RicoS321

Does he? How do you know this? I have no idea like, just intrigued. I'd have thought that annexing the majority Russian speaking and Russian orthodox Crimea and then the Donbas would be slightly less Imperial-ee than, say, invading Afghanistan or Iraq. I'm guessing that the intentions will become a little clearer if Russia moves beyond their newly recognised (by themselves) regions. At 69, there's likely not the time for Putin to slowly annex - state by state - surrounding countries at the current rate. Bottom line is, there are a number of satellite regions that have more in common with, and more goodwill towards, Russia than Europe, so a breakup of these regions isn't unrealistic.

That's good news. A versatile player, not quite good enough to play in multiple positions! I don't think I've ever been so unsure of a player at pittodrie, whilst simultaneously thinking he should be in the team every week. He's a strange one.

Nah, I don't have the attention span to look that far ahead.

Bloody foreigners, with their stupid pens and throw-ins. Should be banned. Wouldn't catch Stuart Pearce missing a penalty in such a manner. It'd be interesting to see the data. I'm convinced that if clubs thought that players doing strange run ups resulted in less penalties scored then they'd stop them doing it. It's the modern game, these things will have been analysed to death. In the end, they're just trying to trick the keeper into going down early so they can pass it into the other corner. It's always going to look weak when it goes wrong, but it's likely quite a weak shot when it goes in too. It'd be interesting to see a comparison in how many penalties are blazed over the bar or saved when they're blasted down the middle (or not in the corner), versus how many are hit wide, off the post or too close to the keeper when aiming for the corner. They might be seen as more acceptable forms of missing a penalty, but they're still missed in the end. I'm guessing neymar just needs to sit through a Lewis Ferguson masterclass for a few hours.

Ugly Jim Goodwin.

That was my point. Too subtle!

Must be in with a good shout for the playoffs now, what with today's moves. I'm not one for gossip, but I'm pretty certain I heard that Drakeford lad saying that he "could take thon Putin fanny in a square go".

Also, we can now no longer win the league, which will come as a deep shock to everyone. Second place still in the mix. A few good wins.

Perfect hat trick. Impressive. Perfect hat trick

Fucking disgusting. It's a conspiracy.

But it's not a rule, and nor is mourinho an exception (he's unusual because he didn't play football at all). Being part of a big club generally equates to being a good player though doesn't it? Again, I'm not seeing any evidence between being a good manager and having experience at a big club. There are plenty examples of managerial failure where the player had experience of being at a big club, and plenty where the manager hasn't been at a big club and succeeded. Again, it's really a managerial skill or personality trait. Experience will help in a limited way of course, but players feel pressure at all levels of football. Given that there's no definition of "big club", it'd be difficult to measure, but I doubt that there's a correlation between bigger club involvement and managerial success. However, if it helps, Goodwin played for Celtic and came through their youth team, so we're sorted.

Aye, he was excellent again today. Shame about the rest of the side. Worryingly we didn't really do much to change it when they changed shape and took on Woolery. Hayes' starting position against him was always very deep, but he'd have matched him for pace. Bates launching himself at everything today because his positioning seemed to be permanently off too. McRorie was solid in midfield but his final ball is terrible. Despite his goal, I thought Besuijen was poor. Criminally offside several times (as he was against St Johnstone), because he wasn't keeping up with play. That should be drilled into them at an early age. Looks like we'll have to wait another week for our first good win.

He's the world's best centre half. Never speak ill of Andy. But seriously, he's strong, left footed and doesn't dick about, whilst also playing the ball into areas that we can chase down (rarely punts it out of the park). Today is the first time I've seen Bates complete a pass with his left (a bloody good one!). We need somebody on that side.

Some end to the half! Hell of a free kick, got off lightly. Bates fucking about with it for the umpteenth time in the half, resulting in Hayes' injury. Really need Considine back. The pitch is a fucking disaster, which makes Bates pissing about even more inexplicable. We just have to battle like fuck today, the ball is too bobbly to be trying to skip past people at the back. Make sure that any pass backs go right to Lewis' strong foot at the correct pace too.

Great play and great goal. Well done Montgomery, he's actually done okay so far. McKenzie was so bad the other night it would have been harsh to drop Montgomery. He's still a Tim though. Fantastic ball from Bates too and great movement from Besuijen.

Fantastic play by Montgomery, giving the ball away and then deliberately not tracking the runner so that Lewis could nail van veen. Intelligent.

Was there any news on his injury? Looked a bad one, possibly a tear, but certainly would have expected a lot of swelling. Sort of thing that would put you out for a few weeks. Guessing Brown might be out too, and maybe even Gallagher. Could be an interesting defence. Good that Goodwin is straight in, that's what proper managers do. Nae dicking about. It's not going to be beautiful fitba today like. That pitch shouldn't have passed an inspection last time we played on it, unless they were inspecting it for places to plant tatties. Can only imagine what it's like after this week's weather.

Exactly, we can keep this one for September.

You think if the Norwegian lad had said yes, we wouldn't have employed him? That guy looks like he's going to go to the very top of management. He'll know that, he's not stupid, and he simply doesn't need Aberdeen as a stepping stone, but given we wouldn't have had to go insanely outwith our wage structure was definitely worth asking. Whatever you think of Cormack, he's clearly got ambition - far more than you or I, I expect, given his business success. His ambitions for Aberdeen have been fairly clearly written out, he's very much put his cards on the table with the club's strategy. There seems to be too many Dons fans equating ambition with Dave Cormack spending all his money. I want us to be a club that can run itself on its own income, with Dave Cormack (or another) providing the balancing funding between seasons where we perform poorly or there is unexpected events like covid, plus getting the investment for large scale capital infrastructure. Is that unreasonable? Should we really be employing a manager that we can't fund from the football playing side (ticket/corporate sales etc)? Why should Cormack's ambition be to be AFC's sugar daddy? I don't think the chairman spending his own money is ambitious at all, I think it's the very opposite. Anyone can spend mummy and daddy's money and have a good chance of success, but it's not ambition. Goodwin will be about the middle of our budget, maybe higher, but I don't imagine there are a huge number of managers significantly better willing to come to Aberdeen for <£500k per year. Goodwin is perfectly capable of adapting his style of play if required I'm sure. There's a good reason for not playing possession football at St Mirren. He also cost us £250K, so clearly wasn't that easy to get. If he's happy with the club's strategy, then it's a good appointment.

I have to admit, my first thought when he went off midweek was that was his last game, and perhaps not just for us. A bit like Hartley, we got a good six months, but I think he's been chasing shadows and making mistakes since the turn of the year; more interested in winding people up than beating them. Still able to do it of course, see the Huns game, but not consistently. He looked lost against St Johnstone and we were far better when he went off. I'm concerned that the fans will start to turn against him if he's not up for it under the new manager (like when he downed tools under deila) and he unsettles the rest of the team. I don't like the idea of Goodwin having to get an assistant thrown in by decree on signing, but if they gel then it'll be a good thing. I don't know enough to know whether Brown is a good or bad influence behind the scenes, but he doesn't strike me as the type that would put the team ahead of his own ambitions (that's not a criticism) and allow Goodwin space to assert himself. Ultimately, I don't really know, but I think I'd be happier with him gone.

Good swap deal

Aye, I was in Dons mad back when he was playing and it was fairly regular to suggest Goodwin because we needed someone hard in midfield. Draper was the one in a similar vein that got plenty mentions on here. Two limited footballers who could kick people. I remember Hayes playing in centre mid one time against St Mirren due to injuries and he absolutely roasted Goodwin the entire game, who couldn't catch him to kick him. Hopefully he'll have forgotten about it.

I'd love to see any evidence for this (genuinely, I'm not criticising). There are a hell of a lot of good footballers who made poor managers and a hell of a lot of shite players that made good managers. To the extent that I'd say there is zero link whatsoever. Absolutely none. Neither of us has the data obviously, so it's just speculation. I'd say that success has far more to do with personality (of the manager) and management competence rather than footballing ability. Footballing ability is something that you gain at a far younger age than management skills, I just can't see how it's relevant. A will to win is great, but if you don't have the ability to pass that on to others it can probably be quite frustrating. Lambert strikes me as the type who doesn't have the charisma or intelligence to get a point across that people would listen to. John Collins proved that wanking around showing off yer six pack telling folk that you were the fittest player at Monaco is no substitute for actual management abilities - you just wouldn't take the nasally dickhead seriously. I agree with LA Don that prior experience of winning things would be preferable, but I don't see it as essential. As an average player, Goodwin captained St Mirren to cup success, which is fairly impressive (and was regularly championed on various Dons forums as a "winner" that we should look to sign). He was managed by Danny Lennon that day, who is one of numerous examples of managers who have won something that are not that good at managing football teams. Alan Stubbs, Peter Houston, Tommy Wright too. There's a little luck involved in cup wins in Scotland, with no chance of league success.

Aye, he's certainly the tidier of the two.

Sounds like it could be Goodwin today. He's a good manager. Hope it works out. Should mean we haven't had to compromise on the strategic setup either.