Tuesday 26th November 2024 - kick-off 7.45pm
Scottish Premiership - Hibernian v Aberdeen
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Everything posted by RicoS321
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Hopefully the tribunal will agree a fee of £500K, and the Dons will insist it is paid up front. The Huns will be completely outraged, refer to him as their player, play him in a friendly where he picks up a serious injury. The SFA then refuses to register him as a player until the Huns pay up. They scrape together the money and pay us in early August. Spooked by them refusing to pay a seemingly trivial sum to Aberdeen, the crane company refuses to engage in any further work on their stand until funds are delivered. As creditors continue to call their bluff, the Huns are pulled towards administration. Work on the ground stops, and their fixtures are moved behind closed doors at Airdrie's ground (with murrayfield refusing to host them without up front payment). Over the remainder of the season, things go from bad to worse as they're forced to sell any remaining football assets at way below value in order to fund the shortfall from having no crowd revenue. Hun fans request refunds for their season tickets, refusing to help their club in its time of need, as always. Eventually, the plug is pulled and they head into administration again. With the cost to complete Ibrox deemed too expensive, they are forced to sell it to Aldi, with a view to turning it into an LGBTQ+ sanctuary, refugee outreach centre and petrol station. Several thousand Huns spontaneously combust upon announcement.
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It's more akin to the Wright transfer than the Ferguson one in terms of games played and time spent at the club. Sure that was in the region of £400K, with McRorie the payment.
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Football saturation is starting to get the better of me, after a long Dons' season. I have managed to watch quite a few, but interest is waning. What I have noticed though, is the number of teams with several players that look absolutely knackered (Scotland very much included). Other than Spain, who pass their opponents to death, and can change their entire team at the drop of a hat, the rest all look like they've had a hard season. Is there too much football these days, given a large proportion of these guys will be playing European groups too? Obviously, we can talk about guys in the sixties playing 463 games without a day off their work, but I'm talking about the modern game, where uber-fitness is the defining feature.
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We were always going through with four points. Slovenia have already qualified on three, having a better goal difference than Albania and with Croatia on two points. Last night's results means Croatia are out, and they finished on two points with a better goal difference than us, so that will be used to suggest that Clarke's Calderwoodesque finish to the match was justified, ignoring the previous thirty minutes where he refused to make a sub to attempt to win the game.
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Cash up front or do one.
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That started off sounding like morning after stuff, but quickly descended into "not yet over it" territory! I think there were two forms of loyalty on show. One in the picking of the squad, and the second once they got there. We peaked a year too early, in qualifying, and Clarke just continued to play the same team. He has to start viewing the national team as a continual project in constant transition. Every few games, we need to be bringing in a few new faces, and always be on the look out for options in every position. Despite the goals in Oslo, it was clear that McLean and Armstrong (among others) were past their best before date, and needed to be transitioned out, but that never happened. Morgan could have been in several squads before now, for example, and I'm sure there are others of around that age. It seemed to be that because our first eleven were doing well - and I have no doubt that we'd have qualifyed with Dykes, Hickey and Ferguson - he let the wider squad ability slip. He'll now have to ditch them all at once for the next campaign. It's not great management, but again, it's not just a one man show. There have to be people in and around playing devil's advocate, asking him the difficult questions and helping him to question himself and justify his decisions. A bit like McInnes with us, it seems that we've just handed him the keys and fucked off. It's not a healthy situation, and will almost always lead to the eventual sacking.
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One of the things I like (and still like) about Clarke, is that he has a lot of respect for, and understanding of, our league. I don't think Moyes has that at all. The reason he was doing punditry on our games is because he's a recognisable face for the English audience (see Souness, also). For all intents and purposes, he is a foreign manager, albeit one with a Scottish surface. I have no issues with us employing a foreign manager, so I'd slot Moyes into that category, but I think we could maybe do better if we're opening up the process to foreign managers. For me, someone like McInnes would be a much better choice (although perhaps a bit early in his career for him, personally?). That said, Clarke has earned the right to give qualifying for the next tournament a go, and if he really believes he can re-generate the squad and get us to the World Cup, then let him try it. I think he's shown a stubbornness that will affect his decision making in most regards so far, whilst paradoxically, over time, learning from mistakes on the park. I hope he considers his future without recourse to his stubbornness, and with a view to recognising the mistakes he has made over the last year.
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That was the worst Scotland performance I've seen in over a week. Absolutely honking. We were always on a hiding to nothing with that depth of squad, and no plan beyond the basic first eleven. Adams hasn't been the answer for some time, and should have been off just after halftime. Armstrong should have been at home watching on the telly, so as not to tempt Clarke to play him. Like half the squad, it's maybe time for Clarke to move on. He's done well for Scotland and if he resigns now, it's better than him being fired halfway through the next qualifying.
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I wouldn't mind a four, but I don't think Clarke will want to fuck about too much, especially after a half decent performance the other night. I'm not convinced that McRorie is better at right back than right wing back either, but I think your suggested team would be better than including likes of Hendry for the sake of it, he's been average at best. Forrest I remain to be convinced by, but we have other options in Armstrong and Morgan that might be worth a try.
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He wouldn't have started. He'd have come on for McGregor probably. Clarke likes to play him deep.
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Fuck him. Hope he doesn't get injured, but simply sits on their bench before spending two years in their reserves and then joining Killie a broken player. Or he breaks his legs in a training ground accident.
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Yep, I agree.
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Yep, I actually assumed that Christie would be playing alongside McGregor against Germany when I saw the teams, but Clarke had other ideas. For me, Christie doesn't have the discipline of McGregor yet, but beyond this tournament I can see McGregor retiring and Christie taking on that role. I'd be a bit concerned that he'd be too similar to Gilmour, but it'd be worth trying out. I think Clarke will see Ferguson and Gilmour as the pairing though and Christie will continue to play in a role that he's no longer playing in for his club!
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I'd say that was fairly obvious to everyone before the Germany game, but for some reason Clarke thought McTominay was a holding midfielder.
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Decent, if not spectacular, performance tonight. We can play much better. Stand outs were McTominay, Hanley, Robertson and Gilmour (McGregor decent too in spells). As @OrlandoDon mentioned, we looked terrified at times, but that's understandable given Friday's result. Whilst neither team played for the draw, it was clear that both teams were frightened of the loss, with neither willing to just go for it. Our meaningless injury time subs were a good illustration of that, it was disappointing not to see Shankland and Christie on earlier and McGinn off (seems like we're attempting to play him into form/fitness). Calculated caution from Clarke I guess, and stands a decent chance of paying off. I'm guessing that Ralston started tonight due to a combination of factors. One is that Clarke is a defiant character and won't want to be seen to responding to outside pressure (which is why I think Ralston will start on Sunday), the second is that he is a better crosser of the ball than McRorie. It turned out to be a poor decision, as Ralston was terrible. He'd already looked shakey in possession before their goal, it was hot tattie territory. I wouldn't have minded if he'd tried to pick a pass and miscued, but he didn't even look, just panicked and kicked it away. He's a victim (appropriate) of the injuries in the squad, and I don't necessarily think that McRorie has earned a chance, but he should be dropped. We need to win the game, so it wouldn't surprise me to see Forrest or someone play an attacking wing back role. Hopefully Ralston will be dropped before the final.
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He seems like an intelligent guy, I suspect that if he didn't have a keeper in mind, he'll have taken the known quantity in the existing league. It's a big one to get off the list, and he can focus his energies elsewhere. Mitov is probably as safe a bet as you could get. I think he'll do well.
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Excellent. Now send him out to Keith to get some proper mannies kicking shite oot o' him.
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England v England. Home of football. 1966.
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Agree regarding Devlin. He's solid enough, and not a priority. Once we sort the other positions and move out some of the dross, then we can review him, likely in January. I'd bin besuijen too, and send Bavidge to the championship for a further loan if possible.
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I'll just use this thread, save starting a new one, the title was too narrow in focus anyway. The BBC opens its coverage with England and more England. Everything through the lens of England and English football as always in both channels, with thon tedious prick Souness served up as our Scottish fitba expert. That weird bird doing the VAR specialist chat sounds like she might be an AI bot. Games have been decent so far, excluding that opening ceremony friendly. VAR being just as slow and boring in the big tournaments is good to see. Ramadani featuring tonight the obvious tournament highlight so far.
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Possibly too early to predict, but I think we've got a good chance of winning the league next season.
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Are you sure? Not seen any mention of that anywhere. He'd be thirteen years younger than him, not that it's impossible. You'd have thought the BBC or someone else would have mentioned it.
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Aye, a weird setup tonight. Unlike Clarke to massively overthink it and fuck it up quite so badly. I don't know what he was thinking playing that flat four in midfield, it was ridiculously simple to play through. McGregor and Gilmour sitting, McGinn, McTominay or Christie ahead. It's fairly simple. I don't think McTominay was bad tonight, but his best games have been further forward and leaving others to do the concentration and workrate. He seems to unsettle the others when he plays there. McGinn looked fucked, just like he has in the friendlies. Adams poor. Ralston more out of his depth than O'Donnell ever was. Porteous was probably unfortunate to be missing the rest of the tournament, I just think he threw himself in to prevent the certain goal and didn't sort his feet out. Obviously, a red, just don't think it was malicious - a culmination of multiple errors on the way, leaving him to put in the last ditch. At least we know what the Germans are all about when we face them in the final.
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Good to get through that final friendly with no injuries.
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Think we'll live to regret letting Stewart go.