2008/2009 Season Thread

[RossP]

[Bigsby]

I like your 'tache.

[RossP]

that'll be my rafa benitez-esque father.

[get lost]

Ouch!!, sensible money on McGee!!

[Guest Exposure @ Lemon Tree]

You can have Strachan if you want...

[The Milner]

must say this came as a huge shock, everyone in our box on sunday seemed to know it was happening before the game started, you could see it in the players in the second half as well, they looked completely drained and down. Damm shame i must be one of the few JC backers, i honestly thought he did a great job considering what he had to put up with. Hopefuly we get someone good in to replace him.

[stuartmaxwell]

Not only winning, but coming back from being two-nil down at half time, at home, in the first leg. More fucking comebacks than Sinatra. Absolutely delighted.

Have to say I do feel for Newcastle today and Duff in particular, it just doesn't seem right not having them in the Premiership.

On a lighter note, let's all feast our eyes on the boy wonder Ryan Stevenson, stroke the screen gently and thank him for putting Ayr in the first division.

What was the atmosphere like? I could tune into Alba sadly. Must have been a good night!

JOHN BAIRD GIRFUY

[Murrr]

Calderwood did a fantastic job at Aberdeen and it's a shame that a lot of fans seem to forget about that. I do think that his time had come though; he's clearly ran out of ideas and taken the club as far as he can. I can see why some might say he's overstayed his welcome, but I'll only judge this decision when I see who they appoint as his replacement.

[Guest Exposure @ Lemon Tree]

Calderwood did a fantastic job at Aberdeen and it's a shame that a lot of fans seem to forget about that. I do think that his time had come though; he's clearly ran out of ideas and taken the club as far as he can. I can see why some might say he's overstayed his welcome, but I'll only judge this decision when I see who they appoint as his replacement.

I pretty much agree with this, his time has definitely come to leave. I think what went on last week with the players getting pished 5 days before the end of the season etc and the stories about Calderwood being out on the lash all the time have made me think he should just leave now. Who knows who will be brought in, but whoever it is needs to make big changes to get the best out of the players, and make Aberdeen a reasonable force again. I don't think it's realistic that they can challenge for the league anytime soon, but they should be challenging for cups, and the way Celtic and Rangers are going at the moment, it can't be long before the rest of the league catches up. Both sides of the old firm get shitter every year (Rangers are actually marginally better this season than the past 2 or 3, but they're going to have to sell most of their good players).

I think Strachan's time has come to leave Celtic too. He's done a pretty good job in terms of getting us into the last 16 of the Champions League, and 3 in a row isn't to be sniffed at, but he was up against the 3 worst Rangers sides I've ever seen. Bit of a challange this year and he couldn't live with it. The league should have been out of sight 2 months ago, but we dropped so many points in the run in. Rangers went out and spanked United at the weekend to affirm that they deserve the title and Celtic couldn't even score at home against a pretty pish Hearts team.

[Scorge]

Unlike ICT, I enjoyed Airdrie's relegation quite a lot. Them and the C**** scum can have the second division in their plastic no fan non-entity studiums!

Though being honest, I can't wait for the Thistle derby games though, do enjoy the Inversneck day out.....

[framheim]

evening seems to think the two jimmys were sacked rather than mutual consent and a few other papers are hinting at that as well.

i'm kinda torn. i'm no big fan of calderwood and dunfermline was the worst game of football i've ever seen and is hard to forgive yet we could so easily go backwards with a rash appointment.

[Johnny Mac]

It's going to be Mark McGhee.

I can't really think of anyone else.

I don't know if he'd be that great a manager though.

We shall see.

[Guest Exposure @ Lemon Tree]

evening seems to think the two jimmys were sacked rather than mutual consent and a few other papers are hinting at that as well.

i'm kinda torn. i'm no big fan of calderwood and dunfermline was the worst game of football i've ever seen and is hard to forgive yet we could so easily go backwards with a rash appointment.

P&J front page this morning says Jimmy Calderwood has been sacked. The story then actually suggests he's left by mutual consent, as at no point does it go on to speak about a sacking, and the Willie Miller quote sounds fairly amicable.

Tanning salons all over the city are said to be panicking...

[stuartmaxwell]

Jim Jeffries is an awful manager, the most miserable/negative guy in the spl.

I can see them trying to get someone who is experienced in europe to keep the coming in. Don't think Mcghee is the man for the job.

p.s. David Hannah is in with a shout

[Guest idol_wild]

evening seems to think the two jimmys were sacked rather than mutual consent and a few other papers are hinting at that as well.

i'm kinda torn. i'm no big fan of calderwood and dunfermline was the worst game of football i've ever seen and is hard to forgive yet we could so easily go backwards with a rash appointment.

Apparently, it was indeed a sacking and the two Jimmys received a compensation package totalling about 1million.

Which, ultimately, means Aberdeen probably won't be able to bring in any suitable players for quite some time.

Personally, I think Calderwood consistently overachieved at Aberdeen Football Club and next season the club is going to be severely found out.

[Hugh_Jazz]

P&J front page this morning says Jimmy Calderwood has been sacked. The story then actually suggests he's left by mutual consent, as at no point does it go on to speak about a sacking, and the Willie Miller quote sounds fairly amicable.

Tanning salons all over the city are said to be panicking...

In the P&J it said that the club thought it was time for Jimmy to go, and Jimmy agreed. So yes, he was sacked, but there was mutual consent.

I really hope that none of the names mentioned so far get it. Jefferies, Black, McGhee are all just wrong.

I'm also rather split on the idea of Darren Ferguson. On paper, he looks like a decent manager, but if it wasn't for the fans' infatuation with the name Fergsuon, would he even be on the radar?

Fundamentally, I just have a horribly bad feeling that Milne and co. are going to get this decision totally wrong, and we're going to spend the next couple of seasons paying for it. Hope I'm wrong.

[Guest Exposure @ Lemon Tree]

Apparently, it was indeed a sacking and the two Jimmys received a compensation package totalling about 1million.

Which, ultimately, means Aberdeen probably won't be able to bring in any suitable players for quite some time.

Personally, I think Calderwood consistently overachieved at Aberdeen Football Club and next season the club is going to be severely found out.

I don't get how he could be "sacked" but then get a compensation package. Sounds more like they bought out the remaining 2 years of his contract. It's no wonder that football managers rarely walk away from a failing team. Steve McLaren did the worst job possible at England and walked away with how many million quid?

I'll have the Aberdeen job please.

[Guest Exposure @ Lemon Tree]

In the P&J it said that the club thought it was time for Jimmy to go, and Jimmy agreed. So yes, he was sacked, but there was mutual consent.

I really hope that none of the names mentioned so far get it. Jefferies, Black, McGhee are all just wrong.

I'm also rather split on the idea of Darren Ferguson. On paper, he looks like a decent manager, but if it wasn't for the fans' infatuation with the name Fergsuon, would he even be on the radar?

Fundamentally, I just have a horribly bad feeling that Milne and co. are going to get this decision totally wrong, and we're going to spend the next couple of seasons paying for it. Hope I'm wrong.

I think it will be McGhee that gets the job, but I don't think he'll be a particularly great appointment. Saying that, I really don't know who they should go for. How's Paul Lambert getting on these days? Serious question.

[Guest idol_wild]

I don't get how he could be "sacked" but then get a compensation package. Sounds more like they bought out the remaining 2 years of his contract

Umm, doesn't every sacked manager essentially receive a compensation/pay-off?

[Guest Exposure @ Lemon Tree]

Umm, doesn't every sacked manager essentially receive a compensation/pay-off?

Yeah, well, by being sacked, I would say you're being fired. If you get fired from a job, employers have to jump through hoops in terms of remaining within the law, and not leaving themselves open for unfair dismissal claims. I guess managers who get the dunt, don't get all the written warning malarkey, and it will just be a completely new agreement they enter into with said manager signing an agreement to say they treat this as a fair dismissal in exchange for getting given a wad of cash.

It's pretty shit though - in cases like McLaren who clearly failed at his job, employers should be able to get rid of you without giving you a couple of million quid. I'd quite fancy fucking my job up badly if it meant they would buy out the remainder of my contract costing them 2 million. Zero incentive to do a good job.

[framheim]

the 900k compensation figure in the record is seemingly a guess. there's rumours on other boards that there was various get out clauses on their most recent contracts. i doubt aberdeen would be willing to pay out a million pounds to get rid of a manager who wasn't a complete disaster.

seems laslo put them in a pretty bad position by trumping the press conference. obviously it was widely known well before the final whistle.

also seen rumours on aberdeen-mad that willie miller will take on the job himself.

[Guest Exposure @ Lemon Tree]

also seen rumours on aberdeen-mad that willie miller will take on the job himself.

That crossed my mind actually, but really didn't think it would ever happen.

[Dave-IRL]

My take on the weekends action:

Starting with my team St Mirren: Gus Must Go. The guy has worked wonders in taking us from 8th in Div 1 when he took over (bearing in mind it was 2 auto relegation places an we scraped survival) but the inability to beat a Hamilton side who were in terrible form, at home, with pretty much a sold out home support, speaks volumes of our current situation. Gus seems to stumble upon a formation that works well in one game, and sticks with it blindly irrespective of the opposition. Then we go on a run of defeats until he stumbles upon another formation, which works once etc. I bear no grudges towards the guy and appreciate what he has done, but I really feel that he has taken the club as far as he can.

Caley: Didnt deserve to go down. They had the nuts to do what was needed in firing Brewster and have given a lot of Scottish guys the chance to prove themselves at SPL level in their time. Having said that, Ross Tokely GIRFUY! I'd honestly rather have seen Falkirk go down. Hughes bleats on about how he gives young guys a chance - and in fairness the last few seasons he did and they were quite successful. This season he decided to give his wage bill to old codgers like Pressley, Bullen, McCann and McNamara and it came back to bite his erse.

Aberdeen: Dear oh dear when will you Dandies learn? May I remind you all that the season before JC took over you finished 11th. I honestly cant think of anyone who will be able to take that job and put up with losing your best players (Hart, Clark, Nicholson, Anderson, Severin tbc) due to the board not stumping up the cash required. They claim they're skint but have a big average crowd in comparison to some, and made it throught he group stages in the UEFA cup last season. Thet surely would have made enough to keep a few of those boys on a 2 year deal? Losing JC is a big mistake in my book.

Newcastle: Foot. The. Shot. In. Themselves. Re-arrange as required.

Celtic: As above.

Ayr: beating the club formerly known as Clydebank over 2 legs to relegate them. Magic.

[Scootray]

I really hope that Black or McGhee don't get it. That's just a lazy option. At this point in time, we can't afford to give a manager a job for sentimental reasons, it needs to be in order to better the club, something that I just can't see either of those two doing. With McGhee we'd lose the top six guarantee straight off the bat and Black has had the combined managerial experience of about 2 years.

Jim Jeffries can also GTF.

There will be pressure on Milne to get someone in ASAP in terms of getting contracts re-signed and bringing fresh faces in, but I just hope he doesn't make a total arse of it and settle for an alright candidate. He needs to be absolutely sure that whoever takes on the job will be able to deliver more than Calderwood.

I think Calderwood did a great job in stabilising us, but after 5 years I think it's the right move for him to leave. I'm disappointed he didn't come back onto the pitch after full time on Sunday for the lap of honour because I think he deserved a proper send off. Whether that was his choice or not, I don't know, but it was at that point when I thought...that's it, Jimmy's definitely away.

[framheim]

we are skint. still about 6 million in debt and until that's cleared we won't be in a position to pay ransom money to ageing spl journeymen when they request it. cash wouldn't have kept anderson as he wanted a new challenge and had every right to go for it. severin's past his best though has done better in the last few games. clark was shit. nicholson was a loss but was made a fair offer which he turned down. we got a decent transfer fee for hart so not all bad.

also although we can't pay out big transfer fees our wage budget is the fourth biggest in the spl despite our debt and this is what should attract decent management. alongside a potentially great youth setup we should certainly be able to have better seasons in the future with the right manager. that was probably not calderwood.