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A month after the fact still reported as 6.5 mill. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45805859

 

I've never once heard the club say it was less, not saying it didn't happen but I didn't hear it if they did.  Got a source for that?

It actually says in your link "reported as £6.5m", which is the writer of that article just stating that reports in other media have said it was £6.5m. They aren't stating it as a fact themselves.

I can't find the link, but I'm fairly sure the club said Villa's offer was not the £6.5m reported at the time, or at the very least wasn't the initial fee (likely loads of add ons and clauses that could potentially have made it that high one day). Stoke offered less than £5m in January, and you wouldn't expect a club to offer less than a bid that has already been rejected. Same with Celtic and their £3.5m bid.

Have the club themselves not been on record as saying the bid was no-where near £6.5m?

I think Gleeson getting a good 25 minutes under his belt against Dundee suggests he'll be the replacement for Shinnie, that's if Campbell isn't fit, I reckon McInnes will opt for the youngster if he's fit.

 

I'd be tempted to stick Devlin in for Considine as well, although Considine and McKenna have pulled out some pretty impressive performances in the " big games " this season so far, so he'll probably stick with it. Also, massive no to May starting! I know he brings energy but we need more than that to beat Celtic on Sunday, if things are going our way after an hour/70 Minutes, then yes, absolutely bring him on and let him run the channels etc... But if Stewart can produce anything close to his capabilities, we'll need him and not the likes of May.

 

This will be a very big eye-opener, if you needed one, as to how much Shinnie's drive and energy will be missed when he fucks off, he did go through an odd spell of being pish, then good, then pish again, But he's been more consistent of late ( perhaps he's decided where he's going ) and it'll be a massive blow. I have advocated Gleeson to get more minutes because he's clearly a composed player with a decent pass on him, but he needs a Shinnie beside him for that to work in my opinion, Ball, Ferguson & Campbell are all too immobile, much like Gleeson it would seem, so that wouldn't go down too well.

 

I have zero fear, doubt or worry about this game, as I said in a previous match thread, McInnes kind of knows what to expect from Lennon and if we are clinical enough at the top end of the pitch, we will be going back to Hampden!

 

COYFR

Agree with all this.

May is likely to fluff any chances that come our way.

Funny, I thought it was a pretty dire game. Lucky not to be one down inside 4 minutes and we scored against the run of play. Thought mclellan was poor, lots of dribbling, stumble over the ball, no end product. Would he have been better out on loan than wright? Our play in the final third was slow, limited ball movement and poor passing, usually dribble and hope the individual creates something which didn’t happen much. Still, this has been DMs Aberdeen, grind out a result against the mid/lower teams but not overly pretty. Good win.

McLennan has already had a spell out on loan, and when played this season, more often than not has been a positive.

I'd start him and McGinn for Wednesday and bench GMS - who is someone whose end product has been poor.

Oddly, I thought Cosgrove was one of our better players in the first half when most of the team was generally poor, but struggled in the second half when we were more of an attacking threat.

Shinnie and Stewart were excellent. After the red card, Considine played very well.

But Ferguson was below bar, sat off Rangers far too much in midfield. McKenna had a poor night, as did Logan. GMS is a funny one - shows loads of skill, was constantly getting on the ball, but his final product again wasn't good enough.

Worryingly, we're kinda back to not quite knowing what our best XI is.

we havent a hope the lanarkshire freemasons are officiating

How's that different from any other game against them this season?

There was a crowd of 48,000 at a women's game last night, Atletico Bilbao women v Atletico Madrid women in a cup quarter final. The biggest crowd the men's team has had all season is 46,000.

The women's FA Cup final had 45,000 at it last season. To put that into perspective, the men's Scottish Cup final in 2015 between Inverness & Falkirk had 37,000 at it.

The standard is likely irrelevant. People support a team even if they're poor, and likewise people will support women's football whether they're as good as the boys or not. The main problem in Scotland isn't the standard (Hibs & Glasgow City served up some good games last season), it's more the matchday experience is really poor.

Have I missed something but I thought we already had a female side in Second Division??  I take it this team wasn't connected to the club as a whole??

Aberdeen have actually been relegated twice in succession, which means they aren't in the SWPL at all. In both seasons they had points deductions which didn't help, but also some of their best players left for the central belt. You see, the players (mostly) are very young, and in many cases are at uni. Most want to do sports degrees of some sort, so move down to Stirling or Heriot Watt where they have great facilities and sign for a club nearby. Hibs have been the big benefactor of this. They go to Hibs, they get all the facilities at Oriam, they get Champions League football, play in cup finals, they get noticed and, as has happened recently to eight Hibs players, they  have get offered full-time contracts with big clubs in England. It's a pretty good pathway to playing professional football.

With Aberdeen players now getting to use the club's facilities, with Kingsford on the horizon, the hope naturally is that will be a big carrot to attracting players and getting them to stay. But as above, they're actually in SWFL Division 1 North. Get promoted and they go into SWPL 2, then hopefully back to SWPL 1.

Many will inevitably ask why Aberdeen as a club need to give a shit. Well, women's football is only going to get bigger. I predict the women's champions league will grow and it won't be long until there is serious prize money on offer (winners at moment get €250,000 which is pocket change compared to men's version, but like I say I can see that going up rapidly). In that case, a club like Aberdeen might find a successful women's team to be quite profitable.

Rooney signed a two and half year contract

Right enough, it was 18 months he had left on his Oldham contract.

That's what happens when you post in the middle of the night!

Re-the one year contract.

Worth remembering Rooney was only signed on 18 month deal, of which there's only a year remaining.

Guy has been going backwards for a while with only 9 goals in 3 years and 3 of them in one game. Hopefully McInnes can turn him around but think it is a big risk as if he cannot as we have to small a squad to carry passengers.

We had passengers last season in Zola, Magennis, Vernon (on occasion - v Hearts springs to mind), and Wylde.

McInnes has been quite ruthless in that respect that they've all been shown the door.

I think he appreciates this is the place to get his career on track. He worked with Tony Doc at United I'm sure, knows the fitness coach is one of the best, and knows the players around him can improve him as a player too.

Last week I was a bit "meh" about him signing but now the more I think about this deal the happier I am. Think this could turn out to be a terrific move.

Goodwillie with potential to improve is a better bet than Zola or Magennis I'd say.

Think the new fitness coach will be devising a schedule to get him in shape. And, if we do, it creates genuine competition for places up front.

Likewise, if on occasion McGinn, Rooney and Goodwillie are all in the team we could terrorise the opposition.

The wages are a big thing for me. I don't want to be paying anywhere near what Dundee United were.

However, the big problem with Goodwillie last year was that he'd bulked up too much, lost his pace, had next to no fitness, and even in training was garbage. That comes from someone at United.

However, there's a player in there, and with the new fitness coach I think we could get him up to match fitness in a few months and rediscover his form, in which case he could prove to be a bit of a bargain.