10menwent2mow

we're certainly the best Top 6 decider team based on the last few seasons, mugging both Inverness and Falkirk, god that sounds really pathetic doesn't it!!!

148. Red Ultras come up with catchy new football song

Santa at Inverness, that could be carnage.

tough run in before the split, 3 out of 4 games away to teams in the Top Half from last year. Looking foward to the season start, any chance of Rangers/Motherwell/Celtic or Hibs being in European action when we play them??

In our case it doesn't really matter because the kit can only be bought from official club outlets anyway (I think) it's not like it's going to be appearing in sports shops worldwide. Football supporters are still going to be attracted by the brand (the football club) as opposed the brand (the sponsor). I can only speak for myself but I could name several club football tops from around the world by looking at them with the kit and team badge and not that many by the sponsor alone.

ach it looks ok, I've never been a fan of white away jerseys so will probably buy the home kit. This has to be one of the most bizarre debates ever "a more prominent company will make more people buy the kit" I'm sorry, but that takes the biscuit for me. I'm sure loads of people go down to Old Trafford to buy the latest AIG top that just happens to have the Man Utd crest on it for the kudos that they'll get for having an AIG top. Supporters have a loyalty to their football club, not the sponsors (unless the sponsors are going to provide incentives to buy they're product/service) Who here has invested money in Abtrust, has a JVC home stereo system on which they listen to Northsound Radio, while looking out their Living Design windows waiting for the Atlantic Telecom phone to ring (insert something to do with A-Fab here) safe in the knowledge that they are protected by an ADT alarm system??

damn, I've got the wrong former Aberdeen manager

108. Celtic admit there were only about 20,000 in Seville

92. Mizer: "Jimmy Calderwood is the best Aberdeen manager since Fergie and I wish him all the best." 93. Bono: "I am a cunt."

I am a vertically challenged striker that can put away chances when they come my way, can run about and hassle defenders with plenty energy. I am Billy Dodds

I can never get my head round this quote, there are many poor games between teams of similar standard in the EPL, in the same way that there are in the SPL. Take OF games for example and take games between the "big 4" in England. Now would you rather watch them than watch Pompey 7-4 Reading or Motherwell 5-6 Aberdeen. I know these are isolated examples but you can get some brilliant SPL games involving random teams. I'd rather watch any SPL game than watch a Wigan vs Reading game. of course it is manufactured excitement, whenever in the past did we have 4 teams from the same country in the last 8 of the european cup. People always go on about the CL and how great it is, I think its crap. There was much grumbling about the 2004 final between Monaco and Porto and how bad it was that 2 such poor teams had reached the final. Bollocks, they beat the teams put in front of them, that is knockout football at its best. If the two best teams in Europe play one another in the European cup, I dont care at what stage its at, 1st round or final, as long as it is a good game. Barca vs Man Utd is as good a Quarter-Final as it is a final.

I can see your point about manufactured excitement and there are certain aspects of it that I detest. The manufactured excitement of four English teams being in the last eight of the Champions League, the highest financial reward in English football being for the winner of a game between two teams finishing from 3rd to 6th in Division 2. Although, these are games that at the moment dont involve Aberdeen, if they did, I'm sure I'd get wrapped up in them. How excited were you at the Copenhagen game, having drawn 3 and lost 2 of our previous 5 European games there would probably have been nothing to play for in that game in previous years but thanks to the revamping of the UEFA Cup (which in the past I have criticised) we had something to look forward to and we had one of the best nights that Pittodrie has seen in years.

and i remember thinking the exact same thing about the Dundee fans when I was at that game and then the same thing happened to us and we all got carried away just as much.

but the point is that people do celebrate getting top 6, just like we all did at Inverness a couple of seasons back, otherwise it would have been dull. Call us mugs if you will but thats the way it was. And at the end of the day the Top 6 can generate cash as it means games against the Old Firm, bigger travelling supports, I'd still rather be in the Top half than the bottom half.

so what is the dutch league doing, with this silly play off, what is the point of the playoffs in the Championship etc, it's to manufacture excitement. Watch the EPL between now and the end of the season, I'll be surprised if you see a single game between Boro and anyone outwith the top/bottom 4. What is Grand Slam Sunday being in the EPL, surely that's manufacturing excitement? Any sport/league has to promote itself and perhaps the way to do this is to have a unique selling point.

I dont think that Scottish football would live on a 16/18 team league on the grounds that the insignificant fixtures would simply come earlier in the season. We have seen for ourselves, and could well do again this season, what happens to attendances when you finish in the bottom six. In a 16/18 team structure all that would happen is that you end up like Middlesbrough in the EPL this season, can't go down, can't get Europe, crowds fall, plus you only have 1 game at home to each of the OF. At least at this point in the season teams have an incentive to continue playing to get into the top half. Love it or hate it, the split manufactures excitement at this point in the season when otherwise no-one would want to turn up to games. Does anyone remember the bounce when Lovell scored at Inverness to pretty much guarantee us top 6 a couple of seasons back? How many people would have bothered their arse to get up there without the split? It's something to aim for at the start of the season for lesser clubs as well. Falkirk would never aspire to get into europe this year but the top 6 has given them a realistic expectation, Inverness are the same, it makes a difference from saying that teams want to stay up which breeds the culture of not wanting to lose.

we all say that the SPL is stale and boring but a quick glance around the major European leagues will reveal the same dominance by a select group of teams, namely the ones that qualify for the Champions League every season. France - Lyon 6 in a row England - Man U, Arsenal and Chelsea every year for the last 15, bar 1. Spain - Barca and Real most seasons Italy - Inter, AC and Juve every year for last 16 bar 2 Holland - Feyernoord, Ajax and PSV every year since 81 Portugal - Porto, Sporting, Benfica every year since 46 bar 1 And I suppose we're the same as most other leagues in that the other teams are a much of a muchness. It would be very harsh on the Old Firm to have to play a team that finished 25 pts behind them for the right to a CL place, I suppose the playoff system in England is equally as unfair in the Coca-Cola leagues in that a team finishing 6th can go up when finishing 15 pts behind the team in 3rd but I'm not in favour for it with regards European qualification. You knock your pan in for the right to qualify for Europe through your league position and I think that is the way it should stay.

I dont think that he so much sacrificed the league, to be honest I wouldn't have thought that such an extended European run was part of the thinking at the start of the season. I would suggest that finishing in the Top 6 is actually of huge importance at this stage of the season. That sounds like I'm contradicting myself in terms of my previous post but I still won't class it a failure if we finish in the bottom half just a disappointment because of the reasons listed below. I would much rather that (should we get past QofS in the Semi) we were playing games against United, Motherwell and the Old Firm who all have something to play for in our games in the run-up to the cup final. There is no doubt that there would be a great atmosphere at these games, we're playing against better opposition than if we were in the bottom half and it will keep the players minds sharp for a potential cup final. It's all very well saying that the players would be playing for their places in the cup final team even if we do finish in the bottom half but it would be harder to play against a St Mirren or Killie going through the motions themselves infront of 3,000 Love St or 6,500 at Todders. And there is also the small opportunity of fucking up the Huns in the league and then gubbing them at Hampden, now that, my friends, would be sweet.

I'm still all for the Centenary in Dundee, get in, get a crate, get a corner, start a song.

I'm with Funster, Sneckie and Sharpie on this one, I wouldn't change a single thing about this season and I would stick to that even if we are knocked out of the cup by QofS. The highs of getting past Dnipro, the trip to Madrid, thumping Copenhagen at Pittodrie, taking the lead twice against Bayern, knocking Celtic out of the cup, the Allianz arena and hell, even taking the lead at Ibrox is something I've never been at Ibrox to see us do. All of those highs more than make up for the heap of poor performances that there have undoubtedley been. I would suggest that many an SPL supporter will have been envious of what Aberdeen fans have had to enjoy this season, take a look at United for example, yes they took us to the fucking cleaners in the CIS Semi but at the end of the season they might not even have European football to show for what has been one of their best seasons in years and we could yet still be re-living everything we have this season again next year.

What a magic performance, doubt I will have a night like that at Pittodrie again in all my days. We matched one of the top teams in Europe in every department, not just determination and heart but also in skill and ability. You just have to look at how Bayern got their two goals, a lump up to a target man and a penalty. We played some cracking stuff tonight and it is a testament to the players and the management that you can possibly come away from that game feeling a tad deflated at what happened. The European performances this season have made many of us proud to be Aberdeen fans again. The Allianz will probably be where the Euro adventure ends but what an adventure it has been, from those that were welcomed by "Come on you C**ts" in Dnipro to tonight. STAND FREE

Diamond has a fitness test tomorrow. Says he's probably not 100% but it'll take a lot to keep him out.

As BTR said, Nicholson was probably one of the best players on the park on Tuesday night and I'd say that you cant question his effort at all this season. People were happy enough for McNaughton and Heikkinen to play when they had actually announced that they were leaving, there is still a chance that Nicholson will stay.

F I can't believe that you think that Lee Miller has "hero status" and then compare him to Steve Lovell??!?! Every time Lovell comes off the bench at Pittodrie you here Lovell cheered onto the park, I would in turn ask you, what the fuck Lovell has done to deserve this? He has never looked interested in an Aberdeen jersey, for someone who is supposed to be a pacy forward, I've yet to see it and for someone who is supposed to be a great finisher, I think he's more sitters that anyone at Aberdeen. For those who say he hasn't had a prolonged run in the team to show what he can do I recall people saying the same things about Bagshaw and Stewart. Lovell was a mistake, Miller may prove to be a mistake but there is a saying about absence, the heart and it growing fonder and it seems to be the norm to criticise the guys in the team at the moment conveiniently forget why the guys that are out of the team were dropped in the 1st place.

Where is the let him see out his contract and if we are still making progress/finishing in the top half consistently/progressing in domestic cups/doing ok in europe then reward him with a new contract option???