BobbyBiscuit

I think he'll do alright mate. Roy Keane knows a player when he sees one, he's played against Anderson and Keane has not only said that he admires his playing ability but also his leadership. I think that's a fair bit of praise coming from one of the best captains there's been in world football in the last 20 years. It doesn't matter what Sunderland fans say about him just now, they'll change their tune when they see him play, and lets face it, they have no right in taking an uppity stance with us over the quality of our players... they sold us Dan fucking Smith for Christs sakes.

JC says in todays Metro that the captaincy will be decided in Egypt, and that it's up for grabs. My money's on Hart.

Get with the times mate!! Old Henke plays for Helsingborgs!! ps did you know he played for Man Utd for a bit too?

I have it from a very reliable source that Sunderland are the front runners for Russell. I would hope that having played against him, Keane would come in with a more realistic bid than £1m.

That's pretty much it. He'd gone over to Holland as a brick layer after Everton turned him down. He later signed for Groningen and Smith and Scott spotted him when he was playing against Twente when they were supposed to be watching Theo (who wasn't actually playing in that game). Paul Mason was a great player. Fast as fuck and really skillful. Knew where the net was too. Really missed him when he left.

He did look ok in the glimpses we got of him when Ebbe was manager... but, I then saw him turn out for Cumbernauld United and he was nothing special. Utd werent even in the top division of the juniors either. Allegedly like the weed too much...

The free kicks he scored against ManUtd are incomparable to the one he scored at Pittodrie. Langfield obviously doesnt understand how to line up a wall. Beatties goal was crap goalkeeping, he shouldnt have lost a goal there in the same fashion that Gordon shouldnt have either. The defence was poor at the hibs one, but so was Langfield. whether the attacker SHOULD score isn't the point, the odds are stacked against Langfield, that is true, but he shouldnt make it automatically easier by sitting on his arse, should he?

No, that's not the point. Mistakes like that should never be made no matter what the score is. Complacency breeds more complacency and when it creeps into your game it's a very, very bad sign. that may be true, but my original point is games that have cost us. I dont think it has been complancency either, mostly jsut a lack of confidence and or lack of concentration. When the whole of todders collectively holds it breath when a back pass goes to him that is not going to help Yeah, but Pittodrie is doing that for a reason.

No, that's not the point. Mistakes like that should never be made no matter what the score is. Complacency breeds more complacency and when it creeps into your game it's a very, very bad sign.

Celtic - Hesselink's shot in the 1-0 defeat at pittodrie. Nakamura's free kick. Beatties goal as well, he should never have been beaten in that fashion. So that's actually 3. Hibs - Scottish Cup, Easter Road. Benji's first, Hibs third. League, Pittodrie: sat on his arse as that young forward walked round him.

Celtic (x2), Hibs (x2), Hearts at Tynecastle, Motherwell. That's just off the top of my head, i'm sure there are more. That's more than a couple of occassions I'm afraid. He's not good enough.

Foster's done alright, it has to be said. But, if JC is adamant that Hart will definately be at right back, McNamara should be left back. However, I wouldn't mind seeing Hart at centre half alongside Anderson, McNamara at right back and Foster at left back. Only problem with that back four is the lack of height.

EFF EFF ESS!!! I would rather play my 92 year old Gran at centre half than that clown.

I would wager my right nut that he's not good enough.

Yeah, exactly. So we'll never know if he was good enough for us or not. All if's and but's there, im afraid.

WE ALL KNOW LANGFIELD IS OUR FIRST TEAM KEEPER! THAT'S THE PROBLEM! We are saying that this should no longer be the case. Just because Soutar is back up doesnt mean we stick with Langfield. If Soutar isn't going to be given a chance, why did Calderwood sign him? Why do you believe he'll come out stronger? where's the evidence to suggest this will happen? He's been a poor goalkeeper for Thistle, Dundee and sat on the bench at Dunfermline. There is no precedent in his career that could possibly make you say that. As i also said, goalkeepers take the flak more for their mistakes than outfield players. That's life. Why is this the case? Because if you're a goalkeeper, your concentration has to be 100% spot on 100% of the time. If it's not, you're never going to be good enough. Goalkeeper is the most important position on the park, you cant possibly compare his mistakes to that of Severin. That may be harsh, it may be unfair, but that's football. Everyone would forgive the goalkeeper the odd mistake, of course these things happen, but not constant mistakes of the magnitude Langfield makes. It's not down to me to find suitable replacements, is it? If Calderwood got off his fucking considerable behind and searched Europe (as most teams managers/scouts do) I'm positive we'd find someone considerably better than Clangers.

WE ALL KNOW LANGFIELD IS OUR FIRST TEAM KEEPER! THAT'S THE PROBLEM! We are saying that this should no longer be the case. Just because Soutar is back up doesnt mean we stick with Langfield. If Soutar isn't going to be given a chance, why did Calderwood sign him? Why do you believe he'll come out stronger? where's the evidence to suggest this will happen? He's been a poor goalkeeper for Thistle, Dundee and sat on the bench at Dunfermline. There is no precedent in his career that could possibly make you say that. As i also said, goalkeepers take the flak more for their mistakes than outfield players. That's life. Why is this the case? Because if you're a goalkeeper, your concentration has to be 100% spot on 100% of the time. If it's not, you're never going to be good enough. Goalkeeper is the most important position on the park, you cant possibly compare his mistakes to that of Severin. That may be harsh, it may be unfair, but that's football. Everyone would forgive the goalkeeper the odd mistake, of course these things happen, but not constant mistakes of the magnitude Langfield makes.

We'll never, ever improve if that's the view of those in charge at Aberdeen. Winter and Donald were squad players who hardly played cos they werent good enough. "We have an established first team"... if we don't have players breathing down these guys necks they become complacent. Complacency should not be welcomed.

Bad goalkeepers get remembered for their mistakes. People say that he has saved us more than not. But, he's a professional goalkeeper, of course he's going to make saves. It's the basic errors that he makes which show he is not good enough. No one is expecting him to be the next Jim Leighton, but for fucks sake, look at the mistakes he's made this season. It's embarrassing. You wouldn't see that sort of stuff down your local playing fields. Whether there are only 3 keepers in the SPL you'd take or not, the bottom line is Langfield makes basic mistakes. In fact, this season you could say he is "prone" to them. Once that starts happening, there is no way back. If Langfield was playing under any other manager he'd have been dropped long ago. Ryan Esson was dropped for a lot less, that can't be denied. Yes, goalkeepers mistakes are highlighted more than outfield players. Tough shit. It's the nature of the beast. I don't WANT to moan about the guy, but just look at some of the soft goals he's let in. If people are honestly happy with that level of (supposed) professional performance from an Aberdeen goalkeeper, then fair enough, it's up to them. But there is no way in hell I'm going to be happy with the sort of performances he's turned in this season.

I'm with you on that one. Easily the best finisher at the club. He's just never really had a sustained run at it. Like a lot of strikers, Lovell's game is based on confidence, if he wasn't in and out of the side so much, I think we'd have seen more from him.

They also have Doumbe, who has been very impressive for them in the last couple of matches and has been a stand out for their reserves. Reckon it'll be between him and Wilson for their right back position next season, can't see Hart going anywhere. Thankfully.

are you sure about that?

In fairness guys, I really don't see why we should have a problem with what he says. We call ourselves Sheep Shaggers! We were also giving him some naughty chants, you can't expect him not to have a go at us. I'm sure we wouldn't at all be appalled if, for talks sake, Russell Anderson tried to say cheerio to us on sunday and the huns sang all the way through it. Would any of us have a problem with Anderson telling the orange bastards to shut the fuck up? I wouldn't. The outrage about a footballer swearing at supporters when they're telling that player to "get to fuck" is extremely ill-placed, no matter how much of a little shit Lennon is.

Goalkeeper is the most important position on the park. If you don't have a good goalkeeper you can forget it.

GOTHENBURG, 1983: the time and the place, like the memories they evoke, are etched on the consciousness of a city, written through its recent history as though they were the message on a stick of granite rock. Aberdeen, a band of upstarts from the north-east of Scotland, had come, seen and conquered no lesser a name than the incomparable Real Madrid in the final of the European Cup-Winners' Cup. Had anyone been fool enough to sleep through the drama, they wouldn't dare to have dreamt it. The surviving images, resistant to the rub of time, are an indelible tribute to what was a momentous triumph. John Hewitt's extra-time winner, Alex Ferguson's stumble and fall as the coaching staff burst from the dugout, and Willie Miller's pose with the cup, an emperor before his people. All have run through the years like the ink from a tear-stained postcard. They won't forget that night in Sweden, when the Gods smiled down on 13,000 Aberdonians, and grown men cried in the rain. Not this week the 24th anniversary of an achievement they will never repeat. While details are blurred by the years, the most memorable moments have new definition. The world has changed since May 11, 1983, when 12 home-grown players and a shipyard worker's son from Govan had the audacity to mess with the cognoscenti. Aberdeen are a shadow of their former selves, the Cup-Winners' Cup is defunct and Ferguson has long since departed the Scottish scene, knighted for his services to football, a behemoth to rank alongside the legends of Busby, Shankly and Stein. Leighton, Rougvie, McMaster, Cooper, McLeish, Miller, Strachan, Simpson, McGhee, Black, Weir and Hewitt. Their contact may be limited now, but in those days they were friends, their relationship strengthened by a shared adventure. Their other victims in 1983 were Sion, Dinamo Tirane, Lech Poznan, Bayern Munich and Waterschei. The team left no-one in any doubt as to the extent of their abilities. In a thrilling demonstration of guts and guile, they set about their opponents from the start, Eric Black striking the bar with a portentous volley in the opening exchanges before putting Aberdeen ahead in the 18th minute. Although Juanito equalised from the spot 10 minutes later, Alex McLeish's short passback having forced Jim Leighton into a foul, the advancement of Peter Weir into a more dangerous position subjected Real to an uneasy second half. Their survival into extra time was merely delaying the inevitable. Substitute John Hewitt's header, a bent-kneed collapse at the ball, was followed by the most helpless of celebrations, drenched as he was by rain, sweat and tears. When Real were awarded a free-kick in injury time, reserve goalkeeper Bryan Gunn, sitting next to Ferguson in the dugout, sunk to his knees and said: "Dear God, please let them miss it." Which, of course, they did. After the unthinkable euphoria of the final whistle, the trophy presentation and the parade of honour, the players retired to the dressing-room. While the team were living it up in one section of the changing area, there was another room for the staff, where Ferguson was joined by backroom colleagues and club directors, including chairman Dick Donald. "I will always remember what it was like. When Dick came down, it was almost eerie, everything was so quiet. He was crying. He hugged me, and he was not the type of person to be demonstrative like that. He was the old school. He would usually just come up to me and say, 'well done Mr Ferguson, your Boys were good'. But he loved that club. That night ... it was his greatest moment." There are those who insist that the quarter-final defeat of Bayern Munich was a greater achievement. After a scoreless first leg in Germany, Aberdeen found themselves 2-1 down with half an hour left. Ferguson controversially replaced Neil Simpson with Hewitt and Stuart Kennedy with John McMaster, a gamble that turned out to be a masterstroke. The now fabled free-kick, a deliberate mix-up between Strachan and McMaster, led to McLeish's headed equaliser. Then, just as he would in the final, Hewitt grabbed a sensational winner. "It was, and still is, Pittodrie's greatest night," says Ferguson. "We had 10 minutes to go, as well as time added on, with a midfield who couldn't tackle, and a front three who couldn't defend. But we were hanging on because, in Willie Miller and Alex McLeish, we had the two best centre-halves in Britain. The ball was like a magnet to Miller that night. "In terms of leadership and determination, he was Aberdeen's best player at the time. He was the Roy Keane, the Bryan Robson if you like. But the key to everything was the team. Strachan was fantastic during that period, and when Weir was on song, they were a great team. They had a good balance, a real strength about them." The Bayern Munich match reminds Ferguson that, however low a period it was in the history of Real Madrid, Aberdeen's achievement was huge. "The Cup-Winners' Cup was a competition won by teams who could maybe have a golden spell for two or three games, but I am proud to think back and say that we beat Bayern Munich, who had Rummenigge, Breitner, Augenthaler, some famous names. Without question in my mind, I am satisfied that it was a trophy to be proud of winning." The triumph was tinged by sadness in at least two respects. One was Stuart Kennedy's confinement to the bench in the final. The injury he had picked up against Waterschei, his last competitive appearance for the club, forced the popular full-back to retire from football at the age of 29. The other, altogether more tragic, blow was the death of a young Aberdeen fan, Philip Goodbrand, who collapsed at the match and never recovered. "I had a few friends who were with him when he was passed down through the crowd," says Ferguson. "It was terrible. We knew the young lad because he used to come to training. It was a great sadness. When you see what is happening over the next week or two, can you imagine what his family must be thinking?" Joy has a disturbing capacity to exacerbate pain. Birthdays, wedding days, Christmas, the occasions that are supposed to be our happiest, can be a torment for those who are trying to forget. Anniversaries, for some, just won't go away, returning time and again to demand that we celebrate what is no longer there. For others, they are a comfort. Few of those old enough to have understood Aberdeen's glory in Gothenburg will not remember where they were and what they were doing that night. Events such as these are the furniture of life, the moments that make us who we are. They may all be in the past, but for as long as there are anniversaries, they will also be in the future. Stand Free