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Do we really need a manager? They just seem to make things worse.

So yet again in his interview Robinson bemoans the fact the players aren’t showing what they show in training or doing what they do in training in actual games. Er, 2 things Stephen: Maybe they look better in training because they are playing against the rest of the dross in our squad instead of actual footballers If they’re not doing what you coach them to do, that’s 100% on you. This isn’t going to end well - yet again - is it…

The good news is that Kerr & Craigan are punted as well 👍

Not having a go, but why on earth would anyone take Lennon? Has achieved absolutely nothing as a manager other than at Celtic where a chimpanzee could have won those trophies given the financial advantages he had. He’s also got serious personal issues and flaws, we’ve had managers like that (Paterson anyone) so why on earth would we go down that road again? The one thing I’d say for him is I did like his attitude when at Hibs and the fact he never backed down or shat the bed against the uglies - we could definitely do with some of that attitude - but the myriad red flags waaaaay outweigh that. So for the avoidance of doubt, its a no from The Moog jury…

Bad news today with the announcement of Billy Little’s death at 86. He was a first team regular when I first attended Pittodrie in 1966, and was a very good winger, who occasionally played as a striker. I hope the club commemorates Billy’s contribution appropriately. Sleep easy min.

Admins, can we give out bans to those who voted for him to stay? 😁

Ironically, watching Milne defend usually does it for me.

Fuck all to do with me 😂

Can we get rid of Lutz at the same time? He is equally culpable for this squad of jobbers

How bad are the in laws if you'd rather go to Pittodrie?

Both Rama and Shinnie could look up at a team with forward wide passing options. Put yourself in the shoes of whoever plays defensive cnetre mid for aberdeen rn. What are your passing options forward for a two touch pass? Imagine back to when we had jack mackenzie and shady mo or calvin ramsay vs now. Robinson insists on not playing mitchel frame, gyamfi, devlin was frozen out until the manager had no other choice. Now it doesn't matter if you're Rama, Shinnie, Aremu or Andrea fucking Pirlo you pick the ball up in your own half there's no wide forward pass, only ever sideways, and the centre of the park is congested so it's trying to thread the needle or play into feet where the receiver has his back to goal, and then inevitably it's hoof ball. People criticize Aremu for giving the ball away, for poor passing he's the one presenting for the ball every single time and every single time he tries to get his head up and pick a pass there's nothing on and it's just a food fight in the centre of the pitch. And it's not so much Robinson had no sense of midfiled strats it's that he has no sense of the importance of shape and the importance of developing players in clearly defined positions according to a clear identity, which is what managing a big club is about. He's about playing the averages and jobbers filling utility positions on the team sheet. That's fine if you're Livingston or Killie it's not if you're Aberdeen.

This annoys me more than it should. You're not at St Mirren, we're not plucky underdogs having a big day out at Hampden. We've won this competition six times and beat Rangers many times at Hampden. And the pressure isn't all on Rangers. Robinson could be out of a job on Sunday if we get a doing.

Is that one of his later ones?

I've buried the trauma of Mcghee so deep that any attempt at recollection just draws a merciful blank. I'll need to look him up on Wikipedia.

Neil Lennon would be a terrible, lazy appointment. Won things at Celtic when given huge resources (but also struggled badly when given a challenge by Gerrard). Has done little to nothing elsewhere. Had a good cup run last season, but Dunfermline sitting mid-table doesn't smack of a guy performing any sort of revolution at East End Park.

I have no idea about contemporary fitba beyond the Dons and Keith, so have no input of value in suggesting who might be a replacement for the most recent sucker. I was musing earlier on, however, about the Pittodrie gafferage I can recall since I uttered my first “fuck, er…I mean oh dear” around 1964 when my interest initially took hold. E&OE excepted, of course Pearson Interim Shaw Turnbull Bonthrone Interim Murray McLeod McNeill Ferguson Interim Knox Porterfield Eeeehhhh Smith/Scott 6 Aitken Interim Burkinshaw Fucking Fucking Fucking Alex Fucking Miller whose face I’d never tire of battering with a shovel, a huge heavy fucker of a fucking shovel, perhaps even the front bucket of a JCB, the cunt.* Interim Hegarty Skovdahl Interim Speirs Paterson Calderwood McGhee FFS Interim Neils Cooper and Simpson Broon McInnes Interims Sheerin, Robson, Simmie Glass Interim Robson Goodwin, the fucking fraud Robson Interim Pete Warnock Interim Pete Thelin Interim Pete Robinson Interim Duff *other than the foregoing, I have no particularly strong feelings about the useless negative cunt of hell and several surrounding postal code districts

I don’t see how Pep Guardiola can give the opportunity a miss to finally prove he is Sir Alex’s equal.

9-12 Months. That confident. We've still time to get someone in and out again, by the time the January window closes.

Was the only player on the pitch acting like a captain for us last night. We can call him shyte and say his legs have gone, but the guy gives a shit and gets it. I thought Robinson would have loved Nicky Devlin in his team. The type of player who runs through brick walls for you and never hides on the pitch. We needed more Devlin types in the summer and got Brad Lyons instead.

💯 Absolute charlatan. He can GTF, and Robinson simply has to go this weekend. Fuck me we’ve got a dreadful squad. And we need another DM - it’s the same story every match when Aremu is hooked: you can drive a coach and horses through our midfield without a holding midfielder in there.

I suspect Robinson has been operating under a reduced budget anyway. They'll have been attempting to get "value for money", but instead have just signed average players. Just like we saw under Pele, latterly under Calderwood and even under McInnes (Main was a budget May for example). It's usually a false economy, because guys like Lyons and Mayo will expect to be paid more for us than they'd get elsewhere, so the financial advantage you have over the diddy sides disappears to the point of being a hindrance. There's not much difference between Lyons and guys like Danny Griffin or Neil MacFarlane. Or Mayo and Paul Quinn. They aren't terrible players, but as soon as you go down the road of making them starters every week (and not just one or two of them), then you're basically on par with Motherwell, Dundee utd etc.

I think he’s also a little bit of a dick. Can’t see him rallying the troops. Sounds more like he’ll alienate himself and piss everyone off with his grumpy wee man syndrome. (Apologies, all the tactical insights have been used up by others so this was all I had to offer).

Yes and no. McGrath would have been with us for an entire season and would have effected the other signings we made, so it's not a case of deciding whether he could slot in to this side or not. What was scandalous about the McGrath situation is that it was obvious at the time, and not just us pining in hindsight. Armstrong was only brought in to replace him after the window was closed. We've then proceeded to play Armstrong in a series of roles that he is unsuited (just as Robson did with McGrath) instead of understanding that he was a direct replacement for the McGrath position; either the no 10, or left in a 4-2-3-1. There's a good chance that we'd have fucked that up with McGrath too I guess. It was clear when we re-signed Nisbet that we'd quickly come up against the limitations he places on the side. It was doubly clear that it should have prohibited him from being Captain too. Nisbet is a player you need to build a team (or forward line) around, and we seem to have signed a bunch of players that does the opposite. A 4-2-3-1 suits Nisbet perfectly, but our centre backs don't suit a four (although Knoester and Mayo seems to work, potentially). It's a formation that needs two good midfielders, and Ronan is possibly the only one who can manage to perform one of the roles, with Aremu too inconsistent and Lyons not good enough without a better Aremu type alongside. We end up playing a 3-5-2, just so Nisbet can be accommodated with another striker, which brings out the worst in our fullbacks and we end up bypassing midfield for large parts, aiming for two strikers too close to one another, neither of whom can hold up the ball when under pressure.

Shinnie?

Guests arriving at the hall of fame dinner on Thursday.

Better than expected for sure. Huns are very flat. Lacking intensity. A shite bag McInnes showing so far. Our lot just lack belief (Obi 2 notable exception - he’s well up for it). More belief and composure & there’s a chance here. We need much more from the front 2 though. The level of physicality from Nisbet has been pathetic and Moloua needs to stay on his fuckin feet. Hold the ball up and bring others into play lads - that’s yer job, start doing it. Oh & Devlin is so much better than Cadden its unreal. Not even close…

Why, were you working? 😄

I’m not defending him, but that’s just not apples for apples as a comparison. In the 7 years prior to Cormack. The hun died Hearts, Hibs & Utd were all relegated and out the league for periods of at least a season if not longer - some at the same time. The fact we only won one trophy in that time was also a massive failure. Cormack’s management of the football side has been a massive failure and the stats are damning just looking at his 7 years in charge - we don’t need to reference the previous 7 years to know that…

Considine was weak as pish for his first couple of seasons, at least. He was still being called weak about six years into his Dons career despite having developed massively after the first couple. He was regularly knocked off the ball by smaller opponents and giving away stupid penalties because he wasn't aggressive enough in the initial challenge and was just generally non committal. Anderson was weak at right back, but that experience set him up really nicely for full time adult fitba. Guys like McKenna and Graham for the scum of the dee are in the minority, players that come in with an aggression of a manny. I'd argue that Knoester appears to be a lot more aggressive this season than previously. I think a lot of it comes with just playing regularly against the same type of players and knowing that you have the strength to go and attack the ball. Milne still looks a little on the skinny side, with weak legs, a bit like Diamond did. A bit of work down the gym and he might begin to believe in his own strength. He should be spending three hours a day trying to win headers against Olusanya, that'd sort him out. I'm saying aggression here, but really I'm talking about confidence. Confidence that you can go and attack the ball and win it. The best part about Considine's development, was that when he gained the confidence in the challenge, it also massively improved his concentration. He lost those jitters that Milne still has. That didn't make Considine a world beater, just the best he could be - he reached his ceiling with us. In my opinion, we're not seeing anywhere close to the best Milne can be. Considine and Anderson both had that learning at fullback, and that's perhaps something Milne could get. He'd get huge confidence from winning headers in the air against the smaller winger, but still at mannies level fitba. I don't know if that's an option available unfortunately.

Russell Anderson and Andy Considine fit the bill I’d say.

Thought we relied too much on the ineffective cross ball today. Utd defenders had significant height advantage and we were never going to impact game that way. Aremu going off at HT was really stupid. He was providing all the protection in midfield and we surrendered 15-20 yards as a result. Thought GW had one of his better games but was getting caught later on when he tired. I love watching Mouloua, some of his movement and little rapid touches were brilliant in the first half. Felt like Nisbet struggled to keep tabs on what he was doing. He works really hard on and off the ball and is determined to win the ball, uses his physicality really well. It was never a game for Olusanya when Utd were sitting deep and protecting a lead. He did nothing. Milne in a 4 is far too soft, especially if the FBs are still going to play high. Way too exposed. Utd have been playing that quick turn in transition and when they went after us at 2-2 we got a bit overwhelmed. Best I’ve seen us play in a while but just too open at 2-2 with that backline, should have been a bit more canny. I really hope we stick with Mouloua and Nisbet up top. If it clicks it could be brilliant.

Can we not just enjoy the win? St mirren had a 25 minute purple patch and deserved to be level at least at half time. The second half was one way traffic though with good subs being made too. Whether it's papering over cracks or not remains to be seen but it was a much needed result.

Robinson spent pre-season telling everyone the team was going to be playing four at the back and it would be a case of getting forward quickly, high pressing, lots on intensity. We didn't sign the players to play it. So, now we're back to a 3/5 man defence. We can't really play 3-4-3 because we haven't signed good enough wingers. So we're playing 3-5-2. But, Cadden and Guinness-Walker don't provide enough from the wings, and unless you play Olysanya then playing a front two appears to actually nullify our best finisher, Nisbet. But, playing Olusanya means no room for Mouloua in this system. It feels like we have a new midfield every week. We needed to sign new centre halves, but today started with three from last season because the ones we've signed aren't good enough. They weren't the main culprits today of course (handball v Milne apart) but he clearly doesn't trust them enough to play a back four. The worry is - this is very similar to Robinson's campaign at St Mirren last season. We have the same number of league victories at this stage (two) as they did, and also have a League Cup semi to paper over the cracks. We've built a counter attacking team, which is why Motherwell away was such a success. But in the league we have failed to even score at home to Kilmarnock and St Johnstone, and I don't expect a huge amount in the next two v St Mirren and Falkirk.

To give him another few weeks.

As ludicrous as sitting in a dug out with the manager? The little useless prick, and I genuinely believe he is a useless prick, needs to fuck off.

Not one manager, and I include McInnes in this, since leaving us have done anything in football management that could be deemed a success that showcases we were wrong to punt them. That list includes first time managers, experienced managers who know the league and foreign managers who had a credible reason for being appointed. Robinson obviously falls into the same category as Goodwin in that he is an experienced manager who also knows our league but there is nothing in the slightest to suggest that when we do eventually get shot of him that he'll deliver any success that will deem our sacking of him hasty. The football on show has been shockingly bad, there is zero excitement/entertainment to be had watching us, his line-ups are baffling as are the vast majority of his substitutions. He hasn't gelled with the supporters and if anything he has lost a vast amount of fans who were willing to give him a chance when he signed on. The decision to cull so much of last seasons squad has came back to bite him big time as a very high % of his signings are nowhere near an improvement on some who departed and we now have lengthy contracts dished out to sub-standard players. Even if we do beat Hibs, and I don't think we will, it'll simply be an opportunity for Robinson to come out and say he's revitalised his squad and they are finally buying into what he wants from them and that we'll see an improvement moving forward with better performances and results only for things to come crashing down after the international break when we pick up a couple of points from 5 fixtures and we're back to square one. He kept us out of the play-off positions last year, I 100% believe that's where we were headed under Leven & Co, and for that I and many others are grateful but he has failed on just about every level possible as the manager of our club since the final fixture of last season and his time is up.

The Donstalk fridge has been hacked.

If it goes badly, the unemployed list

It's a mixed bag for me. Clearly the transition from McInnes to Glass was horribly managed. Goodwin was always going to be a shit hire with limited upside but can understand the thinking of him being a low-risk, experienced option after Glass and I'll forgive him for how Robson turned out - he absolutely earned the right to get the full-time job even if hindsight tells us differently. Warnock was an absolute shambles of a decision. But then he arguably did the right thing in recognising that he has not been getting it right and brought in external consultants to review everything and give us a plan to work with. Whether they were charlatans or not is a different story. So with a bit of self-reflection and an unfathomable amount of cash, we have a strategy. So overall we should now be in a good place to move forward. Thelin, decent hire at the time based on track record, fits with the strategy. However, despite the cup win, we were never really on the 3-year plan trajectory that we had been promised and that came to an inevitable conclusion after 18 months. This is now where he has failed as a leader and I've seen this a few times in non-football business where the strategy implementation does not go to plan, people panic and chuck the strategy in the bin. Strategy implementation can go wrong for a variety of reasons that don't necessarily mean the strategy was wrong. My feeling is that we had the right strategy, we were not successful in the implementation. So now we're in a position where we have a Director of Football hired from the strategy consultants who has hired a manager who does not fit with the strategy and has just presided over a high-turnover transfer window that also clearly does not fit with the strategy. We seem to be completely lacking in direction, there's no evidence of any kind of culture or identity on the pitch or off it. We've traded an expensive "top 100 clubs in Europe" strategy to basically become St Mirren North FC, and fixing that mess will be another expense we likely cannot afford. So for me, Cormack mostly gets a pass (except the Warnock era) for everything up to Thelin's departure, everything since then has been a failure.

Incidentally. Paul Mason > Paul Merson.

I’m 100% behind cormack. It’s the yank in me. He’s willing to spend money and take risks. He wants to be successful and will gamble, he’ll listen to feedback and try to hire those who can do their job. Why aren’t man utd successful? Chelsea? Spurs? Newcastle? Why didn’t Liverpool win after klopp, they had it all. Why don’t they all win every year? Why can’t they all keep managers? All have a ton of money. It’s not easy. If forming a football club structure was simple we’d have mastered it, as would many a club. So many clubs do things differently. How many teams win season after season, how many clubs sack managers. How many consistently successful managers are there? Not many. Take Celtic, the money they have received in recent years, they should win the league by 20 or more every year. They shouldn’t really drop any points domestically. Even they have their struggles, their set up, their manager. They struggle, going backwards in europe it seems, it’s just a different struggle to us, but their fans aren’t happy either. Across the way at Mordor, go on a bad run and Mcinnes wouldn’t see the season out. It’s possible. We’re failing right now but I credit cormack for not sticking with Mcinnes. He wanted more. Mcinnes staying and funding him would have been safe. But he wanted more, he saw that Mcinnes was limited. But more isn’t easy. It’s painful going through this but moving away from cormack, like moving away from Mcinnes, guarantees nothing. Curious to start reading the new manager thread again. Prob should be warming that up.

If he gets more time he’ll get us relegated, just like Goodwin would have. The expectations here are higher than United. That’s just a fact. It’s not us being delusional either, the expectations we have for how we expect the club to perform are perfectly realistic for a club this size in this league with the budget we have. McInnes first 4 years is the benchmark. Decent competitive team, signing decent quality from smaller Scottish teams, finishing high up the league, competing to late stages in cups, generally beating the teams we should beat given the budget advantages and in the main giving the arse cheeks a tough game win or lose. The trouble is, for some reason we keep appointing managers and signing players who are totally incapable of coping with these expectations and delivering them, and who just fold like a cheap suit at the first sign of the pressure coming on…

Warnock is not going to surrender that crown easily, you get me.

2-0 ahead from the first leg in Spain, we struggled to get through them at Pittodrie, until Joe Harper howitzrered one in from 25 yards in the final minute. The white mark from top to bottom on the Iberian ‘keeper’s shirt from his collision with the goal post was literally a mark of how accurate Joe was when he saw an opportunity. I am very old. 😕

A page and a half in today’s Herald Sport about the canine-copulating treacherous little fucker getting zero game time in Smoggieland. Karma’s a cunt, eh? And so is he.

The day after their humiliation upon the return to the Tattiedome seems like as good a time as ever to share this. This video documents the last two games of the season and the pain they suffered as told by the fans themselves Fill your boots with maroon tears.

Fuck it. I'm going to keep my head in the clouds and go for 1-2 (take a very early lead, play like shit, then snatch a very late winner) And I am predicting all other results go our way and we finish the weekend in 4th - 2 points of 3rd. There's some Monday morning positivity to get us all through the week.

Written in blood.

I think I preferred when we had our team of project underachievers under Thelin - we still didn't win anything, but there was always the potential someone would suddenly start playing football however briefly. For a worryingly high percentage of our current players, this is their ceiling right here. They will not get better.