. I think we've got a bit cynical here - AFC have made some really good loan signings over the past few years. The jury is out on how Reynolds will turn out for us, but he is a really good player. And don't forget the year after Russell Anderson left, AFC had arguably their most successful season for 10-15 years. Point being one player does not make a team. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy if he stays, but I think the money could be better spent elsewhere rather than going up in smoke.

Probably as much chance as when we got Arnason/Osbourne/Folly/any other defensive midfielder in the first place. Come on, it’s not like he’s Zinedine f@ckin Zidane! I’d take a transfer fee in a heartbeat. Here’s a player that cost us nothing and we have the chance of making a profit on – prob at least £50k in wages until June and perhaps £100k on a transfer fee. He’s a good player but he wont be as badly missed as some of you are making out. It’s best for everyone concerned if he goes before the end of the month. The penny seems to be finally dropping with AFC that in the absence of any relative success, we have to become a selling club.

McGhee did a decent job first season because he had a strong pool of 13-14 players and with the exception of the Phil O'Donnell tragedy, didn't have to deal with too many injuries. At St Johnstone he's be faced with the same limitations. I'd personally like to see Jimmy Calderwood get the job. I think that it's a tailor made job for him or John Hughes, however I think with the Paul Cook situation, Geoff Brown has shown his hand that he wants a young, hungry man.

Nice one. I'll be delighted if he forces his way back in to contention. Maybe such a life-changing situation could toughen him up a bit too.

Yes, I would probably say that he is moreso oblivious to it rather than actively promotes or condones it. He is a man who believes in hard work and profit and less so the means of how to engender internal working relationships. Aberdeen FC has to represent the north east of Scotland. The north east has plenty of things to shout about, but it has never been good at shouting about it. Acceptance and self-consciousness are two extremely common and prevalent north-eastern character traits. I think it comes about from being geographically remote and yet increasingly self-sufficient given the economic strength of the area. But with that comes suspicion of different methods from other areas. To give just one very basic and non-footballing example the level of casual (and I suppose overt) racism I have come across since returning to the north-east last year is really quite despairing in a city where you would think that oil money would attract intelligent minds. And therein lies the problem. The oil money has not bought intelligence. It has bought Range Rovers, labradoodles, overpriced 3 bedroom semis in Elrick for £300k and season tickets for Pittodrie. Aberdeen has become that most American of cities - insular, self-serving, quietly arrogant and vocally suspicious of outsiders. If anyone doesn't like that description then it's maybe because they are one of them. The man who typifies these traits is the chairman of our beloved football club. He is a clever man and a wealthy man but he is not an intelligent one.

Having had the experience of working for our great institution, admittedly ten years ago, I can understand the sentiments expressed by McGhee in the article. Obviously I can't comment on issues about the football side of things, but in the back offices there was a real coldness about the staff, particularly those in relatively senior positions. It should also be noted that a number of these people are still in these positions ten years on making the same mistakes and failures year in, year out. Milne perpetuates this coldness and cliquiness. The mentality is just far too north-eastern within the club. New ideas were not embraced nor particulary encouraged, and non-conformity was frowned upon. It's no surprise to me that McGhee harbours these thoughts, nor that his predecessor made those comments about the "easy lives" of north-easterners. They are both correct.

In terms of parting with my hard-earned, the care factor is in negative equity. It's got to the stage of that thing that ex-players affectionately say in later years "I'm fond of the club and I still look out for their results". But I guess the fact that my blood boils (and bear in mind that I've mellowed significantly over the past two years) at every bad result then I do still care and I'm possibly a mug for it. We need a hungry young manager, not a "safe pair of hands". On the pitch, the club is stagnant, stale, insipid and ineffective. How can we say Brown is making us "hard to beat" when we're not winning football matches? I was pleased with his appointment almost a year ago, but it seems apparent that he's out of his depth at our club. High expectations? What of it? It's a results business and nobody got anywhere hoping to make top six.