Slim

Those mongos are always trying to take liberties.

That's me just in the door now. The scenes from last night are nothing compared to the scenes at Heathrow when the useless BA cunts delayed my flight back to Glasgow by 4 fucking hours.

Seems like they haven't been selling the sections wither side of the Dons fans, and will give us first refusal when they go on general sale on Wednesday, so it looks like the majority of us will all be together

http://www.clubatleticodemadrid.com/en//atleticoaldia/noticias.asp?id=1915

I don't arrive in Madrid until half 3 on Thursday afternoon, 45 minutes on the Metro to get to my hotel too, hopefully won't miss out on too much of the fun and games.

Red and green should never be seen!

Aberdeen Football Club is preparing to open talks about plans to create the city's first professional rugby club.

 

A consortium of north-east businessmen is willing to provide a multimillion-pound funding package to turn the dream into reality in time for the 2009/10 season.

 

 

 

Representatives of the group will meet Dons directors on December 7 to discuss a proposal to base the new Aberdeen Highlanders team at Pittodrie.

 

Securing a tenancy at the 22,500 capacity stadium is the key to success for the rugby plans.

 

If Aberdeen FC rejects the approach, the bid to bring professional rugby to the city will stall.

 

A positive response from the Premier League side would allow the men behind the scheme to move forward with their ambitious scheme.

 

The Press and Journal understands sharing at Pittodrie is unlikely to be sanctioned by the Dons board due to the limitations of the ageing ground and its pitch.

 

The club plays its reserve games at Brechin to protect its home surface and the prospect of hosting a full programme of rugby fixtures is a concern. The long-term solution rests with the hopes for a new community stadium to serve Aberdeen.

 

While the football team would be the main user, a purpose-built arena would lend itself to also housing a top-level rugby team and multi-sport use would help attract funding from the Scottish Government and other sources.

 

Scottish Rugby, the governing body, last night confirmed it had given a cautious welcome to the Aberdeen group's blueprint to create the country's third pro side.

 

Chief executive Gordon McKie said: "Scottish Rugby's door is always open for discussions with any potential investors.

 

"Approaches are made throughout the year from those who may have business propositions across a rangeof subjects which Scottish Rugby is duty bound and willing to consider.

 

"Scottish Rugby can confirm tentative, exploratory discussions were held with a group of businessmen about their proposal to establish a professional rugby team in Aberdeen.

 

"These discussions did not progress at the time as it quickly became clear a suitable playing venue would be difficult to achieve which would meet the needs of professional rugby.

 

"Should circumstances change, Scottish Rugby would be pleased to engage in further discussions and assess any relevant funding proposal on its own merits."

 

Aberdeen FC's willingness to enter into talks next month is the change in circumstance which has given the consortium fresh hope.

 

The football club, which posted an annual loss of £537,000 for the year up to June 2007, could earn significant revenue from a sharing agreement. Directors are keen to explore every avenue for increasing income and have opened the door for talks with the rugby group.

 

Even if a sharing arrangement is not struck, additional support for the rugby consortium could be offered by its football counterparts with potential for joint ventures in areas such as ticket sales and sponsorship.

 

The potential incentives for the Dons will have to be balanced against the practical implications of sharing, particularly wear and tear on the pitch which could lead to the postponement of lucrative SPL fixtures, and that is likely to be the stumbling block.

 

Partick Thistle are currently reaping the financial rewards of their groundshare agreement with Glasgow Warriors.

 

The Warriors and Magners League rivals Edinburgh Rugby are Scotland's only professional sides following the demise of the Border Reivers this year.

 

A third pro franchise appeals to Scottish Rugby and Aberdeen is viewed as a potential location. Pittodrie was sold out when the national rugby team played the Barbarians in 2005 and that has convinced the game's governors the city has potential as a venue for top-class action.

 

The identities of the individuals involved in the consortium behind the Aberdeen rugby plans are being closely guarded until the plans progress, but significant levels of funding have been pledged.

 

It would cost a minimum of £3million per year to sustain the new team, but the business plan aims to cover the outlay by targeting the corporate market.

Without paying any attention to statistics, in my opinion, the most productive and effective partnership up front I have seen in the last 3 years or so is Steve Lovell and Jamie Smith, both of them have excellent positional skills, and it stands to reason that they're more likely to anticipate each other more than anyone else in the squad.

I think Miller could do a similar job up front with Lovell, but only if we play quick attacking football on the deck. Target man football can be effective, but we just don't have the personnel to make it work. Miller isn't a target man, none of our other strikers suit playing off a target man.

For us to be at our best in an attacking sense either requires us to change our playing style, or change our attacking personnel. Unfortunately, changing to a more 'attractive' playing style would require a massive change of personnel at the back too, and we're nowhere near being able to afford the sort of players with the footballing brain to make it work.

So we're stuck watching cloggers hoof the ball up to slightly built, slightly taller than average strikers with even bigger cloggers thundering against their spine.

Barry Robson went in 2 footed with his studs up, horrible challenge. Straight red card. There was a bit of a mssive ruck after that, and Derek Young and Lee Wilkie both got booked. And a few minutes later, we were defending a cross into our box, Wilkie jumped up and deliberately handballed it, second bookable offence.

Pretty much, unless you fancy going in the home end.

http://www.afc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/clubNewsDetail/0,,10284~1156869,00.html

3000 tickets to go on sale 10th November.

Bloody good timing cos I fly out to Dubai the next morning. This is going to be a nightmare, I can see people sleeping outside overnight and the like.

Oh for fucks sake, just let them sit out so they're at full fitness for Dundee Utd and Lokomotiv Moscow.

Everytime I read it, it just sends my blood pressure shooting up.

The Dons security chiefs planning on using sophisticated computer technology to track down the fan in Dnipro with the flare, more than likely at a cost exceeding the paltry fine we may not even get from UEFA.

Dave McDermid urging fans not to travel to Madrid without a ticket. What else are we supposed to do? Sit around twiddling our thumbs waiting for tickets to go on sale while the cost of flights and hotels increase and availability decreases? In other words, they want everyone to pay a well over inflated price to travel with a club charter so they can make more money off us. If they concentrate on getting us a good allocation, there won't be a problem.

Alex McLeish claiming Scotland have a glut of right backs, then goes on to name Alan Hutton, Graeme Murty and Graham Alexander as examples.

At least a dozen teams got fined for the same thing last season, the average fine was about £3000, pretty much the same as one of JC's business class flights to Egypt last season, not the end of the world.

Hopefully it's a case of a boy thinking it's ok to do that in Eastern Europe, now knows better, won't do it again, and now everyone knows not to do it.

Nae need for anyone to be named and shamed on this occasion.

Regarding hotels, just booked Reyes Catolicos City Center Hotel, 5 minute walk from the stadium, £70 for one night for a single room.

http://www.hotelroom.com/pcln/hotel/93284

Got a different flight, £164 return from Glasgow with BA/Iberia

Grr, in the time it took me to fill in the form on Expedia, the price went up by £50

I'm going to a concert in Glasgow on the Wednesday night, so I'd need to fly from there on the Thursday morning and return on the Friday, and that's looking like being too pricey

Hopefully the club will do some sort of charter leaving on the day of the game.

Seems like the earliest you can get into AMdrid with flying out on the 29th is 5.30pm, is that cutting it a bit fine?

I hope the fixtures change, I've got an exam on 6th December so will have to miss that away game, and looks like work is sending me to Dubai when we should be away on the 8th, though I doubt I'd go to Moscow anyway.

"we are now a consistent top six team despite having fuck all money and now we're back in europe."

To be honest, for any manager of AFC who had the money we spent on Lovell and Nicholson, plus the hefty contracts given to them plus Scott Severin, Jamie Smith, Jackie McNamara, Lee Miller and Jamie Langfield, finishing in the top 6 for 3 years in a row and qualifying for Europe once should be the minimum expected requirement. It's not a massive achievement by any stretch of the imagination.

He's done well, yes, but any decent manager could've at least matched it.

People pay too much attention to how bad we were. Look how bad Motherwell were last season, and look at them this season. Same with Dundee Utd, both could easily finish top 6 with little investment in the playing squad.

I still don't know what his [Derek Young] best position is but I could say the same of Scott Severin, Jamie Smith and Chris Clark.

Central midfield Jimmy, central midfield...

Aye, he was lying 'injured' off the pitch, then rolled himself back oto the pitch then refused to get off again when the ref told him to.

Soutar's out of his depth. While he's not made any obvious errors, he's conceded at least 4 goals that a better goalkeeper would've saved. The success of the team is more important than Soutar's feelings, and unfortunately for him, Langfield's a better keeper, albeit he's not ideal himself.

They were complaining about the standard of the food and were threatening to cancel their package, and AFC told them to sling their hook because they could easily sell it to someone else is what I heard.