Kinda glad Rangers beat Hearts to be honest. Aberdeen v Rangers in the League Cup is always a bit special.

I think the first ever League Cup final was Aberdeen v Rangers 1946/47. Fergie's first cup final with us was Aberdeen/Rangers 1978/79, the first final to go to penalties was Aberdeen/Rangers 87, the first cup final I remember was the 88 Aberdeen/Rangers final, first one I remember us winning was the 89 Aberdeen/Rangers final, and the first final I went to was the 92 Aberdeen/Rangers final.

Nothing to fear. We'll be underdogs, aye, but we've won two of the last three meetings with Rangers, and we've shown up well enough in big matches this season.

And we've shown yesterday that even when we're second best we have match winners in our team.

I fully expect Rangers to get the majority of the tickets but hopefully we'll at least push strongly for a 50/50 split. The whole average crowd/how many you sold for the semi, is irrelevant. Cup final, both teams are meant to have the same chance - same number of players, same numbers backing them.
 

1 hour ago, RicoS321 said:

That's a good response. It's a shame nobody in our media will ask for an interview with Doncaster about the allocation and really press him on it, and the overall fairness in our game, lack of sporting integrity and the message this gives. If this type of thing affected the scum, we'd be hearing about it for weeks.

100% this.

On a separate matter how fucking thick is your average hun.

Literally swarming all over Twitter with tales of how they've bought tickets for our end. Don't doubt that they probably were online last night trying to snarl up the length of queue but they didn't succeed in buying tickets as they patently have overlooked the fact that they would have to have an ID number and purchasing history to do so.

Bit of a panic when it had looked to be sold out but then section G3 appeared, seemed a strange section to hold back but at least we're sorted.

47 minutes ago, BigAl said:

100% this.

On a separate matter how fucking thick is your average hun.

Literally swarming all over Twitter with tales of how they've bought tickets for our end. Don't doubt that they probably were online last night trying to snarl up the length of queue but they didn't succeed in buying tickets as they patently have overlooked the fact that they would have to have an ID number and purchasing history to do so.

With four tickets available for each person on the database, it wouldn't actually surprise me if they were able to get tickets. All it takes is one Hun to have been signed up for previous games and they can take a few. 

6 minutes ago, RicoS321 said:

With four tickets available for each person on the database, it wouldn't actually surprise me if they were able to get tickets. All it takes is one Hun to have been signed up for previous games and they can take a few. 

Previous games excluding those again Huns or Tims supposedly 

4 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

It's a shame nobody in our media will ask for an interview with Doncaster about the allocation and really press him on it,

Neil Doncaster tends to reject interview requests which is why you rarely hear from him. The only time you do is when he's got good news to announce like a sponsorship deal.

An absolute cretin of a man who should have been punted years ago.

4 minutes ago, Panda said:

Neil Doncaster tends to reject interview requests which is why you rarely hear from him. The only time you do is when he's got good news to announce like a sponsorship deal.

An absolute cretin of a man who should have been punted years ago.

And that is just fundamentally wrong in my opinion

Over ten years in role as Chief Executive of SPFL he should regularly be sat down in front of the cameras for Q&A sessions.

It appears that the man is untouchable and a law unto himself.

Clubs could remove him if they were unhappy with him but they haven’t so got to assume they are happy with work he does. 

1 hour ago, Jute said:

Clubs could remove him if they were unhappy with him but they haven’t so got to assume they are happy with work he does. 

He actually has a two-year notice period. So if they want to get rid of him, they have to wait two years before he actually goes. 

To get him out straight away would cost close to £1m in compo.

Not worth the hassle I think most clubs will say. He's also a very convenient scapegoat.

 

7 hours ago, Panda said:

Neil Doncaster tends to reject interview requests which is why you rarely hear from him. The only time you do is when he's got good news to announce like a sponsorship deal.

An absolute cretin of a man who should have been punted years ago.

I'm pretty certain the BBC (and it has to be the BBC, as it's the only impartial provider*) has enough clout to force Doncaster to do interviews. They could do a proper in-depth piece on the unfairness of it and force his hand. Mention that he refuses interviews regularly on sportsound and basically out the fucker at every opportunity. There is no real need for the BBC to be as toothless as it is. 

*Because fairness isn't something they need to be impartial on. There doesn't need to be someone from the Huns involved as it's not a direct criticism of them. 

2 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

I'm pretty certain the BBC (and it has to be the BBC, as it's the only impartial provider*) has enough clout to force Doncaster to do interviews.

No, they don't.

The BBC are currently banned from Celtic press conferences (not a secret, pretty common knowledge), their "clout" hasn't sorted that one, so it's not enough to demand an interview with Doncaster.

I could actually tell you a few things about Doncaster and the BBC, but maybe not on a public forum.

2 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

They could do a proper in-depth piece on the unfairness of it and force his hand. Mention that he refuses interviews regularly on sportsound and basically out the fucker at every opportunity. There is no real need for the BBC to be as toothless as it is. 

Doncaster would just release a statement, and that would be it.

56 minutes ago, Panda said:

No, they don't.

The BBC are currently banned from Celtic press conferences (not a secret, pretty common knowledge), their "clout" hasn't sorted that one, so it's not enough to demand an interview with Doncaster.

I could actually tell you a few things about Doncaster and the BBC, but maybe not on a public forum.

Doncaster would just release a statement, and that would be it.

He would just release a statement, at which point they keep going with it. Utilise the less craven BBC departments (remember the ones who actually did the outing of the Hun, quickly swept under the carpet and hung out to dry by the sports department?) to go properly after it. Remind him who televises the championship, who pays for the radio coverage. Of course they have clout over Doncaster, they just choose not to use it. The reason they choose not to use it is because nobody at the BBC sports department (nobody important anyway!) actually believes that things like the ticket allocation is unjust. They believe that the SPFL is a meritocracy. They believe that there is nothing wrong with the status quo in Scottish football. Which is also why they take their Tim banning just like they took their Hun one. In return, giving them 7,080% more airtime than any other clubs combined, further exacerbating the unfairness. Becoming more obsequious rather than less. Which is a shame. 

1 hour ago, RicoS321 said:

He would just release a statement, at which point they keep going with it. Utilise the less craven BBC departments (remember the ones who actually did the outing of the Hun, quickly swept under the carpet and hung out to dry by the sports department?) to go properly after it. Remind him who televises the championship, who pays for the radio coverage. Of course they have clout over Doncaster, they just choose not to use it. The reason they choose not to use it is because nobody at the BBC sports department (nobody important anyway!) actually believes that things like the ticket allocation is unjust. They believe that the SPFL is a meritocracy. They believe that there is nothing wrong with the status quo in Scottish football. Which is also why they take their Tim banning just like they took their Hun one. In return, giving them 7,080% more airtime than any other clubs combined, further exacerbating the unfairness. Becoming more obsequious rather than less. Which is a shame. 

Unless I'm confusing you for someone else, you have not spent a single day of your life at the BBC, so have literally just made all that up and convinced yourself it must be true.

You also know fine well I can't reply to any of it.

7 hours ago, Panda said:

Unless I'm confusing you for someone else, you have not spent a single day of your life at the BBC, so have literally just made all that up and convinced yourself it must be true.

You also know fine well I can't reply to any of it.

You're right, I apologise. That is the view of the sports department from the outside. Of course, that's not particular to all of the sports department, or probably even the majority. The work done on the Hun case was from a news reporter, and the overwhelming take on it by the outward facing radio staff was that we need to move on and the world needs a strong rangers (apart from Jim traynor originally). The overwhelming majority of coverage on the radio goes to two teams. Two teams dominate the premiership and Scottish football web pages (unless someone has been sacked). At present, there isn't an article discussing the cup final allocation from the angle of fairness on the BBC website (with Off the Ball being the main dissenting voice). I've never seen an article challenging fairness and meritocracy in the Scottish game on the website. By that, I mean one that isn't "embedded" in the conclusion before it even starts (it's just the way it is, nothing can be done). Outwardly, the BBC's position is one of status quo. I have no doubt it looks, and is, different on the inside. I've worked for oil companies for twenty five years, completely aware of the effects of climate change, I know what it's like to be carried along by systemic forces.

https://www.afc.co.uk/2023/11/17/club-statement-cup-final-tickets/
 

So has everyone who wanted one managed to get one in the end or are the club still having to work out who shouldn’t have got one in the first place?

4 minutes ago, manc_don said:

So has everyone who wanted one managed to get one in the end or are the club still having to work out who shouldn’t have got one in the first place?

According to Burrows on Twitter, not yet. We're also not quite getting 19,500 tickets.

 

Ultras Aberdeen raising funds for a full stand display at the cup final.

If anyone wants to donate.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/aberdeen-league-cup-final-display

On 29/11/2023 at 13:11, Panda said:

Ultras Aberdeen raising funds for a full stand display at the cup final.

If anyone wants to donate.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/aberdeen-league-cup-final-display

Target reached today 👏 👏 

Any Glasgow based fans, they still need a few more bodies to help set it up the day before. DM Mezzanine71 on twitter.

At the moment, Rangers will be missing Danilo & Lawrence through injury, and possibly Cifuentes who is suspended after his red card today (though Rangers will appeal against it).

Big blows for them as Danilo was beginning to find form, and Lawrence has looked good but hasn't been able to stay fight.

It also means Rangers can't make too many changes in those positions for the Real Betis game.

 

Hopefully Miovski okay for us. Still a concern about LWB as Hayes and McGarry not exactly inspiring at the moment. I expect Hayes to start though, so McGarry or even Duncan to get a run-out v Frankfurt.

Someone has reuploaded the 1989 final to YouTube.

 

(The fact I'm responsible for the last five posts on this thread spanning nearly a month makes me think I'm the only one looking forward to this 🤣 )

Edited December 12, 20232 yr by Panda

If the fact that the huns have been selling trophy photos ahead of time doesn’t inspire the team, then not very much will. 

Amazingly Cifuentes red card has been upheld at appeal.  No extra game suspension though 

9 hours ago, tlg1903 said:

Amazingly Cifuentes red card has been upheld at appeal.  No extra game suspension though 

Fear not mate, this surprising decision will enable the officials the chance to balance things out by giving The Rangers a few controversial decisions in their favour on Sunday afternoon.

There’s a lot of chatter about Barron signing a pre-contract with the Huns, wouldn’t be surprised to see it hit the papers in the coming days.

I didn't have the points for the initial batch and was too lazy/busy for the general. I probably average about 10 games a season between European mid weeks, away games that suit and the odd pittodrie trip so can't grumble.

The recent performances also made me question another Hampden trip to sit in the rain watching us 2 down at half time. ( I appreciate it isn't Celtic this time)

I'll turn it into Superbowl day in the house with the boys and some friends.

I am headed to Frankfurt with the boys and weirdly hoping that we can put out a second string that will be competitive.