RicoS321

Yer 8 minutes late min.

I thought that was because he was mates with somebody that kent Vlad? I didn't realise he was an actual manager. Although, joining the arabs isn't necessarily confirmation of that.

Football isn't every sport though, and those one-offs don't happen every year anymore. Because money has been taken to such an extreme level that it is the only deciding factor in fitba - i.e. it's no longer a sport (or, at best, money is the sport). Leicester wasn't even the freak one-off that it's made out to be either, they still spent millions on their team, and there has to be a saturation point at which spending another multiple of shite-loads makes less and less difference (Scottish fitba is nowhere near that like). I believe that Leicester - to an extent - was an example of that saturation point rather than the miracle of sport that folks would have us believe (not that it wasn't an amazing achievement). Ranieri certainly wasn't the genius everyone thought at the time, basically just an Italian version of Deek who managed to keep a very good fit squad for an entire season. //that said, I agree with a lot of yer points on Deek, although he got a phenomenal goals and points return last season for which he has to take a lot of credit. The problem I think we'll have - as I mentioned previously - is that we may get the first team manager that can take us to the next level, but we'll lose the backroom competence that has been absolutely apparent under McInnes. It is this - in spite of his caution and poor(ish) transfer dealings - that we have consistently achieved high points totals in recent years. In the current market - because it is a market - we're going to struggle to get the all round manager that we require to win trophies and perform well in the league at the same time.

Fantastic poem. Wasn't aware of his blog/site, cheers.

Aye, that unprofessional cunt. Supposed BBC journalist, he's a fucking tabloid reporter at best. What was the reasoning behind Thursday? No reason I expect.

I blame whoever designed the bypass for making a cunt of it. If, and when, they make a cunt of it of course. It'll probably be fine.

It's getting bad when you have to reply to yer ain thread though.... I'll help ye out. The nonsense at Peterculter at the moment is a fucking disgrace. Waited 35 coming over the bridge to go from Blairs side through Peterculter to Westhill. Turning off to Westhill and there were cars queuing beyond that point heading into toon. All because they deemed that traffic lights were the best option for managing traffic over a roundabout. Which seems to be the thing nowadays, and I'm wondering when that change occurred? I certainly think lights can be good in certain situations, but not as the default for everything. What is worse is that they've said they'll get people to monitor the lights and change them to suit the flow of traffic. Fit the fuck? In 21st century, we need a human to go down and check traffic. There's no way of automatically detecting traffic congestion and adjusting the lights dynamically so that traffic flows at 22:00 aren't dictated to by those at 07:30 or 17:00 (i.e. yer nae sitting at a red light when no other cars are on the road), or those on the school holidays are dictated by nae school holidays? If we're going to insist on the "lights are always best approach", then surely to fuck we use the myriad of camera/sensor technologies available to us to make sure that the lights are the absolute best we can be. Anyway, it doesn't bode well for the latest addition to the bypass at the Charleston flyover, which is a set of lights (yet to be turned on as there's nae traffic on the bypass yet) that will inevitably send traffic queuing well back on to the A90. If we've fucked up traffic at Peterculter, fucked it up at Bucksburn and about to fuck it up at Altens, is there any point in a fucking bypass? I suppose it's something to put a stadium alongside...

Are they fuck.

Beat me to it. I assumed it was a joke.

My grunny was fae Durham. She's deid.

DM hasn't said anything because that's not the way he does his business. Just as he said nothing last time the hun were looking for a manager, and nothing when approached for the Sunderland job. I said at the time when folk were screaming "why's he nae said anything?" that it would be stupid for him to do so, and the same is true now. If he says "I'm not interested" each and every time a manager's job comes up, then what happens when it's the one he wants? Everyone will be screaming "well he denied the last one, why's he nae denying this one?". It's far better to say nothing as there will always be a next time if this isn't the one for him.

Okay.

Did he mention he was gay? That should distract you enough to ignore the fact he tried to biff a 14 year old lad. I'd say that act in itself puts him firmly in the nonce category. Probably doesn't mean he's done anything else, and the fact that he's released a statement probably suggests he's confident that is the case. A lot of probably like. I probably won't watch House of Cairds in protest. He played a paedo of the birds in American Beauty didn't he?

Yep, Ritchie is a surprise, and Morrison has never let Scotland down either. That said, I suspect it's more to save the English folk from travelling so far North on a week night.

I think your name is too long. It's uncomfortable on my screen. Apart fae that, I agree with your assessment. We scored a record number of goals last season, with a record points total and played some excellent stuff fairly regularly at home and away. I've not seen anything of Steve Clark to suggest he'd be a better manager. It'd certainly be a hell of a risk.

No Barry Bannan or Steven Fletcher? Disgusting....

You've ignored what I said. Breaking up play isn't about making challenges, it's about being in the correct position. Fletcher, Ferguson and Jack rarely make challenges because their positional play makes up for it - they don't have to lunge into tackles because a simple block will do. More often though, the pass doesn't come to the preferred player because Ferguson would have been there to cut out the pass, thus the attacker would have to turn and slow the play down through lack of options. Jack wasn't revered by McInnes because he was a tough tackling midfielder, he was conscientious and read the game well; his game just hasn't developed to the standard of Ferguson which it should have done given his abilities as a youngster. How many Scotland games have you attended with Fletcher or Ferguson playing? If the answer is close to zero, then it invalidates your view for that type of player. Ferguson/Fletcher was/are always the sideways passer to those watching on the telly, as they can't see the movement they make off the ball and their positional play as the TV cameras don't pick this up. It's impossible to appreciate that type of player without seeing them in the flesh on more than one occasion (Ferguson and Fletcher have had some poor games for Scotland undoubtedly, but they've had a lot of very good ones too). You don't see the passes an opposition player doesn't make on TV, which is a massive part of the holding midfielder's role. I've been to plenty of Scotland games where both were playing and it's easy to see what they brought to the game. Similarly I've watched many on TV where it looked like they were doing fuck all.

He wasn't there to do anything in an attacking sense, much as Jack wouldn't be and Scott Brown isn't. Breaking up play, slowing the game down when needed, and slowing the opposition down. His positioning was always excellent (Jack's biggest attribute) which meant that whoever was at full back went charging way out of position, he would simply move across and prevent the quick counter attack. Always being available for the ball from a defender or back from an attacker and being able to hold onto it for a long time too. Fletcher is another example of this, it's amazing to see how many opposition attacks break down simply because he stands in the right place and jockey's the correct player until support arrives. It doesn't suit the "get in tae him" mentality of certain parts of the support, but it's far better to have a player who reads the game well than someone who just tanks in to every challenge leaving huge gaps in behind (Flood is a good example of the latter). Brown is better than Fletcher at doing both, however he picks up far more bookings.

Ferguson had some very good games for Scotland. He was clearly a decent player. Anyone who attended Scotland games at the time could see it, those who watched on TV not so much. That's not a criticism of you, just that much of his work/movement was off camera. Jack is missing a huge part of Ferguson's game but should have aspired to play at the level and should have got to that level by applying himself. Jack's there as basic hun-appeasement. Every Scotland manager - as Strachan (Wallace) and Levein (Ian Black anyone?) did before him - has to do this because of the way the game is designed in our country. It's disgusting, but that's the way it is.

Sheerin is thick as shite, and I suspect Robson would be an absolute liability as manager. He'd be a good assistant/coach, but he doesn't have the brains to do the behind-the-scenes part that McInnes does so successfully. Succession planning isn't simply having one person ready to take over, it's ensuring that the club can run continuously with constant improvement regardless of the person in charge of the first team. We've shown over the years that we're nowhere near to having that in place as each time a manager comes in we rip up the foundations and start again. McInnes shipped out our entire youth team, overhauled our fitness and physio side of things, brought in some scouts and changed our data team. Every new manager we've had in since Aitken has "been surprised" by how unfit our players are and immediately brought in a new regime. These things should be set in stone, with managers simply providing additional benefits from their experience. We should have the analytics and data reporting in place that a new manager simply has to look at the data and interpret that to identify where he can make improvements and then deal with the tactical/strategic management of the first team. That is what constant improvement looks like. Our performance needs to be measurable in terms of more than results and it needs to be continuously set to the highest standard regardless of manager. Personally, I'd have a day to day club manager maintaining a lot of the stuff McInnes has set-up and ensuring the performance of the various areas is top notch, keeping them well away from first team management and accountable directly to the board. That way, we don't have a huge overhaul the next time a manager comes in, and we have the professionalism instilled at the club so that the next Calderwood or Brown can't come along and have us running on sand dunes or polishing boots.

Seconded for Blue Planet 2, was excellent. It'll be great for my daughter to look back on when she's older and see what a whale was. Been meaning to WWII in colour for a while now BB, heard it's a fantastic series. Shout out for Stranger Things 2 also, probably better than the first one. Keep missing Electric Dreams too. Pain in the ass.

Simon Fucking Church? Come on now. You added that in as a joke, didn't you? Anyway, I agree there is a huge chance that we'll take a step backward and the attribute you mention - ability to attract players - is clearly one of the biggest problems we'll face. The problem in my view is that we've given McInnes absolute control of the club. He has shaped everything, from youth fitba, to stats and game analysis, the physio team etc etc. He's done a fantastic job of turning those areas around and putting them on a modern footing. As with previous managers, it appears we have absolutely no succession planning. The comparative success of clubs such as St Johnstone, Hamilton, County etc over the years is because of the excellent behind the scenes setup and continuity in that regard. Managers to them are replaceable commodities. Every time we replace a manager, there's a giant overhaul. We don't need a giant overhaul, we just need a few tweaks in the right places to make us more competitive in certain areas of the park and slightly better tactically. Deek's off the park setup needs to be maintained and improved upon, which is something he would definitely do if still here. That's why I think the huns will benefit immensely from DM, and why I think he'll join them. They need a complete re-build and they'll let him do it, they'll give him the freedom (not necessarily the funds) to set these things up just as he has at Pittodrie, because they're in a fucking state off the park. He's good at it, and he appears to enjoy it too. It's a blank slate too, and I think that'll appeal, he'll be happy enough to leave Aberdeen to it with the new training facility and stadium (aka. the fantasy) and start again with the hun. Moreover, he's a hun and will be given time and trust to do what he needs to. Pedro was the perfect fall guy to have before you - like Smith knew Le Guen was - tempering the hun support just enough to allow talk of seasons' long re-building plans off and on the pitch. McInnes is an intelligent guy who will sell it to them well and they'll trust him. I don't think McInnes is an amazing manager, I think he has obvious tactical flaws, but him staying is the difference between us finishing second or not. The knock on effect of not finishing second is massive.

Classic.

Ach, it's a new (temporary) manager. There's nothing to gauge it against. And it's a friendly.

Decent win in the end. Although I think we are capable of much more. Players from both sides struggled with the wind at times. Much better shape and pressed the game quite well. McLean and Shinnie both very good. Stewart nae bad, and Maynard a'rite when he came on too. O'Connor isn't required in a game like that in midfield, would far rather see Tansey. The pish at the end, dicking about trying to time waste is beneath us, we're good enough to win those games by playing better than the opposition and attacking them. We attract uncertainty unnecessarily, although to be fair to McInnes he has a very good record at winning in this fashion.