Leerichardson40yrds

Finished 5-1 to the Dons. Chris Maguire, Lee Miller (2), Jeffrey De Vischer and Stevie Lovell. Wasn't much of a friendly to be honest. A few meaty tackles flying in all over the place. McNamara, Maguire, De Vischer and Dan Smith were all pretty good in my opinion. Dan Smith looks a totally different player to the one we had last season. Miller's second one was a bit of a screamer. Dodgy penalty for them. Souter took a cross, dropped it, and then tangled with the striker and took him down. Whether it was or wasn't a penalty is by the by. It didn't fill me with with confidence anyway. We really, really, really need a keeper. And that was after Souter was unlucky not to open the scoring with a big punt up the field...

And now Mr Budgie has been left out of the Falkirk squad for their tour of Holland because of a breach of discipline. Wouldn't surprise me for him to follow the Scott Michie route fairly shortly.

John Stewart and Scott Michie were both described as the best finishers at the club. Zdrilic was always lazy. He looked lazy when he came in, and was incredibly consistent in his form... And he was only the 2nd highest goalscorer in one game. Zdrilic may have got 8, but Archie Thompson got 13 in the same game.

Richard Wright has gone to West Ham. Malcolm Christie and Trevor Sinclair are about to sign for Stoke. The only one I would be really bothered about would be Neil Alexander.

You are also forgetting the home advantage that the MLS sides tend to have when they come up against European teams. There is far more in it for an MLS player than for a Scottish player (ie- moves to Europe, raising the profile of the league). Hence the reason that the LA Galaxy players say things like... "It was good experience for me. They're one of the most storied clubs in the world. They brought their first team in the first half, so it was good to play against those guys" ...when they play against the Hun. I expect Celtic to get beaten in the All Star Game as well, but I don't really expect them to try that hard. The MLS players are in the middle of the season, Celtic haven't started pre-season yet. The only reason they are there is the 6 figure sum they will get for it. Rangers waltzed over to LA and won 1-0 with a side that included Gow, Lowing, Perry and McMillan- none of which I expect to be regulars next season. And that was only 3 days after being humbled in the SPL, 9 time zones ahead, by our good selves. The MLS might have the potential to be a really great league, and I agree that it does have some innovative ideas, but it is still a hugely inferior league. There are some of the rules that even hinder the development of the game, for example the 'pool' for transfers out of the MLS- ie, you buy from the league, rather from the club franchise. This has meant that half decent younger players are priced out of moves to Europe where they could get experience and improve. They then do strange things like send their youth team to the Copa America- the one place that the national team could improve outside of the World Cup- because they wanted their best squad available for the Gold Cup (against Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, El Salvador, Canada and Mexico). There is certainly entertainment in the MLS, but there is entertainment watching a Fraserburgh vs Locos game. Some might even argue there is less entertainment the higher the standard.

Having watched the MLS a lot... I would take Souter and Langfield over Pat Onstad ANY day of the week. The problem with the MLS was I was pointing out the better players, rather than the crap ones like the Paatelainens or any of the Hibs goalkeepers. Paul Dalglish won the MLS last season. Daniel Dichio isn't just 'another joke of a player' over there. He is the top scorer in the league. Go and watch Caley vs Falkirk and I guarantee you a better game than DC United vs Houton Dynamo. Players like Stuart McAffrey or Roy McBain could play for any side in that league. Richie Byrne likewise. Freddy Adu hasn't just been 'hyped up', he has been turned into something he never was. Considering he has been one of The Greatest Players On The Planet (according to the Nike shop in DC) for 2-3 years now, why does he only have 1 cap for the USA? Comparing Mackie for Eddie Johnson hardly makes the league seem stronger. The best player in their league (by a mile) is as good a player as a decent SPL striker? Like I say, the majority of those teams would struggle to cope in Division 1.

Having watched DC United (when they were the best side in the league) I can wholeheartedly say that the standard of the MLS is far worse than the SPL. Some of the players would struggle in Division 1. Paul Dalglish won the league their last season, alongside former Dundee United benchwarmer (1 game in 2 seasons) Pat Onstad. The league features such luminaries as Terry Cooke, Carl Robinson and Danny Dichio. The man who will be aiming to get on the end of David Beckham's crosses at LA Galaxy is Turks and Caicos Islands international Gavin Glinton. Yes, that is the Turks and Caicos Islands, who were beaten 14-0 in regional World Cup qualifying by St Kitts and Nevis. I went to DC United games to watch Freddy Adu (the greatest player ever ever ever apparently). He was fast, he had a good first touch, but I honestly think he would struggle in the SPL, let alone the Premiership. The salaries and attendences may be the same, they might even be more in the MLS, but I am judging the league by the standard of the players. On average players are paid more in Denmark and Norway than they are in Argentina and Brazil, but I know what I would rather watch.

The same Ronnie O'Brien who played AT Juventus and Middlesbrough, but didn't ever actually play a game for them? He may well have been capped at under 18 level, but that was 10 years ago. He doesn't have any full Irish caps. Sorry, but he doesn't inspire me with any sort of confidence and I hope we stay well clear of him. Paul Dalglish will probably make the MLS all star side this season. Simo Valakari has made it in seasons past. No matter how many stars they sign, it will still be a second rate league, with a far lower standard than the SPL.

Hignett was a bad signing because we had to pay him a huge signing on fee, then 8k per week, and then a rumoured 300k golden handshake when he left. If we actually saw a quarter of the fee we had paid for him then I would be very surprised.

Ronnie O'Brien... You mean former Dundee United failure and TIME man of the Century Ronnie O'Brien?

I will be happy enough if we sign a keeper. Anything other than that is a bonus.

To be fair to Paterson, he didn't even put a scratch in the debt. The debt was partly caused by signing the likes of Hignett, Pepper, Kiriakov, Bernard, Gilles, O'Neill, Newell, Tzvetanov et al and paying them way, way over the odds. And then having Ebbe pay the likes of Fergus Tiernan 2.5k per week, on top of spending a million on Solberg, Zerouali and the like. 30k here and there for Pele's transfers were small fries compared to this.

My Dutch (and knowledge of Dutch lower leagues) isn't up to much, but De Treffers play in the Hoodfklasse Sunday C division. As I say, I have no idea what that is, and I hate pre-judging, but it doesn't inspire me... Arafath Heuvel played for Groningen in the mid 90's. He had an unsuccessful spell at Colchester in 98/99 when he had injury problems and never really got going. He then signed for Tranmere. He then seems to have dissapeared off the footballing map since then.

Or we try to be a bit ambitious. Try to make the group stages, and get around 5m from TV money. I'm still not sure this is the right thing to do, but if there ever was a time to gamble on keeping the current squad together so they can kick us on a level (even short term) then it is now.

Does the thought of Darren Mackie getting married make anyone else feel really old?

Although I am not that bothered at the prospect of Langfield not being our first choice next season, I am slightly worried that none of the keepers mentioned here as realistic targets are better than him. Tony Bullock? Behave. Jeroen Lambers? Please. David Marshall? Two good games in his entire career... We can effectively rule out any move for a Championship, League 1 or League 2 first choice goalkeeper, as even a shit one would cost 100k nowadays. If we are looking for a new goalie I think we can safely say it will be either a. Free Transfer or b. Someone brought in with any money taken from Langfield moving on. I would love it if we could go and sign somelike like Neil Alexander and kick us on a level, but realistically there are very, very few bargain basement goalkeeping stars. My biggest fear is we start the season with Souter as first choice.

Could we not sway Stillie away from going to London for a season? Admittedly we have not been the kindest set of fans to him when he has come as an away player, but I would far rather we keep a Scottish keeper in the side.

I honestly think Langfield is one of the best shot stoppers we have had in a long time. He is decent on crosses as well. His problems are in less quantifiable areas like kicking and moments of madness. There have only been a couple of occasions this season when I thought Langfield was beaten by shots he should have saved, and far more occasions where he made saves that I didnt think he would make. However, I think his kicking from the ground needs work all summer. Nothing but kicking. Not much we can do about the occasional rushes of blood to the head except that with another year's experience he cuts that part of the game out. The comparison with Hibs is hardly fair. They have had some really, really shit goalies. To the point where they might as well have had an outfield player in goals. Kaspar Schmeichel is an ok keeper, but people want him far more for the name than his abilities. Like I said before, if the opportunity comes to drastically improve the position then take it. At the moment all it would be is different shades of shite.

Rumour has it Rangers offered 70k. I honestly don't think it would have been worth our while in selling Langfield for that price. For me he is a better keeper than McGregor(not that that is saying that much), but for a serious improvement in the goalkeeping department we would need either a. A lot of money to buy better quality. Even Artur Boruc who was 'a bargain' all things considered, cost 1M. Craig Gordon is being rated at anywhere between 5-10M. Now I know that both are better than our Jamie, but 100 times better? Tell me a good goalkeeper who is under contract and I will show you a player who is too expensive for Aberdeen. b. A Kjaer like freebie. Almost even more unlikely, as almost every side in the world, from Arsenal to Valencia, is looking for a better goalkeeper. People now realise that a 35 year old keeper isnt a problem. Unless you want to take a chance on someone like Mark Crossley then who knows what you are going to get. Langfield played his part in getting us into Europe. To paraphrase Lenin, when we are victorious on a world scale we will use Jamie Langfield in a smaller role and buy an upgrade. Until them I am happy to stick.

Foster has done more than enough to retain his position in the team. I would quite like to see McNamara at centre back with Anderson. But his versitility means that he would be useful in a variety of positions depending what formation we go with.

Along with Anderson, he was probably our best player in the second half of the season. We missed him really badly when he was injured. I think he is not just good enough, but is one of our top players.

Shame on Triple Kirks, who were throwing people out for singing. Pittodrie bar was ace. The place was packed and bouncing until about 9.

I was at an awards dinner last night (yeah, woo woo, check me out) and I have been bet 50 quid by a journalist for a well known national newspaper that next season Nevio Scala will be in charge and (here is the kicker) he will have 12M to spend. Now usually I would be suspect over betting with journalists, but this was a Jambo's heart ruling his head...

I dont think it is that we are unable to pay 70k, it is that the boy's agent told us that he would be free. Now if I was told that something was free, the sudden inclusion of 70 grand wouldn't exactly be a sweetener. We do seem to have irons in the fire for once. We have one player on board already for next season, and from the sounds of things there could be at least another two more by the end of the month. I liked the sound of Bodde, but I won't weep salty tears if he goes to Swansea.

It is a strange one. Personally I am of the opinion that armbands, or any other sort of 'football vigil', should be exclusively for other football people. I understand that it is a mark of respect, but I fail to see why football fans getting involved makes the grieving feel that much better?