Tyrant

He's not saying you can't enjoy it. He's commenting on the type of people who do. And anyone who invests time doing this shit is quite obviously a loser.

Good stuff. I think fantasy fitba is for losers, but at least it'll be losers promoting the Scottish game. Well done.

Not something I've participated in for a while now because I can never be particularly arsed putting in the time required over the course of a season but maybe I'll give this a go assuming that Morelos' red card record will be reflected in his price!

I watched England v Scotland yesterday which was a first for me because I'd never watched a women's game before. I also felt the pitch could be smaller and also the goals. Although I can't think of any other sport where the dimensions of the playing area change when the women play and no doubt they'd be offended anyway. "WE'RE AS FIT AS THE MEN!" etc. Da ken about that. Certainly not as fast but that's ok. It can still be entertaining I suppose. But as Kiriakov said next to the CL it looks worse than it maybe is. Mens England v Switzerland and then Holland v Portugal were both shite also so maybe I'm being harsh.

I heard a quite scathing comment from an American player (whose name escapes me) about how football was still chauvinist because of the gulf in pay between men and women. This is a different debate entirely. My take on it is this. I'm all for fair pay but fair pay isn't necessarily parity. Female tennis players (at Grand Slams at least) get the same as the men despite drawing a fraction of the money into the game. That's not even taking into account that they have to play less tennis (for obvious reasons admittedly). Next we'll be demanding that male porn stars earn the same as their female counterparts despite not drawing the money!

Aberdeen is a football team that is old.

You are correct, sir. Now there's the door.

England beaten easily by Holland tonight thanks to some defensive howlers. If Dutch can find a natural finisher they could be frighteningly good. Only reason it got to extra time was down to poor finishing by Dutch.

They seem to be consoling themselves by convincing themselves that the two defensive mistakes were isolated incidents and if it weren't for them they would have won. Obviously forgetting the the only reason they were ever ahead in the match was because of a very similar defensive mistake from the Dutch. England second best throughout and Holland not playing particularly well. Never had to. Was delighted to see them get beat even moreso after seeing their fans' behaviour in Portugal. That disallowed goal that VAR chopped off late on was fucking sweet as a nut. 

I think Portugal will win on Sunday. They're at home and Holland don't have a good record against them. But papping England oot was the priority.  England might win the 3rd place play off though. 

Kane was futile when he came on at HT. Just as bad and ineffective as he was on Saturday.

 

England are so desperate to convince themselves that Kane is the messiah. There are many reasons why he will never be regarded in the same class as Lineker and Shearer. A very good footballer for sure, he's too stupid to be a great. His intellectual retardation is quite painful to watch actually both on and particularly off the pitch.

I don't disagree with anything you've said but tbf I don't think he was even close to being fit.

Main's strength is his ability to bull defences. Defenders will hate playing against him. I've seen him bully the Huns and us something hellish. He's never had an amazing goal tally but I'm hopeful that he'll score more if we can get him some service. He might be an underwhelming signing but it's a damn sight better than Gash.

Has anyone ever argued that the standard of football in the CL is shite? They're just individual games of fitba featuring the world's most expensive players, so games are equally as likely to be shite or good as any other level of fitba. I think most people have an issue with the tournament itself, the way it's setup etc. which fits nicely with the anti-English agenda, because it is largely similar. They don't like what it is rather than what it produces. I don't dislike a champions league game, I just dislike (or am not interested in) the tournament itself. Isn't that a pretty reasonable stance to take?

Well it's up to yourself if you like or not and why that is. Are you referring to the name being factually incorrect? For me it's a new name away from being spot on. I've never liked the name "Champion's" League because, as we all know, you don't have to be your domestic league's champion to qualify. Fair warning - you're about to read a flash of brilliance.. I'd probably call it something along the lines of "The European Cup". 

What I don't like about it though, is how the early rounds are more and more geared for screwing the smaller teams out of a piece of the pie. And this shite about certain teams from the "top 5 European leagues" qualifying automatically regardless of their league finishing position can get right to fuck.

As an entertaining football tournament with good players and matches (which is the the purpose of sport after all) it has been excellent recently.

Just to be clear the "agenda" comment was aimed at folk who work tirelessly to try and convince themselves that English teams are overrated and that the CL is shite to suit their anti-English agenda. Only the first line was aimed specifically at you.

I'm not trying to claim that it wasn't a shite game. Of course it was. But the knockout stages alone this year had some of the most entertaining matches and amazing stories I've ever seen. Would love to see Ajax competing at the business end of the tournament again next season although as with Spurs I can't see them being there regularly.

What a brutal match.

 

Mon the ferns, great result 

You OK, Manc? 

I'd be raging if I was a Spurs fan. They had a once in a lifetime opportunity and they fucked it. They learned fuck all from their tie with Ajax and did what Aberdeen do.. Wait until we're 2-0 down before playing. Liverpool were shite and they still thoroughly deserved to win. Spurs asked no questions of them and they never had to come out of second gear. All in all pretty disgraceful from Spurs IMO. Seemed happy just to be there and were beaten before the match started. Not the attitude that dragged them through vs Ajax!

A lot of folk having a right whinge about the quality of the final. People without agendas knows that a final is always more likely to be a cagey affair and have apparently forgotten the amazing entertainment in most of the ties played in the tournament this year.

I don't think you can use the 1975 referendum as comparitive example to the 2016 one.

This was before my time but as I understand it, in the 1970s the UK still had the following industries

- Coal

- Steel

- Shipbuilding

- Car manufacture

and had just discovered that lovely blackstuff that is killing the planet (Pollution & wars).

 

The internet only existed in science labs & military bases

Air travel was still for the rich.

 

If you had a business in the UK I suspect the majority of your work/ product sales were in a relatively local area. The idea of say an Aberdeen builder buying building materials from a supplier in Plymouth may have been considered madness. Saying you could buy it from outside the UK would may have seen you sectioned.

 

Having only been involved in the common market for 3 years I don't imagine there had been a dramatic change in  UK society so had the country voted to leave the impact would have been fairly minimal.

 

Fast forward 40 years

 

Air travel is cheap

Smart technology and the internet potentially allows someone in Scotland to run a business in Tanzania without having to leave the country

UK fishermen sell hugh proportion of their catch to the Spanish etc

The only car industry is niche poser sports cars

There are only about 3 shipyards left and they are fighting to stop being mothballed

No coal industry

Oil & gas is on the decline yet the UK not following the Norwegian model relies in imports from the continent to keep the nations heating on

The farmers have been fucked over so much by power hungry supermarkets and politicians stabbing them in the back they ended up selling their land to developers so the UK imports a substantial amount of its food. Any farmers left more often than not rely on the subsidies and workforce they get from the EU

The last remaining steelworks is owned by an Indian company and should they decide its not worth the hassle the UK building industry will be solely reliant in imports from the continet

The NHS relies so much on foreign workers because by some miracle we have managed to keep it a secret that our health service is crumbling and the staff are underpaid and treated like shit.

Our education system also now heavily relies on foreign teachers however word now seems to be spreading abroad that as with the health service you will get treated like shit and want to slit your wrists with the stress.

 

The skills shortage list for the UK is scary. Everyone seems to be going to Uni but no one seems to have any skills

 

In short our entire 'union' is intertwined with the EU and to suddenly just pull the plug on that the way they the tories are threatening is terrorism as far as I am concerned.

 

But because little england got its feelings hurt when it marched up to the the EU gang and said ' give me special treatment or I'm taking my ball and going home' only to find the EU had better balls and a stadium to play in, the posh minted wankers started the whole imperialism agenda and took advantage of millions of people in their constituencies who most of the time they would rather didnt exist painting this picture that everything wrong with the UK was the EU's fault. Nothing to do with successive governments cutting taxes, selling off assets to their cronies or just burning whatever cash they have to keep the fire going.

 

I'm getting fed up hearing the reteric ' we will take back control of our schools, health service, transport etc etc' but when asked 'what EU laws are actually stopping the UK from improving these things' they either change the subject, accuse the interviewer of being part of the 'elite', or even admit they havent researched any of the claims they just made.

 

Some say many voted for brexit because they had nothing to lose ie their life is so shit it couldn't get any worse so they may as well vote for a 'change'

I wonder how many of these people jumped on the Conservative bandwagon following the demise of the blairites and then blamed the Lib dems for how shit things suddenly got from them?

If the think life is shit now wait until the toffs in power get their wish and rip up workers rights charters, health & safety policy and replace all benefits with tax credits but only if you have a knighthood or went to a private school

 

I'll happily put up with brexiteers bitching and moaning should it be cancelled same as I put up with people bitching and moaning we no longer execute our citizens (watch that one come swinging back should a no deal brexit happen).

 

Funny how EIRE was once supposedly the restrictive cousin to the UK (possibly down to the amount of control the churches had) and yet within the EU they seem to be turing into a freedom loving eutopia (except for the northern bit the brits stole).

Superb post. Easiest Simmie I've ever dished oot. 

I'd rather we left.....if we don't Brexiteers will forever claim the will of the people was disrespected. As you rightly point out about the Indyref, we were made a promise that could not be guaranteed thus giving us a cast iron reason to re-run Indyref. If Brexit is stopped in whatever manner, then that cast iron reason is lost.

 

Now (unless there's a no confidence vote that gets through Parliament quicker), what could/should happen is the pro European parties fight the next General Election on a "rejoin Europe" ticket. Brexit supporting parties on a "stay out" one. Saves the vast cost of another UK wide referendum (we of course may be Independent anyway by then)

Nae if a new (or "people's") vote has an entirely different outcome. Which I think it would.

Would be very surprised if Taylor , Main and GMS aren’t paraded next week.

He'll be like a new signing.

I voted remain but the country (UK) voted for Brexit and that is what I believe must happen in order to respect the result of the referendum. ( And it gives us a cast iron reason for demanding a new independence referendum....if brexit doesnt happen then we ourselves would have no choice but to repect the result of indyref, at least for a generation)

 

There are remoaners on both sides demading a peoples vote to break the deadlock. With at least 3 options...no deal brexit, brexit with a deal and remain..... Very shrewd tactic if you can't see through it. Split the brexit vote whist only having one remain option allowing it to win comfortably. They also use the excuse that "we did not know what we were voting for" as an excuse. As I said...I voted remain but there was a clear choice....remain or leave. No middle ground. Those who voted leave did so trusting the politicians to deliver and theyre reneging on that trust.

 

I remember as a young loon....1975 I think...my parents voting in a referendum in whether to stay in an expanding Common Market...henceforth European Union or whether to leave. There were no details as to what this new entity would be nor how it would achieve it's goals or whether further expansion would take place. it was "in" or "out". Obviously we stayed in.....no one then was bleating about the result a couple of years later demanding people's votes. The politicians delivered what they were instructed to do. Years later remember the Lisbon Treaty. Blair/Brown promised the people a referendum on signing up to it....then completely went back on their word and signed up to it anyway. Indoing so landing up with the pernicious Human Rights Treaty that any old arse with a grievance now uses to sue whenever he is short of a bob or 2. ANd creating a whole industry of new "phobias" into the bargain.

 

I generally loathe Farage. There aren't milkshake factories large enough to pump out the quantities of product I'd like to drown him in (why no custard pies anymore....comedy classic they were??). However the results last night give him the right to be kingmaker going forward. The people have spoken.

 

 

And as an aside......fuck the Tories and Labour. You got exactly what you deserved. Indeed Labour might well be a goner forever in Scotland now

I don't buy that. Not for a second. It's our democratic right to change our minds. I don't see how asking people to vote can possibly fly in the face of democracy. Especially when the deck was stacked from the beginning. Reminds me of a certain 2014 referendum which is also a dead cert to go ahead again due to said movement of political goalposts.

"Vote No to protect our place in the EU." 

I was surprised to read your original post but not surprised by the absolutist position you take, a habit of yours. Ozil didn't get picked for his country by accident, Germany being one of the best in the world. He didn't get a £330k per week (the biggest at the time) from Wenger for being shite and for all his management weaknesses, Arsene was one of the best talent-identifiers in history.

 

There are always reasons for a great performer underperforming. Labelling them as poop without seeking to understand those reasons, or failing to even see the undoubted quality within him is hugely ignorant.

Why do you think Ozil was fucking pish again last night then Rocket? I'm of the opinion that it's because he's vastly overrated as a player and a complete fucking fanny as a person. Players supposedly on his level take responsibility. He's not interested. 

Nothing gets past you Rocket!

It's going to have to be some trick of architecture to make the new stadium in Aberdeen.

Massive moving walkway. Sorted. The bill's in the post, AFC.

Aye, I'd agree that another season is deserved. I'd like to see how he does with his re-building just to satisfy my own intrigue rather than from any footballing point of view. To me, there hasn't been failure on his part, just the signs of failure. This coming season will see if he explicitly fails or not and I think he's owed the opportunity to do that! 67 points from that squad is pretty impressive all things considered as we were clearly lacking in some key areas (especially with GMS missing for half of the season). It shows the strength of the competition that ~70 points would have been required to secure 3rd spot and I think that's a good thing.

 

For me, McInnes is still the second best manager in the league behind Clarke, although we'd arguably get a similar return from Lennon, Robinson and perhaps Heckingbottom (although I have a feeling the bottom will fall out of his Hecking shortly). That doesn't mean I don't think we can do better, its just that there isn't better in the SPL and it is worth noting. His weaknesses are there for all to see, with his biggest weakness to date being in the transfer market. Unfortunately his shitness in the transfer market leaves him having to grind out results in a brutal campaign in order just to get close to 3rd place. Clarke's far more efficient approach in signing players who perform a very specific set of tasks was much more successful, but perhaps - perversely - has its limitations with a bigger budget and more is expected of individual players (I don't think it does but see Stewart who couldn't cope when asked to do more than one thing for an example). With so many players leaving I see this as a prime opportunity for McInnes to take on Clarke's approach by being very specific in the transfer market (with a couple of Ball's to fill in the gaps). Weirdly enough, guys like Wilson and May fit quite well into that approach as they both clearly have their very obvious uses and very obvious limitations (as does Curtis Main actually). A lot will depend on his first few signings. They're going to have to be very good to take the pressure off the rest of the summer and allow him to be a bit more risky to try and take us forward (i.e not Dom Ball).

 

What I'd really like to see next season though is more corporate PDFs being released by the club. They make me feel really positive about what's happening at Pittodrie. Vision, ken?

I'm wanting whoever does the fonts sacked immediately. We're just not ambitious enough with them. 

I think people forget that Mcinnes, whatever you think of him, has genuine love for our club.  Can't see him going anywhere for a while yet.

FWIW I like McInnes but that doesn't mean I don't think he's gone as far as he can with us. Having said that I'd develop strong feeling for Rangers if they paid me £12k a week for my limited ability.

It was mentioned by a few of the Cove fans at their game with East Kilbride. Apparently he has been told latest injury means he is no longer able to play full time so is dropping down to play part time. No idea if that is true but what they were claiming last week.

If that's the case then I fully expect him to be offered a contract by McInnes.

For drama? 2012. But for quality it would be 2019. Both teams winning all of their last 14 games must be unprecedented.

Indeed Cerny is a very solid backup, & has just signed a new 1 year deal

Made his only appearance for us to date at Easter Road earlier in the season and did well. Cue the high profile and costly blunders on Sunday!

Just me that thought Shinnie looked injured then? I thought the game mostly passed him by. I don't begrudge him the send off that he got but you'll never catch me singing that "He's one of our own" pish. Much less so after he's signed a pre-contract to fuck off elsewhere. On the whole I've loved having him in the red of The Famous and I do really like him as a player. The vocal minority banging on about how limited he is may or may not have valid points but I think they'll find that we'll miss Shinnie badly next season.

Lewis should have went off. Not convinced that a fit Joe Lewis concedes that equaliser. Seemed to take him forever to scramble across to the back post. Happy for Stewart and Wilson (despite their performances, in my opinion, also being largely shite). They did end up making a positive mark on the game.

Hearts are shite and it's shone a light (again) on how shite we were in the last game at Tynecastle. McInnes oot etc. 

Bloody hope not. Committed to watching it with a Liverpool supporting mate. Bloody early wake up for a poor game.

Good luck to you both. After a tough season of results across the domestic and international fixtures I was looking forward to a CL final where I just wanted the team who played better on the night to win and enjoy it. That's fucked now.

If the last point is true, I'd be really disappointed that celtic didn't look after him.

Rumour I heard was that they are looking after him... in a way.. Broony apparently lending him money to pay of loan sharks.

Made a last minute (brilliant) decision last weekend not to bother with the Celtic game. As it stands I'm going to this game but fuck knows if I'll bother turning up. Bad times.