wokinginashearerwonderland

Gerrard - 37 league games (Won 12, Drew 8, Lost 17) Goodwin so far - 22 league games (Won 7, Drawn 6, Lost 9) Interesting comparison.

It’s a good post SeeBass and have to say, I have also lost interest a wee bit these last couple of years for a variety of reasons. I will say I think Cormack’s heart is in the right place by wanting to bring in investment to his boyhood club both from himself and externally. Problem with this for me is the soul of the club gets diluted as we are losing the local touch somewhat. The same has happened in many clubs where foreign investment has come in and I guess I am guilty of living in the past too much in that respect. We now have a team largely comprising non-Scottish players and what I would call non-dons people in the background. Not suggesting that everyone that works for the club should be a dons supporter but when you look at how clubs like Bayern and Ajax keep a core of their ex-players at the heart of the club, it makes it still feel like your club, if that makes sense. I guess the fact that of late we had several players, and a manager and chairman, who were constants at the club for many years meant you built up some kind of affinity with them. Losing two of our best young Scottish players in McKenna and Ramsay recently further disconnects the team from the fans, for me. I’ll always be a Dons supporter but struggling to get excited about the Cormack years.

Ended up 1-0 to Ireland so the Scotland World Cup dream is over. I have not watched a lot of Women’s games in the past but it struck me last night that the game would be much better played on a smaller pitch with slightly smaller goal posts. Last night’s match reminded me of watching a schoolboy game on a full size pitch in that there were spaces all over the place. It takes the women longer to cover the same ground so the game moves more slowly. It got me thinking that in golf, women play to the same rules but because of physical differences they play a shorter golf course with clubs that are slightly lighter and have thinner grips but in football we are making absolutely no adjustments for the differences in the physical abilities between men and women. In the men’s game goalies are generally well over 6ft tall so why put a 5ft 8 woman in the same size goals? The Scotland games would also have a much better atmosphere at a packed club ground and give the women a much better home advantage as well. Hampden last night was very empty and did nothing to provide the best atmosphere for a big game.

Watching the womens Scotland v Ireland World Cup play off. Ireland have the longest throw in taker I have ever seen, what a weapon. Causing the Scottish defence all sorts of problems.

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Fair comment manc_don but it was naive at best by Goodwin. If one of his players had been sent off and banned after a second booking for taking his shirt off after scoring a goal, Goodwin would have been fuming and his own comments are like the manager's equivalent of that action. The thing that really riles me about this particular incident is that it was arguable whether or not a penalty should have been given, it was not clean cut, not a blatant dive. Goodwin was just trying to blame someone else for his poor management on the day. It's a school boy error and he has just cost his team having a manager on the side lines for 8 games. If I was his chairman, I would be laying the blame well and truly at Goodwin's door rather than at the SFA's.

Would love to see them both in the same team BigAl with Trent playing in more of a right midfield role where Ramsay could cover for his defensive deficiencies.

Media appear to be wetting their pants about how many goals this guy will score and seem to have assumed he will continue at the same rate for the next ten years. Looks a real handful but will teams eventually work out how to play against him? The only time I can remember someone scoring goals at the same rate was Marco Negri who scored 23 goals in his first 10 league games but “only” managed 32 by the end of the season.

I hope we get another crack at Croatia after we made an arse of the first attempt last summer.

I was thinking the same thing last night BigAl. Says a lot when our third choice left back is the Celtic first choice left back. I think Hickey may have jumped ahead of Patterson in the right back queue after the last couple of games. Ramsay has a real task on his hands to get anywhere near that Scotland team.

Whoa! So out we have Robertson, Tierney, Cooper, McKenna, Hanley, Souttar, Patterson, McTominay, Dykes, Adams Craig Levein's 4-6-0 might be an option after all although we might be struggling to find a back 4 at this rate.

The media love their stats don’t they. I hate England with a passion but if you look at their recent form it is really not all that bad. They’ve lost a couple of games to Hungary and one to Italy. Apart from that they have been pretty faultless since the last World Cup. Southgate has arguably been England’s best manager in my lifetime, just missing out on a World Cup final and losing the Euros on a penalty kick. He’s transformed the mentality of their side totally and even with their blip in form they are bound to be there or thereabouts when the medals are being dished out in Qatar. They will always have a chance if they can keep Kane fit in my opinion.

Far be it for me to question the tactical nous of Sir Stevie but why are we calling up a left back and a centre half to replace a right back and a midfielder? Is the grand plan to combat the Irish right winger to play three left backs?

Hate using the word luck but I think we were genuinely unlucky with how the play off panned out. Our team was absolutely flying when that play off was meant to take place and by the time it did happen some players were out of form and some, Robertson, McGregor etc were just totally knackered from the amount of games they had played last season. Also it was a funny atmosphere to play fitba in that night. Last night was fantastic. Seems to be a really good spirit in the camp, they are all playing for each other and the manager. If this had been a previous regime, Ryan Fraser would not have wanted to come back and secondly, the manager would not have taken him back. His international career would have been over like so many before him who have taken the huff. Once again, Stuart Armstrong, what a difference he makes. Get him on that team sheet every time.

Not a royalist in any shape nor form but this is clearly a big deal to a lot of people. My initial thought was that, like you Rico, it was more of an english thing but the queues at the cathedral in Edinburgh last week suggests otherwise. That aside and whatever you think of the monarchy, it saddens me that some people would feel the need to make an arse of themselves and shout abuse during the minutes silence or the playing of god save the queen/king. Says a lot about people if they cannot stand quietly for two minutes of their life without acting like a dick. I get the impression many non fitba followers think fitba fans are arseholes and these kind of things don’t do much to help.

The cynical side of me would suggest that if that had been a Dons player it would have been ruled out for high feet

Just read that the new Chelsea owner hinted to Billy Gilmour that there may be about to be a change in management before he opted to move to Brighton. Could be a real sliding doors moment for Gilmour's career, if he had just hung on at Chelsea who knows? Hope it is not one he lives to regret.

Billy Reid? I Believe so, BigAl. I see Postecoglou is favourite for the Brighton job

It's a fair point Rico and something we all need to keep in mind is the level that these guys are playing at. You could probably pick holes in all SPL centre backs and that is exactly the reason why they play in our league instead of at a higher level. Not saying Panda is necessarily wrong with what he says but also consider that you have the hun striker who I think is Colak, a £3M Croatian international, up against a free transfer from Walsall. I saw Celtic play like world beaters on Sunday but then watch them in the second half against Modric, Kroos and Co last night and they were chasing shadows and the same applies when you are analysing a Killie defender playing against Rangers.

What's with the spoons in our away support? Running onto the pitch because we've scored against Ross County?

Brighton 5-2 Leicester. Rodgers and Leicester to part by mutual consent tomorrow I suspect.

Trouble is, we never know the whole story we just think we do. It is Goodwin just wanting to show his authority and wanting to bring in his own men or is Ramirez a bit of an arsehole and a bit toxic in the dressing room? We'll never really know. On the face of it, all we see is a decent striker who is being left out of the team when us as fans can see that he would be capable of bringing goals to the side.

I don’t agree. Both are decent managers, Ross has taken teams to finals and Parker got Bournemouth promoted so cannot be that bad. Clubs need to appreciate where they are in the food chain. Both of these teams would be fighting to stay in their respective leagues whoever was in charge, that’s not going to change just because they have changed their management. Stupid supporter expectations fuel all of this nonsense.

Modern day fitba is a joke. He's been given cash to bring in his own players yet gets fired after seven games. Thumped by AZ, Celtic and Hearts. How many of those were the United bosses seriously expecting them to win? The Bournemouth situation is exactly the same. A promoted team beaten by Arsenal, City and Liverpool so you fire the manager. Crazy.

It's simple economics The D.O.C.1903. If the Dons let you in for £12 less then they would be worse off by let's say £120,000 per game x 19 games a season which is a loss in income of £2.3M a year. You could kiss goodbye to signing anyone decent with that financial plan.