Chris Frae Killie

There is nothing worse than sugar daddies in football - they bring short term (potential) gain and long term ruin. It is tantamount to cheating and we have all done it. Aberdeen were one of the first to realise football clubs need to operate within their means and so cut their budget accordingly. (Stewart Milne is hated by so many at the club because of this) Now this had a disastrous effect on us for a number of years, as we toiled near the bottom of the SPL whilst clubs like Rangers, Motherwell, Livingston, Dundee, Gretna and Dunfermline 'profited' from higher league position and winning trophies. All of the afore mentioned clubs went into administration at least once and suffered relagation (except Motherwell) and in some cases more than one division and Rangers and Gretna even went bust. Dunfermline for me were one of the worst offenders with a wages to turnover ratio of 118% at one point. Now this means that for every £100 the club brought in from season tickets, TV, sponsors etc. they were spending £118 on wages alone - that is before they paid any of their other bills i.e. electricity, tax, upkeep of the stadium, stewarding, policing etc. To put this in perspective Aberdeen currently sit at about 50% ratio, which is where it should be. Football clubs should be run as a business that operates within their own means and organically grow or shrink depending upon the success of that business. For too long we have watched poor quality football and poor quality entertainment with empty football stadiums and no effort from the clubs to promote a feel good factor about their clubs by making matchdays enjoyable. If fans enjoyed the match day experience and they could afford to go then the numbers would swell and in time the quality of players would increase. It is simple business, unfortunately our game has been run for too many years by 'football fans' with little or no business acumen. Short term thinking by throwing money at second rate foreign players and not investing in the grass roots will only ever bring short term (potential) success. Although I do not like/agree with everything the board at Aberdeen have done, I do applaud their stance on not spending beyond our means. For the first time in as long as i can remember we are relatively free of debt and can look forward to building the club from now on. Remember we won the European Cup Winners Cup without crippling debt or massive sugar daddy investment! The training facilities are an absolute must. We must provide the best facilities we possibly can for our youth teams and our first team. The better the facilities, the more likely we are to convince young players to stay with us and also to attract better players to us. Then, although it pains me to say as I love Pittodrie, a new stadium which will create far better atmosphere on match days, even with smaller crowds - the better the atmosphere the more entertained the fans are win, lose or draw. The more entertained the fans are, the more money they will be prepared to spend on the club and so the growth continues. I look at AA Gent in Belgium - they built a new stadium with a fantastic atmosphere and wonderful facilities (I have been) and within a year had won the Belgian league for the first time in their 116 year history. I would like the board to give McInnes funds to invest in the team in January but not if it is going to start us down the road to a debt ridden club again. Stand Free.

Penalty was a dive, however, as you say the Dons had more than enough in their locker to win this game. The ideas were there but the execution was very poor. There were SOOOO many unforced errors and misplaced passes. I wouldn't say the defence had a nightmare, no. They only conceded a penalty which was not even a penalty (which Lewis nearly saved BTW!). Joe Lewis didn't have too much to do. They were caught out a couple of times and a better team probably would've punished us. Collum had a nightmare and as Derek Ferguson said afterwards on BBC Scotland, he lost the plot in the second half. Credit to Hamilton who stuck to their shape and played two up front against us for the whole game but we beat ourselves last night. Too many big players had an off night. A lot of effort but just poor mistakes. Shinnie was one of the worst culprits along with Logan, O'Connor, Hayes and Burns - players who I admire and are usually so dependable! Rooney was struggling up front on his own and needed a partner. The three subs we brought on did little to change anything. McGinn was ok, nothing special but Pawlett and Storey were poor. I thought Reynolds and Considine actually played quite well from a defensive point of view. We started the game poorly and were playing a long ball game right from the offset and it was just coming right back at us. As the first half wore on we started to play it on the deck more and chances seemed to be one pass away from happening but unfortunately the passes were going astray. The theme continued into the second half, nearly but no cigar. Bottom line - bad day at the office, dust ourselves down, have a long hard look in the mirror and have a talk to ourselves and back to business on Saturday! COYR. Stand Free!

Great 'Home' win!

I am the opposite - I grew up in Glasgow but supported Aberdeen as it was 'a family thing'!!

Kerr did a good job on Hayes but he really should've been off the park long before Hayes switched to the right side....

I didn't see the highlights from yesterday but I was thinking exactly that when I watched the St. Johnstone match. I thought he got very lucky a few times. That said he is playing a lot better than last season and looks a lot more confident.

In Work Main Stand Home 2-0 Dons Stockley and O'Connor

I was not too dissapointed in the overall performance to be honest, Would have like a win and to have created more up front though. I felt that MacLean was the weakest link today. He took all the corners and free kicks (until McGinn came on) and they were awful. He played ok in the middle of the park but created next to nothing which meant that the forward line struggled. I would not blame Stockley as he had no service. I like the look of Burns he needs game time, I think this is only his second start and correct me if i am wrong, I don't think he has played a full 90 minutes of competitive football for us yet? I think he will come good.

I was very impressed with O'Connor yesterday. He was strong in the air and tackle and confident with the ball at feet. He looks like a better option than Taylor! I also thought Reynolds looked pretty solid too, although he had a few dogdey passes which could have cost us!

They won't be saying that if they get a trip to Ibrox or Parkhead and 5,000 turn out for a cup tie which would normally only attract a few hundred. Maybe 5,000 is a bit on the high side but the old farm reserve/U20's have always had a good following. I remeber being at Ibrox for a reserve match against the Dons years ago and there was several thousand there.

I think this is a great revamp they have done in this competition. I wasn't in the slightest bit interested in it before as a supporter of a top flight club, however, with the inclusion of our U20's and teams from NI and Wales, I am now quite keen to read about it and if possible watch the Dons U20's. It is also a great way to get our U20's playing competitive football against senior teams rather than pre-season testimonials. For once good on the SPFL for getting something right! Credit where credit is due.

In Driving up from Glasgow Dick Donald Rear Driving home to Killie 2-1 Dons McGinn and Stockley Butterflies have started!

There is also the possibility that Greg Tansey could come back on the scene? He would fit the bill as a strong central midfielder and could add goals from distance which we have been sadly lacking. (Only scored 2 or 3 goals from outside the box last year - Hayes against Celtic and a free kick I think.)

Dons boss Derek McInnes today confirmed his summer signing spree is still not finished despite swooping for three players in a day. McInnes said: “I anticipate more coming in. We have made good signings and still feel there is a need for improvement and bolstering the squad. “It is about getting that quality in while still having the necessary numbers.” I really hope there is a central midfielder in there. We definitely need a 'star' signing to boost the fans and players confidence. The club have definitely shown that they are not sitting on their laurels and are expanding the squad but we need to make a statement to the teams around us and to the Old Farm.

That would be Ryan Fraser!

I said that when Ryan Fraserburgh left. He was one of the most exciting players I have ever seen play for the Dons.

Oh and FYI David Beckham sold for £24.5m when he was 28!

Tig, you are right about the wages and length of contract remaining, however, he is 28 which is the peak age for a footballer and other factors get taken into account such as if he is an international cap, his recognition in terms of peer and media, his form i.e. games played, goals scored, assists, then the league and team he plays for. If Hayes played for a championship side on his current wages and length of contract, the offer would be a lot higher than £500k. As I mentioned, it is very much to do with the club he plays for as a club could be desperate for cash and therefore far more likely to sell for a knock down price. Something AFC are not anymore. Of course we are a selling club - if the price is right. Just to put this into perspective, we got £225k for Chris Clark in 2008. We also got £335k for Chris Maguire who I believe only had 6 -12 months left on his contract Hayes has 24 months.

https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/fp/aberdeen-fc/tributes-pour-legend-dons-fan-passes-away/ Story tells about his final few days and where he was etc. Aparently he was unconscious during the 'well match but was told the scores and reacted when told it was 4-1. He died happy! True Don!! Stand Free Norm! Put in a word with the big man for the Dons next season!

Take your point Rico, there are many other reasons why but given that there were only a couple of minutes left and to avoid a crowded tunnel he could just wait until the end sadly I think I might be right. It is trivial though and in the grand scheme of things doesn't really matter but I still don't think he should be captain next season. I would like to see Shinnie get the armband.

Did anyone else notice Jack disappearing up the tunnel during injury time on his crutches in at Tynecastle last week? Game still had a couple of minutes left. I was a bit disappointed to be honest, as captain I expect him to stay and support the team to the bitter end and face the music if we don't win. If he had not come back out because he needed treatment or even had to go to hospital then fair enough, however, he was obviously ok as he had got changed into a tracksuit and had crutches so why disappear up the tunnel when the game was still on. I like him as a player but don't rate him as a captain. He is still too young in the head and comes across a a huffy wee boy at times.

WHY OH WHY do we play the high ball against Hearts?!?!?!? It just doesn't work! You would've thought after the first 20 balls up to their defence that were easily cleared away we would have got service to our two men out wide. We were destroying them in the first 15 minutes by playing the ball up the wings. Johnny and Niall hardly touched the ball out wide after 25 minutes (I know McGinn missed some sitters in the box). Poor tactics by the team and McInnes. It was exactly the same in the cup match.

Friday night just reinforces how crucial it is that we have a new confident goalkeeper between the sticks for the start of next season. I would be interested to see the stats for goals conceded before and after Danny Ward left. The defence have no confidence in Scott Brown and rightly so after another game changing error. He has cost us on too many occasions. I know he has pulled off a few good saves along the way but he makes too many errors.

He really does have wee man syndrome! He likes to be noticed on a football pitch! The best Referees are the ones you don't notice. I should've said: In / out: Out Pre matcher: Caravan near Stranraer Match: Stranraer FC Social Club! Post matcher: Caravan near Stranraer Prediction: 2-1 Dons.

Our biggest problem against Hearts is not that we can't outplay them but we got severley bullied by them in the cup match and the last game at Pittodrie. We need to be strong and not get pushed about. Deek needs to get Taylor wound up before the game so he doesn't get pushed off the ball in any areial challenges of on the deck for that matter.