BobbyBiscuit

Really? Ask Alex Smith, Roy Aitken and Alex Miller if they agree with that statement.

Quite right, and if it wasn't for the split I'd be very surprised if ANY of us ever spoke of "achieving" a top six place. It's created an artificial goal for us. The one thing I'm getting thoroughly fed up with though is JC constantly talking about "and we all know the expectations at this club". He mentioned it three times in an interview at the weekend. It's obviously something that weighs him down. The fact he mentions it so often leads me to think that he can't handle that and he's out his depth. if he doesn't like it he can fuck off as far as I'm concerned.

The Beeb must be reading this forum, I've never sent anything to them and don't even watch their results service.

Sorry, FS, only just seen this post. Yeah, I know of this too. I believe it's called "shifting the blame". I love Jim Leighton (there, I've said it) and I have little time for Sandy Clark (that probably didn't need saying), but as goalkeeper and strikers coach respectively, if they're given shit to work with, the outcome is unlikely to exceed shit by very much, ye know?

Eh? What was it then?

well I thought that too, and Aluko had a good second 45 on Wed.

just heard Aluko, Mulgrew and MacDonald have been dropped for today. Not sure how accurate this is though!

The Glaswegian thing is a crock of shit but what do you expect of that cunt Keevins and the rag he "works" for? They bang on about the expectation levels at Aberdeen, but was the manager who is responsible for those supposed expectations not from the same place as JC? And what about Miller and McLeish? Did we hate the three of them in spite of all their successes for our club? They'll write anything to have a dig at the Dons fans - "they hate the manager cos he's from Glasgow", "They have unrealistic expectations and are living in the past", what's next? Imagining that we're singing songs about the Ibrox Disaster...?

No idea who they were, never seen them before. Glory hunters!

Went for Aluko. Although he must be wondering what the fuck he's got himself into

It was a clear penalty. Told that to a few Glasgow reds in front of us and got a few dodgy comments etc back (HI SHITBAG!!! ), but Severin was clearly strangling the guy. Stupid cunt.

Have to say I thought he was alright too. Had a bit of a "football brain" on him. Didn't have a great game, but at least made some semi intelligent runs and tried to keep things moving.

That's mis-representing the problem in a way. The fact is that JC does not want to spend ANY of his budget on goalkeepers (and it is ENTIRELY down to JC as to how the budget is spent). He thinks he can get good ones cheaply. Anyone who has seen his goalkeeping signings can testify that's bollocks. He had the chance to sign good goalkeepers this summer, he didn't because he wanted to keep his cash for a "big striker". In fairness, Tommy Wright is quite a big striker...

Agree with that!!! For ages I've been saying Dingus, but look at the state of Motherwell this season, they're worse than us!! If, and it is a fucking gigantic IF, he goes, then we'll see who are the best candidates at the time. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, cos I think this one will run and run..... unfortunately...

I've said in another thread (and I actually know for a fact through a personal contact) that Leighton DOES NOT rate Bossu. He was signed because it never affected the budget... he's on £400 a week. That's why JC signed him, that was one of those "aye, fuck it, you'll do". The worst thing is that he then said "Big Jim Leighton is raving about him", when actually "big Jim Leighton" was saying "when is the fucking work experience retard kid going home?"

Yeah, to be honest, i'd agree with that. The whole defence was so shit and i felt it harsh on this guy who was a debutant (and, let's face it, I wanted to be good so Foster wasnt picked!) but he was getting shoved off the ball easily and his man was going in behind him far too easily. When he won the ball - which was a lot in the second half - he looked good, but i think our league, and indeed, professional football maybe beyond him unless he can bulk up like Kenny Sansom.

I know for a fact that he was asked to fire shots into him when he was taken on trial, but he was never asked to scout him and certainly wasn't overly keen that he was getting a contract and that JC was using his name to talk up Bossu. It is safe to say he is NOT impressed, and anyone who saw the warm up would have been agreeing with old bandy.

...and the only plus side on the night was that neither myself nor my companion have hung ourselves (ok, that bit's debatable). Before the match... watching the team warm up, in particular, watching the goalkeepers go through their paces. It is quite safe to say that Jim Leighton does not rate Bossu. In all the years Jim has been our keeper coach (or even the times he was just a sub keeper) I have never seen him give basic lessons to another goalkeeper. It was like he was coaching him for the first time. He was keeping an eye on his footwork constantly and he was never happy with it, and he could never be happy with his handling either cos he dropped so many. And then, when the players were going off the pitch, he never shook bossu's hand as he usually does with the keepers. Maybe a minor thing, but just something I noticed. Anyway, the game... First half: We were cunting awful. I would say that 45 minutes alone is down there with the Steve "Pele" Paterson stuff. The "goalkeeper" was horrific, and if he ever wears a Dons shirt again I'll be avoiding hearing the scoreline for at least a week. He was hideous at the first goal, shambolic at the second and just really shit at the fourth. Severin was a fucking clown in Dons clothing by trying to strangle their forward in the box. How anyone could claim that wasn't a pen is beyond me. Gary McDonald scored a good goal for us and we won a pen after a neat move. That was it really. Second half: Mair on for Kerr and seve into midfield. Sensible move, it did seem for a while that Langfield would come on, but I think that was shelved. Certainly played a bit better, Seve playing better in midfield and managing to link the play now and again and Sone Aluko played very well in the second half but given no protection by the ref which was ridiculous. Mair played well... but Zander Diamond, what the fuck were you playing at tonight? Never seen him get ripped so easily so often in a long, long time. Baffles me that with twenty mins left, and one sub left, he still never made a change... anyone?? And Hodgkiss... in all fairness to the lad, looks as though he may be a decent footballer, but he is literally the height of shite, and as such will be beaten to every fucking ball by anyone who happens to be over 3ft8in. In short, shambolic and I'm fucking raging, angered that an Aberdeen side can put in such a fucking inept performance and seem to care very little about it (looking at you Mr Mulgrew, in particular). And, as the fans sang at the end "You're not fit to wear the shirt",is very apt, what's more apparent is that the chants of "you don't know what you're doing!" directed towards Calderwood are far, far more accurate.

It would also have been very misleading.

It's not? Another thing, passion costs nothing and the most limited of players can have as much as the very best. Why do none of ours with one obvious exception have that?

The team needing time to gel doesn't explain why professional footballers fail to control a ball, be able to run with it without falling over their own feet, mark their man at set pieces, clear their lines etc. Yes, it will take time for them to get into the rhythm of things in a new side, but that doesn't explain why they can't do the basics, nor does it explain why the manager continues to sign and then pick players who regularly fail to do the basics.

Is that not part of JC's job, too? To find an appropriate leader on the pitch? We lost our on field leader when Anderson left for Sunderland, I said last season that the way things went last term made it look as though Anderson was more important for us than Calderwood. It became apparent that to some extent we were getting by in spite of JC. When Anderson left for Sunderland it simply wasn't good enough for him to assume that Severin would take on the mantle of team leader, be it in how he plays or how he communicates with his team mates on the pitch. But that is exactly what he did assume. I said on another thread that our team lacks a soul, it was disappearing after Anderson left, it packed it's bags and fucked off for good when Hart was ridiculously allowed to leave. Calderwood can blame the board all he wants for limiting the budget, but if he really wanted to keep Michael Hart, he would have. Neither has been replaced in a playing capacity nor in terms of leadership. That brings me to another thing that I have long suspected JC of, complete and utter laziness when it comes to the signing of players. He has signed some good players for us, and I am happy to admit that, but there are players he has signed that make me wonder if he actually knows what standard of player is required for our league never mind for getting us into Europe or winning cups. How many strikers has he signed while he's been here and how many have actually been any fucking good at all? There is a lingering feeling that players are signed on a "aye, fuck it, he'll do" basis. I have a ghastly feeling that McDonald was signed simply because he was available and had played in Scotland before, as you surely would not sign him as well as Kerr? There is something strange with the signings of Karim Touzani (and his subsequent departure) and Jeffrey De Visscher, both signed and talked up to the hilt, then rarely used. Or, and in JDV's case in particular, appearing to be the exact opposite of the player described by the guy who's just signed him. For every Aluko, Nicholson and Miller, there's a Kristianson, Bus, Baas, Bossu, Langfield, Soutar, the Paatelainens and Byrne. After four years in the job, there is no mistake that this is Calderwood's side. So, how does he not realise that we're not just booing the players, we're booing him too? That is someone who is either incredibly arrogant to think they are exempt from criticism, or it's someone who is violently stupid. I'm not sure which way to go on that one...

He is oblivious to the fact that he may be at fault for any of our failings.

I'll be heading down to it. Rugby park is a horrible place to go and we don't have a great record there at all. Wonder if he'll mix the side up a bit as he did for the Ayr game?