The footballer in the river

[CvB]

Agreed. He hasn't had a great start, but there's signs there if he can just get his shite together on the pitch. Incidents like these can be one-offs that have little or no affect on his future conduct. We've all been there.

 

To be honest, I think it's great. Fitba wid be shite without stories like these. It's funnier when it happens to other teams' players of course, but it's good to laugh at ourselves occasionally too.

 

Significantly happier with this story than those that accompanied the last young Utd superstar that we signed.

 

He wasn't a bad player for Utd and hopefully can be for us. Best put his time at celtic behind him. He'll not be a Jonny Hayes, but we've got Scott Wright for that.

 

I was genuinely enthused by his signing and have every faith that given some time to settle in that he'll show some return. I'll never expect him to go thundering into a tackle or go toe to toe with a lego muncher like Brown, but not every player has to be a hardy bastard.

 

[manc_don]

He wasn't a bad player for Utd and hopefully can be for us. Best put his time at celtic behind him. He'll not be a Jonny Hayes, but we've got Scott Wright for that.

 

I was genuinely enthused by his signing and have every faith that given some time to settle in that he'll show some return. I'll never expect him to go thundering into a tackle or go toe to toe with a lego muncher like Brown, but not every player has to be a hardy bastard.

 

[DollyLongstaffe]

Worrying.  You don't want to read too much into body language but I thought especially in his last performance against Dundee he looked like a player with personal issues.  No drive, no confidence, poor work ethic.

 

If it was just a guy who was playing well and looking happy otherwise getting pissed and doing something daft on a Saturday night, I wouldn't be too worried.  Older fans will remember Joe Harper, no stranger to a bit of drink fuelled silliness but one of the greatest players we ever had.

 

I suppose we are glib about footballers taking a step down in their careers, because it's so common. But presumably GMS didn't grow up as a Don's fan and the loss in status/money etc coming here as opposed to where he expected to be when he went to Celtic may have hit him hard.

 

Hopefully this is a wake up call and makes him realise he'd better bury the past and get his career back on track if he doesn't want to be washed up by his mid 20s.  The concern is it's the next stage on a downward spiral in which case we've squandered a lot of money.

[KennyFuckinPowers]

Am I reading correctly where it says he was in there for 90 minutes? NINETY minutes!

 

I really hope it was literally just a very avoidable accident in where he thought he could walk along the metal railing and slipped ( Being pished )

 

Sincerely hope there is no mental health involved. Just find it bizarre it took that long for him to be rescued, apparently it was Stuart Armstrong that called emergency services, so you'd have to imagine he'd have done it right away. 

[Elgindon]

KFP beat me to it.

Not going to judge what happened,or speculate on the reasons for it,but dont understand why he was in the water for 90 minutes.

 

If he wasnt pished ,why could he not swim to a side,and would he not have drowned if he was totally blootered....

[Ten Caat]

If he went in where I think he did then its a really dark spot with no easy way to get someone out....the riverbank is virtually vertical at that spot a few hundred yards downstream from Kelvingrove Park where the banks slope down fairly gently.

 

Also hindering the rescue would be the Health and Safety assessment by the Fire Brigade and the Glasgow Polis  prior to formulating a rescue plan... in the 70s they would pick the best swimmer and send him in with a lifebelt and flash their torches in the general direction of where the cries for help came from. Nowadays if it is deemed too risky to attempt a rescue then the poor drowning fecker is left to his own devices ( had this incident happened in January with the Kelvin partially frozen over this may well have been the outcome). As it was I believe that he was dragged into a boat brought up from the Clyde....

[rocket_scientist]

Worrying.  You don't want to read too much into body language but I thought especially in his last performance against Dundee he looked like a player with personal issues.  No drive, no confidence, poor work ethic.

 

If it was just a guy who was playing well and looking happy otherwise getting pissed and doing something daft on a Saturday night, I wouldn't be too worried.  Older fans will remember Joe Harper, no stranger to a bit of drink fuelled silliness but one of the greatest players we ever had.

 

I suppose we are glib about footballers taking a step down in their careers, because it's so common. But presumably GMS didn't grow up as a Don's fan and the loss in status/money etc coming here as opposed to where he expected to be when he went to Celtic may have hit him hard.

 

Hopefully this is a wake up call and makes him realise he'd better bury the past and get his career back on track if he doesn't want to be washed up by his mid 20s.  The concern is it's the next stage on a downward spiral in which case we've squandered a lot of money.

 

Good post. I didn't read as much as you did from his abject performance v. Dundee. I just thought he was shite. Unfortunately your deeper interpretation may well prove to be right on the money.

[ayrshire_don74]

looks like pished out of his box with stuart armstrong appears he was slapped a few times in club, poor attitude

[CvB]

looks like pished out of his box with stuart armstrong appears he was slapped a few times in club, poor attitude

 

Poor attitude? Getting blootered and some wide weegie takes exception...not quite sure how you come to that stunning conclusion.

 

Let's put another made up spin on it.

 

Good on GMS, has a few beers and gets pished. Lightweight, needs to get out more since he's clearly a part time drinker and can't handle his bevvy.

Fair play for getting involved in a toe to toe with some weegie minker, shows the boy has a bit of fight about him. Lets translate that onto the park and push on.

 

 

[donsdaft]

I'll go with that version.

[donsdaft]

[ayrshire_don74]

Good on him for having a pint ? Really? We going back to the bevvy fuelled nandos wasters ? The boy, and I use the term boy, was so out of his face he nearly died in a fkn river, if that isnt irresponsible behaviour for a professional athlete then am afraid the game is fucked. Looks out of his fkn tits in this pic in the link probably more than the bevvy

 

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/aberdeen-star-gary-mackay-steven-11073101

[CvB]

Good on him for having a pint ? Really? We going back to the bevvy fuelled nandos wasters ? The boy, and I use the term boy, was so out of his face he nearly died in a fkn river, if that isnt irresponsible behaviour for a professional athlete then am afraid the game is fucked. Looks out of his fkn tits in this pic in the link probably more than the bevvy

 

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/aberdeen-star-gary-mackay-steven-11073101

 

He's always got a bit of a "rabbit caught in the headlights" expression about him.

Like I said, lets just say he only had 3 or 4 beers and got pished on it. We all know a lightweight who'll come out for a pint with the boys but gets hammered early doors. That doesn't make them a disgrace, it just means that they're not used to drinking copious amounts of booze, so lets just guess that's the case, rather than he's a 20 pint a night alkie who likes a scrap.

Either scenario could be accurate, I don't know, I'm just guessing pretty much the same as you are, however, my guess is a glass half full benefit of the doubt guess, whereas you're more than happy to write him off a month into the season.

Wild assumptions about it being "probably more than the bevvy" says more about you than it does him.

 

Should professional footballers drink alcohol? I'd say that if you wanted to become the absolute best at what you are doing then no, you shouldn't. A finely tuned top athlete will count every calorie consumed and record every calorie expelled to keep themselves at the absolute top of their levels.

As a culture, Scotland is way behind many parts of the world as far as attitude and culture to drink is concerned, that's why as a nation we fail to produce exceptional footballers in comparison to many similarly sized smaller nations.

 

He went out, big deal

He got a bit pished, big deal

OK, he nearly drowned in a Glasgow river - That is a deal, but without any actual knowledge of the incident (and I refuse to believe that anything written in a shit stirring glasgow based tabloid) then I'm going to assume that it was a freak, one off unfortunate occurrence. Maybe he was trying to get away from an escalating incident and didn't realize that he was away to plunge into a river, maybe he thought he'd be quicker swimming over to the other side than wait for a taxi, maybe he was pissed and stumbled down the bank and fell in or maybe he was just so hot from the eccies he'd taken that he needed a cool down....I've no idea but I would like to think that he's learned from it.

 

[donsdaft]

Just had a quick look at Jute mad and they just seem concerned.

 

Certainly no word of a history of boozing/ drugs.

 

 

 

[Tyrant]

Ken fit like mad kids are these days when they're boozing. It was after the Partick game so I doubt he's broken any rules by going out boozing. He could have jumped in for a laugh or jumped in because he "wanted to kill himself" but in all likelihood he was probably so steaming that he winna remember why he did it. Nae that big a deal if you ask me. Let's get him better and support him and hopefully he can get on with becoming a good signing. He's showed rustiness on the park but he's a good player and I think it's mental that folk are writing him off already. All the best GMS min.

[donsdaft]

If rust's the problem then a dip in the river is hardly likely to help.

[RicoS321]

If rust's the problem then a dip in the river is hardly likely to help.

 

It's okay, he has no mettle.

[BigAl]

He's always got a bit of a "rabbit caught in the headlights" expression about him.

Like I said, lets just say he only had 3 or 4 beers and got pished on it. We all know a lightweight who'll come out for a pint with the boys but gets hammered early doors. That doesn't make them a disgrace, it just means that they're not used to drinking copious amounts of booze, so lets just guess that's the case, rather than he's a 20 pint a night alkie who likes a scrap.

Either scenario could be accurate, I don't know, I'm just guessing pretty much the same as you are, however, my guess is a glass half full benefit of the doubt guess, whereas you're more than happy to write him off a month into the season.

Wild assumptions about it being "probably more than the bevvy" says more about you than it does him.

 

Should professional footballers drink alcohol? I'd say that if you wanted to become the absolute best at what you are doing then no, you shouldn't. A finely tuned top athlete will count every calorie consumed and record every calorie expelled to keep themselves at the absolute top of their levels.

As a culture, Scotland is way behind many parts of the world as far as attitude and culture to drink is concerned, that's why as a nation we fail to produce exceptional footballers in comparison to many similarly sized smaller nations.

 

He went out, big deal

He got a bit pished, big deal

OK, he nearly drowned in a Glasgow river - That is a deal, but without any actual knowledge of the incident (and I refuse to believe that anything written in a shit stirring glasgow based tabloid) then I'm going to assume that it was a freak, one off unfortunate occurrence. Maybe he was trying to get away from an escalating incident and didn't realize that he was away to plunge into a river, maybe he thought he'd be quicker swimming over to the other side than wait for a taxi, maybe he was pissed and stumbled down the bank and fell in or maybe he was just so hot from the eccies he'd taken that he needed a cool down....I've no idea but I would like to think that he's learned from it.

 

Far too sensible a post mate. 

Really doesn't fit in with the judge, jury and executioner agenda adopted by some without being in possession of a single hard fact of what actually happened in the early hours of Sunday morning.

[kevdon]

Hope he is ready for arm bands (water wings) and rubber rings to be thrown at him whenever he plays now.

[Slim]

Can anyone actually imagine GMS and Stuart Armstrong having a rowdy night out? They come across as 2 polite lads who probably tip the toilet attendant every single time even after their seal is broken. He's done something a bit stupid but I don't think we're looking at Noel Whelen having his Beemer nicked after an attempted coked up threesome in a west end hotel level of debauchery.

 

So far the explanation that he was running away from people fighting and jumped over a wall without realising there was a river on the other side seems the most plausible. That said, it is a bit worrying if he is stupid enough to jump into a fucking river unintentionally.

[donsdaft]

I'm probably last to hear this, but I thought it was funny anyway.

 

Gary McKay Sweemin

[InversneckieDob]

I don't think we're looking at Noel Whelen having his Beemer nicked after an attempted coked up threesome in a west end hotel level of debauchery.

 

Proper mannie's fitba player night oot, yon.

 

The type o' thing Joey Harper would've got up to.....except wi a Capri instead o' a Beemer.........Babycham instead o' charlie and the Dee Motel instead o' some West End wye o' deein'.

[Kowalski]

“Gary Mackay-Steven has responded to criticism and shown he is as good as any winger in the Scottish Premiership, says Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes.

Mackay-Steven's goal gave the Pittodrie side victory over Hibernian on Friday after what his manager described as a couple of "quiet" games.

"I've not been too pleased with his performances," McInnes said.

"We spoke about him working hard when he's not involved and it's not going his way.

"His pace, his drive and his quality for the finish is what we expect from him. For me, when he reaches his levels, he's as good a wide player as we've got in the league."”

 

He certainly seems to be coming on to a game.

[tlg1903]

He's been great all season imo, I understand what DM means about a wee dip in form though.  He's our best attacker at the moment, no question, and I'm not missing Hayes too much anymore. 

[OxfordDon]

“Gary Mackay-Steven has responded to criticism and shown he is as good as any winger in the Scottish Premiership, says Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes.

Mackay-Steven's goal gave the Pittodrie side victory over Hibernian on Friday after what his manager described as a couple of "quiet" games.

"I've not been too pleased with his performances," McInnes said.

"We spoke about him working hard when he's not involved and it's not going his way.

"His pace, his drive and his quality for the finish is what we expect from him. For me, when he reaches his levels, he's as good a wide player as we've got in the league."”

 

He certainly seems to be coming on to a game.

 

Buoy has been treading water for ages, but current form seems to be getting stronger