RicoS321

No, my point was that Milne should have been playing, I probably didn't write that properly.

Just back. A fairly dogshit performance, but a good result. Not many stand out performers today, with the back two just a total bombscare. Jensen nowhere near good enough for this level, and Gartenmann looks good when things are going well and honking when not. Devlin much improved when he removed the stupid mask. There are very few positions where you don't require a peripheral vision, fullback certainly isn't one of them, and we shouldn't be starting players with masks on unless absolutely forced, or the player is miles better than the replacement (Milne). McGrath was also terrible today, up until scoring, and Clarkson missed every pass, with Hoilett pish too. We were just extremely nervous, and we got lucky that County decided not to bother continuing their domination from the first half. Then Duk came on and gave one of his enigmatic performances. A wonderful turn and cut back for the second goal, the first touch was just class under pressure. We'd be sorted if he was in any way reliable.

In fairness, Cormack has asked the press to sound them out as he's too embarrassed to ask himself.

Wow, we were quite the team in 1935. What was it like watching those guys play @BigAl?

So not Michael O'Neill then. Never mind. He'll still be a hero as a former player..... He's probably done well enough out of the whole situation, using Aberdeen to let everyone know he'd be willing to return to club management, teeing himself up for his next championship job. We're left with Alex Neil who, strangely, won't answer his phone, and John Hughes, who won't stop phoning.

I actually like Leven. I'd be happy for him to see out the season until we get a technical director in place. He seems like quite a calm head, and a nice chap.

We're in the final stages of the final stages of maybe signing Leven until the end of the season.

I could have won five league titles with the Tims during that period. I wouldn't read anything into that achievement of Lennon's at all, I'd say that it's indicative of very little. Lennon's career should probably only be guaged by his success elsewhere, and especially when it comes to potentially managing Aberdeen. Edit: to add, that's not criticism of Lennon, he did the job asked of him. What I would say is that it's clear that he's not a better manager in Scottish football terms than Derek McInnes, and that should probably be our benchmark. We need to be looking at guys who might already be better than McInnes was, which O'Neill might be (I'm assuming skeptical as you), or guys who have the potential to be in the right circumstances and we get them at the right time, before anyone else does. Lennon is just a known quantity, as the others you mention are, O'Neill not so much. If the figures quoted for getting him in are true then I wouldn't touch him with a barge pole.

Yep, reasonable switches. Although resting McTominay or McGinn and giving Ferguson a shot might have been useful. I find the friendlies aren't doing the fringe players much good. Clarke tends to start with his strongest available team and then subs half of them off and things get messy. It then becomes difficult to see if those fringe players would compliment the starting eleven and perhaps change games for us. Ferguson, specifically, doesn't really seem to fit into our system unless in place of one of the above. He's wasted further back.

Did they? I thought it was just the P&J that ran with the "done by the weekend" line? Were there quotes, or named sources?

I am too, but I'm not going. Only the second time I've missed Hampden this century, the other was Morton in protest at the shite kick off time. VAR, ridiculous pricing, just make it not worth the hassle. I actually have a strong feeling we'll win this one, which I've not felt against the Tim in a long time, but I'm just getting a bit tired of it all. To be honest, the extra fixtures for Europe really killed things for me this year. Football saturation. It wasn't that enjoyable.

Cormack himself is known to be a serial leaker. I'm going to give him credit and say that he is using the media to guage fan's response to things. There's a strong chance that things that you read in certain newspapers are from the man himself. I guess that the media are a tool to be used, as they're likely to print whatever they like anyway. Remember the way that the Huns used the BBC to try and get McInnes? It didn't work in the end, but it unsettled the club and the manager nevertheless. Most things that leak to the press are of zero consequence anyway, and it pays to have a little gossip firing around about the club, keeping them relevant. Things like timings are the tricky one, as that unsettles and annoys people, as we're largely quite irrational. Saying that you expect business to be conplete by the weekend, for example, is just asking for trouble. I have no doubt that a lot of these types of discussion are casual and throw away remarks not to be taken as hard deadlines, but a little bit of savvy in-house would know that just compounds impatience. Saying "could be the weekend", or "a week or so" will become "Aberdeen expects... by the weekend/within a week". It's okay to say that we're far down the line but don't want to put a timescale on it incase of unforeseen circumstances. Although we should be pretty fucking good at hiring managers these days.

I'm not sure how it compares to other leagues in this regard (probably similar), but the club is mainly unattractive for reasons outwith our control. There is such a low chance of success up here because of the absolute domination of two teams. The cups are largely a lottery, as has been shown this century (our only win coming through the luck of the draw, for the most part). I doubt that there are many people looking at Naismith at hearts just now, for example, despite a good season (and he's only in that role because the other options were pish). There's also a weird myth that up and coming young foreign managers will come to Scotland in order to get seen down South, as if there are clubs bigger than us who are somehow unaware of the locations from which we fish for managers in the 21st century. As a stepping stone, we're not really an attractive option, as if you're good enough for Aberdeen already, then the English championship clubs that you will attract if you do well will already know about you. It took McInnes a good few years of sustained success to be offered a job, with even clubs like West brom going through about 80 managers without testing their club legend. Alex Neil was the last manager I can think of that actually stepped up from a club lower than the Dons to one higher (Tam Courts went to Honved, but probably not a step up from us). Most managers come here, do badly or do well, then get sacked or move sideways. Taking Aberdeen back to third place would barely raise an eyebrow. Consistently doing it for three years might get Sunderland to take a punt on you. If you're coming to Scotland, then you're far better off going to a smaller club, where the ceiling is a bit higher and there's a good chance to outperform your budget by several league places (like Martindale). Even then, yer Martindale's and Robinson's don't seem to get much traction. I've said it many times before, we should approach our managerial appointments in the same way we do players. Get the backroom in place, with heaps of support, and promote within - preferably - or get young managers from in Scotland or elsewhere. Make it very clear that this is our approach so that fans are less quick to scream at them (although it's not unusual to hear people screaming at our young players!). I just don't believe that we're an attractive club to any manager that is at a club close to us in size, and in order to get someone we'd end up paying a ridiculous amount. Even after that point, we'd still have the lottery of the transfer window, which has an outsized effect on our season (more so than manager in my opinion). I believe that all three of our managers would have greatly benefited from an experienced technical guy above them, who'd have steered them away from the repeated mistakes they all kept making (Glass playing out from the back, Goodwin playing Ramadani in the hole, Robson playing Clarkson similarly (but for different reasons). Obviously, the difficulty would then be in getting the technical guy right and retaining him, but I'm guessing that there are many out there who can combine the psychology and football knowledge without wanting the upheaval that comes with management.

Souttar was honking when he came on. Was McKenna injured, before they took on a right footer to play on the left?

Hearts have picked up Penrice and Spittal for next season. Not convinced Spittal is good enough, but Penrice is decent. That's one of the biggest issues with being manager less - we're not picking up these pragmatic squad signings from within the SPFL. Not necessarily these two, of course, but the handful of guys like them out there that are as close to reliable as you can get when you're doing the inevitable ten signings.

Arse fisher mair like.

Aberdeen are set to announce the appointment of up and coming young manager, Peter Leven, with a contract until May 2024.

Agreed. Although I wouldn't even say it's subtle, it's obviously not the same thing.

Doing it properly would involve employing the technical director before the new manager. For me, unless there's an outstanding candidate for manager that waiting a month to employ would cause is to miss out on him, we get that position filled in the international break and allow them to get the lay of the land before getting a manager that suits their vision.

Division between the supporters and team perhaps? Creating unrealistic expectations, that sort of thing. It's not a big deal of course, but the whole point in a public broadcaster is that it should be able to set an example and not have to resort to clickbait. Generally, the Scottish football page isn't that bad for headlines, comparatively speaking.

Aye, I'd like to think Shinnie apologised after. He seemed to be suggesting MacKenzie should have stayed wide, perhaps to waste time, but it was still a shite pass from Shinnie.

Wouldn't know, given that the impartial BBC chose not to cover it. How on earth was that not on the radio? Fucking ridiculous, they don't even pretend. I thought we were going for Doc now?

Good victory. Probably our strongest lineup at the moment. Nothing special, but just played like a team, and worked hard all over. Should be a good confidence booster I'm time for the international break and the new manager coming in (not convinced it'll happen that quickly). Thought McKenzie had another good game, Hoilett very much brings the best out of him.

Turned on in 27 minutes, perfectly timed for missing the first goal. Thought we looked decent on the ball at times, with Miovski looking sharp. That bicycle kick was some hit. Clarkson also looking up for it. We look frail, as always, at the back. Didn't see what happened to Devlin, but Milne doing okay (although another fullback who can't take a throw-in). Just like midweek, another absolutely nonsense VAR decision. A minor nudge and a brush on the arm. You can't help but think that they have given the foul in the full knowledge of what happened the other night and didn't think they could ignore it. Edit: Hoilett seemed to let the game go by him in the last fifteen. Not sure how he started, but hopefully he'll get involved.

Aye, I'd probably stick with the same lineup and hope that Barron of the Killie game turns up. It's essential that the triangle of three in that midfield perform together. The biggest problem we've got, which isn't unusual when in a rut and late in the season, is that we've got absolutely nothing on the bench to change it up when we're struggling. Duk is a lost cause until summer anyway, and Sokler hasn't really shown anything beyond one good game against the Hun. We've got no exciting young winger, or a big lad to change tactics.