Superstar Tradesman

I've read my post three times now and I'm still struggling to see where I'm trying to be funny about it. I was merely playing it through to show where I was coming from. But I bow to your superior knowledge of how everything works behind the closed doors of Pittodrie. Maybe you should tell JC he's an arsehole on a grand, grand scale the next time you're in there snooping around. Personally I'd have thought "hundreds of pounds" was "peanuts" for professional football players so that's why I opted for hard currency rather than monkey feed. So I find it difficult to imagine a player who wanted to stay at the club, driving himself out of a job over such a trivial amount. Regardless of who is handling the money. If it's not hundreds then we're £199 or less every month. I've met Mikey on a number of occasions (friend of a friend) and he's far from being the sharpest tool in the box. But I'll be fucked if I'm swallowing that. It could all well be true mind you, as I said I'm quite happy to be corrected on this. Maybe it's just sheer pig headedness that won't let me believe my club is being managed as badly as that.

Wasn't trying to be a wise guy. I just can't see how you could negotiate a contract without holding the purse strings.

Well if the options are someone that's not very good and someone that's not very experienced then why don't we just close this line of conversation?

That wasn't really the point. The point is he never wanted to leave, JC gave the impression he didn't want shot of him and we haven't replaced him.

Willie - "Here's your contract Mikey, anything you want to discuss". Hart - "Aye, the money". Willie - "Fuck all to do with me". Find that hard to believe.

Fair dos. I always got the impression Willie did the contract negotiations.

I doubt if JC had any saying over the Hart negotiations when it came to money although I'm quite happy to be corrected on this. Can't disagree on Tommy Wright but there can't be many he's splashed cash on and not got something in return. My main bone of contention is that Anderson left for money and we should have at least used a tiny portion of it to replace him. Clark and Hart went and again that money disappeared (granted we have a huge debt), same goes for the Euro-run money. Surely we should be building on successes to better ourselves? Succeed and you'll get less to work with next season but expected to do as good or better a job seems to be the mantra. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying I think he's got a difficult job that's not being made any easier by his employers. When he first took over there seemed to be a fair amount of backing from the board and money to spend. Each year it appears to be less backing as they're not prepared to pay a few hundred a week to keep players like Hart, they sell players he'd rather keep and watch players head for more money. Granted there's nothing they can do about the last one but they could go some way to replacing them with better players than ones who can't even get a game at their own clubs. At one point we were attracting names like Nicholson, Severin, Smith, Miller, etc..... and now after Top Six finishes(!), a Euro-run and selling players we're getting folk like Duff, Mair, Bossu, Young. Something's not right there.

It's the same story though, the fans will still be short changed by the board. The team seems to be getting poorer each season and we never seem to replace those who leave. I'm still quite enjoying the stability we've got at the club at the moment although that doesn't mean I'm happy with the current situation. If a new man was to come in and he set the heather alight then he'd be off down south the minute someone came calling. Then we'd be back to square one. But I think JC could do better with what he has but I also think the board could make his job a whole lot easier. Rebuilding your squad each summer with bottle tops can't be easy and it's almost like they're intentionally making it more difficult for him.

Agree. Agree. Agree. Agree.

"Scott Severin - Break Glass In Case Of Hearts Game"

Aye ok. Never take an interest in the Intertoto so I never realised they'd done away with it.

That's the 6th place for Scotland isn't it. Since when did we have 5? We finished 4th last season but never had any European football. This year if we finish 4th we do. That says there's an extra space to me.

Where did this extra Euro place come from? Did we nab it from another country that's been underperforming or have they expanded the league to take in more teams?

There's no denying that we'll be in a certain place in the league through merit. I'm just saying that no matter who finishes outwith the top two in our league are generally shown up in Europe. Second place didn't even look too good this year The sign of a good team is one that is successful even when they are not at their best but that doesn't go for over a whole season. That in my book would be classed as general performance. In sticky patches when you're still grinding out results then yes. Lets face it, if you can't beat United or Hearts over a season then you're not that good are you?

No. Last time we fully deserved to be 3rd having been out in front for most of the pack, not dropping points to the Huns the whole season and notching up last minute wins and draws. This year we've been up and down, struggled to win games, drawn far too often and not looked like contenders. If we slip into Europe via the backdoor then I think we'll get shown up because 4th or 5th place in our league simply just isn't good enough to compete.

I'd actually be rather worried if we did qualify for Europe as we'd only get shown up for the 5th place shower that we are.

Jamie started counting up the stats but he broke his calculator and his pencil snapped.

Even although he's managed 14 games this season, you've got to wonder how many of these he was match fit or holding back because he was afraid to aggravate any problems. My point is that if he does make it back in time for any of the remaining games, I doubt he'll be the "match winning Jamie Smith" that we can just about remember from a few seasons ago.

As much as I admire the optimism, I've got to ask where these good, battling performances are going to come from? We've not had 3 over the course of the season, let alone 3 in a row.

I did indeed. It's the bollocks.

Actually having thought about it, I know exactly why I haven't picked up a book. I bought a netbook at Xmas and have been passing travelling/commuting time by watching films I've downloaded. I've watched some fucking terrible films recently. I need to start reading again.

They still use the birch in Stoney don't they?

In/Out/Shake it all about - Out Prediction - 2-0 to the Tims Pre match - Up a mountain. During Match - Down a mountain. Post Match - Apres-ski.

I'm the same, I was going through loads of books last year but I've only opened one in 2009 and only got as far as halfway down page 1. Don't know why that is.

I've got a mate who lives in Pau. Really beautiful place at the base of the Pyrenees. I loved it there. That said, if he didn't live there and his family hadn't stuffed me with the most amazing cheeses and wines then I might well have been bored stiff. Hebrew might be worth asking, I'm sure she took her family camping somewhere in France last summer?