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If Hearts win, that means three of their last five home wins will have been against Aberdeen (the others being St Mirren & Stenhousemuir). An odd stat to have. Agree Anderson should start.

Dave Cormack in the front page of tonight's evening express saying standing zones and cheaper tickets coming to Pittodrie. Cornack went undercover to observe stewards at the Kilmarnock game last month then spoke to their supervisers. "I said 'Listen guys, I'm just being constructive here, but it's unacceptable what I saw.'" Sounds good. Obviously this is the beginning of them gauging interest to see how many to build at Kingsford.

Don't agree at all there is no pressure. The team and manager got slated after the hammering at Ibrox and the defeat to Celtic at Pittodrie. Similar and it'll all be on top of them again. The Hibs game had fans (a small minority granted) shouting for McInnes to go. Maybe no pressure in the sense no-one is expecting a result, but by fuck do we expect a performance.

Today was the day that Cormack brought all his mates from Atlanta over to watch. Hopefully they aren't the type to hold back and are willing to say how unimpressed they were at the atmosphere and the performance (I didn't see the game as was enthralled by Ross County v Kilmarnock instead) and offer up some solutions.

I think McInnes will leave at the end of the season. That's just a guess - but I sense he's getting a little jaded now. His pop at his critics in midweek can be taken two ways. Either it's fuelled him with the desire to prove everyone wrong and stick it out, or he'll 'prove us wrong' at another club. This season third is the best we can get and looking ahead it's hard to see the gap closing. In the last few seasons we've been regular finalists and Celtic's closest challenges - take both away and the job isn't as appealing anymore. Unless McInnes believes he can win more silverware or give the Old Firm a run for their money, what is keeping him here? Twice now I've heard Stephen Glass be mentioned as a replacement. It's likely a rumour based on someone putting the Atlanta-Cormack-Aberdeen jigsaw together rather than anything actually being in it. No idea what I'd think of that. Hate to say it, but a stellar name like Steven Gerrard had Rangers fans buzzing. They nearly appointed McInnes and who knows what he would have done there, but one thing's for sure - 5,000 fans wouldn't have turned up at Ibrox to welcome McInnes to Rangers like they did Gerrard. Where we are at the moment we need a name that has that same sort of reaction, whether that guy has a track record in management or not, because fans are bored at the moment - of the football, of the atmosphere, of the return of the status quo. No idea realistically who that name would be, but it's not Stephen Robinson, Derek Adams or Paul Hartley anyway. But, that's for another day. For now - we need Ojo and Bryson fit to give us something that resembles a midfield. The January transfer window has to go well - a right-back, a centre-back to replace McKenna if he leaves and another midfielder are priorities. Not sure I can see us signing as many as three players though.

He was absolutely shocking in the first though. Logan, Gallagher, even Wilson, you half expect them to be poor. McKenna is a who you hope to rely on and yet he chucks it all too easily. He's also a guy who - lets be honest here - we're relying on to net us a big transfer fee either in January or summer.

Had a bet on it but shat it and cashed out with 20 to go as couldn't see us holding on. Draw a decent point all things considered, but a few alarming performances tonight - McKenna in particular.

His comments weren't great, but for all his supposed defeatist attitude he managed three victories over them last season. One might be a fluke, two possibly a bit lucky, but not three. He must have had them believing in the dressing room before those games. Reading between the lines, I think what his message actually was is that his players looked at the old firm before a ball was kicked this season and were beaten before kick-off because they didn't believe they could match them. He's basically saying "aye, on paper they might be better, but get wired in and you might be able to pull off a result like last season." That's my take anyway. I'm making the trip up for it - can see it being 2-2.

If Cormack is considering redeveloping Pittodrie, and it's a big if as I'm pretty sure he's pro-Kingsford, then think back to his recent fan meetings where he was asking whether people would want a 20,000 stadium all-seated, or 17,000/18,000 with standing. Maybe he was testing the waters for a smaller Pittodrie, which if we are staying looks the most likely outcome as I can't see how they keep it at 20,000 without increasing the footprint. But Kingsford suits their plans for more corporate, a big long bar ala Spurs which they're keen on, museum, cafe. They want to make as much money out of the stadium as possible. Will be a struggle to fit all that in at Pittodrie. I'll wait and see what happens but my gut feeling is Kingsford is still plan A.

Under contract until 2024. I've no doubt Rangers are interested but they're not going to be sending £2-3m plus sell-on clauses our way. They'll offer £500k and one of their players currently not playing - Greg Docherty probably. We'll reject it. They'll hope Ferguson is unsettled and tries to force a move. He won't.

Four wins out of five now. Have scored three goals against Motherwell, Kilmarnock and Ross County who are all fellow top six sides. Just a shame we let ourselves down so badly against the Old Firm. Hopefully McInnes gets a bit of slack after this. I'm not a fan of the "where are the McInnes haters/backers now then?" after every game, but some of the nonsense spouted recently, especially by social media warriors, has been embarrassing. Been quite vitriolic towards him just because he's had some disappointing performances.

Don't think Bryson was injured though (could be wrong mind you). Seemed a tactical move and McInnes said afterwards Main coming on made a difference. Ross County were playing four in midfield and we had five, so we could afford to take off a midfielder and put someone else up front.

The suggestion of a height restriction came from those at the meeting last week with Cormack and Wicks. They said they were hearing lots of fans say they want the stands to be steeper, but due to height restrictions they would try their best but could only do so much. These height restrictions they say came from the "local authorities". Unrelated: They also said safe standing costs three times as much as normal seating, and so those present were asked if they would prefer a 17,000 stadium with standing, or a 20,000 one without - to which apparently everyone picked the former. But back to the height... The planning documents are on this site:- https://www.kingsfordstadium.co.uk/ I'm no Mike Ross (suits reference), but from reading it I don't ever recall seeing a height restriction officially in any of the submissions. However, in the design and access statement from January 2017, where the architects explain all the different changes they made (stadium originally was at a 90 degree angle to the one in the plans) there are two bits that say:- Following the feedback received during the pre-application Public Consultation, the heights of the stands were reduced with the internal seating layout refined to provide the same seating numbers And The roof of the Stadium has been raised from 6 degrees to 11 degrees to a height of 21 metres from the pitch to the underside of the roof cladding. The roof of the original scheme was approximately 24 metres from the pitch, however, due to the reduction in the steel frame of the stands, the revised roof edge height of 18.5 metres was too low for the proposed stadium lighting to work, creating an unacceptable glare for the supporters and players.

I don't know how these things are measured - another one for Tom to answer perhaps. But on the planning application for Hearts new main stand, it said the roof would be 21.4 metres from ground level. But it also says the truss is 27.6m high, so maybe what they mean re-Kingsford is 21m is the highest point of the roof? Loirston I think was to be 24 metres high. As for steepness, again I'm no expert on these things, but I was at the Groupama Arena in Budapest for the Scotland game a few years ago and it's really steep (did the stadium tour the next day, impressive place) yet the height of the stadium appears to be 22 metres according to a quick google search. The pitch is below ground level though, but on the other hand much of the stadium's height is from a huge roof. My concern with the stadium height is more that George Yule told me a few years ago that the plan was 20,000 now, then to expand in future if demand dictated it. A height restriction would make that difficult, and the talk last week from Cormack is that the club are actually considering 17,000-18,000 capacity. [/img]

Would guess the majority of the support still back him. Those that want him out are just far more vocal about it.

If we're not up for this, after the international break, against a team threatening to run away from us in the table as early as October, then I question the mentality of the team. And it's not just on McInnes, it's on the players too. Big 90 minutes really. Defeat, and especially if it's through another inept performance, and a lot of fans would just give up. No-one is interested in a season fighting for fourth place. That said, I'm confident. 2-0 Aberdeen. Cosgrove and Campbell.

The accusation was Shankland wasn't coached properly and that McInnes can't coach anyone. Whether you rate Cosgrove or not, he clearly has improved since working with McInnes. If he couldn't coach anyone I doubt so many players would be keen to work with him. So yes, I think he is a good coach. Your second question is a completely different debate. But in the context of the thread, I'd argue Cosgrove is a better player than Shankland.

Wasn't just McInnes coaching Shankland - there's a whole team of coaches at Aberdeen. That and he was also sent out on loan four times and had the chance to work under Jim Duffy and Jack Ross. Shankland himself admits his attitude was wrong and only after leaving Aberdeen did he sort himself out. McInnes (and his team) has done a pretty decent job of coaching and developing Sam Cosgrove. I'd back Cosgrove to score for fun in the Championship and to net at least one against San Marino.

Agree with the first part, always thought he was overrated. He did a good job, but not the spectacular job everyone makes it out to be. Got a few results against the Old Firm but can't think of any when it really mattered - they played Rangers a few times in cup games but generally came off second best. His cheerleaders were lining up to shoot down Alessio to push home the point of how well Clarke did and that no mere mortal, especially not some Jonny foreigner, could step into his shoes. And instead, it now appears after a rocky start that Alessio is doing alright, getting results while changing the style of play, and not having to rely on dinosaurs like Broadfoot and Boyd. I was fairly happy he got the Scotland job and in time he'll probably do alright, but it's little surprise he isn't producing miracles straight away. Before Mcinnes was appointed it was Clarke I actually wanted as Dons boss. But now I wouldn't be as enthusiastic about it.

Don't think Strachan was even in the poll to name the pitches.

Sunderland have by far and away the biggest budget in that league. He couldn't even buy his way out of it. And English League One is still the highest level he has ever managed at. Would be a big step down from McInnes. Roy Keane. Smacks of a "fuck it, it'll be interesting if nothing else" type of appointment, and he would be box office for sure, at least in the short term. But once the angry man persona wore off I'm not convinced there's a particular good football manager there. But you know what, I'd be on board with it, simply to inject a buzz into the club that's been missing for a few years. Gordon Strachan. Him visiting the training ground might have been more along the lines of him researching for the new one Dundee are hoping to build. His job there is technical director. Personally, I still back McInnes, at least for now. But in the spirit of the thread if we were replacing him I think it has to be a name that excites the fans. A Derek Adams, Jack Ross or Paul Hartley wouldn't fall into that category at all. I've also read suggestions the Cormack link might lead us to Stephen Glass and that wouldn't surprise me at all. Show a bit of ambition though, make a statement of intent and bring a big name north, either from these isles or abroad. Not necessarily someone unrealistic (I'm not suggesting we go for Mourinho) but someone that short term adds an extra few thousand on the gate. As for possible names, I've no idea. Fuck it, Roy Keane. If nothing else it'll be interesting.

Don't agree with it at all. I'd only ever agree with reducing an away allocation if it was to accommodate more Aberdeen fans. But actually cutting the overall attendance does us no favours. Scottish football is moving towards smaller away supports all over the place - including Aberdeen asking for just 900 for the cup replay at Ibrox last season. It's not just the Old Firm - we regularly go to Easter Road and Tynecastle, sell out the away end, but can't get any more tickets despite the home end not being sold out. We'll soon get to a point when our large away allocation at Tannadice will be a thing of the past. Clubs and police don't want the hassle of big away supports anymore, which impacts on the atmosphere. If the problem is objects being thrown between the two supports, then stick a big netting up between the fence and roof. Many of the away ends in Europe (Groupama Arena for one) had netting covering the whole of the away end.

Are Rijeka better than midtjylland? Doesn't look much between the two teams on paper, and if anything, the Danes have already started their season while this (I think) will be Rijeka's first competitive games.

The thinking was more that Partizan are seeded for the play-off round, so we could have taken their seeding and had an easier draw.

Possible opponents in the QR3 draw (being made Monday). We're in group 4. PSV Eindhoven / Basel Connah's Quay Nomads / Partizan Flora Tallinn / Eintracht Frankfurt Rijeka Jeunesse Esch / Vitoria SC If Aberdeen beat PSV/Basel, Partizan or Frankfurt, they would be seeded for the playoff round (according to someone who has been working it out). So Partizan would appear the best tie for us.