RicoS321

I'm not even sure the agent has done much wrong looking at the evidence presented by the club. The leak is such a minor part of the incident, and I'm not convinced that the agent will be acting without instruction from Considine in terms of the negotiation. Considine is an intelligent guy, I'm guessing if an agent was acting without his best intentions he'd have sorted it.

I think a lot of it is Goodwin, who's still young (well, younger than me) in both age and management years. I can imagine it's exactly what he's thinking. The "thrown under the bus" comment is absolutely pathetic, a complete exaggeration. It's almost comedic. It's almost needy (or maybe just as Panda says about being the new Fergie). It's like complaining about your weekend trip to Kyiv being cancelled because it was going to be your first real chance to get away for a few days. The question is how and why a statement like this was allowed to come out. That does indeed come from the top. Where was the sensible head to take a step back and understand the situation from both sides. To make your feelings known internally, with a statement of understanding and good will for the public viewing. The whole "you're either with us or against us" partisan mentality does seem to be apparent in Cormack. It's very Hunnish. Not an attitude I can really be arsed with. This one sits really badly with me, I don't like it at all. The handling of it, I mean, rather than the decision to let the player go.

Aye, that's it in a nutshell. Considine has done little wrong here it seems. The club aren't walking away from the deal because of a leak, they're simply refusing to negotiate (which they're entitled to of course). This entire statement is just toys out of the pram because they didn't get to break the story on their own terms. It's weak as fuck, and I'd expect better from Goodwin. Just a "the club can confirm that Andy will be leaving the club in the summer..... thanks for your amazing service.... Etc". When you read the supposed leak to the Express, there's pretty much no information in it other than that he's not getting a deal, zero criticism, zero quotes. The club's statement makes it sound like Considine has given an interview with Martin Bashir. It's totally uncalled for. The club must realise that the player isn't leaving the job he's been in for twenty years in the way he'd want to and is probably a bit upset about it. To expect him to come in for a meeting to design the perfect joint statement to the public (on AFC's terms, I would expect) is a little demeaning. The club could have let it go and show some understanding, taking the high ground. It's Hun levels of outrage from the club. Classless as fuck.

I completely disagree with this. Brown was very average at the back for us. He played like a midfielder playing at centre half, he was nowhere near aggressive enough, poor in the air and slightly suspect positionally. That's not a criticism, it's why he's never been a defender. In fact, for someone who loves Considine so much, you're quite forward with the insult here! Absolutely, the argument I was making was that for the sake of an additional year, we shouldn't have been quibbling and offering him some way towards coaching within that second year. It seems that, according to the club, they were indeed offering that, so I think he's been a little quick to turn it down.

Apologies, I've missed the bit in the statement where it states six figure sum. That seems like a decent offer. Either the agent has done a number on his client here, or the club's general salaries are higher than I think they are. It's a shite way for his time here to end.

Yep, it's poor from the club. They are the ones that should be showing understanding and dignity in this given the player's history. Public statements are not cool and it isn't the same thing as the player leaking something. It's crass. We don't know, but the club may have said that they were halving his wages and his agent has said we'll meet you in the middle. It reeks.

Well, aye, that changes things! Although, it is important to note that Considine isn't asking for a 50% increase in wages, just that 50% more than what the dons are offering. In reality what he's likely to be asking for here is less of a pay cut, and I hope he in turn makes this very clear. It's a well worded statement by Goodwin, but I feel it is just as underhanded as the leak by Considine's agent, and neither come out looking particularly good. Of course previous performances aren't irrelevant, that's ridiculous, that's what every single player is signed on (apart from Mikey Devlin who has yet to play actual football). All his previous performances suggest he is good enough to challenge for a place in the Dons first team next season - that is the evidence, which I'd say is pretty much irrefutable. You could speculate that he might not be as good as he was prior to injury, but that isn't based on evidence that's just speculation (and given that you believe we should have held onto Brown to play in defence, I'd question your judgement there!). The only question left is whether offering two years is too much, which is what I based my previous argument on (and that still stands). I could, and would. We already have younger and worse in our squad in the form of Bates (playing on the left) and McKenzie. As I said previously, 90% of the replacements over the years have ended up being worse than Considine and unless something has significantly changed, I'd expect that to continue. I'd say Charles Dunne would fall into the worse than Considine category for example. We replaced Logan with the infinitely worse Jack Gurr last season, and I see no evidence that we'll manage to do better than Considine based on our recruitment over the last decade. Our defence has been honking since he got injured this season and unless we're going to replace either Bates or Gallagher the new centre back is coming an as squad filler, and I'd say that's definitely where you'd want "better the devil you know".

We've just given Devlin a year to sit on the bench, of course we can give Considine a two year deal. Does anyone really think Considine will hold the dons to ransom at the end of the first year if he's barely kicked a ball? I doubt it very much. I'm sure we could even write something into the contract. I'd be more than happy for Considine to receive a nominal pay off at the end of next season or to spend a year as part of the coaching team if that was of interest to him. He's our fourth most represented player and has risen his game to the level of the team (and more) throughout his career at the dons. He's seen off 90% of those centre backs brought in to replace him through hard work and consistency. We pish away money on all sorts of shite every single season, so it seems ludicrous that we couldn't extend some of that towards a fantastic club servant. I'm sure the tired clichés about "no room for sentimentality" will get thrown back at this suggestion, but football is sentimentality, it is about feeling and loyalty. Considine exudes that, and two years is not unreasonable in that context. He should be treated as a special case, because he is.

Great to have a huge British business like Tesco on the front of the shirt. Things are looking up.

The notion that we'll get a more committed, intelligent and good left sided defender - on top of all the other vital signings needed in the summer - to challenge for a place in the first team is ridiculous. I'd have him in the current team ahead of both Bates (who still can't take the ball properly on his wrong side) and McKenzie. He's not ancient for a centre back and keeps himself fit. He's not injury prone, with both his injuries being severe "one off" type injuries, so can generally be relied on to be available too. At best this is a naive decision, at worst a fucking honking one.

So is Ferguson's! He's constantly downing himself instead of playing the game. To me, they're the same thing, both are at it constantly. Ramirez too. I'd be having words with all three as I think it's to the detriment of their games. It's like a shirking of responsibility where they take the easy option of trying to win a free kick. I even thought Ferguson's attempt at the diving header was less effortful than his protests at being fouled. It could be just because the team is low on confidence of course. Besuijen is still young enough that we'll manage to iron it out of him hopefully.

Yep, I'd be inclined to agree. Both are extremely good balls from the fat Hun too, just into an area of uncertainty for the keeper. I'm guessing that they're coached to not come unless you're 100% certain. On both occasions Ferguson has to deal with it, although I'd say the first is just a good goal, the header is right into the ground at the keeper's feet, following a cross dipped perfectly into the back post. Difficult to defend. The second is just poor organising.

Aye, he needs to learn to dive properly like Ferguson. Diving is okay if you do it in the proper British style. These bloody foreigners with their flamboyant overacting.

Can you imagine the scenes at pittodrie next week if we score a last minute winner to seal top six glory? Unforgettable.

Yep, I think that's fair. I don't even think it's softness in defence, just completely disorganised. To be fair, we've spent the entire season being unable to defend set pieces, so it would be difficult to expect it just to happen. Beaton was fucking honking though.

Great first half from the dons on a difficult pitch. Night and day from Glass. We're going long then playing wide, then through the middle. Just a lot of variation to the play, which has made us look like we're going to score a goal throughout the half. Ramsay been excellent, he's some player, just glides on the ball. Better than Fraser or McKenna in my opinion and will go all the way if things go right for him. Barron playing really well too, it's fantastic to see the pair of them performing. McLennan and Ferguson also doing well and Gallagher is making good use of the ball from the back. Need another goal, but play like we have and that should be no problem.

He's had a good start anyway, brilliant hit off the bar. He's always been a great striker of the ball, he just usually trips over it first.

Pitch is atrocious. We really do only get about four months of the season with the surfaces good for playing fitba on.

Aye, probably best to ease him back in if he's not fully fit. He's missed a lot of minutes this season and last.

A draw between Utd and Hibs would be better if we're trying to finish as high as possible. It would put us on the same points as Hibs but with at least a plus two goal difference. If we were both to win our final games then they'd have to beat Hearts by two goals more than we beat county, which is probably unlikely. It'd also leave the possibility that we could be in fourth at the split, with utd only being two points ahead with the draw. Four points ahead at the split would be difficult to overcome. Or we could just lose today, putting us out of our misery. Edit: we've also got a better goals for than Hibs, which I think is the next criteria for placing, so they'd need a three goal swing to finish ahead of us (or more if we win by more than one today).

You get battered for over celebrating in two continents?

McGeouch was only really signed in the first place because Ojo was pish, so it's fitting that they both leave at the same time. Glass would likely have given Ojo another three years. Both average players that should be easy to replace. It leaves the squad a little light of course (assuming Ferguson leaves), but it's probably a risk worth taking. With the wages those two are on, we should be able to try and get somebody better, with the caveat that if they aren't better they probably won't be any worse. Barron's success has really eased the decision making for us in getting rid of these two, Goodwin has been very fortunate in the timing of his development.

Ramirez Vs Ferguson will have the fans salivating.

He's very good in the co-commentary on red TV. On that basis, I'd give him another year.