RicoS321

Stop it, that's not funny. He's not been terrible tonight in fairness, and if he was less of a fanny - which he might be with more starts - he'd be decent. I think he'll do alright next season on loan at someone, but it's not our job to get an unproven Tim up to speed. We've shifted the ball about nicely at times tonight. Ruth been pish since we said he was good! Barron an inch away from making things happen. Anyway, settle down to watch the big game at half time.

It was typical of their performances all season. This is not a working pairing. We were looking pretty bright too, Ruth looking good. Might get himself a club.

Fuck sake, we really needed him to be punching one in again tonight.

Please make it another year without a Scottish club winning another European trophy. You can even take back the super cup.

All to play for after tonight's result. If you told me at the start of the season that with two games to go 8th place would be within our own hands, I'd have bitten your hand off.

It's already decreed on the other thread, he's now a right back. Unfortunately he's out because of the concussion in the previous game (which he didn't agree with). Ojo to come in and score a hat trick from the fullback position.

Well there's no Christian Ramirez thread on here, so it's probably not worth starting one. He's gone home to the US to "recharge his batteries" apparently. Who the fuck does that with 6 days left of the season? I'm guessing he won't be back. A shame in many ways, but we can't afford him for another season if he can't be relied upon when things aren't going well. So close to being ace.

Scott McKenna? Surely a loan spell at a lower Scottish division is on a par with cliftonville? I just assumed that there were other issues at play, like not liking the club or city or whatever. Or maybe an Ethan Ross type situation (who I'd have kept for another year or two as I thought he'd be better than McLennan etc) where the agent has been working behind the scenes. Either way, it suggests that Goodwin either has a good left sided centre back already agreed to sign, or that he genuinely thinks it's possible to turn Bates into a competent left sided player after a year of it not being the case. I'm hoping the former.

No chance. He's not nearly good enough on the ball. I mean, he can play in midfield, and he's not terrible there, but we should be aiming for a lot better in there. Ferguson needs a signed replacement. McRorie as backup if we make a cunt of it.

I mean, we're better than forest, aren't we?

That's it settled then, right back it is. I'll get on to Goodwin.

I've no idea to be honest, but I can definitely compare them! Comparing isn't the same as conflating (something politicians and journalists struggle to get their heads round). There are very few millionaires who got there without being willing to do shite that others would be unwilling to, Cormack could be one of them (I'm guessing that his line of work would allow for that, although it can be fairly sleazy). The point though, was that it doesn't really matter in the end, because if you're advocating anyone buys otherwise unaffordable success via a rich benefactor then there's yer sporting integrity up in smoke right there. The murderous dictator aspect is just an addition to that, that sort of detracts from the real issue.

Sheep shaggers is probably acceptable still, given that we're not actually all sheep shaggers (I'm speaking for you guys, I'm currently eyeing a couple out of my window as we speak). There is a crassness, as Slim suggests about singing about Dundee and Glasgow in terms of their relative poverty. I think it's fine to continue as is though, I doubt anyone actually gives a fuck. In a world where everything is filtered through the lens of social media, we have to be careful not to confuse some cunt virtue signalling on Twitter and actual loss of free speech. Nobody is stopping anyone else singing or doing anything, it's just simply a tweet that the BBC has afforded news coverage too. This person is opening a debate on the subject, and that's probably a good thing as long as it stays that way. The difficulty comes when there is a video circulated of someone singing "sign on", it goes viral and they end up losing their job in the ultimate irony. The lines are being blurred daily, and it won't be long before social media controls all boundaries of human interaction. It's a horrible thing we've created.

The problem with that question is that it suggests there is a moral high ground when injecting large sums of cash from any source into a club to gain financial advantage. If Cormack and friends chucked in £20M of cash to AFC to buy 13 new players and increase the staff budget greatly beyond our turnover, would that be okay because the money was "clean"? The overwhelming majority of rich people got there through unscrupulous behaviour, leveraging power, and always at the expense of others, there are just varying degrees of what you deem to be acceptable. For example, if Stewart Milne used his power and influence to lobby the government to relax energy efficiency standards on housing, locking in years of waste (to the detriment and expense of the homeowner) into every single new build solely to benefit the bottom line of his business, then that would add up to a fairly significant unethical practice (I'm not saying he did, for the record, I have no idea - just a hypothetical). The point is that by supporting Scottish fitba (and fitba generally) in its current form, we already support the idea that sport is actually just a function of money, so wouldn't we be (aren't we) being a little hypocritical by putting arbitrary barriers on the type of individual supplying that money? British born billionaires for British people I say. Bloody foreigners.

I think that's what Goodwin will do too. I'm just not totally sure if we need a dedicated player in there for that role against most teams. He's a bit willow flood in that regard, without the positional awareness to not be a hindrance to others. Not sure we'll see him there for the whole season. I actually think Bates would make a very good defensive midfielder in a 4-1-4-1 type format, but I don't think we'll see that either.

Agree with this, apart from perhaps the polvara bit. If we're not playing a back three, I don't see McRorie playing at the back, and I don't think he's good enough on the ball to play midfield. I'd have his energy and athleticism at right back no problem though. Just leaves us with a Ferguson replacement, bit I'm guessing Goodwin already has someone in mind.

Liverpool for £4M according to the record. Not surprising, I'm guessing there will be a lot of add-ons and sell-ons in there too. Hope he makes it, fantastic talent.

Considine motm

Aye, makes sense. I turned on at half time, so didn't see much of him. I have a feeling he might be away back home before long. Fuck. Good cross.

He looked like a nothing player in the minutes he's had so far, very little about him. That was based on about 20 minutes of course, so just a first impression. Has he been any good today? Goal!!!!

Michael Ruth, Tyler mykyta and the world beating left sided centre half that you promised me was ace. No

I disagree. I've not seen a player come through at pittodrie with as much potential (in the last thirty years anyway). He's better than Fraser, Jack and in a different league to McKenna. I'd say Tierney at the Tims was probably a good comparison. There is a huge void between potential and player of course, and a high percentage chance he won't make it. I can see what scouts at Liverpool would be seeing though, and it's not based on data (other than assists earlier in the season, I'm not sure his stats would be that good), it's the way he plays the game. There was a cross he put in at the weekend into a fantastic area that the striker nearly got on the end of. He put the ball in with pace, but he did it mid stride with barely any back lift at all and his head still up, the technique was just brilliant. He's just got class, very gifted indeed. I'm actually surprised more fans aren't raving about him. As you say, their existing fullback isn't someone that is going to be shifted easily, so it remains to be seen how Liverpool could convert potential into player without playing them. Also, skills and talent don't make a player on their own of course. Some of the most graceful skills I've seen in the last while at pittodrie came from Jet, who shows exactly how talent can be wasted (although he was missing some fundamental attributes to make it at the top too).

So no good young left sided centre back returning to the squad. That would have been ideal. A lot of pressure on getting that position right now too.

I'm guessing this will be on TV in the States, courtesy of both our clubs' US owners, billed as the massive lower 6 silver place showdown. Which it is. Huge game. If there's a bigger game in world fitba that day, I'd be very surprised.