Hugh_Jazz

Aberdeen striker Michael Paton is leaving on a free. Grab yourself a bargain. 4 goals in 50 appearances, but he's a great lad to have about the place. [/JCalderwood]

Yes, the reality is people are staying away because a) the product is shit and b) it's expensive....but slashing ticket costs just makes things worse. As already said, clubs have tried this, and it simply doesn't work. Clubs need money to improve....either by investment in youth or by making signings, and that money comes primarily from tickets. Aberdeen are barely breaking even right now, and we all know what sort of market they're shopping in. If you stay away, you are just fuelling the club's demise.

Tell me how clubs attract this custom? Seriously, they'd love to know, and it's ridiculous to suggest that they aren't trying. You can't just say this is "business", and expect clubs to continually do more and more with less and less. This is such a fucking circular argument. Not only are clubs losing money from the turnstiles, but the cost of attracting talent is spiralling out of control season after season. How do the clubs do better? How do they put better teams on the park? How do they effectively market themselves, when they have fuck all worth selling? Football is in people's blood, and if it wasn't for loyalty, clubs like Aberdeen would have disappeared down the plug hole years ago. It's a tired cliche, but "football belongs to the fans"....well if they want it to improve, we have to do our part. If we keep walking away in our droves, then nobody has any right to complain when their clubs crumble to dust.

Yeah, of course....it is very expensive and clubs need to do what they can to make it more affordable, but cost is not why everyone stays away.

It completely contradicts my earlier post, but fans need to take some responsibility for their club's success/demise, and stop putting the blame squarely at the board's door. Punters are always the main income stream, particularly in leagues without huge media revenues, and by staying away you only make it harder for the club you claim to love to succeed. Catch 22.

Fans aren't staying away because of cost. The quality of the product is a far more important reason. Attendances in Scotland have been going down for years....decades even. Nowadays, nobody gives a fuck about Scottish football, despite most Scots claiming it as their national sport. What they actually mean is their national sport is sitting on their ass watching the EPL or La Liga. In 1954, Pittodrie had 45,061 fans in it to watch a Scottish Cup QF tie against Hearts. 45,000!!! A long time ago, and perhaps an unrealistic example nowadays, but it just proves how many fickle youngsters have flocked to the OF, how badly the provincial clubs have lost the loyalty of their local communities and the extent to which most Scots nowadays would prefer to watch the EPL, than the SPL. Nobody gives a shit about Scottish football, cos the EPL is so much better. It's that fucking simple....the economic argument about fans being unable to afford it is bullshit. Most of them pay a fortune to watch Sky Sports in their own lounge. Yesterday proved that the product in just about every other country in Europe is better than the SPL. Most of those countries don't have money either, but their product is better, they breed more technically proficient footballers, and have done for years. Every single year we have to watch SPL sides getting spanked by European nobodies, and it's about time the SFA pulled their head out of their fucking arse, looked at Holland, Denmark, Croatia, Greece and all the other countries who do it better than us, and started planning for the long term. As soon as the product improves, the crowds will come back. It's that simple. Until that happens, most Scottish fans would prefer to line Rupert Murdoch's pockets.

Strong, versatile and (preferably) experienced lead vocalist required for classic/hard rock covers band. Must be comfortable as front man/woman. Ability to play rhythm guitar might be an added bonus, but definitely not essential. Rest of line-up still to be finalised, but currently looking like a 4-piece with guitar, bass and drums. Age is irrelevant....the rest of us are past 30, not that it matters. PM if interested! Cheers Neil

Perhaps, but there is truly no excuse for this:

Compeed is the best stuff for blisters.....have only used it on my feet, but i guess you could cut off a small piece to cover the blister on your hand. Suggest you fix it in place with zinc oxide tape which tends to have stronger adhesive than most fabric plasters. ....oh, and don't hold your sticks so tight! :-)

Given how wildly inaccurate the early information coming from BP was during the Macondo disaster, I'm not surprised Shell are being guarded about their press releases. As you said yourself, quantifying the seriousness of the spill is far from straightforward, so given that Shell probably don't accurately know themselves, what information would you have them provide? I'd rather get the correct answer than a load of speculative bullshit.

I think the "certain size" is zero. Pretty sure that any and all leaks must be reported.

God, that's awful. They're currently saying that only 4 have died.....be amazed if that doesn't go higher. Looked to be fair number of people under the stage when it went down.

The licensing process and the drilling permitting process are quite separate, so Mr Harvie probably has no idea what he's talking about. Indeed, as a Green with an ideological axe to grind against the oil industry, I would cynically submit that he has no interest in actually researching how the industry worked, because he might just discover that it's full of experts hell bent on doing the right thing. The licensing process is essentially a bidding process, where companies vie for the rights to explore/produce in a given area. Licenses applications are evaluated on the technical work that a company proposes to carry out.....eg. how many prospects have they identified on the acreage, how many wells do they commit to carry out etc. A company's environmental credentials are evaluated during the license application, but because a license does not necessarily lead to wells being drilled, there's little point in submitting spill plans, as these plans would be tailored to each individual well....each well having very different risks. Once acreage has been awarded thru the license process, any proposed wells are subject to a different permitting process which is where the OPEP (Oil Pollution Emergency Plan) must be submitted and evaluated by government before permits are awarded.

The government DOES view response plans. Every well drilled in the North Sea requires a spill plan to be provided as part of the permitting process. Since Macondo these requirements have been tightened and are now one of the biggest hold-ups to drilling permits being issued. The govt regulations in the UK are probably the tightest anywhere in the world.

Sounds like you're putting an awful lot of store in Vernon being the guy to get the majority of the goals. We need at least 2 capable strikers capable of bagging a bunch of goals every season. Mackie, Paton, Magennis and Megginson are the backfill for Vernon and whoever we end up signing - none of that foursome are going to score many. I understand the need to get a nippy forward to play with Vernon, which I absolutely agree with, but he MUST be a capable goalscorer, otherwise if Vernon picks up an injury, which he appears prone to, then we're fucked.

Have you actually seen him? I can't imagine he's been on TV much given his club history. He's played for nobody of any note, other than Blackburn whom he played 2 games for before being punted out on loan to various places. His Wikipedia page reads 18 goals from club 141 games.....that's a Darren Mackie-esque strike rate. I'll grant you that he did OK for the Dutch U-21 side, but he hardly looks like the 20 a season goal machine that we've been craving.

If Scotland can't qualify from the group, god help us.

My wife is rubbish at wrestling, but you should see her box.

Should come as no surprise with Mackie, Vernon and Magennis in the squad, that we're going to struggle to score. We got a good return from Vernon last season but the other two, while willing, are never going to score many. I'm sure Pa Broon is acutely aware of this though and will deliver us a striker before the window closes. Rest of the side looks very promising and properly delighted to see Fyvie have such a good game after his injury. Plenty cause for optimism.

Heard a report this morning stating that the maximum sentence that can be levied under Norwegian law is 21 years. He'll be out when he's 53. Crazy.

I'm assuming that he in fact meant Layne Staley of Alice and Chains.....no idea who Stanley is.

Layne "Stanley"?

Pretty sure that Filthy McNasty is showing it.

Won't hear a bad word said about Tsonga. The man's a fucking gem. A frenchman who doesn't know the meaning of surrender. He's an absolute gorilla from the baseline and has been involved in some of the best rallies of the tournament. Brilliant to watch IMO. Praying for a Tsonga v Muzza final.

Think this has almost no chance of happening. Nevertheless, it's only a bad bit of business if we don't spend the money wisely. If we made 2 or 3 good signings with the money that seriously improved the side, we ended up with a decent league placing, European football, a cup run or two, and our dignity back, then Fyvie would be forgotten in an instant. All hypothetical bollocks of course. Like I say, I don't think it will happen...the fact this news was aired in a quote-free article in the Daily Ranger speaks volumes.