Slim

Assuming the council would play ball, and AFC would be willing to increase their budget for land purchase, the current AECC site would be ideal. Shouldn't be much issue with the roads, especially when traffic can head north towards the AWPR. Plenty of public transport already in place (including a Park and Ride service on site). There's a couple of hotels right next door, we could even take over the existing office building and viewing tower if the council wanted their upkeep off their hands, plenty of room in there for hospitality facilities, museum, corporate offices, etc. There's not many residents nearby to complain, and the site is already used for large-scale events so it would be hard to take any noise complaints seriously. If the stadium could be build within the footprint of the existing exhibition halls, there would be masses of parking spaces surrounding the stadium, one would assume we could use them if they're already there. And renting out the car park for Elton John concerts or Monster Truck shows could generate some revenue without destroying the pitch. There may even be a possibility for a formal arrangement with the Gordon Barracks to build training facilities considering we've been using their land for training for years. I see 2 full size pitches there on Google Earth. You could convert the exhibition hall that's next to the hotel into indoor training facilities. Not as fancy as the facilities at Kingsford, but should be much lower cost considering the bulk of the facilities are already in place.

Bridge of Don, then Dubai for 6 years, Houston for 1 year, back to Aberdeen for 6 months and arrived in Abu Dhabi yesterday.

Not much enthusiasm from me on this one. He's 28, it's not like he's got lots of years of improvement ahead of him and he's rarely looked better than average for ICT any time I've seen them play. He wouldn't be good enough to get a start in our current squad, so if he's being signed as a first choice midfielder for next season, it doesn't bode too well. Our rivals will be strengthening their squads, we need to too. Naturally I hope I'm wrong and will give him every chance, etc, etc.

I would suspect AFC's transport plan has been left deliberately vague because the plan is to force the council and Firstbus to get together to sort out any traffic issues at the tax-payer's expense. I'm sure the club have no intention whatsoever of footing the bill to build (for example, a dedicated bus lane between Kingswells P&R and the stadium) or subsidising the provision of buses from Firstbus.

"Kingsford at any cost" FFS. The reason for Kingsford is because it's the cheapest option.

We really need to start blooding some of the more promising youngsters like Scott Wright, Frank Ross, the boy McLennan and the Italian sounding boy. I'm sure one of them must be capable of replacing Pawlett. I'd second the shouts for Devlin or Lindsay in defence. McGinn's going to be the hardest player to replace, players who can provide the amount of goals and assists that he does don't come cheap. Is Alex Schalk at Ross County any good? I haven't seen him play too much, but often see him on SPFL highlights scoring good goals, sometimes cutting in from out wide like McGinn does.

John McGinn wouldn't get in our starting 11. McLean, Jack and Shinnie are all better midfielders than him.

I think he's a bit better than that. Ex-Caley player Marley Watkins is one of Barnsley's best players and they're in the top half of the Championship, Pawlett's a better player than him from what I can remember of his time at Inverness. Ex-Dundee Utd winger Craig Conway has been playing in the Championship for the last 6 years, I don't remember him being as good as Pawlett either. If he can sort out his fitness issues, there's nothing stopping him going up a level.

Interesting to see that we did make him a contract offer. I wonder if that means we also made an offer to Ryan Jack.

http://www.dsrny.com/projects/aberdeen

I also seem to remember every independent surveyor/contractor that was asked saying that the proposal would cost GBP 250m minimum to build and the fact the council would be borrowing the money from some dodgy scheme (I can't remember what it was called) linked to council tax increases that would likely financially cripple the city for decades.

The Sushi Box in the Market is fantastic too if you like Japanese food. It's run by actual Japanese wifies. The pork ramen is highly recommended. If only all those people queuing for a table in Wagamama knew what was a couple of hundred metres up the road. Also had a great lunch at Castleton Farm near Fordoun last week. Peppered steak baguette was sublime.

Would certainly be interesting to see the numbers of people who live in the city and work in Westhill. Wouldn't be surprised if there were more cars using the dual carriageway during rush hour 10 times a week than there would be for a football match.

Jeffrey Monakana on the bench for Sutton Utd tonight. Seems about his level right enough.

Taylor was ok, but every single one of his clearances went vertical and ended up putting us back under pressure.

Video of McGhee getting sent to the stand, from the Main Stand. Watch to the end.

Unless you're running a restaurant, or inviting round people native to the country whose cuisine you're making, it doesn't really matter a toss how authentic it is, make it how you like it.

My usual method: Fry onion and garlic until onion starts to brown. Add pancetta/chopped bacon, continue to fry for a couple of minutes. Add mince (seasoned with salt/pepper/mixed Italian herbs) and fry until browned. Drain off any excess fat (or don't if you prefer). Chuck in a glass of red wine and let it bubble away for a minute or two. Add in a jar of passata (or large tin of crushed tomatoes), a tablespoon or so of tomato puree, a good glug of Worcester sauce, more salt, pepper and mixed Italian herbs and let it simmer away until it gets to your desired thickness, usually about an hour or so. If I can't get a large jar of passata, I'll use a small one and top up with some beef stock or more red wine.

Looks like the stadium objectors have got themselves a new logo (from their FB page) This is some stunning self-awareness from someone most likely typing that from inside a Stewart Milne house once sat on rural green belt:

If he adopted her when she was one day old and brought her up, is he not entitled to call himself her father? If a non-interracial couple have a kid using an anonymous sperm donor, does the male in the relationship have to forfeit the use of the word "father"?

Where does he play? I seem to remember him playing behind the striker, the role McLean is best in. I'd hate to see McLean pushed further back where he often struggles just to accommodate Christie. I wonder if we'll see Pawlett leaving before the end of the month.

Unless my memory is failing me, we paid an external party about 600k to produce a feasibility study into the location of the new stadium, including redeveloping the current site. Presumably there's a big binder sitting somewhere in Pittodrie with all the information inside. Has any shareholder tried requesting a copy, or just even read it?

If it's a 6 month loan with a view to signing him in the summer, then it's a good move I reckon. If he's just here as a squad filler to take over the 15 minute cameo role that could be utilised by players that are already contracted to us (Storey/Wright/Stockley), I'd rather we concentrated our resources on a central midfielder.

If your average Westhill resident is to be believed, Merkland Road must currently resemble downtown Aleppo.

Alternatively we could just send Wes Burns back to Bristol. I assume we were not planning to loan a player in that position when we signed Storey. Or we could get rid of both and place some faith in Scott Wright.