wokinginashearerwonderland

First half last night was a decent contest, second was rather farcical after Turra tired.

Made me think how difficult it must be to get defenders and keepers properly ready for the new season as we play only two testing games before Livi. Last night and against the Broch the defenders basically just walk about and we could probably manage without a goalie. Must be hard to get up to speed for the likes of Williams, Roos and co.

No sign of Anthony Stewart anywhere last night.

2 hours ago, OxfordDon said:

Seems Aberdeen is not immune to this ransacking of Scottish teams - rumours this morning that Saudi outfit Al-Hemmin have approached Aberdeen regarding Anthony Stewart for a "low seven figure sum".

Saudis seem determined to snap up all our best talent.

Apparently he has a £16M buy out clause in his contract. On that basis I would not let him leave for any less.

Seemed to be one of the most positive people you would ever hear.  He always thought we could win, even when you used to hear him as a pundit post retirement and he was asked to comment on an upcoming Scotland game.  Most people would have us written off but wee Craig always had a "sneaky feeling" Scotland would do it.

Yesterday made me think how bizarre international football management is in a lot of ways.  Managing your country was always viewed as the highest honour and we had people like Stein, Ferguson, Smith etc who have done it yet we appointed a man whose only club job had been at Clyde.  He also seemed a bit short changed to have done so well with the national team yet came out of it to a job at Preston, you would have thought a club at a higher level may have taken a punt on him.  

14 hours ago, OrlandoDon said:

Two more years and add clarkson’s flair in there??!!

  no 

1 hour ago, BigAl said:

no one is actually laughing at you or anything you say. There is nothing funny about being disabled

You're spot on BigAl, no one is laughing SeeBass and this thread has veered offline somewhat from the original point.

Truth is SeeBass, we are all fans of the club whether we live in King Street or in Adelaide.  Some are ABLE to make it to the game more often than others and some CHOOSE to go to games more than others but in my opinion that does not necessarily mean either are bigger fans than others, more important fans or fake fans.

I think what most are trying to get across to you in their posts is that the most sensible way the club can assess loyalty if you like, is to reward people who attend games most regularly.  Unfortunately the club cannot speak to every single fan to establish their circumstances and compile a loyalty ranking list.  It's maybe not a perfect scenario and inevitably there will be cases where people miss out on a match ticket but as the saying goes, you cannot please everyone all of the time.

I must admit it does wrangle with me when people buy a season ticket and don't go to half the games meaning that their seat is tied up for others but I guess that is their prerogative to do so should they wish.

3 hours ago, Panda said:

It's mental the number of people who think players are past it once they reach their 30s.

If he was about to turn 36 I'd be slightly concerned, but at 32 I think it's safe to say he still has at least three good years in him before performances may begin to dip.

Duncan Shearer played for Aberdeen in his 30s by the way...

Nah, not saying players are past it in their 30s but certainly past their peak.  Difficult to say how many years Shinnie could go on for, no one has a crystal ball of course.  Your Shearer example is fine but he was great for his first couple of seasons, cannot think he would have scored many goals for us past 32 yrs of age but I'd be interested to find out.  

My point was more to do with Shinnie's ability than age really.  He's a decent player, don't get me wrong but all of the "he's one of our own" stuff clouds our supporters views in my opinion.  A fantastic leader, yes but he doesn't create anything, is not some brilliant passer of the ball and does not score many goals.  Might be a controversial opinion but I don't think there would be a great clamour to sign him if he was a Hearts or Hibs player for example.  I hope he stays on but I would not push the boat out to keep him.

I don't think it's a big deal whether or no he signs to be honest.  We are talking about someone who is turning 32 shortly who we might get a couple of decent seasons out of, he's not Lionel Messi and more relevant is that he's also not the 28 year old Graeme Shinnie who departed in 2019.  If we can't get him on a free just move on and make other plans.  It might be a good time to bring one of the youngsters through.

Like some have said SeeBass, it's only natural that more people will turn up when the team is doing well and the entertainment level is higher.  There are a lot of things out there for people to spend their hard earned cash on and if the "product"  is crap then a lot of people are just not going to bother.  In the same way as if a musician releases a rubbish album, people don't buy it and don't go to the concert.  I see nothing fake in that, it is personal choice.

It's great that you continue to support the club through thick and thin though and good on you for that.  

On 07/06/2023 at 10:29, Reekie_Red said:

You could always support USA who are probably more likely to win than England.

Are Wrexham legends entering a team after their 12-0 win against the US? 

There was a point, I think it must have been during Ebbe's illustrious reign, that I'm sure we had not scored for about a hundred games and an Andy Dow goal (remember him ) was treated as if we had just won the league.  Cannot recall who it was even against but we were very, very shite at the time.

3 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

I hope he fails cause he's a dirty Tim dick. 

On 29/05/2023 at 23:51, OrlandoDon said:

Guy has had a very good season but hopefully we’ve learned our lesson with Curtis main and JET, plus in duk and miovski we’ve learned that scouting and looking can get us something better. 

On 30/05/2023 at 07:00, Jute said:

Some going to have broken a record like that for a team outside the Glasgow bigots. Think it was Viduka’s record he broke.

However prior to this season most he had got in a season was 9 so agree with Orlando that Van Veen is not one we should be looking at. 

Strange views dudes.  The guy has scored 29 goals in 44 games but let's not sign him in case he might not score any next season?  Was it not just a couple of seasons ago that most of our support were wanking off over Louis Moult, who at the same club managed 15 goals in his very best season?

The Curtain Main and JET comparisons are very unfair on the lad, it's like comparing Zander Diamond to Willie Miller.  

2 hours ago, Panda said:

Shinnie and McCrorie both refused to applaud during the guard of honour.

Did they refuse to take part in anything at Parkhead today?

I know it’s an end of season game but has anyone seen these kind of stats in any game, anywhere before? Zero shots…..holy fuck.

9 hours ago, DantheDon said:

Bit of a nightmare scenario really. Cant imagine any gems hes uncovered dont end up on southamptons radar. 

Nah, don't agree with that DantheDon.  Those teams at the top end of the Championship are spending millions on players and operating at a totally different level to us.  The clubs relegated from the english premier get about £30M for a couple of seasons after dropping down.  They are not going to be targeting the same players as the Dons.  I suspect they will also pull in a fortune by selling the likes of Ward-Prowse. 

15 hours ago, Panda said:

Is that the Ole Gunnar Solksjaer who was a league title winning manager before going to Man Utd?

Sadly no, it was more the Ole who got Cardiff relegated.

15 hours ago, Panda said:

Interim bosses are a necessity, unless you wanted Cormack to take charge, or the players to run the team themselves.

It's allowed us to give Robson a chance, see how well he's done, and appoint what appears to be a competent boss and coaching team.

Interim bosses are never a necessity, just a pantomime.  If Cormack had been a bit more pro-active with his decision making, he could easily have had a full time boss in a few days after Goodwin had departed. The truth is, we have no idea whether Robson is a competent boss, that is exactly the problem.  We've appointed a manager who has managed at the top level for 10 games.  Let's be honest, if we had been humped 5-0 by Rangers last week, the fans would have wanted someone else.

1 hour ago, redordead said:

He's done brilliantly and nobody can really argue that he didn't earn a chance.

I think you're right and good luck to him.  He's a local boy, an honest type and one of those you just want to succeed.

2 hours ago, redordead said:

What happens if we get five pastings?

I mentioned months back that I hate interim appointments and don't see what they bring to the party.  By giving the job to Robson on an interim basis, all we did was back ourselves into a corner.  He was nowhere near the top of anyone's wanted list and I cannot recall anyone on here actually suggesting we give him the job on a full time basis after Goodwin was sacked.  Now we have given a rookie manager a two year contract, trusting him with (I'm guessing) maybe a couple of million in the summer to recruit.  If we get a couple of hidings before the season is out, lose a couple of big players in the summer and have a poor start to the season, we'll be back to square one.  There are striking similarities here to what happened at Man Utd with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, again the club being backed into a corner due to a good run during a period where an interim manager was in charge.

2 hours ago, redordead said:

Does this mean that attacking football is binned next season for pragmatism? ( Not that we've seen much attacking this year )

Or do we expect Barry to entertain?

One thing I hope fans stop chuntering on about is the need to play entertaining football.  We've just won a few on the bounce and it's the first thing people start on about.  Was it entertaining being humped by Darvel or Hibs?  If the last year has taught us fans anything it should be that winning football is what fans want.  I hope the days of our centre halves and goalie trying to play like Beckenbauer are well and truly gone. 

14 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

The latter is a fairly important thing to me, I'm not that comfortable even with our current level of expenditure to revenue. I actually don't understand how anyone can be a supporter of a team and not care about these things. 

Don't get me wrong Rico, of course I care about the club being in a healthy financial position.  I'm sure all of us do.  My point was really that a lot of supporters seem to be getting more excited when a good player breaks though about how much we can sell him for rather than how good he can actually make the team.  I think we are getting into a situation where we are signing players based on how much we can sell them for rather what they can bring to our team.  I think that was the case with Hernandez and also get the feeling it is the case with Duk and Miovski.

If you look at the side that played on Sunday, there were only 3 of those players here last season and realistically half of them might only be here next season.  How are you supposed to build a team on that basis if players only stick around for 6-12 months at a time?

14 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

In terms of McRorie and Barron, I think the former is easily replaceable with the money suggested

Absolutely correct on that but Robson is never getting £2M to spend on a right back which is really the issue.  Ramsay brought us in £4M and we spent 350K on Richardson to replace him.

14 hours ago, Panda said:

One of those players you don't miss until he's gone. Would be hard to replace, even with £2m.

It's a fair point and a very important one.  The longer term strategy worries me.  We've arguably never replaced McKenna, not replaced Ramsay, nor Hedges or Ferguson who were four big players in the team.

I get that times have changed and we may need to sell the odd player to balance the books but we have taken in a shed load in the last few years from transfer fees.  What about trying to actually build a team to challenge for trophies?  I am fed up of fans suggesting how much we will make by selling this player or that.   Duk has only hit form for six months and already some are contemplating how much we will sell him for in the summer.  That kind of stuff may tickle those in the boardroom but not me as a fan.  Offer them a new deal and get a bit of identity back.  If McCrorie and Barron go, we literally have no Scots in our team except Duncan.  We are meant to be a team representing the North East of Scotland, not a World Select.

1 hour ago, manc_don said:

Doesn’t van veen just score against us and generally pretty pish otherwise? 

34 in 77 games for Motherwell

Get Miovski offski  and try to bring in the boy Van Veen from Motherwell. I'd also love us to make an approach for Dylan Smith at County.

I thought it was pretty harsh initially but seeing it again I don't think it is even debateable, the ref got it spot on.  Shinnie took a chunk of the ball but to be honest the guy was lucky not to have a broken ankle.  Imagine you were the County guy in this picture.

Just embarrassing. Davidson is surely a St Johnstone legend, they are not going to be relegated. Like Hearts they should have done the decent thing and parted ways after the season had finished. Disgraceful way to treat a manager who won you two cups just a couple of years ago.

 I’d love to see a rule introduced where you had to keep your manager for the whole season, it would stop all this shite.

I see the boy Kennedy from Darvel has left. Maybe Dave has lined him up for the summer

2 hours ago, Panda said:

Okay so I did catch one after all.

(See my previous post, and thank you) 

Thought you were just spikin your usual shite

9 hours ago, Panda said:

The news that disturbs me is that Craig Levein met with Alan Burrows this week and is set to join the Football Monitoring Board. 

Don’t understand your point with this one Panda. Levein has been an international player and did a decent enough job in club management to get a crack at the national job. The Scotland job did not work out for him but in fairness Paul Daniels could not have got a trick out of the Scotland players at that time. His CV for being part of the “football monitoring board” is head and shoulders above anyone else currently on that board. He is much more qualified to make football decisions than Dave Cormack. Why is it disturbing you? 

1 hour ago, Slim said:

“Born in England” is an incredibly simplistic viewpoint to take.

Yes, I get that and it was a wee bit tongue in cheek Slim.  If their parents went on holiday to England and you happened to be born there during the fortnight then fair enough but if you were born and raised down there then I am not having you in our national shirt.  If you cheer on England when they play then that is obviously also an instant disqualification. 

14 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

Or any of the ones in the senior squad? That'd be fair enough, but we couldn't really complain that Zander Clarke was in goals and Lawrence Shankland up front and Jack permanently in instead of McTominay. I think we'd be looking at a Scotland team significantly lower ranked than the one we've got now. Definitely no Euros qualification last time round and we'd likely be two tiers below in the Nations' League too.

It feels almost the equivalent of cheating though, doesn't it.  It's not club fitba, it's called international fitba for a reason.  The best 11 players from Scotland against the best 11 players from A.N.other.  It's like the Dons having half a team full of loan players, just plain wrong.  You're either Scottish or not, whether your late grannie was Scottish should not be a decisive factor in my opinion. I'd also like a rule where the manager had to be from the country they are managing.