New boss needs his own thread.

My first thought is that he's not even wearing a suit in his unveiling photos in the official site. We have sartorial standards at AFC, you know.

I think he should go. Like many I wasn’t enthused by his appointment, although once he was in place I expected we would do ok. But ultimately we are not, the last four games was a chance to go on a bit of a run, the fact we have managed only 3 points out that has me convinced. As I’ve said before don’t know where we go from here though.

1 hour ago, Panda said:

I've voted go.

I always argue managers should be given a right good crack at the job. But I think he's had that. He's been in charge since March.

I personally think this is a bit harsh. The huge turnover in squad in the summer was unavoidable and swapping out an entire starting 11 plus half a bench worth of players is to all intents and purposes starting over with a new squad. For me he was basically starting again from scratch in the summer after successfully, if not spectacularly, navigating us out of the mire we had sailed straight into.

1 hour ago, Panda said:

Really poor standard of football even when at full strength, so using injuries now as an excuse doesn't wash.

Again a bit harsh for me. I'm not disputing we haven't looked god awful at times but it hasn't all been terrible. Off the top of my head motherwell away we were good to watch, Kilmarnock away in the cup we played some really good football to dominate a game despite being down to ten and up until 60 minutes against utd we were the better team and I was enjoying watching us. Would also say it's bit harsh saying you're not prepared to make any allowances for injuries when you consider how concentrated to defence these injuries have been. The past 3 games where this has been a going concern in particular no-one has battered us and we have lost by only one goal each time whilst playing a makeshift defence that would never be selected otherwise. I don't think it's unreasonable at all to say that without those injuries we would most likely have had some better results on the board and possibly even be in a cup final.

1 hour ago, Panda said:

I disagree with the line-up every week. The subs feel like they are the same each game. Tactics get changed at half-time most weeks. Either too defensive (v Rangers) or ridiculously cavalier (two at the back v Dundee United). Signed 15 players and yet don't appear to have the players to play the way he wants (and trying to work out what identify he wants this team to have is an essay in itself).

Agreed, some of his decisions have been baffling especially re Frame and Devlin.

1 hour ago, Panda said:

Considering the amount of experience he has in management, and that this season is essentially a continuation of a poor league campaign at St Mirren, I'm not convinced giving him more time will see a corner turned.

Certainly, Hibs on Saturday is massive for him. Win that, perform well, and show something - well, I'm easily swayed. But I think we're kicking the can down the road here.

And this the real crux of it isn't it, a good result against hibs (who, of course, have just had a big shot in the arm result before playing us) could be all he needs. I do have sympathy at how difficult it is to swap over that many players in a single window and integrate them quickly. Another international break will be welcome respite after taking so many injuries and a virus hitting the squad. I've said before and will say again I don't think we will really start to see what robinsonball with this squad looks like until the end of december sorta time and, imo anyway, there has been a few small signs recently of new players starting to click. OBI2 has been steadily improving recently both going forward and defensively. Ronan is starting to show influence in games and isn't looking like a headless chicken anymore off the ball either. I also personally thought Yogane looked like a different player when he came on at the weekend and was very pleasantly surprised how much he made their rb shit themselves in such a short time on the pitch.

I haven't voted in this because quite simply I just don't know. Instinctively I must admit I'm loathe to go sacking another manager so soon but I'm not fucking blind either, there's been so much disappointment. If he wasn't such an experienced manager with some actually quite impressive achievements on his CV all things considered then I suspect I would be far more supportive of removing him from post. For now I'm going to sit on the fence until the end of December assuming he gets that long.

4 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

There's a suspicious looking graph icon in the title of this thread within its forum. I would urge everyone not to click on it in case it's a virus.

It’s because there is a poll on the thread.

10 minutes ago, DonsTalk Admin said:

It’s because there is a poll on the thread.

He's taking the piss!

I think "Go" too. He's not worked out his team or formation really and the excuses just grate. Having said that, beat Hibs and I could be swayed for a wee while but if we're still pish after the international break then he's v quickly running out of time

I'm the only muggins so far to vote stay. Not because I'm any great fan or even wanted him to begin with, but all we would be doing is throwing everything out for the umpteenth time and going round again with the same chassis that we've been riding for years now.

There's been a few fleeting signs that we could maybe be a bit entertaining and mildly competitive while we fix the underlying problem (yeah, wishful thinking) and start improving from here instead of hitting 'go straight to jail, do not collect 200' every time.

Edited November 4Nov 4 by Toe_poke

4 minutes ago, wester_ross_don said:

I think "Go" too. He's not worked out his team or formation really and the excuses just grate. Having said that, beat Hibs and I could be swayed for a wee while but if we're still pish after the international break then he's v quickly running out of time

Ain't a cake walk either. In the first fortnight back after the break we are away to Killie, the huns, home to Dundee, a trip to Tynecastle and then home to Utd.

Been ages since we've heard fae Lurtz - wasn't his appointment meant to reduce the importance/everything-depends-on-this-guy factor around our heid coach?

20 minutes ago, Jormungandr said:

Been ages since we've heard fae Lurtz - wasn't his appointment meant to reduce the importance/everything-depends-on-this-guy factor around our heid coach?

I want to make it clear that Lurtz was the lead Uruk-Hai from 'Fellowship of the Ring' (only in the film, like - not a book character).

Our AFC employee is Lutz.

I voted go. It’s just a matter of time but knowing this club, they’ll wait it out until February.

Not planning to renew my ST at this rate. Going to Pittodrie is a chore these days (and has been prior to Robinson tbf but it’s not getting any better).

2 hours ago, tlg1903 said:

The huge turnover in squad in the summer was unavoidable and swapping out an entire starting 11 plus half a bench worth of players is to all intents and purposes starting over with a new squad.

But he didn't actually have to do that. Yes we needed to sign players, but he could have managed the turnover a lot better than he did.

He appears to have escaped criticism for Kjartansson feeling he wouldn't be given a chance. Shinnie and Mitov could have been persuaded to stay and help the transition. I think we can gather from his leaked "fuck off topi" shout at the FC Twente friendly that he wasn't too arsed about Keskinen leaving.

Again, not all the signings are his, but of the 13 outfield players signed, I'd say seven are considered subs, and a lot of the times because they don't fit how he wants to play.

Goodwin's scorched earth policy four (?) years ago was a big mistake, and Robinson has repeated it with a smaller budget, so he didn't even have any Miovskis or Ramadanis coming in as replacements.

2 hours ago, tlg1903 said:

Again a bit harsh for me. I'm not disputing we haven't looked god awful at times but it hasn't all been terrible. Off the top of my head motherwell away we were good to watch, Kilmarnock away in the cup we played some really good football to dominate a game despite being down to ten and up until 60 minutes against utd we were the better team and I was enjoying watching us.

The Motherwell game we looked good in short spells. However, we had 30% possession and scored with all four shots on target. And that is the most impressive we've been under Robinson. And he hasn't managed to get close to that level of clinical finishing since, which suggests it was a bit of a fluke rather than the beginning of an upward trajectory.

The games we have won (and Dundee United), there's been little spells where we temporary rise above mediocrity. But at no stage do I think we're actually improving as a team, it's more just some individual performances ("Mouloua looks handy", "Ronan scored a good goal", "Mine defended well"). I don't think we're any better as a team now than we were on the opening day of the league season, or even in April/May when we had three wins from four.

Under Robinson I always think we might pull off a few results here and there, but I really struggle to see us going up a level consistently. For example, we could have sneaked the semi-final, had a great result, but the long term prospects for the team would remain the same.

2 hours ago, tlg1903 said:

I don't think it's unreasonable at all to say that without those injuries we would most likely have had some better results on the board and possibly even be in a cup final.

If we were at full strength, maybe Milne doesn't concede a penalty v St Johnstone, maybe we defend a goal or two better in other games, but as an attacking threat I still think we'd be as poor as we have been.

We've been punished a wee bit more, but we'd likely still be labouring week to week.

2 hours ago, tlg1903 said:

And this the real crux of it isn't it, a good result against hibs (who, of course, have just had a big shot in the arm result before playing us) could be all he needs.

What's interesting about Hearts, Dundee United and Falkirk in particular - they've all had their fair share of bad results this season, but you can see real improvement in them, and that's why there's belief in their support. Even in defeat on Sunday I thought Hearts looked alright and were doing the right things, they were just weakened way too much by an injury list that is a lot, lot worse than us.

Hibs - it's early days. Motherwell too. But as a neutral I'd have more belief in them improving long term than us.

Even if he can get the squad shaped and playing the way he wants them to, it’s still going to be a chore to endure. The whole point of getting a manager with a track record of punching above his weight (let’s give him the benefit of the doubt on that) is so we can compete at the top of the table with the 3rd/4th biggest budget. He seems to think the remit is to assemble a squad of bottom 6 rejects and try to sneak into the top 6.

I think he’s also a little bit of a dick. Can’t see him rallying the troops. Sounds more like he’ll alienate himself and piss everyone off with his grumpy wee man syndrome. (Apologies, all the tactical insights have been used up by others so this was all I had to offer).

8 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

There's a suspicious looking graph icon in the title of this thread within its forum. I would urge everyone not to click on it in case it's a virus.

The Donstalk fridge has been hacked.

33 minutes ago, Panda said:

But he didn't actually have to do that. Yes we needed to sign players, but he could have managed the turnover a lot better than he did. He appears to have escaped criticism for Kjartansson feeling he wouldn't be given a chance. Shinnie and Mitov could have been persuaded to stay and help the transition. I think we can gather from his leaked "fuck off topi" shout at the FC Twente friendly that he wasn't too arsed about Keskinen leaving.

Players that left permanently. Shinnie, Duncan, Mcintyre, Keskinen, Kjartansson, Mitov, Lazetic, Bratveit, Milanovic, Jensen, Geiger, Bwomono. Given the likely wages a lot of these players were on you can't make much of a case for keeping most of them on if you don't fancy them. You mention yourself the smaller budget further on and there was clearly a need to reduce the wage bill at this point so the players we got fees for Robinson likely didn't have a say in anyway. I was at peace with all their transfers 2bh. Shinnie would have been good to keep but he would have needed to take a wage cut and I couldn't see that happening to the extent it would need to given he would still be captain and captains are normally one of the highest earners at a club. Keskinen and Kjartansson you could make cases for but I was pleased with the fee we got for Topi 2bh as he was a frustrating player in red. I suspect the fuck off topi was probably leveled for poor decision making which plagued his game. Kjartansson is probably the one I would have liked to keep the most but he wanted to leave before Robinson got the job as I understand it.

Out on loan we have Yenghi, Suman, Lobban, Bilalovic, Ambrose and Besuijen. Would have kept Lobban and Bilalovic myself but the other 4 had to go. So given all that you have about 16 players who needed to go for various reasons and I suspect the vast majority of them you don't pine for. I would say that's unavoidable myself and certainly not Robinsons fault. Could he have managed the turnover better? Maybe but he probably could have managed it worse too as it's a really difficult thing to do.

33 minutes ago, Panda said:

Again, not all the signings are his, but of the 13 outfield players signed, I'd say seven are considered subs, and a lot of the times because they don't fit how he wants to play. Goodwin's scorched earth policy four (?) years ago was a big mistake, and Robinson has repeated it with a smaller budget, so he didn't even have any Miovskis or Ramadanis coming in as replacements.

As I said, I don't think he had much choice given the state the squad was in.

33 minutes ago, Panda said:

The Motherwell game we looked good in short spells. However, we had 30% possession and scored with all four shots on target. And that is the most impressive we've been under Robinson. And he hasn't managed to get close to that level of clinical finishing since, which suggests it was a bit of a fluke rather than the beginning of an upward trajectory.

It's not been that long since then, 5-6 games? and the squad has been seriously affected by virus and injury for at least half of those.

33 minutes ago, Panda said:

The games we have won (and Dundee United), there's been little spells where we temporary rise above mediocrity. But at no stage do I think we're actually improving as a team, it's more just some individual performances ("Mouloua looks handy", "Ronan scored a good goal", "Mine defended well"). I don't think we're any better as a team now than we were on the opening day of the league season, or even in April/May when we had three wins from four.

Under Robinson I always think we might pull off a few results here and there, but I really struggle to see us going up a level consistently. For example, we could have sneaked the semi-final, had a great result, but the long term prospects for the team would remain the same.

As I said, I'm reserving judgement until the end of the year but I'm a little more optimistic it might still come together.

33 minutes ago, Panda said:

If we were at full strength, maybe Milne doesn't concede a penalty v St Johnstone, maybe we defend a goal or two better in other games, but as an attacking threat I still think we'd be as poor as we have been.

We've been punished a wee bit more, but we'd likely still be labouring week to week.

What's interesting about Hearts, Dundee United and Falkirk in particular - they've all had their fair share of bad results this season, but you can see real improvement in them, and that's why there's belief in their support. Even in defeat on Sunday I thought Hearts looked alright and were doing the right things, they were just weakened way too much by an injury list that is a lot, lot worse than us.

Hibs - it's early days. Motherwell too. But as a neutral I'd have more belief in them improving long term than us.

Yeah but not conceding goals is the best platform to build your attacks on, especially when you are a work in progress. Can understand where you are coming from with your last sentence btw though I think there is scope for that to change

19 minutes ago, tlg1903 said:

As I said, I don't think he had much choice given the state the squad was in.

He's replaced some young players who had potential but maybe weren't ready yet, with some young players with potential who aren't ready yet.

He's replaced strikers who can't score with strikers who can't score. Our strongest defence probably doesn't include any of our new signings. Our midfield was stronger last season. Mouloua the only real upgrade I see, maybe Ronan and Smith IF he can get the best out of them, although I'd say on form Cameron better than both of them.

We're talking about getting rid of players on big wages, but Olusanya has reportedly come in on big wages and now even Robinson isn't starting him much, likely due to a combination of not thinking he's playing well enough and also playing a different system than he had in mind at the start of pre-season.

It's a bit of a mess. It's poor management.

It's similar to the issues Robinson had at St Mirren. Rather than come to Aberdeen and sort us out, he's brought more problems from St Mirren that someone else will likely have to sort out.

19 minutes ago, tlg1903 said:

It's not been that long since then, 5-6 games? and the squad has been seriously affected by virus and injury for at least half of those.

It's an easy excuse. We played two full backs far too high against Dundee United, shifted tactics about, took off a defensive mid, and left ourselves wildly exposed. I'm not sure the virus had that much impact.

19 minutes ago, tlg1903 said:

As I said, I'm reserving judgement until the end of the year but I'm a little more optimistic it might still come together.

Out of interest - what have you seen that makes you optimistic it might come together?

11 hours ago, tlg1903 said:

I personally think this is a bit harsh. The huge turnover in squad in the summer was unavoidable and swapping out an entire starting 11 plus half a bench worth of players is to all intents and purposes starting over with a new squad. For me he was basically starting again from scratch in the summer after successfully, if not spectacularly, navigating us out of the mire we had sailed straight into.

McGlynn at Falkirk managed a bigger squad turnover in the summer and lost more key players than we did and aren't doing too badly.

Large squad turnover is a reality of modern football, but it doesn't help when we sign average SPL players from bottom six teams and supplement them with unknowns of varying quality, with none really standing out, bar maybe Mouloua.

We have a huge squad of players and even with our supposedly crippling injury list, we are still pretty much able to replace like for like, position wise.

It's not like we are looking to be playing Derek Young in the back line yet. I'd actually say injuries have helped us in a way as Cadden being out of the team is a good thing in my opinion.

Everything about us on the pitch at the moment just feels wrong and for me it feels very much like when we had Alex Fucking Miller at the helm.

3 hours ago, TheDonbytheDee said:

McGlynn at Falkirk managed a bigger squad turnover in the summer and lost more key players than we did and aren't doing too badly.

Large squad turnover is a reality of modern football, but it doesn't help when we sign average SPL players from bottom six teams and supplement them with unknowns of varying quality, with none really standing out, bar maybe Mouloua.

We have a huge squad of players and even with our supposedly crippling injury list, we are still pretty much able to replace like for like, position wise.

It's not like we are looking to be playing Derek Young in the back line yet. I'd actually say injuries have helped us in a way as Cadden being out of the team is a good thing in my opinion.

Everything about us on the pitch at the moment just feels wrong and for me it feels very much like when we had Alex Fucking Miller at the helm.

A fair comparison on the face of it but not when you scratch under surface I would say. John Mcglynn has been in charge of Falkirk for 4 years. He will have the coaching setup exactly as he likes it and the players that remained there are all fully integrated into how he wants to play thus able to help new arrivals integrate more quickly. This is not continuity that Aberdeen had when swapping over half the squad so it's not surprising to me that they have come together a bit quicker. Also I would add they have had a purple patch recently but go look how they started the campaign, their form was very patchy.

I have voted go. I think most on here know my feelings on here. Didn't want him at all in the first place. Hoped he would succeed but he is never turning it round so he is never going to win me over. The signings have been awful. Bottom 6 squad at best. Only quality I see possibly is Mouloua. I just don't see the green shoots anybody pro Robinson sees. I have also said out loud do we write this season off and keep him and hope for the best i.e. finish above a playoff place but I honestly think there is a chance of us going down if we do keep him. His interviews and everything about him - there is nothing I like. All his promises when he came in. Seeing none of them. He is out of his depth here.

10 hours ago, Panda said:

Out of interest - what have you seen that makes you optimistic it might come together?

I wouldn't say I'm optimistic per say, just more optimistic than you. 2bh I think he will probably be gone before xmas even if we do beat hibs as our run after the Int break isn't easy. I think it's still possible (if not necessarily likely) to come together though because I've seen no sign of players downing tools and there has been play on display that has impressed me at times both defensively and going forward (comparisons to Alex Miller seem fucking wild to me 2bh as the squad clearly HATED him by this point in his reign). I also think recently we have been incredibly unfortunate at key moments. Utd's opener, Milnes pen against ST J, Penrice not getting a red, not getting the rub of the green against falkirk in the first half to take the lead and then Muller chucking a clanger all spring to mind as not Robinsons fault. You can't rely on luck of course but when things are going against you sometimes you need a wee bit of it to get through it.

Stay, but more through principal than any thoughts on the guy personally. He simply hasn't had long enough to really prove himself.

It's our own fault though, the fans and the board have shat the bed on managers ever since McInnes left and got rid of them way too early, now it doesn't matter who we get. A small, bad run of results and it's shoogly peg time once again. Rinse & repeat, we laugh at other clubs for exactly the same thing.

Not one manager, and I include McInnes in this, since leaving us have done anything in football management that could be deemed a success that showcases we were wrong to punt them. That list includes first time managers, experienced managers who know the league and foreign managers who had a credible reason for being appointed.

Robinson obviously falls into the same category as Goodwin in that he is an experienced manager who also knows our league but there is nothing in the slightest to suggest that when we do eventually get shot of him that he'll deliver any success that will deem our sacking of him hasty.

The football on show has been shockingly bad, there is zero excitement/entertainment to be had watching us, his line-ups are baffling as are the vast majority of his substitutions. He hasn't gelled with the supporters and if anything he has lost a vast amount of fans who were willing to give him a chance when he signed on. The decision to cull so much of last seasons squad has came back to bite him big time as a very high % of his signings are nowhere near an improvement on some who departed and we now have lengthy contracts dished out to sub-standard players.

Even if we do beat Hibs, and I don't think we will, it'll simply be an opportunity for Robinson to come out and say he's revitalised his squad and they are finally buying into what he wants from them and that we'll see an improvement moving forward with better performances and results only for things to come crashing down after the international break when we pick up a couple of points from 5 fixtures and we're back to square one.

He kept us out of the play-off positions last year, I 100% believe that's where we were headed under Leven & Co, and for that I and many others are grateful but he has failed on just about every level possible as the manager of our club since the final fixture of last season and his time is up.

I voted go. There’s nothing to suggest he’s developing this group. Thelin glass and Robson all started with a clear impact on the team (don’t recall Goodwin) I see no style of play, no creative coaching, no sign we work harder, , no flexing in the transfer market to bring in a key signing or two, and nothing is being developed. It’s an inconsistent shit show every week. I’m willing to give managers time, but there’s absolutely nothing to support the Robinson experiment is working.

Just voted go not that it makes any blind bit of difference. Cormack will stick with Robinson till the transfer window shuts so that anybody new coming in has no decent opportunity to add anybody more mediocre than our dumplings to the squad.

Robinson has plenty of excuses as have every manager before him or indeed any manager at any other club but the difference is this is our club, this is happening right now and we are worse now than we have been any season over the past 5 years. If anything we are getting worse and totally incapable of scoring. I have no idea who could make a difference with this squad but someone has to or we are in real danger of going down.

Go, with caveats.

There has to be a sensible strategy for replacing him. Too many managers in too short a space of time for the problem to just be the manager.

It cannot take months. Or if its going take us past the January window, Robinson should not be choosing the signings.

It has to be a manager that will get the best out of what we have for now (including youth and the remnants of Thelin's forgotten players), supplement wisely but cautiously in January, then upgrade with better in the summer. Robinson's wholesale "new broom" approach to squad turnover feels more like scorched earth as there is nothing left of value.

It cannot be Neil Warnock.