So, it must be time do the 'how its going to pan out' thread again ? I reckon:

Tues, May 12

Dons 2 Hearts 0

Celtic 3 UTD 1

 

Table

Hearts 54 GD -2

UTD 53 GD +2

Dons 52 GD +3

 

Sat, May 16

Huns 2 Dons 0

Hearts 1 UTD 1

 

Table

Hearts 55 GD -2

UTD 54 GD +2

Dons 52 GD +1

 

Sun, May 24

Dons 3 Hibs 0

Celtic 2 Hearts 1

UTD 2 Huns 2

 

Final table

Dons 55 GD +4

UTD 55 GD +2

Hearts 55 GD -3

 

I think it will end very close but we will sneak 3rd. If the Hearts v UTD game is to end in a winner then hopefully it will be UTD and we get 4th ahead of the Jambos.

It's the same story though, the fans will still be short changed by the board.

 

The team seems to be getting poorer each season and we never seem to replace those who leave.

 

I'm still quite enjoying the stability we've got at the club at the moment although that doesn't mean I'm happy with the current situation.  If a new man was to come in and he set the heather alight then he'd be off down south the minute someone came calling.  Then we'd be back to square one.

 

But I think JC could do better with what he has but I also think the board could make his job a whole lot easier.

 

Rebuilding your squad each summer with bottle tops can't be easy and it's almost like they're intentionally making it more difficult for him.

It's the same story though, the fans will still be short changed by the board.

 

The team seems to be getting poorer each season and we never seem to replace those who leave.

 

It's not as black and white as that. JC chooses how to spend the little budget he has. he's made some appalling choices in doing so - letting Hart go over what was essentially peanuts was a terrible decision, he's spent badly when he's had transfer fees available, Tommy Wright is an example of this. The other side of the coin is that he's brought some very good players in for nothing - Seve, Smith, Kerr etc.  You can't just blame the board for not replacing those who leave.

 

I'm still quite enjoying the stability we've got at the club at the moment although that doesn't mean I'm happy with the current situation.  If a new man was to come in and he set the heather alight then he'd be off down south the minute someone came calling.  Then we'd be back to square one.

 

So we never try to better ourselves just in case the cause of that decides to leave at some point? If he leaves us in a better position than he found us then I don't have much of a problem with that.

 

But I think JC could do better with what he has but I also think the board could make his job a whole lot easier.

 

Rebuilding your squad each summer with bottle tops can't be easy and it's almost like they're intentionally making it more difficult for him.

 

Your first sentence there is spot on.

 

Your second is also correct to a point. It can't be easy for him and that's true, but that's the job. he knew that was the job when he took it.

It's not as black and white as that. JC chooses how to spend the little budget he has. he's made some appalling choices in doing so - letting Hart go over what was essentially peanuts was a terrible decision, he's spent badly when he's had transfer fees available, Tommy Wright is an example of this. The other side of the coin is that he's brought some very good players in for nothing - Seve, Smith, Kerr etc.  You can't just blame the board for not replacing those who leave.

 

I doubt if JC had any saying over the Hart negotiations when it came to money although I'm quite happy to be corrected on this.

 

Can't disagree on Tommy Wright but there can't be many he's splashed cash on and not got something in return.

 

My main bone of contention is that Anderson left for money and we should have at least used a tiny portion of it to replace him.  Clark and Hart went and again that money disappeared (granted we have a huge debt), same goes for the Euro-run money.

 

Surely we should be building on successes to better ourselves?

 

Succeed and you'll get less to work with next season but expected to do as good or better a job seems to be the mantra.

 

So we never try to better ourselves just in case the cause of that decides to leave at some point? If he leaves us in a better position than he found us then I don't have much of a problem with that.

 

I'm not saying that.  I'm just saying I think he's got a difficult job that's not being made any easier by his employers.

 

Your first sentence there is spot on.

 

Your second is also correct to a point. It can't be easy for him and that's true, but that's the job. he knew that was the job when he took it.

 

When he first took over there seemed to be a fair amount of backing from the board and money to spend.  Each year it appears to be less backing as they're not prepared to pay a few hundred a week to keep players like Hart, they sell players he'd rather keep and watch players head for more money.  Granted there's nothing they can do about the last one but they could go some way to replacing them with better players than ones who can't even get a game at their own clubs.

 

At one point we were attracting names like Nicholson, Severin, Smith, Miller, etc..... and now after Top Six finishes(!), a Euro-run and selling players we're getting folk like Duff, Mair, Bossu, Young.

 

Something's not right there.

I doubt if JC had any saying over the Hart negotiations when it came to money although I'm quite happy to be corrected on this.

 

 

Unfortunately, I don't have time just now to discuss the rest of your post, but I can tell you that decision lay at JC's door. he decided that the money (and it wasn't even a few hundred pounds a week extra as you later suggest) would be better spent elsewhere. Atrocious decision making especially considering we had already lost Anderson from that defence.

Fair dos.

 

I always got the impression Willie did the contract negotiations.

Fair dos.

 

I always got the impression Willie did the contract negotiations.

 

He does. but how the money is spent and apportioned is still down to JC.

Willie - "Here's your contract Mikey, anything you want to discuss".

 

Hart - "Aye, the money".

 

Willie - "Fuck all to do with me".

 

Find that hard to believe. 

Have to admit, I don't remember loving Hart that much when he was here...

 

Now he's been gone a while it's like he was some sort of world-class defender that we let slip through our fingers.

 

He wisnae and isnae.

 

We're fucked.

We'll finish 5th.

Time for a change of management.

 

Nit!

We can still finish 4th

Time for a change of fans I think

 

KMG

That wasn't really the point.

 

The point is he never wanted to leave, JC gave the impression he didn't want shot of him and we haven't replaced him.

Dingus certainly isn't the answer, though it does appear a fair few fans seem to think so. Can't say I see the evidence for this apart from his red history.

 

Dingus?

Dingus?

 

To narrow it down you need to have been around in the early to mid eighties, and he is being championed by a.n. other site as our knight in shining armour

 

Get it yet

To narrow it down you need to have been around in the early to mid eighties, and he is being championed by a.n. other site as our knight in shining armour

 

Get it yet

 

Yeah just a little before my time.  I'll assume its mcghee

 

For the record if JC leaves i want eric black.  I know there are issues with experience and if he would even take the job, only reason i want him is because its my gut instinct that he is the right choice.  Given the options available this seems a good enough reason as any.

Well if the options are someone that's not very good and someone that's not very experienced then why don't we just close this line of conversation?

Well if the options are someone that's not very good and someone that's not very experienced then why don't we just close this line of conversation?

 

Ferguson wasnt very experienced when we took him in

Steve Paterson wasnt very experienced when we took him in

I hear "Big Gus" might be available around October/November time  .

 

I still have a feeling Jimmy is on his way to Norwich in the summer.

 

Not sure who I'd want to replace him, although I am in agreement that McGhee isn't the answer.

 

Too like for like.

 

 

Paterson had loads, managed inverness for 5 years and huntly for a good few before that.  maybe not top flight experience but still plenty in charge of a football club

Willie - "Here's your contract Mikey, anything you want to discuss".

 

Hart - "Aye, the money".

 

Willie - "Fuck all to do with me".

 

Find that hard to believe.  

 

I would imagine it's more a case of -

 

Willie - "Haw Jim, that's Mickey Hart wanting a few extra hundred pound a week. Worth it?"

 

Jim - "Eeeegghhhhhmmmmm, I eggghhhmmm dunno there Willie. I'm bound to pick up a good SPL right back from somewhere. How's that contract for Big Deke coming?"

 

 

 

And here we are in the present, with Dicky Foster and Javan Vidal fighting over the position.

Willie - "Here's your contract Mikey, anything you want to discuss".

 

Hart - "Aye, the money".

 

Willie - "Fuck all to do with me".

 

Find that hard to believe.   

 

That's not what i said wise guy.  Just read the words that are on the page, you'll do a lot better.

Wasn't trying to be a wise guy.

 

I just can't see how you could negotiate a contract without holding the purse strings. 

Wasn't trying to be a wise guy.

 

I just can't see how you could negotiate a contract without holding the purse strings.   

 

Then why try to be funny about it?

 

The fact is, Calderwood is told how much he has by Miller, JC then tells him how much he wants to spend on each player/area of the team. WM goes into negotiations with the players and it goes from there. If things go outwith the allocated budgets JC is asked if he agrees/disagrees/wants to check out alternatives.  Hart left us because of peanuts per week, not hundreds.  JC's decision.  And JC has spent way more trying to replace him than it would have cost to give him the contract he wanted. But JC didn't want to pay him the same contract as guys he'd signed for us.  Arsehole, on a grand, grand scale.

I've read my post three times now and I'm still struggling to see where I'm trying to be funny about it.  I was merely playing it through to show where I was coming from.

 

But I bow to your superior knowledge of how everything works behind the closed doors of Pittodrie.  Maybe you should tell JC he's an arsehole on a grand, grand scale the next time you're in there snooping around.

 

Personally I'd have thought "hundreds of pounds" was "peanuts" for professional football players so that's why I opted for hard currency rather than monkey feed.  So I find it difficult to imagine a player who wanted to stay at the club, driving himself out of a job over such a trivial amount.  Regardless of who is handling the money.

 

If it's not hundreds then we're £199 or less every month.  I've met Mikey on a number of occasions (friend of a friend) and he's far from being the sharpest tool in the box.  But I'll be fucked if I'm swallowing that.

 

It could all well be true mind you, as I said I'm quite happy to be corrected on this.  Maybe it's just sheer pig headedness that won't let me believe my club is being managed as badly as that.

So, enough bickering people, let's get back to the 'arithmetic':

 

Tues, May 12

Dons 0 Cheatin', hackin', divin', time wastin' scum 0

Celtic 2 UTD 1

 

Table

Hearts 55 GD 0

UTD 53 GD +3

Dons 50 GD +1

 

Sat, May 16

Huns 2 Dons 0

Hearts 1 UTD 0 (or any 1 goal victory for the scum)

 

Table

Hearts 58 GD +1

UTD 53 GD +2

Dons 50 GD -1

 

Sun, May 24

Dons 3 Hibs 0

Celtic 28 Hearts 0 (Who gives a shit at this stage)

UTD 1 Huns 2 (or any 1 goal defeat)

 

Final table

Hearts 58 GD -27

Dons 55 GD +2

UTD 55 GD +1

 

 

So the first gate is that if we assume that we lose (but not heavily) at Ibrox. Some may dispute this but lets err on the side of caution.

 

The second gate is that Hearts beat UTD. The more goals the better but lets asusme 1 for caution again. These cretins play on at 3pm so will already know the result of our game which might play for us or against us depending on how we do.

 

The Hearts UTD result is most critical as it puts us within a sniff of the Jutes going into the final bend. UTD win or draw and we get nothing at Ibrox and the game is up.

 

The third gate is that we will probably need to stick at least 2 or 3 past Hibs without reply and hope the huns don't choke at Tannadice.

 

I'm still confident that we will pass them at the line. C'MON YOU REDS.

No harm in a bit of optimism Ajja, and I admire you for it, but we have been pish all year and fallen at every fence/gate we've faced.

 

I'm fed up trying to kid myself on that some sort of miracle is gonnna take place.

 

I find it hard to see us beating the Hibees, never mind getting anything at Ibrox.

 

We will do well to keep it to 2-0 on Saturday I reckon. Can just see us handing them a right big boost and taking a total shellacking. Not cos of some of the conspiracy theories re JC that my Celtic minded work colleagues have proposed (they still havenae forgiven him for Dunfermline 'lying down'), but just because we are useless at the moment whenever the chance to do 'something' presents itself (and preventing the Gers from winning the league counts as 'something' to me!).

 

I also believe that Utd are capable of beating Hearts never mind drawing.

 

We are already dead. We just don't know it yet.

 

 

EDIT: Would be abso-fucking-lutely delighted to be proved wrong, of course!