Torryloon

I fear that the Brown "bounce" may have come to an end now. As ever we allowed ourselves to get a bit carried away, and I was no exception, anticipating a far better performance from the team on Saturday. Celtic were just far too good in comparison and came out at the start of the game raring to go, where we were left at the starting gate, looking mesmerised and awestruck. It shows the massive task that Craig Brown has ahead of him if we are to be seriously considered as some sort of force in the SPL. And forget about the Scottish Cup, there's no point in being lulled into another disaster.

Mr Brown and Mr Knox turned us down at first. Thank goodness they were eventually persuaded.

It always was. Maybe Loirston will be warmer and more sheltered from the North Sea breezes.

1-0 goal by Maguire

Just "Open all Mics" it seems. Total jabbering chaos. I hate it.

A guy I know said he been on a once in a lifetime holiday. I asked him what it was like and he said, "never again"

It's been moving north, had a few inches in Staffordshire this morning. Almost gone now though.

Anybody think its good of the police to be concerned ?

Will that be the Firstbus or Stagecoach monorail?

My holiday read was the Eddie Turnbull autobiography, "Having a Ball". A great read on how football used to be. Excellent section on his revival of the Dons as manager in the mid 60s. Interesting part about how he coped with George Best when he played for Hibs.

I watched it as well. very compulsive viewing. It was a turning point in the U boat operations apparently.

Was this more than just a training game, or was Brown using it to see who might be able to step up or who might be surplus to requirements. A few names in there that he hasn't seen play competitively yet. Paton is an interesting one. in that he may have an opportunity to start with a clean sheet. I could possibly see a few of them going out on loan deals, unless they refuse of course.

Quotes from local paper:

OK, I know it's a weegie paper and we shouldn't read it, but it's an interesting article about the contrast between McGhee and Brown http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/football/spl/2011/01/01/dons-misfits-can-be-a-real-team-again-vows-josh-magennis-86908-22819152/

For what it's worth, in the dim and distant past, i.e. a long time ago, there used to be a Saturday night Scottish football highlights programme on TV at the same time that the English MOTD was being shown down south. I don't know when that stopped, but I guess that the SKY and Setanta deals had something to do with it. All there seems to be now is the low-key Sportscene on a Monday night. No getting away from the fact that the EPL is a hugely attractive commercial product. If clubs want to foster local support then they need to go some way towards glamorising themselves so that they appeal to the younger fans at an early age, as well as not pricing themselves out of the market. At West Brom yesterday they were advertising a family ticket for £40. not sure how that compares with SPL prices, but that's the sort of thing that can get people to live games. TV will then be secondary

I can just see the masses climbing the Nigg Brae, on the extensive pedestrian walk ways.

Listening to the commentary on BBC Scotland, I got the impression that we were still relying quite a lot on the long punt upfield from defence hoping for a breakaway. Hartley was playing quite deep and as a result the midfield wasn't operating all that well. If this is the case, then it will be interesting to see if the tactics change much for the Utd match at home.

He reminds me of Ernie Winchester.

Thanks for your explanation, although I still can't get to grips with a new stadium which to me seems to be sited in the middle of nowhere. Maybe I'm just stuck in the past

Noted two comments from the commentator, he said how strong and solid we looked under the new regime, and Ifil was awkward and lucky to get away with some challenges. Ah well, some good, some bad............ wee bit to go yet.

Maybe I'm not as aware of all the details as some are about the background to the Pittodrie relocation plan but I believe that West Brom, Newcastle and Man Utd extended their grounds on virtually the same footprint as the original stadium and the capacity was increased. There may be others. Although Leicester, Coventry and Derby moved to new grounds they weren't out in the sticks with non-existent transport links. Am I alone in thinking it will be sad when Pittodrie goes. Seems that it is being written off too easily. Has everyone forgotten about the fire in the early 70s. It was rebuilt then.

So no other football club has ever rebuilt a stadium in situ?

Is it not the case that it's not an option because the people in power don't want it to be.

Some TV cameras must have been there, as they kept showing the goal on Sky News last night.

Aluko came on with 12 minutes to go and made the goal with his cross. He's got something, pity it doesn't often last 90 minutes, but well done to the lad, the squad and the management team. Great result