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.

Verbal contract isn't worth the paper it isn't written on.

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

 

Pittodrie is fucking cold.

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"

Dusting of snow in town now.  Hopefully there isn't a sudden dump of snow tonight and the game tomorrow gets called off.

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

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-12134966

 

Police concern for all those people who apparently wont bother to walk there

Anybody think its good of the police to be concerned ?

I'll be taking the monorail to games anyway.

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.

Watched the first part of the Sinking of the LAconia last night. Really interesting. Second part on tonight at 9 pm on BBC2.

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:

The experienced McGhee has previously managed Leicester City in the top flight and won promotions with Reading, Millwall and Brighton.

 

McGhee, who has also managed Wolves and was sacked by Aberdeen last month, said:

 

“All I want to do is work and Vale are an attractive club,  because they’re doing so well.

 

“I know Micky Adams well and I will talk to him about the job – I’m open-minded and, of course, I’m interested.

 

“I know that part of the country having managed Wolves and I’m looking around for opportunities.

 

“It’s not just a case of going for every job, it’s important to go for the right fit – I want to look people in the eye and say ‘I really want to do this job’.

 

“I’ve never worked in League Two, but I’ve got teams out of League One in the past.”

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

It's just up the hill from Torry, you could walk it!

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.

couldn't care how bad h plays as long as he keeps knocking in the goals,

he reminds me of arild stavrum

He reminds me of Ernie Winchester.

Alot of things were built in the 1970s but they dont let you build exact copies today. if they did asbestos would still be a material of choice and fire safety or stadium crushes wouldnt be considered an issue. Please understand that building new stadiums or stands require new building regulations which were not a factor when most of pittodrie was built.

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

Highlights up

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/scotland/9329066.stm

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.

Theres building in-situ when theres lots of space and then theres the reason most clubs move to a new stadium ie their stadium is completely surrounded by houses or businesses

 

There is also that little issue that is so fucking irritatingly left out by so many people. Fully rebuilding pittodrie to current UEFA standards will result in a reduced capacity of between 10-15000.

 

we go from the 4th largest club stadium to potentially the 10th.

 

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.

If you're talking with regards to the council, then yes, AFC, probably. But I think primarily we were/are constrained spatialy as there isn't much land available in and around Pittodrie for what needs to be realised. I think the council were also hesitant on closing down the streets surrounding the stadium. It's a shame, but it's the right decision to move.

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

I will, but I'm sure there is a general acceptance amongst Dons fans that the time is to move on. Pittodrie is not an option and the club needs to move forwards together.

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

Something to do with the linkage that allows Alba coverage apparently. Think Hamilton don't have a good enough link.

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