BobbyBiscuit

Leitch quoted as he left the ground today: "I'll be back at my work tomorrow" (BBC Radio Scotland)

a statement is to be made at 1pm by Duncan Fraser according to Northsound. As it's a statement rather than a press conference, I'd imagine that means he stays for at least Saturday's game.

just tell us teh fucking answer.

what a load of shite.

L O L.

Well, possibly true, I can't quite remember how things were at that point financially but I think it was a statement of intent from the board, they bowed to fan pressure a bit by spending a lot on the one player. Bernard was a cracking player, both parties were just horrendously unlucky in that he was injured so often. What we definitely couldn't afford was the £750k on Windass (why on earth pay that sort of money for a Hull player, a club who were so desperate for cash we could have got him for a lot, lot cheaper), the money given for Winters, £400k for Pepper, £1m+ for the Bulgarians, £800k for Brian O'Neil, £8k a week plus £50k every 2 months for Hignett which despite what anyone says was a shocking bit of business for someone who played well in 3 matches out of 8 and got sent off in another, we couldn't afford to let someone like Stephen Glass leave for fuck all but we did at the start of Bosman... And we can take this further back... we couldn't afford - either financially or in pure footballing matters - to replace guys like Alex McLeish, Paul Mason, Lee Richardson and Jim Bett with John Inglis, Joe Miller, Peter Hetherston and Ray McKinnon. That was the start of it. Had the board backed Willie Miller with the proper funds he needed, all of this could be so very, very different.

They've retracted that as it would effectively put them out of business if they did so.

No, not really. The RDS was built for the start of 93/94. Alex Miller didn't arrive until the 97/98 season. Hignett was in 98. Bernard was in 1995 and it would have been £1m well spent had he stayed fit.

As SOTR says, that was an excellent Iceland u-21 side, one of the best I've seen at that level in terms of technique and physique. Eric Black will not take the job. Adams would be a mistake unless working in a co-manager capacity with someone like Jocky Scott, but Ross County have been pretty ding this season too. Stark... I'm not sure about, always seen him as an assistant rather than a boss in his own right. But there is no outstanding candidate. I hope Marco Tardelli applies for it again, just to add a bit of glamour to things...

Second paragraph:

I don't want Butcher that much to be honest simply because I don't think his record is great. But I'd prefer him to a lot of others being mentioned. Don't care that he's a hun if he does the business for us. And that attitude goes for whoever it is as long as it's not Durrant, McCoist, Willie Johnston or Hateley.

Board meeting confirmed on BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/aberdeen/9173978.stm

I had mellowed towards him until I read One Night In Turin... he is (was?) a right hun bastard and no mistake.

The RDS isn't actually the reason we're in debt though, apparently. We got a fairly sizeable grant to put towards that or so I read a while ago anyway. Ian Donald was a weak Chairman who felt intimidated by his father's legacy. Perhaps understandable though. I just never got the impression he was strong enough to lead us in the way his father and Chris Anderson had.

I'm sure he said that and that they wouldn't be on air while it was going on, but obviously not...

If Velicka gets fit he'll score goals for us, I've no doubt about that. It's getting him fit that'll be the problem.

I must have mis-heard him, I am truly sorry.

Radio Scotland about 20 mins ago.

A board meeting has been called for late tonight.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/nov/09/mark-mcghee-aberdeen-scottish-premier?showallcomments=true#end-of-comments

This is a massive factor in it, and makes up the guts of why we are what we are now. They've sucked the passion from the fans who have grown so exasperated over the years that for many there was nothing left to do other than walk away. Chris Anderson must be turning in his grave. To put this bluntly, players are paid too much these days and all the power (because of Bosman) is with them. There is no fear factor anymore for them. Don't perform well at a middling club? Another middling club in the same league or equivalent will pick you up and probably give you a few hundred quid a week extra to boot because there was no transfer fee to pay for your "services". Because they get an exceptional wage, they believe they are exceptional at their profession. Nothing could be further from the truth. But this changes their attitudes, which then reflects on the pitch because they think they've got it made. This may be controversial, but I don't think we expect enough. There are so many fans who have never seen us win anything or come remotely close to it to have their expectations set at anything higher than "Top Six". Reasonable expectation is expecting your team not to lose 9 goals in a game without reply. If that is unreasonable then I'd maybe be best off just forgetting this whole thing. Aim for the top and you may never get there but you never stop trying. Aim for the middle and the best you'll ever do is the middle. If that is the expectation then what's the point? Your point about not giving managers time is a fair one but I would say that we are not alone in that these days and is just the nature of the game now and it is possible we all fear being left behind if we don't remove managers after a bad 18 months. In saying that, JC got 5 years (more than average in Britain now by quite a distance) and did well in that time but he had a very good first season to build from. had that first season been relatively poor how long would he have got? Getting on player's backs... this is nothing new at Pittodrie. In my time, I've seen Billy Stark, Bobby Connor and Jim Bett (yeah, it's amazing how many people forget this, but Bett got huge stick especially at away matches) get pelters on an almost weekly basis. They just got on with their job. But again, that players these days seem to be unable to react in the desired way to this is a sign that they are a bunch of pampered Prima Donas. It's part of the territory, they get plenty of praise and reward when doing the job properly, that's the other side of the coin and it should be motivation but too many take the easy way out and sulk.

Happens in Investment Banking too. A guy at Merrill Lynch I think it was got a £7m pay off for almost bankrupting them and also being a part of the old financial global meltdown. As long as they're taking volunteers for the second bit...

What would people do about the keeper situation tonight? Will he drop Langfield? Would it be wise to play a keeper who has admitted was in tears after Saturday's game? His confidence must be shot to pieces and knowing one mistake could potentially start another heavy defeat must add to that feeling. But then, Howard's confidence can't be great either as he was dropped again on Saturday.

Aye, but Leitch would have the "prove it" card with him. Could go to a tribunal and we could end up paying out full whack, probably best saying to him "we know what's been going on but we'll give you a percentage of what you're due and we'll not let on you're a bully with the youngsters."

I believe I said this yesterday!