wee toon red

Lobban in. Big chance for the kid.

2 hours ago, Jute2 said:

U17s beat England yesterday. 
 

 

Great result. Sadly no Dons in the squad, which really has to be an important part of Pfannensteil's new job. Our representation in the age groups is awful for a club of our standing.

20, 19 and 19. Players signed for the future, presumably by "the board" rather than the manager, who sees them in training every day and must feel they're not ready for the first team yet. They've plenty time to come good and prove themselves. Better to let them cool their heels than throw them into a struggling team.

1 hour ago, tlg1903 said:

I suspect I'm fairly solitary on the board with this opinion but I would still give him the season and that's not going to change unless I genuinely start fearing relegation could be a thing. That said I think it was Panda that said yesterday that this was the first time his faith had been shaken in the manager which I can understand. Cormack has a big decision to make though and imo if he's going to stick he needs to make that comprehensively known so the support backs off a bit. 

Given the lack of news from the club so far it would seem he's going to get the Killie game at least.  After that we have a week off (much needed imo) then November is Larnaca away, motherwell, hearts and noah at home then livi away.  Plenty winnable games there.  I said a few months ago I thought the first half of the season was going to be tough so for me this isn't overly unexpected.  I do still think we will have a very strong second half of the season if we keep Thelin though.  

Add me to the list of those who are still willing to give him a bit of time. There's talk that the new sporting director is imminent so I think that it might be prudent to let that relationship form before making any final decisions.

Two things would change my mind: as you've said, relegation looking likely would be one and the other would be obvious signs that the players have stopped doing it for him. I didn't see the game yesterday so won't be making snap judgements off the back of that, but it does sound a bit like there could have been early signs of tools having been downed?

Don't know much about Teasdale but he certainly seems to know the way to goal at that level.

I think Miovski just isn't that good in the grand scheme of things. A good - very good maybe? - player for us but not up to La Liga and the resulting blow to his confidence seems to have set him back.

An absolutely tremendous bit of business all round from the Dons.

Muscat turned them down according to Sky

1 hour ago, manc_don said:

Bonkers, just bonkers. But he can leave Armstrong the fuck alone. No way will he be able to play that many games this season, rather he kept himself for the Dons and Clarke find someone else to make the position their own. Must have been some night in Glasgow last night!

Scotland qualifying for the World Cup would be better than anything the dons can still achieve this season so if Armstrong was needed - he isn’t, so it’s a moot point anyway - then he’d be welcome to go imo

22 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

I'd argue that Niall McGinn, James Maddison, Leighton Clarkson, Calvin Ramsay are all ahead of him in the gifted stakes in an AFC shirt so far. However, there are definitely the signs that he might blow them all out the water if he continues to settle into it. He's working very hard for the team, as well as beginning to turn on the style. 

Edit: of course, the similarities with Gilhaus are due to the point in their careers at which we signed them, which makes him stand out.

Agree with the sentiment you’re expressing and would also add Ryan Fraser. When he was breaking through he got me off my seat more regularly than anyone since Jess.

On 07/10/2025 at 04:16, Panda said:

I don't think we need to worry about a Hearts title win. They've played seven games and in three of them have needed a last minute winner. That says a lot of teams are capable of causing them problems and their run isn't sustainable.

They were terrible against Hibs, and they've a tough run of fixtures now with four of their next seven games away from home (one being at Pittodrie) and Celtic visiting Tynecastle. Will be a couple of defeats in there at least.

Sounds a lot like us last year…

3 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

Great news, he looks the business. I thought Jensen was fine at the weekend, but he's in one of the roles that requires a lot of effort in our system, so Lobban could easily have played the final twenty minutes in place of him.  Hopefully the new DOF will open up avenues for young players to make the first team more often, via a publicised strategy to ease pressure on the manager and player(s)

Agree with putting a strategy in place to give youngsters a pathway. Don’t really think it needs to be public tho, so many roasters in our support that they wouldn’t listen anyway unfortunately.

For what they're worth, "the stats" show we're a bit better than the league position suggests - if we could only get the ball in the fucking goal! Possibly still clinging to false hope but maybe a bit reminiscent of Hibs last season? BTW I detest xAnything when it comes to football but I'll clutch at any straw I can find right now.

Whenever Jimmy goes - hopefully in 5+ years after managing to pull off the unlikely and turn this thing around but even if it's next week - the new manager simply cannot be appointed until the technical director position is filled.

2 minutes ago, Kowalski said:

To? 

“great ball out to to and to toe pokes it through the keepers legs.  To makes it to one”. 

“To” much To hope that it’s this guy?

1 hour ago, Panda said:

Thelin - I think you can strongly criticise him and also be strongly against sacking him.

I really can't be arsed with another manager change. We've heavily invested in this one. We're not going to be relegated in October. Let's give this manager backing for once.

But by fuck do we need to hit some good form, preferably before the year is out.

This is exactly how I feel as well. I’m hoping for a Hibs 24/25-style turnaround. I’m also choosing to believe that it could happen because life’s generally better when you’re an optimist.

16 minutes ago, RicoS321 said:

Good find.

We need to get someone in above him to really put the pressure on him. He could be a good manager I think, but he needs anyone to really be questioning his judgement. 

I would say that the whole "5 wins in 32" needs to do one though. Two entirely different squads and seasons, and need to be judged separately. There is no such thing as "calendar year" in fitba either, it's just pundit bollocks. Each season is a reset. JT has had his, and we judge him on his failures this season. I'd force him to stay and own his mess.

Completely agree. I’ll give him until Christmas before I jump on any JMG bandwagon but only because of the high player turnover. We really need to see changes from him as well as the players between now and then.

We’ve got a team of modern, risk averse robots. Very few risks are taken because you must keep the ball at all costs. Maybe works elsewhere but it’s clearly not doing us any good and I’m not sure Jimmy is ever going to figure it out if he hasn’t by now.

Leaving next month.

https://www.afc.co.uk/2025/09/16/director-of-football-steven-gunn-to-depart-afc/

Sounds like a polite sacking. Chance to get a "proper" DOF/Technical Director for @RicoS321

Please take this as a genuine question Orlando Don as I think it was you that said it (apologies if it wasn’t):

What specifically is it that schools and colleges over there are teaching that’s “left” and lead folk like Charlie Kirk to think the opposite point of view needs to be put out on campuses across the country?

4 minutes ago, BigAl said:

Looks like the system and the set up is working, it's the finishing touch that's missing.

Gyamfi and Alfie in at the back, shinnie and sivert in midfield, karlsson and nisbet starting.

mitov

jensen Alfie knoester gyamfi

sivert shinnie

keskinen aouchiche karlsson

nisbet

No excuses today Dons, three points a must.

19 hours ago, OrlandoDon said:

That’s why you have creativity at 7, 10, and 11, plus the full backs bombing on. You have two guys in there whose job is to win the ball/create turnovers, and play passes. They can be good passers with range, and can still attack, but flair/creativity is mainly from that 3 behind the 9. 

If I change my original use of "creativity" to "comfortable on the ball" then I don't think we're in any disagreement.

1 hour ago, OrlandoDon said:

You dont need creativity, that’s the whole point. We have three flair players ahead of them and attacking fullbacks, these guys serve a very different role to balance the team. Harsh on Clarkson but I don’t think he’s the type of player we need in there. As I said before though, all of our central mids have weaknesses.

You might not need creativity in the sense of beating a man or slipping in a through ball but you need to be able to manipulate space and pick a pass, as well as dictate the tempo. You can’t just have two players  in there to be a brick wall, that would just lead to the midfield getting bypassed and spending 90 minutes watching the ball fly over their heads. There’s got to be balance between the pair.