BobbyBiscuit

Massive difference being that councils/governments abroad (in general) appreciate the value of their major sporting institutions. Milne couldn't justify paying over the odds to the shareholders/stakeholders of his housing company.

Good post Rocket.

Been an ok game, I thought it was handball. Had to laugh at Glenda Hoddle saying van der Vaart shouldn't have been booked for the challenge he got the yellow for... most cast iron yellow card ever. Good to see he let his bias go! Although the guy's a good ball winner, how ponderous on the ball is Scott Parker? he slows Spurs down so much when he gets it, and for a team who like to break at speed that really isn't a good thing.

That'd have been a fucking miracle considering how shite things have been.

Lovely stuff.

Probably just as well he's going from Glasgow (or thereabouts) then...

From what I remember, glory was pretty enjoyable.

Can't say I disagree with that at all. It would certainly be a step in the right direction.

You don't want your team to be succesful? You'd rather they just provided you with an excuse for a jolly with your mates? Fair enough.

Not very much, I think that's the problem.

Yeah, that's good, but it could and should have been better. What's so wrong with wanting more, wanting what's the best for the club? That run included another dismal exit from the Scottish Cup... we couldn't put Dunfermline out over 220 mins of football, the majority of that at our home stadium for goodness sake. Or is it now just a case of us not having any sort of ambition whatsoever? why cant you accept that side of the argument? Or is qualification for Europe now the pinnacle of things as far as we're concerned and to hang with silverware? Pure conjecture. Calderwood said no-one knew anything of it until about 3 weeks at most before it happened. We'd be as well saying it was down to him saying that he had now outgrown our club after beating Celtic and hinting he'd likely be off to something he perceived as being better. Could have had something to do with a marked downturn in the standard of player we had in the squad by then. Who? Anderson. Who else? Genuine question, I don't remember anyone else going for big money. Are you now saying we only got money for Anderson because JC was manager? You've also completely misunderstood the point i was making. My point was not that he shouldn't be spending that money, it was that he was able to assemble a squad of good quality on good money... the rewards - as in cups and regular European trips should have been forthcoming. I'm not having a go at the guy for spending money the board sanctioned him to spend. I think he could have got more out of the squad, he should have brought a cup home for us with that squad of players, had he done that he could have done as he liked forever near enough as far as I'm concerned. But he didn't.

But you've also just bought new players a new manager may not want, so more money wasted there. Swings and roundabouts.

I'm sure Milne has got other things right over the years, but at that moment in time, I do think JC had to go. I wasn't particularly vociferous in wanting his removal at the time, had he stayed beyond that point I'd have been only moderately pissed off and slightly wary of what was going to come under his stewardship. His record in the cups was utterly abysmal, moreso for the team he had and the resources he had used to get his side together - a lot of free transfers but a lot spent on wages when you look at players like Seve, Nicholson, Smith, Lovell, Whelan, Miller etc. And good on him for getting those players, and good on him for getting out of the UEFA group and consistent league finishes etc, I do think the guy is mainly a good manager but we were on the slide and I really don't know how people can overlook that. You say yourself he should have been given til Christmas. Why just Christmas if you are that unwavering in your support? Do you not think the club stood by him and he got the loyalty he deserved after QotS? I can appreciate why people like the guy etc and I don't necessarily dislike him, I just felt at the time we weren't going to progress with him in charge. The money was being cut and I really doubted his ability to get decent players in for cheap rather than the obvious signings on big wages I mentioned earlier. Jimmy had given us our respectability back and I'll be forever grateful for it, but we had long stopped progressing and he wasn't able to address that or so it seemed to me. Of course you can say "lack of money" etc and of course that's a major issue, but if he isn't able to do the job on the budget set then he should stand aside. People can only react to things at the time, and because the last two managers have not done (or are not doing) the job properly doesn't mean we shouldn't have let him go, should we not have sacked Roy Aitken because Alex Miller was a monumental disaster? We can't be frightened of progression or at least trying to progress; unfortunately those at the top made the wrong choices which followed what I personally think was the right decision at the time.

I don't know, are we? Do you actually mean "So are you saying...."?

as has been said, the downward spiral was well underway while he was in charge. He could have and should have done better than he did at Pittodrie. The fact the next two in the job have been disasters does not change that one bit.

Better than "just" qualifying for Europe that season.

Really? even though it could have been so much better?

It was tanking in his last half season with us. 3 wins in 19 matches was it?

You're right, it is all relative. I can remember real glory, and what you mention above doesn't come anywhere close to it. A couple of nice trips (which would have been nice for many despite what happened on the pitch), a couple of great nights to remember at Pittodrie... I'd swap every single bit of it for a trophy. That's glory.

Glory Years without any form of glory? Bizarre.

Rio isn't shite. Zander Diamond is shite. Ferdinand is a good footballer, but can be iffy defensively without a dominant centre back beside him, aka Vidic. Jones had an off night, it happens, i was just making a wee quip at their collective poor display.

Rio Ferdinand and Phil Jones will be kicking themselves for sleeping through a great game at Old Trafford....

Real's first goal tonight was an absolute beauty. Great team goal

Anyone who saw Sandy Clark play would have known that him taking a "strikers coach" position was preposterous in the extreme.