wee toon red

Of the 22 players listed as "1st team" on the club website, six came through the youth system. Surely 25% of your squad being home grown is a decent return, especially since all six have actually contributed this season and aren't just filling jerseys (Harvie excepted maybe)?

Giving any manager, but especially one at international level, full control over an entire set up from the youths upwards is madness. Managers are, by their nature, transient, so clubs and associations should have a system running in the background that continues regardless of who is in charge of picking the squads etc. Now it's obviously highly unlikely that the SFA will make a good job of such a thing but as a general principle they shouldn't be handing a manager full control and it seems like they're already aware of that, with Mackay as performance director overseeing the full set up.

They could do that on a pre contract without giving us a penny.

This might be unlikely but maybe McLean said "show me how much you want me; give the mighty Dons a couple of shekels now and loan me back or I'll hold off signing until June to see if I get any better offers" or words to that effect. Unlikely as I say but can't think of another explanation that makes any sense.

You’ve also got to bear in mind that, generally the higher a fee you pay the more the player will ask for in wages. So shelling out £1m for one player is going to lead to him wanting probably double whatever our current top earner is on and that could lead to all sorts of knock on issues. Until we’re ready to spend a relative fortune on the whole squad, not just one player.

Hull would be a shite move for any young Scottish player with aspirations of doing well in the game. Other than money, there really isn't any appeal as they're a poor team in a poor league and a youngster won't get much time to bed in. Much better staying here for another 2/3 years and seeing where that takes him. If he continues to play regularly for us he'll be in or around the Scotland squad soon enough, which is bound to get him a better move than Hull in time.

Sounds like a fucking idiot. Staunch though

Lewis Shinnie O'Connor Reynolds Considine Ball Arnason Stewart McLean GMS Rooney Potentially? Understandable without Logan, May and Christie.

Us that's letting the rest down? Bit harsh. They've beaten everyone this season at least once, with the exception of Hibs, so we've done no better or wose than 10 other teams so it's maybe a bit over critical to suggest we're letting the rest of the league down. Unless you mean by not winning more games and therefore not being top of the league? The quote from Milne is pretty accurate, when one team is winning almost all of their games it's almost impossible for anyone to keep up with them unless they've got a similar squad/financial advantage over everyone else, a-la the old Huns. It needs four or five teams to be capable ofgetting results from them regularly, and actually doing it, before any of the other teams can expect to keep up over the course of the season. I hope that's what he means when he says we need a strong *Rangers, although I wouldn't bet on it.

Whichever positions we fill, I sincerely hope the guys we sign have got plenty pace about them. I'm not sure we've got anyone particularly pacy in our top 12/13 players, maybe Christie but the role he plays doesn't really utilise that, and Wright isn't a slouch but isn't a first pick yet.

Take a look at performances and team selections since July rather than the last six weeks and the only difference you'll find is the results have tailed off - maybe we ran out of luck rather than anything else? His tactics in big games and occasional team selections are completely fair game for criticism but I'm not convinced it's anything more than a coincidence that our poor run came as soon as the Huns sacked Caixhina.

If they were a basket case then, they're still a basket case now and it would be some mission to fix that now if you thought you couldn't or wouldn't do it then. It's easy to forget these are normal people I suppose and therefore are allowed to change their minds as much as the rest of us. If the rumours of him resigning today are true then it's fair to say his head's been turned more than yon lassie's in the exorcist.

So what do you think changed in that time? Can't just be the fact that it became available surely?

The real question is what back door legislation is being pushed through, and covert operations taking place, while Trump's useful idiocy is being used to distract everyone's attention?

My wife's brother met his now wife through an online dating agency. He's only 7 or 8 years younger than me but apparently the stigma attached to using them has disappeared during that age gap as he assures me it's perfectly normal these days. Then again he would say that since he couldn't get a bird any other way In all seriousness, so much of our lives are lived online these days that it's understandable that "romance" has gone that way too. It probably does make it easier for people to be a bit economic with certain truths but as a way of making intros it surely can't do too much harm.

I'm going to speculate then that the rumours of this being previously discussed are true then and it's been in negotiations for weeks, even though we had two games to play against them. If so, I'd be waaaaay more pissed off at Milne than McInnes although obviously not happy with either of them.

Assuming you mean McInnes, Milne and King at least, what about our other board members/investors like Yule and Cormack? Are they implicated too?

Anyone else still gagging to know what it was that Big Al posted last night and then had to take down?!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42231445 They must have gone full circle of bitter hun bastards so we're back to Monster Munch's turn

Donstalk does clickbait

I see Kyle McAulay, formerly of this parish, is one the coaching team too.

I looked Graham Potter up and thought it was a picture of Kirk Broadfoot so for that reason he's not getting any jobs from me

There isn't half some amount of shite posted in internet forums. I'm not sure I've ever believed anything written on a forum if I haven't seen it backed up elsewhere. There's no way that it's already been agreed that McInnes is away. If he had agreed a deal he wouldn't take them team tomorrow even if the board would let him.

Got to laugh at the usual McLean haters on here. Of all the things to be worrying about in the last hour or so, McLean's performance isn't even remotely important. The ire should be deflected at the fucking nonsensical decision to again fuck about with the formation. We've got the players for 4-5-1, Sunday proves it works, so fucking well stick with it. Fucking nonsense to not even give ourselves a chance tonight. And a wee bit of consternation for the fucking halfwit of a ref, who isn't even half the official his old man was and that wasn't particularly good either.