Season 2019/2020 Rebuilding

[RicoS321]

very much doubt we turned down that amount.. spin from club  and i guess you are making figures up re cosgrove... god help us if we get that money and give it to DM

 

Agree with this, although I'm not sure if it was club spin or agent spin. It would have been ludicrous to turn down £6M for a dons player. That's the prize funds for 4 second places. I always said that £3.5M would be a good offer for McKenna, and I think we might get slightly more than that in the summer if we're lucky. £750-1000K for Cosgrove would be decent business too, but I see no need to move him on in the summer (we definitely need another striker though).

[tlg1903]

The 2 mill for Cosgrove I heard on sportsound.  Make of it what you will but all things considered it seems about right.  I would wager Cosgroves new deal would be about 3k a week give or take making his overall contract worth about 470k.  Given we don't want to sell him and he's young you can multiply that a few times for final transfer fee.

 

As for fees paid to Scottish clubs from English John Mcginn went for 2.75 in the final year of his deal.  SM has 4 years left and a lot of teams have been sniffing about him which puts the price up even more.  Add it all up and a deal worth 8 mill doesn't sound particularly steep if you ask me. I could, of course, be wrong but time will tell.  I think we can all agree that we will find out what the club are prepared to accept inside the next 2 months though.

 

 

[tlg1903]

Agree with this, although I'm not sure if it was club spin or agent spin. It would have been ludicrous to turn down £6M for a dons player. That's the prize funds for 4 second places. I always said that £3.5M would be a good offer for McKenna, and I think we might get slightly more than that in the summer if we're lucky. £750-1000K for Cosgrove would be decent business too, but I see no need to move him on in the summer (we definitely need another striker though).

 

Glad your not director of football at afc.  McKenna would be at the San giro if so.....  He's worth way more than 3.5 and it wasn't ludicrous to turn down that offer of 6.5.  It was deadline day the bid came in and we couldn't have replaced him. Given how our defensive injuries went in the first half of the season we would have been completely screwed without McKenna. 

[RicoS321]

Glad your not director of football at afc.  McKenna would be at the San giro if so.....  He's worth way more than 3.5 and it wasn't ludicrous to turn down that offer of 6.5.  It was deadline day the bid came in and we couldn't have replaced him. Given how our defensive injuries went in the first half of the season we would have been completely screwed without McKenna.

 

I've not seen any evidence at all that we received an offer of £6.5M for McKenna and I don't believe it for a second. Our director of football would be an idiot if he turned that down, final day or not. McKenna wouldn't have been the difference between us finishing second and fourth given the personnel we had at the start of the season in that position (Hoban, Devlin, Considine, Ball) and we certainly wouldn't have predicted the injuries we suffered. We could have picked up a free transfer like Halford to make up the numbers until January. The risk of McKenna having a poor season or getting injured just wouldn't have been worth the money not received given the average abilities of the rest of the team.

[Panda]

Have the club themselves not been on record as saying the bid was no-where near £6.5m?

[Slim]

Dylan McGeough has been struggling to get into Sunderland's starting 11 in League One, wouldn't be surprised to see him back up the road in the summer, especially if they get promoted. That would be a bread and butter McInnes signing.

[RicoS321]

Would also be a pretty decent one though. I don't think he's as good as Shinnie (despite many suggesting otherwise when he was at Hibs) but he's good and he's good in this league. We can afford a few risks down South but we'll need the tried and tested to ensure that we don't end up massively worse next season. That's not specific to McInnes' ability to sign players either, just a general truism.

[Slim]

Jamie Walker would probably be another one, nowhere near the first team since signing from Hearts. Similar type of player to Greg Stewart I think.

[tlg1903]

A month after the fact still reported as 6.5 mill. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45805859

 

I've never once heard the club say it was less, not saying it didn't happen but I didn't hear it if they did.  Got a source for that?

[Panda]

A month after the fact still reported as 6.5 mill. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45805859

 

I've never once heard the club say it was less, not saying it didn't happen but I didn't hear it if they did.  Got a source for that?

 

It actually says in your link "reported as £6.5m", which is the writer of that article just stating that reports in other media have said it was £6.5m. They aren't stating it as a fact themselves.

 

I can't find the link, but I'm fairly sure the club said Villa's offer was not the £6.5m reported at the time, or at the very least wasn't the initial fee (likely loads of add ons and clauses that could potentially have made it that high one day). Stoke offered less than £5m in January, and you wouldn't expect a club to offer less than a bid that has already been rejected. Same with Celtic and their £3.5m bid.

[Jute]

Dylan McGeough has been struggling to get into Sunderland's starting 11 in League One, wouldn't be surprised to see him back up the road in the summer, especially if they get promoted. That would be a bread and butter McInnes signing.

 

Mates who support Sunderland say he has played well when in the team but the problem is he has never been fully fit. Missed Saturday due to injury again. Would be surprised if Sunderland would be looking to sell just yet.

[Ten Caat]

We offered to make McGeouch our highest paid player last summer but he chose an even bigger wage to go play in EFL1 (granted at a team who really shouldn't be there). Can't seem to stay fit for any length of time. It's a no for me, especially as he would want his wages down there at least matched....topping what we have offered Shinnie to stay.

 

Walker might be worth taking a punt on but as far as I'm aware has hardly featured at all in 2 years. Was excellent for Hearts but his form seemed to desert him after the proposed sevco move fell through. Maybe take him on loan for 6 months to see if he clicks and take it from there?

 

[Ten Caat]

I definitely believe the £6.5 million figure but remember that Villa wanted him on loan till January first before the fee kicked in IF they chose to make the transfer permanent. It would have left us short of a key player with only days to go till the end of the transfer window which is why IIRC we refused the deal.

 

His form all season has been up and down.....but has still collected Scotland caps despite making a few howlers for both club and country. Some folk are saying he is still young and errors can be expected whilst he is still learning. Possibly fair comment but I really do think that whilst there may be interest from clubs down south in summer, I cant see them wanting to pay more than £4-5 million. With Boyata likely offski, can see Celtic returning with a bid in that region.

[KennyFuckinPowers]

Does anyone know what our numbers will be after the loans expire and the out of contract players leave, as well as the potential McKenna departure, and including the players currently loaned out ( Wright, Ross, Anderson etc... )

 

We could be facing the most threadbare squad come the end of the season that we have maybe witnessed previously ( In my lifetime that I remember anyway )

 

 

[manc_don]

Does anyone know what our numbers will be after the loans expire and the out of contract players leave, as well as the potential McKenna departure, and including the players currently loaned out ( Wright, Ross, Anderson etc... )

 

We could be facing the most threadbare squad come the end of the season that we have maybe witnessed previously ( In my lifetime that I remember anyway )

 

If you thought what we're going to be left with is threadbare, my local side the Wellington Phoenix have just been shafted by their manager, and squad size next season? 6.

[LA-Don]

If you thought what we're going to be left with is threadbare, my local side the Wellington Phoenix have just been shafted by their manager, and squad size next season? 6.

 

6, that's about right - keep Lewis, Devlin, McKenna, Ferguson..... wait that's 4. And McInnes shafts us by staying.

[Ten Caat]

Devlin has been utter pants since his return from injury. I have grave reservations about his long term fitness but the fact remains that he is being kept out the side by Considine at present. And rightly so...

 

Surely keep young Campbell who will see a lot more game time next season? McLennan also. And Cosgrove. But everyone else (i'm not counting the loan signings) yep I agree can go either for free or relatively small fees. May as well do a total rebuild as what we are facing is pretty major anyway.

[LA-Don]

Devlin has been utter pants since his return from injury. I have grave reservations about his long term fitness but the fact remains that he is being kept out the side by Considine at present. And rightly so...

 

Surely keep young Campbell who will see a lot more game time next season? McLennan also. And Cosgrove. But everyone else (i'm not counting the loan signings) yep I agree can go either for free or relatively small fees. May as well do a total rebuild as what we are facing is pretty major anyway.

 

I don’t think Devlin ever got match fit after coming back, think he’ll come good with a preseason in him. We keep the kids, Anderson McLennan Rossx2, Campbell, I’m meaning the older more senior players. Cosgrove can fuck off too, scores 20 to date and I still think he’s pish. I’d take any money we get offered, surely players like him can be found in the lower leagues. Playing him means we spend to much time lumping aimless high balls and the guy is just not my cup of tea. The bizarre thing is we punted Rooney because (I think) we wanted something more in a center forward..... and then we end up with Sam....

[Guest kiriakovisthenewstrachan]

Cosgrove can fuck off too, scores 20 to date and I still think he’s pish. I’d take any money we get offered, surely players like him can be found in the lower leagues. Playing him means we spend to much time lumping aimless high balls and the guy is just not my cup of tea. The bizarre thing is we punted Rooney because (I think) we wanted something more in a center forward..... and then we end up with Sam....

 

That is extremely harsh LA.  The guy is 22 years old and this is the first time he has played a full season at any level yet he has scored more goals in a season than most of our players in the last 30 years!  He might never turn into a world beater but he is only going to get better as he gets more first team experience.  Could end up making the club an awful lot of money in the future.

[Guest kiriakovisthenewstrachan]

Can't see why everyone thinks we will be so short of players next season.

 

Of the team that played on Sunday you would expect we will likely loose McKenna, Lowe and Stewart.  We also have McGinn, Logan and Devlin that did not start in the semi final.  The squad itself is not the biggest but I don't think we will be making loads of signings.  Would expect us to be signing a left back, a Shinnie replacement and a forward and maybe a couple of others to add to the squad.

 

Yes, the quality of fitba has been poor for much of the season but we've been to a cup final and a semi final and are pushing again for europe.  It's not that bad - in reality there are 9 other teams in this league that would snap your hand off for a season like that. 

 

Not sure why so many Dons fans feel so entitled to be doing so much better.  Watched some of the Barca v Man Utd game last night and for two teams with similar financial clout it was like men against boys and that is in the quarter final of the champions league yet a lot of our support seem to think we should easily be competing with teams that have the ability to spend money on players that our club can only dream about.  All too recently we watched our team struggle at the bottom end of the table and escape relegation by the skin of our teeth but now after a few decent seasons a growing number of people seem to want to dispense with a manager who is getting us to cup finals and into europe every season.  Bizarre.

[ayrshire_don74]

deary me... the football has been turgid and has been for a few seasons, lack of imagination in terms of signings, failure to progress in Europe when there were opportunities there, poor record in cups... that is the other side of the coin, its just wanting to improve and strive to be better, DM is in a comfort zone... i guess Ajax fans think like you also...

 

The product is pish I am afraid and if it doesnt get better the attendances will decrease as they have this season.

 

One thing if Killie beat us on Saturday and finish above us, is that enough to say times up or do we drag out aye it was much worse under Mcghee....

[RicoS321]

deary me... the football has been turgid and has been for a few seasons, lack of imagination in terms of signings, failure to progress in Europe when there were opportunities there, poor record in cups... that is the other side of the coin, its just wanting to improve and strive to be better, DM is in a comfort zone... i guess Ajax fans think like you also...

 

The product is pish I am afraid and if it doesnt get better the attendances will decrease as they have this season.

 

One thing if Killie beat us on Saturday and finish above us, is that enough to say times up or do we drag out aye it was much worse under Mcghee....

 

Let's be honest, it hasn't been turgid for a few seasons. It's been poorer for two seasons. At points last season it was still a pretty high standard (based on our league and based on this century by any team outwith the cheeks). Three seasons ago we were banging in goals in a manner we haven't done since Shearer was up front. We scored 7 goals in more than one game and six in another. To say it was turgid is to hold AFC to a ridiculously high standard. We were excellent that season by any standard any non-scum team has set in the last 25 years.

 

After losing Hayes and McGinn we struggled significantly but still turned out some excellent performances such as the hibs one at Pittodrie and we finished an impressive second in the league with some very good post-split performances. I think that's an acceptable state of affairs given the difficulty in replacing players lost. However, because we were so far away in our signings (May, GMS, Stewart, Maynard etc) it set us up for another poor season. May, GMS etc weren't terrible, but they were significantly poorer than what came before.

 

Going into this season we followed up poor signings with poor signings and it's put us further behind. We've had some great results and a handful of decent performances (Hearts at Pittodrie, the early league games where GMS was playing well, the Huns at Ibrox etc), but we're grinding most performances out and one or two injuries are having a huge impact on the overall performance (Shinnie at the weekend, Lowe on boxing day). It's been mostly poor.

 

I don't think we should overstate the problem, but still recognising that there is a problem. To me, getting a new manager in won't fix the fundamental issue with recruitment. One thing that the Tims did really well under Lennon in his first spell was set up a good recruitment network that put ready-made players under his nose with only the paperwork to go. We're either not doing that, or we've got the wrong people doing it. McInnes can't be expected to do everything on his own and neither can any replacement. That recruitment wing of the club needs a complete overhaul to get people who can decipher what the manager needs in a player and recognise that in players in other leagues. If I could see that Gleeson wasn't dynamic enough for our first team in 30 minutes, then our scouts should have. Scouts can watch these guys over 5-6 games, with a manger likely only to see 1 (Lampard only came up to see one dons game as an example before going for Shinnie) where a player could just have a good game or they are already sold on them by the scout. McInnes takes the blame, but the problem clearly is far more systemic (we've barely scouted and signed a good player this century). Guys like Tansey, Zola etc show he's hit or miss in his own judgement so as a club we need to do significantly better. In my opinion, McInnes showed a couple of seasons ago that he could get a team to play fitba, but a team with poorer players he resorts to game management and grinding out results. A change in manager will just be something different to that.

 

[TheDeeDon]

Last season wasn't too bad if being honest, we were still playing well in most games, although not quite as consistent as in previous seasons, I think the bonus of last season was the run in the final fixtures which clinched us the runner up spot in the league which at one point looked as though it may be beyond our reach.

 

This season has been very poor, both performance and result wise. We have always had a resilience in the team since DM has been our manager and usually manage to grind out a result when required, maybe not the greatest of performances at times, but still grab the points, but this season has seen none of that. On the plus side we have a couple of kids in the team in Ferguson and McLennan which has been a bonus, the downside has been the failure of our key signings of Forrester and Gleeson and would have to lump Stewart in January into that bracket as it really hasn't happened for him up here again in my opinion.

 

I would have been happier this season if the performances were better than they have been as I can get over us having a 'bad' season, I have seen plenty in my time and much worse than this one, but just the lack of entertainment on the park which is a major worry and has made me doubt renewing my season ticket for next season, I will, but not doing so with any enthusiasm and not looking forward to see who we bring in over the summer.

 

A change of manager would be best, but don't believe it is going to happen.

[Ten Caat]

After my absolutely theoretical explanation of how we might be able to bag Jamie Walker for next season...…….lo and behold a post appears on the Hat within the last hour saying we have made an enquiry for him 

 

Later on tonight I will be posting some more revelations on how we can get Harry Kane in on a 4 year contract by doing a swap for May and luring Mourinho in as manager by offering the incentive of a crate of Lidl tinned sardines per point gained.

[ayrshire_don74]

walker was decent at hearts?