wee toon red

How annoying is that guy who was doing the commentary on our game? He sounds just like that bint who does Match of the Day, only with a Scottish accent.

Indeed. Utd abosutely horsed them in the first half last night so I've no idea why Arsenal should be favourites next week just cos their keeper made some good saves. Can't see Arsenal keeping a clean sheet or scoring three goals in the second leg.

No really. They'll be projecting falls in season ticket sales and corporate income for next season and seem to be cutting their cloth accordingly. Can't say I blame them.

For about a week after the Dunfermline game I was firmly in the JMG camp - still wouldn't be attending this protest mind you - but now that another week or so has passed and I've had time to have a good think about it this post sums my feelings up.

Yup

4th. Can't see us catching the Jambos but don't think anyone will be consistent enough to beat us to 4th. Just enough to give the board an excuse to keep Jimmy in a job

You is correct. Platini told Smith to bugger off. I believe some story about paperwork not being submitted in time was the official excuse.

Someone else. As said above, none of the current SPL managers interest me, with the exception of Strachan but that's clearly out of the question. Darren Ferguson would be my ideal choice but even then I'm not sure if it would be a goer.

Again, I'm not picking on you particularly but this is pretty much what I meant in my first post. European football isn't a prize as such, that big shiny silver thing that Smith, MacPherson, Hughes or McIntyre will be lifting that we haven't seen since 1990 is a REAL prize. That's what I want and a wee Euro jaunt is a nice bonus - albeit a potentially good financial one. I just desperately want a trophy - god knows enough teams have had one since we last did - and would swap all the good away trips in the world for a Saturday afternoon at Hampden in May watching our boys going up those steps and lifting the cup

Laying aside all debates about JIG/JMG and who our next manager should be, can anyone clarify a couple of things. All through the topics on here, quotes in the press from Jimmy etc and other places, I keep seeing references to getting to a cup final being "the next step", or qualifying for Europe making up for being knocked out the cup by yet another team we should be beating. I'm not singling anyone out, or even suggesting that these things are the opinions of the majority, but it's beginning to piss me off that the above two scenarios are being seen as achievements. Football is all about winning things and, to me, no amount of third/fourth place finishes in the league will ever amount to half as much as winning the Scottish Cup. Similarly, getting to a cup final is nowhere near an achievement and the goal every year should be to win the trophy, not just make the final. Runner-up is just first loser after all. Maybe it's just me but I wouldn't actually give two hoots about playing in Europe IF it is seen as some kind of acceptable alternative to winning trophies. I'm possibly still pissed off after Wednesday night but I've been reading these kind of statements and suggestions for the last couple of seasons and I'm keen to find out if I'm the only one that thinks like that. /Rant!!

Spot on sir

I concur with much of what you say but can't agree with the bit I've quoted. The two cups are our only chance of winning silverware in the foreseeable future and the Scottish is the bigger of the two so it's far from worthless in my eyes. Sure, the league and a top four finish is our bread and butter but I'd dearly, dearly love to get our hands on a trophy every once in a while. I'd take a fifth place finish and a cup win every single season if someone offered it. Football's all about winning things and as I see it a UEFA cup or whatever it's called place through your league finish is only a consolation prize for those who don't win the league.

I thought Kerr had a good game tonight and didn't deserve to be on the losing side. He's turned out to be a great signing. Fuck knows how awful we'd have been without him and Zander tonight.

Eh? Didn't Brazil absolutely pump them in the final that year? I wouldn't have minded Jeffries at the time Jimmy got the job but Killie have been pretty unconvincing the last couple of seasons and are particularly woeful at the moment.

I was pretty much on the fence but it's a resounding JMG after that Two chances to put away a bunch of first division cloggers and we couldn't do it. Not good enough and we've blown so many chances to give ourselves a good shot at silverware over the last few seasons that I can't take any more. The only problem I've got now is that I really don't know who I want in his place.

Aye, it was their fault we got humped 7-0 every time we went to Parkhead.

Saw that gossip bit as well and was about to ask the same question?

Sounds like a superb idea to me

Ach, how much damage can one man realistically do? I don't imagine he'll sign for a team who we shouldn't be aiming to beat so as long as our TEAM plays better than his we'll be alright. Lovell isn't the type of player who's going to turn a middle of the road team into a good one all of a sudden, or even win games on his own.

Maybe Fergie reckons that if your oldest player is only 29 then your team must be young?

It's an improvement on the squad that turned up to start pre-season training tho

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/aberdeen/7449388.stm Probably isn't too much in it other than a bit of PR trying to keep people excited to buy strips and season tickets.

He maybe didn't say quite that, but Gary McDonald was very positive about his move the other week

Absolutely true, unless the player is so lacking in ambition that he's happy to waste a good proportion of his career rotting away in the stands for relatively big money instead of playing regularly on a lower wage. Another thing I don't get is the school of thought which seems to suggest Gow and Riordan are on a similar level. When Riordan was at Hibs he was being hailed as the greatest thing since sliced bread and you could see why. When Gow was at Falkirk he was thought of as quite a good player by SPL standards but not exactly setting the heather alight. I'd say we've got far more chance of getting Gow than Riordan but wouldn't be particularly confident of getting either.

From the BBC: "Meanwhile, midfielder Alan Gow is determined to stay at Ibrox despite appearing only twice last season. Gow's agent Phil McTaggart told BBC Scotland: "Alan wants to give it another go. He'll be reporting for pre-season training." Ach well, that'll be that, then.