When I was a lad, a tiny wee lad, I remember the anticipation and excitement of getting my first Dons strip - xmas 1988 and I remember the celophane wrapping, the static coming off the shirt as I took it out of the plastic, and the never-wanting-to-wear-anything-else-ever-again feeling.  I remember my granny taking me down to the old club shop in the basement of Crombie Sports in Bridge Street and being awe-struck at the red and white paraphernalia on offer.  As a boy it would make you feel ten feet tall going out to play with your pals in your team's new strip.  Every other summer from there on in I would have saved my money to buy the next new strip, home and away, maybe the odd track suit, schoolbag, windcheater chucked in as well.

 

Has our football club lost its lustre, or maybe more pertinently, have the people who run it lost sight of the reasons why they do it?  The club of course has to ride the financial storm but is years and years of abject misery on the pitch how we pay for keeping our club's head above the water?  We always hear of "unrealistic expectations" but nothing could be more inaccurate.  Almost every other club in the SPL has had more relative domestic success than us over the last ten years through cup wins, cup final appearances.  It is little wonder that our fans are typecast as being miserable when we have little to cheer about and then we are told we have to "live within our means" all the time, whilst watching the likes of those big-spenders Falkirk and Dunfermline reach cup finals?

 

Football isn't played on financial accounts and balance sheets.  Good football clubs employ good football managers  who in turn know how to get the best out of their players, regardless of how much these players cost or are paid.  If we as fans felt that our players were giving their best every week then there would be no real problem.  Time after time, our managers fail to get the best out of the players.  The excitement seems to have come more from not knowing from one week to the next if we are going to lose at home to Hamilton or beat Celtic at Parkhead, rather than any level of consistency or expectancy.

 

Stewart Milne has presided over these lean years employing one dud manager after another.  The best appointment of his, Jimmy Calderwood, did of course reach the end of his shelf life, if that shelf life is judged on requiring a new man to take us to another level.  I think we wanted to be able to look on McGhee's appointment with the view that "Calderwood had taken us as far as he can", and that McGhee could move us forward and give us back some excitement.  It hasn't happened, and despite him having signed a handful of decent players this summer, I don't think it is going to happen either.  I do think we have the nucleus of a good squad with the likes of Aluko, Fyvie, Paton, Folly, Hartley, Considine, Pawlett and a few others, but McGhee doesn't fill me with excitement or anticipation that he is going to be the man to whip us all into a frenzy and take us forward.

 

I know we are not Barcelona and we are not necessarily a hugely attractive proposition to any aspiring football manager, I know we also can't afford to keep sacking managers on a whim, but if there is anything that can fire up our support it is a sign that those in charge care about what is happening.  If they take their eyes of the debt and the fucking new stadium for one minute, they will see a once proud club that formerly showed their wares in the most civilised of good company now flashing their knickers down on Regent Quay and getting no takers.  I don't believe that McGhee has been set a high enough target.  Nobody seems to care enough to do what is necessary - speculate to accumulate if only for one transfer window and give the manager a remit to make top 6 and the cup final or die.  Set the target and achieve it.  Fail and face the consequences.  The heart of the issue is that football teams exist to compete, and ours just doesn't.

 

I am worried, really worried about where our club is going.  I am worried that if and when I get round to getting my boy his first Aberdeen strip, if he'll be as excited as I was, or just plain embarrassed.

http://www.afc.co.uk/articles/20101014/summer-v-winter-football-survey-_2212158_2184264

Interesting that 17.3% said no to question 1 yet only 8% voted for the 'there should not be one' option in question 2.

 

I noticed that too! 

 

Not surprised by the survey though.

Quick skim of the comments in that survey IMO only proves the adage that people will moan about everything particularly if it upsets their current routine

 

I find the complaint of inconsistent seasons every couple of years to fit around the euros and world cups would piss off the fans to be a bit bizarre.

One season you have june off, the next you dont. Id say that is pretty consistent and personally I think having a 4 week break to watch a major international tournament before going straight back into the SPL would be great. SPL season finishes and you can turn your eyes down south or onto the continent for a couple of months to fill the void.

 

Some said we would need a longer break because of the build up but for fuck sake its not as if the entire SPL playing squad is buggering off and we wont have anyone to play the games. Chances are the old firm lose 4 players and the rest of the SPL lose max 1 each. If we can suffer 4 weeks without Hartley, Aluko and several other stars due to injury im sure we can do the same when they are playing for their country. In fact if scotland did actually qualify, given the number of scotland players who play in scotland Id think these would be the seasons you see rangers and celtic shitting themselves because the other SPL teams have full squads while they are having to use reserves for 2 months.

 

There was also the point that new signings would arrive tired. I belive a certain Cato Guntveit, Arild Stavrum & Peter Kjaer all arived with us after having no rests between seasons and were 3 of our best players at the time.

 

I am slightly biased here but I have yet to hear an actual negative reason for summer scottish football that will make me think 'hmmm perhaps we should stay as we are'

 

Champions league - No fixtures from 2nd week december till 2nd Week February

UEFA cup - No fixtures from 3rd week december till 2nd week February

Euro championship qualifiers - All fixtures played between August & October

World Cup Qualifiers - All fixtures played between March & October

My "caring" has diminished pretty constantly since July 2009. I see very little to change that eg stadium plans, some handy young players, a proper captain. That's about it.

 

 

Just watching old episodes of QI on iPlayer and apparently including organs, skin, meat etc the average huma is worth about £500 000. Any chance we can punt some of our staff/players (supporters?) that way, raise some money? That'd be a new approach!