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Is that an advantage for us or them though lol So this will be 2 games V's Celtic in consecutive wknds.......

My only concern playing Celtic is that we will most likely get allocated a very small number of tickets, which on balance would be fair considering we only have home gates of 3k, but given what we took to Hampden before and the LC final we could probably sell 7k+. So long as loyal fans dont miss out on tickets then fair enough, but obviously if we play DUtd then we will get a lot more tickets from the outset.

It will be Hampden, but if there was any circumstance for an alternative venue it would be Easter Road, none of the sponsors or beaks would want to come up to Aberdeen lol

HT- 2-0 FT - 3-0 1st ICT: Watkins 1st Opp: Nade 15 mins

Hopefully we can beat Raith on Tue, I'm excited now by the draw and quite happy to face either D Utd who I think we areas good if not better than or a Celtic team we are capable of giving a very hard game and winning. So play Celtic in consecutive wknds then face Hibs in the final. That'll do nicely.

Wow, people seem really offended by the view that if a team GB exists then my personal view is it should have a equal split of players from all nations and yes I am being serious and agree this should be the way for most team GB sports. Although I will conceed that events such as athletics or swimming you do have a direct competition to allow qualification or selection thus allowing fastest, strongest etc to be selected. But in the case of Football or other team sports what is the selection criteria and who decides - a board made up of members who decide which is fine if done without bias but a representative from each nation will have a vested interest and quite rightly so. What history shows is that England have a higher percentage of players which may longer term help the transition from U21 to senior as its another platform and playing together longer, for the other less well represented nations other than have a single or few players get experience of a tournament when there is potential oppertunity at U21 and senior level it does not help longer term development of football in that nation. There does seem to be an agenda within this thread that if you disagree with the organisation behind or the structure of a team GB then it makes the poster a xenophobe. At no point has any comment I have posted place any anti-English statement or personal insult only my opinion on the topic of Olympic football and a Team GB, therefore if anyone wishes to suggest or comment further I shall report them to moderators and ask for a ban as I feel that name calling, accusing and deformation of a character is totally uncalled for just because a personal opinion differs. If there is a Team GB at the Olympics then maybe it will be a sucess, however based on the 2012 showing it highlights that picking the cream of the crop from these shores still falls a long way short of other footballing nations and I have yet to see what positive impact that team had on football within the UK in terms of talent progressing to senior levels.

Based on population I would class that as proportional representation which based on your figures I argee but not the concept in this scenario which I believe should be equal hence 25% each - think there is a difference in what people consider the context of the terms equal or proportional. Its neither xenephobic or any other discrimination from my perspective no matter how you wish to try and spin it. I could state how N Ireland dont have as much population or football quality as Scotland but wont - I believe that they would as equal to 25% representation in a GB team as anyone else. If based on the logic you propose then there is no motivation for any of the nations other than England to be involved. Based on populus we would each get 1 or 2 players to supplement and England select? It seems that if anyone is promoting a xenephobic approach its those who wish to have a team GB dominated by only England players. At least with othere Olympic disciplines within team GB there are qualifiers to decide who is the 'best' - whats the criteria for football to be done this way?

Whats xenophobic about equal representation? If that's the most constructive response you have the the debate you started then I'm sorry for not agreeing with you and suggesting equality over dominance but I take offence at being tarred as xenophobic when not one comment I see can substantiate that view?

Yes, questioning the motivation of the English FA being the only body that really seems to want to push this forwards. The EFA benefit from self promotion and dominating the team with an over disporportionate representation of players based on the argogance of population bias - so I ask again what is the motivation for other home nations? I'm not English so I dont want to see an English dominated team I'm asked to support - if I am to back team GB I want to see 25% of the players in the squad and on the pitch at any time being Scottish and I expect anyone from Wales or N.Ireland is the same or another way no more than 25% English representation. As for the comments regarding FIFA, do you think the IOC are less corrupt. Do you think that Olympic venues are selected only on the basis of cultural diversity and global sharing, not on who is offering the most incentives? Why are the venues historically dominated by North America and Europe with some token Asian hosts - why can hosts introduce and drop events to make them more successful in sports the already are strong in, but to gain domestic appeal. Its no surprise that any host always over exceeds in a medal haul which is disproportinate to historic or future performances - the IOC set it up that way. Are they are corrupt as FIFA, perhaps not or perhaps they just have never been exposed as often (yet).

Great news there if thats all true. Any criticism aimed due to not replacing billy quick enough should be cancelled by that fantastic work securing 2 established first team players and such good squad and future prospects. Excited for this to come through officially.

Whats the motivation behind this though? We already have a world cup and Euro champs so a major tournament every 2 years with qualification phases, there are also equivilants for the U21's. So what does fielding a team of U23's with a few older players actually get for the home nations? If you are any other nation, France, Germany, Spain its a few extra years for young players to stay together and transition into the senior squads but for a 'Team GB' its fragmented individuals where 2 or 3 per nation (at best) will play together longer - there is no real incentive I can see for why this is needed or of benefit? While I accept that some players choose not to play as part of Team GB 2012 from Scotland, the stats are there out of the 22 man squad only 5 were Welsh, the rest English. Based on fair representation the squad should have 5 per nation, so why when Scotland and NI chose not to partake did England get the extra 10 slots, surely it should have been equal split. This is where I see a problem in future years - regardless of what makes the best team, if its a team GB then it needs to be equally representative but alas we know its not, this is just an English FA vanity project to try maintain interest in their National team in the face of dwindling quality and the foreign EPL invasion.

Ah, my mistake, I thought it was just league games.

We play our strongest possible team, including defnece irrespective or future suspensions. The club and players have to want to win this for a semi place. So Warren back in defence, also I think Watkins has done a good job up front with a decent goal return, I'd be tempted to start with him up there and bring on Ofere later in the game. Esson Raven Meekings Warren Shinnie Draper Tansey Williams Christie Ross Watkins

Esson Raven Devine Meekings Tremarco Tansey Shinnie Ross Christie Williams Draper

HT 0-2 FT 1-2 1st ICT - Christie 1st Opp - MacDonald Time 1st goal - 12 mins

Turing a winger into a striker never works ask Thierry Henry, I mean whos JH trying to kid it not like Watkins has scored any goals so far in that new role either Seriously can folks not give the guy a chance, from what I've seen Watkins has done very well in the role, what we lack is an alternative option, different type of striker who can change the game pattern. The biggest worry is that Watkins may be off in the summer (Nick Ross too) so JH quite rightly should try being in players if he thinks they may longerterm options or give them a chance.

If there is evidence can Ciftci not be charged retrospectivly by the SFA, doesnt change that Warren retaliated and has earned the punishment regardless of the circumstances.

Lots of negative posts and threads on here just now about our performances in games, lack of fire power up front and the criticism of both board and manager. So how about looking forwards? 3rd in the table and unbeaten 2015 with 6 games to the split, how do people feel we are positioned. Realistically we will be in the top 6 post split, but can we maintain 3rd? 28/02 - Well (A) TBC - D Utd (H) 21/03 - P.Thistle (A) 04/04 - Dundee (H) 08/04 - Dons (A) 11/04 - Celtic (H) Tough games away to Partick and Aberdeen who are both teams we have struggled with this year, then the home games against a Celtic side who keep improving and Dundee Utd fighting with us for that 3rd/4th place. I think we are capable of wins against both Dundee clubs and Motherwell with the prospect of taking something against PT. In all honesty beating Celtic and loosing to the Dons wouldnt be a surprise. Realistically 9 points from that 18 would be a good haul going into the split.

HT 0-2 FT 0-3 1st ICT - watkins 1st Opp - sutton Time 1st goal - 22 mins

HT: 0-1 FT: 1-1 1st ICT: warren 1st Opp: Ciftci Time of 1st Goal: 32 mins

What on earth have these factors got to do with anyone's opinion on the entertainment value of the game itself? The game is what it is. If it's a dull draw it's a dull draw whether you happen to be top of the table or bottom. Suggest you go back and read these posts again on this thread rather than bite back at me. Not that many comments about entertainment but plenty about the team, us having a poor right back and missing mckay still. If the game wasnt deemed to be high value entertainment to you then thats fine but you could easily go to a theatre or cinema and see a poor product there too. My point is that if fans on here expect that with our small budget and playing squad we can provide barcelona style football every week and win every game then they need to get real snd stop assessing every game through their rose tinted championship manager computer glasses. Win, loose or draw its becoming increasingly hard to find many positive threads or posts on this site demonstrating an appreciation and acknowledgement of what is being achieved.

Had utd won as expected and we won as expected then it would have been status quo, as it is they lost a game many feel was winnable and we took 1 point thus are plus 1 from pre-match expectations. Still unbeaten in 2015, 3rd in the league, cup QF, still scoring goals even after losing our top striker. Why such negative posts?

Hopefully the BBC will have no choice but to give us coverage and acknowledge us when we get a full 90mins of live coverage in the Cup Final.......just like they had to last year in the League cup. Only problem is we're usually crap when its on the tele lol.

Ideally avoid both SPFL teams, but nobody will want to face us either so anyone home or away - I believe we have a team good enough to beat anyone left.

I thought first half we were excellent and Watkins could and should have had 3. We got in behind their defence almost every attack. 2nd half we were sitting so far back and defending too deep letting partick push on, the tempo of our game dropped letting them take control. Also esson punts the ball too much we miss the way brill allows to build play from the back making ball retention and possession hard. but a win will do, lets get a trip to easter road please.