bloo_toon_red

Completely agree. The boy Butland is a good goalkeeper and this is a very good move by Stoke; I imagine all the big teams will be in for Begovic in the summer and it'll inflate his fee a bit. Langfield plus cash will do me...

Beckham signing for PSG

Twardzik has signed an 18 month deal

For the benefit of the tape, it was Brown wot signed him. He didn't score much, but you could tell he was a really good player, his movement off the ball was superior to just about any striker I've seen at Pittodrie for the past 8-10 years.

Been reading the other site and their varying opinions of the failings of McGhee & Calderwood versus the "stability" of Brown. What I'd say about this so-called stability is first of all to echo Jute's point regarding the Dundee/Rangers thing and that we are actually no better off in terms of results. Additionally, if McGhee so demoralised his players to the extent that they wouldn't play for him then you would expect a new manager, if he is as good as everyone says, to get more out of them. He hasn't got more out of them - he has rightly moved out some of the shite and replaced them with "better" players. Better on paper perhaps, because for all the pretty football in the world, people's ideas of "stability" are obviously clouded by the bitterness of what came before. Perhaps stability is not getting beat 9-0 or being generally embarrassed. Fair enough, I can buy into that. But it's an extremely low standard to aim for. A large part of McGhee's downfall was his failure to sign full-backs. Brown's failure to bring in at least one central defender soon may also ultimately be his. Losing an entire midfield for a few games has bought him some time, there's still a way to go before the end of the season, and I haven't yet advocated sacking Brown, rather letting his contract run out. But in the current climate it must be a minimum requirement to qualify for Europe through whatever means. The board should be pretty concerned with the direction AFC are heading.

Agreed. I'd even go so far as to pitch Rogers in against St Mirren a week on Saturday. We can get an emergency loan if necessary, no point changing keeper midway through the season when there'll be many more out of contract in the summer.

In terms of entertainment value and on how pleasing the team is on the eye, yes, there is an improvement. But the level of the improvement is subjective to the individual - nobody can say there has been a "massive improvement" or that there is a "big difference" when there is nothing tangible to compare it to in terms of results. A change of approach or working method is only worth what you get out at the other end, and in this case, other than a couple of cup semis, it is an indisputable fact, that up to this point, results have not actually improved much under Craig Brown other than we're a little bit more hard to beat. What you can grant him, is that over the first 12 games of this season we acquired 18 points, and over the past 12 games we have only acquired 14 points and that can be put down to an unfortunate series of injuries to our entire midfield, and you wonder what impact that has had, but nobody can know for sure. The next four games are crucial in my opinion. A win over St Johnstone ought to consolidate our position in the top 6 for us to kick on, but a defeat would make things a bit precarious with Dundee Utd & Killie then breathing down our necks. Hibs on Saturday is a must-win, as are the two home league games with St Mirren & Dundee. The complexion of things can change very quickly for sure, but I am personally minded that Brown should be replaced when his contract runs out at the end of this season.

Total League Record: Mark McGhee Pld 56, Pts 60/1.07pts per game Craig Brown Pld 82, Pts 92/1.12pts per game In Mark McGhee's 30 home league games in charge, AFC failed to score in 10, or 1 in every 3 games/0.33 In Craig Brown's 40 home league games in charge, AFC have failed to score in 18, or 9 in every 20 games/0.45

Last two Aberdeen managers' home league records: Mark McGhee Pld 30 Won 10; 1 in 3 win ratio/0.33 Craig Brown Pld 40 Won 12; 3 in 10 win ratio/0.30 In other words, if those were bookies' odds, Mark McGhee would be the favourite. Home form is rotten. Poor home form = less fans turning up to the game = less £s through the turnstiles. In which case it's no wonder Milne & Yule are keeping their cards close to their chests.

I think you absolutely have to factor in the early kick-off time as a reason for it also. It's a rubbish time for fans to turn up to a game, there's no real pre-match build-up at all, so as a "day-out" it's very difficult for anyone to get excited about. In my opinion, it's time for this stupid ban on televising Saturday 3pm games to end in Scotland. Saturday 3pm is the optimum time for a game of football as has been proven over the years. You should also consider that it is the last weekend in January, money will be tight post-xmas, people are more miserable this time of year in the depth of winter and your fair-weather fans will rather stay in and watch it in the pub, especially at an unsociable kick-off time. Also think about the fact that we've won 3 league games at Pittodrie this season and you'll have a fair amount of pretty fed-up fans.

AFC Bournemouth

My sentiments exactly. I'm pretty uncomfortable about the pedestal that some have put him on & £400k is not that bad a fee in my opinion. If the rumoured £6k pw contract is true, then I make that the £250k compo plus £150k salary that he'll get over the next 6 months at Bournemouth, so it's a fair deal.

Strachan's clearly stated desire to find a system that suits the players doesn't fit too well with McGhee's stubborn mantra to play 4-3-3 at all costs.

Great move, really honestly a great move. In my opinion the only places he could've gone to without stepping down were Bayern & Manchester Utd. Bayern are a force that need to be up there with the Barcas, the Real Madrids and the Manchester Utds. Will he bring the tiki-taka to Bayern? He's already got a pretty good squad, but it would need pretty major surgery to get the personnel to play that style.

Aye, they don't keep furlong

I knew he'd been floating about Asia but didn't know he was back in the UK. Here is a player that had one good season at Falkirk, the same Falkirk that passed teams to death but suffered penalty box vertigo, and had everyone raving about him. I remember being shouted down on countless occasions when I aired my view that he wasn't good enough for AFC, and the way his career has gone down the fucking Ganges only seems to have proven me right*. *Therefore I expect him to be in an Aberdeen shirt by 2014.

Of course it is. Good luck to the boy. In all honesty when he ceases to be an Aberdeen player I couldn't give a toss where he goes, just hope for his sake he gets what he wants and that it really does make the difference he was hoping for. And unfortunately we can't turn our noses up at £300k. And as for all those booing him, well I personally wouldn't go that far but it's hardly offensive in the circumstances.

Unless it's Levein they're after with Houston as his no2.....

HMV never diversified at all when the whole digital music thing exploded and stayed stubborn and loyal to old-world media retail. They gave their customers what they wanted in a particular era of time but resisted change too much when the appropriate time came. If anything, what surprises me more is that it's taken this long. The writing was on the wall years ago when Woolworths and Zavvi went down. Hopefully this provides a spike to the small independent stores, but they too need to try and offer people something different.

This guy really is just as thick as pigshit and it looks like he will never learn. Until clubs actually sack players for this kind of behaviour, the "Kick it out" campaigns and all that other nonsense remain just exactly that.

Duncan Shearer 92-93 Frank McDougall 84-85 Joey Harper almost certainly would've at some point. So Niall's in very good company!

Anyone began firming up on travel & accommodation plans for this yet?

According to the BBC stats page, which isn't always very accurate, he hasn't played a single game this season. Tweeted on his own page he was in Dundee yesterday... Good player, but do we need him right now? On a pre-contract for next season perhaps yes when Rae and Hughes inevitably move on.

SPL Final Table: 1, Celtic 2, Aberdeen 3, Hibernian 4, Motherwell 5, Dundee Utd 6, Inverness Caledonian Thistle 7, Kilmarnock 8, Hearts 9, St Johnstone 10, St Mirren 11, Ross County 12, Dundee League Cup Winners: Celtic Scottish Cup Winners: Aberdeen SPL Top Scorer: Niall McGinn How Far Will Celtic Get In The Champions League: Last 16 Player Of The Year: Victor Wanyeama Young Player Of The Year: Liam Kelly Manager of the Year: Craig Brown First Manager To Go: Steve Lomas

Does anyone follow Simon Kuper on Twitter? Something he mentioned as part of his Soccernomics book I think, relating to football managers who were top footballers actually making very poor managers (with rare exceptions like Guardiola & Cruyff), but football club chairmen having continuous mental blocks when it comes to this. Alex McLeish, in the bigger scheme of things, actually did quite well as manager of Rangers winning the same amount of trophies as Sir Martin of Celtic. But that shouldn't count for much in an uncompetitive league. He's done pretty much pap-all else, I don't really understand what he has done in a managerial context (especially in England) to merit being considered a good manager. He got Hibs and Birmingham promoted, but Hibs were always going to be too big for SFL1 and Birmingham had to go back up with a big EPL parachute payment. Henning Berg got the Blackburn job not because he was a good coach, but because he was a Blackburn legend. Who have been the best managers in England over the past 20 years? Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, David Moyes, Rafa Benitez? Roy Hodgson? Harry Redknapp? None of whom had glittering playing careers. At another end of the scale you have managers who'll do a specific task (ie win promotion), like Neil Warnock, Mick McCarthy, Steve Bruce all having won promotions with 2 or more clubs, the latter two admittedly had good playing careers but maybe the moral to the tale is that good players are better suited to this level. Cardiff almost dead certs to go up, but Bruce's Hull are a good bet, and I wouldn't at all write off Warnock's Leeds joining them. Blackburn have put themselves in a very bad position. By staying loyal to Kean for so long, the appointment of someone such as Berg to appease the fans was one that probably had to be made for their (Venky's) own sakes. Blackburn now really need a Steve Bruce, a Neil Warnock or a Mick McCarthy. They wont win you trophies or get you in to Europe, but they'll do a grand job of getting you out of that division.