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Glad he is back. Was horrible moment to see him get injured. It will have taken a tremendous amount of strength to get this far. Disagree about Cooper. For a young lad he has done exceptionally well in the games he has featured in. It will be nice just to have some options at the back for a change. Last season was a constant struggle for defenders and this season has seens us develop a strong back four but without any real options should injuries or suspensions creep in so with Hogg back and Devine signed it will be nice just to have that re shuffling option should we need it...we still have Simon King to come back too.

The Aberdeen match will be one of the biggest in our history regardless of who they put out. They believe they will finish second behind Celtic this season so we really need a huge effort to stop their march after the winter break. Brown has to succeed or he is out of football. They will be driven by the need not only for revenge on the 3-2 result but by the fact Ross County beat them 2-1. We will face dangerous players right up to the end of the season so Fraser's likely departure makes no difference. And...as we head into the second half, we have to figure out how not to get thumped by Motherwell again this season.

Can he do worse? I dont think so but I cant see him doing much better, in the short term, with the current squad. However, and I hope GS can see past his favourite teams, there is upcoming talent out there. Even in the SPL there are players who would give their all for country. Our own Andy Shinnie being one. What I'd like to see is for GS to have the chance to build a team from the many youngsters and not from the has beens that other managers have chosen.

Like these?

And a chance to improve that co-efficient

I disagree Alex. A tw@t is a tw@t regardless of what era it is.

Have to disagree Gringo... Levein had the best crop of players available to any Scotland manager since Craig Brown. If you look at the complete duds that Berti tried out (Maurice Ross, Robbie Stockdale, Paul Devlin anyone?) it's a wonder he got us to a play off - nevermind won the first leg. The current crop of players, while I am not saying that they are world beaters, are the best any manager has had to deal with for many years and Smith and McLeish did not too bad with worse. The blame lies mostly with the utter arrogance, incompetence and buffoonery of Craig Latrine in my opinion. Burley was on a hiding to nothing with the media from the moment he started - the very first headlines about him were criticising his tie at his inaugural press conference. Compare this to the way they treated Smith and McLeish... Do you think they will f**kin dare try that sh*t with Strachan?????? I think we all know what response they'd get. I feel that in the short space of time a manager has with his players at international level GS can make a difference and use this effectively. I'm not saying he's going to magically make everything better but I do feel your comment of him not "lasting the pace" I have to disagree with. That's all I have to say about that!

I'm totally with Luke here

lets not forget coopers still only 18, and hes not looked out of place, one or two errors, but thats to be expected. give him 1-2 years hell be quality

What he said.

Crazy to think 6 months ago fans on here were citing that the club would fall apart when Rossco left and now there is talk of him and Granty dropping out of professional football. While I think that they have shown inconsistency in the SPL this year, and perhaps strugleto compete at this level but certainly think they would have more to offer at SPL level without having to go HL......yet.

Nothing makes a Buddies blood boil more than suggesting Paisley is in Glasgow. Paisley is near Glasgow. Not in it. Change those to Scotland and England and you will see the difference it makes.

I've taught Ryan Jack and Cammy Smith at their respective secondary schools and have taken in quite a few of their youth games. Cammy is light years ahead of Ryan in terms of ability and attitude. He will definitely end up playing for Scotland IMO...

we still have two more games v celtic, why aim for second?

I for one can't wait to hear the Aberdeen fans crying about poor wee Ryan getting battered on the pitch. They gurn every time he goes to ground. He does get fouled a lot but that's what happens when you are a quick and tricky player like he is. The way Aberdeen fans react you would think he is getting kicked in the goolies every time and then someone lands a Peoples Elbow on him to finish the lad off.

So you might think! For the uninitiated, the Summer Wine Crew, comprising (left to right) Naelifts, Mantis and Wanderer, became known as one of the most fearsome gangs of casuals ever to wear incontincence pants to a game.

15 people got round a table to look at both proposals. The majority of them were from the SFL and the consensus from that meeting was that the SPL proposal was the one with most potential for success....with some tweaks. As I understand it, the merging if the league associations was also part of the original SPL plan...which was basically that they would the 12-12 and leave the rest for the SFL to administer on their own. You say that the quest for change will destroy the game....perhaps....but let's not forget that it is the fans who have been shouting loudest for change and not so long ago it was an "anything except what we have" demand that was being laid down. I've already said in this thread why alternatives would not see the light of day (under the current setup) and I stand by that. As for the 14-14-14, some of those who are now claiming this as the way forward were saying in their last breath that there was insufficient quality teams to support a 12-12, but we are now to believe that there's sufficient to support a 14-14!!! They've argued about the finances being insufficient to support 24 teams, but now want to increase that to 28!!! I sometimes wonder if fans have got caught in a mindset whereby they hate the establishment so much that they want any proposal, so long as it's not one they come up with.

Alex made a funny

I desperately want to see change. Part of me wants to go ahead with these plans because i want to see change but part of me recognises it is completely ridiculous. Also this structure has been tried, tested and failed in other countries. I can see a situation where the top 8 is mildly exciting (for those at the top, which in a couple of years will be the OF). The middle 8 doesnt change anything and the bottom 8 will be desperately boring! Also i dont understand the modern conception that a 16/18 top tier will bring competition. Looking back through history between WW1 and the 1950s only Motherwell won the league apart from the OF in a 18 team league. Also there was even more non-competitive games, thats why they changed the structure in the 70s. We're a club that traditionally finish 7th/8th/9th. In a 18 team league which we'll never win and never get relegated from will mean we will always be mid table with nothing to play for. Doesnt sound exciting to me. And lets be honest, we love the Highland derbies and we're used to playing county 4 times a season. Why would we want to restrict that to two times a season? I dont think thats very wise financially for our club to just have one home game a season v county. If i had my way, i would propose a Premier of 10 teams and a Championship of 10. Both these leagues are professional. That would leave 22 lower league teams, so i would split it and add 5 HL teams and 5 EoS/junior teams to make a semi-professional North and South leagues of 16 teams each. The winners of these leagues would have a play-off with the winner replacing the bottom club of the championship. Also the top 2 of the championship will be automatically promoted replacing the bottom 2 in the Prem. The third top championship team would then play off with the 3rd bottom prem team (like what they do in Germany). I really believe having a 10 team top tier would be exciting and even more competitive than any other suggestion. Growing up in the 90s i remember the 10 team prem being exciting and often the title and relegation place were not decided untill the last day or last couple of games at least. In the 80s aberdeen won the league 3 times, DUFC once and Hearts very nearly all in a 10 team league. Even when rangers were romping the leagues in the 90s aberdeen and Motherwell ran them very close. Like i said earlier, imaging we were middle of the table 6th with 4 games to go. We're only 2 points ahead of 8th placed play-off but also only 3 points behind 4th placed europa league and having to play title chasing Celtic next. We would be going into a game knowing if we lose we could be down, or if we win enhance our chances of europe whilst stopping Celtic win the league (remember 2011 and how good that felt?). I remember 2 years ago a German guy did a study into Scottish football and proposed a professional premier and championship of ten teams each as the right model for Scotland based on population, statistics etc. Everyone laughed and said he was ridiculous and so was the SPL for getting this guy to do a study. However lets be honest, its very rare that the Germans are wrong when it comes to Football!!

Yes. There's 4,000 seats in it.

Gosh Craid Dargo looks a lot older than 20 lol!