Panda

Could be a strange atmosphere if Celtic beat Hearts - that game starts 45 minutes before - so second half could be very quiet.

Moving the kick-off time of our national cup final because it clashes with an English game is embarrassing. And that's not even the main issue. If a team from Inverness is in the cup final, and you're going to make them play it in Glasgow, then you put the game on at 3pm and do as much as you can to help get as many of their fans there as possible.

The Clarkson rumour came from someone notorious for just posting random "exclusives" on Twitter in the hope one of them sticks.

You wanted Neil Lennon, who couldn't even come back to Scotland until April. The Neil Lennon who was twice appointed Celtic interim manager before convincing the club to give him the job permanently. Never works tho, apparently. Do we not? He's just won 8 out of 10 games. I'd say he's proved to be a competent boss. What we don't know is if he'll he a long term success, but there's not a single manager in the world who could guarantee that. What a weird take. Yes, had recent results been terrible, there would have been more criticism and doubts over his ability. And when we don't score, we hardly ever win.

And had we appointed Chris Wilder and got five pastings in his first five games, what then? It's all a bit theatrical anyway is it not? What evidence is there to suggest a team that hasn't conceded a goal from open play in seven games is about to take five pastings? Is this another myth that Robson is going to play defensive football every week based on Ross County being a bit of a battle? We were attacking in the wins over Motherwell, Hearts and Dundee United (all with three goals scored). We were actually more attacking and scored more goals against Rangers than Celtic did at Hampden yesterday. Interim bosses are a necessity, unless you wanted Cormack to take charge, or the players to run the team themselves. It's allowed us to give Robson a chance, see how well he's done, and appoint what appears to be a competent boss and coaching team. Again, what if Chris Wilder or some super coach from Spain had come in and done the same? Is that the Ole Gunnar Solksjaer who was a league title winning manager before going to Man Utd? Yeh the defeat to Darvel happened because we were too attack minded. Should have stuck 11 men behind the ball.

Steve Agnew staying is also great news.

Hearts estimate they made £5-6m last year, which is where that fabled figure comes from. Three home sell outs - including hospitality - and share of TV income to add on to it.

Inverness have a tidy record against Celtic in the cup to be fair (if it's them). I can think of three cup wins this side of the millennium, one at Hampden. I'll support them in the final if Aberdeen fail to finish third.

Aye but when you say he's replaceable, I'm saying he'll be very, very difficult to replace. What would be the equivalent of McCrorie? You've said Devlin - he's not on on McCrorie's level (imo) and likely not for what we signed McCrorie for too. It would be the equivalent of signing Anthony Ralston to use an example - a player good enough to play for the Old Firm but doesn't play most weeks. That's what McCrorie was to Rangers. We struck lucky with McCrorie, and I think he'll he really tough to replace. NB: Bristol City are fucking shite anyway.

Well clearly every player has their price. Ramsay was certainly sellable. But as I said, we'll likely lose a lot of starters this summer. It's important we don't destabilise the team too much over summer until we've actually got a team in place. But yes if big money comes in then you have to say yes. However, I don't think £2m (and let's be honest it'll be 500k up front with instalments and add ons) is big money, especially when it'll leave us with yet another big hole to fill. If third place is worth £5m-6m, then I'd say there's a bigger reward for keeping the likes of McCrorie.

I disagree with your first sentence. It's his value to the team and what Aberdeen can make with him being in it. I agree he's not a utility player, he's a right wing back and now we've a manager who recognises that he's only going to get better. He also fits perfectly into the type of team Barry Robson is trying to put together. I'd rather Bristol kept their £2m and we had another two years out of him.

I took my dad to the Dundee United game, his first since 1994, and he has incredibly at the age of 74 got the buzz for it. He's now asking me to take him to another game so he'll be at the St Mirren match at Pittodrie, the first time he's stepped in there since Willie Miller's testimonial. He lives in Dundee (I want it on record neither he nor I are from there, he just lives there for reasons you don't need bored with), and so I would quite like Dundee United and Dundee in the Premiership next season to take him to a few games before Aberdeen resort to type and put him off football again. Can't see him making the trip to Kilmarnock or Ross County to be honest, even if he is now a diehard.

It's not a question of if he's a £2m player, it's his value to Aberdeen. McDonald signing up is great. But we could still begin pre-season without Pollok, Scales, Clarkson, Shinnie, and with Miovski and Duk being courted by others. It's not a case of spending £2m on a replacement for McCrorie because we never would spend £2m on a player. We're still in debt too. Maybe £400k plus a bit more for wages goes towards his replacement. Now, I can't remember what we actually spent on McCrorie, maybe it is possible to get a replacement for £400k, but I think we were also really fortunate to get him. A player telling the Old Firm he wants to leave to get regular football doesn't actually happen too often. James McCarthy - remember him - is still at Celtic. James Forrest and Scott Wright appear happy to be bit-part players than play for an Aberdeen, Hearts or Hibs. I think McCrorie is an excellent player who has finally been given a role that suits him, and he'll be really hard to replace, and leaves a big hole, especially if all the players mentioned above don't come back or are replaced with similarly talented players. McCrorie to me is worth more to Aberdeen than £2m in my opinion.

Outstanding stats. I notice we didn't win either of those games either, but did beat Celtic, St Mirren and Hibs in the last five games of the season which I'd certainly take now.

Barron has been injured. As for being "insulted" by the £2m price tag, if McCrorie was injured for the last five games, who would replace him? Kennedy? Richardson? Morris? One of those players you don't miss until he's gone. Would be hard to replace, even with £2m.

Forgive me - but what were the obvious reasons Just checked though - we were away to Celtic in the League Cup, and began the premier division away to Dundee, but we finished the season at home to Hibs. Actually we began the season against St Johnstone in the Anglo cup. Although was referring to the league anyway since we of course started this season in the League Cup group stages

He still has three years left on his deal - think we should be holding out for more than £2m. It's not just about the money. Duk & Miovski will spend the summer being linked with moves away. Clarkson & Pollok will go back to their parent clubs. Shinnie & McDonald are not yet signed up. Who knows if Robson (providing he gets the job) wants to keep Scales or if Celtic are even willing to do a deal. Only IF (and it is still an IF) we get the guaranteed group stage football then we can confidently write some big cheques. If we don't we'll have early European qualifiers with a depleted & unsettled squad trying to avoid injuries, and having splashed most of our cash last summer. We could really do without losing McCrorie too unless it's for big money. For me £3m minimum, never mind the add ons - Bristol are getting nowhere near the top flight any time soon, and McCrorie isn't a regular in the Scotland squad.

We may as well just keep this thread open since our next game is now Rangers. Have we ever started and ended a season with the exact same fixture (Celtic away)?

Because Celtic would have only had one home game in that case, so someone had to play them three times away, and because we finished lower last season out of all the teams currently in the top 6 then we're the ones who are most likely to be disadvantaged.

So... Rangers, Hearts & Celtic all away Hibs & St Mirren at home. I'd say those work out well for us. We expected three away anyway. The two most winnable ones are at home, and if we win both those then Hearts will need to win four games after the split - including v us. That's a big ask.

I thought he was by some distance our worst player in the first half. Just constantly gifted it away. I was losing the plot with him. Second half he improved a lot, and with that we made less mistakes and were able to impose ourselves on them.

Five Italian teams in the semi-finals of the three European leagues. Would like to say that's one in the eye for critics of Serie A, but even I didn't see that coming, especially one of Milan & Inter guaranteed a Champions League final spot. And none of the five being the current top two Napoli and Lazio.

But were they not down for four years last time they were relegated?

Thing is, Turkey has so many things going against it, which is why they apply for everything and get rejected for everything. I'd be on board with this bid if I didn't think Scotland would be playing all their games at Hampden. We've missed out on 11 of the last 12 major championships and the one we did make was a "home" one anyway. Would rather have two weeks away playing at Tottenham, Everton and the Principality stadium than three home games at Hampden. Would like to think we'd do something with Hampden but think the figures are £15m to spend on it, plus who knows what they could do with it anyway even if they had the money. One benefit I guess is that Aberdeen would likely have at least one of the nations who have qualified wanting to base themselves at Cormack Park, so may be some money to be made.