absent friend

Do you think the board have an input, at all, to the onfield situation. Most jobs have the manager answering to the Board on a regular basis and more regular if things are not going right. How can he defend his tactics on an ongoing basis to them, if, on here, we can discuss areas we are disappointed with? I realise that in training lots of things become known that we are not privy to, laziness, lack of stamina, nigglie injuries and these can all affect selection, subs etc BUT not most weeks! I also no longer accept that he is a young manager, he has been round the block and the previous managerial moves are like car crashes, they should have made him more aware and matured him quickly. This does not, by his utterances, appear to be the case. I wonder if he should be under more pressure or is it too much pressure that is making him have less flamboyant selections, at home. The Board must give direction and quickly! .

While I dont buy it wasnt Brews decision, if it wasnt he as manager should have the balls to stand up against those who made it and fight for it. Aye right! And have this Board AND the ICT Board both gunning for the guy. As has been pointed out on here Barry going is not a black or white situation but very grey. If the saving made by his waygoing allows Sona Aluka to come to ICT you will be disappointed?? (I am only making a point and realise that this will not happen, this is only an example for the posters who are perhaps not standing back from the situation, at this time) Who on earth is Sona Aluka???? Should read SONE ALUKO( got my ooohs and aaaahs mixed up) and if you do not remember him from Aberdeen's last visit here, I hope you don't from this next visit.

I would agree totally, with both you and Scotty, the tactics are our downfall !!!(and successful players are happy players) We, in my opinion, are a super wee team, we need however to use the players where they are most effective and play to their strengths. Brew does not appear to do this. We all know that players can run out of gas, both ours and theirs and therefore you substitute to strengthen our team or to attack the weakness of theirs(using Barry for instance) This should not be done in the last five mins only! Brew does not appear to know this. Do not use high balls against a towering defence with one forward up so that even if the forward does get a head on it, there is no one there to take advantage. Brew does not appear to know this. Now, in fairness, he got the tactics correct at Parkhead so that puzzles me but resorted to his norm the following week! .

MY point was that it was stated forcefully on here that Byrne was Brews pal and that was the reason for the trial when we can now see he was also going elsewhere for trials! My reason for the posting is endeavouring to show that maybe we are reacting negatively to situations due to our league position!

From today's P & J Mackie, Severin, Smith, De Vischer, Young & Mair The above Aberdeen players could all be facing ICT in 10 days time. They are all out of contract in the Summer - contract talks will not begin until the New Year. Calderwood and Miller(DoF) are not referred to in any way as numpties on their fan's forum, for the above action. For Black and co ICT were pilloried for only starting talks at the start of the season. Strange, eh! Different values or what? Incidentally, in the same article Byrne was reported as having trials at Oldham, Walsall and ICT. Maybe the other two managers are his 'mates' too! On here it was stated that this was the reason for his trial at ICT, his friendship with Brew. Maybe, just maybe, our league position is creating excess negativity and postings are taking on a somewhat slanted presentation. .

While I dont buy it wasnt Brews decision, if it wasnt he as manager should have the balls to stand up against those who made it and fight for it. Aye right! And have this Board AND the ICT Board both gunning for the guy. As has been pointed out on here Barry going is not a black or white situation but very grey. If the saving made by his waygoing allows Sona Aluka to come to ICT you will be disappointed?? (I am only making a point and realise that this will not happen, this is only an example for the posters who are perhaps not standing back from the situation, at this time)

This is the point I am trying to make! How do we know that he is not bending boardroom ears and not being allowed to buy his targets?? And not being able to explain this to the supporters in case he is booted out! Tactics/subs/etc are another matter when we are trying to see if he should shoulder ALL the blame - on the park, with his current squad, of course! Boardroom politics, maybe he is only a pawn as I am endeavouring to explain! .

When I saw this title I thought it was the First driver of the 40 bus here in Aberdeen, he's from Romford and he's on strike. Mind you he could be an improvement on Barrowman, at this time!

"Message for Brewster: (from Gringo) Could you please explain WTF you are doing to our club? You are the manager and the buck must fall at your feet. Your team selections baffle everyone, players and fans alike, and your actions are clearly speaking louder than words. Why can't you see that you are killin our club? letting go of one of the another one of the best players to grace the turf of TCS. Wyness, Rankin and Niculae to name but a few. All players that can (and currently are for their new clubs) contributing experiance and skill to everyYou're game, and giving 100%.It's time to resign with what little dignity you have left. Although I was not keen on your re-appontent, I supported you because I want to see my team succeed, and I am now sorry to say, you have done completely the opposite." I have 'stolen' this from another thread but it typifies the understandable thinking at this time. Brew is public enemy number one! Or is he only a part player? Is it Brew that decides to let the players go or, as many managers have found out, they have to put their names to the dirty bit, under orders from on high. If I owned ICT would I let MY manager let MY players go? They do not belong to BREW - they belong to the club. It is impossible that Brew can decide to make a decision on Barry's future without a board involvement or indeed, any of the other players mentioned in the above offering. He can influence matters at a board meeting with his input but ultimately it is the board that has to make the decision and carry out the paper work. Even if the return of Brew was a bad decision, the current situation must have board involvement and we are not talking about onfield activities as I stated in my earlier post.

I have a problem with the title MANAGER. If I look at a shoe shop manager, wine shop manager, M & S manager even - they all carry out duties laid out in their owners/boards agreed mandates. Maybe they can exceed there normal intake of stock from a supplier if they can prove that it is a better seller/ higher profit maker BUT must be answerable to the owners/board AND God help them if they make mistakes. I wonder therefore are we, on here, assuming too much power when we discuss our manager and his assumed doings. I accept that training, team selection, substituting are all his responsibility but as a MANAGER would any owner/board allow their assets/profits to flow out the door without an input? Could the board be hiding behind the manager and leaving him out to dry? He is not in a position to say 'it is not my doing' as his butt is out the window, so maybe we should look for signs of others involvement in the overall picture!

I'll ignore the 'let's turn this into another anti ICT thread' as seen above and stay on the topic. Many years ago I was made aware, by a French student of politics, of the difference between the British and our close neighbours - he could not believe that we went to work the day after polling day without knowing who the winning party was, whilst in France this situation can result in water cannons on the street. In Greece we can currently see this ability to raise support for a cause. How many I wonder, however, had more sympathy for the air travelers plight than for this cause? If it were 2p on a litre of diesel, now thats a different situation, dummys out of the pram, HGVs, you know the ones, 10 miles to the gallon, parading down the M1, M6 to tell us how they cant afford to pay that price for diesel!! (They sit there all smug as it does not affect them as they just fill up in Calais, going and coming from their deliveries and of course, that helps the French not the British and that is good, the British get enough tax off them but this is a good day out and their truck looks good!) Definitely not plane stupid but NIMBY mentality divorces it from us up here. Just a bit of fun on the box.

At the very time we are screaming out for maturity in the attack, role models for the younger guys, it would be unthinkable to let him go. Maybe Brew feels he can engender the maturity but it is better on the park, by example.

I would have thought that if we had an income stream from 60,000 supporters every home game, the calibre of player we would have playing centre forward for us, would not have come from Ross County, struggling to find his feet in this league. The team playing in our colours would therefore reflect our ability to buy in and pay top money and guess what? They would play for us away from home as well and get the results. As it is CaleyD we have a wee support, poor income, reflecting our inability to attract and retain players of a high calibre, and we still are 3rd best away from home. That is my point!!

Thats comforting then! A team that gets beat by ST Mirren on their travels and a team who loose goals from shots taken from the half way line are better than us :thumb04: Now Smee, I did not realise your expections for my little Highland team, with a recent, but great, record in the SPL was to be compared to the Old Firm with their massive support and inherent income! I was using the Old Firm to highligh how good we were away from home, despite NOT having 60.000 home support etc and a team full of capped players!

I'm sorry it is not just a yes or no from me. You see I have a wee problem! Can I therefore assume we are to have a managerless team? Should it not be vote for Brew Out and >?>?>?>? In? Thoughts.... "This plane journey is bumpy lets change the pilot" "Out you go!" "Who knows how to fly a plane, please .....please?"

Only the old firm are better than us away from home this season!! :thumb04:

OK, here goes!! With Gretna out, new season, new players for teams, etc, it is only right that we should look at this season in isolation to get a balanced view. (ie the tail end of last season was bottom six playing each other and maybe experimenting with formations/young players for the coming season, so this could affect the true picture and of course, Gretna being Santa Claus to us all) However here is my offering. Home record - pure rubbish - 12/12 - 5 points Away record - not so bad- 3/12 - 12 points ( only Walter and Gordon have more away points than BREW) This is not a Pro Brew reply BUT it does balance up the stats!! It also proves we are in a tight wee league. My question therefore looking at the above FACTS - do we sack him for his home record or try to keep him for his away record?

This board has so many armchair managers calling weekly for Rossco to be dropped, even when he is voted MOTM!! On Saturday we experienced our defence, minus the said Rossco and I doubt if anyone can, hand on heart, state that we did not miss him. 'WELL and DRY' comes to mind. He may not be every fans favourite but he has a presence that opponents do not like playing against and he seems to settle our defence. I did not see, on Saturday, any evidence of a player making a play for his position! For the record, why we did not play, as we did last week, along the ground especially against all that defensive height, beats me. I watched an English top match at the weekend and the commentator even remarked on a right footed player playing on the left being 'nullified' as the defender knew he had to come 'inside' to cross the ball. This wing switching is OK to upset a defence during a game but not as a set tactic. Get the players on the correct wing, hit the byeline, cross onto the attacking forward (or backpeddling defenders) and even Barrowman could start scoring.(Easy, see this armchair thingie - magic!)

I see no evidence of ongoing bad feeling, only a much more mature Ian on the park. This, I feel, is one reason he will go to a good home, thanks in a way to Brew and the way he treated him! I feel that there is little any employer can do if the employee is looking for a better paid post and has the right to leave with easy money in his pocket. All the offers, it would appear, were made at the start of the season - although CaleyD has a bit of a doubt if the DOF is telling porkies with this one as Ian has gone to print stating the opposite. Now, wait a wee while till I think? Is that the Ian that is looking for column inches to advertise his freedom to move, surely he has no need to go to the press and tell porkies, has he? He does not want his position highlighted in any way and I feel sure his agent will have warned him to keep a low profile in case any big club notices his availability, without any big fee being involved!! He and agent don't want that do they? Spin, his agent has possibly forgotten more spin than ICT has ever learned! Start of season too late for offers?? Maybe. Would his agent have agreed to a signing with a potential move to a much larger club, in the offing, with no trasfer fee involved, by deferring signing. Any agent worth their salt would have waited. But wait, it is the DoF's fault, maybe Brew for being bad to the boy, the sweetie rustlers for not singing his name. It is a five lettered word that has caused the situation G R E E D!! Or the nice expression, looking after your client's interest!

Me thinks that the smell is from the Georgie direction and the disenchantment is from the staff waiting for last weeks wages and their win bonuses for the last five games!! However, up at Sneck, maybe we have the best we are going to get as the downturn could affect the SPL too. Players will have to recognise the market is smaller in Scotland now - Aberdeen want to disband the reserve league to save money, Walter is downsizing to save money - so maybe we are not immune and the lads wanting away may not find it as easy as it was in yesteryear. Rather than buying, I think we should be concentrating on home grown talent/castoffs from clear outs( young lads not going to make it at the big club, say Rangers, brought under our regime and maybe flourish) The fan base does not appear to be moving too much, winning at home may attract a few more, I think it is enjoy it when we can!!

Seconded. 'Thirded'

Excellent, more entertaining in a couple of mins than I get in 90!

Re Cowie and DOF ''....and he has said that since the beginning of the season'' Reading this thread the DOF has done nothing over the contracts and has only wakened up to find 3 players out of contract and worse.....come Jan they can speak to other clubs! What Tosh!! You, the DOF, don't know the value of your assets but someone on here can alert you to them? Can I suggest that Ian Black's value on the Balance Sheet, is related to him being tied up by the club and therefore a big financial hole in our asset column will appear if he goes, although I would assume that his value will already be written down by the accountants. If Cowie was talked to at the start of the season, it will take more than the blowing of hot air on here, to make me believe that the other two were not also spoken to. Yes, I accept that Black has gone to the press but so would I if I wanted to tout myself round the football scene as a potential free agent.

Just a wee concern - are you inferring that we will have a financial problem IF Niculae is due money? On your point 2 - There will be more teams than us succumbing to Falkirk before this season is over IMO. On Point 3 - There is not a team from Celtic down who do not have a manager that 'many people would take delight in seeing sacked' Only last week it was public knowledge that creditors, including the Revenue, were chasing Livi, with a time limit being imposed and this was PRE Flynn's claim. How can you suggest we are in this position or even close to it??

I think you have maybe summed him up for us!! If he is 'peed off' let him get off his butt, apply himself to his craft, take the jersey off Esson and get the win bonuses that come with good goalkeeping, instead of griping about others wages! Lets be frank here - the wages he is on now is of little relevance, he could be showcased every week on TV and have his profile raised, as did his predecessor and then maybe a big move could come his way OR he could be small minded and bitch about others wages!