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Stoney?

As the topic of players playing better when they are looking for a new contract, is next season not Mackie's turn to start banging them in again, or do we have another year to wait for that?

I remember him saying he had a flat in Aberdeen, but he hadn't used it enough. Will be interesting to see if the injuries subside on the shorter commute, or if that was just a pish excuse.

Boy on mad saying that a contract was agreed in principal with Thompson last week, which was apparently better than the one offered to Miller. Jc was then asked which one he would prefer (I suppose viable as he is not involved in the contract negotiations) and he said Miller. Miller then got offered the contract Thompson had been offered, and that led to the turnaround. If ture, he hasn't been ripping the piss out of us, but rather the other way round, by not offering him what we think he's worth. That said, the whole story could all be bollocks...

Exactly, not worth getting all annoyed about. When you look at what makeshift sides have done this season, mainly against Dundee Utd at home to be fair, it's maybe not a bad thing if it's just a shadow side that's playing.

Well if that's the case, then I'm with bloo_toon_red, that's enough commitment for me. Now let's get on with finding him a partner. 12 goals in a season is not a terrible return, but we need someone like a fit Jamie Smith, or Scott McDonald (obviously pre-Celtic, or even pre-Motherwell in fact) to play alongside him and get closer to 20 goals.

I seem to recall Sunderland fans, during their very bad season in the Premiership tearing their hair out at him, despairing at how poor he was. Past it IMO, just another Jackie Mac.

You can definetely remove the first 'allegedly'.

I wouldn't be happy with that sponsor. I want something like Microsoft, Gazprom, Petrobras or Morning Noon and Night - a global leader, not some shitey radio station. It would be like reverting to the Northsound days when we used to win stuff....

Right, let me word this properly. My colleague's sister is married to Keigan Parker's brother. She is off today, but I will ask her on Monday if she knows anything. Not sure his brother actually likes him very much though (and from the stories, I can see why), so the conversation may not have extended to his next move though.

Is the 888 thing confirmed or is that as flimsy as the whole kit design? i know there was talk of getting a higher profile sponsor, but haven't heard any indication of who it will be.

Aberdeen born Darren Ferguson? That seems doubtful. Feckin EE. That whole story, beyond the Walker stuff (which I think is good) is just lifted from messageboards.

Killie season ticket holding friend of mine just said to me "I always liked him - good football player" Personally I really can't remember seeing him play, but seems to be generally well thought of.

From the horses mouth in a Bridge of Allan nightclub when he was out with some friends of mine;

Kin hell Reekie, all I was doing was trying to give some information on who the guy was, and the goal against Everton was the last time I can think of him being in the public eye - hence the reason I said i didn't know enough about him to comment!

BBC rumour column again... Oldham midfielder Gary McDonald is wanted by Aberdeen. (Daily Star) This is the boy that scored against someone in the cup this year, can't remember who - used to play for Killie. Don't really know enough about him to comment to be honest. EDIT: It was Everton.

Stuart Duff. Aberdeen's answer to Steven Gerrard...

There was an issue before about something that Vlad said, but he got away with it because he wasn't on any boards or employed by the club. They changed those rules, and the next time he did something, he got fined and took ages to pay it. This should be more straightforward given it is Rodney that has said it.

Fair enough, I was just going by personal experience and what appears to be the general consensus on here. Certainly, from what I can gather, the variety seems to pale in comparison with what you can get in Edinburgh and Glasgow - which again pales in comparison to what you can get in London. Bigger cities = more variety, and generally more quality, and when you have two bigger cities less than an hour apart, it's easy to see why the central belt appeals. (Not just referring to restaurants). I do like Aberdeen, so it's not a critiscism, I just think that for a large section of society, the remoteness and focus on the players (Hibs or Hearts players could go out in Glasgow, and probably not even be recognised for the most part) could be a factor.

Well said that man...

One thing, that I admit is based a little on personal opinion, and a lot on what I have read on here, is enjoy a large selection and variety of nice restaurants. For a lot of players (if they are not into the pub/club thing) I would assume this would form a large part of their social life. As has been mentioned before, I assume the additional transport links, and the accesibility to variety probably plays a significant part for a lot of people, footballer or otherwise, too. One other point, people have listed the folk who have come to Aberdeen and not settled (has Hignett been listed?) but that is not indicative of the numbers who have turned down a move based on Aberdeen's location. The same thing can be seen in England, as some have mentioned - folk would rather live in London than in Sunderland, because there's more to do.

I think, in fairness, if he wasn't, he wouldn't be doing his job. Not sure whether you are referring to Utd picking up on our signing targets, or if it is just general frustration, but Gow isn't exactly a secret, and any manager of a half decent SPL side should be considering this IMO.

Ifs, buts and maybes...

I may be in the minority here, and going by a lot of the posts on here I think this is very much the case, but I wasn't even angry on Saturday, so by now it has completely faded away to a vague memory. At the time, I couldn't believe what I was watching, but I think reality kicked in during the game. The side that was out there on the park had a lot of weaknesses all over the park, and I think getting to the final and qualifying for Europe would have been heavy duty papering over cracks. This result should have started alarm bells ringing about the work that needs done over the summer, and the coming seasons to save what, not that long ago, was looking like a decent side - and that might not have happened had we won. I was disappointed with the result, yes, and perhaps not having people take the piss about it has helped, but there is no point dwelling on it. There have been doubts over the quality of the team for months, Saturday simply confirmed it for me. Work needs to be done, and it needs to be done now.

Craig 'Poofy' Brewster?