DonsTalk

http://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/sport/football/the-dons/dons-fly-to-tenerife-for-training-camp-1.845545

Derek McInnes’ side do not have a game this weekend, due to Scottish Cup fixtures.

 

The Pittodrie boss decided it would be good to go away to prepare them for their home match against Motherwell on March 13.

 

Senior players involved in the U20 match against Celtic at Airdrie today will join up with the rest of the team later in the week.

 

The Dons will be back in the North-east this weekend.

http://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/sport/football/the-dons/mcinnes-grateful-to-have-flood-back-to-his-best-for-dons-1.844336

http://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/polopoly_fs/1.844325.1425025597!/image/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/box_620/image.jpg[/img]

 

DONS boss Derek McInnes today admitted he’s grateful to have Willo Flood back to his best ahead of their biggest game of the season.

 

Midfielder Flood came in for the injured Jonny Hayes to help the Dons dump St Mirren 3-0 at Pittodrie in the Premiership last weekend.

 

The 29-year-old is also expected to be handed a key role when Aberdeen face his old club Celtic in Glasgow on Sunday.

 

McInnes knows their hopes of a victory that would strengthen their challenge to the Celts for the title are higher with Flood, proving he has fully recovered from a hamstring injury.

 

He said: “It’s great to see Willo back in the frame of mind where he’s desperate to make his mark.

 

“We had a few options for the St Mirren game, which is why we left picking the team until later than normal.

 

“We opted to stick with the shape that has served us well over the last while, so gave Willo his chance.

 

“He was excellent, back to his enthusiastic best. Willo covered loads of ground and helped set the tempo of the game for us. He’s also great at quietly tidying up other people’s mess when things break down.

 

“Willo sets high standards and you can be sure he will be looking to maintain them in the weeks ahead.”

http://www.scotsman.com/webimage/1.3350841.1395587812!/image/2423446970.jpg_gen/derivatives/articleImgDeriv_628px/2423446970.jpg[/img]

Aberdeen FC 166 games & 9 goals

Scotland U16 6 games & 1 goal

Scotland U17 7 games & 2 goals

Scotland U19 1 game

Scotland U21 19 games & 1 goal

Dundee United 0 | 2 Aberdeen

Smith 54

Masson 62

SPFL Development League | Starks Park, Kirkcaldy | 2pm | FT

Aberdeen starting XI: Mutch, Rose, C Robertson, Gibbons, Taylor, Culjak, Wright, Masson, Shankland, Smith, Felek

Substitutes: Campanile, Jones, Henry, Petrie, S Robertson

-----------

Ash Taylor started the game and completed the full 90 mins - whether this enough for Sundays game is unknown.

THE SPFL have this afternoon revealed they are ready to draw up a new rulebook that drives bigots out of football.  League chiefs have come under fire for not doing more to stop the sectarian scourge that has flared up again in our game.

 

Neil Doncaster yesterday released a statement that in effect admitted Hampden chiefs are almost powerless in the fight against bigotry.  SPFL rules state they can only take action against a club if it has been found they could have done more to stop the singing.  UEFA, meanwhile, can and have imposed a wide raft of sanctions such as fines and docked points.

 

But the SPFL today released a statement that revealed they WILL look into ripping it up on a week tomorrow.

 

A statement read: "An SPFL board meeting was convened by conference call this morning to discuss recent supporter misconduct at several matches.

 

"The strong view of the SPFL board is that such behaviour has no place in Scottish football.

 

"These events and the current regulations in this area will be reviewed and discussed in detail when the board meets in person at Hampden in March."

https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/sport/football/aberdeen-fc/499582/aberdeen-fc-mclean-relishing-showdown-trip-celtic/

Aberdeen midfielder Kenny McLean is relishing Sunday’s Premiership trip to champions Celtic as the Dons refuse to give up on the pursuit of the leaders.

 

McLean impressed in the 3-0 cruise against his former club St Mirren on Saturday.

 

Adam Rooney scored twice – his 22nd and 23rd goals of the season – before defender Mark Reynolds added a third in a ruthless display.

 

And midfielder McLean knows how important the trip to Parkhead is.

 

Celtic defeated Hamilton 4-0 at home yesterday to move three points clear of the Dons and McLean said: “It’s massive. Since I have came to the club everyone has been talking about this game, whether it’s the supporters or the press.

 

“None of the games going into this were going to be easy but we have handled ourselves very professionally and not looked too far ahead.

 

“Now Celtic is the next game and we will start preparing for it. Our confidence is up and we are playing well at the moment.

 

“We are scoring goals and defending well as a team. Can we beat them? I don’t see why not.

 

“We have got the quality in the squad to beat anyone.”

 

McLean has stepped up his level of performance in each of his three matches for the Dons and said: “I would say that was my best performance for Aberdeen so far. I knew it was going to take a bit of time to adapt coming here from St Mirren.

 

“I have settled in pretty quickly and have got up to speed with how we play. I am starting to click with a few of the players.

 

“There were a times when I should probably have found the back of the net but I am sure the goals will come.

 

“We’ve scored 10 goals in the last three games and kept clean sheets as well. It’s been great to be part of it and long may it continue.”

 

McLean has swapped a team struggling against relegation to one contending for the title and despite the criticism of the move by Buddies manager Gary Teale, who claimed the midfielder should have gone to English football, the player is content he made the right decision.

 

McLean added: “At St Mirren we were always going behind in games and it was a struggle.

 

“Aberdeen play good, expansive football, we create chances and score goals.

 

“Winning breeds confidence and playing with better players around me will also make me better.

 

“‘Everyone has opinions. But as soon I heard Aberdeen were interested, I came up and got it done right away. I was very happy to come here.

 

“That’s his opinion if he thinks it is the wrong move. I’m just going to keep working hard and see where that takes me.”

 

Aberdeen defender Ashton Taylor and midfielder Nicky Low will return to training this week and could be in contention for places in the squad for the Celtic match.

Not many of you will know, but this month sees the 10 year anniversary of DandyDons/DonsTalk. The site originally started at www.dandydons.co.uk - you should be able to see how it looked back in the day by clicking on the link below:

http://web.archive.org/web/20020310014313/http://www.dandydons.co.uk/

The strap line is quite apt 'It's the Dadi' as we are the longest running independent Aberdeen FC forum. Back in 2002 the concept was for a fanzine with articles, news, etc but there was always a forum. Eventually it was decided that in order to drive traffic (as well as with hosting issues) that a dedicated domain was the way to go. Originally DonsTalk was a .com domain but again hosting problems caused it to be moved to our current .co.uk domain.

Thankfully those days are in the past and we have just paid for a new 2 year deal with our server hosts who are also the guys who run www.invernessreds.co.uk. Currently we are looking at increasing the connectivity between the forum and different social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook as this is the way many people are now communicating about Aberdeen Football Club.

You can like & follow DonsTalk at:

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Thanks to all those who have contributed over the years and we hope to hear more of your opinions and ideas into the future

The DonsTalk Admin Team