wokinginashearerwonderland

Fair play to Cormack in having the balls to try this new era.  He has got rid of a hell of a lot of proven ability in McInnes, Docherty, McKenna, Cosgrove and Logan to bring in a rookie manager, unproven assistant manager plus what looks like a good few young players.  This will either be a masterstroke or backfire spectacularly.  If it works we will have great fitba and a couple of trophies in the bank.  If it fails you could see McInnes laughing at us fighting relegation while he sits back in third place with maybe a Hearts bodywarmer on.  Who knows, it should make for an interesting couple of seasons.     

56 minutes ago, ayrshire_don74 said:

what leadership qualities did Mcnamara and Newell have ? actually any of them ? big assumption to make , might have been toxic in the dressing room

Aye, fair enough you are probably right.  Barry Robson must have been toxic in the dressing room because he is still there 8 years later and Aitken must have been toxic in the dressing room to be given the managers job.  McNamara had no leadership qualities despite have captained Celtic.  Craig Brewster would have had no leadership qualities having actually managed teams before he came to us.  And of course the younger players would have learned nothing from Mike Newell because it was only the english premiership that he had won.

57 minutes ago, ayrshire_don74 said:

in guys like Brewster, McNamara, Aitken, Newell, Robson

 

My recollection most of these were shite or had little tangible impact

Leadership qualities, helping younger players develop good habits.  Not suggesting that signing someone of 36 or 37 that they are going to be our star player.

5 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

Fuck sake, we're not talking about about somebody being a dick as a player, we're talking about the gaslighting of our black player. The two are poles apart. To dress that up as fans getting sucked into the emotion of things is gaslighting in itself. It's ridiculous that these things need to be explained in the 21st century. 

To be clear, it's not something that directly affects me, and I believe that Brown made an error of judgement, but if the club are projecting itself as a club that stands against racism - and it does - then it's a fucking humongous elephant in the room to leave unaddressed.

No, you are the one talking about the Logan incident.  If you actually read this thread properly there is reference to incidents with Cosgrove, Watkins, Shinnie and more.  None of those has anything to do with racism and all to do with Brown being a dick as a player.

Brown will be a shrewd signing.  We have been lacking an experienced head in the middle of the park and it is great to have someone in the team who knows how to win first and foremost.  Experience is such an under-rated quality and getting in guys like Brewster, McNamara, Aitken, Newell, Robson and the likes can only be a benefit for the youngsters.  Players who have seen it, done it and have the medals to back it up.  Despite what our fans think about Brown, I'd imagine he will command instant respect from our younger players.  His "history" with us I suspect is something that fans make a hell of a lot more of than players.  Cannot see that any players would harbour a grudge for someone once having kicked a ball at someone else or a bit of a reckless tackle a year or two ago.  It goes on all the time.  Fans get sucked into the emotion of these things because it is their team but for players, it is just a job.

Glass would not have been my choice as manager but if he is the chosen one then good luck to him.  Cormack is a prudent businessman and it is partly his money at stake so he must see something in him that makes him think Glass can be a success as there are plenty other "safer" candidates he could have appointed instead.

5 hours ago, sancho_panza said:

I also hope it doesn't go the same way because Aitken was a complete disaster - he's pretty much the epitome of what Cormack was talking about last week about us wasting huge transfer fees on bad singings in the 90s. He won a trophy but spent £3.6 million (about £7 million in today's money) trying to build a squad and left us as relegation fodder shortly afterwards. Probably carries more blame than just about anyone for the 15 years of dross we all experienced from the mid-90s onwards.

Disagree with this.  Remember the state we were in before Aitken arrived?  We were doomed and he saved the club from first division football.  Despite what Miller did for the club as a player he was getting us relegated that season.

16 minutes ago, RicoS321 said:

Would any of them be worth the price though? Are they actually good managers? Or just "big names"? I wouldn't be enamoured with any of them. The manager you employ has to be relevant to the league and budget within which you operate. One of the reasons that Gerrard has managed to finally get success at the hun is because it was a very good fit for him. He could get players at the lower-mid end of the Liverpool cast-off pool whom he knew were good players. With a decent knowledge of the game down south at the hun level of salary, and an extremely competent staff behind him (especially in recruitment), they've seen a lot less failures in the transfer market. If he'd come to Aberdeen, for example, he would have struggled to do that because we'd never be affording Kent or Aribo (let alone Defoe) and he wouldn't have had the recruitment staff to mitigate his lack of knowledge in our market. 

From that perspective, Neil is a far better fit than any of the above. He'll know good Championship players within our budget, he's got a good understanding of the game in Scotland. He's had succesful periods as a manager in Scotland and England.

What would be the point in Van Bommel if he's only got the budget for Calvin Zola? What would he bring other than a cheap thrill to the fans for a few months until he's inevitably found out? What makes Mark Hughes a good manager?

 

Agree with most of that Rico re the new manager.  The hun recruitment thing is a total myth though.  If you look at their comings and goings over the last three seasons they have had a horrendous amount of players leave having failed to deliver anything.  The reason they have succeeded is because they have just continued to throw money at it until they eventually ended up with eleven good players.  The ratio of good buys to bad is probably no better than ours.  Celtic is the same, for every Edouard there is a Scott Allan, Shayne Duffy and Jack Hendry.

5 hours ago, HaarDon said:

I'm not talking straight away and i dont feel it's fantasy once we clear out a few players and get crowds back.

And yeah, I'll put a few mill in of course.

The board according to figures on the other forum mentioned they had put something like £15million towards the training ground so why is it such a fantasy they wont spend 2 or 3 million on players over the course of say this summer and next season.

Of course it is fantasy.  The need to take £150,000 for Wright in January when he was a key player for us earlier in the season speaks volumes.

Clubs are on their knees at the moment and people are kidding themselves if they really believe a new manager is going to have a big transfer kitty.  We have spent virtually nothing on transfer fees in the last 20 years (as has 80% of teams in our league), that is not going to change dramatically following a year with vastly reduced income.

12 hours ago, HaarDon said:

I think we should spend a few million on good players.

We sold McKenna and Cosgrove for million that we didnt really expect.(ok McKenna's value grew and we knew we could get a few mill for him in the end)

With the right manager and the financial backing/crowds hopefully coming back, we are looking at a huge change to AFC and I for one have every trust in Cormack delivering.

 

That is pure fantasy min.  Are you going to be putting in the millions yourself like?  The money received for McKenna and Cosgrove does not make up what money has been lost in the last year with not having any fans in Pittodrie. 

5 hours ago, Panda said:

It would have been worse surely had Cormack been speaking to potential managers while McInnes was still in place? 

There's every chance McInnes was told he could remain until the end of the season and declined. Cant imagine it'd be much fun going in front of the media to explain you've been sacked but are carrying on, likewise the players might lose respect for you. He also probably doesn't want another fourth place finish on his record.

If it is Glass, then Aberdeen have actually moved very quickly here. Compare that to Hearts and how long it took then to get Daniel Stendal, Rangers when McInnes turned them down and they went the rest of the season with Graeme Murty, and Celtic who sacked Lennon a week before McInnes yet appear no closer to appointing someone.

Not sure why it would have been worse to be sounding out a successor behind the scenes before McInnes was punted, that's what most forward thinking clubs would be doing.

I think you misunderstood the point about keeping him on til end of the season. I am not suggesting they gave him his notice then asked politely if he would like to stay on, just that they should have let him see out the season before giving him the sack, if that was their intention. No idea what Cormack thinks he will achieve by not having a proper manager in there for the next three months. 

Regardless of who the replacement is, really surprised at the action Cormack has taken.  There is a real lack of foresight.  If he knew he was going to be dispensing with McInnes why was the new manager not ready to go in the door before McInnes was out the end of Merkland Road?  Many in the press have uttered the point that McInnes should have been given until the end of the season because who is to say he would not have managed to overtake Hibs and grab third place.  Why then are we (seemingly) writing off this season by putting a novice team in charge until the end of the season when third place is deemed so important and we still have the Scottish Cup to compete in?  Leaving it until summer until a new man is in place is jeopardising not only a potentially good finish to this season but also handicapping us getting a flying start to next season.  The new manager will have to navigate a European tie before he even gets his feet under the desk.  So much has been said about the need to win trophies yet this year's cup is so unimportant that we will just chuck the reserve team coach in charge for it?  Bizarre.

It is a good interview this and as McMaster says, nobody likes a loser.  But I cannot help but think the people who were around to see our "glory days", both players and fans, just do not seem to appreciate or perhaps just plainly cannot accept, how different things are to back then and the fact that it is simply no longer a level playing field.  Even back to the early 90s we signed Charlie Nicholas from Arsenal!  We had a goalie and striker from the Dutch national team!

Yes, of course nobody should forgot the days when our club was one of the best in Europe but at times is just seems like no one is able to let go of that era.  We even get people coming out with stupid things like let's get Jack Ross or Jim Goodwin because the last time it worked out pretty good when we got a manager from St Mirren. 

There was a guy in the Evening Express the other day saying that based on our budget third should be the minimum requirement every season and we should be winning trophies and competing with the old firm.  Sorry to sound defeatist but the guy needs a reality check.  We've won one trophy in 25 years yet we are expecting a new manager to come in and demand that he floods the cabinet with silverware.  It is time to move on and just be sensible with what we are expecting a new manager to achieve.  By all accounts we are about to appoint a relatively inexperienced manager at SPL level whether it be Glass, Goodwin or someone from further afield.  We are short of money having had no crowds for a year and having to sell two of our most valuable players.  There is hardly going to be an open cheque book waiting for the new manager.  McMaster says above that only Rangers have been successful in recruitment.  Well it has taken them £100M+ to get there and there are multiple examples of poor signings along the way.  

1 hour ago, BigAl said:

This has to be the funniest thing you'll read today.

I mean seriously, Alex Rae, Barry Ferguson, Ally McCoist and thats me just focusing on the Hun bastards.

https://www.thesackrace.com/teams/aberdeen

If we have got rid of McInnes to get in anyone other than Stephen Robinson then we might as well all just give up. 

1 hour ago, baggy89 said:

 

Not sure if hun?

No Baggy, just a realist. Just because somebody does not share the same opinion as you, does not make them a supporter of another team. 

Just now, sancho_panza said:

Overall I don't think he was brilliant in his time here

Had more success than anyone else we've had in living memory 

Sums up our support for me.  I really do not know what people expect our club to be achieving.

Cannot believe we are three points off third place and firing a manager.  It is a disgraceful way to treat someone who has taken our club from being a laughing stock to consistently challenging for trophies again and shown a fair bit of loyalty to us when he could have taken the money elsewhere.  We've been here before with Calderwood and the years after that were horrendous.

It is one of those sackings that if another club had done it you would be wishing the next manager gets them relegated.  It is just over a year ago since Kilmarnock were fifth in the league and fired their manager.......................

Interesting view point above.  I don't see it at all as embarrassing.  It is an incredible achievement for anyone outside the old firm to win a trophy given the investment in their teams over the last 30 years.  Our league is no different to England, Spain or Germany in that a provincial side winning something nowadays is becoming rarer and rarer.  If you look at England, only 4 of their non "big six" teams have won their league cup in the last 20 years and their FA Cup is even worse with only 2 of the provincial sides winning it.  That is 6 trophies out of 40.  The gulf in cash between our top 2 sides and the rest is far greater than it is in England.  The idea that our club should just be able to rock up and collect a bit of silverware every few years just because we spend a wee bit more on wages that some other clubs is massively underestimating how difficult it is to win something.   

I don't think you will see Steve Clarke at Parkhead.  He hates the sectarian nature of Glasgow so cannot see him ending up there.  Would imagine they will want to get their fans back on side and therefore will end up with an old head beside a former player, someone who can take over from him in a couple of years like a Larsson or Maloney.  Martin O'Neill alongside Roy Keane would also be worth a bet. 

Would be surprised if we could afford this guy if the Celtic/Rangers interest is to be believed.

You have to remember we have just had to offload McKenna, Cosgrove, Wright and Main and loaned out Anderson, Ojo and Hernandez.  With no crowds likely until next season I would suspect the finances are pretty desperate at the moment as will be the case with most clubs.  Think I am also right in saying that a number of players deferred wages last year so that will need to get paid as well, certainly Jonny Hayes did. 

It would be madness to get rid of the manager.

Most will admit that we are unlikely to ever see another non old firm winner of the league.  Therefore realistically we are playing for third place each season unless something changes massively in how the prize money and tv money are split in this country.  Football has never been the same since 1995 when the Bosman ruling came in.  Money now determines how successful you can be.  That happened 19 seasons before McInnes was appointed and in those 19 seasons we managed 2 third place finishes.    

On the flip side, there is really very little between the team in third in our league and the team at the bottom and it is not unrealistic to say at the start of the season that any of the 10 non old firm clubs could finish in any order whatsoever.  Our club is only ever one bad season away from another relegation fight as we have seen in recent years from the two Edinburgh clubs.  Changing the manager is unlikely to make us any better but could make things 10 times worse than they are at the moment.  He will turn the form around if he gets the backing from the board and fans.