baggy89

I've never seen signing on fees reported anywhere, which I'd assume are much higher if there is no fee to be paid.

I'm no expert but I need to know a little for the business. In my experience you can pretty much sack anyone, as long as your contract and policies set out what is acceptable behaviour and what is not. However, I employ folk at just above the minimum wage who don't have agents and hence expensive lawyers to go through my contracts and ask to have clauses removed before they sign them. So in effect I can bring someone in for poor or unacceptable performance give verbal warnings followed by written warning, followed by the dunt. You have to be ruthless from the beginning though and make everything official following guidelines set out by ACAS. If what is being suggested about Leitch is true I would hope the club dealt with it appropriately the first time through proper disciplinary procedures culminating in a written warning (which would allow the club to dismiss regardless of time-scales set out for how long it remains on file as it is a second offence of the same nature) as this is the minimum I would expect for bullying. If McGhee wants to walk with him, I suppose he could then slap in a ET1 for constructive dismissal but it would be a very hard case to prove, as long as Leitch has been properly dealt with. Then again it's a football club and as much as they want us to believe they exist in the real world, they don't.

What's Ron Atkinson up to these days?

Agree but at the time I though the approach seemed to be to use the cash to pay off as much of the debt as possible, which is fair enough because that is what has been killing the club over the last decade. The decision to give Calderwood a long term contract seemed to reflect that. Then they go and spunk a shit load of money dumping that management team and poaching another, just as the bank account was looking that bit healthier. That seems to sum up the club for the last 15 years or so, no one seems to be able to make a decision and stick to it, and all that results in is the fans being short changed time and time again.

My sauce told me an Alex Miller/Roy Aitken dream team will be unveiled tonight with Stewart Milne being registered as an emergency fullback, Willie Miller to take full financial control of the club and Stuart Baxter as director of football.

McLean was Millers replacement though, so what you're saying is we replaced one striker with a loan for six months then bought two to replace the loan. Some might say that is the type of logic that would get a manager sacked.

Bottlers

He has to realise his position is untenable, he knows the reality of the financial situation of the club, so he must know that by refusing to walk now he is pushing us further towards the brink. That will do more to tarnish his status at this club and with the Fans than Aberdeen 1 v Sigma 5 or Celtic 9 v Aberdeen 0 has done or could ever do.

Not Adams out of the frying pan into the fire McInnes if anyone if were going for someone young and relatively untested

Surely the thread title should be changed from "if" to "now" and "wasn't" to "isn't"

Putting the highlights up is not what matters, what is important is the person whose job it is to put the highlights up at least leaves his house in an effort to go to work.

Wishful thinking?

This is the kind of thing Ebbe used to come out with just before we got tanked by Celtic. Also am I reading it right? McGhee thinks the next three games may see us notch up 1 point. One of those three is caley at home, talk about ambition!!!

Daily Express: Mark McGhee vows - Islamic Extremists, Princess Di and Maddie McCann could not alter Dons Mentality

P&J: McGhee vows to show Dons players his wikipedia entry

EXACTLY! P&J: McGhee vows to change Dons mentality - Possibly, maybe at some point in the next 10 - 15 years Large volume of hot air.

P&J: Derek Young vows to show he is Dons 20 goal a season striker!

I did wonder whether "2010 player" had been missed off after "Football Manager" in the post, and that McGhee was now including his FM stats on his wikipedia page as well now??

I found this on the Aberdeen Football Forums equivalent of the Daily Sport:

Surely a sign of McGhee's mental fragility, he's deluded if he thinks he will still be in a position to sign any players for AFC if he does not sort out the FB positions in January.

It's probably less than a year since I read the book but am I wrong in thinking that it was altered completely for the telly?? Five minutes in to the final part last night and the wife pipes up "I think I know who did it" only then did I think "I'm not even sure we've been introduced to the character that did do it."

Maybe McGhee could move Langfield or Howard to one of the fullback positions when Boruc comes in.

Do you get an open top bus parade for that?

Ach well! What's new? Describing most of our players for the best part of twenty years as footballers is probably the biggest breach of the trade description act, ever.