The Brown Ultimatum

[TENEMENTFUNSTER]

Aye OK mizer.

 

 

[One Bobby Clark]

If the teams below us win their game(s) in hand, then we will be 10th.

If St Mirren win their's by 7 (unlikely, I know) we'd drop down to 11th.

 

Brown needs to get his finger out and figure why we are so shite.

 

[bloo_toon_red]

Been reading the other site and their varying opinions of the failings of McGhee & Calderwood versus the "stability" of Brown.

 

What I'd say about this so-called stability is first of all to echo Jute's point regarding the Dundee/Rangers thing and that we are actually no better off in terms of results.

 

Additionally, if McGhee so demoralised his players to the extent that they wouldn't play for him then you would expect a new manager, if he is as good as everyone says, to get more out of them.  He hasn't got more out of them - he has rightly moved out some of the shite and replaced them with "better" players.  Better on paper perhaps, because for all the pretty football in the world, people's ideas of "stability" are obviously clouded by the bitterness of what came before.  Perhaps stability is not getting beat 9-0 or being generally embarrassed.  Fair enough, I can buy into that.  But it's an extremely low standard to aim for.

 

A large part of McGhee's downfall was his failure to sign full-backs.  Brown's failure to bring in at least one central defender soon may also ultimately be his.  Losing an entire midfield for a few games has bought him some time, there's still a way to go before the end of the season, and I haven't yet advocated sacking Brown, rather letting his contract run out.  But in the current climate it must be a minimum requirement to qualify for Europe through whatever means. The board should be pretty concerned with the direction AFC are heading.

[CtS]

good post

[TENEMENTFUNSTER]

Sums up my thoughts too BTR.

[manc_don]

So, who do you want in?

 

To be honest, I think we could do worse than Billy Davies (if he'd take the job).  Played good football when managing Forest and hasn't been in the limelight for a while, certainly wouldn't take any crap.

 

The only other option would be Derek McInnes, but other than these two, I can't really think of anyone that I would want to see at the helm. Someone with a fucking clue would be a start

[mizer]

I was of the thought he would just not replaced but after today I dont know if the board can let him wind up his contract.

[maverick sheep]

My preference would be Hartley. Davies could be a good shout tho.

 

Really don't know what I want to see happen. We can (and do) change manager at the drop of a hat but it's the same old shit no matter who's in charge. I can't say I'm optimistic that anyone could fix what's broken at Pittodrie.

 

I shudder to think what attendances are going to be like now

[manc_don]

Aye Mav, attendances are going to plummet and it's perfectly understandable.  The horrific thing for the club is that it's happened so early, i'm not sure how they will recover from this.  The only thing the club are good at is driving the fans away.

 

 

I was reading Johnny Hayes' tweets last night and he certainly knows his form has been nothing short of shocking for the past few months and seems to be genuinely hurting.  Still, he's not had to endure this for decades (for me personally, the whole duration of my time as a fan).

 

 

I hope somehow that the team manage to use this as a serious wake up call and put a run together in the league, as unlikely as it is.  The failure to strengthen in Jan has seriously bitten us in the arse.

[CtS]

Dunno about strengthening mate, I think the players we've got should be more than capable of beating that hibs team. Our whole approach to the game was wrong yesterday, and that's down to the manager. We could have gone all guns blazing from the start, ok it's easy with hindsight but the starting tactics were all wrong in my opinion.

[manc_don]

My strengthening comment was more as a general point at the moment in time (i.e. games leading up to it).  But I am in complete agreement with the rest of your point though.  As soon as I saw the team sheet, I was left confused and I don't think you needed any foresight to predict this result.  Then he kept changing things throughout the whole game whilst avoiding the obvious answer...which came with 20 mins to go.  This negativity has cost us our season, the players are clearly capable of playing exciting attacking football, but positional tinkering and negative tactics have ensured that it can't happen.

 

 

From what I saw, there was absolutely no passion from our bench, whatsoever.  In stark contrast to the HIVs.

[Kowalski]

I expect Brown to be here until the end of the season.  Pressure is on to rise up the league.  Second is still doable.  I doubt the board have the stomach for an expensive change of management and will be hoping Brown can somehow sort it out.

 

I'd like to see a younger manager come in.  Not Hartley.

 

[wi_09]

"Second is still doable."

 

Not according to Broon. In his interview after the match yesterday he said that he expects Motherwell to finish 2nd as they have the second best team in the league. No mention of us challenging for second - all he said was that Butcher won't like him saying Well will be runners-up!

 

Is it unrealistic for us still to hope for a second place finish, if (and it is a big if) we put a decent run of results together?

[Tyrant]

I expect to be thoroughly bored until the end of the season and attend next to no games. And I know I say this all the time but if I don't see some ambition from the Board in the summer I'm not going to spunk another £300 on the club.

[TENEMENTFUNSTER]

Jotirz!

[wi_09]

Alex McLeish is available now - worth a look perhaps?

 

Based on experience of the last time we put an ex-player in charge we are maybe better staying put...

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21338533

 

[Jute]

I see Brown cannot see why he is under pressure in the papers this morning.

[manc_don]

Blimey, he didn't last long did he!

[mizer]

WILLIE MILLER has warned the Aberdeen board NOW is the time to sort out Craig Brown’s future. The veteran boss’s Dons contract expires at the end of the season.

So far there have been no talks about a possible extension for him and his assistant Archie Knox.

And Sunday’s Scottish Cup defeat to Hibs has cast serious doubt on whether an offer will be forthcoming.

The Pittodrie club have been linked with Ross County boss Derek Adams.

But Dons legend Miller insists Brown has done enough to stay on.

He said: “There is a very easy way to resolve Craig’s situation at the club — you give him a new contract. It’s that simple.

“I think if the club want to move on and give the fans clarity and the manager clarity then it’s time they started talking.

“If they haven’t done it before now then this is the ideal opportunity to do it.

“If his contract is up at the end of the season — which it is — and there’s not a new one on offer then of course the fans will wonder what's going to happen.

“I think it can affect the players as well.

“They’ll have to lift themselves because it’s always a blow when you go out of the Scottish Cup.

“I know Craig and I know Archie particularly well and they are experienced enough to be able to handle the uncertainty.

“But I think from a club point of view it would be good to get clarity on whether they’re staying or not.

“Certainly from my point of view they have done a very good job in bringing the club back together again. One of the targets the club always had was to introduce players to the first team and that’s what they’ve done.

“So from that point of view they’ve done an excellent job.”

Miller, though, knows that Sunday’s Cup exit will not have gone down well with Pittodrie chiefs.

Executive vice-chairman George Yule, right, had already insisted that Brown would have to EARN a new deal.

Yule also claimed earlier this season the Dons should be challenging at the top end of the table.

But Brown’s men currently lie sixth in the SPL and are now out of both domestic cup competitions.

Miller served Aberdeen as manager and director of football and knows the demands in the northeast.

But the 57-year-old reckons it is dangerous to expect too much given the club’s current circumstances. He said: “My experience is if you don’t have a lot of cash to work with then you can’t bring in the players you want.

“At Aberdeen right now it’s a struggle to even hold on to the young players they are producing. So it’s a difficult, difficult situation.

“I think you have to be wary of the demands you put on a club like Aberdeen.

“Aberdeen have always been well run financially, they have never overspent, there’s no chance of going into administration.

“But at the same time you have to be realistic in the demands you give a manager. They have a new board and there’s a lot of businessmen on it who perhaps don’t have an awful lot of experience in football but a lot of experience in business.

“So they have to be guided by the chairman and focus on where the club is going and where the future of the management team lies.

“But I hope they stay and continue to give the youngsters an opportunity.

“ I think that is the way forward for most clubs in Scotland — but particularly Aberdeen.”

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/spl/4779002/Stick-or-twist.html#ixzz2K1qQ2ZLJ

[bloo_toon_red]

At this moment, only Dundee are worse off than AFC in the form guide over last ten games.

 

For the good of AFC, I really want the management to turn this situation around but it seems each week there's yet more negative stats going against them.

 

I'm becoming more and more alarmed that Scott Vernon, who has nothing to prove as an SPL striker, seems to have regressed, through no particular fault of his own making. The system that Brown continues to deploy is patently ineffective in an attacking sense.

 

Tonight he's speaking about going 11 games (There's 12 to go?) unbeaten. I couldn't give a fuck about unbeaten if it means more 0-0 draws. Our season is now royally fucked to the point that even making the top 6 has now become a doubt.

 

Nineteen goal-less home games in forty-one. Five transfer windows with no discernible improvement. Home crowds at lowest in twenty-five years. Two wins in ten in the league. Only 3 teams have scored less goals.

 

No denying that Jack and Considine are a miss, but we have a full compliment of midfield & forward players and still can't score.

 

I see absolutely no way forward for Brown unless he performs some kind of minor miracle.

[maverick sheep]

At this moment, only Dundee are worse off than AFC in the form guide over last ten games.

 

For the good of AFC, I really want the management to turn this situation around but it seems each week there's yet more negative stats going against them.

 

I'm becoming more and more alarmed that Scott Vernon, who has nothing to prove as an SPL striker, seems to have regressed, through no particular fault of his own making. The system that Brown continues to deploy is patently ineffective in an attacking sense.

 

Tonight he's speaking about going 11 games (There's 12 to go?) unbeaten. I couldn't give a fuck about unbeaten if it means more 0-0 draws. Our season is now royally fucked to the point that even making the top 6 has now become a doubt.

 

Nineteen goal-less home games in forty-one. Five transfer windows with no discernible improvement. Home crowds at lowest in twenty-five years. Two wins in ten in the league. Only 3 teams have scored less goals.

 

No denying that Jack and Considine are a miss, but we have a full compliment of midfield & forward players and still can't score.

 

I see absolutely no way forward for Brown unless he performs some kind of minor miracle.

 

yup.

 

Bigger picture though, I can't see any way forward for AFC at all. No matter who we have in charge there looks like no way the fans are going to be convinced to come back now. Too many promises that haven't been backed up with action.

 

This season started off with everybody ready to rally behind the team, and I honestly thought we'd got off the doomed path we were heading down. The opportunity was there for the board to take advantage of, but they had to give something for the fans to hold onto. Personally, the seeming refusal to fund a new defender in January at such a critical juncture was the last straw. I will never believe these people are either competent or willing to do anything other than oversee a continual managed decline. Not that I wasn't 99% certain of that already.

 

In terms of the playing side of things, this was similarly not the season to be conservative. We started off playing reasonably attacking football and things looked like they were imminently going to spark. But the home game against celtic was the turning point. After Yule's daft 'we're going to win the league' claim in the paper on friday, Broon set the team out to play for a 0-0 and failed. After that we've been unlucky with injuries, but generally our tactics have been all over the shop and generally unambitious.

 

Our attendances are a fair reflection of the performance by those in control of shaping Aberdeen Football Club. We simply aren't a club that's worth supporting anymore.

[mizer]

Broon has been in charge for 106 matches now - the exact same as he was at Preston before being punted, at Preston however he had a marginally better win %.

[bloo_toon_red]

Time's up.

 

I no longer buy the "but we're 4pts off 2nd" argument, the same problem has been apparent all season, right from the word go when so many said "aye but we played them off the park/hit the post/had bad luck/the potential is there". I've tried & tried to keep the faith but it's been blind faith.

 

You could say there's still a chance of making top 6, and there is, but the form AFC are in, only the most hardened optimist would believe it will happen.

 

Brown has no ideas on how to make it better. He's signed too many players whose careers are on a downward curve; Hughes, Rae, Naysmith, Anderson, Clark; hasn't got the best out of Hayes, Vernon, Langfield; hasn't given a chance to McManus who's scoring for fun in reserves; signed total duds like Mawene, Fallon, Chalali & Uchechi. The signing and subsequent form of McGinn has been excellent but along arguably with Kari Arnason who had a good half season, Brown has failed in the transfer market, failed to promote youth, failed to make Aberdeen better.

 

A big part of the problem for me is that we have an uncreative and non-scoring midfield. Rough career stats - Rae scored 1 goal in every 11 games, Clark 1 in every 29, Milsom 1 in 35, Hughes 1 in 14 & 0 in 31 for AFC, Osbourne 1 in 188, Jack 1 in 21.

 

6395 in attendance tonight all of which being made to look like mugs.

[Jute]

Sub 7,000 crowd is usually the catalyst for board to sack the manager.

[Stewart]

Sub 7,000 crowd is usually the catalyst for board to sack the manager.

 

 

Best time to do it with so long between games.