We threw it away and let down the fans

 

By Jimmy Calderwood

 

Published: 14/04/2008

 

THIS is the worst moment of my career and I hope my players are feeling exactly the same.

 

We were sloppy from the first minute.

 

We keep hammering into the players the importance of starting right, and we knew Queens would be up for it, but if you start games in the manner we did, you lose.

 

It is a massive disappointment, especially after beating Celtic in the quarter-final. We had a great chance and we have not taken it.

 

We had 14,000 supporters here. We let down the fans badly at Tynecastle in the League Cup and we have let them down again. I can understand their frustration as we have cost them a lot of money this season.

 

They have followed us to Madrid and Munich, and were fabulous again here, but we didn’t give them too much to cheer.

 

They were still egging us on at the end and into injury time and I can understand why many threw their scarves on to the track.

 

If I was a supporter I would have done the same.

 

The Uefa Cup run was wonderful but our league form has been woeful and we have taken it into two semi-finals.

 

I have to ask questions and I will find answers.

 

We have been to Bayern and Madrid, played against top-quality players and handled it at certain times but here we didn’t.

 

You could not say many of our players got pass marks.

 

As a team we have failed badly.

 

We were looking forward to being involved in the last day of the season but we have thrown it away.

 

We have let down the supporters badly and we have to get the pride back at Celtic Park next week.

No shit, Sherlock.

I have to ask questions and I will find answers.

 

14000 fans could tell you exactly what's wrong, just ask any one of them if you can't fucking work it out and have to ask fucking questions.

 

 

I'm sick to death of hearing the same pish week in week out. JC, you clearly don't know what you're doing.

14000 fans could tell you exactly what's wrong, just ask any one of them if you can't fucking work it out and have to ask fucking questions.

 

What is exactly is wrong though?  I dare say you'd get lots of different answers from the 14000 fans.

 

Most of Saturday seemed to be down to piss poor defending and the players bottling it, along with Calderwood starting with McNamara and not taking him off at half-time.

Guess I won't bother holding my breath for Calderwood's indepth answers....... same old pish as ever

 

For the avoidance of any doubt, I'm still fecking raging

What is exactly is wrong though?  I dare say you'd get lots of different answers from the 14000 fans.

 

Most of Saturday seemed to be down to piss poor defending and the players bottling it, along with Calderwood starting with McNamara and not taking him off at half-time.

 

You met anyone that thinks Seve should get a game each week let alone be captain?

 

You met anyone who thinks Bus, Mair, Byrne, Duff, etc, should be anywhere near Pittodrie except for watching the game from the stands?

 

You met anyone who thinks by constantly rotating the defensive partnerships at the back are the way to gel the back 3/4/5 into a solid unit?

 

You met anyone who is happy with the contract situations that are still dragging out and should have been tied up well before the turn of the year?

 

I could go on but I can feel the rage building again......

 

You met anyone that thinks Seve should get a game each week let alone be captain?

 

I would play him but strip him of the captaincy.  He appeared to be getting his form back until Saturday - excellent in both Celtic games.

 

You met anyone who thinks Bus, Mair, Byrne, Duff, etc, should be anywhere near Pittodrie except for watching the game from the stands?

 

None of these players featured on Saturday, but yeah they probably shouldn't be near Pittodrie.  But would Byrne have been any worse than McNamara on Saturday?  At least he would have attempted to put a challenge in.

 

You met anyone who thinks by constantly rotating the defensive partnerships at the back are the way to gel the back 3/4/5 into a solid unit?

 

That's definitely been the cause of most of the problems this season (particularly in the league) but, McNamara apart, the rest of the back 5 have been pretty much the same for a while now apart from when Zander was injured after the Celtic replay.

Im more angry today than I was on Saturday and yesterday, and mindless pish drivel chat fae JC isna helping!

I have to ask questions and I will find answers.

 

Q1. Do I keep Seve as captain

 

 

This for me will be one of the biggest questions raised in the fallout of this debacle.

Many fans have appalled by his failure to perform for the majority of the season yet he is continually selected. What makes it even more galling is that when he was dropped for a couple of games we actually won a few games, 2 back to back for one of the only times this season. He was brought back, team was rearranged and we were defeated yet Seve wasn't the scapegoat. He then kept his place in the team whiles others were lambasted/dropped by the manager.

 

Im not going to call for JC's head but I await his response to this match, his next team selection will give us at least some answers.

Im more angry today than I was on Saturday and yesterday, and mindless pish drivel chat fae JC isna helping!

 

I'm with you Mizer... feel I'm on a real short fuse today

I'm with you Mizer... feel I'm on a real short fuse today

 

Already bitten someone's head off as I thought they were taking the piss, they didnt know the score as they had been in hospital with a sick aunt all weekend who had a stroke.........I apologised prefusely, if only the team/captain/manager/board would do the same.

Its just been pointed out that the back 5 on Saturday was the very same back 5 that did so well against Celtic in the replay. 

Its just been pointed out that the back 5 on Saturday was the very same back 5 that did so well against Celtic in the replay. 

 

So.............

does that mean the tactics/team talk was more to blame?

Or did the players just wander out at Hampden thinking that QoS lot are pish - sheesh half of them couldn't cut it at Pittodrie, how bad must they be.......

 

 

 

 

This is the foulest/blackest mood this team has managed to put me in, for ages 

Already bitten someone's head off as I thought they were taking the piss, they didnt know the score as they had been in hospital with a sick aunt all weekend who had a stroke.........I apologised prefusely, if only the team/captain/manager/board would do the same.

 

I've been getting usual piss of "won't mention the football"

Aye fucking right, why did you then

Ach, we were inept but no more so than pretty much any time in the last 15 years. I wasn't surprised we lost. The whole thing had an air of inevitability about it from the kick off.

 

I'm just glad I didn't fly over for it.

 

On the positive side at least my auntie didn't have a stroke..

 

 

 

Consistency is the problem.

 

Good teams have it, bad teams don't.

 

We need much more energy in midfield and whilst not wanting to continue to bitch about Severin, his lack of application is shown up in all its glory by playing alongside Barry Nicholson.  The forward players movement off the ball is really poor.  We didn't really look like creating anything from open play until Mackie came on.  That tells its own story.

 

I've been saying for a long time now that Zander Diamond flatters to deceive defensively.  He was directly at fault for one, if not two of the goals on Saturday and was too happy to let their strikers turn.  We all love him because he is what you'd call a "heroic" defender, hurtling into challenges and such like, but he gets the basics wrong far too often.

 

I only mention these players because we know what they're capable of, but they need to find consistency.  I'm not going to waste any cyberspace on McNamara or any of the other obvious imposters.

Already bitten someone's head off as I thought they were taking the piss, they didnt know the score as they had been in hospital with a sick aunt all weekend who had a stroke.........I apologised prefusely, if only the team/captain/manager/board would do the same.

One of the bonuses of working in England is that they don't even realise there was a game on. I've already been subjected to a boring recount of how great Man U were yesterday, how shite Arsenal are, and how the EPL is the best league in the world. 

 

We bottled it big style, it's as simple as that.

 

I hope JC has done plenty scouting in preperation for buying players in the summer.  Going by Saturday's performance we need at least 7 new players.

I've been saying for a long time now that Zander Diamond flatters to deceive defensively.  He was directly at fault for one, if not two of the goals on Saturday and was too happy to let their strikers turn.  We all love him because he is what you'd call a "heroic" defender, hurtling into challenges and such like, but he gets the basics wrong far too often.

 

I've mentioned this before, he's got Colin Hendry Syndrome. Still has a hell of a lot of improving to do, and for our main central defender, it's not good enough. We can't keep shipping goals and justifying it with the ridiculous 'ach well Russell Anderson was crap at his age' clichéd nonsense.

We bottled it big style, it's as simple as that.

 

I hope JC has done plenty scouting in preperation for buying players in the summer.  Going by Saturday's performance we need at least 7 new players.

 

You want players who are currently better than our lot of bottlers?

 

No problem, I'll do the scouting for free:

 

Jamie McDonald.  Ryan McCann.  Robert Harris.  Neil MacFarlane.  Andy Aitken.  Jim Thomson.  Jamie McQuilken.  Stevie Tosh. Sean O'Connor.  Stephen Dobbie.  Paul Burns.  John Stewart.....

You want players who are currently better than our lot of bottlers?

 

No problem, I'll do the scouting for free:

 

Jamie McDonald.  Ryan McCann.  Robert Harris.  Neil MacFarlane.  Andy Aitken.  Jim Thomson.  Jamie McQuilken.  Stevie Tosh. Sean O'Connor.  Stephen Dobbie.  Paul Burns.  John Stewart.....

 

He was close enough then, that's 8 new players.

http://www.afc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/clubNewsDetail/0,,10284~1289217,00.html

 

"It is just a massive, massive disappointment for everyone. We have had a meeting this morning in which we ironed a few things out and the lads are off to do a bit of light training just now and by Thursday we will be looking forward to the huge game we have travelling down to Celtic Park."

 

"At this moment in time we all feel probably just as bad as the supporters do. I have never experienced such highs and lows as we have at this club this season. Huge highs in the games against Bayern and also Copenhagen and then the huge lows in the two semi finals."

 

"Looking at the rest of the season it is going to be extremely hard for us to get third, although Motherwell's result at the weekend has done us a favour, but the games we have left we will go into with everything we have and we will take as much as we can from these last five games."

 

"I think with regards to players staying and also attracting new players, the weekend's result is hugely disappointing as it is well nigh impossible for us to get back into Europe but it also comes down to finances. Things in this area should, either way, develop in the next couple of weeks."

What will have to happen for JC to say it was his fault?

What will have to happen for JC to say it was his fault?

 

A loaded gun

I actually think its lucky  we are playing away this weekend. As the support who would have decided to turn up would have let thier feeling abundantly clear.