Well, figure it’s close enough to start the thread and may get some more enthusiasm than the current season. So what do we need?

manager - Alex Neill

formation - 4-2-3-1/4-3-3

I’m going with the belief that we currently have 7 starters - Devlin, ruby (or gartenmann), Jensen, Mackenzie, shinnie, clarkson or McGrath, and sokler. 4 legit starter signings needed, plus more. I’d argue McGrath has been better than clarkson this year, but I dont think both together are our midfield solution.

goalkeeper - NEEDED to replace Roos, doohan is back up

right back - devlin, Richardson, SiGN gartenmann

left back - think Mackenzie deserves to be our left back, one of our few successes this year, mcgarry as back up, jenson cover too as gartenmann does right back.

central defense - ruby, gartenmann, Jensen, Macdonald - think that’s good enough, just need a legit and consistent keeper and midfield to protect and support them

Right mid - TWO needed, starter and back up, vinnie as back up? sell morris

left mid - ONE needed, possibly hoilett and mcgarry as back up, vinnie?? Don’t think Duncan is good enough, squad filler.

center mid - sign TWO. ONE starter needed, plus assuming Barron leaves. Free agent Baccus? Shinnie clarkson or McGrath,  and one other, mcgrath/clarkson and polvara as back up, sign another ONE physical/athletic worker so that shinnie and new signing aren’t run into the ground.

Forward - assuming Miovski and duk are sold, I want sokler given a chance. SIGN one to compete with him to start, bavidge the third option and given minutes. Sell GUEYE.

I’m assuming miovski, duk, morris, gueye, and Barron are gone, and we sign gartenmann and hoilett. Hayes retires. Mcgarry gets a summer to get fit and prove what he can do next year, been unfortunate to date. A bench from Richardson, mcgarry, Duncan, clarkson/mcgrath, hoilett, bavidge, doohan, Milne, polvara, vinnie, plus a new back up right mid and an enforcing center mid.

Obviously Mikey Johnson is one of our new signings.

Edited February 18, 20242 yr by OrlandoDon

Duk is back. He's apologised to the club. Gonna take some effort from him before the fans forgive him though. Successive hattricks against Motherwell and Hearts should do. 

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/U31oP2DEt1g3YKYm/?mibextid=xfxF2i

 

Don't say it.

Don't say it.

Don't say it.

 

 

It's like a new signing.

Not sure how I feel about this. It’s been JT for over 3 months now, with a clear emphasis on togetherness, team, unselfishness, ‘family’ etc. duk plays like and has acted the opposite way. Not sure he fits in.

At same time he’s a young kid who can make mistakes, and who knows who has been advising him. Plus we don’t know what has been going on with duk.

would you rather see sokler, gueye, morris, or duk come off the bench when we need a goal??

"He has owned the situation, returned and convinced us all that he not only recognises those things, but he is hungry...."

Seems unlikely 

7 minutes ago, RicoS321 said:

"He has owned the situation, returned and convinced us all that he not only recognises those things, but he is hungry...."

Seems unlikely 

not that surprising, it's near impossible to get rowies abroad

25 minutes ago, OxfordDon said:

not that surprising, it's near impossible to get rowies abroad

Pretty certain JG Ross has a Cape Verde branch.

Its one of these situations where he doesnt really have much of a choice. Hes registered as our player so he cant just go off and start playing for another club, and yet if he had just acted professionally he would have probably got a move which would have suited everyone. Bar him going out and netting 20+ goals this season I doubt he will even get the move he wants at the end of the season as no one wants a player with an attitude problem these days. Just a crappy situation all round now.

It isn’t a great situation right now but the future is in his hands. Knuckle down, get fit and give the manager 22/23 Duk and he’ll be fine. Otherwise his career will be near enough over.

47 minutes ago, wee toon red said:

It isn’t a great situation right now but the future is in his hands. Knuckle down, get fit and give the manager 22/23 Duk and he’ll be fine. Otherwise his career will be near enough over.

Sorry, don’t really give a shit about his career. like all players, I do wish him well, but had he been professional there’s a good chance we sold him over the summer for maybe 500k plus. Now most likely he walks for free next summer or maybe a small fee in January. He fucked us.

3 hours ago, OrlandoDon said:

Sorry, don’t really give a shit about his career. like all players, I do wish him well, but had he been professional there’s a good chance we sold him over the summer for maybe 500k plus. Now most likely he walks for free next summer or maybe a small fee in January. He fucked us.

Which would only have been 250k in the dons pocket sadly, obviously better than nothing but we were never getting much for Duk this summer.  Benfica let us have him for free but we have to give them 50% if we sell him.  The time to sell Duk if we wanted anything resembling a notable increase in bank balance would have been after his first season 2bh. 

 

You never know though, maybe he will really screw the nut and try and regain some respect. A player worth having for a season for sure, even if just backup. He certainly has work to do to convince anyone decent he's worth signing. 

 

We certainly aren't struggling up front now though I think JT will play him wide.....  Which will probably suit him 2bh.  Thelin likes the quick switches of play and Duk's first touch, pace and unpredictability would be an asset for sure.  I would also hope that gives more opportunity to play Keskinen on the left. 

Edited September 7, 20241 yr by tlg1903

He's the Cape Verde version of Leigh Griffiths. Undoubted talent, but his attitude makes him a liability that not many clubs can be bothered with. On that note, I see Griffiths is currently playing for Mandurah City, third tier team playing in Western Australia. An article suggests he's playing for free.

I also read that Craig Brown took a look at Griffiths when he was Aberdeen manager, but opted to pass due to his off-field problems. Take note, Duk

15 hours ago, OrlandoDon said:

Sorry, don’t really give a shit about his career. like all players, I do wish him well, but had he been professional there’s a good chance we sold him over the summer for maybe 500k plus. Now most likely he walks for free next summer or maybe a small fee in January. He fucked us.

The two things aren't mutually exclusive though. If he screws the nut and gets his career back on track, that will be good for us this season even if he was to leave on a free next summer. That's better than no Duk or fat Duk stinking the place out for nine months.

There's also no evidence that Duk is the roaster that Griffiths is 

If he screws the nut,...only after whatever punishment a regular player would normally get,eg docked pay for length of absence,plus fine or whatever? ie no favouritism

   Unless he finds form early on,theres always going to be the doubt he doesnt want to be here,bad apple etc. But,...a slim chance he may propel his/our season,then who knows...

Edited September 8, 20241 yr by Elgindon

 

3 hours ago, Panda said:

 

Imagine he’d be too expensive to bring in now. Was he a winger or a central midfielder? If he’s a winger might still be worth a look if he’s being moved on at the end of the season, but I think we are well covered in the middle of the park. 
 

Edit: Then again I suppose it depends on what McGrath is doing at the end of the season. 

Edited September 8, 20241 yr by DantheDon

19 hours ago, OrlandoDon said:

Sorry, don’t really give a shit about his career. like all players, I do wish him well, but had he been professional there’s a good chance we sold him over the summer for maybe 500k plus. Now most likely he walks for free next summer or maybe a small fee in January. He fucked us.

Fact is no-one outside of the club knows what the actual circumstances underlying this are.  It may have been work-related, a personal issue, petulance, naivity, poor counsel, or none of the above. 

We'll probably never know unless Duk himself provides any further detail, as refreshingly the club have handled this with a degree of restraint and professionalism throughout and I doubt that will change.

Unfortunately for Duk though, that's unlikely to extend to the fans, so between now and January he's going to have to put a right shift in to demonstrate he deserves minutes in the team, else the taxis will start closing in.

45 minutes ago, OxfordDon said:

Fact is no-one outside of the club knows what the actual circumstances underlying this are.  It may have been work-related, a personal issue, petulance, naivity, poor counsel, or none of the above. 

We'll probably never know unless Duk himself provides any further detail, as refreshingly the club have handled this with a degree of restraint and professionalism throughout and I doubt that will change.

Unfortunately for Duk though, that's unlikely to extend to the fans, so between now and January he's going to have to put a right shift in to demonstrate he deserves minutes in the team, else the taxis will start closing in.

But he never was the type to put in a shift, he was always half-hearted about doing the dirty work.

19 minutes ago, dons8321 said:

But he never was the type to put in a shift, he was always half-hearted about doing the dirty work.

Correct. I always questioned his attitude and ‘teamness.’ JT appears to have us on the right path and we have momentum, duk doesn’t seem to be aligned to his approach.

7 hours ago, Panda said:

 

Of no relevance to us now 

Last year's news

Made his bed, let him lie in his own shit and move on, just like we have.

Unless Pandas point was more that we dodged a £1m-ish bullet

10 minutes ago, Elgindon said:

Unless Pandas point was more that we dodged a £1m-ish bullet

Could be, but really not like him to not say what he means, so on that basis I very much doubt it 😉 

2 hours ago, dons8321 said:

But he never was the type to put in a shift, he was always half-hearted about doing the dirty work.

He did hard work, but all on his own terms. Never as part of the team. He'd go tanking back to put in a dodgy sliding tackle, then the next three times he'd let his man go. He doesn't fit into Thelin's system unless he changes that, because fuck having a winger with his approach. It's why Robson played a 3-5-2.

5 minutes ago, RicoS321 said:

He did hard work, but all on his own terms. Never as part of the team. He'd go tanking back to put in a dodgy sliding tackle, then the next three times he'd let his man go. He doesn't fit into Thelin's system unless he changes that, because fuck having a winger with his approach. It's why Robson played a 3-5-2.

Exactly how I saw him. When he was on it he was really on it but most of the time he wasn't, I would hazard a guess that he's back because we have his contract, doubt if Thelin is at all thinking about playing someone who isn't fit, isn't interested and doesn't really fit into his idea of how to play fitba.  I would think he'll be paid off in January unless someone is daft enough to buy him.

 

3 hours ago, dons8321 said:

Exactly how I saw him. When he was on it he was really on it but most of the time he wasn't, I would hazard a guess that he's back because we have his contract, doubt if Thelin is at all thinking about playing someone who isn't fit, isn't interested and doesn't really fit into his idea of how to play fitba.  I would think he'll be paid off in January unless someone is daft enough to buy him.

Time will tell but Duk must be aware how much of a loose cannon he must look and has a lot of work to do to earn a contract anywhere he's happy to go. I think Thelin is pragmatic enough that he will give him game time based purely on how he performs in training and responds to coaching.