RicoS321

Me neither. But is there any manager that the dons could dream of getting that would? Bearing in mind that rant came after winning the Cup Winners' Cup (and was followed by an apology the next day), Ferguson did have a bit of prior goodwill before that incident. I don't want some nut job coming in and slating the team off the bat, so you're looking at a manager that has already won several competitions with the dons before they can really do that and, of course, McInnes doesn't come into that category. In terms of West Brom or whatever, I don't see what your point is? McInnes has never stated his desire to join another club and has always talked of his enjoyment working for the dons, I'd say he's been very professional in that regard. His first few years with the dons were his most successful, and our most successful since the early nineties, so the evidence doesn't really back up the point that having one eye on another job affected him. In fact, turning down another job had significantly greater impact (with the fans). I just can't see a situation where a manager would expect to take their eye off the ball at one club, expecting to get a job at a wealthier one, they just wouldn't get the job. Given the level that the dons are at, could you imagine the dross you'd get if you were signing a manager who didn't aim to step up beyond that? As long as they keep that desire to themselves, I don't see it as an issue. In fact, I'm struggling to see what the actual issue is. McInnes being not good enough isn't likely related to his desire to work elsewhere, it's more likely that a desire to remain would see him go stale and run out of ideas.

Jesus

Cormack needs to put the pressure on, let him know what is acceptable and what isn't and start giving him support by identifying exactly the strategy and goals so that McInnes can't claim to be hard done by. There should be no surprise for McInnes if he does get fired. I very much disliked Calderwood as a manager and was pleased when the club decided to let him go. But the fact he was so surprised by it shows how out of touch with the manager the chairman was. If Cormack can lay out exactly what he expects of McInnes then failure to meet those expectations should see him punted. It's not McInnes' fault he has had zero accountability and free reign to date and it would be exceptionally unfair to punt him in the early part of this season (before January). It's a new Chairman with new expectations (hopefully). McInnes proved in 16/17 that he has the ability to put an excellent team on the park (74 goals, 76 points, +39GD is phenomenal), he needs start taking the risks and making the decisions to get back near to that level again. After he lost a few players from that side, he hid behind grinding points out, now is the time for him to face up to the difficult choices on the pitch. Get playing again or leave. I think he has the ability, I just think years of not being challenged has left him complacent. With no games in front of a crowd until January, I'd give him every opportunity until then.

Aye. Step by step it's called. Interesting like. A good holiday read, if yer heading to Spain or inverurie or wherever folk ging these days.

His book is quite good too. Quite a likeable guy, who on first listen I thought I was going to hate, because of some deep seated prejudice of mine, probably.

Agree with Elgin and yersel like. I've said for ages that McInnes seems to have zero accountability, through no fault of his own. He has completely transformed the club in the way you would expect of a football director, that allows for no real succession planning. Whilst the strategy produced by the club was a little light on detail, it did suggest that McInnes would be required to deliver rather than be left to it like under Milne. I think a set of goals around youth integration and entertainment would go a long way toward improving the team if he was to accept the challenge. He needs to be challenged, that's the issue. The team from a few seasons back banged in seven goals in more than one spfl game and several four goals, a five and a six from memory. They were the best I've seen since Willie Miller's first season. That's the freedom we need to be seeing regularly.

We produced Jack as a full back, Robertson has had a reasonable career too, Harvie looks half decent. Considine filled our left back spot for a decade. Virtanen supposed to be good but seems to be a midfielder now. Low was a hard working midfielder, Cammy Smith etc. The problem is that we're better than we used to be. Where we seem to fall down under McInnes is the squad numbers. We shouldn't expect our young players to play every week, but we don't really need to be bringing on Wilson, McGeouch, Ball, hedges etc. The ratio seems to be wrong. Campbell and the like should be first reserve.

Well, aye, but they're nae all good enough though. If McKenna gets a hard time as a still developing young player, and Cosgrove, do you think a team of home-grown young players would be afforded time when we're sitting near the bottom of the table? Our best youngsters come in the shape of Wright, Ross, McLennan, Anderson, Campbell and so on. I think Campbell will make it out of those, maybe Ross too. The rest probably won't be good enough and no amount of forcing will make them so. There is a happy medium in there somewhere of course, and I think McInnes has the balance wrong, but our youths are never going to be good enough to make up the majority of our first team. Worryingly, the signings of McGeouch and Hernandez suggest that even Cormack isn't going to force the issue. Virtanen and Campbell should have been the focus for those two positions.

I believe McInnes has earned the chance to have a season or so of mediocrity, but I even I think that's a generous summation. The squad is decent, but hugely overloaded in midfield, which results in constant chopping and changing and shoehorning to keep players happy. McGeouch was a signing completely lacking in imagination for example. It's a congested squad, at best, and one without a settled and obvious starting eleven. I'm prepared to accept that we were miles off the pace yesterday (Ojo by far the worst offender). Our first game back in difficult circumstances, I'm not going to read a lot into it. A really shite fixture for the opener too. If Cormack is really as ruthless as you suggest then that can only be a good thing. McInnes is perfectly capable of putting a good team on the park, but he's so concerned about losing that it's stifling at times. A bit of pressure on him will hopefully see some risk taking and attacking. He'd build a lot of goodwill simply by allowing us to play a bit when we're ahead against teams we expect to beat, it should be an easy win for him. For example, I imagine Edmondson will start against st Johnstone. If we go a goal up, then bring Anderson on alongside him to try and finish it rather than congest the midfield and manage it out. McInnes' game management has been very successful in terms of points gained, but there's no real evidence to suggest that further attacking would gain less points, whilst being more enjoyable. In fact, the season we got our record points and goals is evidence that we can win big. It's annoying, McInnes can do better. He shouldn't need to be in this situation. He's bringing it on himself.

So they cheated to stay up, and still stay up? A bit fucked up.

Nae idea what to expect today like. Hate having this as the opener, with no prior look at how we might set up. I think we might see a very flat back four today: ---------------------------lewis------------------------- Hoban------taylor------mckenna-----consi --------------------------ojo----------------------------- Mcginn-----ferguson----hayes---kennedy ------------------------anderson---------------------- A 4-1-4-1 with Hayes and Kennedy interchangeable, getting up in support of Anderson. Looks horrendous like, but exactly the type of thing I'd expect. I've left Hernandez out, as everything I've seen so far suggests he's nae very good. Although not much to go on from pre-season, the screamer far Hibs shows Hernandez playing primary school fitba in the lead up, headering back into his own box under no pressure. We simply can't afford pish like that against the Huns. His debut showed a player that didn't know how to play right back at all, I think Hoban might be seen as the safer option. Hopefully I'm wrong. 2-0 the dons, Hernandez double

Gogic is an absolute hoofer. A slow one at that. He's like Anthony O'Connor. Agree about McGeouch though, I think he was a poor signing. Although he did have an excellent game in our last one v Hibs. Ojo came onto a game after January too and Ferguson improved also. Bryson to outshine them all (by not getting injured more than 6 times).

I don't think you need a 4-4-2 to get someone up there close to him, like McGinn or Kennedy, but with the workrate to track back and niggle when Jack drops deep. I'm unsure about Anderson to be honest, I can't quite figure him out. I don't think he's got the pace to really make it, but then neither did Rooney. His finish against Livingston was really, really good; his use of his body to get in front of the player, his touches and then his finish top class. Every other time I've seen him, generally speaking, he's not cut it. I think he'll need 4-5 games to prove himself, and we gave pap like James fucking Wilson (and many others) that time so why not Anderson? He's a fucking dandy too, and hates the hun, so that alone means he deserves his chance. Do we need a target man? I'm not convinced. Main was a fucking atrocious target man as he had zero game intelligence, his runs were awful, he played on his heels and his touch was brutal. And even he managed to turn out a couple of good performances.

Yep, it is. Unless you get a side-letter of course. I mean, do folk just ignore reality? How the fuck can Cormack pay for an employee in another business? Saying that, Fletcher isn't outwith the realms of possibility. His agent was touting him toward the Tims last week though, so I very much doubt it. I think it stems from a rumour on some of the other forums from a "I know someone on the board" type about an international striker joining. I'd like to see Anderson against the Hun and for the next few games. Give him a chance to sink or swim.

Kept missing it when it was on normal telly, so just started it last night. That's what the BBC is capable of. They just need to cut out the other 99% and they'd be onto a winner.

Can we nae get that French team to take him still? Throw in Curtis Main if it helps.

It's a ridiculous statement for a referee to be making. More ridiculous that it's seen as perfectly normal and acceptable.

If we sign Hoban before the weekend, there's a good chance that taking the knee would end his season

Etc 67 - Rico

I may have made it up

Fuck him. Hun.

I think they're unfit for purpose, but I don't think they were wrong on this one. I'd agree, that the decision was made too early - before they had any idea what was happening - but I think they got the right decision. I don't think the Scottish Government would have given much leeway on starting next week, especially given the few airse ups on testing so far, which has been fine for the handful of friendlies. I did read your previous responses, but I don't think you addressed the contract situation. England can just afford it, so they're not really an example we can go by. Hamilton and Killie have had to let players go in the double figures. There's no way they could have finished the season with the same squad from March so either way you look at it the final positions would have been contrived/unfair. Basing it on actual games that had happened seemed fairer than playing the remaining games with teams weakened or completely changed.

Harvie is a strange one. In a period where we struggled for fullbacks, I thought he looked promising-ish. Certainly worth a run. Didn't think Ross had it unfortunately, despite that awesome free kick.

You can only really compare with England, as they are the only country with a pandemic timeline similar to ours but with the Scottish government putting a much later start date of 1st August compared to England (I doubt our clubs would have been suitably prepared any earlier, and I don't think the SG would have responded well/favourably to pressure). I'm not sure how finishing the season would have worked, what would your suggestion be? The two - almost insurmountable - issues for me would have been player contracts and the new season. In order to complete the season, beginning August 1st, we'd be looking at end of September for a finish. That would have meant a 3-4 month contract extension for all SPFL players. This would be non-mandatory - for obvious reasons - with good players possibly leaving if other offers had arisen. Obviously, new signings would also not be allowed to play (otherwise Hearts just buy themselves a new team to avoid relegation). With a short break between seasons (two weeks, let's say), you'd be looking at mid-October for the new season to start, with either a reduced number of games or a move to a summer calendar. Both options would have a significant impact on season ticket sales as it's unlikely that fans would pay as much for a reduced season (even though that's effectively what we're getting in terms of viewed games), and they would likely have waited to purchase their new tickets until closer to the start of that new season presenting a serious cashflow issue for many clubs (again, you can't compare England, Germany etc). I'd be interested to hear your resolutions to the above, as I can't think of a nice way to get round them. I also wouldn't class the solution as mismanagement, either, they've come to an answer and dealt with 90% of the issues. Perhaps not the way you would like, but a reasonably acceptable outcome given the situation. I'd characterise it more like Sturgeon/SNP's failure to prevent care home deaths rather than Johnson's complete ineptitude.

Fuck me, was that Hernandez that headered it back into the box from the right back position? That's primary school fitba.