glasgow sheep

Unfortunatley the same planet as a lot of Aberdeen "fans".

In/Oot - In Pre-match: Train then Behind the Wall Post-match: the weeg Prediction: 0-0

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/scotland/article7031535.ece City of Aberdeen has fallen out of love with its club Graham Spiers, Commentary Every staging post in the decline of Aberdeen FC has been painful: the bitter defeats, poor attendances, the lack of funds. While Raith Rovers’ 1-0 win in the Active Nation Scottish Cup fifth-round replay on Tuesday night was a moment of joy for the Fifers — and no doubt for Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, — it represented another nail in the Aberdeen’s coffin. There is growing evidence that this is a city highly disenchanted with its once proud football club. The local Press and Journal confirmed as much yesterday when it stated: “The Dons season has ended, and so too, perhaps, has much of the love affair between a city and its team.†For those who follow and admire the Scottish game, this remorseless disintegration of the “Dandy Dons†has been a pitiful story to observe. There were bitter recriminations across the city yesterday — indeed, across the whole Grampian region — at this latest embarrassment. Stewart Milne, the colossally rich Aberdeen chairman, was again targeted for his perceived lack of investment in the club; Willie Miller, Aberdeen’s director of football, was being panned on various message boards for his role in the saga. And there is something extremely painful going on in Scotland’s footballing north-east when Miller, arguably Aberdeen’s greatest player, is trashed like this. The defeat by Raith can only be added to Aberdeen’s grim toll of cup reverses at the hands of lower-league opponents in recent years. Queen’s Park, Queen of the South, Dunfermline Athletic, Dundee and now the little Kirkcaldy club have all plunged a knife into the Dons. When one supporter allegedly spat at Mark McGhee, the manager, as he left his dugout at full-time on Tuesday, it summed up the whole despicable mess. As beyond the pale as this act was, it captured a club growing sick of themselves. Is the city of Aberdeen giving up on its team? Over the decades attendances at Pittodrie have always been a cause for concern. Infamously, Alex Ferguson vehemently complained that, even when his team were closing in on both European and domestic honours in 1983, Pittodrie would still sometimes house only 17,000 for certain games — this from a north-east hinterland of almost 500,000. Yet more recent attendances do suggest a local falling out of love with the club. On Tuesday only 8,129 were at Pittodrie, and 700 of those had travelled north from Kirkcaldy. Only 8,226 turned up to watch Aberdeen face Heart of Midlothian in the Scottish Cup last month, while crowds of 9,000 have not been unusual for league games this season. And it is set to get worse, with the gag already doing the rounds that Aberdeen’s end-of-season party is to be held in the city’s Beach Ballroom tomorrow night. Aberdeen supporters unleashed an outpouring of anger yesterday. “Second-rate board, second-rate team, and a support that tolerates an element among it which other great clubs never would,†one fan, Lawrence Fraser, said. Another, Ian Stewart, said: “The team is rubbish. I haven’t been a regular at Pittodrie since 1992 and I won’t be back until we have a team that is properly funded and with players of quality.†A third fan simply wrote: “It has been ten years of frustration and anger.†The question of a fresh investment in Aberdeen is one that will not go away. Milne’s personal wealth is put at in excess of £400 million, with his company, the Stewart Milne Group, having turned over between £300 million and £400 million of annual business in recent years. Given such wealth, the recurring complaint against Milne by many Aberdeen fans is that he is downright stingy towards the club he owns, McGhee being regularly open about the sort of salary he can offer players — such as Jerel Ifil — is on a par with the third tier of English football. Against this, Milne cannot simply throw his money around. In the past 18 months his group has recorded a £27 million loss, and 400 employees have had to be laid off during the recession. The Milne argument is only one of many bitter disputes engulfing Aberdeen. McGhee, meanwhile, will soldier on, though his words yesterday were ominous. “There seems to be a weak mentality at the club,†he said. “Tuesday was embarrassing and humiliating for the manner in which we were outfought by Raith. “Something is obviously inherently wrong at the club and it is my job to try to fix it. Somehow, I need to try to bring players in who have the sort of mentality that would not allow a defeat like this to happen.†The obvious problem is, for the sort of players’ salaries that you will also find at Wycombe Wanderers, Stockport County and Carlisle United, where will McGhee find such bar-raising footballers for Aberdeen? It seems that this football club is in an inexorable downward spiral, with its own civic kith and kin at various points of giving up on it.

Thought Fletcher was absolutely superb last night.....how I hope Harry Potter can get a similar performance out of him for Scotland. Set up two goals, never missed a pass and seemed to be everywhere. If the English weren't so busy wanking over the best striker in the world (sic) then he would be MotM. First half United were dreadful but they could have won by more in the end. Great match all round. Also just noticed that the last 16 seems to be split over 2 weeks for the first time, presumably so the big clubs can get even more money while depriving smaller clubs like us of income due to the fact we have to put on matches in direct competition to the spectacle of Live Champions League football on SKY

It's frightening to think how few and how pish our senior players are. Anyway on the upside: Pawlett Paton Fyvie Aluko-if he can get fit Maguire-if he comes back and reproduces his current form

I suspect that someone was so upset that in the process of shouting some "constructive advice" at MM so phlegm flew on his direction.....that however doesn't make a good story

Is midfield the real problem? Yet again McDonald and Kerr were pish. This seems to be a recurring theme when we get beat. They played really well vs celtic, hibs even going back to the rangers game, but put them up against raith or falkirk and they struggle. I don't know if they get more time and space against "bigger" sides or if they simply can be arsed for a change but they seem incapable of any kind of performance against "stuffy smaller sides". If they play well we generally do, if they don't defeat or mind numbing draw is usually the result. Perhaps MM should bin them and try 2 of fyvie, Duff, Young or Marshall in there. At the very least changes need to be made there this summer. Another point: Last 4 games vs hearts, celtic, hibs and united: 10 goals scored LAst 5 games vs Raith, Motherwell, Falkirk, St Mirren: 0 goals scored wtf?

There are shock results in the cup and then there are defeats regularly to lower league opposition and humilation (far beyond that meated out in the SPL) from the likes of united, hibs and killie. Surely it is not beyond the wits of somebody to do better than this without any extra investment. I mean I could list all the clubs who have got to finals since we last did but it would be quicker saying who hasn't, and several of those have been a good bit worse than we are now. Sustained improvement in the league however does need investment and without it there is probably only a very small margin of potential improvement on what JC achieved until/unless our youngsters prove to live up to the hype and stick about for a bit. I can't see that anyone can argue that the club was going stale, that the cup defeats were having a disproportionately big effect on the club and the fans and that realistically JC wasn't going to change that. I would agree with those who say that it was time for JC to go, however the resultant cost has been magnified by the setanta loss and means sacking him was clearly a huge mistake. Having said that JC would not have seen a penny more than MM has this year and we would be having similar arguments, discussion and moans as we have done for the last 3 years which would gradually have worn us down. Unfortunatley the appointment of MM looks to have back fired badly and his comments re fans and harping on about celtic are as bad if not worse than alot of what JC came out with. I believe he does have a vision for the club that we have seen all too briefly from the team so far this season, but any change is going to take along time to implement (going on the current rate of change). I suspect we will finish 6th or 7th this year and have to hope that something happens in the summer to reignite the fans. I suspect if JC had been in charge we would be saying something similar but with a slightly better league position and a couple of hundred grand in the bank. Something needs to be done as when so many fans (including myself to a degree) response to last night was "meh, not again" it must be a worrying time for the everyone given the steady decline in attendances. I have no answers, and more importantly the board don't either. We are where we are. MM will be given more time and we have to hope that something changes. In reality until we finally sort out the stadium issue this club is going no where. I just wish no where didn't involve so many soul destroying performances in the cup (can we just not enter next year?)

Two excellent posts. Don't have much to add to that or to a thread that was seemingly going along quite nicely till fatjim and rocket got hold of it.

Fears of violence as far-right group admits it can’t control followers * SDL * The Scottish Defence League march in Edinburgh will face a counter protest Jasper Hamill 0 comments Published on 14 Feb 2010 With only a week to go before the Scottish Defence League takes to the streets of Edinburgh for a second time, the leaders of the far-right organisation have admitted that they have lost control over the supporters that follow their protests. A recent English Defence League demonstration in Stoke turned into a “pogrom†against Muslims, according to anti-fascists, that was so violent it shocked even the Defence League leadership, who were quick to deny responsibility. Now Defence League organisers say that this Saturday’s planned demonstration in the capital is at risk of descending into chaos because leaders are losing control of the mass movement. More than 1,500 people turned up on the side of the English Defence League in Stoke – the sister organisation of the Scottish Defence League – dwarfing the tiny number of anti-fascists that gathered to stand against them. The mob turned over police riot vans, smashed the windows of Muslim homes and tried to attack a mosque. Organisers believe some 500 Scottish Defence League supporters will turn up in the capital next weekend. Defence League leaders claim that hundreds of BNP supporters and other thugs turned up in Stoke simply looking for a fight. Mickey, who leads Casuals United and is part of the EDL leadership, said: “Stoke was horrendous. It went mental. Hundreds of BNP members turned up. You can’t go around rioting like that, because eventually they’ll ban the movement. The people that came don’t care about the EDL, they just turn up for the riots.†He added: “We’re not conspiring to cause riots. Yes, we have a lot of criminals attaching themselves to us and people that come along to kick off, but we’re trying to deal with that.†The police are now so concerned about the Defence Leagues that the have set up a special unit to try and combat them. Fear of infiltration is at fever pitch amongst the far-right group, with leaders even claiming that Special Branch tried to sneak into their ranks by disguising an officer as a Hells Angel. The biker allegedly visited every regional Defence League leader in the county, asking for membership details and taking photographs. When enquires were made, no motorcycle gang had heard of him. Police have also warned the EDL that Islamic extremists are plotting to attack their demonstrations and told them that any future protests in Birmingham could be attacked by suicide bombers. Meanwhile, the Defence Leagues are making allegiances of their own, including with the Orange Order in Belfast, with the aim of opening a wing of the Defence Leagues in Ulster. Mickey had this further warning: “People all around the country are kicking off against Islam. The government and police must be worried. Our movement’s gone from 30 or 40 people when we started doing demos in London, to thousands now. It hasn’t even been a year.†Unite Against Fascism held its annual conference yesterday. The group feels that the threat from fascism is worse than ever and has warned that racist violence could become commonplace on the streets of Britain unless action is taken to combat it. Weyman Bennet, joint secretary of Unite Against Fascism, said: “There was an attempt to try and have a kind of pogrom in Stoke. “You’ve got fascists becoming successful in elections. Fascists are also at the centre of bringing racist football thugs on to the streets. This brings us into a very dangerous situation and we are at risk of major conflict. “We will protest against the EDL or SDL wherever they go. We will not allow them to intimidate a community.â€

Have you explained why Mixu ain't there?

IN/OUT: Oot Pre-match: Work Match: Flat (probably watching AC Milan v Man U) Post-match: Shameless or Charlie Brooker....decisions decisions Prediction: 3-0

Making the right noises. Is he trying to attract MM's attention or other clubs? Always thought he had the ability, just needed a consistent run up front and a bit more focus and change in attitude

If Van Der Ark and Winters are on Mixu has to be there surely. There is no way Shearer can be left out. Hard to believe now but used to go along ever week knowing that we had a striker who would score more often than not, and no trip to Pittodrie would be complete without the tannoy bellowing out "IT'S A GOAL DUNCAN SHEARER!". Out of the others clearly Champagne Charlie and Hans are miles infront of the rest. I've opted for Gillhaus but could just as easily have gone for Nicholas. The rest, in my view, aren't in the same league with possible exception of Booth (first time round)

Traynor on the radio "this result and performance finally disspells the notion that Aberdeen lie down to Celtic and only try against Rangers". What a cock. Did our 4-2 win last season our 1-0 win in the cup and numerous victories on Wednesday nights in Glasgow not suggest we occasionally "try" against celtic. Utter, fucking, pish

Of course it could have been different if Boyd had been sent off for what the BBC referred to as a "cheeky elbow" into Zemmama's face. The hun cunt typically was outraged at even getting a yellow card. Apparently the booking may mean he misses the OF game. I was under the impression he usually "misses" them most the time anyway

What the fuck is a goal gap?

Fuck me, Miller started for Boro today

MacLean 3 Mulgrew 3 McDonald 3 Miller 3 Paton 2 Aluko 2 Young 2 Mackie 2 Fyvie 1 Considine 1 Maguire 1 Total 23

Langfield has looked out of sorts that last few games. Not that I'm suggesting we should do this but will McGhee consider pitching Nelson in or will he continue with Langfield who has been pretty impressive for most of the season (top clean-sheet record in SPL) Edited for being a mong

Surely to fuck we can beat Raith Rovers (hammered 4-0 by ICT today) and Falkirk (managed by that hun-tim-arab-jambo cunt Pressley) now before smashing Hearts, yet again, at Pittodrie

Surely Kiriakov's preferred position was at the black jack table with a vodka in hand.

Another goal for maguire today. However 2 for MacLean and 1 for Paton. No real discussion about our best pairing at the moment is there?

Media whore, getting your post read out by that poof on sportscene. Tremendous game and superb performance by the Dons. Would seem churlish to pick out poor performances so I won't. Burley couldn't stop raving on about Kerr and McDonald today, both making superb runs into the box and looking a hell of a lot better than I have seen in recent weeks (maybe they look better on TV). Paton through the middle again showed he should be playing there every week, MacLean was superb and may be what we have been crying out for, for what seems like years. Also thought Paterson was superb and if these two can maintain that kind of performance than Miller should be doing everything he can to keep them at afc. The real test, yet again, is whether we can turn a good performance against a bigger side into decent performances against the likes of Raith and Falkirk. That's two wins vs hearts, win vs united and draws with celtic and hibs, in between that lot we have lost to St Mirren, Falkirk and Motherwell. The most pleasing thing today was that we came back 3 times, something we haven't done all season. Lets hope we can keep a fully fit side and finally turn the fucking corner