Ajja

I've heard glowing reports of Langfield in training but that's fucking ridiculous

Knowing you as I do I'm going to assume that is sarcasm If not then, wtf.....

Is Michael Grant not an Aberdeen supporter ?

I think its really healthy to see two of the more intelligent posters on DT disagreeing on a subject. Makes for good reading, generally speaking, and more importantly gives good food for further debate. God knows this place needs a faster rate of discussion. On the other hand, you can easily slip the wrong word into your opinions and then the thread will turn into a pun-fest and you'll get them all out from their dark corners.

So when he did more than hold his own, we're talking jackets then ?

Never happen. They need 11 to vote for the change, why would the teams in the bottom half vote for 3 teams to go down ?

The immediate challenge is not one of removing poor quality and replacing it with better. We know how difficult that one is for a club with a contracting resource and appeal. Ask yourself why almost every team in this league has players of similar or poorer quality than ours and they are all sitting above us in the league right now ? Make no mistake, this is an issue of application, desire and determination to succeed. We can address the quality of our squad after we have sorted this problem. If we don't then any player coming in will be infected and affected by the malaise and rotten attitude our players are currently demonstrating.

I don't think you can judge the quality of either of these guys on this seasons performance. Possibly not on last years either, as they have suffered massively from the lack of stability in front of them. You can argue all you like about ability or coaching input but the fact is that a keeper will perform significantly better if he has a trusted and secure defence to support him. The number of chances we create for the opposition by lacking a balanced back line and lack of confidence/ability within our CBs means our keeper, whoever he is, is under pressure from the first minute tot he last. The list you have posted up there Stoney is an example of this, average to poor keepers doing well as a result of a trusted, solid back line. Until we get the defence sorted our keepers will look bad, with a solid defence I think both Howard and Langfield will be as good as any keeper in the league outwith OF.

If anything, I liked his assertion (he said it twice) that he would not openly criticise any of his players. I accept there might be an argument to say that some/many of our players are too protected and should be exposed as wasters. However, if a manager is going to have any chance of building confidence and a spirit around Pittodrie then it is essential that he keeps a professional line and deals with everything internally. I'm not one for demanding that managers come out and tell us everything, I think you have to trust what they are doing and the players need to be managed consistently without public scrutiny. McGhee was all over the place with this issue, sometimes closing ranks and sometimes apportioning blame in a public manner. The players never knew where they were with him.

It's all down to how Brown views Diamond. If he feels he is a talent gone astray he might want to work with him in which case he will try to keep him. If not then I suspect any fee (or even no fee) will be taken without a fight.

The worry for Saturday is that Motherwell have every reason to beat us and we have nothing but personal pride and trying to impress a new manager, neither of which were evident last weekend. If its an issue of hunger then we might be in for another tough Saturday afternoon. Really hope Brown can get these guys back to feeling some pride. Confident he will do enough over the season to get us mid-table, let's hope a cup final just to put some temporary polish on the turd for a while.

I thought McGhee sounded like a breath of fresh air after JCs constant grunting and talking through his nose while juggling his balls in his pocket. He was direct and disciplined in his approach and talked up his position with a real sense that he meant business. Little did we know at the time that business was to be so utterly badly delivered I can hardly bring myself to think about it now. Brown will be judged on his results. How he talks?.......well, meh.

Next Saturday we just need the hun to fuck Helen royally (like 7-0 or summink) and Celtic to batter Hamilton and 3 points against the feeder club will see us hit the lofty heights of 10th. The only way is up!

Not sure of the facts but I'd guess that more than 90% of young players labelled as 'potential' stars fail to reach their early career hype. No surprise really that Diamond has faltered en route, he has grown up (or failed to) within a difficult club culture and has not been big enough to raise himself above the mire. It will always be a challenge to both maximise the results of a young star and also realise a cash value for them. You either have to sell them when their star is rising, in which case you lose the opportunity to benefit on field as someone else reaps the best of them, or you have to look to harvest their ability and run the risk that you miss that big fee. Unfortunately Aberdeen FC have a track record of failing on both fronts most of the time.

That you top right then yeah ?

Go for blanketyblank mate. Sustainability.

It's not quite that simple. There are grey areas in employment law surrounding contracts. By accepting a role and a wage you are essentially 'under contract' and have access to most employment rights. A paper version of your T&Cs is not as clean as it is sometimes presented. I suspect Motherwell will attempt to pursue compensation under these implied contract rules. The only positive is that Boyle is a fucking moron and will likely make a cunt of it.

I'm already a little weary of this chat about 'short-termism'. Does any football fan of a mid to low level club really believe that long term commitment exists in any player or manager unless they are performing behind the curve ? YOu could appoint the youngest management team possible and fill your team full of youth players with a grand plan to 'build a side for the future' or to develop a strong management team over the next 5 years. The truth of the matter is that after 1 or 2 good seasons they are all likely to be off to a better deal elsewhere. There is no stability in Scottish football right now so what is the point in crying out for a longer term view ? Lets just hope that Brown and Knox can take some steps forward and see where it goes from there.

Boyle is a media whore who is incapable of thinking through his public statements. The very fact that he still has the audacity to sit as chairperson of that club after the disgraceful decisions he took makes all of his views redundant. My only fear is whether we can stand strong against the obvious will to show us up that will exist in every player of Motherwell FC next weekend. Personally I hope the game is postponed as I think we need a few weeks to build confidence before we come up against them.

Was it not that Dutch female footballer ?

Jim and Bett are the only two words required to kill this thread stone dead.

They said in the news summary 'Aberdeen finally get their man'

Get SSN on now they are about to cover it.

Done deal on SSN.

SSN still reporting he is 'in talks'. Sportsound said that Knox would have to come with and that may be the stumbling block. Brown's language certainly sounded like back pedalling from his initial rejection. Both parties are desperately trying to make sure that it doesn't seem like this is the preferred route for them in case it doesn't work out and they leave a bad feeling at both clubs.