RicoS321

Too much competition in the league?

You're right. Probably the way it should be to be honest. When none of us have a clue about half the options, we'd really only be telling each other how much we don't want Robinson, but that we'd get behind him if he did get the job. The new manager every season got boring before and after Calderwood, and again after McInnes. It's quite jading.

When was that taken?

I'd argue that Ramadani never added either of those. What he did add was legs and being first to second balls. When Goodwin insisted on playing Ramadani, for months, in front of the defence taking the ball from them and trying to link play, he was absolutely terrible. He wasn't particularly physical either. As soon as Robson moved him alongside Shinnie, ahead of Clarkson we were flying. They were both tenacious and quick to every second ball, with Ramadani great at intercepting and closing down, without requiring to be particularly strong in the tackle. I'm not saying he shirked a challenge, just that he was not particularly aggressive. He was just everywhere. There's a good argument to say that we could have had what Ramadani offered via Aouchiche if either manager had recognised it, as his coverage and closing were both excellent. I'm really hoping that Leven (and beyond) doesn't make the mistake Goodwin did with Ramadani with the new lad by playing him as a sitting defender. He doesn't strike me as the type who is best utilised sitting deep, but rather pressing high and all over. That's based on YouTube and stats though.

I can see why someone thought he might do a job in the SPFL. A guy whose confidence had been obliterated before he ever set foot on the pitch. I'd like to have seen a loan in this country to see if he could get some sort of confidence built. If we just ignore his messages and calls, then he might stay in Japan.

It's not a cultural thing though, is it? It's about pragmatism. Players with experience of the SPFL are much lower risk than out with. You get a much higher rate of return. Almost any European based player will already be culturally similar to those in Scotland.

Whilst I don't think the segregation of "illegals" and regular migrants is for anything more than political theatre, I do somewhat agree with the point about cultural dilution and I do understand that some may see it as an issue. There are a few problems though. The first is that the US is a country of colonial settlers, who didn't just dilute a continent's culture, rather they erased it. I can see why the fear that this might occur, in turn, is real. The second point is that the US has designed an economic system (with the US dollar being the world's dominant currency) that requires migration. There is no escape from it. Certainly not under Trump (republicans) or the democrats. Both party's donors simply wouldn't accept it. Locking people up, deporting etc is just for show, just as the Tories hostile environment was in this country. Picking on other people to play to a base being the most obvious explanation. The problem with this economic system, is that it cannot cope with the falling fertility rate, which is below replacement rate in the US (and UK). Thus migration is coming to the US whether legal or not, and the culture will indeed be diluted, just as cultures have been since humans began to travel. I suspect the US will be majority Hispanic before long, as Hispanic migrants have a higher fertility rate for 2-3 generations until it levels out at the national norm. There is no policy that can prevent this under the existing system, so you'll have no choice. Your children's children will witness a very different US. They'll be a part of it, and assimilate into it in much the same way humans have always done over the generations.

Trump has not said that the UK needs to be less reliant on the US, you've misunderstood. What his backers want is for the UK to spend more money on its defence. That money will, of course, be spent with US private companies. If the UK genuinely becomes less reliant on the US, then it's a direct loss to companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Palantir etc. Less income for the US. Not what Trump means at all. Edinburgh is a tourist city, I'm not sure what you were expecting. Most cities are multicultural these days, it's not a big problem. They're unnatural places, with no connection to land or heritage, so it's not surprising. They're littered with American and other foreign owned multi nationals (or international capital funded chains) with zero identity. Homogeneity is their trajectory, by definition. Most cities in the world today exist because people were deceived and removed from their land and forced into cities to work. There is no deep connection to these places, much as I'd like to convince myself otherwise.

I mean, it's sad, but is it "new thread" sad? Difficult to say really.

I suspect it doesn't need to be said. Everyone knows that an unproven accusation is very damaging, and that it's a sackable offence if true. There's a lot at stake.

Will be interesting, if this does go through, how we setup in midfield. We're saying defensive midfielder, but he's not really, not in the same way as Nilsen or Kjartansson (looks to be). He's a runner like Shinnie or Ramadani. Exactly what we needed before we signed Cameron! Against most of the teams in the SPFL, two industrious midfielders will be useful, which leaves one space for Cameron, Clarkson and Armstrong. Armstrong showed at the weekend that he can offer something different with only one runner against low quality teams where we need to score, so I can see his game time still being okay. But he can also play that number ten role that Cameron is in when required too. It's going to mean very little game time for Clarkson and we'd comfortably get by without him. Continuing to destroy his value (while potentially raising that of a Hun) until summer seems a little silly, and we should be aiming to offload in this window if possible.

Looks ace. Five year deal.

Netflix pick up hundreds of these types of things from all over the world. It's probably around 10% hit rate on Netflix for me. Almost anything on the "Top 10 in the UK" lists is pish too. I'm quite bad for watching something just because I started it too.

Lyall Cameron prefers to be identified as British rather than Scottish.

America was fucked the moment some Europeans came across the water and set about a wee bit of genociding (nae a word). Trump is a symptom of a culture, nothing more. Suggesting that Biden running in 2016, or Harris (or other) winning would have prevented the deterioration simply ignores the problem. It's like suggesting that recycling would solve plastic pollution, or electric cars will stop climate change. It hides the problem a little, but the problem is still there. Trump is the fly tipped litter or the belching exhaust in that analogy, spotlighting the problem in the most stark of manner. Although, somehow, it remains hidden, and people will claim that everything will be fine in a few years once Trump pops his clogs and the "sensible" guys start running things again. Nobody has a solution to the problem that the US (and everywhere else to a greater or lesser degree) will face in the coming decades and centuries. Unless that solution is the nihilism of nuclear war.

I agree for what it's worth. I guess it's because they are supposed to be "one of us". Similarly, we get news about stabbings in London or whatever, which have zero bearing on the North East of Scotland. There is a hierarchy of news, and US events are high up in that hierarchy for the reasons others have stated. I don't think it's the coverage that it is the issue, but the fact that we feel the need to amplify it and are required to have an opinion on it. It's a fairly sordid habit, of which I too am guilty. In the end, it doesn't matter. We can't fill ourselves with grief for the deaths and oppression of people across the globe, it's silly to try. That we/me pick and choose who we attend to shows its absurdity. We can have no bearing on the outcomes of Yankee Doodle land. It doesn't deserve our outrage.

It looked to me like he was in acres of space, but was also inexplicably making the pass hard for the defenders by standing behind the line of the attacking player. If he'd just taken a few steps back, they'd have had a far less risky pass along the ground.

I think the Raith game showed that Clarkson and Cameron on the same pitch isn't going to work (unless chasing the game). Cameron regularly drops deep into the area that Clarkson wants to play in, and he doesn't really press from the front. It pretty much nullifies Clarkson's game. It has to be one or the other. I'd have had Aouchiche alongside Shinnie, but Armstrong was good there and Shinnie did the required running. Clarkson to come off the bench when Cameron tires, if he doesn't leave by the end of the window.

I really like Polvara. Players that can give a solid 7/10 in four or five different positions are hard to come by, and by letting him go, we'll probably have to get two players in. His two footedness - proper two footedness, unlike thon Dorrington or Jensen lads - made him fairly invaluable. Guys like him allow you to keep your squad a bit leaner and makes it easier to give those that require game time a bit of game time.

Shite. Christ sake loon.

Aye, that was entertaining today. I don't know if we responded more impressively to going behind or to the referee being an absolute mess. Starting with the ref, that's the second time I've seen him, and both times he's been the worst ref I've seen in Scottish football. He shouldn't be there. Another product of VAR of course, with half the refs watching on a telly somewhere. Onto VAR, that offside call was a fucking disgrace. It wasn't the ref's call to go to the monitor, it's not even the guys in the video room, it's the fucking rules. If you can't draw lines, it's the onfield decision, that has to be written in. They just changed the decision from a factual one to a subjective call and then used an inappropriately positioned camera to decide on it. It completely goes against everything we've been told about it, it's a fucking disgrace. The arrogance of any cunt in a video room suggesting that they know better than an official who is in line is staggering. The whole reason we got VAR in the first place was because ignorant pundit fuckers questioned offside calls from a TV a mile away, and if VAR has taught us anything it's that there are exceedingly few incorrect offside calls that are more than marginal. Terrible decision, regardless of what they think the telly showed them. Anyway, we played some great stuff today. Frame, Keskinen, Shinnie, Nisbet (probably equal with Keskinen for motm) and Armstrong all very good. We defended very well in open play, but Jesus Christ we can't defend set pieces. I don't think it's necessarily about winning headers either, it's more fundamental than that. Our organisation, following the man etc is terrible. It needs a lot of work, I don't think a change of a defender will cut it. Our goals were fantastic, the crosses from Frame and Keskinen just class. Frame worked well with Topi and played well overall. Nisbet's link up play and movement was excellent. Bilalovic tried to take on his man regularly on the other wing too, and his determination for the goal was ace to see. Armstrong seemed to have chucked it at 1-2, for about ten minutes, but then he woke up and started putting in the passes he was doing at the start of the season. The one for Nisbet's nae goal was especially class. The subs from Leven were well timed and effective. Taking Devlin off on a booking the right call, Bilalovic was knackered too. Don't think we can be risking Frame and Lobban at the same time just yet, and Jensen was good when he came on. Clarkson steadied things nicely in midfield and Olusanya is indeed rapid (although he should have gone for it in the last seconds). Great fun.

Looking forward to the game, in perfect conditions. Got my best booing lungs ready for the Hun when he scores his first Dons goal.

Unfortunately he's not a winger though. But, aye, he's definitely a good signing on that front. Run in a straight line and harass defenders. A Sokler replacement if you like. Edit: a loan deal, for this type of player is completely acceptable. A potential super sub with a bit of experience. Probably not likely to be a long term solution but may allow us to test out new systems that would suit a player of his profile. Crucially, not a type of player that we already have.

So? Those failings are the same for any single manager given the keys to the building. Not bringing through youth, limiting your signings to the lower English leagues, pragmatic football, grinding out results, signing players who have had a couple of good games against you. These are all symptoms of a structure where the manager is unaccountable until they're sacked, at which point you realise that they're accountable for absolutely everything and you need to start again.

Yep, he was a scout for the Tims, he knows how the system works and any time you hear him speak, he's well versed. Robinson I'd be far less sure about. We had that under McInnes and a large number of fans weren't happy. We also largely failed with that model since the mid nineties through to the point the Hun went bust. It had a ceiling, and McInnes was it. Maybe that is our actual ceiling. I tend to agree that our budget will never be enough to buy success, or consistency, it doesn't buy enough additional players to cover injury even if all signings were perfect. However, I'm loathe to criticise Cormack for recognising that ceiling and trying to implement a strategy to break through it. That he seems incapable of implementing, or letting others implement, the strategy is the problem.