Gladstone

My dream XI: Fellaini Fellaini Fellaini Fellaini Fellaini Fellaini Fellaini Fellaini Fellaini Fellaini Fellaini

Got to say, I'm pleasantly surprised by that appointment by Celtic. I hadn't heard of the guy until right now, but I'm glad they haven't wheeled out some old school British manager that's out of a job and recognising Celtic as a stepping stone club, which really, is what it is these days. Get young talent in, at not that much cost, move it on at a profit. Obviously, they're not going to shift this guy on at a profit if he's on a rolling contract, but equally, they're not going to employ some established manager on a rolling contract. Interesting times ahead (maybe). I agree with waltz though in relation to it seeming like a very easy job but being a bit of a poisoned chalice. My deluded Celtic supporting father was trying to tell me the other day that Malky Mackay would be the best man for the job. He couldn't quite grasp my argument that Malky Mackay wouldn't want to jeapordise his reputation by taking on the Celtic job. How could a guy like Mackay enhance his reputation at Celtic? Winning the league is absolutely expected and winning it at a canter is expected. Lennon only won the league last season and his season was seen as a failure, despite his team qualifying for the CL group stages. Basically, a successful season at Celtic these days (without the huns in the mix) is to win the treble and do well in the CL. Doing well in the CL is subjective, I guess. But getting papped out in the group stages despite being underdogs to do anything else is seen as a failure. So, yeah - Malky Mackay would have needed to clean up domestically and probably guide the team to the last 16 or even better to really enhance his reputation. The second part of that would be very difficult indeed. The first part - on paper should be doable, but a couple of bad games (or great performances from the opposition) and the cups are gone. I think that left Celtic with just a couple of options. Either go for a relatively young / untested manager or get some old fucker looking for an easy ride for a couple of seasons. They've actually shown a bit of ambition by appointing the young / untested manager. I still hope they get relegated though.

To move away from the Lee Miller argument... Best Aberdeen striker ever?

Which I would argue is better than hardly scoring. How many Aberdeen players can you think of in the past 20 seasons that's scored really regularly? As in, like 1 in 3 or better? In fact, outside of the old firm, there probably aren't many strikers with that sort of record in the SPL.

Really? I didn't think Mackie contributed much in his latter years at all. A couple of seasons of double figures, but the rest of the time his return was abysmal. He wasn't exactly an assists man, or a hold up, target man. He was fast and that was about it really. He looked promising as a youngster but I don't think it ever really materialised. He was a poor man's Kenny Miller really.

"Hardly scored" is a bit much. About 1 in 4 according to wiki, which isn't setting any records, but it's far from the sort of pish that Mackie churned out for 10+ years. (Okay I just looked up Mackie and he was a bit worse than 1 in 5. I thought it would be worse to be honest.)

I agree with Adam EW - I thought Miller was very good. Painfully slow and a diving cunt, but the skills were there. He also had a great presence about him. I remember being at Pittodrie watching Aberdeen v Celtic a few seasons ago and whichever big brute defender was marking Lee Miller never got near him. Miller won every single high ball, whether on his head or controlling and knocking the ball on.

I love a 3-5-2 formation too. If done well, it used to totally boss against a team playing in the traditional 4-4-2 formation. I've played in 3-5-2 at juvenile and amateur level and it was always massively enjoyable. Very fluid football and always winning the midfield battle. It could perhaps be even more effective against the current trend of teams playing 4-5-1 or 4-4-1-1 formations. The argument that there's no need to have 4 at the back against 1 or 2 strikers. I used to find that whenever I played full back, it would totally depend on what side the second striker was predominantly playing as to whether or not I ended up defending the whole game or charging forward the whole game. It was brilliant when the striker spent most of his time on the other side, which allowed me to push forward and effectively man-mark the wide midfielder when defending but being able push forward and join the attacks. A 3-5-2 formation sorts that shit out. 3 at the back are all out and out defenders. Wingbacks mark the wide men when in defence but also join in on the attacks. One out and out sitting midfielder to mop things up, take the ball off the defenders and start attacks. The other two can attack / defend / whatever really - it's really fluid. And plenty of space up top for the 2 strikers to interlink, go out to the wing, drop in, whatever. If you haven't already worked it out, I hate 3-5-2 as a formation.

I don't think you'll ever get that chafing with running tights. Chafing happens where there's a seam rubbing continuously against the same part of the body. In my case it was the bottom of my boxer shorts on the half marathon and the bottom edge of my running shorts on the 17.5 mile run. The bottom of your running tights will be at your ankles, so unless you've got a very very strange running style or very very fat ankles, they're never going to rub together!

That's a pretty tasty looking team to be fair. Where would Flood fit in though? I like how Johnny Hayes is playing in the Main Stand also.

Danny Welbeck in CM? Sounds like a masterplan. There's a reason that Giggs is the man in the assistant manager role at Man Utd and not Scholes.

I've only experienced the between the leg chafing twice. The first time was long before I owned any specific running gear and I ran the Edinburgh half marathon wearing my normal boxer shorts and a pair of those longer Nike football shorts. The inside of my thigh was actually bleeding by the end where my boxer shorts had been chafing. I never wore my boxer shorts when running after that! I got a pair of compression shorts which I found were fine for anything up to about 10k or even a mile or two longer. Then I did the D33 wearing the compression shorts with some other shorts over the top (probably the same Nike football shorts) and discovered chafing in a whole different area. By the time I finished the D33, my balls were on fire. That was a painful lesson. I invested in proper running shorts after that. Lightweight, with an inner lining so there's no need for underwear and they're designed to not chafe really. The only time I've ever had chafing in the inner thigh since then was when I wore my racing shorts on the BRG Challenge (last year I think) - small skimpy shorts. I've been fine with those shorts on everything up to half marathon with zero chafing but for some reason on the day of the BRG last year (17.5 miles) there was a bit of chafing - nothing like the bleeding of the previous time, but if I do something longer like that again, I'll be sure to put some lube on the inside of my thighs. The only chafing I suffer from these days seems to be runner's nipple. I need to remember to lube up the nips before longer runs or they're a bitty raw for a while afterwards.

That has to be a sign that Celtic think Forster is off. If Gordon has a real chance at being Celtic number 1 then it wood be a good move for him. If Forster stays though, Gordon will have to find his best form to oust him from the number 1 jersey. He's said in every interview I've read/heard that what he needs now is to get games under his belt. Going to be second choice at Celtic isn't going to get him match fit. Even when he plays, the majority of Celtic's games will be fairly quiet from a keeper's point of view.

You're going to have to beg a bit better than that. In fact, here's the deal. Film yourself scoring a goal and running to the corner flag and doing a Roger Milla celebration. Only then, can you have Cameroon.

Perhaps not seeing Gordon at his best for so long has made me forget how good he really was, but I've seen some unbelievable performances from McGregor in recent years. Some matches when he's just been a brick wall and his reflexes and bravery are brilliant. He is a complete and utter fud and can be a ticking time bomb, but I did say "at his best". I can only really remember flashes of brilliance from Gordon and have this lingering memory of him just looking nervous between the sticks. He seemed to lack the arrogance of someone like McGregor who just has no fear. To be fair, I'd probably rather have Gordon in the dressing room than McGregor because I think McGregor is a dick, but between the sticks I would definitely say McGregor now and I still think I would say McGregor over Gordon at their best. It's such a pity that Gordon went through so many injuries and we didn't get to see them compete for the Scotland number 1 jersey. It would have been pretty tough to win it from Gordon if he'd kept going. We possibly didn't even get to see Gordon at his best actually.

I sincerely hope that he doesn't turn out for the Huns next season. That would disappoint me a great deal.

Has there been any news on Craig Gordon's future? (I'm not imagining Mcinnes would be after him instead of Kris Boyd - it just popped into my head)

ABERDEEN MUSIC WORLD CUP 2014 EPIC BATTLE FOR HONOUR AND SUPREMACY GROUP A Brazil [MILNER] Croatia [CAMIE] Mexico [SKACEL] Cameroon GROUP B Spain [KARMATSUNAMI] Netherlands [MOOSE] Chile [JODA SERK] Australia [DELBOY1969] GROUP C Colombia [MR OWL PHD] Greece [GYPSYM_FANTASTIC] Ivory Coast [GIVEMEASMILE] Japan [LUCKY RATHEN] GROUP D Uruguay [ADAM EASY WISHES] Costa Rica [OLD GOLD] England [WOODSINHO] Italy [MURR] GROUP E Switzerland [MATTJIMF] Ecuador [ALKALINE] France [CHRIS] Honduras [WALTZ] GROUP F Argentina [PARANOID ANDROID] Bosnia and Herzegovina Iran [GHOST OF FUDGE] Nigeria [SURFER_ROSA] GROUP G Germany [CAPTAIN AMERICA] Portugal [CA_GERE] Ghana [KSJ81] USA [NEEPHEID] GROUP H Belgium [GLADSTONE] Algeria Russia [JAN] Korea Republic [SCOTTYBOY]

Should we let Delboy switch allegiance from Australia to Cameroon? I say no. For no reason whatsoever.

Only 4 teams left: Cameroon Costa Rica Bosnia & Herzegovina Algeria I'm surprised / disappointed not to see Eupraxia getting involved. He maybe thought it was pointless after Belgium had gone to be fair.

You want to back someone other than your home team? You fucking disgust me.

ABERDEEN MUSIC WORLD CUP 2014 EPIC BATTLE FOR HONOUR AND SUPREMACY GROUP A Brazil [MILNER] Croatia [CAMIE] Mexico [SKACEL] Cameroon GROUP B Spain [KARMATSUNAMI] Netherlands [MOOSE] Chile [JODA SERK] Australia [DELBOY1969] GROUP C Colombia [MR OWL PHD] Greece [GYPSYM_FANTASTIC] Ivory Coast [GIVEMEASMILE] Japan [LUCKY RATHEN] GROUP D Uruguay [ADAM EASY WISHES] Costa Rica England [WOODSINHO] Italy [MURR] GROUP E Switzerland [MATTJIMF] Ecuador [ALKALINE] France [CHRIS] Honduras [WALTZ] GROUP F Argentina [PARANOID ANDROID] Bosnia and Herzegovina Iran [GHOST OF FUDGE] Nigeria [SURFER_ROSA] GROUP G Germany [CAPTAIN AMERICA] Portugal [CA_GERE] Ghana [KSJ81] USA [NEEPHEID] GROUP H Belgium [GLADSTONE] Algeria Russia [JAN] Korea Republic [SCOTTYBOY]

Great stuff - well done! (Sounds like you are being sensible, but just in case you're tempted...) Even although you feel like you could go farther, it's a good idea to just stick with the plan. Don't be tempted to keep going beyond the planned 20 minutes or 25 or whatever the next one is!