Sneckboy

You're right Alex, I shouldn't fault his barrier-method! If only our strike-force wasn't so impotent! But, I'm sure Deano was annoyed at his 'error' against United. I bet he was raging that night - I wouldn't have liked to face the 'morning-after Brill'! But the lack of height in our team does cause concern - the manager needs to sort out this erectile dysfunction!

Probably Brill - as he doesn't keep many clean sheets!

It's such a specialised role, goalkeeping. years ago, if you were a good 'shot-stopper' and could gather crosses, you'd be a top 'keeper....in the days when you could simply pick the ball up from a back pass! (It looks totally 'alien' now if you ever see a clip of that happening from old footage). Can't remember if it was Peter Shilton or Ray Clemence, but one of those former England goalies has since said that he was glad to have retired before the passback rule was changed, as he was 'hopeless' with a 'live' ball at his feet! Nowadays, a goalkeeper needs to be competent with both feet at clearing, despite oncoming strikers closing him down. It pains me to admit it, but Andy Goram was terrific at clearing danger and was comfortable on either foot. I remember when I was at school, and my PE teacher was ex-Caledonian custodian Derek Dewar, he gave me a rollicking for scoring an own-goal from an intended pass-back. His advice was logical and simple - when passing back to your 'keeper, play the ball back in a committed fashion so you don't under hit it and let the striker nip in, but more importantly, place it wide of the goals, so that the goalie isn't obligated to deal with it to prevent a goal - only a corner would be conceded. It's literally schoolboy stuff!

You did indeed make that observation last year IHE, and expressed some reservations about Brill's competence with the ball at his feet, despite most other posters indicating that he was the best keeper we've ever had!

That would have to come with your 'train fare back to Leith' and a miniature replica of the League Cup trophy, engraved with "let's look at what you could've won!"

That wonderful performance where some fans were even on the pitch showing their appreciation - St. Johnstone win to secure SPL football Elton John gig.

Yeah, a bit like Toby getting a game as a sub for a token appearance near the end - he'd get stripped, get on, then come-off two minutes later!

A number of errors in your table, Laurence, but I've got a program that shows the table between any given dates. What really strikes me is the 'goals scored' column - we're easily the poorest in the division since Hughes arrived.

We've got games coming up before the split in the next few days against County and Motherwell. If we were to be 'given' 4 points for these games without kicking a ball...you sound like you would go with a win against County and a draw against Motherwell despite the reverse being better for the club. Indeed, I would suspect from your parochial stance that you'd be happier with us finishing 8th (for example, in any given season) ahead of County - rather than us finishing 3rd with County runners-up?!

Sam Winnall at Scunthorpe is easily the top player in League 2. Likely be snapped up by a Championship side in July. One that got away!

On results obviously, not on league positions. I totally disagree. Leaving the emotive issue of Terry Butcher out of this, surely positions are what teams play for, rather than 'results'! Perceived 'good results' can only be defined as such if those results are better than the teams you compete against? Positions are king, and dictate where teams finish, whether that be as Champions, 'top 6', European qualification or relegation. It's particularly poignant as we managed 37 points the season we were relegated - a total that has also seen teams finish 9th. Surely you can appreciate that a team with 40 points in a given league could be relegated, yet similarly a team could only get 30 points and survive. 'Good' results are only relative to the teams you play against at that particular time. An example could be a Champions League group: Would you rather have 'good' results and win 4 games from 6 but be eliminated (with 12 points)...? Or have such 'not good' results and win no games, draw 4, and have only 4 points but qualify for the lucrative knock-out stage?! Every European Club manager would opt for the latter. Football results can only be classed as 'good' or 'bad' by directly associating them with a tangible constant which is measurable - i.e. league tables and the positions within - it's why they exist all levels of football!

Although Daryl Duffy was a guy I thought would develop into a really class player, he's maybe lost his way a little of late. I just don't think he's what we'd be looking for. There's a reason he's there - he's not good enough and it certainly would be no 'coup' to be signing him. Decent scoring record as he has, I feel that at his age of 29, he should be at the peak of his career, not playing in the football backwater of India. He's actually at the club that Claude Gnakpa was/is at! Maybe says it all! But, I do totally agree that we need another striker!

st mirren.jpg Don't think that's a good top at all, yet the colours do 'work' together when the hoops are broadened. For example, Kingussie shinty club famously have red and blue hooped shirts and it's a nice looking shirt.

Premiership Adam Rooney (Ross County 1-1 Aberdeen) English Championship Andrew Shinnie (Millwall 2-3 Birmingham City) English League Two Sam Winnall TWO GOALS (Cheltenham Town 0-2 Scunthorpe United)

'Most fans actually work on weekends' is simply inaccurate. But I sympathise with your plight; I too have to work some weekends and even xmas days at times. However, I'm aware I'm in the vast minority when doing so. To suggest that 'weekend work' is a valid reason for our dreadful attendances borders on farcical. Supermarkets report their highest 'foot-fall' of the week as occurring between 2.30 and 4pm on Saturday afternoons.

http://www.retroworldfootballshirts.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=1623&tracking=4fbf6191253f6

Depends how you look at it. Butcher took-over at Hibs when they were 7th. They remain 7th. Hughes took-over at Inverness when they were 2nd. They're now 5th.

With due respect, we're on a pretty sticky-wicket if our sustainability depends on whether-or not we're in the same league as that grotesque Govan outfit.

I wouldnt worrytoo much........Aberdeen will be wondering where 30 000+ of their supporters have gone It's all relative, SMEE. They had around 35% of their Cup Final crowd attending, as did we. However, they're parading a cup around Aberdeen today and likely 'capturing the imagination' of a few interested observers. All great Public Relations. Actually, to be fair, they increased their attendance on their previous home game v. Kilmarnock. Unfortunately we didn't with our crowd vs. Partick Thistle. An indictment indeed, but particularly embarrassing for us, as I will explain. Although a hackneyed topic, attendances are very relevant to a club's health. What I cannot fathom is this: Just picture being at the Partick game back in October. At the Sunday lunchtime kick-off, when we'd not even played our League Cup quarter-final at that stage, you turn to your mate and query... "looking at my crystal-ball, the next time Partick come calling, it'll be a more traditional Saturday 3pm kick-off: We'll have a new manager who'd likely appreciate a big crowd to spur the team onto his first home league win..." "We'll have all our key players signed up by then on extended contracts and we'll have just secured our 2nd consecutive top-6 finish..." "Oh, I forgot to mention, We'll have, just 6 days ago, played in our first major cup final (!!!) and taken nearly 8,000 fans to Glasgow!" "One last thing, the club will have put an incentive into place (as if it was needed after our pervious weekend's cup final), whereby major discounting incentives, free admissions and concessions will be aggressively advertised to entice the fans in." "So...let's just speculate that, what I've (probably unrealistically) prophesised, somehow came to light..., then surely we'd expect a higher crowd than today?" Answer: Obviously, YES, naturally, of course!! (swear words removed). Reality: NO. Sadly, part-time football will be the reality at this rate.

Only my view, but I'm trying to simplify it. Look at it in this order: The Scottish Champions go to the Champions League. The Scottish Champions, therefore, are not eligible for the Europa League. (ignoring the scenario where they 'parachute' in at a later stage). That leaves 3 Europa League places available. 1 from the Scottish Cup: Best team eligible for the Europa League qualifies - Call them 'team x'. 2 from the Scottish League: Top 2 clubs aside from the Champions and 'team x'.

At the time of writing, the Dons are currently inching along Union Street in their open-top bus, and it got me thinking.....what jammy gits! But in all seriousness, if we'd not lost out on penalities last Sunday, would Highland Council have dipped into the common-good fund to finance our celebration in the traditional football way, or would there merely be a private civic reception sometime in June? I'd hope we'd go down the open-top bus route. Aberdeen has the naturally fortuitous set-up of the Town House destination being situated at the end of a straight, near mile-long stretch of the city's main thoroughfare. Where would our 'hypothetical' bus route start, if the Town House was indeed to be the end-point? I'm no expert, but my suggestion would be to start at the 'Phoenix'-end of Academy Street (having maybe set-up and come from the Stadium) and continue down to M&S before turning right under the shopping-centre 'tunnel' that would take them to the bottom of Stephen's Brae - then obviously down the pedestrianised Eastgate and High Street to finish outside the Town House. A good vantage point for the players to parade the cup to the fans could be from the balcony outside the Tourist Information Centre. The Gellions would be pleased with that arrangement! God, I'm envious right now!

I've had a look at the UEFA rules and although they don't cover every possible scenario, I think you've summarised it accurately, Rasczak, in your possible scenarios. DU v Aberdeen final = Aberdeen win, ICT in Europe, DU win, them in Europe (Winner as cup final representatives) DU v St J final = Winners in Europe (Winner as cup final representatives) Aberdeen v Rangers = 4th place in Europe regardless of result (Aberdeen as cup final representatives) Rangers v St Johnstone = ST J in Europe (St J as cup final representatives) In essence, we really need Aberdeen to beat St Johnstone to have any chance with a 4th placed finish!

19th and 26th April. 3rd, 7th and 10th May. 12th/13th April Scottish Cup semis I stand corrected.

We'll have a new home strip for next season anyway...and the current away strip will remain and just have the sponsor details changed. I've often wondered whether there could be fan input into the strip, even on a very basic level, but probably not feasible, however who is it that chooses the design? Is it simply at the chairman's discretion? This goes for all clubs. We tried that with the Icat mascot design.....and look what happened!

I think they're played on the weekends of the 12th, 19th and 26th April and the 3rd and 10th of May. (11th May for top-6). But TV schedules will doubtless dictate the specific date and kick-off times. They're not normally released until after the split, but with the top 6 known definitively at this early stage, there's actually no reason they can't publish the fixtures much sooner!