Jimmy ready to splash the cash

 

Published: 15/04/2008

 

ABERDEEN have given manager Jimmy Calderwood clearance to splash the cash as he rebuilds his beleaguered squad.

 

The Dons boss admitted he will be allowed to pay transfer fees for players if it’s the only way he can bring them to Pittodrie.

 

Calderwood still won’t have fortunes to spend, but says being able to offer fees will help as he attempts to add more quality to his squad.

 

“You can’t keep pulling rabbits out of the hat,†said Calderwood, who is determined to ride the storm of criticism coming his way in the wake of their Scottish Cup defeat at the hands of Queen of the South.

 

He said: “Scott Severin, Jamie Smith and Lee Miller were taken in on free transfers, but it’s getting more and more difficult to get international players in that way.â€

 

Calderwood refused to identify specific targets at this stage, although he said his search has gone “world wide.â€

 

The Dons boss also confirmed football director Willie Miller’s statement in yesterday’s Evening Express that he will be making up to eight new signings to totally revamp his squad.

 

“The way things are shaping up it looks as if we will be taking eight in,†he said.

 

“I’m getting phone calls every day, from all over the world, telling me top players would be happy to come to Aberdeen.

 

“We are still an attractive club to play for but it always comes down to finance because quality costs money.

 

“The transfer money from the sale of Michael Hart and Chris Clark is there. They were only allowed to go because I knew the money would go right back into helping to get other players in over the summer.â€

 

It now looks certain four of those will be direct replacements for Barry Nicholson, Lee Miller and loan stars Sone Aluko and Josh Walker.

 

Calderwood fears their cup exit – and failure to qualify for Europe – has killed off any chance of Nicholson or Miller signing new deals.

 

He also confirmed Aluko and Walker, who played for the youth team against Celtic last night, are on their way back to England.

 

Calderwood said: “You’ve got to be realistic and accept it looks as if we are going to lose Barry and Lee

 

“I was trying to remain optimistic, but that was knocked out of me by last Saturday’s result.

 

“If we had won at Hampden and made it back into Europe then it might have edged their decisions our way.

 

“But that’s no to be, so I’m worried about how talks with them in the coming days will go.

 

“The other two look as if they will be away as well.

 

“Birmingham want Sone back, which is a shame because he has done well for us.

 

“Middlesbrough also want Josh to be playing every week, but I can’t guarantee that.

 

“We’ve been out and about in England looking to secure other good young players on loan though.

 

“We will get replacements.â€

Seve will come good next season. It might be worth giving him a we're rest though.

Lee Miller should be told to sign or gtf.

 

Sooner it's sorted out the better.

Seve will come good next season. It might be worth giving him a we're rest though.

 

Aye, his left bicep is taking a fair bit of strain.

Seve will come good next season. It might be worth giving him a we're rest though.

 

Is that when his current deal runs out?

One thing, that I admit is based a little on personal opinion, and a lot on what I have read on here, is enjoy a large selection and variety of nice restaurants. For a lot of players (if they are not into the pub/club thing) I would assume this would form a large part of their social life.

 

There's a whole host o good restaurants in Aberdeen, so that disnae wash wi me am afraid.

I'm moving to Aberdeen because it's drier than Glasgow. 

 

But when future work colleagues ask me what uni I go to, Aberdeen or RGU (Glasgow), am I from Aberdeen (no) they then ask why on earth I applied for a job in Aberdeen. I found that strange that so many people seemed surprised at me applying for Aberdeen rather than Glasgow, but I've had enough of the rain.

 

Anyway, glad it's been announced. Least we know for sure what we've all guessed since January.

 

I hope Stevie gets one last game so I can say bye...

I hope Stevie gets one last game so I can say bye...

 

Never mind, when you get sent to Cornton Vale for stalking him, not only will you have no need to answer those silly Aberdeen v Glasgow questions, you'll be closer to him when he signs for Killie.

Depending on who you believe, it's supposed to be between £3k and £3.5k a week.

 

Hibs wouldn't give Thomson or Brown more than £1.5k a week.  I doubt many of their players would be on any more than £2k.

 

They have allegedly broken that wage structure to give Fletcher the new deal he signed but not sure if they splash the same level of cash for Miller. Only hope of a move for Miller is 3rd/4th division (or what ever there called now) in England as he has probably not done enough to get a championship side. Can see Barry Nic going to Championship (possibly down to Plymouth with Clark and Anderson?) and Arab in the work is convinced Lovell will sign for them.

It's alright, we'll be signing that hilarious japester Ryan Esson.

I'm moving to Aberdeen because it's drier than Glasgow. 

 

But when future work colleagues ask me what uni I go to, Aberdeen or RGU (Glasgow), am I from Aberdeen (no) they then ask why on earth I applied for a job in Aberdeen. I found that strange that so many people seemed surprised at me applying for Aberdeen rather than Glasgow, but I've had enough of the rain.

 

Anyway, glad it's been announced. Least we know for sure what we've all guessed since January.

 

I hope Stevie gets one last game so I can say bye...

 

Out of interest, if your not from Aberdeen, why do you support them?

 

I mean alot of people who aren't from Glasgow support the old firm, but it can't be that often people from outside the Aberdeen area support Aberdeen.

I'm from holland and i support aberdeen and my Scottish family are from near inverness.

Lot more common than you think.

I stand corrected.

 

All my mates from home either support the Old Firm or pretend to support Aberdeen. That means they went to the home game against Bayern Munich, but thats it so far this season.

The age old Aberdeen fans questioning non-Aberdonian Aberdeen fans rears its head again.

 

I support them cos I chose to. Why not.

Just suprised at how common it is.

 

Only Aberdeen fans I know are from Aberdeen or the Aberdeen area. Not saying it's a bad thing, just something I really didn't know about.

I stand corrected.

 

All my mates from home either support the Old Firm or pretend to support Aberdeen. That means they went to the home game against Bayern Munich, but thats it so far this season.

are there in lies the problem with aberdeen, aberdonians (of which I am one) afc and scottish football

Im an Aiberdonian and when I moved fown to Edinburgh 3 years ago now, (how time flies) I actually thought that there would not be  much interest in AFC until I started speaking to Jute after the first game of that season. He duly invited me into the fold of Edinburgh based Aberdeen supporters (from the Globe) I was really, honestly surprised about the sheer amount of not just Edinburgh based support, but central bellt support in general.

 

Like jmo, until I moved down I didnt know any AFC supporters from outside Aberdeen and certaintly didnt hear much about them. I do now of course.

Right, anyone know of any Aberdeen fans in Stirling?

 

Cus there seems to be a complete lack of them from what I've seen. Only person who's said to me they liked Aberdeen was from Shetland, and liked Rugby.

I used to get the stirling reds bus but think it is now defunct. Used to leave from Smiths Restaurant.  Still see the odd bus member at games but they now get cars as far as I know.

 

If you're young and live in Stirling - surely a young persons railcard is the way to travel to games.

 

Bound to be a few amongst the student population

 

Yeah, take the trains to most games, though I only know of about four other students who support the Dons.

Because most footballers in Scotland want to be based in the central belt or as close to that as they can get. Aberdeen is a pretty unattractive place to move to in that respect.

 

Maybe it's the shopping -

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/aug/15/football.britishidentity

 

 

maybe the friendly globes or guasc would let you jump on the train with them if you ask them nicely?  Mizer from the globes especially likes teenage boys! 

 

Haha, ended up meeting up with him before a game at Ibrox. Just so happened to run into an Aberdeen fan on the train (though one who wasn't going to the game) who pointed me in the right direction.

Firstly, on the news about Nicholson leaving, I think the guy should play until the end of the season and he deserves a good reception from the fans.  He's honoured his contract, he's played his part during a couple of great seasons, scored several important and very nice goals, and he's going to be a big miss next season.  The only gripe I've got is the protracted contract yes/no fiasco, but I think his mind has probably been made up for a while, and it's the club who have been waiting for the right time to break the news.

 

Good luck Barry wherever you end up.

 

 

Secondly, if my work allowed it I'd move to Edinburgh in a flash.  I'm happy here in Aberdeen but Edinburgh always strikes me as a lovely place to be, the nicest main street anywhere in the world without question IMO.  And I can totally see why people wouldn't want to move up here, with our joke airport that offers services to about half a dozen destinations, run down railway station, main roads with speed cameras every 500 yards, limited choice of retail and recreation facilities, freezing temperatures, inflated house prices, ignorant and narrow minded locals (not a problem exclusive to Aberdeen I grant you).  Aberdeen offers nothing more, and in a lot of cases much less than any other city in the UK can offer, and it's obvious to me that a huge percentage of non-Aberdonians living in the North East are here because of Oil industry related employment and nothing else.

There's a whole host o good restaurants in Aberdeen, so that disnae wash wi me am afraid.

 

Fair enough, I was just going by personal experience and what appears to be the general consensus on here.

 

Certainly, from what I can gather, the variety seems to pale in comparison with what you can get in Edinburgh and Glasgow - which again pales in comparison to what you can get in London. Bigger cities = more variety, and generally more quality, and when you have two bigger cities less than an hour apart, it's easy to see why the central belt appeals. (Not just referring to restaurants).

 

I do like Aberdeen, so it's not a critiscism, I just think that for a large section of society, the remoteness and focus on the players (Hibs or Hearts players could go out in Glasgow, and probably not even be recognised for the most part) could be a factor.

Is that when his current deal runs out?

 

yep

Firstly, on the news about Nicholson leaving, I think the guy should play until the end of the season and he deserves a good reception from the fans.  He's honoured his contract, he's played his part during a couple of great seasons, scored several important and very nice goals, and he's going to be a big miss next season.  The only gripe I've got is the protracted contract yes/no fiasco, but I think his mind has probably been made up for a while, and it's the club who have been waiting for the right time to break the news.

 

Good luck Barry wherever you end up.

 

 

Secondly, if my work allowed it I'd move to Edinburgh in a flash.  I'm happy here in Aberdeen but Edinburgh always strikes me as a lovely place to be, the nicest main street anywhere in the world without question IMO.  And I can totally see why people wouldn't want to move up here, with our joke airport that offers services to about half a dozen destinations, run down railway station, main roads with speed cameras every 500 yards, limited choice of retail and recreation facilities, freezing temperatures, inflated house prices, ignorant and narrow minded locals (not a problem exclusive to Aberdeen I grant you).  Aberdeen offers nothing more, and in a lot of cases much less than any other city in the UK can offer, and it's obvious to me that a huge percentage of non-Aberdonians living in the North East are here because of Oil industry related employment and nothing else.

 

Suppose thats fair enough if he ends up in Edinburgh but Nicholson will likely end up in Swindon, Nottingham, Sheffield, Blackpool, Carlisle etc.

 

There is a fair amount to do in Aberdeen, the quality of life is certainly better than down here in Englandshire, lower crime, less traffic, friendlier people(despite what people think), and unless you live right in the centre of a big city more to do.