Azteca1903

I think McGhee is perhaps suggesting that it will take him 3 years to replace these players with a team that he is more confident in, rather than waiting for and reaping the benefits of the alledged prime of the current squad.

While as a bitter and twisted Aberdeen fan I agree with the sentiment, the governing bodies still owe it to the supporters to safeguard the future of all Scottish clubs. Situations such as the one that Hearts currently find themselves in shouldn't be allowed to happen for this reason. Were it to be the case that the Dons fell into the wrong hands then I'd be more than relieved if such a salary cap meant that long-term financial damage to the club could be limited. Even if you put that all to one side, it's also makes the general competition fairer to introduce a cap, purely because teams that live within their means will no longer be punished by those who have spent ridiculously for the sake of some short term success. Although this is sometimes redressed with points deductions for administration etc., this is perhaps little comfort to the financially prudent and well run clubs which find themselves relegated or held back by the short-sighted big-spenders.

I think this is merely a way of preventing egotistical cowboys buying clubs for a pittance, spending for a few years and then leaving them with unsustainable wage structures (see Gretna, Livi etc.) rather than such a cap being a means of imposing a level playing field. I think Hearts' wage/turnover currently stands at arround 110%, thus they will eventually hit the wall and leave Gordon Smith with another big fuck off debacle to deal with. I agree however, that the only way long term benefits will be seen is if it's introduced by FIFA accross the board, a great side effect of which would be that football clubs would have to be properly run before they are successful. We've already seen FIFA clamping down on diving and now tapping-up, perhaps there's room for another surprise move to improve the game.

I guess, by the end of August, all that we could have afforded to bring in permanently would have been shite. In that sense I'd rather have no signings than shite signings. I also agree with the loan argument to a certain extent, why develop other team's young players when you can develop your own after all, but at the same time even kids from England such as Walker and Aluko were a clear improvement to the squad. Ultimately, Miller can throw in as many positive buzzwords as he wants but this summer has been a recruitment failure. As someone mentioned on here before, these youngsters are gonna be on a pretty steep learning curve this season if we're relying upon them this much.

I'd hazard a guess at 3,000 behind the goal and a few hundred in the main which is also set aside for away support

St Johnstone away, haven't had a good McDiarmid trip for a while. Being honest, none of them look like a straightforward prospect either.

Seriously? Imagine any other SPL teams singing anything so vile and provocative, just as well such consistant and immediate punishment is handed out accross the board. What were the SPL expecting? The Motherwell fans to politely applaud the man who walked out of his contract early at their club and chant about how they wish him good luck in the rest of his career? It's football for fucks sake, and while the songs were in bad taste to say the least, its not like we've heard nothing of the sort ever before. Do the SPL have some sort of line drawn in the sand, something which devides acceptable levels of ridicule and 'banter' with unnacceptable abuse which must be sanctioned? If so I'd love to know where this lies as their system of reprimanding clubs seems far from fair and level.

Haven't seen Considine play that well in a long time, keep it up loon.

General shout in todays rags is that McGhee sent him packing. Can't think of any particular reason why, perhaps he's got his own man lined up. Although the fact he wasted no time in getting a new keeper in may have devided them somewhat.

Getting him off the payroll for nothing so that wages are freed up for Miller? Yeah, that's poor business right enough. Is this not getting a wee bit tedious; folk either attacking Calderwood's actions consistently to vindicate their opposition of his tenure and his ultimate dismissal or (although less common) defending him to the hilt because they didn't fancy McGhee? Let's face it, he did some things right and some things wrong...can we not just move on though eh?

That's probably played a part, but the fact he's gone from being quite a frightening prospect between the sticks to one of our best players is likely to have something to do with Leighton.

Langfield's improvement over the last couple of years would suggest he was doing a fine job, however.

They're footballers, sign em.

Interestingly, Spiers was one of the few centrally-based journalists who was giving Calderwood fairly harsh criticism towards the tail end of last season.

Can't find the article on their website, but Graham Spiers (comfortably the best journo in Scotland) painted a bleak picture in his column today. It covers nothing that we don't already know, but perhaps suggests that our fears are entirely justified. Selected bits: Nae good like

Might not have been him then, he was the only trialist who bore resemblance. Poor effort of DonStalking anyway.

Was doon at the ticket office earlier and spotted one of said trailists, Mazin Ahmad (can't say I knew who he was, had a look at these photaes though http://www.afc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/clubNewsDetail/0,,10284~1748782,00.html ) Take from that what you will...apart from the fact that I'm a sad bastard

Hand. Bite. Off.

Created, no; contributed, aye. To go into a season with only two centre halves who have amassed at least one senior appearance just beggars belief. The fact is we are relying on the often erratic Zander to a staggerring extent, especially as Considine looked no better than any of the other clueless fuckers playing in the back four last night. Say what you want about Young for example...honest...heid never goes doon etc...he looked paralytic in the first half, small wonder the Czechs got their act together and pounced on our obvious frailties. Its been a good while since we've been burdened with a defence as poor as this one, and it needs shaping up quickly. Last night we demonstrated a combination of: Lack of character, which has been evident for some time Underestimation of the oppo, particularly from McGhee (although his hands are tied to some extent) Lack of an established centre-half, right-back or left-back. Zander is only part of this solution. The lack of such defenders however, will write off this season pretty quickly if it isn't sorted. You can have the prettiest fucking passing triangles or the most oscillating waves of attack you want, but if there isn't a big bastard at the back to show some kind of leadership, defensive ability or even evidence of brain activity, then you're gonna be screwed over like last night more times than you'd care for.

RIP The Broom Cupboard

Hearts are a ticking time bomb, you wonder how long this is going to be allowed to continue. Good luck to the SFA/SPL in sorting it out when shit meets fan.

Surely the logical approach here would be to offer him a new deal. If he accepts, end of story, if he rejects then we sell him. He's good but he's not irreplacable by any means. Wouldn't be keen to sell to Hearts, seeing as theres no guarentee of us ever recieving the full sum of money...

While it disney look good, I wouldn't get animated over it.

And thus, his irrational hatred of the club blossoms further. Brilliant

Football's a minority sport?