-

[mizer]

Am I correct in thinking that we have 7 more points this year than we did this time last year?

 

OMFG! Are you Calderwood? Why have I just sponsored you? Do you want tanning?

[mizer]

I think Banks O'Dee do have better facilities than Aberdeen 

 

And they are closer to Nigg!

[Mackie's ace!]

OMFG! Are you Calderwood? Why have I just sponsored you? Do you want tanning?

 

Clearly needing some tanning if I've to pass as Calderwood.

[mizer]

Clearly needing some tanning if I've to pass as Calderwood.

 

And a sex change!

[boboisared]

Yep I just get slightly irked then 5 minutes later I'm over it. I maybe go a bit quiet and beat the wife up but that is more through necessity than rage.

 

Is football worth getting angry about?

 

 

Football is not the most important thing in my life but after a bad defeat i'll be in a bit of a huff for the rest of the day at least. Same goes for my own football I play.

[boboisared]

All defeats are bad surely.

Being in the huff isn't exactly being angry. I go in the huff but I will get over it as I'm sure you do.

 

It's not like you hold a protest against yourself before you play fives though is it?

My 5's team is horrendous, we're going through a transition period.

 

There are bad defeats (2-1 to Hamilton) and then there are BAD defeats (out of the cup to Dunfermline). The first sort of result puts me in a huff. The second will make me very angry. I'm sure you were in more than a huff after the cup game?

[OneZero]

However I would have bitten off their cocks, balls, nipples

 

Oooooh errr matron 

[brownie]

This propaganda that you are for him if you aren't against him does my nut in.

 

It's the argument of a fool

 

Totally agree.

 

As is the whole

Lets protest before a game but not put too much thought into it except from some swanky posters.

 

 

[Aberdeen_Ladette]

I was a fence sitter until the Dunfermline debacle, but that was one humiliating defeat too many. I now think it would be best if Jimmy were to leave at the end of the sesaon by mutual consent, hopefully after gaining qualification for the Europa league.

 

I note whoever voted JIG hasn't owned up.

[manc_don]

I was a fence sitter until the Dunfermline debacle, but that was one humiliating defeat too many. I now think it would be best if Jimmy were to leave at the end of the sesaon by mutual consent, hopefully after gaining qualification for the Europa league.

 

I agree with this, but the problem is, it won't happen   I really do hope it does though and I really hope we qualify for the Europa League, just have to pray that Jimmy's gets his and the team's act together!

[Montana]

Am thoroughly fed up of the JMG / JIG nonsense. Throughout the season and at crucial moments you could easily move from one position to the other if forced to chose an extreme. JIG - banging in 4 goals against Celtic, JMG - losing to the Pars.The only thing this polarisation of opinion is doing is dividing fans.

 

Calderwood has brought us respectability with decent league finishes, a great european adventure and the result of this a large chunk of debt re-written or cleared. He also brought us some terrible lows , QOTS semi being one of the worst games I have ever experienced and the inevitability about this years Cup game was there to see. For me the Pars game was not nearly as bad as QOTS, due to Dunfermline sitting in with nearly 7 at the back and us going out on pens.

 

I despise the constant need for your support to be pigeon holed into either area, and the I told you so folk who have the self righteous position of championing anything negative you say not defending Calderwood 110%.

 

The question remains - who is the viable alternative and to this I have not heard a decent reasoned answer that a) would guarantee us to be in a better position than with Calderwood and b) would compensate for the pay off required.

 

I don't think he is God at all but thats what we have at present and is a protest going to help the team reach Europe?

 

[One Bobby Clark]

Montana makes a very sensible statement.

 

I'm sliding so deeply into apathy that I no longer really care who manages us.

[Mackie's ace!]

Good post Montana.

[tlg1903]

 

 

The question remains - who is the viable alternative and to this I have not heard a decent reasoned answer that a) would guarantee us to be in a better position than with Calderwood and b) would compensate for the pay off required.

 

 

There is no such thing as a managerial appointment that will guarantee success.  Its always going to be a gamble just like when you sign a player.  I cant argue with anything else you said montana but what you are asking for there is impossible.

[OneZero]

 

 

Calderwood has brought us respectability with decent league finishes.......

 

 

Decent yes, I've said before he has done well for us.

 

But thats it, he is doing no more now and, if anything, we are in danger of going backwards now. He is certainly not taking us on that wee bit more and the cup defeats are woeful and embarrassing.

[Reekie_Red]

Oh, I thought JIG stood for "Jimmy Is Gone".

 

I think Jimmy is a good manager. He has steadied our ship and brought us back up to a position of respectability (in the league, at least). After the shambles that was Steve Paterson's reign, I must admit that despite his tombola team selections, bizarre tactics and apparent allergy to everything related to our Youth System, Aberdeen hasn't been this stable a product on the park for about 17 years.

 

But it's time for a change. He has taken us as far as he can. Yes, he's made Aberdeen a respectable team name again. Yes he's made Pittodrie a difficult place to come for EVERY visiting team. But he's not going to take us any further than he already has. I think the current clutch of players is actually okay. What we need though is an experienced manager who knows how to take Aberdeen from where Jimmy has taken us and push us up to the next level.

 

What is the next level? Consistency! Craig Levein had Hearts at a good consistency level before he left them. They were always a difficult team to beat, and not many teams went to Tynecastle thinking they could take any points whatsoever. A draw at Tynie was celebrated like a win!

 

Now I'm not saying we get Levein in as manager, cos he's NOT the man I want at the helm. Butcher is a good manager if you want to win a dog-fight, so he's not the man I want either. Jeffries can get tae fuck. Yes he's the longest serving manager in the current SPL. But his teams are boring as fuck. At least with Jimmy you can spend the first 20 minutes of the game with yer mates trying to figure out what the formation on display is!

 

Mixu has not got the experience or the track-record that suits us. Eric Black, whilst having quite a lengthy and impressive CV in terms of the clubs he's managed, doesn't really have a track-record of managing teams at the upper end of their respective leagues.

 

McGhee seems to have a track record similar to Butchers, whereby he does well with teams who are in a dogfight, but runs aground when it comes to building teams who want to push up the table and stay at the upper end.

 

Gary McAllister has a pretty shite managerial record so far, having lost more than he's won. Strachan is out of our league now, as is McLeish (although whilst he'd probably do very well to begin with, he seems to have a track record of winning with teams he's inherited, but then gradually losing his way as he gets rid of the old players and takes in his own).

 

So who does that leave us with? Ozzie Ardilles applied for pretty much every single Scottish job out there. We probably need to start looking at someone from the Championship. We probably really need to push the boat out in terms of wages and ambition, and I think we should possibly look to get in a manager who has come close to promotion from the Championship ... maybe even look at someone who has already brought Championship success in previous seasons?!

 

I feel the likes of Paul Jewell would do very well in the SPL. He's not Premiership quality, but has proven that he can get his teams promoted from the Championship.

[tafkat]

We will never get a manager to leave management in England to come to us. We can't compete with wages.

 

We'll be looking at a new young manager so it will be a big gamble or else we'll be looking at an experienced SPL standard manager, change for changes sake - with crippling expenditure for compensation and rebuilding.

 

 

Who's Jewell with ?

 

Thought he was out of work.

[Mackie's ace!]

Jimmy at Aberdeen:

 

Played 220. Won 92, Drawn 70, Lost 58.

 

Levein at Hearts:

 

Played 170. Won 74, Drawn 55, Lost 41.

 

Levein at Hearts had about the same consistency as Jimmy has now. They probably seemed better since we were so shit at the time.

 

In Levein's 4 years they also went out the League Cup on penalties to Ross County, out to Caley in the Scottish cup (in the same season), lost 6-1 to Motherwell in the league, 4-0 to Falkirk in the Scottish cup, 5-0 to Celtic and no notable wins over either of the Old Firm or in Europe.

 

Looks like Hearts under Levein were prone to the odd fuck up just like we are under Calderwood.

[manc_don]

Fair enough MA, as you quite rightly said, I don't want him as JC's replacement because I don't think he's that much better and I don't think any other SPL manager would do better. However, we need change, and JC has to go in the summer, the question still remains though, who would be a suitable replacement?

[dave_min]

We will never get a manager to leave management in England to come to us. We can't compete with wages.

 

Why not?

 

Martin O'Neill left a tiny Premiership side to come up to Scotland for a few years, enhanced his CV no end and went back down to a much bigger side.

 

Obviously, we'll never be able to steal a Premiership manager, but a good Championship one? Why not? Owen Coyle went from the First Division to near the top of the Championship, SURELY a mid-table Championship manager could be persuaded to come to a near-the-top SPL club?

[dave_min]

Celtic can pay wages approaching the levels in England - we cannae.

 

Weren't Celtic complaining at the start of the season they lost out on somebody to the championship because of wages?

 

Where's all the money coming from to pay off the current management team, pay compensation to the club we poach a manager from, and then rebuild the squad... or do we just expect a new manager not to be allowed to get new players in during his first transfer window?

 

Do people think Aberdeen FC plc are minted all of a sudden because we wiped some money off the debt?

 

This I have no idea on?

 

All I was trying to say is that for a manager coming to Aberdeen, we can offer them more than just money?

 

• 3rd place in the top league
  
• Cup wins
  
• Europe
  

 

Are you trying to tell me that the Watford, Sheffield Utd, Doncaster or Southampton boss wouldn't maybe like a bit of a taste of all this instead of trying to go into the Premiership, earn £100million then go straight back down?

 

Aberdeen can be a great stepping stone for any manager wanting to make it big down south.

[tlg1903]

Have you ever seen the coverage the SPL gets in the English media?

 

Out with a tiny bit about the old firm it is next to nothing.

I'm afraid the manager of Watford, Sheffield Utd, Doncaster and Southampton would get paid more and get more coverage than he would up here.

 

Tv coverage maybe but its not like the football world ignores what happens north of the border.  Look at Mowbray for example. the standard of football might not be as good as down south but you've got little to no chance of a cup final or getting into europe in the championship.  Scotland football provides the opportunity for a manager to show how he copes in some of the high profile games.

[manc_don]

Tv coverage maybe but its not like the football world ignores what happens north of the border.  Look at Mowbray for example. the standard of football might not be as good as down south but you've got little to no chance of a cup final or getting into europe in the championship.  Scotland football provides the opportunity for a manager to show how he copes in some of the high profile games.

 

I'd agree with this. To the average football fan, I would say the Scottish leagues get fuck all for coverage. The number of times when I visit my grandparents in SW london and open the paper on sunday to find nothing about us after a big game (outwidth the OF and occassionaly Hertz). But I would have thought most clubs would be keeping an eye on activities north of the border and managers would probably see it as a stepping stone.

[Superstar Tradesman]

I haven't voted yet because I feel there's one option missing which would better suit my choice.

 

But I would like one thing clarified; I keep reading on here from various posters that "JC has steadied the ship but now we're moving backwards".

 

Backwards in what way?

 

We've always been shite in the cups and we're in 4th place.

 

[TENEMENTFUNSTER]

Tv coverage maybe but its not like the football world ignores what happens north of the border.  Look at Mowbray for example. the standard of football might not be as good as down south but you've got little to no chance of a cup final or getting into europe in the championship.  Scotland football provides the opportunity for a manager to show how he copes in some of the high profile games.

 

All kinds of coverage mate, Scottish football has very little currency south of the border.